Did Aegon the Conqueror destroy the Night's Watch?

[@italycommon]

A character bringing about their own Doom or the Doom of others by following a prophecy to save them is very grrm

[@kekero540]

That’s how pretty much all prophecy stories go is it not?

[@StockpileThomas1]

That's been my headcanon for a while. But I think this has to happen. After all the seasons are out of order and our heroes have to find a way to put things right again. Possibly by defeating the others or some other event.

[@Hero_Of_Old]

Why is it everytime though?

[@TheInsatiableDrBoom]

Self fulfilling prophecy

[@sarcastaball]

It's very grim. 😊

[@hugolouessard3914]

I must add that I love season 2's addition of the Starks sending a tenth of the household to the night's watch every winter. It shows how seriously they took the threat when noone doubted monsters and magic was in the world, and how bad the situation got in the following century.

[@Chris-ut6eq]

Also, they knew no one is waging war in the winter and food stores last longer with less mouths. At the end of a winter there is a new crop of youths to harvest to rebuild Stark forces.

[@awesomehpt8938]

If you ask me the nights watch should have been reformed. The crown should regularly organise for all the seven kingdoms to send some men to serve a limited term of service in return for compensation. No oaths about serving for life and no oaths of forgoing marriage and kids. All the kingdoms chip in with better quality men to the wall that are willing to go. Moral is improved by being rewarded to serve only for a few years or however long someone wants to serve. If it is treated as any other job like in a professional military service. Then you’re less likely to have poor quality troops and very few of them.

[@lilibetp]

YES! This absolutely should happen!

[@samuelduchesne5841]

But why would they do that before the return of the other the onlyy treat was a bunch of wildling climbing over the wall that the watch or the nord quicly deal with the rest of the country doesnt realy have a reason they just keep sending men up the wall for tradition and because its already implemented

[@neilbodwell9172]

Beat me to it. Those were my thoughts exactly.

[@neilbodwell9172]

Agreed. I was thinking the same thing. Even offer it as a means to atone for crimes like some nations do in their military, and sometimes it does work. Not always, but there will always be folks that don't play well with others. However if they see it as a term of service, they might be more inclined to straighten up and stop doing whatever lead them there

[@MalysSand]

Yes! And if done right it would have the added benefit of fostering friendships among regions, thus preventing some of the prejudices that fuel civil war!

[@DoubleHelixStrand]

Aaaahhh great video, never thought about how peace would negatively impact elements of that world

[@dromankass8655]

Peace can have negative consequences, at Uni the lectures did a course on the world in 1500, and pointed out that there were many established & powerful empires in the world at that time - The Mughal Empire in India, the Ottoman & Persian Empires and the Ancient Chinese Empire. While by contrast the countries of Europe were not unified, and instead spent all their time waging petty wars against each other. But in just a few centuries all these great empires and either been surpassed and/or conquered by the Imperial Europeans and added to the French or British Empires. The question was why, and the lectures argued that the constant fighting of the European kingdoms has led them to innovate, and invent better weapons and technology to compete with each other, while the older empires had rested on their past achievements and stagnated, not inventing any new weapons. The Sci/Fi series, Babylon 5 (parley based on the works of JRR Tolkien) has a similar theme with two ancient spacefaring civilisations, the Vorlons and the Shadows, attempting to influence the young civilisations. The Vorlons believe that knowledge should be developed slowly, over time, with other races following their guidance, but this is a slow and stagnant process, with advances coming over millennia. By contrast the Shadows hold the ideology that conflict is good for civilisations to improve and the weak to fall away, and so every few thousand years they like to 'knock of the anthills' as it were and provoke the lesser races into a massive war with each other and see which ones prosper and survive and which go extinct.

[@darkaxel1991]

There was another pool of recruits that I think has a bigger impact on the Night's Watch's decline and that isn't addressed in the video: Bast-erds that resulted from the old way of First Night. The Wall was a convenient place to send the results of the First Night tradition in a way that also would prevent problems of inheritance for the lords' legitimate heirs. By convincing Jaehaerys I to outlaw the First Night, Good Queen Alysanne turned the Watch's recruitment problems into a massive crisis.

[@burntorangehorn]

Thanks for saving me the trouble of typing the same thing!

[@SelphieTheNutter]

I think a lot of people misinterpreted what you where trying to say. I understand what you're saying and I agree. The traditions of Westeros were very entitled. The First Night being a very fine example. A lord who's family member is married to another has the right to claim the right to take their virginity if he so chooses, before the marriage is consumated. A very sexist and abusive tradition thst resulted in a lot of Bastards being born. To sole the problem of their birth and not encourage pissed off assult victims from rising in rebellion. Rather than murder the children, they sent them to the wall to solve the inheritance issue. This gave the wall a steady flow of recruits, (because the lords of westeros are horney and entitled) That disapeared when the first night tradition was outlawed. The lack of forsight in the decision to outlaw it without giving the nights watch a alternative source of recruits, contributed greatly to its numbers declining.

[@Arterexius]

@@SelphieTheNutter The First Night is also a very real thing that the British nobility once used to cull the Scottish by demanding that the English had the right to take a Scottish womans virginity in every single marriage between Scots, with the purpose of breeding out the "impurity" of the Scots. Literally. Its used heavily in the movie _Braveheart_ but the concept of William Wallace having a wife is a complete fiction according to historical records and it's more likely that the rape and murder of the claimed wife of William Wallace is really just a metaphor for what the English did to Scotland. Raped and murdered its women

[@thedragondemands5186]

I don't mean to nitpick (but) I'm not sure if the text meant "10,000 fighting men, 30,000 total" (using the Great Ranging as an example) - I THINK it referred to 10,000 total. Nonetheless it was mindblowing to me when I realized the obvious: the "population" of the Wall doesn't increase naturally but by recruitment, so their numbers dropped within a SINGLE generation, like by the time his grandson Jaehaerys was on the throne 50 years later. --- Thinking on it, the only big recruitment waves would be after the big conflicts but we know 2 out of 4 got squandered, at least: - Aegon's Conquest - He didn't send people to the Wall he reduced them to vassals - Faith Militant Uprising - produced a surge of Faith Militant and Maegor loyalists by the end....who joined forces in the Night's Watch rebellion of 50 AC, so that any boost from Maegor's wars was wasted. - Dance of the Dragons - the six year long winter that followed the war combined with the devastating Winter Fever that came with it reduced their numbers by ONE THIRD, so they got no significant boost from that. It was so bad that wildling raiders managed to force passage. - Blackfyre Rebellion - ....MIGHT have resulted in a long-term boost to their numbers, as we know of nothing that reduced it after that....the Great Spring Sickness probably hurt them too but who knows if it affected the wildlings? (Maybe "The She Wolves of Winterfell" will give us an update?) - Robert's Rebellion - actually did provide a long term boost, as many men there like Alisser are former Targaryen loyalists. Which raises a truly disturbing point: there's barely a thousand of them at the start of the story, 15 years AFTER a significant recruitment boost. They haven't even exhausted all the men sent there after Robert's Rebellion. ......how low did their numbers get in the 90 year stretch between the Blackfyre Rebellion and Robert's Rebellion?!?! The subsequent Blackfyre Rebellions were relatively minor and probably wouldn't send THAT many men to the Wall (Bloodraven and his men being a big exception).

[@mokarokas-1727]

On top of this excellent summary, I'd like to add that with the reduce in manned castles a lot more wildling raiders would make it through. That probably contributed a lot to picking off the Night's Watchmen in the years leading up to A Game of Thrones. I do interpret that as the lowest point in manpower, as implied by Aemon.

[@BakaChaine]

Joining the Watch as a punishment also makes me feel like it didn't contribute to elevating its prestige. Sure it provided it with manpower but it also makes sense that less and less people would want to go there, amongst criminals. Loved the video :)

[@jt5765]

Criminals were a small part of its manpower/workforce before the conquest. The nobles used to have an entirely different hall at Castle Black for eating etc (the shieldhall).

[@BakaChaine]

@@jt5765 Gotcha, that makes more sense to me as to why it used to be attractive (aaand well, why it is less so nowadays.) Thank you for the precision

[@Goldlibarm]

I do love Maester Robert's lectures

[@sirsplintfastthepungent1373]

Words are wind.

[@Cappellano]

Aegon the Conqueror intentionally destroyed the Night’s Watch because he knew that all those men were being wasted. All the realm needed was a girl with super speed.

[@gilbertporter4992]

Who would this girl/woman with super-speed?

[@bbbk123]

@@gilbertporter4992 Dany obvs They are making fun of the show

[@BrotherHood-xh9sg]

What about an assassin that isn't stealthy or quiet, but has a slow trick on her sleeve.

[@ShadeoftheEvening]

​@@bbbk123is it obvious?

[@KingOfWinter]

@@bbbk123you mean Arya not Danny I think

[@chorizo2115]

I love your original insights on ASOIAF, insights which GRRM possibly may not even have considered, or considered to your level of depth. Thank you for consistently creating such content Robert 😊

[@RyenPacino]

Robert I hope you see this, what happened to the Robert’s rebellion video series you had? I and many others loved it but it’s gone now 😔

[@BigBoss-xr8dg]

Yes Maester Robert!!

[@spearofhope2]

He has been going back and remaking old videos to get them up to his current standards - I believe he'll be remaking those ones at some point!

[@ThommyofThenn]

​@@spearofhope2some people complain about this but personally, as a 'movie buff' i really appreciate re-cutting old videos to make them more consistent with current visual style. Also a terrific opportunity to correct any mistakes or no longer relevant/since clarified lore information!

[@RyenPacino]

@@spearofhope2 appreciate it, I hope so 🙏🏻

[@openwide000]

Those videos were SOOOO GOOD. I often quote the theories in them when discussing things on Reddit and I wish I was able to share the videos with others. I hope he rereleases them soon. Thanks for mentioning them. I actually recently messaged Rob on Instagram asking about them

[@davidbenson8127]

I've been to British MSA's and the closer analog in the US is the Truck Stop, which all also allow cars. Love's, Pilot, and TravelCenter are the ones I'm most familiar with. Buccee's are huge behemoths in the southern US. As with MSA's there's a lot of parking, a restaurant or two, and sometimes a place to shower that mostly truckers use. Some are almost like malls, especially in the Great Plains, where more business comes from travelers than the local population.

[@user-to9ge8ii9n]

I love seeing comments like this when I'm early in the video -- now I have to imagine how Buccee's will be tied to the Nights Watch... 🤔

[@davidbenson8127]

@user-to9ge8ii9n lol. This obviously was meant for a different video, but at least you got a laugh.

[@mikeraycroft9568]

Thank you for your videos. They are greatly enjoyed in my home. I can never get tired of hear ASOIF lore and studying the text.

[@itsbillymwangi]

A new video from Robert! Yeeeiiii! Keep them coming. You are my number 1 KZbinr.

[@awgates85]

Aegon the Conqueror never considered that the realm would be saved by a combination of his bloodline and the Nights Watch, Jon may not be the first Targaryen Lord Commander, but that may be a critical detail in realizing the prophecy, Aegon was a bit too arrogant to see he might need help.

[@SirBoggins]

I would say Jaehaerys I (good 'ol Counciliator hisself) was also to blame in some way due to his "New Gift" to the watch. Whilst it did give them extra slices of land, it also left them with vulnerable territories which they weren't able to properly administrate, which also meant wildings could raid and pillage these lands if they slipped past the wall, as well as depleting the already thin populations of the villages and towns near or within the Gift's range and area. I.e. Jaehaerys' "gift" was more of a burden than anything really beneficial in the long run for the Night's Watch and exasperated their already declining state at the time of his reign and after, especially Post-Dance.

[@thewerdna]

Yep. Which also fits here. He thought he was helping and did so due to the prophecy, but accidentally made it worse

[@SirBoggins]

@@thewerdna Mhm...

[@Captain_Insano_nomercy]

It's very popular to say Jaehaerys was a bad or stupid king these days, but I don't think this really fits into the category of bad decisions. Plus, wasn't it Alyssane who convinced him to gift it?

[@drhexagonapus]

​@@Captain_Insano_nomercyyeah it was. Jahearys was probably one of the best kings westeros had, with a long and largely peaceful reign. He did set up the dance of the dragons, but there's no way he could have seen that at the time.

[@thewerdna]

@@Captain_Insano_nomercy i don't think this being a bad long term decision makes him a bad king. It was, on paper, a reasonable decision that just had bad long term consequences. The gift was beneficial short term, it just became a problem as the Night's Watch continued to lose membership

[@Casperski1312]

Imagine if the wall was a place that could be viewed as a temporary posting for volunteers. It could be something to boast of for proud knights looking to make a name for themselves that otherwise don't feel compelled to forgo having a wife or holdings. Sure, there could still be those sworn for life, but to bolster their numbers, temporary volunteers could help fill the gaps and restore the historically proud honor of serving in the Nights Watch.

[@dananaditya9347]

Sworn Crows for the Night Watch who sworn for lifelong duty to the watch and the regular Night Watch who takes the deployment temporariily

[@Casperski1312]

@@dananaditya9347 Exactly.

[@AikoSukdolak]

I allways enjoy your videos robert but this, for me is a standout. Loved it, thank you!

[@marksheen4873]

Honestly, Ned is a lot to blame for this as well. His best friend was the king for what 15-20 years and he couldn’t get Robert to send more prisoners? As well as Ned apparently not doing anything to ask or lords? There’s millions of people in Westeros hard to believe they only had 1k

[@nunyabidness-y2r]

Man, this was a really cool video. I appreciated your in depth, thoughtful analysis!!

[@varundattoo9512]

As long as the current stories are completed, a massive prequel stories/anthology going back to the origins of the Night's Watch, Asshai and the Jade Emperor would be GRRM's equivalence of a Silmarillion. The Night's Watch of the contemporary stories is such a contrast to its former self, where; in the ancient times it was an actual organisation with no negative connotations attached. It was a place of honour, chivalry and duty compared to the present times where its garrisoned by bastards, malcontents and convicts. Finally getting a perspective on the goings on of people like Brandon the Builder and the circumstances that led to the decision to enact such a massive civil project. The Children of the Forest and their movements across continents, the giants, etc. I say this only to remember there was a rumor that we might also get stories from the golden age of Valyria.

[@irontuzi3453]

An interesting video. I've always wondered if permanent membership also hurt the Nights Watch. If a rotation system would have worked better, so that noble houses weren't permanently sacrificing sons and other personnel to the watch.

[@ArchAngel420]

I have never clicked on a video faster Mr Geek

[@lyarrastark6254]

Another great video, Robert. Thank you.

[@Kubinda12345]

Even if your theory was correct, the Night Watch commanders in the previous 300 years should've recognized this and do some reforms. E.g. offer poor people from King's Landing a limited contract - let's say 5 years - and if they survive, the would leave as knights being knighted by one of the knights serving the Night's Watch. Instead they - including Mormont - let the Night Watch slowly rot. Starks and other Northeners also always talk about how honorable serving there is but they've also done nothing to help it reform.

[@VBall1295]

Thank you so much for this video! I was reading through the wiki recently and noticed how it said the Night's Watch was 10,000 strong DURING Aegon's Conquest. I knew the watch was that strong as some point in it's beginning and it had declined drastically, but I thought that decline was a constant throughout the watch's existence because the more time passes, the less people believe the Others are real and need to be defended against. That made sense, but I didn't understand how it apparently maintained several thousand fighting men for nearly as many years and only dropped off in the last 300 years. So again, thank you for this explanation

[@eds1942]

Before Aegon I, the Wall only had the North to call upon. When Alysanne, Jaehaerys I’s wife, travelled to the North and the Wall, she paid for a new tower to be built there and asked Jaehaerys to double the amount or farm lands for the brother of the Watch. So, I think that the decline of the Wall started with the Dance of the Dragons which bled the Realm. And from what we have seen on the show, it doesn’t look like the next King will ever hear of Aegon’s prophecy.

[@awgates85]

Even though I don't think we know a lot about Visenya, except as a historical figure, I think there is enough to suggest that she would believe in Targaryen superiority, especially of her own line, to restrict the information of the prophecy. She seems to enjoy secrecy and mystery, personality wise, she was well written to be a Reverend Mother. Once Maegor lost stability, or after being deposed, I can see her swallowing her pride for the sake of the wider family, doing her duty even if not being exactly happy about it. The tradition of only informing the heir may have started with her, even if she did not expressly state this was the case she might have implied it, and I can imagine she was not the only one who would think this way down the family tree, especially after the rebellions and civil war.

[@gerboiremoncopaing933]

Also there's the fact that the Night's Watch primary mission is to protect the Seven Kingdoms against the White Walkers, but said threat never manifested, so after some time, it is to be expected that people and realms would be less inclined to send manpower and resources to accomplish a mission that seems to be nothing but a fairytale. And even outside of that, the workings of the Night's Watch, by design, doom it to failure: you send people there, mostly loosers from a given war, forcing them to choose between death or going to the Wall, at swordpoint, this doesn't foster any kind of convictions to begin with; nowadays, mostly criminals are being sent there, it's the same thing, in fact, it's even worse, because with loosers of a war, you might think they would end up developing the conviction to protect the Wall, but with criminals? No, it's not going to happen. Secondly, and directly related to that first point, and you mentioned it, sending there people from various, and sometimes directly opposed factions to the Wall is a recipe for disaster: making an oath to forgive and forget your ancient life isn't going to curtain the feelings in the hearts of men, so how do you expect people who already lack conviction and were literally forced to take the black to work with people they are directly antagonist to? And for what? To protect the realm against a threat no one in known history has even seen or heard of? That cannot work on the long run, because at the end of the day, the Night's Watch is nothing but a dumping ground for all the indesirables of society, it's a glorified prison, nothing more, nothing else. And third point, and also related to the first one: the men who take the black are thus forbidden to ever inherit and take wife and have children, in short, you deprive them of any and all attachement, material and emotional, to the land they are supposed to give their lives to protect, this is preposperous ! Men, as demonstrated since times immemorial, will fight through hell if they have something dear to protect, this something being family most of the time, country too, but as a corrolary to family since it's where they loved ones live; by sending men to the Night's Watch, you forcefully remove them from society, you erase them from history, and brutally cut off any and all ties they could have and could ever possess, and then you expect them to fight to the death for the sake of said society who forsake them? There is no way it could ever work, it is no wonder Jon Snow finds a moribond Night's Watch upon his arrival, in fact, the real surprise comes from the fact the Night's Watch could ever survive for so long with how ridiculously flawed and ineffective it is, and how its entire function and organization runs actively contrary to the most fundamental aspects of human nature.

[@VkmSpouge]

Even at its height, I don't think a Night's Watch of 30,000 men can defeat the army of the dead. So perhaps Aegon the Conqueror is right in thinking of them as just an early warning system. Where Aegon and his successors fail is securing the borders of his kingdom. The Night's Watch can hold back Wildling raids but as their manpower decreased more Wildlings got through and wreaked havoc upon the lands of the Gift and on subjects of the Seven Kingdoms. So from a prophecy/army of the dead stand point it makes sense to largely ignore Night's Watch, as long as there are some there sending a few ravens back to King's Landing telling them about the wights it's all fine. From a regular kingdom security point of view, it's a poor decision not to help the Night's Watch because they protect the lands from raids.

[@benjaminrider6351]

The idea that a loosely organized medieval society can support a standing army of 30000 men who don't themselves have families doesn't really make sense in the first place.

[@valx7586]

It's was highly highly honourable to be a member during those days, not a punishment

[@robhuck2828]

Also, dragons

[@lockandkeyknives]

A blood Raven series would be so good!

[@cedricthomas4867]

Should get that in back drop of Egg & Dunk

[@the98themperoroftheholybri33]

I don't understand the celibacy oath they take though. Perhaps having a family gives you more of a purpose to defend the wall, and your sons could continue your tradition and become men of the night's watch. It just doesn't make sense to me to have men take oaths of celibacy without any religious intention, its not like the night's watch is some religious order

[@garychartier8365]

Also, even if there is some value in not having children, I understand it's possible to avoid having them without being celibate

[@the98themperoroftheholybri33]

@@garychartier8365 well within the universe there's a medicine which is used like a morning after pill called "moon tea", I believe this is supposed to be expensive, which is why prostitutes tend to end up having lord's kids and them paying alimony

[@rajond7881]

I believe maester aemon answers this question in both the book and show

[@the98themperoroftheholybri33]

@@rajond7881 I disagree that love is the death of duty, love is a type of duty. Apparently GRR Martin has never given or experienced unconditional love?

[@rajond7881]

@@the98themperoroftheholybri33 lol No you’re the dork who hasn’t. If you had you would know that you’d quickly betray an oath that would have you somewhere “cold, hard and mean” For a lovers touch or time with your kid

[@7dragons7swords]

Aegon: I have a dream. Visenya: What dream? Aegon: To have a dream.

[@Olifantenstaart]

18th & 19th-century penal colony Australia is the real-life Night’s Watch.

[@brandonwalker5011]

It wasn't guardian a border, wasn't a fraternal group, wasn't a military organization, didn't have a common uniform, occupied a much larger territory and generally had nothing in common. But they both sourced recruiter from prison so it's basically the same.

[@Methus3lah]

The vast influxes of new recruits could also explain why the Night’s Watch forgot about things like Valyrian Steel. With all the Night’s Watch mutinies over the years, it makes sense that things could be forgotten

[@jf_kein_k8590]

Maybe also missing the opportunity to reform the NW by, for example, giving some of the empty castles to second sons to man them as Lords.

[@naxxer-nha]

Interesting video Robert. Good lenght too

[@warrenpowers108]

ORRR George had no fkn idea he was gonna give Aegon a prophetic dream until halfway through the series 😂🤦‍♀️

[@fengusburnt]

So many problems were caused by Aegon keeping the prophecy a secret that I feel like there has to been an in canon explanation for it.

[@indoorplant2392]

Maybe he saw the wall fall, so there being a Night’s Watch maybe didn’t matter as the Wall would fall eventually when the Others would start their invasion. Maybe his main solution at the time was his dragonpower but maybe he didn’t see that they would mostly die out. Or he still saw dragons which would be Dany’s dragons

[@fengusburnt]

@@indoorplant2392 the more people there the less people would die and the better chance you’d have of winning. Especially if they knew about the prophecy. My guess is Aegon knew prophecy could be misinterpreted. This would make sense, coming from a society of Targarians. So he didn’t want to risk it getting reinterpreted a million different ways and just told his heirs.

[@Tom-mk7nd]

You're thinking in hindsight. I don't think people would believe him anyway. If a foreign conqueror invades your lands because he saw in a dream that he had to save the world, you'd just think that he's cooked. The only thing keeping people in check were the dragons.

[@TheZerech]

The whole point of unifying the realm is to negate the need for the NW as the primary force against what lays beyond the wall. If the realm is united, when the Others begin to become an undeniable threat, the King marches the combined might of Westeros north.

[@greatkhan7278]

Another recruiting source i thought would make sense is anti piracy missions into the Stepstones. They always seem to be a problem, and if not the Royal Fleet, then smaller ships manned by the Nights Watch, or Northerners to start with. Captured pirates, being outlaws and - mostly - not Westerosi citizens i should think would make for a steady supply of black brothers. Plus. its a win win for the crown & the Free Cities and the Nights Watch. With slavery being so despised in Westeros id think youd get a few people willing to go and capture slavers and free slaves - also a win win - some of whom might decide to join in the hunt, as a bit of revenge.

[@burntorangehorn]

The dream idea came from George, but so did the point that book and show canons are distinct. The dream isn't book canon until there's a textual basis, no?

[@jamesleonard2870]

Great video sir 🌊🌊🌊🏄‍♀️🏄‍♂️

[@shawnwilt7196]

The true thing that destroyed the Nights Watch are two things: 1) NOT making service at the wall manditory for some percentage of the entire population. No exceptions. 2) The oath helped kill it. The watch has a HUGE chunk of land that could have been populated by the families of the men in the watch. Not letting the men of the watch have families completely wipes out the possibility of generational service. Men that have wives and families will raise them to honor the Watch and he will fight harder to protect them. Service not being manditory and the oath helped ruin the Watch as well.

[@BigBoss-xr8dg]

Excellence as usual

[@TheAnon03]

More likely, he may simply not have thought the peace would go on to harm them. Prophecies don't tend to focus on things like centuries long economic, demographic, social and cultural shifts.

[@MattLTT]

Isn't there a theory that Aegon's dream was written down and that Rhaegar read it, which caused him to change and seek out Lyanna?

[@Thunderous333]

I am once again writing to see if we'll ever get the Robert's Rebellion series back, probably worthless to try.

[@mds2519]

another question which begs itself, concerning the prophecy and why so few knew of it, why werent there more Targaryens at the start of the conquest? it seems like Aegon, Visenya and Rhaenys act like sort of Adam and Eve(s) for the Targaryen family, there are no Targaryens that descend from someone else. why didnt Aegon have any cousins?

[@wilunderwood69]

Hi Robert, This is Everyone.

[@Aarenzarifa3772]

Me: going over to make sure Shad is okay.

[@chemputer]

Bloodraven may have had enemies when he arrived, sure, but given that he came with the Raven's Teeth and eventually rose to Lord Commander, he clearly gained the respect of the majority. Fear, love, one way or another he had enough respect to win the election. Assuming he wasn't mucking around with his own election.

[@evanhayes5891]

Please bring back the playlist that covers the events leading up to Robert's Rebellion!

[@game_jinx]

thx idg 🎉🎉

[@slowjoe-i5s]

Brilliant!

[@ruigerd]

Westeros in deep!

[@dancekeb1308]

Well argued, Robert.

[@christinestevenson4304]

This is such an interesting video! I never really thought about why the wall became so poorly manned. Wonderfully done!

[@Joe-ft4qm]

I always heard you say you covered things besides LOTR, but I never thought I would love to see it

[@KainBooks]

Maybe a secret encouragement among lords to produce bastards at a high rate would've helped the numbers.

[@saraa.4295]

You touch on it a bit in this, but a comparison between peace before the targaryens and after the conquest could be interesting.. In a way, we know there was more war before it, mainly landgrabs for desputed terrotory and supremacy within a region. However these wars were smaller scale, and fought on land both sides wanted, so strategies of burnt earth was probably rather rare. On the other hand the wars of succession or wars with the faith were wars of annihilation, where ends justified all means, and fought between armys often far from home, with no bonds to the lands and people cought in the middle. War is hell, but i imagine the post conquest wars to be a deeper level of hell than the wars before.

[@Pomerank420]

We know that dreams can be altered by people using glass candles. So it is also possible that the dream was not sent to him as a warning but more like a tool to manipulate him. We dont know who sent the dream to him it could be some dark sorcerer who knew where it would lead.

[@larryroberts3598]

For the Watch and the Lord Commander!

[@apacalypsagon3758]

I guess in a way Tyrion donating 100 spades to the watch contributed more than what aegon ever did that's for sure.

[@cadewilliams3857]

I had an unrelated thought that I wanted to share with someone. After watching season 2 of HoTD we see the bed made of werewood trees and how it affects Daemon. Is it possible that anyone in our main story could be affected be the more magical part of Harenhell. The thought originally really excited me because I thought of Tywin in Harenhell and what he could have possibly seen and then I remembered it was actually Roose Bolton holding Harenhell. Anyway I would love to hear any thoughts

[@maxsalmon4980]

Or maybe Arya's got this. Everyone else can chillax.

[@Baelor-Breakspear]

Not telling other lords about Aegons dream wasn’t an oversight. Would they believe him, would they think it’s just a dream or would they think Aegon used this “dream” as justification to conquer their land. He didn’t tell them because the other lords because I would’ve been dumb to tell them

[@JimRFF]

Seems kind of irrelevant to me? Like... who cares if the lords of Westeros think Aegon is schizophrenic, they all know he also has three dragons. They would have done whatever he told them to do, or they would have ceased to exist, whether or not they thought it was a good idea or dumb

[@jalugames1435]

Friendly reminder most rangers of the nights watch went through more actual combat and survival situations than most famous knight’s. Furthermore if y’all know what the French foreign legion is it is a good analogy

[@AzulaFarum]

The more I watch this channel the more I think the showrunners HAD to sabotage the end of the show because Martin hadn't finished the books and didn't want to give away the ending. Why read a million-page saga when you can just watch the show and they'd be the same?

[@DudeManDude-ot5fv]

If I was in charge of the night's watch I would have made it temporary for volunteers. Some would stay while others would leave and tell the the stories to others which could get more volunteers.

[@theo-dr2dz]

The night's watch as written really offers no incentive to join. It's tedious service in a remote backwater, celibate and for life. It is really only attractive for nobles that have irreparably fallen from grace and condemned criminals that would otherwise get the death penalty. Of course the night's watch is modelled after real world crusading orders, like the templars and the hospitallers. Their members were monks, so they were celibate and served for life. The big difference is that the crusading orders did have very real incentives: the certainty of heaven and also the Holy Land was rich. There was a lot to gain there, even for monks. Monks take a vow of poverty, which means they can't own anything _individually_ , but the order as a _collective_ can own a lot of wealth. So it could be a pretty comfortable way of life. Much different from the spartan existence on the Wall.

[@ZealouswolfNZ]

Hi Robert!

[@skynyrdjesus]

I dont know why it never occured to me before, but I now desperately want an edit of Jack Nicholson in furs giving his A Few Good Men "You want me on that Wall" speech to one of the courts in Kings Landing. I feel like there has to be a good clip of Robert or Ned asking for the truth and looking either dumbfounded or pensive enough to make it work, but there isnt a fiber of my being with half a clue how to edit

[@paulsarnik8506]

I don't wanna even THINK about if Rorge and Biter had made it😮 🤓😎✌🏻

[@TheWhiteDragon3]

Okay, so hear me out. If some of the show lore can be believed to be book lore that hasn't dropped yet, and if the Night King/Great Other can be believed to be a powerful greenseer, what if Aegon's dream was a plant by the Night King/Great Other to weaken the realm in a way that no individual lord of the realm or maester could ever predict in their time.

[@andrewhasonenut5869]

wow 7 seconds ago and i dont have notifications on... must be fate lol. fr tho love your videos

[@BojackHorseman0098]

Didn't mention the faith militant. Sending hundreds of not just deposed knights but radical faith militants to the wall all together was massive blunder. And the rebellion they started needed the Stark's to end, and led the loss of the lords brother, permanently straining relations with the Targaryens. If you wanna go full PJ you can even say this might be part of the reason the north really draged its feet during the dance of the dragons.

[@lipingrahman6648]

The night’s watch was simply unnecessary. He saw that the wolf girl with a knife would do.

[@nisseheim4996]

I wonder if there's a video to be made regarding how the faith of the seven viewed the long night and the others. The defense of the people of the faith from an ancient, dark evil would be something to be taken seriously.. or at the very least used in religious messaging.

[@mementomori771]

Im super early so ill ask if you'll ever cover Turin hes my favorite character in middle earth and i think the children of Hurin need more coverage in the modern fandom

[@chaseaphrodite3398]

Aegon probably saw Daenerys, as she is Azor Ahai/PtwP. So he thought it would be his son with Balerion saving the day. At that point, the Night's Watch was still in a good state. Then we jump to Jaehaerys, that gave the New Gift to the Watch. But still, not overly concerned. Viserys was useless. After the Dance, the prophecy was lost.

[@SelphieTheNutter]

I'm about to be picky again. First though, the video is very good, thanks Robert. But i feel the urge to poke a hole in your interpretation that the Nights Watch was once self-sustaining. They were never self-sustaining because they took oaths to not have a family. They had always been dependent on volunteers, not dependent on raising a new generation to man the wall like the kingdoms of Westeros, raised the next generation of rulers. That oath prevented them from ever being self-sustaining, and the consequences of it became apparent after Aegon's Conquest.

[@saraa.4295]

I think he meant selfsubstaining in food, weapons, clothes, money... They could live on the taxes and incomes of the gift, buy or trade for what they needed with other lord's as equals. When they came into a lord's house they came in splendir, which made it a good option for a younger son.. Now they come as beggars, are forced to send lowborn brothers..which makes. It a very unnatrackive option for any noble...

[@King-CosmoAlpha1]

I find it funny how the iron throne was formed to unite the seven kingdoms but instead of standing together even after being conquered, there was still conflict between the kingdoms and even inside House Targaryen themselves, I’m pretty sure all this will come back to bite everyone in the future when the long night begins, which will be much worse than it was shown in the tv series.

[@rutherfordpendleton9270]

Aegon's dream being a GRRM idea makes me very unhappy.

[@dakotalange2858]

What if Alistor Thorne was with Jon at hardhome instead of Ed as it would be way better that the lord commander and first ranger are there to broke peace (even though Thorne will kinda still be an ass) this would allow Thorne to see the dead and the mutiny would not happen, (and he wasn’t even part of it in the book), ut let’s just say he still gets stabbed by others who weren’t there, it junk there is a chance he could convince the nights watch wildling to fight together in the battle of the bastards as Ramsey is threatening to butcher them all (and should be illegal but not sure) and he’d have another seasoned commander to help him. I find this kinda funny for 1 reason house Thorne are Targaryen loyalist and Jon is a Targaryen it’d be funny as 💩 to see Thornes reaction when he finds out 😂

[@robertsmiley2207]

I seriously doubt it those dragons 🐉 always seem to malfunction at the wall 🧱

[@longtabsigo]

I wonder if the Northman, or regular, non criminal subjects had only had to swear 5-10 years in the black if that could have increased the numbers. Those “forced” to take the black should have been offered a “retirement” in the gift at age, say 50 or 55. Even non criminals, who served to 55 could have been given land in the “gift” and they would have been great recruiters as landless, pennyless, no ones would have an opportunity to “own land”. They could have cultivated it and sold the crops & livestock to the Wall. They still had time to have a few kids who would have then inherited that land and the second/third kid could take the black and add to the family’s land holdings.

[@thelateescapist8266]

I think the long absence of the Others and the dominance of the faith of the seven contributed to the decline of the Night's Watch more than any policies of the Targaryens. The faith of the seven does not acknowledge the existence of the Others. And as most of the Andal lords of the south hold to the faith of the seven, very few of them support or revere The Watch. While the first men houses who honor the old gods are still staunch supporters of The Watch. Even those based outside the North such as house Royce. However even the support of first men lords has significantly waned overtime due to the lack of catastrophic threats emerging from beyond The Wall.

[@viperswhip]

There were enough rebellions and so on that he could have kept the Wall strong, but they didn't seem to prioritize sending their defeated foes to there. Why weren't Vic co. sent to the Night's Watch? Ninepenny Kings, the Kingswood Brotherhood? All of those are recent. Why didn't they make some of the stewards farmers to farm the Gift?

[@Valerianqelbri]

It really doesn’t matter that the wall had a garrison of 10-30k men if none of them had the weapons to fight the white walkers. As far as I know the knowledge of the real value of Valyrian steel and dragonglass seems to be completely forgotten by the NW by the time of GOT. I don’t know when this knowledge was lost, but I suspect if the NW knew of the value long ago, I suspect they would have had stockpiles of dragonglass spears and arrows in every fort? If they did, the current nights watch would probably have wondered why they did, and so logically the knowledge would never had been lost. If they didn’t have it stockpiled and were only armed with normal steel, then 10 000 or 30 000 men would have mattered little in the end. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@saraa.4295]

Counterargument: in order for house Targaryen to save the realm the nightwatch HAD to decline! Let me make my argument: it is heavily hinted, that saving the realm from the others will require a peace or a truce. And it will also probably require a prace with the free folk. If the nightwatch were on full strength they would not have negotiated with the free folk, so at the time of attack ALL of them would be wights. Which would probably lead to a battle where all the nightwatch end up being wights..so over 100'000 traned ive wights marching south...even with dragons, there would be nothing left in westeros

[@culpkangafanatic]

Hi Robert, sorry if this is off topic, but did elves have restrictions on having children? Were only certain elves allowed? Love your videos!

[@flamebreaker4340]

A littel problem their, the night watch in their froming the members can marry, but after the 13 commander ,they got reformed to not marry. This name got cut out from history.

[@garychartier8365]

Branden Stark

[@sirdash7365]

Robert...Robert Baratheon, its the usurper

[@PatrickOMulligan]

When will you do Elric lore?

[@baswar]

It does seem odd that aegon rulled relatively peaceful for 20 years and didn't do much about the watch. Like one of the flaws of china's frontier wall garrisons (well they never had one ling wall but thats not important here) were often made up of convicts (especially the eastern han) which proofed well not great ... they kept mutinying for one and weren't exactly motivated to defend the empire that exiled them there in first place

[@cedricthomas4867]

Danys the dreamer had a dream …..

[@PhilHibbs]

I don’t get it. I’d think it would result in more people going to the wall. BC, the watch would get people that were disloyal to their local king. AC, you get them, plus people disloyal to the Targaryen crown. Two lords go to war BC, nobody goes to the wall. AC, two lords in conflict could end up with a bunch of their people at the wall, on the king’s orders.

[@saadude96]

How different the story would've been if aegon dreamt of the grey waste in the east and not the wall