The Other's Symbols Explained (Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire)

[@danieldybka7065]

I think the symbol in the E1 opening is a crude representation of Arya’s trampoline. It was all foreshadowed from the onset!

[@Grace-er9ep]

I got the book set for Christmas because your videos have inspired me to want to read again. I was originally just a show watcher but like pretty much everyone I think what they did from season 4/5 onwards was just a tragedy against art and cinema and storytelling. Thank you for your amazing videos, genuinely

[@АндрейНеугодников-м6е]

I dipped out after stannis died how bad was it?

[@SquashGuy02134]

​@user-cs4su3ng9l the last couple seasons were like if a youtuber made a game of thrones abridged series but not funny. Apparently the showrunners wanted to rap things up quickly because they were offered a lucrative contract by Disney for some star wars bs that never came to fruition. Everyone lost except Disney.

[@l.mcmanus3983]

Only death can pay for life… It makes sense that the others need death to sustain themselves. The scene at the beginning of the first book makes so much sense when viewed as a reminder and warning. To me the implication is clear: choose who dies yourselves or we will come and choose indiscriminately. If you also look at it from the perspective of energy conservation, it is possible that if the others have to harvest life energy themselves, they need many more people to die to sustain themselves because of the effort it takes to go out, find, and then sacrifice victims. So the historical compromise was that the north would supply the detritus of society for their needs as that would protect the women, the children, and the lords themselves.

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

Yup, it makes it make sense then why they may have been willing to follow customs like the first night. Which would lead to unwanted babies and why they had so many of them to send to the wall and eventually die there. So much of the culture all falls into place and makes sense if this is what the point all was.

[@emrek99205]

The Others are simply the ones performing the sacrifices. The Others themselves don't suck the life out of people. They aren't vampires. They outright kill them. Only if there is anything left do they warg into them to be used as tools and weapons to kill more. The blood of those killed go into the ground and feeds the weirwood network. That's what they are doing. Death kinda pays for life, but only just barely and not in a direct way. Just because a human is killed doesn't mean that somewhere a dead body is raised. Just like how a farmer killing livestock to make a meal doesn't mean a baby human is born. It is a lot more nuanced than that.

[@ninagall7500]

First off, sorry I'm late. Second, to the "blood pays for life" quote. Dany list her baby and Drogo to gain dragons. Weirwoods are fed blood when Ice is cleaned in the gods wood of winterfell. Using that idea, how does the Night King resurrect the dead after the battle at eastwatch. What price is he paying to reanimate the freshly fallen?

[@Rebel_Lord_Taron]

The Theta symbol is also in some of Grrm's other books ... I can't remember I think it's dying in the light maybe or in the house of the worm... And it's the symbol in reference to genetic manipulation or something like that??

[@Seattletyy93]

My theory, that symbol to GRRM is essentially him saying "not natural" or "created by unholy means." It's their declaration they were never supposed to exist. A warning to greenseers that something has gone wrong in their creation and needs to be investigated or stopped. As in "our true forms are stuck. We're not supposed to be like this"

[@chrisrubin6445]

The Theta is the symbol for the Old Earth Ecological Engineering Corps, from Tuf Voyaging, and from in the House of the Worm. They might also be mentioned in other Grrm tales.

[@Rebel_Lord_Taron]

@@chrisrubin6445 thank you. My memory is for shit ... Do you think that this has so many in Game of thrones like maybe the white walkers can be genetic engineered?

[@chrisrubin6445]

@@Rebel_Lord_Taron I think its absolutely possible! In Grrm's thousand worlds they have a planet called Prometheus where they genetically engineer flying men, water breathing men, cat men, and all sorts of genetic alters. My theory would be that the Others are humans who are genetically altered to survive in the deep cold, or they are genetic weapons, meant to bring about ecological disaster.

[@Isewein]

Well, the Valyrians and their Dragons are, and the line between blood magic and genetic engineering in general appears blurred - so why not?

[@DD-ok2pt]

The Others impaled two CHILDREN. I think their issue is with the Children of the Forest... the beings who put them is the state they are in. To make it clearer 4:03 they literally draw the Isle of Faces with chopped up bodies. They form the bodies in the shape of the island then they surround it by heads in pikes FACES. I think men are just collateral damage in their war trying to release themselves "All Men Must Die". 7:25 this is where it all went wrong. It's not in this video but if you look at this tree later it is dead. In fact, this is the only dead weirwood tree we see. They accidentally picked the wrong person and made him immortal. 8:31 and 11:54 are constellations. It's a "meteor shower" (look up images when the camera shutter is kept open) The others are marking an important date.

[@faity5649]

Oh shit...

[@DD-ok2pt]

This constellation along with an eclipse was painted on the walls

[@abelbabel8484]

That's a cool interpretation, but I don't think the details are right. The Isle of Faces doesn't have a central line through it like the symbol does, the heads are outside of it instead of "on the Isle". Plus CotF and Isle of Faces are modern Westerosi terms, we have no indication the Others use them or even know these names exist after millennia of no contact. The meteor shower pics I found (thanks for the tip btw, they are incredibly beautiful) didn't look like the multi-armed spiral symbol, but like concentric circles or starburst. Maybe it's similar enough to still work as a symbol, and it ties in very nicely with the whole idea of meteor strikes causing the Long Night. I'm not sure. Thanks for sharing your observations, very interesting :)

[@ashleyofnaath]

I always liked the theory that the Others were like Frankenstein's Monsters created by the COTF to fight the First Men, and like Dr. Frankenstein the Children lost control of them. But I really like your theory too. Assuming it's correct, I'd say the Others are trying to free themselves rather than demanding more sacrifices to prolong their undead lives. Great video!

[@DD-ok2pt]

All Men Must Die Bran the Builder only built the Winterfell crypts and the old keep not the castle. I think he built the crypt to house this entity that the COTF created which is why the dead kings are positioned to keep the hostile force inside. Secondly, he had to have been told by the CotF how deep to build it. There is a finite timeline shown by the crypt levels and this is why there must always be a Stark in Winterfell. IMO the key is understanding who the 3 eyed Raven/Crow really is. Hint it is not Bran nor Blood Raven. Before the 3ER lured Bloodraven to his cave it inhabited countless Children of the Forest who were green seers and when it ran out of children it lured Bloodraven who was a green seer. I think that the reason Bloodraven was kept in the cave is because he was a mature man and a strong green seer. I also think that Bloodraven fought off the 3ER which is why he was literally bound to the cave. Later the 3ER was able to leave the cave INSIDE of Bran because Bran was still a child and "new" to his green seer abilities. It also seemed very important to the 3ER that Bran be a willing vessel. In that windowless cave the 3ER "trained" Bran for his upcoming journey. I believe what we are really watching/reading is a BATTLE between Bran the Builder who has been living consecutive 2nd lives in the children of the Forest/Bloodraven/Bran and has become the 3Eyed Raven and the original Jon Snow that was accidentally made immortal by the children of the forest and turned into the Night King. When the Night King entered the 3ER cave he immediately attacked Blood Raven, not Bran. Rember he had surrounded the cave with his dead army waiting for the 3ER to step outside.

[@anotheryoutubeuser]

@@DD-ok2pt Night King doesn't exist in the books.

[@taco4242]

You're actually starting to not sound crazy to me. So, ether, you're making sense, or I'm going crazy.

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

Either of these I would consider a win

[@sardonically-inclined7645]

It might be the recent activity is due to Mance learning about them, consolidating the clans and moving towards the wall, which would result in a lot of blood when they clash with the crows, which would feed the system, which would prolong their suffering if they wanted to die or sustain them if they wanted to "live". The dead men that attack Mormont could have been meant to attack small groups of individual wildilings on the other side of the wall and they weren't meant to be taken, but they were taken and events unfolded. The fist of the first men might have been either an attempt to kill them before they return to the wall or harry as many as possible in that direction. Not sure which side I fall on yet, but I find that interesting at least.

[@kendallbabbitt1532]

Thank you Michael. I finally have peace thanks to you

[@PJV00]

Haunting

[@darkmiles22]

GRRM likes his dark elements too much to let the white walkers be happy with their immortality. My money is on them trying to die to end their own suffering and stop their masters, the Children/Weirwoods. Much like the Faceless Men and the slaves of old Valyria did when they sacrificed their own lives to cause the Doom.

[@nononono3421]

The fact it was a child on tree and the wall, makes me think it meant the CotF bound to the trees are the ones the Others want to eliminate. I suspect that if Stannis attacks the cave to kill the CotF, they might all “upload” their minds into Bran’s so that he can flee and they can survive in his head, and him becoming king means the CotF end up ruling over mankind. But IMO the show didn’t finish the story, I think in the end Tyrion will burn all the weirwood to save the word after first supporting Bran as king but then realizing what is really in control.

[@billberndtson]

01:06 🎵From the Weirwoooooooood, to The Wall! Til sweat drips down Jon's - nevermind.

[@ThumbBandit04]

The spirals seem like whirlpools sucking a liquid down... like a toilet... so could be asking for blood. Could also symbolize like a "come to us" a map ... like wherever you are your direction should be to us. The Theta symbol thing could just represent The Wall... like do this... remeber it's what makes the wall stay up. Or we can just go around like the bodies outside it imply.

[@ThumbBandit04]

Holy crap. I haven't watched the vid on the Trees in the Wall thing so maybe he's mentioned this.... I wonder if the scenes where people are in the cold cells allude to the people frozen and tied to the trees within the wall. Because it being GRRM, there would be clues to how they are living or feeling or how being imprisoned is affecting their mind... something will be said as a clue to their state of mind.

[@deckie_]

but then what does it mean when an Other is killed? is that just the ShadowIceBaby spell being broken? Their conciousness being launched back into their body? and if so, then why do dragonglass and valyrian steel possess that property?

[@Seattletyy93]

IMO, valyrian blood sacrifices gives the blade a "soul". Or life essence is put into the blade. Stabbing or slicing a shadow other is sort of an override of souls. Too many souls in one form and spits the other out and back to the wall. Who knows if the other soul dies or goes back tho. Could really not matter, once the horn is blown and the wall shattered, it'll probably murk the souls connected to the tree at the same time

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

So I currently view the others as basically a localized consciousness magic spell made of mist. The Norse icy realm of death is also the realm of mist so it makes sense they might be made of frozen mist. And the way the fire shadow baby is made of smokey shadow I think these are misty shadows. So the idea would be that localized spell being stabbed by certain other magics could break the spell and then the thing dissolves into mist. Which is what we see when Sam stabs one. In terms of what happens I could see that section of their life force being destroyed, or as you said maybe it just goes right back into the trees or the bodies. In either case one less shadow but the problem isn't solved if there is a system that can just make more. The reason dragonglass and Valyrian Steel work this way could be because they are fire magic and able to pierce the ice magic spell, or they could have spells cast into the steel that specifically is made for this. Valyrian steel I believe is said to have spells forged into it. As for the dragonglass it could have to do with the way it may have been used in the others creation if the show is to be believed. Or it could be a natural magic property it has the children knew about. Maybe something it has naturally by being a product of fire/volcanism.

[@fletcherw32]

What do you think would have happened to Stannis if Renly stabbed his Shadow with an Icicle, or whatever the Other's use in their blades?... I don't imagine Stannis would die. I'd assume it costs the Other's something to reform themselves. Certainly costs Stannis to produce a Shadow Baby. Perhaps that's what the babies are for? Each is a sorta 1-up.

[@emrek99205]

10:03 Whoa whoa... that's ME! So cool. 😊

[@emrek99205]

11:37 As an expansion to my comment on 10:03, there seems to be seven spokes on this windmill. One for each of the seven kingdoms... one for Snow, one for Rivers, one for Sands, etc. While not as important to the symbol(s) itself, and clearly not shown in that screenshot, a breakdown of what power the noble family of each kingdom gets would be good. We know Starks get the ability to Warg. Reeds get Greensight. Pikes may get Watery Rebirth(?). But what about the Martels or any of the rest? I've only read the books once and that was years ago. I don't remember what, if any, supernatural power each house possesses. An investigation/recap of that might be good if for no other reason than to fill out what the humans get from their pact with the weirwood trees. That is, other than impending threat from the Others, which may or may not have existed at the time, why would the First Men agree to such a thing? This might be something GRRM hasn't specifically addressed, but I feel that there may be hints.

[@abelbabel8484]

The Old Ways as a world order being encoded in the Weirwoods vibes incredibly well with Elden Ring (which GRRM also wrote for), where the Golden Order is encoded in the Erdtree; Erde being the German for earth/world, to boot. In general I suspect ER is vastly overlooked for comparison and interpretation, there's so damn many parallels

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

Give my channel a month or two and it won't be as overlooked haha. Gotta get to the end of this series and then I get to show everyone how well Elden Ring lore backs it all up. I have never played the game and didn't know the first thing about it when I started all this, but part way through this series I was made aware of the lore being so close to what I was talking about. I have been looking into it and been mind blown every time haha so yes you are 100% right. It all lines up very well to the point where GRRM clearly was using a lot of the same concepts and ideas to build the base level magic. Then they took it in a crazy high fantasy direction where as GRRM used the most low magic version he could build. They are basically built on the same magical skeleton but taken opposite directions. One skeleton has magic gigantism and one has magic dwarfism, but if you have missing pieces of one, looking at the other might give you hints of what shape of bone fits. If that metaphor tracks haha I have been watching a lot of lore vids doing my homework but if you have any thoughts on connections I may not have come across yet feel free to leave them here.

[@LightningBoltJpS]

So, taking your theory towards its next logical questions: 1. What is the difference between the Others strapped to the Weirwood Trees inside the wall and the Greenseers the Children have bound to Weirwoods? Why and in what ways are they different? Are the wall/weirwoods bound to Green Men perhaps? - if they ever existed or still exist as a species in this world - and if so how does that make them different? Clearly the Others radiate cold in a way that the Greenseers bound to Weirwoods don’t, but what does that mean exactly? 2. What are the COTF hoping to accomplish in connecting Bran to the Weirwood trees? I suspect this has something to do with the time traveling communication ability, somehow fulfilling the need for a Bran the Builder figure creating a circular timeline, maybe, but also why would they want that? To ensure the past to preserve the present and future and or to start the process over again? This is very unclear to me. 3. And this is the big one, why are the Others seemingly trying to stop the COTF’s plan with respect to Bran? This is the key motivational question, what do these factions WANT? Your videos are making good progress towards actually attempting to decode the overarching plot of the SOIAF novels, something I’m concerned GRRM will never actually do for the reader on the page, leaving fans with a saga that is similar to the incredibly dense symbolism of David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” which a KZbin fan eventually decoded close to 30 years after it was released. I’m hoping videos like yours give people a change to understand the SOIAF books within their own lifetimes. Keep up the good work!

[@Isewein]

3. might just be the tragedy of misunderstanding at the root of every war. The Others are consumed by their hatred for the CotF and can't or won't trust them (in so far as they are even still possessing enough of a mind to "trust") to rectify their wrongs.

[@edwardmartin5860]

There are key entities that are bonded.By showing us others are bonded .Numbers 3,6,9 are numbers that are used through out George's story.That are formulas in another plain of existence. A door that will b opened with key entities in proper place in proper time.Theres aspects of your theory I agree with.But it's awsome regardless. 💯

[@sparkyjk898]

Seems like the symbol made of the bodies is a circle with a line through the middle , probably representing the wall. The others are trying to communicate something about the wall with this symbol.

[@donelec5955]

Why did the others want Royce in prologue? Why duel him and then keep 1 alive

[@PainfullySubjective]

i like the notion that the Others are connected to the weirwood trees and require blood sacrifices to sustain them. However, i cannot agree with the notion that they are shadows in the same vein as Melisandre's shadow baby. It seems much more likely that the words "shadow" and "white shadow" were used for poetic effect rather than accurate descriptions. Like saying "the wolves moved like shadows through the trees". But then again, this is the first video of yours i've seen :)

[@gonx9906]

A question, if you kill an other he just spawn again from the original body?

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

This is a super interesting question. I kind of think they will realize fighting the shadows is pointless and need to solve the problem by fixing the broken magical system itself. So I think there is a chance new shadows come back fairly easily from the trees. My best guess would be a shadow would be cast by the same magic Mel uses with Stannis so it would need someone doing that with the bodies on the trees or there would be no new shadows. But maybe there is another way to do it we haven't seen yet. One thing I have thought about is they must be doing something with Craster's sons... So is it using them as males to be a strapped to trees shadow baby factories for some new night's queen type shadow binder? Almost the reverse Craster who has all his boys captive. It seems possible, and should be a video topic one day... If they had a system like that then new shadows would be being pumped out in large numbers I would think. This factory could be a situation north of the wall that needs to be dealt with by someone. Also the reveal of a reverse Craster crazy boys strapped to trees situation at the heart of the system within the old gods religion would be insanely creepy and very GRRM if you ask me. So I can't say for sure that is how it works but that is my basic guess. To make a new shadow would require something like that. Which seems like it might be set up to exist somewhere north of the wall. Would love to hear from anyone else who might add some insight to this.

[@gonx9906]

@@michaeltalksaboutstuff wow long answer, thanks, we would have yo wait for Winds of Winter and see.. 😭😭

[@MocaDK]

I just realised that the description of Bran warging and flying as a raven it says "he flew with the murder" but the collective noun for a group of ravens is not "a murder"! It is instead "An unkindness of ravens"; the "murder" is for crows. I don't really know what this means but it must hint at something. I don't believe that an experienced writer such as GRRM would simply have mixed the two up...

[@johanalejandrocazadordepin7225]

11:40 I find it hillarious that the first scene could be like a educated way of the others instructing/remembering people how they have to make the ritual to give blood to the threes but since no one is "listening" they just decided to do it themselves 🤣🤣

[@angelajansons9037]

The first symbol looks like a crude circle with a sword through it. The hilt points downward. If it was upward, it would look like one of the sigils for House Dayne.

[@Comandate7]

I am not an expert in others language, but I believe most of them roughly translate as "get of my lawn".

[@BeteBlanc]

While I have a few reservations about your theory, a lot of them are interpretation rather than mechanical. For example, I think there's a strong theme of misinterpretation within the story itself. If you were an Andal and you saw the remains of BR from a distance without interacting, what would you think? You might see bodys offered as sacrifices to them. So, may issue is that what you're seeing as a request for sacrifices could also be seen as a request for greenseers. Trees full of the spirits of the dead unable to share their stored information because there is no longer a greenseer plugged into them acting as a messenger between realms, or in Frey language a Lord of the Crossing. Arguably, I would say the strongest symbolic evidence for elements of your theory is Bran himself. Fair skinned with red hair, he seems very much like a Weirwood. With his crushed legs he seems again to symbolically a grafted tree, grafted to the roots in the grove beyond the Wall. With his blue eyes he carries much of the symbolism you're attributing to the Others. Interestingly, while warged into Summer the combination of blue and gold would be green. interestingly, Bloodraven actually continues the theme, it's just harder to see. Brynden looks not like tree in Winterfell but the one a Raventree. His hair is white which mirrors the bare branches of that tree. He's an albino, so his eye colour is hidden, but as a Targ would normally be blue or purple. So the two of them seem to represent sort of grafted saplings from other Heart Trees. The combination of their eyes and hair gives us a combined symbol that suggests an image of your theory. I worry that like the Andals you're seeing a request for blood as food rather than a request for a partner. The arrangement of the dead beneath the person on the tree could simply be an image of those who've died within the roots of the trees rather than a request for more dead. Which itself isn't necessarily as dark as you're suggesting. It could be a request for people to start worshipping them again so when they do died they'll go into them and can be preserved. Not a mass feeding of the trees, just wanting to be where people choose to go when they do die.

[@ThumbBandit04]

Havn't watched in forever; Tat aril shot looking down on the WW tree with stone spirals... is that the cave they are in? If so then maybe they are leaving a map to where they are being tortured in the roots of the tree and want someone to come free/kill/feed them? Or kill the children of the forest who have made that their home? IDK... seems like that would be a map. As to why I couldn't tell you.

[@TheNarwhal85]

It took you 12 minutes to explain the symbols which I’m sure can be cut down even more. D&D couldn’t find 12 minutes to explain their own lazy world building. But they found plenty of time to add scenes that never happened in the books.

[@jolinefields3460]

I wonder if Daemon will be strapped up on the isle of faces becoming the night king…

[@2muchcoffee]

The shape of body’s in the floor looks like a wheel and George did have a lot of influence in the first season maybe it points to the wheel what needs to be broken, like the simple alter that the sparrow shows Cerci I think that was meant to be something too the only other alter I saw was the White walkers turned the baby on it, maybe winter alter an summer alter winter is the only one In use anyway, the ancestors maybe one sacrifice to fire and one to ice, nobody’s been sacrifice to fire since the targarians fell, maybe that’s why the weathers off

[@emrek99205]

What would be the significance of the 19 towers/forts/castles along the Wall? Why 19? Assuming each tree's roots span 15 miles this would allow for 19 TreeForts (see what I did there) to span the entire 300 mile length of the wall. Mathematically this works to get 19, but why? Why would GRRM make it so the roots reach that far out in only two directions? The Wall is 700ft tall and the trees would have roots stretching a little over 7 miles in each direction. But why 7? GRRM seems to like that number. Bit off topic musing, but there are 7 faces of the one God and the devout are said to be followers of the Seven. This very easily could be homage to the 7 noble families/kingdoms under one Weirwood tree organism. This would make worship of the Old Gods and worship of the New Gods into the SAME religion! They just don't know it! (Yes, GRRM would do this to the Old and New Testaments!) More importantly, those they call Gods end up being just people. Kings, sure, but just people. The deity religion thing(s) as a whole turns out to be a farce to control the plebs.

[@swayback7375]

I’ll certainly agree with that last paragraph! All the magic we see is serving mortal interests, I think all or most of the gods are just mortals who found a way to tap into magic and gain control of it, making those men seem like they’re gods… I’m afraid their identities won’t be revealed to us tho

[@emrek99205]

​@@swayback7375I was going a step further in saying that while there once may have been a person as each god, that person changes with each new generation. It is the family, specifically the king, that becomes the god to be worshipped by the plebs. "There must always be a Stark in Winterfell" is just another way of not letting that god, or that face of the god, die out. As long as the people believe this then the Starks who unknowingly perform the rituals will remain and continue to feed the trees. It all leads back to the trees. Which makes me wonder if GRRM isn't using the weirwoods root system as some sort of "all roads lead to Rome" reference.

[@emrek99205]

​@@swayback7375I think the men who figured out how to use the magic and made themselves kings were the ones whom entered into the pact with the CotF. Jury still seems to be out on exactly how this happened or why either side agreed to it, but have to admit that it seems beneficial for both sides. The kings get powers and in turn praise by the masses. While the trees get the semi-consistent blood sacrifices from wars, bastards left under trees, deaths at the Wall, etc. I'm not 100% convinced that the First Men and the CotF ever fought. Maybe they didn't understand each other or what they were when first encountered but that doesn't mean a war. The war could be a propaganda passed down by those trying to (impossibly) drive a wedge between the old gods and the new gods and vilify the CotF as the enemy.

[@Michael-eq8th]

I think the Others want it to end. GRRM said he doesn't find external big evil characters to be interesting. That means the Others aren't that. This is a plausible explanation that fits with GRRM’s style.

[@huggalon]

In the show, the frozen skin of the Night King looks like tree bark and the green ribbons on his sword make me think of roots or leaves. It's really odd for him to have that bit of colour. Green no less.

[@fletcherw32]

The thing that truly concern's me is the bold assumption that a Woman ala Melisandre is needed to create an Other. I think Michael should explore the idea that all they need is contact with a Heart Tree. After all, there are surely women if the heart tree. If the Other's are more akin to Shadow Assassin's, then they're more like drones. They don't die for real, they disconnect, back to the Weirwood net. DDOSED by too many magic souls in one place, or by too much fire in their Ice. If they "respawn" and can't appear wherever they like North of the wall, then I'd imagine it wouldn't be JUST from the wall. It could be from the wall, but why JUST the wall. The faces on the Heart Tree are already creepy. Their weeping visage certainly fits this depiction of a trapped man wishing for change, that Michael's going for. We've been creeped out by the faces on the trees ever since Bran started seeing through them, since we made the connection that they're looking glasses for Greenseers. Surely those south of the the neck knew this historically. Or maybe they just cut the trees down due to religious doctrine of the seven, who knows. You certainly don't have to chop the trees down though, to rob them of their power's of sight; and the blood sacrifice angle. All you need to do that, is to make the people in power follow the faith of the seven; and outlaw the practice. Boom, no more sacrifices, no more intel. Keep in mind, that in order to accomplish cutting down a Heart Tree the majority of the population has to follow a different religion. So the main reasons to remove them are already handled. What if the Trees themselves have grown from men, their roots entangled to a greater network? Only capable of generating "Ice Assassin's" or used for Greensight once the face has been carved? It'd also give George strong landmarks to place on a map, with each Heart Tree representing an Other; or representing a Teleport Gate/Respawn Point. Maybe this is why the Godswood in Winterfell is surrounded by walls? To serve as a magical barrier similar to the wall; and Storm's End. Perhaps this is why fielding soldiers will actually take place in the final battle? The moment an Other clears the wall, it can immediately disappear in a puff of mist and reappear from the Godswood, freezing it's pool in Ice. This could mean that once the Wall falls, it may only mark a greater shift in the War with the Others. Perhaps Melisandre is convinced toppling the wall will solve the problem, only to have it get worse. Imagine a scenario in which they topple the wall, only for the Other's to be able to appear nearly wherever they like North of the Neck, almost instantaneously. Imagine how bad this could be if a great refugee crisis was already heading towards the Neck, where it'd be best to hold out against an army of dead men. I've always found the scene in the heart of Winter from the show to be entirely nonsensical. In my opinion Samwell's encounter lends the greatest credibility to your theories. Why would an Other collect a babe physically; and transport it... where? Across hundreds of miles? To the nearest camp of Others? How could it know that now's the time, are we to assume an Other is always patrolling Crastor's for Bastards? It's not behavior you expect from a monster, like Vampires or Werewolves. It's behavior you expect from an anomaly. Like an Extra Terrestrial or the Fae. If it's just appearing at the nearest Heart Tree, (as if it were a womb) collecting it's sacrifice; and depositing it at said tree. That's far more believable. Not to mention, if they're truly just hungry for blood. Then the War of the Five King's acts as the perfect justification as to why the Other's don't reach the wall for years, when they have an army that can march day or night. I believe an early chapter in a Game of Thrones supports this theory, when Samwell and Jon swear their oaths Ghost finds the Wights. This would suggest an Other was in close proximity, which was already confirmed in the prologue, but this could simply be drawing attention to their entry/exit path.

[@davidkube7467]

Always the ahhhtists - Mance Raider

[@alpheuswoodley8435]

The symbol evokes a maze otlr labyrinth. I suspect this idea is or was very significant.

[@Krackonis]

Phi, not theta... But that is a terraforming symbol from the 1000 World series like Khal Drogo's pyre....

[@TheSmashir]

is the targaryen dragon also a reference to the symbol of the creation of the others ? this may seem like a reach but maybe on landing in dragonstone and seeing that symbol in the cave and having dreamt of the "winter that is coming" and habing the same dream as daemon did in the last episode, maybe he kinda made it his sigil also as a reminder.

[@TheSmashir]

by "he" I talked about aegon the conqueror*

[@ThePoshboy1]

11:40 Couldn't it be both? Maybe the bodies strapped to the trees get swapped out every few hundred years and these ones are long past their due date so they want someone else to take their place?

[@MDK384]

what's the motivation for the northmen to continue the system of sacrifice to sustain the others? if the others need this to survive and they are an existential threat to the north then why not let them die out?

[@CoolTheoryGuy]

Bro the show runners literally said they mean nothing they just thought they were cool😂😂

[@jmacdizzle2070]

Why is the first symbol the same a sansas necklace

[@AndyAdventuring]

I'm confused. You're saying Others are shadows of greenseers/people attached to the weirwoods that makeup The Wall. But your weirwood/wall theory relies on the bodies trapped in the wall being Others. If the ritual creates a separate shadow entity, then the bodies attached to the weirwoods in The Wall are not Others (read: cold).

[@thesenate4815]

I disagree with the others being shadows of the ones in the wall. The wall was erected because of the others in the first place

[@TSMoran]

Probably the wrong video for this comment, but all your videos feed into each other. If Bran can communicate with the past by sending dreams or other means, we should be able to see evidence of future Bransending messages directly to himself. Is there any evidence of that you are aware of? Bran could simply choose not to send himself messages, but why would he do that? If there is some sort of plan future Bran has then wouldn't current Bran be the best person to be in on it? Maybe I have missed it in one of the other videos.

[@Funnytumesusually]

Crows do sit in trees

[@Astromamut]

Nuh uh