Within the Weirwoods - ASOIAF Theories (ft. MichaelTalksAboutStuff)

[@michaeltalksaboutstuff]

Thanks again for having me on guys! Can we take a moment to appreciate now that the second Tom started talking about the fluid in the wall he brings up sealing the tunnel at castle black and asks "is that a good tree to bark up" and I couldn't resist saying "that's a good way to word it", but the tunnel at castle black wasn't actually related so I had to scramble to not give away the game that it's all about a big tree the fluid goes up hahaha

[@cbob213]

I caught that. Knowing your videos and theories I was chuckling, listening to you scramble and try say yes, but also, no. How about yes’nt. 😂🤣😂🤣

[@bostonmetalclips]

@@michaeltalksaboutstuff yes! Having watched your videos first I was holding my own tongue and impressed with his intuition. Great video!

[@MoonManTheories]

Watching this knowing well your theory I know there were some significant "dings" withheld for showmanship reasons.

[@heatran1919]

Fun Fact: Niter is a common byproduct of making maple syrup! Tree sap contains niter that needs to be filtered out in the process of turning the raw sap into syrup

[@ryankrelic971]

No legend of Zelda connection but there might be a Link.

[@pyramidion5911]

🫡😂

[@simonholmes841]

This explains two weird things. One, the NW Builders spread gravel on top of the wall to keep it from getting slippery (as ice accumulates). If the Wall was melting like a glacier, the Builders would have to sweep newly exposed loose rocks off the top, not add more. The Wall building itself up from below makes much more sense anyway, compared to the immensely labor-intensive and inexplicable strategy of adding an impossible amount of height and weight to a structure made of ice. Two, not only are wells inhumane places to throw unwanted children, but dead children are irresponsible additions to wells. Ruining drinking water with human bodies is usually unnecessary, so either Westeros lost track of their metaphor, or the wells were actually weirwoods or weirwood-adjacent infrastructure.

[@warpedwhimsical]

It’s pretty hype hearing other people excited about this theory cause I was stoked lol

[@swayback7375]

Knowledge of plants and botany really adds to this theory but also adds to the story and is just plain interesting. Aspen trees in the western US are “clonal trees”, what appears to be a dense forest of similar sized trees is actually one tree, as the roots spread out it sends up new shoots, they emerge looking like a seedling but grows very fast because it’s all one organism, the other “trees” are all sending energy to these new shoots. In time one tree can spread to cover acres and acres with thousands of individual trunks, similar to bamboo. Even better are stoloneferous plants! Some elephant ears grow tentacles known as stolons. They shoot out of the mature bulb, usually popping out of the ground and running along the ground for a few feet, maybe as far as 10’. Every foot or so it will send out roots that plug down in the ground, a new bulb will form and leaves next, tge mother plant feeds them so they grow very fast, they can scrabble over rocks or driveways, or even dangle into waterways and happily grow in tge waters edge, it’s a great strategy to find fresh soil or move to a better area. These tentacles absolutely look like they coukd come to like and wrap you up! They’re often deep purple, red or black, they dont taper at all, looking very much like a piece of co/ax cable has come to life and is voraciously trying to cover the whole world, and in fact they can be very invasive and hard to eliminate… running bamboo is far more vigorous and invasive but just doesn’t look as freaky. Cheers

[@94jimmybobby]

Insignificant thought maybe, but does the gate open for Sam because it recognises him as a brother of the watch because he said his vows at/to a weirwood tree. It would make narrative sense, as doing so has made no difference to the story so far. Maybe some other night's watchmen tried to go through the nightfort, but couldn't because they said their vows in a sept.

[@pyramidion5911]

Correct. Being initiated in front of the weirwoods is the proper way to join the Nights watch. Without the weirwoods witnessing the initiation, the words would just be wind.

[@cbob213]

Love the video guys. Looking forwards to more videos like this one in the future.

[@MoonManTheories]

Tons of fun having my mind blown all over again along side you guys.

[@InterestingNerdClub]

It’s like a neverending board game night. You can pop in and pop out and nobody’s gonna mind.

[@yung_naerdowell]

this could also explain how bloodraven is introduced as tied up in the weirwood network. george loves lovecraftian stuff so the idea of sleeping deities still controlling things while dormant could be these others in the trees and bloodraven is much more of an intruder to the weirwood network rather than the master of it, and he’s working to make sure the tree others/ weirwood network doesn’t wake up and release the full force of its magic. martin loves wearing his influences on his sleeve so these “sleeping giants” could be lovecraftian elder god type others that on bloodravens death would wake and cause havoc. it even mirrors how the show sidestepped this in favor of viserion, a freaky big other waking up and bringing down the wall

[@russwilliams4464]

Great discussion boys. Absolutely love this theory. On the Pando side - it was said in TWOIAF that back in the day, the Blackwoods once ruled the Wolfswoods of the north, before being driven from there by the Kings of Winter (with some runic evidence in support). So (a) the Blackwoods would have known about this wall construction and the requirement for ongoing blood sacrifice, and (b) maybe when they were ousted by the Starks, they were cut off from this process / tradition as a punishment - ie the Starks killed their part of the Pando Tree network as a symbol of dominion/ power! Also gives good context for how / why Bloodraven knows what he does.

[@pyramidion5911]

You are on the right path. The blackwoods had to have been the Greenhands before the name change. And basically the whole Bracken and Blackwood beef goes back to Brandon Stark(Coldhands) bringing someone/something into the tree network and corrupting it, getting kicked out becoming the grey king then the storm king then returning and going to war with the blackwoods with his group of loyalists that would eventually be called Brackens (Brandon+Kracken) Blackwood and Bracken are both insults. Humans have a long history of converting insults into names. After a few generations everyone forgets it was an insult and it just becomes the family name because thats what everyone knows them as anyway (and because both sides were losing entire generations of adults at a time, which leads to lost history)

[@void.sawyer]

Oh this was so fucking good

[@AnarchoCatBoyEthan]

I found Michael’s channel from the companion video and it was really fun hearing the theory in this way. I love this collaboration too. Anyway the theory itself takes my breath away just like the first time. I absolutely think you’re dead on. Love it.

[@pyramidion5911]

8:30 I don't know if you guys get to it, but that tear falling on Brans head is from Bran himself when he is hooked to the weirwood. (😮 no one even mentioned it as a possibility)

[@conniesuper9892]

The branch in Night Fort kitchens is reaching up as if trying to touch Bran...just like Bran as a tree trying to reach for Jon....wow

[@Rougarou99]

According to legend, the Horn of Winter will bring down the Wall by awakening giants underneath. Maybe the legend confuses giants with the Others tied up to the Weirwoods making up the Wall, and the Horn just releases them from the Weirwoods. Imagine if the Horn is blown at the Wall, nothing happens, and then an army of Others begin pouring forth from the castles.

[@pyramidion5911]

Bro I figured it out, Jon's Kings blood being spilled on the wall is what brings it down. And that damn Raven has been trying to warn everyone the whole time.

[@Rougarou99]

@@pyramidion5911 Imagine if the Wall falls immediately after Jon's death, and we stay with Stannis's camp for most of Winds, with all attempts to contact the Wall or send men there turning up empty, only for the resurrected Night's Watch to march on Winterfell led by an Undead Jon.

[@MugenHeadNinja]

I desperately need a sequel/followup video on this, this was great!

[@iron545]

I keep coming back to this video I cant stop thinking about this theory.

[@conniesuper9892]

Luwin told Bran that the castle of WF was stone weirwood, and the crypts and tunnels were the roots

[@drewpydrewdrop3841]

Gotta say i love the formula for your show. Having all the quotes and kinda "guiding" others to puzzle out what the theory is real fun to listen to.

[@aminaa5824]

This was amazing, the heart tree being the mother of the weirwoods that all the roots come from would make sense, like an aloe Vera that brings up babies from its roots and grows other aloes, and that’s why it’s called the heart, it’s at the centre of everything beating water into the veins of Westeros, and with the others trapped inside? This needs a follow up video for sure

[@swayback7375]

You should check out “clonal trees” Aspen for example, may appear to be hundreds or even thousands of different trees that make up a forest, when in fact it is all one large plant underground, as the roots spread further out sideways they also send out fresh shoots that emerge and LOOK like a new tree is growing but it’s essentially just another branch of the same life form. It’s actually very common and you probably have several plants around you right now that do this, as you said, aloes and many succulents do this, but they usually don’t get very tall so they spread sideways like a shrub…kinda… locust, hackberry, Osage orange… bamboo and many types of stalked grass. And my personal favorite, some elephant ears actually grow tentacles (known as stolons) that shoot up out the ground and rapidly sprawl as much as 10’, often they’re black or purple, about as big around as a sharpie and look very much like a thick wire… every few inches it will plug down roots, eventually a bulb (corm) forms, leaves emerge and a new, very fast growing plant will come up, in a short time that plant will send out its own runners that spread out… they’re quite bizarre looking!

[@conniesuper9892]

Must always be a Stark at WF,to kill deserters and clean the sword ICE

[@chables74]

Fantastic theory!

[@84rathb]

If the wall is cooling everything down the heat still needs to go somewhere. Is Winterfell heated by the geothermal action?

[@conniesuper9892]

Bran didn't like the heart tree at Winterfell either... Catelyn didn't either,it thinking it's long slow thoughts

[@christianayers622]

Hear me out, it's not others crucified, it's children of the forest. The others are repelled by them, which explains blood ravens cave

[@pyramidion5911]

Yeah, the Others are being controlled by Mance (short for Necromancer..) for yet to be revealed reasons

[@MrSilvUr]

Wald is the German word for forest, so George might be punning. I know I've used a forest as a "wall" in a D&D setting based on that pun. Also, Walder Frey is a border sentinel of sorts. So maybe "Forest"er, "Lord of the Crossing" Frey is another pun.

[@moiz85]

This makes me think of the name Walder in the story

[@mollofamerika]

YOOO what if the "sleeping giants" are kaiju sized weirwood ents???

[@InterestingNerdClub]

OH MY GOD YES

[@heatran1919]

Which Barristan Selmy will fight in a big Harpy mech

[@kewl0210]

Holy shit what if this is where the ent wives went? They went inside The Wall???

[@TenaciousJ2323]

I've listened to a lot of these and this is the best theory I've heard on this channel so far.

[@TheCreepyLantern]

THIS IS ABSOILUTELY OUTSTANDING WORK

[@GiseleofOldValyria]

Re-read the Dany chapter in ADWD where the Yunkai invasion of Astapor is described. A Green Grace was described as impaled, a stand-in for COTF. There's a whole bunch of other metaphors in there that describe symbolically what happened at the nightfort.

[@pyramidion5911]

Yes, you have cracked the code on how Grrm is telling the story. You can find the story within a story symbolism everywhere! And i mean from the very first chapter. Thats how I know the whole "grrms a gardener" thing is total BS. The stories are crafted masterpieces containing hidden stories told through symbolism and patterns. There's tons of hidden connections and its so well done that most people have no idea any of it is even there!

[@GiseleofOldValyria]

@pyramidion5911 totally. As soon as I learned about the symbolism through INC and other youtuber asoiaf fans, it literally felt like I discovered a parallel universe. Now on a re-read and it's like a whole new story. Grrm leaves himself options for future plots, but seldomly does gardening mean pulling leaves out of thin air the way he writes.

[@84rathb]

Could also explain why Bran is the target of the others. He knows how to rebuild the wall.

[@bigfq]

Do the Five Forts have something similar going on?

[@franciscovega2042]

This was mind blowing.

[@mollofamerika]

just a couple minutes in to the video and I'm excited - I've been rereading fire & blood, and I'm really focused on where there are weirwoods especially with the theory that wyrms might be involved in underground tunnels

[@davec9031]

Wow fellas! I really like this one.

[@ryankrelic971]

Theory: bran says that the wierwood looks like a man aging but being unable to die so what if greyscale eventuality makes you unable to die turning you into a wierwood.

[@zanowin]

Maybe the Horn of Winter doesn't break the wall, maybe it breaks the chains holding what is crucified inside the wall.

[@pyramidion5911]

Its Jon's Kings Blood activating the trees and the whole thing is going to reawaken shake off the ice and grow blue leaves

[@dillonjames5652]

I wonder how the Isle of faces plays into this theory maybe there is some significance there

[@parastroika2393]

Niter + Charcoal + Sulphur = Gunpowder .......is the Wall explosive?

[@moiz85]

Wow this is good

[@spartancypher6412]

What if those others are the nights kings kids and the horn of winter had a spell to put them asleep because if the lord of winter fell killed them it would’ve been kin slaying

[@stevenedwardsca]

LGBTree tracks.

[@Nemo-vq6bk]

Humans are not magical. Children of the forest are magical, others are magical, etc. So what if children are the ones who made all that, built a wall and told people to poor blood into the wall or else others will come and kill everyone. I mean others gaslit humans to give up some of their kind to this giant wall or else all humans die. Also we talked about how the night watch got a lot less since the visit of Good quin Alisent. What if Alisent realized all that and said no, we will not continue to do the blood thing and since than only criminals were send to the wall. Hence less men, hence less blood sacrifice. And then Targs died, Stark father and son died and everyone who knew no longer lived. Does Bloodraven know? Bloodraven sits up north with children of the forest. He calls the most magical kid to him. He shows this kid all tree magic staff. So one day Bran can reaffirm the pact with the others and continue the blood sacrifice?

[@russwilliams4464]

Like this a lot. I used to think that Jon or Bran might have to restart blood / child sacrifice to the others. However, this isn’t very GRRM. I wonder whether that was how it was dealt with last time round - but now it all has to stop. Peace with the others, the disappearance of magic and unity of humanity.

[@Nemo-vq6bk]

@@russwilliams4464 My prediction would be something like dismantling the Wall, letting go all the trapped others. Bran becoming the leader of the others (I have no idea what he will be called by then). John becoming the leader of the north, or, possible, of the people who would live in the Gift. Yes, John will be resurrected, that is a given to me. And people will be send north occasionally , question mark. Less blood sacrifice of children vibe and more those who decide to join the old powers but dying for all other people vibe.

[@pyramidion5911]

​@@Nemo-vq6bkBran is going to steal the Others from Mance after he steals Jon's body and becomes the Night King. Jon is going to get stuck in Ghost for sometime and come back as a very wolfish Jon (foreshadowed by Gromm the wolf, Danny's banquet vision, and Robb getting a wolf head)

[@cuetlachtlieztli7122]

ASOIAF is Attack on Titan.

[@pyramidion5911]

Other way around