George RR Martin on the Ironborn

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A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones Author George R. R. Martin Interview

[@arealbigboss]

Just hearing him talk about his universe is nice, the passion is there.

[@tombystander]

I miss game of thrones. I miss the hype. The theories. I miss the dragons and the targaryens

[@janwel74]

Nah, I think he’s bored of it all. I don’t expect him to ever finish the series, and would be surprised if he even finishes WoW.

[@arealbigboss]

@@janwel74 i think that he certainly likes his universe and is passionate about it. i also think that the massive amounts of hype and high expectations are likely creating a situation where leaving everyone in suspense may be better than disappointing them.

[@janwel74]

@@arealbigboss maybe. We are not inside his head. ASOIAF has obviously been his Opus Magnum and has already filled 25 or so years of his life, it’s the work for what he’ll be remembered, no matter how it ends. Maybe he feels some kind of responsability towards his legacy, or maybe he’d had enough of people breathing over his shoulder and I would understand if he doesn’t feel the impulse, or let’s call it the hunger to continue with it. It may be too much pressure, too much expectation, and at some point it wouldn’t be strange if he’d just say you know what, f u all, I don’t need to spend the rest of my life fulfilling your expectations, I just wanna live. It’s a disappointing prospect, as a reader, but an understandable one, as a human being.

[@kusaiashionamete220]

@@janwel74 *magnum opus? 🤔

[@randykrus9562]

Every time I hear him talk about his world....he talks about it as fact...there's no indication when he's talking that what he's talking about is fiction. And the history is so deep....

[@yanwen5665]

same here

[@tomislav5689]

It' like listening a history teacher.

[@yassine3262]

Personally I take asoiaf very seriously I even felt weird when I heard george label Fire and Blood as imaginary history maybe it feels real because of the large cast of characters

[@andersbjrnsen7203]

@@yassine3262 i think its because of the depth of history/back ground info all over the books.

[@yassine3262]

@@andersbjrnsen7203 Yeah a lot of things make this story feel real not fiction

[@saturn580]

There's a hilariously bad scene in the TV show where Yara Greyjoy explains to Dani that reaving and plundering is the foundation of Ironborn culture, to which Dani replies "Not anymore" and Yara is like "lol, k" and all her Ironborn followers are like "This is fine".

[@yourmum69_420]

Just like how the dothraki are somehow trained professional soldiers now and will not rape or plunder lol

[@jerrywhoomst1116]

@@yourmum69_420 even trained soldiers sometimes rape and plunder, war brings out the worst in people.

[@yourmum69_420]

@@jerrywhoomst1116 true, except in the later seasons of got where everyone is black and white good or evil

[@ripvanwinkle7689]

@@juicifercoppinson1570 its more about relieving stress

[@ondras5241]

@@juicifercoppinson1570 You won, you're the champion, you killed. If you're willing to murder someone to get what you want, it doesn't really feel bad to hurt someone to get what you want. And lot of people want sex.

[@kingdavid8657]

Hearing his talk about this is fascasinating. He talks like this is real. No wonder he was able to pull us in so strong. He created one of the greatest shows of all time. HBO just sullied it when they wrote they last season.

[@DustGamezX]

S8 was the worst shitshow but already in season 5 you could see some stuff being a bit off so it didnt start in s8.

[@kevinerives8975]

@@kakophonien6514 we know deep down it was Martin's fault.

[@jamesfitzgerald8267]

Book Euron: a terrifying mysterious person that might literally bring apocalypse to Westeros Show Euron: a fuckboy The show had so much potential and they completely blew it

[@itachiuchiha5771]

@Anjelica Snorcket damn they really said that?? Martin already has the minimum magic he can get away with because he thinks likes low magic fantasies where you don’t overuse it. They should never have taken any more magic out

[@chrisburke4039]

A finger in the bum!!!!

[@spikex8]

@Anjelica Snorcket literally the most successful fantasy tv show ever - "doomed to fail"

[@JD-Media]

@@spikex8 With the most hated ending in TV history.

[@FallingFeeling212]

@@JD-Media Doesn't make it "doomed to fail" you cant predict an ending if you can id like to know where you bought your crystal ball the show was awesome i loved the lore the books are even better i do wish it was more like the books but it would've appealed to a smaller audience instead of a bigger one unfortunatley

[@Zorkoth_Cosmic]

This guy knows alot about ASOIAF.

[@lukesnow8264]

ikr?

[@yomichaelwhatzup]

He must do a lot of research

[@Idea_of_Lustre]

Oh yeah, probably spends hours upon hours on every chapter.

[@timdixon3391]

Eh...he's just making it up

[@notnero5280]

Imagine if he was George RR Martin.

[@MrGeorgeFlorcus]

The Ironborn are my favorite faction in ASOIAF, there's just something about how harsh and brutal they are as a society, completely distinct from the main land factions. Deeply religious, vicious, and confrontational, and obsessive wherever the sea is concerned. Every chapter with them is a treat

[@jamesfetcho6315]

No Love 4 the Greyjoys

[@GeneralKenobi75]

Eh, to me the Ironborn are a much suckier version of the Vikings. They've gotten their asses kicked whenever the other Kingdoms unite against them. They refuse to develop any agriculture, trading, or any other system production beyond just raiding and as a result they are one of the poorest and least developed kingdoms in Westeros. Despite all their talk about what great warriors they are, they have nothing beyond that. They're just seafaring brigands.

[@nagihangot6133]

Allah hu akber.

[@enderis526]

@@GeneralKenobi75 I don't mean to sound like an asshole, and I know I'm half a year late to replying, but there's a lot of straight up wrong stuff in your comment. You're right about them getting their asses kicked by the other kingdoms combined, which isn't that much of a surprise, the same would've happened to the Northerners and Rivermen if the red wedding hadn't happened; the Tyrells and Lannisters together would've crushed them like they did Stannis at the blackwater, so it's not that surprising that one kingdom couldn't stand up against 6 when in the main story the North and Riverlands couldn't match just two of the kingdoms that the Ironborn fought in their rebellion. Beyond that, they have agriculture, their land just isn't very fertile so they're more reliant on the sea and raiding for a steady food supply. As to their trading, they trade quite a bit, as we see when Theon arrives in the Iron Islands, there are trading ships in port at Pyke and throughout the story the Iron Islands are mentioned as being a destination for a few different trade ships. This is because of the vast amount of iron mined on the Islands, which they export and sell. On to them being "one of the poorest and least developed kingdoms", this is actually an impressive thing, as despite holding smaller amount of land than any other kingdom, they're not the least populous and are still wealthy and strong enough to be viewed as a significant threat by all neighboring kingdoms. In other words, the fact that they themselves are an independent kingdom despite holding such a small amount of land, and have managed to hold onto such a unique faith and culture for thousands of years without being vassalized and converted by one of the nearby kingdoms (north, westerlands, or even the riverlands) is a testament to how badass they are. They're one of my favorite Kingdoms because of all this.

[@GeneralKenobi75]

@@enderis526 Except that the situation of the Northerners and the Rivermen is far different from the Ironborn. If the Northerners and the Rivermen joined forces they likely would have won the war. If the Red Wedding hadn't happened, Tywin and the Lannisters would have ended up fighting a war on multiple fronts. And unlike the Ironborn, the North and the Rivermen have an actual economy and army and aren't just a collection of marauders more interested in plunder than real military strategy. The agriculture of the Iron Isles is a joke. That's the whole reason they raid other lands. But unlike the actual Norse the Ironborn don't just conquer more fertile land and establish kingdoms outside of the Isles. Bear in mind, unlike the Ironborn the actual Norse were mostly farmers, not raiders. Their economy did not solely rely on raiding. The Ironborn are more interested in collecting the "Iron Price" and honoring their god with war than actually establishing a real kingdom. Their times of trade are few and far between, unlike the real Norse who had a whole system established by their merchants. They are a threat only when the other kingdoms face them alone, which means nowadays in Westeros they aren't much of a threat in the grand scheme of things. They were pretty much ignored during the War of the 5 Kings, despite Balon Greyjoy being on of those kings. There's a reason their nickname in the fandom is the "No One Cares Islands". If Robert wasn't as merciful as he was during the Greyjoy Rebellion, Tywin would have wiped the Irobborn out completely. The Ironborn to me are just the less successful version of the Vikings. Even the Dothraki, another group of marauders, are more interesting to me. If you like them, fine, but I could care less about the Ironborn of the No One Cares Islands.

[@tee4222]

I just can’t even fathom the imagination and smarts it takes to create a universe like ASOIAF in your head

[@quinnlee-newbury9003]

I like how the iron born are both very much based on Vikings and very much not as well. They have the reaving mentality but vikings liked to settle and farm as well. I think the Iron Born wars against the River Lords mirrors the Vikings invading/settling in England in a lot of ways too which is really cool

[@QualityPen]

Every single viking was a raider, because viking is a profession and not a people. The vikings were a tiny segment of the Norse and Danish populations of Northern Europe. But yes, the Norse and Danish farmed as much as everyone else in Europe.

[@rannenw6207]

He has also said they resemble the Celtic raiders from Ireland.

[@-AwaleAbdi-]

In that sense they're kind of unrealistic. George's world is intricate and amazing in a lot of ways but also quite unrealistic when compared to the real world despite his fixation with realism. In real life the Ironborn, despite all their brouhaha, would have started settling the mainland a long time ago like the Norse did with the British Isles, Frankia, Iceland, Greenland and Slavic lands to the east. They'd also probably just install themselves as elites in these places and be the founders of many Westerosi dynasties in the other regions like with the real life Norse. Who on Earth takes pride in living on some rocky, desolate islands and being pirates for *thousands of years?* It's fun but ridiculous. The Ironborn were at their most realistic under House Hoare when they ruled the Riverlands. That's definitely akin to what would have happened in real life; the Ironborn conquering *and settling* the mainland kingdoms. Granted, it mostly sounds like only the Hoares settled the Riverlands whereas the other Ironborn just enjoyed the bounty of its conquest and continued to live on the Isles where they would have settled those lands too in reality. The same goes for his Dothraki. The way they just wantonly annihilate civilized groups doesn't really make much sense. The extortionism definitely does and is in line with what many steppe and other pastoral nomadic groups used to do in the real world but, in reality, there's no way some Dothraki Khals wouldn't have simply conquered places like the Nine Free Cities, Slaver's Bay or Sarnor by now and installed themselves as ruling elites like with the Seljuks, Mongols, Mughals and so on. I suppose you could argue that because the Free Cities and other such territories are very decentralized and/or not vast empires, the nomads never felt the motivation to unify into one large unit to counteract them in some way. This is a phenomenon you see on the steppes where it was mostly the Eastern Steppe nomads who formed massive empires in response to neighboring empires like that of China and Iran whereas Western Steppe nomads who had to contend with smaller states, city-states, fiefdoms and the like in Eastern Europe were content with simply being raiders and controlling trade-routes as there was no massive force to band together against in their best interest but even so... George's Dothraki have Khalasars as large 30,000+, if my memory serves me well. There ain't no way one of those Khals wouldn't feel incentivized to just TAKE a place like Qohor and install himself and his folk as elites. People beat their chests about how proud they are of their "roots" all the time but nobody passes up a chance to live _the high life_ and let slaves do all the work; not historically anyway. It would be much more in line with "realism" if the ruling elites of at least half of the free cities and places like Slaver's Bay and Sarnor were of Dothraki descent or if the peoples of these places in general showed noticeable Dothraki admixture whilst coming to speak a form of Dothraki like how Indo-Iranian and Turkic spread into more southern parts of Asia through the expansions and conquests of steppe pastoralists.

[@russellfisher1303]

⁠@@QualityPenviking is a verb which means to adventure, so not JUST raiding but also traveling and trading.

[@lordofcastamere9376]

I am the storm, my lord. - Euron Greyjoy

[@mangaman6833]

Finger in the bum - Show Euron

[@beback_]

Walter White energy

[@RomaInvicta202]

The book is great because Martin could imagine and think what people would feel like in any given situation: I love what he says about Cersei here

[@bridge4]

victarion!! :)) "who are you, kraken!?" "your death"

[@zineelabidinelayeb7750]

im fan of you sir

[@seasideboo2]

Bridge! Love your videos

[@jamiewalker8493]

Promise I'm not stalking you kev 😄

[@timdixon3391]

As am i

[@rohan1_]

Gonna go relisten to that chapter. That opening scene is one of my favourite in the entire series.

[@jraw88]

GOT and all of the books have provoked thought into millions of people’s minds. Having us love, hate, respect, despise and adore people and places that would’ve never existed if it wasn’t for this man’s imagination.

[@Legendaryium]

and his ability to put it on paper

[@Carlos-ln8fd]

The ironborn chapters in books 4 and 5 are my favorites

[@Carlos-ln8fd]

@Chuck Spadina if you liked that chapter you're in for a treat.

[@avimoses5956]

I love Euron Theon Asha and Aeron, but Victarion bores me so much and he has way too many chapters

[@Carlos-ln8fd]

@@avimoses5956 he has four (in two books)

[@avimoses5956]

@@Carlos-ln8fd Yeah, it's not a gigantic deal, just when Aeron only has 2, it really makes me wish that victarion ones could be given to him or Asha, who also has four but imo is much more interesting. And especially if you've read The Forsaken, you know why I want more Aeron.

[@Carlos-ln8fd]

@@avimoses5956 i guess i get it if you don't like it. i personally really love the victarion chapters and to me they're the most important ones since he's probably the reason Daenerys ends up in Westeros.

[@sabrinakrisb4672]

Fascinating what he said about Cersei's psychology

[@balabanasireti]

I can't wait for the comment that tell him to stop being in interviews and start writing instead, while the interviews mostly happened years ago and he's writing now.

[@wubwub247]

Honestly it really annoys me when people defend George for taking so long. Its been nearly a decade. I've gone through high school, college and two jobs since George released the last book. There is no excuse for taking this long. On top of that, the people who are telling him to just write already are still totally justified because its taken him 9 years to finally get down to making actual progress and the man is still participating in online debates about the election and posting about the goddamn new york jets. I'm a huge ASOIAF fan but honestly at this point after experiencing the letdown of GOT and now that its becoming more and more likely that we'll never get a final book, I've lost all joy I had found in the series. Now its just conspiracy theories and talking about how shit the end of the show was. Screw people like you for encouraging George to be so lazy.

[@wordshock]

@@wubwub247 You’ve never tried to write prose have you? Get back to us when you are writing a sequel novel to a series that has hundreds of characters and subplots

[@Ashok_Regiment]

There isn't going to be another book. George got paid, all the main plot twists have been revealed, there is no point for him to write anything more. He'll pretend he's writing for a bit more then say how sorry he is that health reasons prevent him from working any more. His legacy will be the final season.

[@Me-qp8vz]

@Jakey Snakey Please don't be offended but your comment has ticks. Ticks of a learning disability...have you been tested? I'm not being a prick just something I noticed in your comment.

[@Me-qp8vz]

@Jakey Snakey Again missing words, phrases unfinished, words unfinished. Just saying, ticks.

[@shane1489]

They turned Euron into a horrible joke.

[@andrewwand3553]

Honestly one of the things I fucking hate most about GoT show. After reading the books, I have even more hate for them (the later seasons), but Euron is just something else entirely, imo. They just butchered the character beyond recognition and destroyed so many amazing plotlines. I'm getting angry just writing it lol. If you haven't read one of the preview chapters George showed, one called The Forsaken, I highly recommend it, because Euron is NOTHING like the show, and the chapter is amazing.

[@ricardoalvarez704]

@@andrewwand3553 eldritch summoning type shit > "finger up the bum?"

[@chippersonsencyclopediaemp1318]

@@andrewwand3553 hahahaha i feel that so much. Too be fair, with all the things they bastardized Euron wasnt a big surprise. But of all the things i dissociate from the show he is at the top. The other thing that really annoyed me is Elia sand killjng Doran. Maybe it comes to be that way in the books. For real its not impossible. But the last we seen her she was begging Oberyns bastard daughters to accept gregors death as retribution. She was adamantly against starting a war vs in the show where she literally usurps the power of dorne [wich makes no sense cause she stands to inherit nothing as far as I know she's just Oberyns paramour]. Obviously the whole dorne plot was dropped but ffs that one bit of it really irked me

[@Carlos-ln8fd]

I think the actor is pretty good but it is pretty lame thay they turned him into a regular pirate instead of the terrifying figure he's in the books.

[@chippersonsencyclopediaemp1318]

@@Carlos-ln8fd hes so mysterious! Valyrian armor... Angrily chucked a dragon egg into the Sea. The blood magic demon horn. The mutes and Warlocks. The musky woman or whatever....... THEN the forsaken rapey God psychedelic stuff

[@AlejandroSanchez-pl6jw]

I wish we could see Martin and Tolkein speak to each other . What conversation would that be

[@Legendaryium]

I think they would disagree on quite a few things, because their world building is based on different foundations. tolkein is more focused on the Epic Fantasy Story to bring people in a whole new world / adventure. While Martin bases his writing on more real-life history. Ofc he also has some epic fantasy but its always paired with "logic"

[@henryruston9572]

@@Legendaryiumolkien bases the majority of his lore on Old Norse/English epic literature, which is very historic

[@nuncasaberas5926]

Tolkien probably wouldn't like how cynical asoiaf is tbh, he already felt that way with dune, imagine this.

[@nickrhook4809]

​@@nuncasaberas5926 actually ASOIAF isn't that "cynical", but Tolkien probably wouldn't like the moral ambiguity of it. He didn't like Dune because its good and evil sides weren't clear enough.

[@mahapralaya999]

The butchering of Ironborn story arcs is the worst crime of GoT right up there with what they did to the Dorne. I will never forgive them that. For the Drowned God!

[@kylevalentine5431]

What is dead may never die!

[@bradcarver8127]

But rises again....stronger

[@JesusCheeseburger]

The Dorne plot is kinda boring to me. I like Arianne seducing Ser Arys and Areo cutting him down. The rest of Arianne's arc is lead-up to Quentyn. And Quentyn's arc is traveling to Meereen, getting rejected by Dany, then dying. That's the entire Dornish plot. I feel like Quentyn was only made a viewpoint character to show us the attack on Astapor and as a way to free the dragons. He does see some weird stuff when freeing the dragons though. I mean, there's a lot of potential things happening in the future. Doran might get assassinated, he did put all his eggs in the "Quentyn marries Dany" basket. Or he could declare for Aegon, an Aegon-Arianne marriage seems likely. But with Maggy the Frog's prophecy of "gold will be their crowns, gold will be their shrouds", Myrcella might be declared queen in Dorne. And there's Sarella at the Citadel. Lots of good potential stuff in the future. But so far, the Dornish plot is like 10 chapters, counting the 2 in Oldtown, and half of them are build-up without much happening.

[@Lacertos]

@@JesusCheeseburger Quentyn is the most wasted potential in the whole series, and his arc makes everything that happens before in Dorne (including Doran's badass line) pretty much pointless, so far.

[@Kiitman]

​@@LacertosThat's literally the point Doran's elaborate schemes fail because he is too patient.

[@ashleyofnaath]

The show did the Ironborn plot such a disservice😪. It's one of my favorite storylines in the novels. And despite his being a useful idiot, Victarion is my absolute favorite character.

[@chippersonsencyclopediaemp1318]

Thats awesome 😅 the ironborn stuff really wares on me after awhile. The prereleased chapters were great but i mostly was bored by anything ironborn that wasnt directly drown god related. Im a drowned man at heart but im also a greenlander from way way back so its tough sometimes. Cool to hear your perspective though. I had hope that Victarian wasnt as dumb as they say until he favored Makoro and i was like what a fool

[@manvirshergill1739]

I would love to a see conversation between Victarion and Stannis in TWOW. Though I dont think we'll get it unfortunately. It would've been so fascinating.

[@quinnlee-newbury9003]

Love Victorian. He's such a himbo

[@jdsartre9520]

"Victarion is my absolute favorite character" Why?

[@azzurriblue65]

I was iffy on Victarion's chapters but something clicked in ADWD and suddenly, I found myself loving his chapters. I love the culture of boating and being on the sea, so that in conjunction with his monologues and the things that were happening in his chapters just amassed to the perfect storm, for me.

[@inakilukac]

1:49 You can hear him almost spill the beans right there

[@coldhands2802]

What beans? What did he almost give away?

[@inakilukac]

@@coldhands2802 In the books it is very likely that the origin of the wall and its purpose are slightly different from what we're told. The way he said "the wall was built to protect t- ...the realm" really sounds like he almost said something kinda spoily and had to stop himself to rethink and say something that lines up with current book content. It didn't seem like a regular stutter to me.

[@iagoporto5522]

Why did ye spill yer beans?

[@coldhands2802]

@@inakilukac Wasn't the wall built "to protect the realms of men?" Idk what he could have spoiled... We know why Brandon the builder built the wall..

[@inakilukac]

@@coldhands2802 Brandon the builder is not a very solid historical figure, by which i mean the recorded history of him is most likely extremely unprecise (the wall was built ~8000 years before the books' events). Also take into account that the wall is magical and made of ice, and the others are magical ice people who make magic ice tools such as their swords, and that the bran the builder story says that the wall was built by humans collaborating with giants and children of the forest, which doesn't sound very realistic considering the very rocky relationship between those three species. It's very likely that the real origin of the wall is quite different from the legends told by the current people of westeros, and it is also likely that a lot more will be revealed (or at least implied) in the coming books. Based on all of this, it makes sense that george martin might stutter like that if caught off-guard explaining the wall

[@operationspark3636]

Hey, if don't mind me asking, where do you find these interviews? Great job man, by the way.

[@valerio1292]

I think he minds

[@chippersonsencyclopediaemp1318]

They are all over! Reddit is a good ressource for this. Havent fojnd it in a while but there was a post with nearly all the critical info discussed publicly by george was linked there. I find that a lot of the fandom is very passionate and have there clips

[@Shiggystardust]

is this a subtle norm mcdonald joke?

[@Shiggystardust]

@Marcus Middleton good times

[@jaqenjordan3121]

Never knew Balon was pronounced like that

[@jaimelannister1797]

When first reading it I pronounced like George, then saw a clip from the show and thought I was saying it wrong. Turns out I was right the whole time

[@beback_]

He has a tendency to blatantly mispronounce names he himself made up.

[@dachitronmagnus5755]

@@beback_ or that's how they are supposed to be pronounced...

[@henryruston9572]

He pronounces Lysa Arryn “Lee-sa” rather than “Li-sa” too

[@RobertErnestLewis]

Such a sad moment that the story was never continued or completed ....

[@QueenDaenerysTargaryen]

D&D failed writing of Euron was one of the first warnings that the show was going south.

[@Fingolfin7455]

You're a bold one, you named yourself after the Westerosi equivalent of Hitler. Incredibly based.

[@jcwilder86]

euron is a straight gangster in the books

[@TimtheEnchanter25]

Gangster? You mean the Antichrist?

[@iceandfire7653]

He’s fascinating to listen to

[@OktoberStorm]

So the guy makes a difference between how he describe them, and how they describe themselves.

[@jakemarsh8967]

I've always took issue with people comparing the Ironmen to the Norse, there are not really a lot of similarities. They sail and raid, that's about it. The Ironmen come from a couple of rocky islands where they must fish and raid to survive, not like the vast fjords of Scandinavia. The Norse were farmers and traders, sure some of them raided, but the vast majority were the same as any other peasant in England or Frankia. Linguistically I think most can see there are no similarities, other than those within English as a language: Theon, Balon, Yara, none of these are Germanic in origin. Theon is Greek, Balon is found In Dutch but comes from French, Yara is Both Brazilian and Arabic. The ship design has no similarity to the Norse longships, resembling Brigs with their pronounced ram and outstretched prow. I suppose the Ironborn ships might be clinker built but that is not a design choice to make them resemble longships. It's just like how many compare the Wildlings to the Norsmen, the only thing that is similar is the name Tormund. I suppose they could resemble the Sami but there isnt much in that side of the arguement, either.

[@williamevans5782]

What does it say about our KZbin Oligarchy that the opening add is 12:01 long for a 5:48 video?

[@Legendaryium]

I bet you could just skip it after 5 seconds. So whats the problem?

[@busterround8870]

So we set sail in the golden sun Singing shanties to the pagan drum Raise the crossbows the final run Sailing freely like the ironborn

[@lakemasterex7582]

wow this guy knows a lot about this series!

[@Mkdjwj]

Are you joking

[@bLaKeAnThOnY0]

Yeah he probably read all the books

[@ryanlockhart7613]

I know more about the history of Westeros than I do about my own country.

[@averyshaw2142]

Euron is the first book character im legitimately scared of

[@ousseynougueye5949]

I feel the same. Cersei is evil but she is stupid. But what is scary with Euron is that he is intelligent as well.

[@trueherokoinzell2817]

I like the Ironborn. They're kind of like the Klingons. Their culture is so self destructive but so fun.

[@dushyanthetta4035]

He's being so reticent about exactly what sort of threat is lurking beyond the Wall, and even how old it is. "By tradition". Being very careful to not spill anything.

[@douglasmcintosh464]

I also thought that the iron islands should of been where sisterton was, that way they can sail to essos more efficiently, and it would make sense to be independent because they could become lord reapers of the narrow sea or something

[@beezzarro]

Personal opinion here, not an Attack or even a criticism. If you thought differently then that's great and this wasn't a problem for you. For me the Ironborn feel like one of the least-thought out peoples in Westeros. I always thought of them as Vikings, but they share a lot of conventions of the other houses of Westeros. On the one hand, they espouse a very violent doctrine of rape, raiding, and pillaging for resources. While on the other, they are tolerated by the rest of Westeros, make alliances, have royal lineage, and have organisation that seems incongruent to their apparent "might makes right" mentality. The iron islands do not seem, from the descriptions, like they could support a people of the ironborn's sophistication. At best, they sound like they could support a few hill tribes with driftwood ships. "We do not sow" is badass, but that's also the literal idea of a hunter gatherer society which could not have been more than a very few thousand people. I, being not an amazing writer and just some gonk from the internet, would've written their culture as being based around a different aspect of the old gods like the original pagan vikings. They WOULD sow. And they would either have a very big bunch of islands or have made landfall on Westeros and carved a piece of it out for themselves. Being the way that they are, i cannot imagine that the Lannisters, hightowers, Starks, redwynes, and Tyrrells, who are all along those coasts of Ironborn raiding, wouldn't have banded together to completely wipe them out. And my god did the show have terrible production design for the iron born. They all looked like they were wearing Gortex parkas under their breastplates. It's just so weird to hear about the Ironborn and their savage ways, and then to see them look like soldiers and knights with the discipline thereof. They should've really just modelled them on Vikings (like the show), and had them all be wearing different armour pieces or leather jerkins but having similarly painted shields or sth

[@mimief7969]

The Ironborn are cool. Besides the Thenns and the other Wildlings, they're definitely my favorite.

[@gordonbronstein3107]

Ironborn and their infamous moto "we do not think"...

[@SkepticalChris]

George RR Martin's Euron Greyjoy, evil incarnate, badass beyond belief. HBO's Euron Greyjoy = Finger in the bum

[@NationalDevin]

I generally consider myself a history buff, both for IRL as well as Game of Thrones, but grrm just gave me an Insight I haven't considered. I know there was the era known as the hundred kingdoms era, which he vaguely brings up oh, but I never considered the fact that the reason that the Nights Watch was so powerful with thousands of people up there was because they were fleeing the constant states of War and trying to go to the Nights Watch to survive. In my mind's eye, when I had heard that the Nights Watch was in Decline, I was thinking that it was simply a matter of people abandoning they're Legends and considering the story of the long night a myth over the course of thousands of years. Only now do I realize that all of those Valiant and Honorable Men we're men looking to survive all the various Wars, not just the criminals and losers of those various Wars

[@kristin9144]

I really like what he said here about cersei

[@mr.raslyon6626]

For the love of everything, I wish I could create fleshed out worlds like people like him. I really envy that about authors.

[@jesseperez4185]

I made a deep world my self, you just build upon and add to it day by day, like in minecraft. You start building something but you end up adding and changing things day by day.

[@mr.raslyon6626]

@@jesseperez4185 I can never really get past the general idea of it. I lack the patience required.

[@pogo8050]

Read lots of history and jot down the things you think are cool

[@starmorpheus]

@@pogo8050 I second this. Just reading history books and rewriting what you think will be interesting and changing the names, is enough.

[@howardmctroy3303]

I know the Ironborn are screwed up, but they're just so damn cool.

[@d.s.7637]

He did as good as he could for as long as he could. Great story telling. A great reminder that its all fiction.

[@Siptom369]

They are the viking raiders of the seven kingdoms

[@Nash9r]

He said Bellen, I always pronounced it Baylawn.

[@wll1500]

That's how they do it in the show

[@brianpark5169]

I thought that the Ironborn were based on the Ironside clan of southern Scotland in the middle ages, who were raiders & constantly raided England across the Scots/English boarder.

[@stevenguevara2184]

I always thought they were saying Feast of the first men

[@Wailot6]

“Ballon” “Stanis” Is he mispronouncing his own characters or do we?

[@ADOwens-px8xm]

Notice how much he looks to his right before he answers. His imagination is so powerful.

[@darrellhamner4608]

A tortoise pin on his hat! How appropriate.

[@someirishguy1662]

Did anyone get a Manx vibe from the Ironborn??

[@daddyleon]

Uhm no, may I ask what angle you for that from?

[@someirishguy1662]

@@daddyleon staunchly independent, have their own language, were a monarchy under the constituency of the british monarchy and are an island people, as GRRM likes to turn places up to 11, perhaps this was the case here

[@AlejandroSanchez-pl6jw]

I like how the actor did Euron acted , but imagine how better he would be if George was involved

[@HelwigDorsuo]

Euron on the show seemed like they just took Sabretooth from Xmen and used him as a plot device...

[@classicwiseguy]

Makes sense cuz D&D wrote wolverine origins

[@lesliepropheter5040]

The Ironborn beliefs were too strange for me, was it the actors? I liked the daughter and Theon was well cast, the (Ramsey connection was cruel torture for all of us.) Even Theons redemption was well acted, after all, the actor understood the empty life he had to live after the fact. He became heroic unto the death which was all he was left to submit to, in reality. Good Job

[@thejawgz6719]

Euron Greyjoy was such a waste in the show. The actor was cast well and he actually physically looked like he was related to Theon, but the writing ruined him before he even had a chance.

[@measumadib]

Half the video is about the nights watch not the ironborn.

[@dakotamurphy3899]

Dope

[@JL-ti3us]

What’s been happening man? You’ve been gone awhile.

[@rebelfriend1818]

Well it’s probably because GRRM has been gone for a while too

[@Nyx_Room]

So the ironborne are the Dorthraki of westeros?

[@vek3681]

I KNEW IT, Balon is pronounced differently from Baelon

[@dvdv8197]

I wonder if it hadn't been easier for the night's watch was allowed to reproduce. All first male descendants e.g. would then have the duty of guarding the wall, other descendents could be allowed to have different lives.

[@MorallyDubiousFrog]

Nah, better solution would be to allow non-life sentences at the Wall. A thief or poacher would be far more willing to choose the Wall if it would only cost him 5-10 years of his life instead of giving up everything.

[@MontyQueues]

wouldn't it be funny if he wrote a character like himself in the books just for the troll Martin Jorge the town Drunk

[@pezpowerproductions2602]

What’s up with his train (conductors) hat?

[@Wveth]

Uh, what makes you think it's a conductor's hat? It's just a flat cap with a pin on it.

[@pezpowerproductions2602]

@@Wveth i think he loves trains. thats what made me think it.

[@adeisinger2033]

No more books to read so i come here

[@ModuliOfRiemannSurfaces]

It’s kinda remarkable how sympathetic his assessment of Cersei is. It’s VERY hard to read AFFC and not see her as cosmically narcissistic and borderline psychopathic.

[@duartemarco]

Cool

[@CastleBlackWatches]

Always takes me out when he pronounces the names differently. I was like who the hell is Bay-Len.

[@dgxmcandrin]

Do you know the sorce of the original interview ? Thank you fort the great videos👍👍

[@azzurriblue65]

I really wish season 5 shed more light on the Ironborn and mulled over the shitty Dorne line they instead focused on. The way Dorne is presented in the books is good, but I understand why it would've been difficult to adopt it to the show if you aren't going to include certain characters ... but like, fuck, idk.

[@yaboityler2617]

Who the fuck is Sir Say? When was he a queen?

[@DarkKing009]

The Ironborn are ruthless but utterly loyal to their Lords. Have a more honest relationship between the two vassals and the Lord. Their men-at-arms equivalent has a lot more freedom. Then the knights and men-at-arms on the mainland.

[@subutaynoyan5372]

There are quite well established theories about the Ironborn being a hybrid of First Men, and the Deep Ones, a Lovecraftian race of fish people. Their culture, their religion are all associated with the Deep Ones

[@munbanematt8342]

That's a turtle on his hat

[@picklejarmonsterfanboy9367]

so, its not Baylon

[@cjyoung7372]

Just hurry up and finish the books already

[@ArchPendragon]

nearly a 6 min video, talks about ironborn for about 10 seconds... titles video "GRRM on the ironborn..

[@ImpKnt80]

Cthulhu worshipping Vikings, George. They worship the Great Old One.

[@TheSm1thers]

What I wanna know is why they fought the North rather than fight for their independence as well

[@TheSm1thers]

Lannister lands are meant to be full of gold as well and their armies are out fighting a war

[@twomp5613]

They already tried to fight the Lannisters during the greyjoy rebellion and they got there asses whooped

[@jamesfetcho6315]

No Love 4 the Greyjoys.

[@PhilospherDjPsychologist24]

2:23

[@Divine_Chareka]

The only ironborn I loved to the last number in Game Of Thrones was Theon Greyjoy

[@chippersonsencyclopediaemp1318]

He's a freaking chode bro

[@chippersonsencyclopediaemp1318]

@Chuck Spadina no one said euron lol

[@frankl3518]

Am i the only person who finds it strange that George pronounces all of HIS characters names weird? The show just changed his pronunciations? I know him as BAY-LON. George said BALIN. This isn't the only case either

[@RedditSupport]

....what are you hiding under that hat hmm? Your next book under there?

[@Sam_T2000]

8,000 is too much.

[@refoliation]

I understand completely why that rule (NW don’t meddle) would be written, I’m not so sure though why it would be followed. Seems kinda idealist.

[@samj8277]

So it’s pronounced Balin and not Baylon! Nice!

[@araincs]

One thing that never made any sense to me is the timeline of the greyjoy rebellion. So it apparently happened like 5 years after roberts rebellion. Why? Would have made a lot more sense to start it immediately after it but after robert has already ruled for 5 years makes no sense.

[@CoRLex-jh5vx]

Someone please tell George he's pronouncing the names he made up wrong

[@paulsarnik8506]

They do not sow, so🤷🏼‍♂️...🤓😎✌🏼

[@TheRick8866]

The finale books will not be written. Don’t get your hopes up.

[@stoney5137]

This guy pronounces Baratheon wrong.

[@fazediamond5671]

Nope

[@normbell3372]

Hmm I wonder why the show never called the Iron born the "Iron men" 🤔 lol 😆

[@gooby214]

The show is garbage and not canon.

[@jillbill7752]

Yeah that’s great and all but when the hell is he gonna come out with the new book

[@brianmayabella5992]

Iron islands shares similarity to Ireland. Targaryen were Vikings.

[@PeterWalkerHP16c]

The Andals arrived in long ships and warred with the first men. They seem to be a mix of Aengles and Danes. The Iron born also used longships. The Targaryens were escapee lords fleeing from Valyria on dragons. The first men crossed the land bridge which later disappeared leaving only the step stones. The iron islands used to be part of the mainland and remind me of the Scottish Islands, bare, rocky and forlorn. Martin has written two more books on the History of his world from the perspective of various Maesters and contemporary accounts.

[@Avenus112]

Ironborn- literally the universe's worst people without exception. Theon was almost different, he had a chance to be better but he chose to compete to be the worst and lost everything for it. Maybe that they're so awful is the point. Everyone and everything is awful all of the time was sort of a central theme of the books wasn't it?

[@henrylupkes211]

Theons sister isn’t so bad

[@stomper2888]

Someone tell him hes mispronounced cersaay

[@somerandomguy2892]

Wieners, wiener wiener, wiener wiener, wiener wiener, and another wiener, flopping wieners, wiener wiener, and yet another wiener....

[@Friendly-Unit]

The pizza is coming

[@felipe0102031]

So sad that so he'll never finish the story... even if he managed to get to 90 yo he will be senile, every obese who gets old gets alzheimer

[@Wveth]

That's not really true lol. Obesity seems to give a higher chance of developing dementia but it's far from a sure thing, and more research is needed.