The True WINTERFELL according to the books, EPIC 3d model, tour and comparison

Winterfell, the mighty castle of House Stark as seen in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series is actually very different from its depiction in the popular TV series Game of Thrones. In this video I explain what's different in the books compared to the TV series and reveal what Winterfell should truly look like with a full 3d model that I spent weeks making.
A big thanks to Yorick for bringing my model into the Unreal Engine for the video. Here's a link to his art station account: yorickpostema....
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Apparently the Winterfell SketchUp file is too big to upload to the warehouse so if you're wanting the main SketchUp file you can download it here: drive.google.c...
The Winterfell assets can be found here: drive.google.c...

[@shadiversity]

Unsurprisingly the Winterfell SketchUp file is too big for the SketchUp warehouse’s allowance so if you’re wanting a copy of the file you can find a download link at the bottom of the video’s description. Hope you enjoy and if you do end up using the model for something I’d love to see it so please remember to tweet me the results.

[@barrybend7189]

Hey Shad please do a fight analysis of the fights in Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans. No beam guns no beam sabers just good old metal weapons and industrial tools.

[@noelebbert9322]

I'm on fall break at uni. Was supposed to go to chemistry, didn't today, got some back pain and it's my last morning class before i'm off for a few days. I haven't missed any days so far, no harm no foul. Your video was divine justification that i was supposed to skip class today before my long drive home. Thanks m8. When i get some extra cash I've been wanting to buy your novel! Can I hire you to come to dinner parties with me ? Hey, This is my friend shad, he's a NOVELIST. ~watches faces of my opponents light up with amazement for underestimating my friends~. love the channel shad thanks.

[@robertthebruce6035]

You brought castle Honorguard to Unreal engine... Thats bloody awesome!

[@timotheemathon9492]

Hey Shad ! I'm a concept artist and mattepainter working for the Game/Movie industry Would you want me to make some fully rendered Cinematographic shots of your 3D model as if they were out of a movie? This would be a pleasure to make ! Thanks for the vid !

[@wilberdebeer4696]

Please do Casterly Rock as well, the show butchered it.

[@emilianohubera4163]

I see why Sansa was so angry when Robert Arryn destroy her snow model of Winterfell

[@agent5866]

The giant did it, Not noble lord Robert.

[@m1tthrawnuru0d06]

Sansa: "I spent 5 months building that!"

[@emilianohubera4163]

@@agent5866 That fucking giant got what was coming to him (got, see what I did there? got? jeje, Im so funny)

[@daddyleon]

Sansaversity!

[@h3lblad3]

@@daddyleon, Shanshavershity

[@gallifreyarchives4434]

Next do King’s Landing. Shad three years later, “The walls are done.”

[@reiyya9377]

Harrenhal would be truly EPIC. But that would take an eternity to build.

[@gallifreyarchives4434]

Reiyya maybe he could do Dragonstone

[@Chorochronchotor]

Id wager Shad will have all the castles of Westeros modeled and the friggin last book still wont be finished. :D

[@gallifreyarchives4434]

Dominik Strnad if he does do all the castles, we have our map for a good Song of Ice and Fire video game. Lol

[@andrasbiro3007]

Of course someone already did it in Minecraft. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6GYpq2dhLOke5Y

[@lorettoponton7218]

It's actually very logical that Winterfell walls are so big, for all that we know, it was constructed in a time when people fought with giants on a regular basis

[@legbiter1462]

Giants actually helped build winterfell.

[@lelouche25]

Bran the Builder had the help of Giants to build winterfell. A theory about the castle actually says it was the site the war for the dawn was won. Hence the name, Winterfell.

[@Hernameispamela]

40 ft of snow on the outside during winter, walls have to be big.

[@neriumsuitedher]

I imagine it needs to be so big for when Winter comes and the North becomes impassable. There are glass gardens and hot springs, a great place to winter.

[@tyebrown2741]

Id say its more to do with the stagnation of technology It doesn't seem to ever improve in the asoiaf universe after the andals byt whern you are constantly warring in peacetime you are probably going to keep improving your defences and after thousands of years you end up with a beast like Winterfell

[@giovannitigalo7011]

I love how huge all the castles in ASOIAF are. It’s like ehh screw it, some ancient magical race built them, no explanation needed beyond that. Big castles are just freaking cool

[@andrewcody2181]

Well, Brandon, the builder, had the help of giants and the children of the forest.

[@giovannitigalo7011]

@@andrewcody2181 According to Westerosi myths. It makes more sense that it was some ancient race.

[@juniornisthal2216]

@@giovannitigalo7011 well children of the forest would be “an ancient race” as would giants…

[@starking2162]

⁠@@juniornisthal2216plus Brandon is a direct descendant of Garth Greenhand from the age of heroes, so he likely had magic himself, on top of giants, CotF, and more

[@juniornisthal2216]

@@starking2162 Brandon is not a direct descendant. Thats just a theory.

[@nayandusoruth2468]

Shad: "100 000 people could be on those walls in the case of a big battle" Battle of Winterfell: *places majority of army outside*

[@kaptenlemper]

Wouldn't make much of a difference if the White Walkers could besiege the castle indefinitely - the defenders would run out of food at some point, what with that amount of people manning the defenses.

[@arvinvillaluz5097]

@Ganz Bestimmt but the white walkers have infinite amount of time. Will never get hungry or tired. So... having yourself and an army of hundred thousand confined in a castle would still be a bad idea.

[@DaenerysTargaryenTheQueen]

In the show version of Winterfell, there is no chance that 100.000 people could be inside Winterfell you idiot.

[@DickTangoTV]

@@arvinvillaluz5097 They only had winter, I don't think the white walkers do very well in summer.

[@ChristomirRackov]

@@DickTangoTV The White Walkers bring winter with them. So, supposedly, winter would have lasted forever, as long as they were there, and not defeated. And even if that wasn't the case, you do know that winter in Westeros usually lasts for years, right? So saying they "only" had winter doesn't sound very reassuring :|

[@Riku-zv5dk]

TV Winterfell: Looks like a small castle with misplaced architecture. Shad's Winterfell: Looks like the capital and heart of the North.

[@DerPolygonianer]

Especially considering that the north is almost as big as all the southern Kingdoms combined it feels weird having Winterfell be a fraction of the Size of Casterly Rock, Kings Landing or Riverrun. And even if they wanted to go with a smaller size for the Castle they should still have put a normal town somewhere in the general vicinity.

[@Riku-zv5dk]

@@DerPolygonianer Also they kept saying the North had such a small population compared to the other seven, which was just annoying. Compared to the other seven realms it has an average population, problem is it is spread out over an area bigger than any of the others. Dorne has the small population, the North just has its spread about.

[@DerPolygonianer]

@@Riku-zv5dk It definitely has a much lower population Density, but there is no good Reason why the North should have a lower Population than the Vale. The Numbers are kind of hard to estimate in the book. The north supposedly only has a Million people living there. But some things don't really add up. Also, for the most part the only numbers we ever get is soldiers. And Soldiers only make up a fraction of a working economy. We never ever see any farms in the series though. And nobody believes that they would only have farms in the Reach and transport all the Grain across the Country. That would give the Reach a Power that would make them the undisputed Ruler over Westeros.

[@jmcc4566]

@@DerPolygonianer And make the Reach the permanent centre of conflict . . .

[@adamwhitehead7289]

@@DerPolygonianer That's TV logic. In the books, the estimated population of the North is more like 4-5 million (about the same as the Vale and the Riverlands), which is far more realistic.

[@RedGeist]

Send this to George, he might hate fanfiction but he LOVES fan art, especially something as detailed and historically respectful as this

[@warrengouldthorpe5091]

Just imagine this in a game engine like the unreal engine, with complete interiors and the catacombs below the castle, that would be awesome

[@nikki607]

@@warrengouldthorpe5091 I don't think there's an engine strong enough to handle something this big. Especially if we're talking open-world of the entirety of Westeros

[@warrengouldthorpe5091]

@@nikki607 thats actually a good point maybe in 20/30 years there might be but if there was a game based around westeros they probably would shrink the map down to make it smaller so computers and games consoles could handle it, a bit like how skyrim is meant to be a massive continent and each city is ment to be massive but isn't

[@50733Blabla1337]

Acutally this would be fairly easy. All those houses and walls are pretty low poly and the textures are not that high rez. if you would make the interior lowpoly aswell it would work easily. How do you think Witcher III is possible otherwise? - > Studied 3D Art and Game Design

[@yorickpostema2378]

@@50733Blabla1337 You could do it with high resolution, the way you can do it is with level streaming. You can unload alot of things once you are in the city, You can make it like skyrim handles it. This way you can have massive cities without loosing performance. You could even make subsections in the city with loading screens. And the loadingscreens would not even be that long, although you will loose immersiveness by adding the loadingscreens.

[@RafaMieses]

My understanding was that winter fell was made basically so the entire north could retreat to it during the harsher (imagine an extra long winter means extra years) winters. It stores a large percentage of the north food supply for winter

[@fairarizkiano3845]

in the show, the size of winterfell confused me because if they're going to shelter so many people and store food for the people, shouldn't the castle size be huge?

[@freeguy3894]

@@fairarizkiano3845 i assumed that most of people and food and other stuff would be stored in the crypts because they seem to be very big compared to the castle itself in the show

[@snappzero]

Winterfell is also built around a hotspring. The hot water is piped through the walls and floors, so it's actually heated naturally as well by wood.

[@thenerdfulspirit]

Yes. That's probably true for most or all the other main castles as well. And actually part way explains the lack of decent roads: the labour is used on building and maintaining the ("castle" just doesn't seem like a big enough word , and Casterly Rock and Storm's End are more like vast nuclear bunkers)'s

[@Greytuneify]

This is what true passion looks like. You go, castle guy. You go.

[@verruso7774]

Yas

[@mr.jglokta191]

"Lord Stark the dead are attacking!" "They can try..."

[@ambuknight]

If only they did this Castle design. Now I want Shad make a castle model form Eragon the Dwarf city known as Furthrs Dul the first city in the dwarf capital. With the red crystal Rose included cuase the book makes me think it's the Whole Gosh Dam Mountain. While the movie... Made it..... Alot small

[@mooshlovely639]

@@ambuknight well the movie isn't known for being very good

[@ambuknight]

@@mooshlovely639 I know I have I watch and read the movie and books. And honestly I don't understand why they treated like a Syfy Asylum fantasy movie in it's source material.

[@josh223]

@@ambuknight and now i need to reread this whole series the third time

[@fyrnenskulman6071]

@@ambuknight took me a bit to figure out what we are talking about, since in my native language it has another (nonetheless similar ) name. But you are right, the movie was extremely disappointing😣

[@paualamar]

Should we twit this to George R.R. Martin? If he liked a drawing of the throne he’s gonna be amazed by your model.

[@DinnerForkTongue]

Please do!

[@MuhammadKharismawan]

Everyone need to do it so he'd actually watch it. I already did mine.

[@mrprimor227]

Supposedly he doesn't listen to fan theories and I'm not sure if it would leak into this.

[@mrlegkick91]

@@mrprimor227 hopefully he'd appreciate the sheer effort and detail that went into this. It's not like shad is making up a load of bs fan theory stuff...

[@kuhljager2429]

@@mrprimor227 this isn't a fan theory. Fan theories are about who live, who dies, and things like that. This is taking the books, and creating a model based off of what the author already created. Also Shad, wonderful job, both by you and your crew.

[@veryshia]

I think sometimes people forgot that Winterfell was once a kingdom. All of the seven great houses was once a kingdom, so it make sense that it would be massive since it was an ancient castle that used to house a king. Even when I was watching the series I kept thinking "Why is Winterfell so small, if it was once a kingdom, where would the northeners live?"

[@davidkassl2799]

Winterfell being a kingdom does not affect the size of its kings' castle. There are huge and small kingsdoms even today, and the king of Sweden will have a bigger castle than the king of Agbassa (Nigeria). Also, we have a real united Kingdom in our world (it is calles United Kingdom) and the castles of their once separate kingdoms are of different size.

[@veryshia]

@@davidkassl2799 yes I completely agree. But Winterfell in the series, to me! Is too small. More like a lord's house rather than fit for a king. Especially if it should house some of its citizens in the long winters.

[@nothing-oj1sz]

@@veryshia Northerners under Stark rule would not live IN Winterfell, they would live around it. Only the King and his family lives in the castle called Winterfell.

[@MrNinja543]

​@@veryshia the north is the most vast of the kingdoms they're not going to all live in Winterfell. That's how you get a rats nest like kings landing

[@connordonohoe5903]

The north was its own kingdom not winterfell that would be a tiny kingdom

[@chiquiloso]

You do realize that we now need a model for all the other castles, right? :D Amazing work man, congratulations!

[@twelve11]

Highgarden!

[@alontsang7377]

Casterly rock! Oh and harrenhall!

[@daviguedes8949]

Sunspear!

[@JG-my9mj]

Dragonstone!

[@hiddendagger7291]

storm's end

[@felassanabelas3735]

Theon's men scaling the walls, swimming the moat and then scaling the inner wall all with simple climbing spikes is suddenly so much more impressive...

[@motorcitymangababe]

The tactical genius that theon wasted for daddys favor is truly tragic.

[@LA-MJ]

Ludicrous rather. Many of the scenes in the book are ruined after seeing this. GRRM can't math. It is known.

[@dv9239]

@@LA-MJ It is known

[@jonathandevers6609]

@@dv9239 It is known

[@bethcail976]

@@LA-MJ It always confused me, even in the books, that the Greyjoys had to have lost thousands of men at Fair Isle and thousands more defending the Iron Islands during the Rebellion just a decade ago and suddenly are able to invade the North with thousands more during the War of Five Kings and the North was just unable to repel them on their own? The Manderlys have the most land, most gold, a thriving port and a whole fucking city and can only raise 2000 men? like that is straight up bullshit.

[@droach5241]

I officially want to see Kings Landing, Casterly Rock, Dragonstone, and The Eyrie

[@derdingsreturnsnochmal5177]

I think they pretty much nailed King's Landing.

[@visionist7]

Highgarden pleez!

[@TiagoJRToledo]

HARRENHAL

[@redblueproductions9739]

@@derdingsreturnsnochmal5177 Yes, exeot the red keep is not as tall in the books as it is in the show.

[@vedantpatel8266]

The Eyrie is so insane in the books lmao

[@dansomething7742]

8:30 Winterfell is referred to as a uniquely large castle within the books a lot. Harrenhall is bigger than Winterfell (Harrenhall is grotesquely large), but Riverrun definitely isn't. That to one side, this is insane. I'm getting a headache just looking at this. To be fair GRRM has acknowledged that he's really bad at scale so I dont think he knew Winterfell would be this absurdly big

[@brianmerritt5410]

It makes sense that it's this large though. The Stark territory is massive and the castle had been slightly remodeled as the 8000 years went by.

[@dansomething7742]

@@brianmerritt5410 except The North is mostly empty. Them having enough men to garrison a castle this size would put a significant strain on resources

[@failtolawl]

I think that it's rather fair because it was Bran the builder who made Winterfell. Unless he made the old keep and tower?

[@legbiter1462]

@@dansomething7742 The North has a similar population to dorne and the Vale, it’s nowhere near as empty as people make it seem.

[@dansomething7742]

@Legbiter 14 true but it's much bigger. Which makes it comparatively emptier

[@Nemesis_T_Type]

Winterfell in the TV show was barely a castle. Now this model looks like it is prepared to fight against the White Walkers.

[@doesnotexist305]

Which is what it was designed for

[@11Berry113]

Well yes and no, they where designed against dragons. That's why they the castle where so massive in the book. In the series the castles are a joke like Shad says.

[@aquila4460]

@@11Berry113 They wheren't designed against dragons. Thats why 3 dragon riders managed to unite westeros. Herranhal was completly invincible to any normal army, and it was gone within hour upon a dragon assault.

[@roddo1955]

TV-Winterfell, was fine. It has the scale and look of what you might expect from a medieval castle on earth. More relatable to the average viewers. Had they made Winterfell to scale; TV-audiences would be like:"suuuuuuure"....I like to think that the show and the books are two separate things and visions.

[@Turgon86]

@@11Berry113 They weren't. Winterfell was built by Bradon the builder, who existed waaaay back before the Targaryens came to Westeros.

[@EastSidePaul]

The first time I saw Winterfell, it looked like something that had been here for thousands of years, and would be here for thousands of years after I was dead. I saw it, and I thought, "Of course Ned Stark crushed our rebellion and killed my brothers. We never stood a chance against a man who lives here." - Theon Greyjoy

[@blackfalcon4708]

From which book is that quote?

[@EastSidePaul]

@@blackfalcon4708 Hey, it is from the TV show; Season 2 Episode 10 - Valar Morghulis.

[@Mandrak789]

Too bad Winterfell in TV series didn't really looked like it. More like some poor God forbidden military outpost.

[@rafaelmontoya1454]

@@Mandrak789 It did look like a castle but not the castle of the warden of the north. It looked like a castle for a different noble family.

[@Mandrak789]

@@rafaelmontoya1454 Yeah, Starks aren't rich as Lannisters and Tyrells, and North is not populated as South, but I would expect that one of the most powerful families in Westeros had bigger home.

[@Seallussus]

Who would make a more authentic, realistic, and epic Winterfell? HBO with nearly unlimited resources Or a nerdy boi with sketchup and a fondness for castles?

[@prestonbrower762]

But what about dragons?

[@prophetofbeans6781]

The Lord of Winterfell bent the knee rather than face that kind of headache from the Targs

[@camerongooch9606]

Dont forget hes also Australian

[@TheCozz95]

I'd say Shads relationship with castles is much too intense to be described as a mere fondness

[@Seallussus]

The true extent of his love for castles is unimaginable

[@batadija6627]

Riverrun is actually nowhere near the size of Winterfell. Winterfell is probably the 2nd largest man-made castle in Westeros after Harrenhal (Casterly Rock is basically a carved out mountain).

[@metallicoustic6733]

as opposed to the naturally-occuring castles of course

[@k-la-k6828]

@@metallicoustic6733 What? You haven't heard of Squirrel-made castles?

[@metallicoustic6733]

@@AstaraBrightwing talking castles here

[@Ariaasu]

@@metallicoustic6733 Valyrians build their castles using dragons and magic 🤷🏽‍♀️

[@sadiqahmed4143]

@@Ariaasu Forts (No castles except Dragonstone which is more fort

[@hailexiao2770]

Bran's gonna have one hell of a time surviving a fall from *that* broken tower!

[@kungfujesus1874]

He fell from the old keep, not the tower in the books but yes, show bran is very dead

[@Tensen01]

people have survived falling out of planes without any major injuries... I mean unlikely he'd survive, but not unheard of.

[@mrobligatory.5234]

KungFuJesus 1 have you seen the old keep in the video he dead it’s more then a 100 foot drop, also like your user name, am a Christian

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

Probably landed in some snow or something.

[@philosophpascal]

@@Tensen01 they haven't.

[@rodneycoopwood1648]

I see why Catelyn didn't want Bran climbing

[@DanDauzacker]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHHAHAH

[@DavidbarZeus1]

I think it's a MIRACLE that Bran survived the fall!

[@visionist7]

Bran should have been a splatted tomato

[@safwanshuhaib9968]

Bran the broken.... More like bran the boy who lived 😂

[@kerzariz8717]

@@DavidbarZeus1 Probably. But there's snow in the ground, so it must've softened the fall.

[@gogroxandurrac]

Ridiculous. Simply ridiculous. The patience and dedication...I'm in awe. That being said, firewood is less necessary than you assumed. It isn't well defined or explained, but they have heating from underground, whether that's hot springs pumped through the keep, being on top of an active volcano (think Yellowstone not coastal volcanos), or sitting on top of an ancient dragon's lair.

[@sheikranl3949]

I don't think much less firewood is needed, especially in the winter, which, worst case scenario, takes a couple of years. You'd want as much firewood as possible for those times, because chopping firewood during winter is difficult, because A) snow everywhere makes transportation harder B) The firewood needs more time to dry, since it's all wet and cold because of the snow. C) Chopping (nearly) frozen wood requires more effort than normal wood.

[@gogroxandurrac]

@@sheikranl3949 My point was more about quantity than existence. Wood is still necessary, it's just that the need for it goes down due to the heating of such massive buildings burning way more than every other use the wood would be put to combined. Having a built in heating system that runs 24/7-365 reduces the wood consumption by a huge margin. It doesn't reduce it to zero, but puts it in much more manageable numbers. There'd probably still be stockpiles, but they wouldn't necessarily be in every available space of every building.

[@slayer0235]

@@gogroxandurrac Though when we're talking about a family whose motto is "Winter is coming," I can't imagine there's any such thing as "too much firewood storage."

[@Dvergenlied]

Slayer 0 this is the North! We don’t burn firewood, we burn broken southron hopes and dreams ;-)

[@TheCoffeehound]

@@gogroxandurrac If we were talking about normal northern European style winters, I'd definitely agree with you. However, the world that ISOAF is set in has harsh winters that last for years. With that in mind, Shad's wood storage makes sense, even if it is mostly used for cooking. I'm also not sure that there is enough food storage in this version of Winterfel to make it through one of the long winters, even with severe rationing.

[@derricksteward4483]

This castle is so defensible it looks like they could hold back the armies of the dead.

[@gabrielalejandrodoldan4722]

Of corse!

[@cheesecakeisgross4645]

Then the geniuses chose to fight outside it.

[@idontspeakjapanese6289]

@@cheesecakeisgross4645 Let's hope GRRM would rid us of that

[@musicaldooder20]

And it seems like it would definitely be easier to defend against those armies of the undead inside the castle. Not on the OUTSIDE,(like certain people might have done, lol).

[@Neo2266.]

Nig king has a dragon at that point, remember harrenhall

[@anonynony4410]

And Brand was climbing all this. Absolute mad lad.

[@beingrkm]

*bran

[@Incogn170]

Explains why Catelyn were so concerned lmao

[@noahmay7708]

Imagine falling 30 meters and only breaking your legs.

[@AaronChristopher869]

@@noahmay7708 he also broke his spine, but still he is very lucky to be alive

[@astafy39]

He trained for assassin's creed, but then 3eyes raven happened

[@Crendermin]

This makes it much more believable when they say that Winterfell is a stronghold

[@futurecaredesign]

35:40 I actually remember reading that Winterfell was heated by the water of the hot springs. It was engineered in such a way that the hot water flowed through the walls of the buildings, heating them up.

[@romansongen6284]

but i think only in the main keep. However you would need massive amounts of firewood anyway :D

[@wyattblaine7066]

thank you, was my only note as well

[@legogonkdroid3792]

I said that too and then i scrolled down and saw your comment

[@thedarkfrost2351]

Good old Brandon the builder

[@97epicman]

@@romansongen6284 Nope. The hot water flows through all the inside walls of Winterfell. It's so warm that people flock there in the winter, because its the warmest castle in the North.

[@aramaxes4802]

You forgot one detail. The granaries would need to be way bigger compared to conventional granaries since winter is coming and it's going to last for for quite a while.

[@zexfafa2794]

True but since there are so many giant walls and castles within a castle and the winterfell crypts there would be more than enough space where you would put all the grain

[@elessal]

developers like cd project red should hire you, at least as a consultant, for adaptations of medieval/fantacy novels.

[@jonathangiese5727]

If Winterfell, supposedly a conservatively sized castle, looks like this, then I am seriously scared what Harrenhal looks like.

[@robertmartinu8803]

There is a reason being lord of Harrenhal is considered cursed. Either you know you can't afford it, or you'll learn the hard way.

[@Jaggaraz218]

I'm pretty sure that Winterfell was considered to be quite large even in the Song of Ice and fire universe

[@valhar2000]

It's the size of New York.

[@nikolajsteffensen6578]

if i remember right the towers of Harrenhal were said to be so tall they would touch the clouds.

[@josht6633]

Winterfell is 1/3 the size of Harrenhall if I remember correctly, I think the Godswood is somewhere around 20 acres.

[@DKline9206]

The scale of this castle only makes sense with the world building of Game of Thrones. This castle wasn't meant to house one great family and their servants. Nor was it built to withstand a siege of another nation. This castle was meant to house and entire people and withstand the siege of the White Walkers.

[@x--.]

That's such a key component, isn't it? Assuming no magical influence, a people would only expend the amount of energy, time, sweat and resources to build just the inner wall if they had fear of a great, great enemy. A sanctuary to withstand a force that couldn't be confronted in open warfare but had to be outlasted.

[@boythee4193]

yes, to defend all of the seven kingdoms from the zombie horde

[@arawn1061]

That and in the books Winterfell was built over thousands of years and expanded, renovated and rebuilt. Not to mention the HUGE amount of resources the north has at its command

[@luke8801]

Thats why it was built where it was, where they defeated them for the first time, magic in the crypts, iron longswords to protect against the cold, the Crown of the Kings of Winter. It's all in the books, but the show threw it all away.

[@kalysbourque2857]

Of course, the idea to make a powerful stronghold to be against a mighty foe and they expected it to happen again since they live and breathe in the north, the Great Wall of the north is another representation of how large the walls of Winterfell is suppose to be as a go-to holdout. Of course with some logical reasoning of its past of why it was built for, how it should defend and what they are up against because they did not have a dragon at first to scale around the defending force's walls and did not expect to bust down the Great Wall until Dreanery's came about to play out in the movie, but Winterfell was a logical place for the dead to go to instead of King's Landing which is kind of odd to place. Although Winterfell should have fallen to the dead and the rest of the houses before king's landing. I know my grammar is kind of shit because i have a difficult language learning disability. :)

[@jeanneanberglund531]

So basically the show's version of Winterfell was a giant's outhouse.

[@abominable.7800]

the show version of Winterfell looks pretty dull not gonna lie

[@kingofthesands]

@@abominable.7800 The show version is still quite impressive. Keep in mind they created the castle back in 2009 when filming and production began.

[@freeguy3894]

@@kingofthesands wait they built that entire thing?

[@Madi_Ernar]

@@kingofthesands that's just a waste of money, they needed to make a CGI castle

[@InnuendoXP]

Only 7 minutes in but man, having the Godswood in the middle actually makes that bit in the TV series "let's all retreat to the Godswood" actually make a slight amount of sense, as opposed to running back to the segmented off minimally-fortified and bottlenecked section of open garden in the TV show.

[@hello1236096]

rayamoroso126 near the end of the battle of winter fell

[@josejuangomez83]

The battle of winterfell was a disgrace. Just as the whole of 8th season.

[@stanleyc2978]

@rayamoroso126 They were in the process of retreating to it. Arya easily killed the ancient super strong ice zombie warrior in like 5 seconds. Well before anyone else retreated to it. Theon and Brand were already there before the battle began. The idiotic "plan" was to use Bran as bait but then that seemed nearly completely forgotten.

[@astrayadventurer4450]

The night king would of looked at that an been like. "Ah hell they updated. Nah let's go around they'll freeze out. We're going around guys."

[@FlyingFox86]

3 days later: "We made it guys, we made it around the castle!"

[@jaketheberge1970]

@@FlyingFox86 (Dragons fly overhead) Night King: (Sniff) Somethings burning.

[@astrayadventurer4450]

@@FlyingFox86 Lmao! Nice.

[@matthewmuir8884]

That's how I would've written season 8, episode 3. The Night King smells a trap and goes around; leaving a section of his army behind to distract the army of the living and kill as much of it as possible while the Night King heads south and spreads both winter and the long night (i.e. the clouds blot out the sun) across Westeros.

[@drmatthewgrayqld]

The night king only appears in the TV show, not the books. Don't know if he'll be written into future books. The books are much more complex and nuanced, and the night king might not be needed at all to make the story work.

[@barrywhittingham6154]

According to the wiki, firewood would not be as essential for heating though it would still be needed for cooking. This is because: "Winterfell has been built around an ancient godswood and over natural hot springs. The water is piped through walls and chambers to heat them, making Winterfell more comfortable than other castles during the harsh northern winters."

[@prcervi]

and in all the small houses and buildings? that is a lot of pipework being done wood fires are also just a nice aesthetic and good for the human psyche

[@barrywhittingham6154]

@@prcervi I did say 'as essential'. You'd still need and use it - just not as much.

[@crownregis]

Watercooling/heating the Winterfell keep like its Linus's new house

[@barrywhittingham6154]

Obviously, this would limit the heating effect to the original stone buildings built by Bran the Builder but it could keep the roofs of those buildings clear of snow and ice - the TV rooftops are actually feasible, even sensible, if all they have to cope with is meltwater runoff.

[@barrywhittingham6154]

And you could even use that runoff to fill underground cisterns such as Shad has done in his own Honorguard.

[@risetotheheavens]

Winterfell was heated by pumping the hot springs throughout the castle walls. a crucial element that was missed -- but outstanding job nonetheless.

[@hamishdrake6166]

If this is the true Winterfell, it makes putting your army outside the walls even more ridiculous.

[@tz6070]

I am sure the army of dead would run out of zombies, before they could climb all these huge walls😂

[@janehaylay1152]

Yes, because entire army would fit there. Even with dragons, comfortably.

[@johnnyskinwalker4095]

@@tz6070 "yea umm screw you Night King, I'm going home"

[@markpock1139]

That's how the Seven Kingdoms stayed stable for thousands of years before Aegon's Conquest With behemoths like Winterfell, Casterly Rock, Highgarden, Storm's End, and more - even some of the minor castles like Castamere and the Dreadfort are formidable opponents.

[@Angelo-nd4lg]

@@markpock1139 bra casterly rock is giving me nightmares and harrenhall

[@TwinIonEngines]

Stone mason: So how many towers do you want? The Starks: *YES*

[@AzaleaJane]

D&D: here's our winterfell design *Eddard Stark has left the chat*

[@MM-xm5vx]

The starks are older than all the other paramount houses the only houses as old as them are just vassals. They lived there for thousands of years.

[@JaayCeez]

I mean.... It was built by the same guy who built the Great Wall if the North lol. What do you think Bran The Builder would do in his own home? With a name like "The Builder"? hehe Plus it was back in the times where Giants and magic was more known and more available :)

[@TwinIonEngines]

@@JaayCeez " Hey Bran so why do they call you the Builder anyway? " * Bran, putting the final touches on the 478th tower on Winterfell * " I dunno man, people are weird ya know " * Giant slotting a roof on a citadel like a Lego * " Eyyy Jerry careful will ya! "

[@JaayCeez]

@@TwinIonEngines haha, yup, seems about right.

[@RainMakeR_Workshop]

Wonder what George R. R. Martin would think of this?

[@remove_marko]

Would be probably mind-blown

[@sorsocksfake]

"Look, I just wrote down some things that kinda made sense. I hadn't expected anyone to actually try and recreate it!"

[@Lancor84]

"I maybe have overdone it."

[@Divinemakyr]

@@Lancor84 I remember some people showed George a 700-foot deep canyon or something and he said he made the Wall to tall. He was thinking about 200 feet, it's just hard to think about in your head.

[@squidsinspace75]

He probably will love it. He loves his Fans creativity. Especially when they took his descriptions and expand it into something even more real and correct his mistakes or fill the gaps which he left. Shad definitely should send that to him.

[@Shadowmask8]

I have to say I really didn't think your design would be particularly aesthetically pleasing but what you've done here is spectacularly beautiful. The white accents against the grey granite is a really nice touch. You should be proud.

[@Lugrer3113]

You are a literal GOD. As a huge ASOIAF fan I can say that this is one of the greatest fan projects for the franchise I have ever seen. Hope you make some for other ASOIAF castles. Also your book is great.

[@McGrewer]

So Winterfell is a castle, in a castle, inside of a castle with a couple of castles around it and a park in it. This is capitol city levels of layers. This is where emperors want to live. Which I guess makes sense.

[@Riku-zv5dk]

I mean back when the North was its own Kingdom it was the castle of Kings. Makes you wonder what Highgarden and Casterly Rock are really like

[@davidwilson6577]

Don't forget the city outside the castle that can house all the folk from the surrounding lands during winter. Highgarden we don't know, but Casterly Rock I always envisioned as something much more mundane (in terms of size by Westerosi standards). I'm sure it would be practically gilded, but they don't need to deal with internal heating and housing for the surrounding lands during winter, plus they're in a much more naturally defensible position. Anything Bran the Builder made is going to be more impressive structurally, excepting anything made by a Valyrian.

[@corruptangel6793]

@@Riku-zv5dk highgarden is like a much bigger Menas tirith. Just with only 2 tiers to it's cake like design. And Casterly Rock is literally a hollowed out mountain on the ocean side.

[@corruptangel6793]

@@davidwilson6577 if you google those places then some images from the book "The World of Ice and Fire" where there are pictures of all of these locations will appear. They're literally the first pictures you see

[@Lakhshamana]

To be fair, The North is like the size of Canada and Continental USA combined

[@eriks1765]

Shad watched GoT and went full Crocodile Dundee. "That's not a castle. THIS is a castle"

[@stanleylee5358]

'straya!

[@toastedbread9752]

A part of the story that I find even more amazing now that I can visualize the scale of Winterfell, is that Theon and his Ironborn men climbed these walls to take the castle.

[@tomaskovarik7966]

Ironborn were hardcore raiders

[@tiffanywyatt5137]

Martin has admitted he was bad with scales but it being massive does explain. How it was hard to find bran and rickon when they were escaping

[@antiochus87]

How many men did Theon have with him again? Surely it would have been impossible to really "take Winterfell", let alone hold onto it for even a tiny amount of time (I.e. garrison it), and that's ignoring the strategic problems. How many troops would he need to control all that area? Doesn't matter if he took the key keep, the sheer size would make it like trying to hold a city with a tiny force. He wouldn't have enough men to control more than a tiny percentage of it.

[@aqueousvessel8]

​@antiochus87 most of Winterfells garrison left with Robb for the war, a very small amount of men were left behind and most of those left to go free Torhens Square from the ironborn by Brans order. Which left an already very undermaned castle essentially empty. Even then the only reason the Iron born got into the castle was because Theon knew a bunch of stuff about the castle that allowed them to sneak in.

[@antiochus87]

@@aqueousvessel8 Thanks for replying. Interesting. It seems to me that Winterfell is impractically big and extremely difficult to defend, and the Starks couldn't really hold they fortress for the same reason Theon couldn't, but with the only advantage being for them it was in friendly territory. It seems too big for a reasonable garrison, and the North too empty, bleak and underpopulated to support the kind of garrison to cover all its defenses effectively, so a well provisioned enemy would wear them down in a siege.

[@timothynguyen1989]

Shad: *recreates Winterfell* Whitewalkers: Ight imma head out

[@tylergulbas7632]

Timothy bro imagine if Dany helped the rebuild the castle to look like this just in time for when the white walkers come and this is what the fight was in...

[@revolverDOOMGUY]

people who make minecraft castles "write that down, write that down"

[@lowkeyarki7091]

I don't think the build limit would let us build towers that tall. 256 blocks i think.

[@kaiob921]

@@lowkeyarki7091 I mean the inner wall, being 30 meters, is already 30 blocks. So yeah, the great keep and all of the bigger buildins woldn't be possible to build;

[@sartanko]

@@kaiob921 Doesn't need to be exactly the same proportions, just general design and layout would be enough for most minecrafters I think.

[@lowkeyarki7091]

@@kaiob921 yeah, I was actually looking for this post to edit my comment. I tried it out on my minecraft world and based on the video the tallest tower should only be 100 blocks tall at most. So yeah, people should really try and do it.

[@slaaneshthedarkprince2000]

I think they already made winterfell

[@Delta_3]

I've got to say as a draughtsman and civil/structural engineer I'm tremendously impressed with the model you have created. I admire the amount of time, effort and knowledge that has gone into making such a spectacular model! I take my hat off to you Shad 😊

[@ElliWoelfin]

He has experience as an architect, definitely helps.

[@Coops1985]

he does? i wondered. i wish i was this good at sketchup.

[@Delta_3]

I hadn't realised, it would certainly explain Shad's ability and understanding. I've used Revit quite a bit and other 3D cad software but am nowhere near the level that Shad has 😲

[@Miquelalalaa]

Did you have to do a civil engineering degree?

[@Dracomancer273]

@@ElliWoelfin Even more shocking, he's an architect That Pays Attention To Physics!!! Most architects have a bad habit of "I want the 5 story glass box with no columns" and the Structural Engineers are going "But a light breeze or a cup of water poured on the roof will make it collapse! No! Bad Architect!"

[@Perykvaal]

The fact that you're giving those files out for free is truly impressive, considering the amount of hours you spent. I salute you, sir!

[@nickagalidis1845]

Imagine an army of White Walkers trying to take this version of Winterfell. A man can dream

[@peterpaulbuttigieg7908]

With that moat, all that they needed to worry about would be the dragon!

[@mrlegkick91]

Lol they'd have no chance..

[@Manaphypalka]

They could pile the wights in one spot and climb over, fill the moat with more

[@peterpaulbuttigieg7908]

@@Manaphypalka i havent calculated but id bet that 100,000 bodies would not be enough and even if it is, i dont think there will be enough wights left to climb it and still be a considerable threat

[@tyrant-den884]

It was taken by a small company of Vikings. They used subterfuge, but still.

[@QRAPGaming]

Nightking: Yeah we will.... save this one for later. Let's go somewhere else instead

[@TheMorfra]

QRAPGaming who is Nightking?

[@luizfelipevbf5567]

@@TheMorfra the leader of the Others in the show.

[@Lakhshamana]

On the flip side, he has a dragon (in the show) and a metric asston of foot soldiers

[@ulrichkalber9039]

@@Lakhshamana and he is given a gift of valyrian steel, wich nullifies all that.

[@SeanKecskes]

Nightking: Wait, they're all going outside the walls to meet us? Awesome, let's do this.

[@elephantofdoom]

The best part is knowing Martin, his actual mental image of Winterfell is probably half the size of this and he just sucked at scale.

[@konradvonschnitzeldorf6506]

probably

[@Nesseight]

Winterfell was designed by Bran the Builder. The same guy who very possibly made the Wall. He didn't believe in "small" Either that or GRRM just sucks at scale.

[@elephantofdoom]

Martin has said that he didn't mean for the wall to be as big as he described it. They took him to a quarry that was 700 feet tall for some scouting, and he realized that 700 feet tall in his head was more like 200 feet tall in real life.

[@Divinemakyr]

@@elephantofdoom lmao

[@povilzem]

@@elephantofdoom That probably only means that Martin has tiny feet.

[@TroubledTrooper]

Ya gotta remember for hundreds of years this was the capital seat of a massive Kingdom.

[@n1ppe]

Actually it was thousands of years. It was build after The long night by Bran The Builder 8 000 years before A Game Of Thrones.

[@bantcm]

The fact that you not only made this but also made it available for free download is awesome. Thank you.

[@PoshRaven]

So, you see Shad. With such an epic defensive capability, the only logical conclusion fighting the dead is placing all the infantries, calvery and artillery outside of this humongous epic defensive capability, Duh.

[@martinkirbits4752]

They didnt want to appear as filfty casuals

[@Ottocide]

Lololololol

[@sirewokthefirstidonthaveal2902]

i agree, as an ewok who's genius is only rivled by the gods themselves... this is a valid statement

[@Harshhaze]

You should also put the women and children near the dead, and not evacuate them

[@fyrnenskulman6071]

I mean otherwise there would be the risk of your army getting lost within the castle😅

[@JustGrowingUp84]

You crazy maniac, you actually did it! I love you, man!

[@warrenstearns9068]

Winterfell was warmed largely by hot springs, in the book they said that the hot springs heated the whole city castle, kat said the place was almost unbeatably hot

[@tar_mairon24]

I think she only lived there in the summer so it would be warm, in winter maybe cozy, but I dont remember if ned and cat were married after the winter, but that summer was loong

[@warrenstearns9068]

@@tar_mairon24 It had been summer for 20 years so ot was spring or winter when they were married

[@LeonM4c]

You mentioned Winterfell being like a small city, going by the books, you aren't far off. It's said that during the winter, the people of the North all gather to Winterfell and take residence in what's referred to as the Winter Town, a smattering of buildings all up and around Winterfell. Love what you've done here, this is incredible and an honorable nod to the grandeur of the aesthetics of the books. You're quite skilled Shad, keep it up.

[@borysvengerov3398]

By the way, Martin himself acknowledged that he was pretty bad at putting a number to the structures he imagined. There's a story of him being surprised at the size of The Wall on one author's drawing. The author replied: "Well, that's what 700 feet look like"

[@Sipu97]

Yeah... That's a thought I had in my mind while watching this: "what if he just didn't understand the scale?"

[@rennycepeda6576]

@@Sipu97 even for architecture students it takes time and experience to really understand, i can imagine working with a castle wouldn't be easy

[@Sipu97]

@@rennycepeda6576 Yup, I don't blame him. It's hard to estimate how tall something is.

[@David-un4cs]

I like that though. Some of the art that gets released, like The World of Ice and Fire, is so grand and fantastical that it looks like it would fit in Dark Souls. The show going more toned down in a lot of ways was a downgrade in my opinion.

[@borysvengerov3398]

@@David-un4cs fun fact: George says that so far artists were not liberal enough (sic!) when depicting Dragonstone - imagine how mad his vision of it is 😄

[@amazingchestahead4602]

the first 8 mins have already put so much into perspective. I had no idea winterfell castle would be so huge! Shows how much a tv show can twist your mental image of a story's setting

[@abominable.7800]

“Ned Stark always said 500 men could hold Winterfell again 10,000.”

[@edwardbrown3721]

Yeah they'd just need to man the gate, no one's getting through those walls anywhere

[@antiochus87]

​@@edwardbrown3721Who said though? I think a far smaller force could take the city. That's a lot of wall for these 500 men to cover, and not so many choke points.

[@theshadowling1]

@@antiochus87 You want to try to climb an 80ft wall? You can't really build a ladder that tall, and if there's a layer of ice/sleet, no way. The gatehouse is the only real way in

[@Diego-sb1bw]

Theon climbed the wall​@@theshadowling1

[@idontspeakjapanese6289]

@@Diego-sb1bw Because he knew his way around it and had a lot of timing analyzing it.

[@brampuschel5630]

Shad, I remember from the books that winterfell is actually heated by the hot springs as the water flows through the walls making the thing liveable in the winter and giving the feeling the castle was alive. The water is also used for the greenhouses. Still a very very cool model and castle.

[@AdamMGTF]

I scrolled down looking for this comment after seeing his wood stores. Yes you'd want wood stores. But they wouldn't be anywhere near as important as at other castles.

[@austinmerrill2628]

Yes!! I was about to post this after the firewood!

[@AdamMGTF]

@@hilarius69 not the impression I got from the books. the old keep (built by bran the builder) was fully heated. And cats quarters were very well heated. They were several stories up (she could see the library tower from her window). If the springs had the pressure to reach that high. Then in theory there was plenty of pressure to serve a good proportion of the castle. It was given as a prime reason that so many people could survive in the castle when winter came (and it must have been a huge number of civilians as the shanty town outside the walls filled with people)

[@hilarius69]

@@AdamMGTF ok, the i was just wrong, sorry

[@AdamMGTF]

@@hilarius69 you may not be wrong. It'll depend what additional information is shared in the coming books. But I believe from what I've read that the castle is well heated

[@elverbabybabysen2173]

6:50 Shad: I’m not gonna cut any corners *shows us two circles* Me: but Shad, there are no corners in that model.

[@michellevirinam2561]

That‘s why he can‘t cut them

[@elverbabybabysen2173]

Michelle Virinam indeed

[@hiddendagger7291]

don't forget crypts are even bigger than winterfel itself

[@amyrat151]

Well, do they have to fit a couple thousand years worth of dead people.

[@FreinareUnimentra]

WHAT?!!😱

[@ginge641]

@@amyrat151 From a single family, so maybe not as big as it could be.

[@Gitami]

@@ginge641 Do extended family qualify for burial? For a house that warns against the Others beyond the wall, they appear intent on having a undead army lying under their feet.

[@ginge641]

@@Gitami I imagine that's something George would want to tackle with a good reason. The show though......oof.

[@xvor_tex8577]

It makes theon's taking of winterfell that much impresive, visualizing how it looked like.

[@joekerr3638]

That is exactly what I thought. Impressive indeed.

[@NightingaleAlt]

Can we just sit back and applaud how Theon was able to take Winterfell with a handful of Greyjoys?

[@nxs12369]

Not much gruads?

[@ufiCz]

@@nxs12369 Acording to scale ..... even if every man and woman in there, just pick up rock and throw it to them, theon and his gang would die in agony :D

[@spartans-4196]

I mean...He did it through treachery and deceit...Not a proper invasion. So...That's less impressive.

[@Eastcyning]

@@spartans-4196 Honour doesn't really get you places. Game of Thrones, of all things, communicates that pretty well.

[@Lord_Of_Night]

@@Eastcyning Still less impressive than a siege. Less effort required in trickery. But you're right. Trickery was more effective.

[@CP-hn1zy]

Describing the Lannister twin’s incestuous, adulterous relationship “doing something rather inappropriate” 😂

[@ElliWoelfin]

He is Mormon, after all.

[@timothymonk1356]

This content is made with kids in mind, so yes, he's right to say it like that.

[@AJZulu]

Words hurt KZbin monetization sensibilities

[@charlottewalnut3118]

VSKKG really

[@armorfrogentertainment]

He's not wrong

[@doesnotexist305]

Winterfell is huge. It’s a pretty big deal. Now you know why it’s so significant that Bran the Builder (who built the Wall) also built Winterfell.

[@owenfeye6061]

Bran would have only built the oldest portion of the castle. As the Stark’s power and influence grew through the ages, so did castle and structures. The only part of Winterfell we can accurately attribute to Bran the Builder is The First Keep, The Godswood, and The Crypts

[@bloodmuffins793]

And the gatehouse at Harrenhal alone is as big as Winterfell. I really wish they would have gotten the scale of these castles right in the show

[@floridaball4896]

@@bloodmuffins793 no it's as big as the great keep of winterfell which is still huge

[@bloodmuffins793]

@@floridaball4896 Nah I'm pretty sure it's the kitchens at Harrenhal that are as big as Winterfell's great keep

[@n1ppe]

@@bloodmuffins793 No. Those kitchens are as big as Winterfells *great hall,* not the entire great keep. I'm reading acok right now and it definetly said that the gatehouse of Harrenhal is as big as Winterfells great keep, not the entire Winterfell.

[@Elegantwoes]

Imagine managing the finances and upkeep of such a huge castle. Poor Catelyn.

[@gunarsmiezis9321]

Shad is a really respectable guy. He understands the harm that copyright causes. And he just shares what he was working on to make it so that anyone on the internet can save themselves hours of work but instead use them to make there own grate things using his as a base or supliment.

[@jiggyjiggles8410]

If this was how I imagined Harrenhal looking, and Harrenhal is apparently three times the size of winterfell, I now realize where the curse of Harren the black comes from

[@tylermoore1769]

Harrehal is absolutely MASSIVE by all accounts in the books. The Godswood at Harrenhal was 20 acres IIRC and it was inside the walls as well. Stormsend has walls like a mile thick (exg). The Dreadfort, Casterly Rock, and Highgarden were equally insane. Harrenhal takes the cake but is of course mostly ruin. Winterfell is supposedly one of the bigger and grander of the House seats. I wish they would have made them more epic for the show

[@TheRythmandpoetry]

What the books doesn't tell is that he had a very very small dick, and had to compensate somehow

[@barbiquearea]

I'd hate to imagine how the Stark ancestors must have squeezed their lands of resources and labor to build this place when Harren the Black essentially enslaved the entire Riverlands population to build his castle.

[@davidvosspoor4694]

@@barbiquearea Harren built it during his lifetime, while the Starks and Northeners have been at Winterfell during thousands of years literally.

[@darthsilversith667]

David Vosspoor Exactly. Winterfell was built slowly over thousands of years, not in one generation like Harrenhall.

[@uoilo]

Imagine they made an open world GoT game where the castles were on this scale, it would be glorious

@@ejswimmergirl They could just animate it???

[@ejswimmergirl]

Even animated though, it would take a massive amount of data to process all of the main castles in this level of detail/these graphics

@@ejswimmergirl dude people animate entire movies. I am sure they can handle a intro that they are just gonna copy paste to all the episodes.

[@unvergebeneid]

@@ejswimmergirl You were just looking at such a castle. Sure, a lot of the detail was lacking but then, there was also no LoD optimization. Have you seen games these days?

[@ufiCz]

Imagine it take 5 min to get out of that castles to do some f***** quest, 15 min without mount :D

[@the_rzh]

Remember, winter can last years. Inhabitants can be snow bound for months. Even disregarding sieges, the food stores would have to be massive. The greenhouses are meant to be productive in full winter utilizing the hot springs for warmth.

[@zanehiam8130]

I must say, you've really knocked it out of the park this time. Your model not only captures the epic scale of the ASOIAF novels, but incorporates many historical design elements that were missing in the show. It makes a book reader like myself very pleased. I wonder if you might take a crack at any other castles that we never got a satisfying version of in the show? Casterly Rock, Dragonstone, and the Red Keep all come to mind.

[@davidwilson6577]

Casterly Rock, there's not much known about it (but enough that we know the show did a bad job), Dragonstone, good luck marrying the fantasy and historical elements, the thing's like a mass of swirling stone dragons, and King's Landing... just good luck. It'd be awesome but we might not see it till 2040.

[@zanehiam8130]

@@davidwilson6577 Dragonstone might be a bit too fantastical, you're right, but I'd still love to see how he'd do it. Casterly Rock is certainly more feasible, though he might have to take some creative liberties since not much is known about it. And while he probably would go mad trying to model all of King's Landing, I'd still like to see a Shad designed Red Keep, since it's smaller than Winterfell according to the books.

[@blitzkrieg2928]

Who would win : this monstrosity vs A few ironborn bois

[@kenobi6257]

This monstrosity with 10 men as garrison*

[@blitzkrieg2928]

@@kenobi6257 that's what he(Bran) gets for not putting Ser 20 Goodmen on a double duty shift.

[@lordodysseus]

@@blitzkrieg2928 I see your a fan of Preston. Wonderful to be in such fine company.

[@rd0676]

Ford planned it all

[@visionist7]

Kraken. Hmmm. Strong. So long as they're in the sea! Take them out of the water... no bones! They collapse under their proud weight into a heap of _nothing..._

[@mattes4929]

Winterfell is more akin to a city than a castle unlike Skyrim's "cities" that are more like fortified villages than anything else.

[@Yora21]

When I think of enormous castles, I always think of the fortifications of Constantinople. Those walls enclose an area of of 3456 acres.

[@tman57vt]

You also have to keep in mind that in video games, cities are usually scaled down for the convenience of the player and to save processing power. Skyrim's cities are much bigger outside of the game

[@paulkemp7035]

Yeah, I never felt any sense of scale when I entered any of Skyrim's cities. Luckily, my imagination filled in the gaps. :)

[@arnaudsurribas2963]

@@Yora21 Winterfell would be a similiar to the fortified town of Carcassonne France, on a slightly bigger scale.

[@95DarkFire]

It reminds me of the big Kremlins in Eastern Europe: A small city inside a fortress.

[@scottbruckner4653]

The interesting thing about winterfell as a whole is that it's meant from the ground up, to be a capital city for the kingdom of the starks, so while it is bigger than many many conventional castles, I feel it's fitting for being so damn big.

[@bigbadseed7665]

I love how Shad has to repeatedly justify Honorguard's size. "No, I swear, mine is above average. It's just small by comparison. Honorguard's a grower, not a shower. Baby, please!"

[@blurryface3619]

Over compensating? ;) "it's big, i swear!!!"

[@haillobster7154]

I felt pretty bad for Honour Guard.

[@thebricknomads]

Well he now has to actually build it because he just bought 126 acres lol

[@cillian5304]

@@thebricknomads what in real life?

[@thebricknomads]

@@cillian5304 look at his latest vid "there will be castles"

[@sebastiannieva]

With this version of Winterfell, characters on the show would have not needed Plot Armor to survive. OUTSTANDING WORK.

[@nukky2796]

"Winterfell has been built around an ancient godswood and over natural hot springs. The water is piped through walls and chambers to heat them, making Winterfell more comfortable than other castles during the harsh northern winters." (source: awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Winterfell) Because of this, I would say that the need for wood will not be as huge as you was saying. Anyway, great job and respect for your work.

[@jaeger2780]

this may be true for the castle rooms, but doesnt make any difference for the MANY other buildings outside the castle's keeps

[@gurito4374]

Wait In Iceland they have hot water springs that they pipe under roads to keep them free from ice It could allow flat roofs, since if they have hot spring water running up the walls they could do the same as modern day iceland

[@hsuanhunglin5385]

Do be careful about how far the water can travel before you have to reheat them. Even though it's a more "wood efficient" heating method, the heat loss is still tremendous (I don't think they have good insulation, if any).

[@lowkeyarki7091]

Nah, I think they still need it, since if you're stuck there you'd need tons of wood to cook food

[@YouMakeMyMotorRun]

@@lowkeyarki7091 And don't forget about light! I mean, what good does it make to stand against a siege when you trip over and fall down the stairs and die anyway?

[@anthonyshanklin4449]

This is EPIC! I know this took a lot of work haha, but I want to see the other ones done like this now too

[@mikaranta5840]

It was the Age of Heroes when Winterfell was built by legendary Shad the Builder

[@xqiuvmah]

After seeing your hard work, I understand why people list winterfell as one of the strongest castles in ASOIAF and why Tyrion was truly shocked that it was taken by theon.

[@ViktorTheMusician]

Wasn't there a historically impenetrable castle that withstood a seige with only 5 people defending? And then it turned out one of their own betrayed them and let everyone in through the Sally port? I imagine its the same thing here. Theon had their trust, he also knew the layout.

[@officiallyjan8596]

In regards to the height of Winterfell's walls, George R.R Martin has admitted that he's terrible with scaling structures so you can probably take it with a grain of salt. Case in point; when shown how tall The Wall to the north was in the show, made precisely to it's stated scale, he was absolutely baffled and stated that he made it much too big. ^^

[@frking100]

I mean Winterfell and the Wall where made by the giants in their glory days allowing for quite the size. Add magic and you can fight the squared cube law

[@valb9068]

3 decades and an army of slaves captured during Hoares conquests

[@frking100]

@@simpsonman956 Harren basically caused the Iron Islands and the Riverlands to economically collapse paying for Harrenhal. Given his title as Kinf of the Iron Islands he also probably dealt in a huge amount of slavery and seeing that the death toll was in the thousands there was probably a lot of slaves working. So basically Harrenhal was built by bankrupting 2 countries, hundred thousands of slaves and about 40 years (given how Harren was an Iron Lander he also probably raided much of the known world in order to accrue fund so you could say he broke 3 countries if you add up his own significant networth)

[@Wolfmeister666]

Now this Winterfell can stand an undead army.

[@armorfrogentertainment]

@@benjiro8793 Winterfell's biggest defense (against humans) is its climate. Northern summers are cold, sometimes going below freezing. Northern winters are far worse. Trying to besiege Winterfell, like Stannis the Mannis is doing in the books, means much of your army will freeze and starve while the people inside the castle stay warm because it's built atop a hot spring.

[@Fozzybear982010]

I know this is years late, but I’m here. You made this more epic than anyone could imagine. George R.R. Martin should have a look at this. And maybe have you work with him on other castles in the future. And anyone wanting to create Medieval video games should be beating on your door. Again, this is truly amazing!

[@DG-jq7il]

Your missing the heating of the geothermal hot springs, that are piped like blood through the castle. Basically, they use geothermal radiators to keep the walls and glass gardens warm. This makes fire wood need a little less than you have presented. .

[@Devin_Stromgren]

Even taking that into account, I doubt the firewood stores are sufficient for multi-year winters.

[@phantomJK]

i was going to mention the same thing. Not that Winterfell would not need a lot of firewood, but the geothermal vents under the castle works like an early radiator heating system to help keep the large stone buildings from being frozen death traps.

[@DG-jq7il]

They would still need cooking fires, and under a siege, they would still need firewood for the older structures, but as heating source, the Winter Town would require more than the castle.

[@bruvamichal7437]

Shad: My friends, it has often been said that I like castles. My friends, I like castles. No, friends, I LOVE CASTLES!

[@wisdommanari6701]

I love gate houses, I love moats, I love defensive towers, I love crenellations, keeps, and moats. On the sea, on the hills I love every type of castle that occurs upon this earth.

[@mennograafmans1595]

Would that make Shad an Australian cyborg? And does he have blimps?

[@franklinderrano7865]

I see Hellsing references, I upvote

[@NoviTall]

I see what you did there my dear Hellsing-fan

[@Harshhaze]

M...mah...ma...mmmmm...

[@missybarbour6885]

Me: I am not watching this whole thing. Me 41 minutes later: ...

[@ninetalesxyo8842]

This is why nobody watches TV anymore.

[@kimlightfoot]

@@ninetalesxyo8842 is cable tv still a thing? roflol. I haven't paid for cable since torrents came out, and since getting Netflix. I figure, 100 plus dollars per month, to watch one or two of my favorite shows, versus, buying the dvd's and streaming live and waiting for it to come out on netflix, works just fine by me.

[@droach5241]

I was thinking the same thing when I started lol I watched the whooooooole thing!!

[@whitealliance9540]

@@kimlightfoot yes. I still pay my cable bill. Now, there is a new writer on earth. He is blessed by the fires of hell. Please click me and see his writing. He will destroy the spiritual world very, very soon. Go love him.

[@southfieldtrill9690]

👍👍😂😂

[@michaeljiang5529]

This design is truly shocking...... it shows how epic the castle is. And it also shows how it is impossible to be taken by force. I suppose this also indicates that Jon's force and Stannis's force can’t possibly take it by their armies. It is up to the vast northern's men to help Jon. It is a monstrosity... I can only imagine a long siege or dragons to defeat it. Couldn’t even imagine the white walkers overtaking it (well that’s up for debate but this castle is simply so majestic). Terrific work!

[@rayn0577]

Ygritte would DEFINITELY swoon at the sight of this Winterfell

[@Dang_Near_Fed_Up]

Well she would have the actual wall to compare it to, so she wouldn't have been as impressed as we all were seeing this project's scale. But this being stone instead of ice would make it all the more impressive.

[@thedemonhater7748]

@@Dang_Near_Fed_Up ygritte literally thought a windmill was impressive architecture lmfao

[@bethcail976]

@@thedemonhater7748 i remember that... i remember when the show was good... sigh...

[@kaolodegroot1679]

'Whot's swoonin', Jon Snøw?

[@kirkpatrickg191]

rip

[@zasshulad2619]

"I have made this model free for the internet" Shad bless you very based.

[@samc9516]

This is incredible, what an attention to detail! Just want to point out that although you're right, they would have had an insane amount of fire places, Winterfell's main source of heat was actually from piping the hot-spring water in the area inside the walls, at least for the main keep. I think Catelyn describes them as warm to the touch if I remember right. This was what made this location viable for such a large castle in such a cold environment and why, during winter, many northmen flock to Winterfell to help survival. Still gonna need all that firewood for their winters though!

[@85Pando]

Thank's for beating me to this comment. (Loads) of firewood will still be required (cooking, smithying, (and probably even still, heating).

[@yourhandlehere1]

The impression I got (that was soon killed, or just forgotten to follow up by that idiot GRR, like everything else in the book) was that there was possibly an ancient dragon 'asleep' under the castle which was warming the spring water. All the descriptions of the huge skulls in the catacombs (why did Winterfell HAVE dragon skeletons inside?). A good writer could have made this a good story....GRR just isn't really that good. Too many characters, too many meaningless plot lines....and he hasn't and never will actually finish the damn thing. Good riddance.

[@0ldrasput1n]

Time to reread the books and visualize this model everytime winterfell is mentioned.

[@kekero540]

Shad releases it for Public Domain ACOK modders “it’s free real estate.”

[@dragonknight951]

And the inevitable Bannerlird modders. In FULL GLORIOUS DETAIL! All of the sieges hours long game sessionx trying to take it!

[@ethanwander3132]

They should hire you to model castles for movies and stuff

[@julialumina1615]

YES!

[@cabowerks3973]

Positivity, absolutely yes! 👍😆

[@arnold13ization]

indeed

[@jonathanwenur8534]

Couldn’t have been said better

[@MrWassup45]

imagine trying to recreate Harrenhal or Casterly Rock like this, holy crap

[@maksuree]

Imagine a red city that's 1:1 with the books

[@Lakhshamana]

Casterly Rock would actually be much simpler than most of the other great castles of Westeros. It's a big bunker built in a big rock. Most of the structure would probably in the hill itself, with a vast network of the medieval equivalent of pillboxes lining the outer walls and a few sets of gatehouses and towers for guarding entry points. Harrenhal on the other hand... will be medieval Manhattan.

[@kaptenlemper]

Probably would take a week to render.

[@Hugin-N-Munin]

@@maksuree red city? Red Keep, perhaps? Otherwise, I'm confused

[@Hugin-N-Munin]

@@Lakhshamana Harrenhal is described as 3x as large as Winterfell, with a 20-acre godswood, with 5 massive towers, the shortest of which is half as high again as the highest tower in Winterfell

[@theun4giv3n]

The battle at Winterfell would have been so much more epic at your version of the castle.

[@Slackdragon]

Ned Stark: "Well, we'll put Robert up in the guest castle, Honorguard." Catelyn Stark: "Ugh, that tacky little castle?!" 😂

[@theobenzmiller5522]

I actually like that the castles in ASOIAF are so huge. Not only does it support the epic scale of the world, it also makes sense given that the castles are supposed to be cities as well.

[@GimliofGarden]

That and the history of Westoros in the books is far, far longer than the actual Medieval Period. Like ten or twenty times as long, minimum. They would have gradually built these things over hundreds of years.

[@philipanderson7581]

*Winterfell:* _'we put castles on our castles'_

[@WH40KHero]

I heard you like castles! So i put castles on your castle, so you can castle while you castle!

[@RamBam3000]

"Yo dawg, I heard you like castles, so I put castles on your castles so you'd have more castles."