The Wall Makes The Others (Game of Thrones Song of Ice and Fire Theory)

We return to our discussion of the wall and the themes of ice and fire and how the magic works. Today discussing the idea of the wall making the others and how certain end game themes might play out.

[@kewl0210]

I now want this theory to be true purely for the "I always said I'm a gardener, not an architect" line.

[@alabaster275]

Another solid connection from Michael, that would be awesome! Then going back to old interviews and realizing he dropped subtle hints in actual interviews…🤌🏻

[@Jester_at_arms]

Perhaps it may somehow refer to house Gardener. After all, it is the mulitple layers that make Martin's works so fascinating.

[@Yosya8059]

Yes, this is genius!

[@russwilliams4464]

For you start looking into the doom as a parallel - bear in mind…. For a slave to die in a horrendous mine would not be a difficult thing. There are one billion different ways they could die down there. So why were they “praying for the gift of death”? Why…. Because the Valyrians had used some freaky sorceries to keep them undead - as unending labour to fuel the empire. The faceless men originated to break those sorceries and allow them freedom from this bondage.

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

That is a good point about the idea of the slaves in the fire mines also being undying ones somehow. There is a ton of ways they could have died without the faceless men. There is also the comment about glass candles being able to bind someone to life as long as the flame burns that was in an unused draft so they had a fire magic device that in theory could maybe do it

[@justintaub768]

I 99 percent remember Tyrion in book 5 being in the east, volantis I think, seeing slaves and musing to himself that every slave still has an ultimate choice, ieto kill themselves or not. Maybe he was thinking this in the context of watching jorah getting broken by slavers. Either way, maybe these slaves truly had no choice. Thus the gift of death is truly a boon.

[@thomasclark9564]

i think theres a serious logistical issue in your slaves being undead as much as its a good idea, whats to stop your undead slaves rebelling? the dragons perhaps but hopefully you see what im getting at

[@ronloguercio3905]

I feel like you are the youtube manifestation of George an all your theories are really truths that George told you himself! Either that or you are the smartest fan boy in the world

[@robertrub5503]

I'm thinking that the Faceless men killed all of the slaves of Valyria. The Valyrians probably bled them slowly to keep the magic going but when they killed all of them the magic imploded

[@alabaster275]

Dude, once again great find! GRRM loves wordplay and him giving hints during actual interviews to in-book realities would be amazing! You have me even more convinced than before re: your wall theory.

[@miaaaalein]

while doing yet another reread, i came across the bit where jon climbs the wall with the wildlings. i'd like to add a quote from ygritte in a jon chapter in affc to your theory: "I hate this Wall," she said in a low angry voice. "Can you feel how cold it is?" "It's made of ice," Jon pointed out. "You know nothing, Jon Snow. This wall is made o' blood." btw it was a bright sunny day and the wall was weeping, as it does most of the time it is described. edit: fyi it is finding your channel and stumbling over the most fascinating theories (which turned ot to be one massive theory possibly solving the whole damn thing) i have been able to find over the last few years, that made me restart all over in the first place. Faszinating to read it with your theory in mind! @michaeltalksaboutstuff you need patreon.

[@BeteBlanc]

I have some thoughts to work through. But for the moment I just wanted to offer an observation. It may or may not pertain. The word Fell. Typically people translate this as "fall" as in something/one was defeated. But the word is a lot more interesting in relation to the Castle. In one context it's a high hill or a low mountain, which presents a reference to a Great Barrow. A Fell can also be a group of trees, which points toward the Godswood. In the case of Castamere we find the Castle took its name from the lake. This could have happened to Winterfell. Either the Castle of Winter[barrow] (or crypt), or the Castle of Winter[forest]. I say this because you're making a point about Brandon the Builder being a Gardener rather than an Architect. If he was Gardener than his real build would have been the Godswood and its possible connection to the crypts. He didn't raise the castle, he raised the trees. His descendants raised the castle to protect the real Winter Fell. The end point for your logic would seem to imply Brandon the Builder planted and raised the Hearttrees and their Godswoods around Westeros. Rather than the actual castles. The real castle from a CotF pov would be the Godswood right? The castle within a castle. The Godswood within a castle would sort of be a version of the Red Keep in KL right? In the context of the Wall made of trees that would make the Wall itself the castle within, well, 19 castles at this point.

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

That is a good point of fell being a group of trees. There is a lot of trees in the wall in some form symbolism going on at Winterfell. And yeah I think the idea of Bran the builder as a user of green magic from the age of heroes makes a lot of sense of things. He may have been a gardener and an architect and done both but I think he for sure used green magic. As for Winterfell it is often compared to a living thing. There is also a line where it says something like the Winterfell heart tree saw the castle walls rise around it. Meaning it was there before the walls but could also imply literally roots of the weirwood organism within the walls as well. The walls literally rose "around" the heart tree organism, as in the organism is in the walls which were built around it. That along with the time Winterfell was compared to a great stone tree and the idea that in deep geek has brought up in a video that there are winding halls that make no sense as architecture but sound like roots makes me wonder what exactly it all means. The most likely thing seems to be that there could be tree roots running through Winterfell walls as well but idk. I haven't done a full deep dive on that topic yet and made up my mind how well that idea works with what GRRM seems to be doing. It could be set up somehow that the roots are what pumps the warm water around. Why it is warm I could only speculate... Maybe we will find out there was a dragon chained down in the roots in depths of the crypts bound like the undying in the wall and giving warmth. Also COTF viewing the tree itself as a castle is a good point. If they can ward with them and live down under the roots A large heart tree organism is basically a functional castle for COTF as seen with Bloodraven's cave below a big tree.

[@peterdunlop7691]

There is a famous sci-fi series called Hyperion with a looming monster called the Shrike, one of the most famous in sci-fi. I’m sure Martin must’ve read it. I noticed “Land of the Shrikes” on your page about the Five Forts and it reminded me of your theory. In the book a catholic priest gets cursed with immortality via a lifeform called the cruciform, which constantly resurrects a person. Life becomes a hell for him and he tries to kill himself by crucifying himself on a Tesla Tree, which is basically a tree that collects electrical charge and regularly bursts into flame. It doesn’t kill him and he tortured for years being constantly zapped and burned to near death and then rejuvenating. It’s been years since I’ve read it and I’m probably misremembering, but the immortality of the cruciform was a key component of AI’s plan to lock up humanity in strange alien labyrinths beneath some planets, of which Hyperion is one of the few, then basically harvest these now immortal and forever rejuvenating humans and use their minds to run a bionic computer programme for the AI to live off forever, like the Matrix. It definitely has shades of your theory.

[@loooongneck]

Something else I like about this theory series is you know the vision in the house of undying where Dany sees an adult Rhaego? That could actually be a prophetic vision having to do with Rhaegal (with Rhaego’s soul inside) instead the assumed “this was a vision of an alternate future” consensus

[@deckie_]

ah so if Euron is going to blow a horn to awaken a kraken, he is actually just going to uproot the underwater roots of some Weirwoods

[@nublord365]

Discovered your videos recently and your theories are mindblowing and so interesting! Thank you so much for sharing all of this! The blood sacrifice cycle of the old gods religion for the purpose of maintaining the wall is so interesting.

[@DukeDukeGo]

I love how the "looks to camera 2" joke is now canon in our characterization of grrm currently it seems he decided to take that joe to his grave

[@LegsON]

I've listened to 10 videos today, maybe more. You resurrected my love for the series and I for the first time in my life really consider reading the books!

[@way2tehdawn]

There weren't any Scots beyond Hadrians Wall, it was Picts who were eventually culturally absorbed by the Scots. The Scots were in Ireland (Hibernia).

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

While my knowledge of a lot of that time is limited to crusader kings 2 that does track. The Picts are there and can reform to Scots if taken over. I was just mostly using the language GRRM used in his rolling stone interview where he said Scots. But good to point out for sure

[@way2tehdawn]

@@michaeltalksaboutstuff Oh yeah I wasn’t saying it was your mistake.

[@Serveanthesia]

I just had a thought- going with the all men must die theme: this is a stretch but I wouldn’t put it past him- watch, GRRM will finish all the books, have them edited, done ready to publish, and won’t tell anyone. Whenever he passes it’ll be in his will to release the final book like…1 year after his death or something. He would make life imitate art.

[@JustAskYourQuestionAlready]

I just became a fan of Game of Thrones and glad you put out up to date content

[@sproet5070]

Everything put out in the past 12 years is up-to-date my guy

[@SpiritStoneWarrior94-yx3gs]

​@@sproet5070I think they mean videos that are released recently, and not like some other good creators who have their newest videos be from 2-3 years ago.

[@Isewein]

With all your amazing theories, you have finally convinced me that there can in fact be a thematically, narratively and realistically satisfying conclusion to the saga, which I had come to doubt. The question that remains then is - why doesn't GRRM write it? If everything has in fact been planned out since the very beginning, as the various hints you draw from across the books suggest, then why does it seem so difficult for him to write it up? It would be interesting to see a speculative video on the implications of all these theories for his writing process.

[@Cookie12670]

I am so glad I found you. I follow Preston, Alt Shift X, Gray Area, Carmine, In Deep Geek, History of Westeros, Joe Magician, Quinn’s Ideas David Lightbringer and Videobooks and many more I’m missing right now.. I think that all of you make ASOIAF so much more than George could have ever dreamed. The ideas and opinions all of you have are just incredible. You all make this more fun for me while I patiently wait for TWOW to be released. I’m looking forward to some of the theories being on the money and others being wrong. I love it all.

[@Eres1984]

Good stuff! Ur really getting it with this series. Two things came to mind which I've always found curious and never been able to make sense of until watching this video: The Neverborne and Craster's Sons. After dwelling on them, a picture started to emerge. Let's lay a little pretext then a hypothetical scenario. Here we go... George use of the word Neverborne in his letter explaining the series always bothered me. He lists them as separate to The Others, but we don't need them in the books. Is this a thing? If so what are they? Was this a concept he simply absorbed into The Others? Or did he just abandon it entirely? Point being, I've always wondered what they were and if we'd meet them. Craster's Sons have always been an unanswered question. What do the white walkers want with babies? If we go with what we see in the show, are they turning the babies into white walkers? Do the babies grow up as ice babies? What if, when the Children sacrificed and created the first Others to create the wall they accidentally (or on purpose) stuck one or multiple very powerful greenseers. One (or all) powerful enough they were able to infiltrate the Weirwoods and somehow escape. They are then able to take the souls of a sacrifice (preferably a baby) and use them as a soul jar to transport the souls of The Others trapped in the wall out of the Wierwood hive mind and put them into some other vessel, like ice bodies. This could create a race of beings who were Neverborne cause their consciousness was plucked out of the hivemind and placed in a vessel. Anyways, it was a random thought. Side note, have u read any of George's Thousand Worlds short stories? In ASOIAF we prolly won't get a lot of answers on how magic functions. In George's Thousand Worlds stories he goes a lot more in depth on how some of these systems function. Granted it's sci-fi and not fantasy. There's still a lot of parallels that may provide some insight with the direction ur going. Anyways, thanks again for the great content! Sorry if this is a mess, I'm typing on my phone.

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

That is a really good catch on both the sons and the neverborn. I think that could be exactly what is going on with Craster's son's, it makes sense the way you stated it. I will have to dig deeper into that idea because I hadn't ever noticed the neverborn thing you mentioned but that does work well for what the term would imply. Quick edit to mention I haven't read any of GRRMs other work I credit my understanding of most of them to Preston Jacobs covering them. I essentially took the Preston Jacobs youtube course on GRRM writings and have retained random bits haha

[@queenamane]

This is the best theory i have heard about the wall by far

[@johnbuxton4484]

Always good to see a new vid bro, keep up the good work! These theories are super unique and refreshing within the asoiaf community!

[@russwilliams4464]

A couple of ideas that may either help, or just add to the haze! Shadow binding is super important here. Bound is a word used so frequently when it comes to the wall and the Nights King and Queen seem to be at the “heart” of this. Seeds: Sperm. Children. Progeny. Legacy. And horticulturally speaking - where trees come from. Bran 4, ASOS. “he chased her and caught her and loved her, though her skin was cold as ice, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well. He brought her back to the Nightfort and proclaimed her a queen and himself her king, and with strange sorceries he bound his Sworn Brothers to his will. For thirteen years they had ruled, Night's King and his corpse queen, till finally the Stark of Winterfell and Joramun of the wildlings had joined to free the Watch from bondage.” Firstly - “seed”!!!! Tree Giving her his seed and soul are not only metaphorical references to what happened in your theory, but are also the ingredients required for shadow babies / shadow binding. 2 more things on this quote - 1) he bound his brothers to his will = his brothers sound like shadows / others that do his will ie they are shadow bound to him (maybe they were essentially his slaves and the first guys to get strapped to the trees??? This would leave them bound and their shadows as the Others 2) minor point - why is “Sworn” Brothers capitalised? Sworn definition: “bound by.” The only 2 instances this capitalisation is used is for the Nights Watch and The Kingsguard (massive Others parallels- described as pale shadows, dress in white) Are the others shadow bound kingsguard? The “strange sorceries” mentioned above used by the Nights King sound strangely similar to how Mel (an inverse parallel of Nights Queen) describes her powers when at the wall: ADWD, Mel I “She was stronger at the Wall, stronger even than in Asshai. Her every word and gesture was more potent, and she could do things that she had never done before. Such shadows as | bring forth here will be terrible, and no creature of the dark will stand before them. With such sorceries at her command, she should soon have no more need of the feeble tricks of alchemists and pyromancers.” And Stannis (Nights King parallel and the only one we see getting shadow bound) and Mel are often described in “shadowy” terminology while at the wall when they’re letting the wildlings through; ADWD Jon 3 “Behind them was only cold and death. Ahead was hope. They came on, clutching their scraps of wood until the time came to feed them to the flames. R'hllor was a jealous deity, ever hungry. So the new god devoured the corpse of the old, and cast gigantic shadows of Stannis and Melisandre upon the Wall, black against the ruddy red reflections on the ice.” ADWD, Jon 10 “And Melisandre said, "Let them come forth, who would be joined. The flames cast her shadow on the Wall behind her, and her ruby gleamed against the paleness of her throat.” So basically - Nights King (maybe Bran “the builder”/time travelling Stark gets into Shadow Binding with Nights Queen to build the wall - the bound brothers of his watch become those 79 sentinels enslaved to the trees to become an undying power source, and their shadows become the pale shadows that roam the lands beyond the wall as Others - angry and wanting back their bodies and ultimately to end their enslavement in the wall with death. Valar Morghulis

Hi Michael, thanks for this amazing theory! I’ve just found your channel recently, and I must say you’ve done an excellent job! I also have a theory about the Others, and what is their connection to the heart trees and Essos. Mine goes back further than the actual war between the first men and the children of the forest, starting roughly with the war of giants and the children, circa the same time as the reign of the Bloodstone Emperor. I believe that the heart trees used to be shadow of the evening trees, and I also believe that the Nights queen is in fact the amethyst empress. And according to my theory based on the legends and myths found throughout the history, the trees on westeros turned white and red because of some kind of blood sacrifice involving the empress. In my theory there’s also the possibility that the Targaryens are descendants of the empress. I could go on for hours and hours, why I think this is the case, but I’m just going to shut up now and binge watch the rest of your videos 😄

[@syedali2143]

Good video. Look forward to watching these. Fun to watch.

[@Jester_at_arms]

So actually it is not the WALL, it's the HEDGE.

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

It has been a big over the hedge reference the entire time! Wake up people!

[@mhougey]

been watching all your vedios, really great work! I just had a thought relating to the others being used to create the wall and magical ward. so when we meet theon we quickly learn how he is a ward of ned stark after the ironborn rebellion, he becomes a ward to "ward off" future ironborn aggression. well if you think GRRM really like work play, then this would support your theory that an imprisoned other would be used as a ward to ward off future other aggression.

[@ThePhosophorus]

this is actually a fire theory!!! just found your channel and i love it.

[@gothicsoldier]

On the progressive aspect of George and his themes - if indeed we look at the wall as a power source and foundation of the current world order, it fits his thoughts on how the story somewhat reflects the climate crisis too; that unless we destroy this system of energy use that we rely on, our world will end by this coming catastrophic climate change being caused by our power source

[@jamesbarron7512]

This maybe points to Euron and the Iron born being the real enemy “We do not sow” more word play ?

[@dominicnowell6947]

That Arya has to lose her Stark identity to stop the old ways is also interesting considering that all the male Starks die and Jon finds out he's a Targaryen in the show, will Sansa lose her Stark identity somehow?

Descubrí tu canal hace poco. Me ha cautivado la manera en que expones los mecanismos de acción de las grandes estructuras del mundo de GRR Martin, tanto físicas como sociales. No puedo sino agradecerte tu explicación del muro y cómo estos muros son los que convierten a seres como tú y como yo, en “otros”. Saludos en español.

[@thepartyman3136]

Curious your take on eldric shadow chaser and how that name for azor ahai blends into this

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

The name certainly does track if the others we see described as shadows are in fact bound or cast shadows. I would say it is either support for that idea or it is an odd coincidence based on GRRM trying to make a cool sounding name.

[@storsolo]

🎉thank you for the new video

[@thepartyman3136]

Would love to hear @davidlightbringers take on this

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

Would also love to hear his take on the series especially once I get where I am going for how I think it could end. He is great with all the symbolism of this series. I have watched a bunch of his stuff over the years. I joked elsewhere I have taken the Preston Jacobs course in GRRMs other books and if that is true I have on some level taken the David Lightbringer course in symbolism over my years of following the fandom.

[@drunkengrumkin1315]

"The gods made seven wonders and mortal man made nine" He pensado mucho en esa frase de Lomas y si es una pista oculta de algo. Tal vez signifique 7 Otros crearon los Children of the Forest y 9 los First Men.

[@Mwezi828]

Arya stabbing the Night King was an idea that D&D have said they came up with, definitely not from George, I do agree that her learning about how sacred death is will play into her joining the fight against the Others.

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

Yeah the word kinda is doing a lot of work there haha. I could see something like grrm saying Arya will have a big role in learning to kill the undying or killing some of the undying using skills she learned and that was the basic plot outline they had to pay off her current arc, and it influenced their choice to have her be the one that made the most sense to kill him in the show. So it was their choice but influenced on some level maybe by GRRM thinking she will help deliver them the gift of death somehow

[@albdamned577]

I like the idea of some sort of magical process maintaining the wall. I would like to suggest an alternate idea. The wall is more of an igloo, with heat inside. Igloos are structures of ice that are meant to insolate heat. In theory an igloo can last forever (just requires regular replenishment of snow. It would also explain why the others may not be inclined to simply attacking and breaking the wall (you are letting out all those fire makers inside the wall lol). the idea of dragons living in the wall has been used in the story a few times (both aemon and jon, as well as a few other places).

[@lilygrigaitis8355]

You've probably made the connection by now, but what you said about the faceless men and how all men must die, reminds me of the only death can pay for life quote. If the others in the wall are forcefully being kept alive, then presumably someone else's death must pay for it. Either in the blood sacrifices you already mentioned, or perhaps the debt coming due is part of why the long night is coming.

[@elpsykongroo8308]

Late to the party. Binged all your videos today. Regarding any clues in text about shadowbinding and others, I have always thought that if you were to write a scene from a shadowbabies pov it would feel a lot like the last scene of Warymyr six skins when he died and his spirit leaves his body and it's described like he is traveling on the wind, seeing the world through various eyes including a Wierwood etc before finally going into his wolf. Imo, shadowbinding is not that different from warging, except instead of your spirit going into an animal the shadowbinders create a magical shadowy body for it. So, it might work the same way if the spirit was given an icy body which can just switch between being icy body and icy winds.

[@jdsartre9520]

In other words, Bran is NEO, gets plugged into the matrix (humans powering energy) in order to destroy it.

[@zachschroeder1796]

So building on the world tree theory, in Norse iconography the world tree is often depicted as white on the top, and black on the bottom (representing the roots) this could translate to ASOIAF to explain the presence of the black heart trees in Essos. if the world of ASOIAF is round then the five forts could in fact be geographically located on the polar end compared to the wall. perhaps the world tree goes through the planet all the way out the other side and there are black trees in the heart of the forts. this would mean the all the heart trees are a singular organism connected at the center. it would also potentially explain the messed up seasons AND multiple long nights if the seasons are dictated by the allocation of magical power. Seasons start in balance and magical power is evenly distributed across all branches of the tree. in Essos they discover that you can pull magic out of the tree through binding a bloodline to a branch. eventually they pull enough power to cause along night on one side of the world. Children of the Forest react by binding some unknown Greenseer on their side who pulls just enough power to balance their side. 1st men invade, Children need to defend the Greenseer so they pull power from the tree to call down the hammer. this causes a long night in Essos. Azor Ahai binds himself to the tree but (if we assume magic power is a finite source replenished by time/blood sacrifice) it takes less and less effort to sway the balance and causes a long night in Westeros. The Children realize they messed up and bind the Last Hero to the tree creating the wall. They strike the pact with the first men to help replenish the magic power that was spent and over a long period of time it brings balance and prevents more long nights. but, the Andals come and end the old ways and now the few who still use magic + the wall and five forts are draining the remaining power from the tree and start a countdown timer to a long night. if the existing tree is destroyed and a new tree planted balance of power is reset at 0.

[@SlaveCraven-vw8tk]

The Others were created by The Children to fight the First Men. They lost control and thus the long night. Children and First Men formed a pact to defeat the Others. The Children/Bran the Builder used that same magic to create The Wall as a ward against the Others. This works because Other creation uses the Three Heads method. With a soul coming from the Weirwood tree.

[@redrackham6812]

The problem is that the Romans knew quite well what was on the other side of Hadrian's Wall: the Picts (not the Scots). They built their wall after they had lost an entire legion to the Picts. So no, the wall did not create the others, the wall was created in response to the others. So too in the novels, I would guess, the traditional view is correct: the Wall was built to stop the Others. It did not create them.

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

So like I fully agree with your history points, no argument there. But I gotta point out for context the lines you are referring to about how anything could be beyond the wall were direct quotes from the guy who invented the wall about what he was thinking about when he thought of it. So weather GRRM has his inspiration based in fully correct history and terms that is what he said about the wall, and I am trying to figure out what he is going for. Edit: The full quote is in his rolling stone interview

[@redrackham6812]

That's a fair point. That's why I was only offering my guess as to how the books will turn out, if Martin ever finishes them (which I doubt he will). That being said, I also suspect that Martin has done a lot more research into British history since he had that experience he describes in that interview (he draws on a lot of real life history for inspiration in the books), so his views might have changed since then. My read of what he said in that interview is that he was describing his thoughts at the time, not necessarily what he still thinks now. But, again, that's just the way I read it.@@michaeltalksaboutstuff

[@betterthanrae8137]

omg i love it! george is illustrating that through indoctrination, religion, tradition, and ritual even the most moral figures can be foundational to oppressive structures and exploitative power imbalance in society. like, remove the magic for a sec. Ned Stark and his family are presented as protectors, moral actors and he is, right? he loves his family, doesnt cause harm needlessly but is unwittingly a powerful actor whos role is in part to continue the oppression and inequality of the people below him. you can see this with most of our main characters. you do things because "thats how its always been done" even if it feeds a damaging hierarchy where small folk are constantly injured, killed, used, exploited, poor, in danger, forced to sacrifice and work for nothing. in those conditions, death becomes a type of liberation from suffering. its so interesting.

[@chables74]

Algormancy!

[@aaronbaron3155]

Pretty sure it's @The Order of the Green Hand I got this from: What if there was a weirwood in the core of the house of black and white? There are definitely COF in essos or they were there. Some kind of thing going on w Bran and Arya parallels. COF and faceless men in alliance?

[@JamesWilliams-dz5tn]

Do the others only go back into weirwood trees? I didn’t think their were that many left

[@itskyyuuuu]

Why do the trees need a person bound to them? Wouldnt the tree grow the wall without a bound person? Or whats the magic they need the people bound for?

[@mattmakesart5433]

You are about to hit 666 subscribers!

[@andsotheadventurebegins2030]

I wonder if anyone who's blood is fed to the Weirwood trees becomes a shadow. Blood magic binds the shadow right?

[@Eonsplay]

all in all is just anOTHER brick IN THE WALL 😅

[@CJusticeHappen21]

I still believe in the Great Other, but it's the Spirit of Despair, that infests the minds of those who gave their lives to preserve the world, and who are now giving in to the destruction of the world. Because I believe that they were willing to suffer, so long as the world was a fine place worth suffering for, but people have forgotten what a gift their lives is, and now conduct themselves without gratitude or appropriate regard for the value of life. And now the Watchers on the Wall wonder if their suffering is worth what the world is becoming, for they see the world ending now, and hope seems so unlikely. Why suffer today for a world that is doomed to fail? Why not just let it die, or destroy it yourself?

[@tempertemper2384]

Wow, just wow! The true enemy right in front of us. And the nights watch guarding it from attack. Now i've gotta find the passages about the pact between the children of the forest and men. Protecting weirwoods and putting an armed guard on them, ha!

[@robertoaguiar6230]

QUESTION: several times it is suggested that giants helped built the wall but never explained how, and thus we, ourselves, assume they supplied labour. But that can be the wrong interpretation that GRRM want us to assume based on our lack of imagination. But what if the Others crucified on the trees are giant others? It would explain how the wall is, well, giant.

[@jimhart4488]

Weirwoods are undying because the Weirwood network is a single organis, . Each tree is just a single trunk of a multi-trunked tree with a single root system that spreads throughout the world. It is literally a world-tree. And with the melding of the greenseers, it is also a hive-mind.

[@edtee1855]

After watching some of your videos tarting to get this idea that the wall was built to keep the Free Folk and other living beings trapped like some sort of prison blood farm complex complete with watch towers, the Others acting as shepherds and the Starks acting as actual "wardens" of the "north". I have seen in some of your videos discussing how GRRM likes to discuss systems of power in asoiaf so i think this type of stuff fits the theme. Also perhaps the fact the "Freefolk" call themselves free could be a case of hypocrisy/satire that we see so much of in asoiaf and in reality they are the prisoners or worse: sheep and they dont even know it!

[@nklinef]

The question I have is: Are dragons frozen in stone at Dragonstone in a direct parallel to the others frozen in Wall?

[@ganykaliya7811]

You mentioned nukes, didn't george compare dragons to nukes. The Valyrians and the Green men seem to be counterparts to the undying. Also, at least one Stark King manifasted Other powers. There's a theory that the current Starks are descended from a son of Night's King and Night's Queen that was taken by Brandon the Breaker.

[@user-em1pu6kb5l]

What if season 6 episode 5 when leaf is turning a guy into a white walker is the scene is them making the fort on the wall. It’s not showing us how the white walker created but the wierwoods showing us how the wall was built.

[@AlbinoMutant]

How do we make sense of the Targaryen prophecy from House of the Dragon in light of this theory?

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

I tend to think the visions are sent to get the timeline in order for the wall to be brought down and the system undone. That specific prophecy was probably put in place to maintain a bit of timeline consistency to ensure Jon and Dany are around for Bran to have as pieces on the board in the end game. I will probably do a video on it eventually but currently that is my take on the visions and prophecy. They are with an alternate purpose which is all timeline related and they might tell the truth to the character or might lie to get the needed result but they are there to get a result in the timeline.

[@illCMAC]

I honestly dont watch many theory videos and theory crafters, but I dont think there should be any doubts about the idea that the Others are in the wall keeping it magically standing. My real pushback is from your notion that Arya will actually kill the Great Other, as she and he are both agents of the god of death. If anything they are on the same side as she is a killer who stands to add more corpses to his army.

[@robertdalomba2629]

Does the wall weep because of the climate or because of an action or inaction?

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

I take the walls usual weeping just to be a sign its normally above freezing and the wall would have melted by now if not for some unknown internal way to replace the water. I haven't noticed it having a deeper meaning but wouldn't be surprised if GRRM does some little neat thing at times when he mentions it

[@robertdalomba2629]

@@michaeltalksaboutstuff i appreciate the thoughtful reply

[@humbertotargaryen4823]

I'm loving the videos!!! I just disagree with Arya being responsible for killing the "main Other". Like, the whole Targaryen prince that was promise and all Dany's foreshadowing is kinda for nothing? she is just the dragron lady who brings the army to battle against the Others and then goes crazy like in the show? I don't like that.

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

I think they will all have their roles to play in the killing of the others but Arya seems likely to be set up to take out undying ones in a unique way. I have covered it in the most recent video but will expand more on it a little but. But in general I don't think she will take out a main other so much as have critical knowledge and skills for killing their source in the books. So much of a role that it kinda makes sense for her to have done it in the show. The set up in the show was just bad because they cut the explanation of the magic reasons for it. Also Dany I have a way I see her story playing out that will get its own video too once I get my head around it fully. Similar to the show but much better and much more of her doing the right thing but painted as mad while occasionally doing bad things while thinking its the right thing.

[@sekki1100]

Are you going to look into jamies fewer dream...i think blood raven is trying to show jamie something....i think they are under the wall somewhere maby in nightfort or in the well

[@sekki1100]

He is going down the stair where there is water at the end and led by soldiers with spears like the sentinels

[@sekki1100]

And lots of other symbolism included

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

I will have to put that on my list of visions to go back over, good call

[@sekki1100]

I think end is the most interesting...seems like the shadows and jamie are talkin about different things...

[@tempertempernow]

More more more

[@anscenic7421]

Thats a very cool theory, but i dont see things going in this way. Others are probably just dark elves counterpart from typical children regular green/nature elves which could be a variant for their species or simple a bioweapon + fucked up magic gone wrong from children to counter human forces. I like the idea of technomagic and artificial stuff but i have to agree with George when people often tries to explain Sci, astronomy, post apocaliptic asoiaf world, he said: "Its fantasy man". Btw, even if we have a a glimpse of things beyond magic in the next books, i'm pretty sure there will be a lot of things unexplained even after Dream of spring..

[@bmartin6493]

Why can’t magic just be magic💀

[@RevanX77]

This theory falls apart on one key point, the same point so many theories about the end of ASoIaF fail on - The nature of the Others and what to do with them. If, as you say, the Wall LITERALLY creates the Others, and the Others are supposed to be this unnatural WMD, then in fact the theme is in abject contradiction with itself. Because if the idea is to say walls otherize people into monsters, then the end of the series can't actually be to destroy the Others. Because we see in the very first chapter of the story that the Others are actually their own thinking, speaking beings, with some sort of alien culture. So if the Wall is destroyed in order to exterminate the Others, then actually the lesson is completely for nothing.

[@Loreweavver]

Isn't this the second or third season of Attack on Titan?

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

I haven't seen it but I have had several people compare it to what I have been talking about. I will have to put it on my to watch list

[@emw06]

THEMATICALLY.

[@Interrobang212]

Hbo really missed out on all the cool stuff jeez

[@geoninja3631]

💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

[@kudzinduru6411]

ahhh this is far fetched. i mean, yes 'walls create others' is a good literary device, but its pretty obvious. this extra stuff about trees in walls is bullshit bro

[@cultoay0utube]

I don't think this theory makes any sense. The wall was built after the long night to protect the seven kingdoms against the others, so others that already exist and have been defeated but still roam and are a factual threat. Why would you make a barrier that instead of protect you from your enemies makes more enemies? Just doesn't make sense, sounds like something that only the wokes would do. Another thing, when you make your conclusions about what George has said, and you said that are genious, you are not praising George, you are just praising yourself, because it's your theory after all, so beware the ego that blinds you, and beware what you take from the series, because it's a whole different animal. Anyway, maybe I don't agree with everything you say, but I always find your videos fun. Cheers!!!