Principles of castle design, Honorguard epic tour and analysis

[@truslew8089]

One does not simply walk into Honorguard.

[@shadiversity]

Lol, oh man this was the best, well done sir, well done.

[@CalebRichardsChannel]

Mount Doom needed some drawbridges and portcullises.

[@Alpha.Phenix]

The one castle to rule them all...

[@peasant8246]

Well memed good sir!

[@aramere3650]

Shadiversity if you don’t write this into the book, I will be sorely dissatisfied.

[@NexusAkayuki]

Dude, I just sat through 45 minutes of a guy lecturing me about the layout of a fictional castle, and by the end of it I was legit mad there wasn't MORE.............. I loved this so much hhhhhh

[@majorpayne9508]

Yea kinda felt the same way but now I'm just trying to make a castle in any game now, thanks shad for your enthusiasm about castles and medevil stuff.

[@MrTaktic121]

🤔 Might try making this in conan

[@Sire.English]

Its that you said the time of the video was 45m. I was just watching and thought it was a 15m Video and went through the commente out of random. Talk about a documentary :P

[@seanhaney8748]

He does all sorts of castle analysis. Check out his other videos. I love castles as well.

[@diamonddog257]

i'm a canadian engineer in mexico ; building a castle, in mountains, with a fairy-tale style..... [ cinder blocks, and mex are a bargain ] - seeing if dum-dum here, knows anything i do not.........

[@Nitram4392]

If I run a dnd game again I'm going to include a architect named Shad, who's dream is to design a castle someday.

[@SongbirdGaming]

In my fantasy work in progress most castle design and building is done by dwarves. Im going to name the most famous dwarven architect of all time Shad or a variation of that name, in honor of this video.

[@fratguide9835]

I’ve got Honourgard the Keep of Viscount Shad the Shatterer in the far north of my world and it kinda looks like this

[@colboy1fish]

No, make Shad, the talented swordman.

[@willemiam1387]

Who always wears gambeson

[@navidryanrouf441]

Do you have a map of this castle made?

[@connerreid3579]

As an architect who has used SketchUp professionally, I shudder to think of what the Components window for this model must look like, not to mention trying to use the Follow Me tool to get those walls in the right spots. This would take a 2-3 person team something like two weeks, working full-time, to get modeled at this level of detail. Hats off to you for the dedication and labor. Really impressive work!

[@BlackEpyon]

This is what happens when somebody runs a channel that features reviews and critiques on the pros and cons of various castle designs. Internet moron: "Oh yeah? If you're so smart, why don't you make a better one?" Shad: "Alright then, I will!"

[@Hello-og]

I read that in his voice!

[@BlackEpyon]

@@Hello-og I was actually thinking Buzz Lightyear, but Shad works too.

[@LoneWolf20213]

now we need him to make his own medieval town surrounding this with all his castle, who else wants to see that

[@Fallout_New_Vegas]

Me

[@ReformedSauron]

Definitely.

[@coyotedreaming]

Yes, please!

[@g1jetfireandrainbowdash798]

Indeed

[@amehak1922]

Omg yes!

[@JarateHunter]

14:15 - "Headphone Warning" Oh of course, thank you. *puts headphones on*

[@cruzivanperales7405]

dude... didnt the jaws theme give you an idea?

[@andyknightwarden9746]

Shad's Winterfell: You need 10,000 men to man it. Honorguard: You best be prepared to sacrifice 10,000 men for every section you take.

[@ultralight9625]

A keep is nothing more than a massive force multiplier from a statical analysis.

[@harrymu148]

Now I'm just curious as to what would happen if they were two border fortresses that has decades of skirmishes between them.

[@JeremieThe]

​@@harrymu148 Just look at the history between the Italian cities of Bologna and Modena.

[@comrade_marshal]

Okay lads, we cannot breach the gate houses like that or the zwingers will get us. George, get those cannons in place, they need tons of stones for their graves. Move your asses everyone

[@King.Leonidas]

@@comrade_marshal this castle would be hard to siege even with cannons

[@panzerlamb9196]

In this keep, every day is leg day.

[@mansoorhameed7075]

lmao

[@Squirrelanditsnutz]

I’m a simple man. I see leg day meme, I upvote leg day meme.

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

I feel like that applies to most heavily fortified keeps honestly

[@BetImRight]

-Dying Laughing-

[@MrBlack0950]

Never skip leg day

[@tyrant-den884]

We need to get this guy working on a Castle Tycoon game.

[@KingBobXVI]

Stronghold (the original) is one of the best medieval RTS games! Definitely the best for actually designing castles and fortresses!

[@somerton4383]

Then there's age of empires 2...*facepalm*

[@TheWampam]

Stronghold is shit when it comes to designing castles or giving you the feeling of having one...

[@peeblekitty5780]

ohmygodyes someone get Shad up with a game developer, this needs to happen it would be such a cool game

[@Oxxyjoe]

Medieval Engineers is a game which allows you to build a trebuchet and a castle. grinding for resources is a bother, but it's one to look at

[@CT034]

I appreciate where you located your granaries. While people would have a point about locating them against your inner bailey wall if they were smaller, the central location has another couple points of merit. Acts of war aside, pests and moisture are problems for any food store. Having your granaries located exposed, across an open area and elevated makes them less accessible to pests such as rodents. The exposed location also keeps the structure from getting too humid from being next to a wall which would block air circulation around the building. Granaries are also one of the first places you would think to sabotage the strength of any enemy's fortified holdout. Your granaries are easily monitored by any of a large number of sentry locations and there are no particularly advantageous approaches to them for a saboteur to use.

[@jonomoth2581]

Large quantities of dry grain and grain/flour dust is also very flammable. There are several accounts of real castles surrendering after someone on the inside was bribed to set a match to the granary

[@solarsailer4166]

I would imagine that several cats were very useful in keeping rodents at bay. 24 hour vermin patrol. If rats become a problem, dogs are quite handy, I speak from personal experience on a farm.

[@Foxglove963]

@@solarsailer4166 You are correct. There is written evidence the Princes of Wales held cats to be prized possessions in protecting their granary from rodents.

[@maxdecphoenix]

@@solarsailer4166 chickens as well. Chickens themselves are omnivores and have a broader diet than cats. Eating all manner of fibrous plant, insect, rodent, reptile or amphibian. A particularly large rat may give them trouble, but i've seen them team up to take one down. But things like roaches, flies, weevils, frogs, etc would be free game. The one drawback of using chickens as pest prevention is that they are diurnal, making them almost entirely inactive and passive at night.

[@Strellok100]

If I ever become a billionaire I'm hiring Shad to construct md a castle.

[@g1jetfireandrainbowdash798]

I too would want this, only addition being a bunker under said castle.

[@VincentGonzalezVeg]

@@g1jetfireandrainbowdash798 winter is coming 10 years dungeon Honestly for a survival shelter it would need to be pretty big, like big enough to feel like outside, like how basketball gyms can feel like that

[@quakxy_dukx]

Take a castle design like this and modify it a bit to be more efficient with modern building materials like concrete and steel

[@Cyph3rHaxPalm]

you don't need billion of dollars, you just need to use your own head & design your own castle as the way you like it! Because billion dollars won't be enough for you to make all the changes you originally come up with! Changes cost more money than the original design :(

[@marcelm.2848]

Same

[@laugesolvang8849]

Tower highest rooms 25:05 - tower and feature window 27:25 - Ballroom - 30:24 - Bedrooms 32:43 - Donjon rooms 32:53 - Living rooms 33:33 - Public space 35:08 - Donjon room 36:46 - Servants rooms 37:52 - Basement 39:19 - Undercroft 41:30

[@goodgirlvhagar]

You sir are a hero. Your tale will be told through the annals of history

[@iansullivan9738]

He would be the best and worst person to play Minecraft with.

[@arowan8170]

or medieval engineers...

[@mxri2019]

Reminds me of me tbh. All I do is make fantasy stuff and 70% castles

[@paddlesaddlelad1881]

my recommendations thought this is a minecraft video

[@alexmorrison3442]

Watching this video specifically for minecraft architecture.

[@SininStyle]

@@alexmorrison3442 Was just thinking I wish I had more free time, I would love to build this in minecraft. Havent touched minecraft in so long, this is so tempting.

[@slightlytwistedagain]

As a plumber I'm well impressed with the effort to have proper water storage and sanitation, it's such a simple thing that many game developers simply ignore to install.

[@johnchalinder6682]

Game designers have a delicate balancing act... On one hand, there is the desire for extreme detail... On the other hand, there is gameplay; keeping the game fast and exciting. Too many details can slow down a game. Where you draw the line between detail and gameplay is, of course, up to the sensibilities of those playing the game; and can vary widely.

[@rollingthunder1043]

Also the desire to not have the player's gaming device of choice burst into flame when you load into a detailed cell.

[@jakobschoning7355]

There is no well there, though. Or did I miss something?

[@TheRojo387]

Pressure is key here. Without it, the plumbing system simply can't deliver its water supply between its ducts. And it turns out, many medieval (and ancient) aqueduct systems lacked proper sanitation, as we know from archaeological info from the Roman republic.

[@mennograafmans1595]

Just look at skyrim. The only places with 'toilets' are Solitude and some banditcamps where they put a bucket somewhere secluded and laid the 'Lusty Argonian Maid' next to it for reasons.

[@topperman6]

37:15 Keep-Builder:"There is no access inside the keep itself, from these battlements." Rogue: **Shatters window**

[@Hello-og]

Easily solved by 'pushing' those battlements out 30ft or so and planting a garden in the newly created space (just don't plant trees).

[@TheAtkey]

Yeah I noticed that weakness, an oversight by Shad or an intentional flaw?

[@BulletsNBrass]

@@TheAtkey I assumed those internal dividers in the windows are metal and tough enough to be impractical for the average fighting man to get through in armor without taking so long and being so likely to get stuck that a child with a kitchen knife could defend it. But yeah, same thought in terms of a potential weakness. I'd probably set it up so you can seal doors to those areas from outside the room so someone who gets in then has to get through another door. Hopefully by then you've gotten some defenders in place.

[@mesiagamer5217]

Guard: **shoots Rogue as they get stuck.**

[@shok24199]

Or, you know, you could just not have giant windows there. Maybe a few murder slits for archers to fire out onto the battlements.

[@SRFriso94]

I can see one benefit of living there: just by virtue of being there, you get no chance to skip leg day.

[@justacommentercommenting]

leg day everyday

[@donflamingo795]

Even the princess get legs day everyday.

[@DanteYewToob]

"We have an ARMY!" ... "We have a Shad."

[@aramere3650]

danteelite we have MACHICOLATIONS!!!!

[@jamesgarlick4573]

But what about Dragons?

[@tamurkhawaja7279]

@Jeremy G. Rainthong We have Ser Twenty of House Goodmen stationed at Bolton HQ

[@qwuiet8420]

yeah .... shadman...

[@XDKvlogs]

The Value of a good Shad can change the tide of any war

[@ThisWasWhatIThought]

If this is just a lords castle; I can’t wait to see the kings castle.

[@kasperjocker]

That would be Shads take on Winterfell.

[@Throku]

Lord is a catch all title, from the honourary courtesy of adressing someone "my lord", all the way to the Lord, as in God. As such it's not a descriptive term either and King or not any owner is lord of their castle(s). What I'm saying is that if thay are the lord of a castle, then they have some other title as well which no doubt will give you some better hint to what kind of castle you'd expect them to have.

[@Throku]

@@adfkzaha24 Good grief. There really is no hope for humanity is there?

[@trentonios6024]

@@Throku I will say lord is an actual title in a monarchy, however it is true that most nobility are referred to by lowborn as "my lord", unless you were a knight which you were referred to as sir. But if you were a Baron to King a peasant or servant would refer to you as my lord, or sometimes "my liege".

[@Throku]

@@trentonios6024 No Lord is not a title in any monachy, it's something anyone get's to label themselves as that has any other title, A Lord is anyone with an award, grant or patent of arms, and that means pretty much anyone that¨'s born in a nobel family. Be they mere knight, or Marquee, or Duke, or just the cousin¨'s nephew of either of the latter.

[@Adam_okaay]

I'm doing rewatch of old shadiversity episodes and I just gotta say in love all the sheer number of kite shields in the castle.

[@nickverbree]

As a former soldier, I was entirely unsurprised when you said that the soldier's mess was right on top of the stable. Some general would have insisted on putting the troops where it stinks.

[@bjornarmar2462]

At least it wasn't above the shit pit ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@1Mutton1]

stables dont actually stink. Being close to work is more handy I think.

[@clymdodds1020]

But isn’t it also right next to the pub?

[@AllNiin]

The reason is simple: dont let it stink or every single other soldier will asks who the fuck is the one that was responsible for cleaning the stables Do a poor job at it and well you just have to deal with the garrison

[@shok24199]

What Mutton said. Also, if it doubles as the Inn, visitors can stable their horses then go to their rooms without going outside in winter.

[@ZendikarMage42750]

I could honestly watch a full series about this castle alone; can't wait to hear more about it!

[@ElDavo9000]

Next episode: the moat of Honorguard and the Honorcarp therin

[@casimiriii5941]

David Cox don't forget the killing fields. 😆😆😆

[@terapode]

Yeah... me too!!

[@jamesbernadette6216]

You do mean; can't wait to *read* more about it? ;)

[@ZacksRockingLifestyle]

Me too!

[@akaviral5476]

"Shad's First Word.. A Story" "Shad: Muh..mmm.. Shad's Mother: Oh my God, he's gonna say ma! He loves me! Shad, though more determined: Ma..maaa..maachhicolations! Shad's Mother: ???? Shad: DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND, MOTHER. MACHICOLATIONS. THEY ARE CREATION ITSELF." To be continued...

[@mayalackman7581]

Aidan Piwnicki 😄😄😄😄😄

[@mattaffenit9898]

Aidan Piwnicki 😆

[@mattaffenit9898]

Aidan Piwnicki It turns out MACHICOLATIONS are the source of all life.

[@darkrite9000]

Simply glorious (makes me wonder if a child's first word, or one of them, is that then how angry would the mother be at the father, haha).

[@sambeaty4210]

@@mattaffenit9898 Machicolations are the powerhouse of the castle

[@bladewolfvii6383]

"Zwinger" roughly translates to enforcer or cage, in case you'd prefer an english wording for it. The word Zwinger has also been used for attack dog cages.

[@Palocles]

It’s also used to refer to people who put their car keys into a bowl when they go to parties.

[@ElggNamba]

Zwinger = a kennel (roughly translated). a cage where you keep your dog e.g.

[@MegaOotje]

Zwinger in terms of fortress building is the German word for bastion, the extruding part of a polygonal (star) fortress. In Shad castle this part of the wall sticks out but does not function as a bastion: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4KqaJyMlquGfdU

[@kargaroc386]

If this word survived in english it might be something like "twinger"

[@kargaroc386]

or maybe "thwinger" (th-wing-er /θwɪŋɚ/) but idk I'm not a linguist the proto-west-germanic word was þwingan + er (or, thwinger, I guess) apparently the old frisian word was thwinga (thwinger), and old frisian was probably mutually intelligible with old english. someone who knows the sound changes from PWG to english would need to figure it out. but that person's not me, and we'll probably never know.

[@justrobin8155]

The fact that you have some background in construction explains a lot. Thanks for this! I'll be saving it to check my work when I design castles for RPGs.

[@rossgirven5163]

Wow. To break into this castle you are really put through the zwinger

[@JoeDonleyWrittenWord]

I scrolled down specifically to look for this comment.

[@faytbouleouve9811]

I see a major weakness to Shad's impregnable castle. Plug up the toiletries drainage system.

[@noahtackett6264]

@Backstage Bum you never know what secret passageways would be in there

[@JonatasAdoM]

@@noahtackett6264 Any passage out also works in. Even secret aqueducts were found and blocked/poisoned.

[@dr.spaghetti1973]

Backstage Bum Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the burning birds thing was from some Kievan Queen, who’s also known for locking some dignitaries in a burning building. Still, the use of disease is a good idea, and knocking down the Don-Jon (if that’s how you spell it) with trebuchets and/or catapults could cause extensive damage to the keep and it’s food stores.

[@pahlavi5312]

When I got into this video, I thought: 45 minutes? That's a long one. 45 minutes later: It's over?? Time flies when you're having fun :)

[@MarkChilcote]

It was the same for me!!!

[@ryanm9566]

This is... mind-blowing. The amount of engineering and architectural consideration that went into this is insane. Downright impressive mate.

[@LarryGarfieldCrell]

This was the nerdiest 45 minutes I've spent this year, and that's saying something! Nice work, Shad. I'd love to see it rendered in an FPS engine so we could walk through it.

[@Conserpov]

Just 45 minutes? I had to pause and rewind back and forth to examine it for ~2 hours

[@lukasschrage8935]

As a German and fan of medieval history as well as your content, I am glad you added the Zwinger. Also: False floors? Man and I thought this castle couldn't get any more awesome!

[@torjones1701]

Can you please make a video on your design process? Did you start on the inside and work your way out, or with the outer walls and work your way in? How did you decide what rooms you wanted and which ones you didn't need in your castle?

[@TheWampam]

From my experience working inside to outside is the easier one since you can first design the rooms you need and than build the castle around it. While doing it the other way I got many problems with using all the room I got or having not enough room in other places. (i.e for staircases)

[@PadraicSmith]

The sheer amount of thought and detail you've put into this castle is utterly staggering. I can barely keep up with the nuances and particulars of your design it's incredible.

[@roninanbu.]

nobody: Shad: 3 drawbridges, 8 portcullises, a zwinger, and a warwolf equivalent, just to be safe.

[@bjornarmar2462]

Bruh I don't even have a home-defense shotgun yet. Need Shad in my life.

[@MaxenceBerrier]

@@bjornarmar2462 do u americans really need a home defense shotgun that bad ?

[@bjornarmar2462]

Maxence yes. Minimum.

[@thethirdsicily4802]

@@MaxenceBerrier at minimum your average american needs at least 2 home defense shotguns

[@MilitaryHistory1]

oh and we will make the final gate out of steel

[@AsserKortteenniemi]

I can't help but admire the level of love, dedication, thought and detail you've put into this design. Absolutely brilliant. If i were to build myself a castle, I would definetly hire you to be one of the designers.

[@onatgz]

i love how the shields in the guard rooms have your coat of arms lol.

[@jonnya6107]

The word "Epic" is lost on this design. I love it! Double Ultra Legendary! Awesome work Shad!

[@keiyakins]

I like the sort of 'hard fantasy' stylings here. It's a functional, practical castle, with a couple embellishments to look awesome. That's honestly what we probably would have built had we gotten a bit more architecture practice under our belt before artillery obsoleted most medieval fortifications

[@flowenfan9678]

In the end of the day, our ability to build will always be matched by our ability to knock shit down.

[@kargaroc386]

I mean, nowadays something the size of a fridge can turn anything within a mile of it into high energy plasma, its so lopsided in favor of the attackers its not funny. The attackers generally have entropy on their side.

[@jakestone7854]

just had to say a thumbs up to having all the stairs go the correct direction. People don't realize the direction of the stairs was also a defensive measure. the only time the direction was reversed was if the defensive direction was down, which was rare. Makes it so when you are attacking vs. defending it would be difficult to strike the opponent seeing as most people are right handed. I think this is one reason why they demonized left handed people.

[@NickGreyden]

It was what bothered me about the zwinger. It turns the wrong way lol

[@DavidPokora]

@@NickGreyden it does not matter there, it is so wide that you can swing a sword none the less

[@goldflame3390]

I really do not think the common perception of right and left handed people is caused by the direction of the staircase. The right hand/left hand superstition is responsible for the assumption that all soldiers are right handed.

[@adamblakeslee5301]

If there's one flaw in the neigh perfect defense of Honorguard it's the first and third gatehouses. Note, that's one flaw because it's only a weakpoint when taken in tandem. The first gatehouse is low enough that you could use siege engines to get on top of it. Not easily, mind, since you're going to need something like a 5 story siege tower with a 20 foot gangplank. After that you could batter down the door to the 3rd gatehouse or use siege ladders to get on top of it. Granted, you're still piling up the corpses of your comrades to use for cover against two flanking towers but it brings the difficulty from "Haha, no." to "You want to spend HOW MANY men?"

[@keithstone8693]

This is still one of my very favorite Shad Vids. I return to it all the time. It's like ASMR for me lol

[@MNfishes]

I can't wait to read your book.

[@AD-hr8sg]

For the servant's entrance room with the false floor, you need to make the interior door flush to the inside walls of the false floor room. With the current design as seen in 38:45, if a considerably large army somehow managed to breach the bailey and siege the keep (and more than likely they'd bust down the servant's quarter's door first), then the first few sorry sods would certainly fall to their demise, but it wouldn't be too difficult for an army with siege equipment and siege engineers to take planks and build a makeshift bridge to the stone lip of the 2nd interior door. At which point, the servant's quarters once again becomes an area of defensive compromise. This potential problem could be absolved by simply making the interior doors flush against the wall, thus eliminating that lip.

[@TheDrewker]

Could be *solved. Not sure why you added the "ab"

[@goobins_jr]

Drew Kosonen does it matter that much?

[@rikwelgraaf601]

So your castle is impenetrable?....BUT WHAT ABOUT DRAGONS?!!!!

[@drspartan048]

"Curiosities on the far side of the world are no threat to us."

[@eldrago19]

Yeah. That was my response after hearing his comments on catapults.

[@thejohnhopkinscompany9599]

Ask Black Harren.

[@rikwelgraaf601]

@Backstage Bum so true

[@francreeps4509]

And witches flying on brooms, fairies, harpies, and basically anything that can fly

[@terezak860]

I was working as a guide in the museum placed in former castle, one of my responsibilities was open and close tower. When you are closing tower, you need to go all the way up (to look for visitors) and let me tell you, stairs at the medieval towers are uneven, narrow nightmares. I admire our ancestors to function in these structures on baily basis.

[@georgiishmakov9588]

That's on purpose. One errant twitch and the whole enemy assault party is rolling down Family Guy style.

[@luisaymerich9675]

This is the third time I come across uneven stairs used as a defensive feature. There was a KZbin short describing this feature. Many of the people in the comment section disputed the creator's argument that uneven stairs were done deliberately. I commented that the original fortification of the governor's mansion in the city of San Juan in Puerto Rico included uneven stairs in the oldest towers. To take a tour of the mansion one has to sign a release from liability in case someone trips during the tour.

[@kargaroc386]

While they may have thought of it as a defense feature after it was built, it likely wasn't intentional. Things were just built weird and wonky back then. Those who lived there would've gotten used to it and it would've been second nature to them.

[@CommandLineVulpine]

I'd hate to be a servant there, I'd get lost in the Keep for sure "What do you mean there's no access from here to there?!"

[@GaborSzabo747]

I'm wondering how many keys this castle needs to operate :)

[@lvd8122]

Lance Elliott id love it, but only because I really enjoy climbing:D

[@Amokra]

Lance Elliott you should see aircraft carriers the bulkhead makes you have to go up and down to get to different sections 😃

[@The214thRabidFangirl]

Amokra Aircraft carriers is exactly where my brain went when I read the first comment.

[@elvinadhludhlu5380]

Gabor Szabo - Mannny

[@techwizpc4484]

Export this castle to Unity and do a first person walkthrough.

[@koat1877]

Was going to say the same, or one of the elder scroll games.

[@lonestarwolfentertainment7184]

Koa T Honorguard would fit in quite well in High Rock

[@demoulius1529]

@@shalvaquthelia8414 you got my vote. How many do you need? D:

[@ulrichleukam1068]

@@shalvaquthelia8414 did you make it? please DM me

[@Niloc_]

@@shalvaquthelia8414 did you? :)

[@carbon1255]

I know you are not a climbing expert, but castles were likely rendered with plaster because they are very easy to climb. You might think a sheer wall would be enough, but only a few millilitres is needed for an effective hold. Not only that, but plaster waterproofs a castle wall, and prevents freeze cracks, from water in the brickwork freezing and cracking the stone and mortar. Also, without plaster, a castle would need repointing every few years else ANYONE could climb it. Certainly weather causes a lot of damage to buildings if the temperature goes below 4*c which iirc is the temperature water begins to expand again. Seriously, please don't dismiss out of hand the defensive properties of plastered walls. My fiancee actually showed me how easy the walls on castles are to climb, she climbed halfway up Conwy castle's wall with no difficulty and no difficulty ahead (no climbing chalk or mat with us so it was too dangerous to go all the way up... and we did not have permission) And the wall we picked was no slouch either, it was a well restored piece of wall. I will also say even a perfect wall will be very vulnerable where towers meet the walls. if there is anything like a 90 degree interior angle in the wall, there does not have to be holds, there will be enough grip to chimney up the whole thing. And if you are not yet convinced, the Japanese sent whole armies up the walls by hand - you might say their walls are easier because they are sloped - the truth is somewhere inbetween, they are harder to climb than western castles, because they are specifically designed to make climbing harder, they have smooth plaster at the top, they actually curve up to near vertical, and have overhanging roofs and completely enclosed castles and towers. Oh, and waaay more machiculations. One easily implemented design feature would be to smooth out some of the harder corners with a 45 degree angle, this would make your castle much harder to climb. Also if you are not rendering your castle, don't use brickwork in the style of a de plastered castle! make that cut stonework really sharp and smooth, and have flush pointing. No sense in all that defence if people can zip up your walls in a minute or two is there?

[@markleggett9714]

Lubricate (oil, muddy water) the wall and try climb with battle gear.

[@casimiriii5941]

One word, MATRICUUUUUUUUULATIONS!

[@jacolitethepumpkin765]

If someone is climbing the wall, wouldn’t the Guards just be able to use the Machiculations to shoot arrows at them? Or drop rocks on their head?

[@casimiriii5941]

Jacolite The Pumpkin it's still a good point. Plus what if the person scaling the wall has cover fire or the cover of darkness to aid him. Or what if the attackers strike one side of the castle, to distract, causing honourgaurds men to concentrate on that side, while men scale the opposite side of the castle? I, myself, was thinking of using just such a tactic. Building a massive earthen ramp that would allow my troops to simply march over the walls. While another portion of my army, under the cover of darkness, tunnels under the walls.

[@jacolitethepumpkin765]

David Craft I’m not disagreeing, I am merely pointing out that it wouldn’t be as easy as he makes it out to be. Climbing a wall would also limit the amount of troops that could actually climb, and even if they do get up they will most likely be outnumbered. As for tunneling, that is a very noisy and long process. I think the people in Honourguard would figure it out before the attacking force has a chance to pull it off. As for the earthen ramp, it’s hard to build a ramp if you’re being buffeted by arrowfire and a ballista

[@bickson9872]

This has to be the best video on Shad’s channel. It’s so informative and unique

[@neurotoksyn]

fantastic design, everything seems well thought out and it may be one of the most impregnable castles I have ever seen, sometimes I think hollywood and game companies should just ask you for consulting on their designs because my god man, I am in awe.

[@carbon1255]

He forgot one thing though, this castle is extremely easy to climb. Render is not just for decoration!

[@neurotoksyn]

I'm curious to know how you find it easy to climb? you can't easily march ladders up the hill, nor can towers be rolled up with any measure of effectiveness, I suppose he could have put a moat or a series of ditches around it to make it harder to assail but even if the assailants got ladders on the first wall the second interior wall would have archers stationed to pick them off as they climb over. Then assuming they actually got a foothold on a section of the outer wall they'd have to carry ladders up the ladders to try and climb the second wall all while being shot at or having rocks tossed down on them, burning oil, etc. The more I think on it though there should probably be ditches, bitches love ditches. This castle would have to be sieged by a massive force capable of overwhelming the defenders or the only other feasible option is to starve them out, assailing the walls half-heartedly will only result in utter defeat. (which was usually the case with sieges anyways)

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Holland He is clearly referring to directly climbing the walls themselves, no ladders or siege engines. Because a bare stone wall is supposedly a lot less slippery than a plastered white wall.

[@greatmightypanda]

It feels good to be vindicated that even if not for exactly the reasons I argued, you didn't move the granary. Even with a trebuchet twice the size of Warwolf they would struggle to get anywhere near damaging that granary, and it makes so much more sense for the sake of practicality to put supplies central. Love the design.

[@shadiversity]

Thanks mate, I love seeing you guys thinking about all the different pros and cons.

[@fahdimtiaz7523]

If there isn't at least one instance of a character screaming "MACHICULATIONS!!!!!" in the book I'll be very disappointed.

[@kandie5751]

This video is genuinely so helpful for a writer like myself. A friend of mine who is helping me make a medieval-fantasy castle sent me this, and I cannot that both of you enough. We are building it in Minecraft (as one does) and intend to write a novel set in said castle. Also, you have an extremely calming voice!

[@martijnvanweele6204]

A character I'm playing in D&D has an old family castle that he's trying to retake as his personal quest. Your videos have helped me greatly in designing that castle.

[@tylerwash2586]

The most dazzling castle this side of Minas Tirith, for sure. Amazing aesthetics and relentless attention to practicality. I'd love to live there as much as I'd dread trying to attack it.

[@jinenjuce]

As a civil engineer, I think the design of the bathrooms and waste management was most impressive, given the time period this would have been built lol

[@DoomRater]

Bathrooms on every floor like that is a serious luxury.

[@neofd3223]

Awesome job Shad! This castle is awesome!

[@VeritasMediaHistory]

Dude, please get a medieval book published, I've been needing to get my hands on a historical fiction from that era for a while. I cant think of a better author to write it.

[@therobin9810]

Pillars of The Earth and Column of Fire by Ken Follett are really good if you're into medieval historical fiction! :) There was a new one released as well, a prequel. It's my next read.

[@gearandalthefirst7027]

Great Scot, it must have taken you ages to design this thing but the level of detail you've put in is extraordinary and I commend you for it. Amazing job, and let us know when your first book comes out, I'll be first in line ;D

[@somerton4383]

Meanwhilst in Castle Honorguard, master builder doubting his life's work. _"If dragons attack we cannot hold. We have to prepare for the worst. Thine enemy force is strong, my liege, machicolations 'tis required"_

[@mytyang1248]

Man this channel is such a gold mine for fantasy writters i love it

[@RambunctiousHamster]

I'm so sad there aren't secret passages. :( But seriously, great job! Not sure if you have a video on secret passages, but im sure everyone would love to see that!

[@nick_steele9790]

Oh there probably are secret passages but that’s what they are, secret ;)

[@anniejuan1817]

I believe the secret passages have to do with the way the feature tower's walls don't exactly align with the castle walls.

[@ripmomcovid4678]

Indeed, good sir, there are, which is why he did not tell us in the vid. :)

[@crimmy838]

The secret passages were rarely more than decently disguised servants tunnels, out of sight, out of mind, also allows them to quickly traverse the castle without happening across the general public

[@kargaroc386]

While a *stairway* in a secret tunnel does sound quite romantic, I think it's a pretty big extravagance for a tunnel explicitly for getting out of dodge. An escape tunnel would more likely use ladders, or footholds inside the shaft wall. """""Servant""""" tunnels on the other hand *might* use stairs.

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

You have to be the architect for those castles. It ain't so grand if not made by Shad.

[@maximus2874]

kirby march Barcena yeah because in modern german to force someone to dl sth. means jmd. zwingen etwas zu tun

[@k0vert]

The time and thought that must have gone into this is crazy. Excellent work, Shad. Always happy to see a new video from you in ye olde feed

[@Aiken47]

I like a lot of Japanese castles, they have a lot of overlapping bottle necks, Osaka has a staging area that can be hidden from attackers and used to route breaches of the frontal attack. If we’ll orchestrated the defending squads could filter through the attackers then press them from behind through the staging area and into the deep water filled moat. Major Japanese castles often utilise zwingers I really like you’re design, I don’t know much about design principles so this has been a great video. I’d love to see you examine castle designs around the world not just European designs, (I’m a new subscriber from FNT, GDay from Adelaide)

[@Eleolune696]

I really love the fact that you exist and make videos.

[@danieltaylor5542]

Those exposed beams also make a great place to hang the banners of your vanquished foes.

[@ZGuy0fSci]

Or ya know, _your vanquished foes._ ^~^

[@manybuckets969]

Or the bodies

[@naglma]

Your videos are theeeee most anticipated videos.

[@foadrightnow5725]

That was simply THE quickest 45-minute long video I've ever viewed! I'm not kidding or exaggerating! I was like...NO! It's over already?! That was absolutely fascinating, interesting, informative, and entertaining! If I were a billionaire, you would most definitely be a consultant on my castle/fortress/palace/evil lair/fortified compound design team, for damn sure! Well Done! And thanks for creating and sharing!

[@Norkans5]

I don't even need the headphone warning, i know you well enough Shad. Great Video, nice details and very well thought out. Your castle videos are my favorites.

[@legofreak9746]

Hmm, I had guessed, there wasn't an external chapel, because in a fantasy-setting the religious history/background might be different from what we know and thus impacted the design. Anyways, I'm intrigued to hear more about that story in the future :) Shads first law: A writers ability to solve conflicts with a castle is directly related to how well the reader understands said castle

[@T4nkcommander]

Extremely impressive. I did manage to find a fault tho - the false floor in the servant's kitchen entryway has the door swinging inward. If the pit is full of bodies, it might be rather hard to get that door open :P

[@benthomason3307]

good point.

[@balazszsigmond826]

I had a question about that... How does one operate and secure it?

[@matthewmuir8884]

Good point. All the historic false floors that I've heard of were floors that the defenders pulled back, rather than opened inward. There was one in David's Tower in Edinburgh Castle that was used to guard the king's chambers during wartime. But the tower crumbled under heavy cannon bombardment and ultimately was replaced with the half-moon battery.

[@balazszsigmond826]

I just realized. You want a trapfloor. Turn the floor 90 degrees, make only the outer part fall down, the inner part stable. This gives access between the two doors still in control of the defenders, but a death pit to the attackers. The liwered portion can be operated in a pull-up fashion via chains or ropes and pulleys.

[@balazszsigmond826]

Cheap and effective.

[@adamariscolon333]

when i first saw honorguard in your winterfell video, my jaw dropped because honorguard looks EXACTLY like the castle i built in my mind for a book that i am writing. this is such a beautiful castle. thank you for your time and research going into this!

[@selenagamya1612]

Somebody needs to recreate this in a videogame-like environment so it can be properly explored. I would love to just wander around in there for hours and get lost.

[@PrimordialNightmare]

Castle walking simulator. That'd be so great!

[@Obstinate28]

If I had the time, I would love to make this in the Unity Game Engine and make a simple POV agent so you could walk around it and fly around it.

[@snesguy9176]

Quick, some one mod it in to skyrim

[@torctorctorc]

Oh man, I was just thinking the exact thing. This would make for an awesome map for a Thief fan mission. I hope someone gets around to making one

[@Morphimus]

There's a game called medieval engineers that might be able to do a half-decent recreation.

[@AuleileiMMA]

Taking this castle would be damn near impossible. Honorguard is unassailable. I think the only way to defeat Honorguard is to let it become obsolete over time. Imagine over the centuries Honorguard is a symbol of power over the land, unquestionable in its defenses. Outlasting siege after siege, then one day a cannon is rolled up and dismantled centuries of power in minutes. (Weeks probably, depending on the cannon size)

[@SonsOfLorgar]

Samuelu Johnston I wouldn't use cannon, I'd use a massive ammount of incendiary fireworks-style rockets... Or in preceding eras, attack it through undermining the main keep directly close to the drain exhaust.

[@algirdassalomskas9050]

Four words: rain and wind erosion. This castle will fall, it is only a matter of time....

[@AeronPrince]

Sounds like the fall of Constantinople.

[@undertakernumberone1]

I'd use a cannon... it's called "Schwerer Gustav" Otherwise, since it's a fantasy world, I'll just draw upon another Fantasy World and ask Nurgle for Help. Have fun with plagues

[@thearisen7301]

What about undermining the walls? Basically dig a tunnel under the walls to collapse them.

[@johnmosser6695]

It would be amazing to see a movie portraying a siege of this castle!

[@brossetthomas8177]

It would probably be a long blocade until surrender, nothing that amazing.

[@baronprocrastination1722]

Or they would just- "CHAAAAAAAAAARGE!" Hollywood and tactics don't mesh well.

[@Spite555]

John Mosser best way would to be starve them out

[@kyusango3311]

A simulation of an attack would be cool. Not a starvation siege but full on take the castle attack.

[@bleedingmasque.6193]

ON IT!

[@Xalerdane]

I like the idea of isolating the Military, Public, Administrative, Private, Servant, and Utility sections from each other beyond the bare minimum of access points.

[@justrnfr]

King of Honorguard: HAH i'd like to see anyone get through these amazing defences, we're finally safe from any enemy King of Honorguard *get's killed by poison*

[@AtaMarKat]

“Tell Cersei. I want her to know it was me.”

[@demetriblackheart4497]

Coward. Smart but still.

[@odd-ysseusdoesstuff6347]

But what if we apply a tall siege tower and use it as a platform to launch Da VInci Gliders? And go OVER the walls?

[@shootymcshootfacekoff7972]

Cough cough Soviet time travelers cough cough

[@Zenden1ST]

gets killed by stinky assassins that climbed through the gravity latrines

[@zagzeg]

How I have not already subscribed? This is the content that I NEED to ignore the important tasks I am supposed to be working on.

[@Grunk111]

Shad, I'm sitting here running out of castle reviews to watch at a stunningly fast rate. You need to make more videos.

[@Thefineartofdistraction]

WOW WOW WOW, so much thought & attention to detail in this castle, I’ll tell you what, if they built castles in today’s times, 100% this would be what every king/lord would definitely be looking for, you would be one of the richest people in the land, cause your reputation for designing the best castles would be the talk of the town. Well done sir, you’ve created one of the best castle designs ever

[@Shadowmask8]

When I was a kid I had a book called something like "Incredible Cross-Sections" that depicted a castle in about a third of this amount of detail. This took me right back there and I love it to death. Thanks, Shad.

[@BigEasy2112]

Wow... I remember that book too. I feel like I just got beaten senseless by the nostalgia stick. Stephen Biesty's Incredible Cross-Sections.

[@kargaroc386]

If that's not just about castles, that sounds like it has the potential to be extremely gory without warning, and it kinda sounds like that's the case.

[@jared3164]

Watched this while building a castle in Minecraft, gave me quite a lot of design inspiration. Thanks shad!

[@jolonghthong]

Lol same.

[@Arkady_Noname]

You did a really good job. Each design solution has its own purpose. Just wow

[@justthinkingoutloud2538]

The most of the additions and tweaks to the castle made since the last video seem to be things that really could have been done to it if it was real, so the original could have been what it looked like before receiving those upgrades in the story. Awesome job, this will serve as reference for me in thinking about fantasy castles in the future! Thank you for your service to the internet!

[@kingmasterlord]

So yeah, I'm building this in Minecraft as a visual aid because I want to use it in D&D for the party to capture, clear of Undead, and claim. Thanks bro, I'll credit you and send you a link when it's done.

[@joeyderrico8134]

I would also love to see this

[@kingmasterlord]

@@joeyderrico8134 thanks for the reminder

[@bjornarmar2462]

@@kingmasterlord Well, it's been over a year now. Link?

[@yoloman3607]

Project was probably abandoned, the party was most likely killed 100ft from the gate by the trebuchet after failing a stealth check. Defenses too tough rip.

[@friedlemons5201]

fine, I'll do it myself

[@jonmkl]

Dude, this is so epic. I was kindof like “yawn.. fictional castle” but good god DAMN did you really build this with intention! So smart and well put together, I can tell you’ve obsessed over this a lot and I respect that! I would love to see this beautiful thing done up in all it’s glory some day. Like seriously someone better make this in Wurm or even Minecraft so we can explore it!

[@DFX2KX]

It looks to be made in Sketchup, which does have a mode giving you FPS-style controls and letting you walk around. I don't doubt he's walked around the castle. I've seen entire MUDs with game worlds smaller then this castle....

[@VoltisArt]

Not building this in Minecraft, but it will influence how I build a castle I've started on a public server. Realism can indeed pair with grandeur.

[@MisterSmartone]

Ever since Shad released this video I've actually been putting a couple hours every week (when I can spare the time) into a Minecraft rendition of this behemoth. At the time of writing this comment I've almost finished up walling the keep. I have also designed the gatehouses and walls but construction on anything other than the keep won't see any progress until the keep is complete. Unfortunately, I no longer have a good way to clear dirt blocks because MCedit is incompatible with 1.13+.

[@crownlexicon5225]

@@VoltisArt Same. I've definitely been watching his videos on tips how to design mine

[@GrummanF14DTomcat]

I'm accepting the challenge of building this in minecraft all though I doubt it could be done in survival due to the hight limit, and scaling it right will be challenging.

[@boonekeller5275]

Shadiversity Cinematic Universe anyone?

[@haillobster7154]

Hmmm... I'm interested.

[@Xterminator8411]

You mean Shadiverse?

[@scottbraun2457]

I agree. Definitely worth it, but, I still think you need more upper level water stores. Rain fed, barrels, or tubs, so it isn't a marathon of epic levels, to fill a bath in the upper most living or other dwelling spaces, and fill other water based needs of other kinds. The servants of those days, had great legs, but short lives for a reasons, other than being tormented by their masters. Loved the show. I want one of these for myself.

[@agingerbeard]

Incredible work and detail; it's clear how much passion went into this, and I really look forward to more explorations of your fantasy realm!

[@murdomaclachlan]

This is amazing and incredibly helpful as a learning tool for someone wanting to write a story that's fantasy, but grounded in historical medieval realism and practicality.

[@victoriansword]

Outstanding! I wish it was a real place I could visit. This is my favorite video you've made!

[@SKULLkidDEATHOMATIC]

I'm so happy to have found all this. I'm currently planning a fantasy game with a magic castle. But planning the castle is probably one of my biggest struggles. This will help me a lot.

[@flygawnebardoflight]

7:40 Ahhhhh more proof that there is a german word for everything

[@sergeantsharkseant]

@FlygawneDezert Mage of Mind and if there isn’t we just put two words together we already have, well atleast we did so until we started after WW2 to directly use every English word and tte to lazy, or to shameful to invent our own. And nowadays we start exchanging even words we already have.

[@Brentisimo]

...that probably sounds angry, too.

[@holdencross5904]

except for calling someone a Nob.

[@eisenkrahe7125]

German also has some veey specific words, like, Kummerspeck, It literally means "Grief Bacon"

[@barrywhittingham6154]

If you want awesome German words, I recently came across this gem: Backpfeifengesicht. It basically translates to 'a face in desperate need of a slap'.

[@TheNobleStar9075]

Wow, I absolutely love this castle, the attention to detail is stunning. I would love to see this used in something like a video game, tabletop RPG, or a show.

[@zapfanzapfan]

Well, who doesn't like to design a fantasy castle every now and then? *Going looking for my D&D books* :-)

[@TheRojo387]

Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends is big on fantasy elements, especially when it comes to the cities of Aio; what the franchise is calling "districts" are actually single blocks. And city centres, in that topic, are actually complexes of multiple blocks, as are a sizeable fraction of districts. That being said, if you've seen sandcastle artists lately, some of them may instead be building sand-cities.

[@krillanr]

I wish I could leave another like. I watched this video when it was new and I've watched it multiple times since. Love it good sir.

[@StickNik]

This is the castle design Game of Thrones deserved. Imagine if Winterfell was anything close to this. Episode 3 would be amazing cause many more soldiers could easily inhabit the castle, and you could have an even greater show of force of the wights numbers, with the storms they conjure having even greater effect against the concentric walls, and the dragon being able to do wayy more damage to the castle, but having similar or even lesser effect on defensibility than the whole the dragon made in the actual episode.

[@kv-2thekingofderp866]

Indeed. And have the Dothraki be the archers on the walls instead of wasting them in stupid suicide charge. With proper tactics, I think that defenders on Honorhuard would be able to defeat the Wights due to how many defensive features it has.

[@kv-2thekingofderp866]

@Mase Swoo Watched it. It's a shame how the writers didn't put ANY thought into that battle.

[@rezwan2526]

great job as always shad honorguard was so acurate that i thought it was an actual medeval caste at first .keep up the good work.

[@Cyarrick1]

This is gorgeous, and I would love to see the 'historical' development of the castle. The entire time I watched the video I was wondering about the age of the walls and evolution of the castle's construction. Especially around 23:00 when you mention the castle's origin as a"defense outpost," I was reminded of Krak Des Chevaliers and its long walls tied to the shape of the hill it was constructed on, just like how Honorguard's outer walls are built almost into the rockface. Furthermore, because of the lack of MACGUIJGHJGFIUFUIVOVKJHions, I had assumed these walls were older, though you state they were constructed without them for functionality's sake. Still, the outer walls look lower, and thinner than the inner walls, which have later medieval hallmarks, even at times, windows. Fantastic castle Shad, bringing your fantasy to life and then showing it to the rest of us is the mark of a brave person imo. Basically: What was the older castle like? Was it partly wood? Was the new one built on top of it/ are older elements incorporated? What was the development of castles like in your world here? Were stone castles preceded by Motte and Bailey's? Were stone castles around for a longer period? Was technological advancement slower? Where did rounded turrets originate in your world? Were square turrets naturally evolved into rounded ones, or was there a similar cultural/technological exchange between cultures. Saracen rounded turrets and all that

[@WhatsToBeDone]

The drainage system for the castle would be probably the best way to attack it, I think the back of the castle is probably the most undefeated part of it because that seems to be where the wall is the thinnest and if you dig into the cliff face you would be unnoticeable. So I think that you should add a back exit from the main castle so that you could easily shot down anyone’s group trying to get into the castle or escape