3 Theories about The Wall in ASOIAF 

I like the connection between Weirwoods and drawing water. A "weir" is a kind of barrier made to control the flow of water.

I love this kind of meta-analysis videos. There are a lot of theories floating around the internet, but not enough people reviewing, comparing and refining them.

One of the nice things about Michael's theory is that it's close to what GRRM wrote for Elden Ring, and we have already seen George using his earlier works as an influence to his later ones.

I follow all these creators, but it's enormously useful to have their theories set out like this. Superb scholarship RIG; hope to see more videos like this.

Michael has hit the nail on the head I think.

Definitely think Meera's onto something with those barrows. The emphasis on the Stark crypts and their weirdness, the prevalence of barrows - these elements are introduced very early into the story, which points to them being part of GRRM's original concept, and the fact that there's a contradiction between them suggests that GRRM has a cool reveal in the works.

Hey, maester, leave us kids alone! All in all, you're just another weirwood in the wall! All in all, you're just another weirwood in the wall! If you don't eat yer Jojen paste, you can't have any green dreams! How can you have any green dreams if you don't eat yer Jojen paste? -Pink Letter Floyd

Company of the Cat is the BEST, she does all sorts of tie ins to NORSE, CELTIC AND GREEK mythology and imagery and even literature. Her theories hold up the best because of this. Go ahead, watch her long video on the wall. You'll be glad you did.

I haven't seen Meera's stuff yet but I love Cat and Michael's stuff - great video, RIG. :)

I read the first book back in the 90's, but I always figured that Bran the Builder designed it, the giants carved a huge channel for seawater, the children called the water and possibly froze it, though when I read the other books & heard more background, I think it's possible the Others froze it. Some kind of pact was drawn up not only between the Men and the CotF, but with the Others too. This pact has somehow been broken, either through Jon's / Dany's birth, the birth of her dragons, or some combination of the three. I think it's mostly Jon's birth (Targ / Stark blood) and the birth of Dragons. There's some union in Stark-Targaryen warging/dragon-riding abilities that make him a doomsday weapon, and the Prince that was Promised is not a savior prophecy, but possibly some kind of warning. It fits into the whole anti-messiah / anti-prophesy stuff George likes to write about. This whole time we were trying to pick sides in the Game of Thrones, but in reality, there is no great hero and humans will always interpret prophesy as they choose.

Hey RIG, great video! I love these theory reviews. COTC talks about salt being a preservative, just like ice, and the wall, specifically - maintenance of the old ways. This would feed into discussion of the lord's right and bastards in the North, themetically. The intersection of all these ideas probably gets it right.

Great vid. Thanks for highlighting so many great theories from the Gang. I'm a mod for several asoiaf-related channels here on YT. May I post a link to this vid during our next Livestream? Join us Thursday at 5 pm EST on the @IDGLive channel(Robert from @InDeepGeek). Cheers!

Great video! I'd love to hear your thoughts on some of the other unexplained structures of Westeros (The Hightower, Seastone Chair, Moat Calin, Strorm's End). You're one of the best ASOIAF skeptics, love your content!

I thought the Ming dynasty built the great wall

My first thought is that I'd like to see someone approach the Wall without certain assumptions. I'm not saying they are definitely wrong, just that I think the coloured perception leads the theory. The water pump idea makes a lot of sense, however it works. GRRM tends to bury similar ideas in other places with similar themes but makes them look very different. I think it supports the idea, but I think it all lends context, if we compare the myths of the Wall and the Rhoyne. To begin with, the Rhoyne "flooded out of season." Water has to come from somewhere. Did it melt upstream? if you aren't adding water you're displacing water. The images of giant statues under the water and the Valyrian's being trapped beneath it lend themselves well to MichaelTalks theories. The ruined cities lend themselves to abandoned castles. Thematically the track of Wildlings along the Milk River, and the King Beyond the Wall concept lend themselves to a reflection of of the Prince of Rhoyne/united concept. It culminates in defeat and Mance being hung and burned, nicely reflecting the eventual defeat and hanging of Prince Garin. His defeat comes from Stannis of Dragonstone when the NW appears to be near defeat, much like the dragons of Valyria suddenly showing up and saving the Valyrian armies from defeat. There are a couple more obscure reflections of this story but the Rhoynish is the most comprehensive. There may even be some sort of hint in the Turtle Wars for what's going on with the Wall. The one figure in the story that best (though not entirely convincingly) suggests we question certain assumptions is Serwin (or Ser Win) of the Mirror Shield. Of all the mythical figures that basic description is such a close match to the reflective qualities of the Other's armor. I don't know about horns though. There are too many other ways to look at it. For one it's the sounding of a horn. If a great deal of water were suddenly rushed up channels from below the earth, a great deal of air would likely be pushed as well first. That great rush of air might make a hornish sound as it escaped. You'd hear the sound and then see the water. Yes a real horn might trigger it, but I think it's too literal an answer. A blood sacrifice to a weirwood, a sudden rush of air pushed by a torrent of water might produce an effect like a horn being blown and then water moving. I think Tormund's explanation is pointing to a questioning how literal we should think, not that a magic horn can be small.

I subscribe to some aspects of all 3 theories, but especially Michael’s. On the topic of Children, Humans, Others, Green Men etc being strapped to the Weirwood Trees inside of The Wall, I believe that they would all have to be Greenseers. That might explain things like Alysanne’s dragon Silverwing not being able to fly over The Wall; or Coldhands (if he is being controlled by Bloodraven or the Children) not being able to cross. Likely because the Greenseers inside of The Wall strapped to the Trees are controlling/commanding people or creatures to not pass it. I know it’s believed by some that The Wall is meant to not allow Others to cross, and yet that one Wight reanimated and tried to kill Jeor and Jon. One explanation for that could be that possibly Others/White Walkers are able to pass through this whole time and can control Wights from afar, or (if the theory by Michael that the Greenseers inside of The Wall are trying to be freed from their painful situation is true) that the Greenseers inside The Wall or even Bloodraven warged into that Wight to try and demonstrate/alert to the Night’s Watch that the Others have returned.

I'm a little upset that Meera assumed only deer watch her videos. I've never felt so bad about being a giraffe.

Yat just started my focus is all yours.

Theory 1: The Dothraki Sea was an inland sea within Essos, that according to the maesters, that dried up. Water dried up has to go somewhere - either the ocean, rain, ice packs on earth. What if that sea has become the Wall instead? Theory 2: When the wall does come down all that water is going to have to go somewhere. If I were to write a post-GOT story, it would star some world-flooding and the squishers, but I would set it in say Yi-Ti to give purpose to the 5 forts... much like Martin having thoughts on Global Warming?

The MICHAEl TALKS ABOUT STUFF RU-vid Theories are incredible. It has great call backs and would be incredibly dramatic.

A very lovely little symposium!

The whole brainstorming CotC did with the Horn of Winter is quite logical. Why would someone create a horn to destroy what makes them safe?

As an Elden Ring fanboy, the mention of ‘Tree Sentinels’ in the third theory piqued my ear. There are tree sentinels in elden ring that seem permanently attached to their mount in a similar sacrificial pattern. Not a coincidence in another GRRM lore property? Maybe it’s a just a thematic similarity, but it lends credence to the third theory in particular to me.

Is the Black Gate well a weirwood... Hmm the well is described as stone, but weirwood can petrify into stone... you'd think Bran would recognize the grain of the wood, or at least describe the stone as pale, if GRRM wanted to drop a hint... The weirwood face is also in a weird location for this to be a heart tree - but I guess there's a matching one on the other side of the gate, that would fit... Apart from the Black Gate, the vague idea that the Wall and weirwoods are both northern magical things and the legends of people stuck in the Wall, is there any evidence that there's weirwoods in the Wall? Do they ever find weirwood branches or leaves poking out of the ice cells, or snow that's pink with sap? Without it, the evidence is a little slim, but I guess that's the case with all theories for this... the thematic potential is definitely there, though...

I like the idea of a Werewood core with a walker strapped to it to make the water the tree pumps into ice.

Jorimund's horn brought down the First wall, at Moat Kailin and the Neck. Jorimund was both King in the North and King of the Wildlings (Northerners)

You know ASOIAF is in a really wired spot for me, because genuinely I don't really care about the series anymore, like if George ever actually did release Winds I almost certainly wont read it, but I still really enjoy theory videos like this.

A mix of attack on titan and one piece. Gotta love it.

What I DO NOT LIKE about Micheal's theory is that he thinks there are captured White Walkers powering the Wall. Somehow that just does not resonate or connect or link up at all. For me.

What's up with salt and the Wall... it is weird that the Others don't just freeze the sea, if their goal is to go south. (Unless maybe those magic wards of the Wall cut off the Others' magic/hivemind/vibes, and they don't want Others south of the Wall to be cut off from Others north of the Wall?) And the weirdly warm, salty tear Bran tastes while passing through the Black Gate... that line never made sense to me. Are we supposed to think the Wall is weeping (and if so, what does that mean?) I think salt is thought to ward stuff in real-world folklore, GRRM might be borrowing from that... The thing is, the like the Wall, Storm's End is supposed to be warded; is it safe to assume that the mechanisms are similar? Mel insists they pass beneath the walls of the castle in order for her shadow-baby to work, but they don't leave the boat; they're still surrounded by salt water. So I don't think there's anything significant about the Wall starting at the sea - that's just how geography works. Bran's salty tear, though... its definitely significant, I just don't know what to make of it...

I think P. Jacobs is looking for some ideas for his fun fiction so what do you thing about sending him this video?

Wall theories... generally with ASOIAF theories, I look at A) is it grounded and B) does it thematically click. With the groundedness... the basic physics of the Wall doesn't make sense, and its hard to know how to apply the lens of GRRM's-layman-physics-understanding to know which laws of physics he's following, which he's deliberately breaking and which he doesn't know exist. So that's a bust. Thematically, there's frankly too many angles to the Wall, enough to build a bazillion theories... GRRM has said that the uneven seasons would be resolved in the story; I don't know if he means he'll give an explanation for what's causing the unevenness, or if the unevenness will stop. If its the latter, then a good candidate for fixing the seasons could be the fall of the Wall (um, in addition to causing the apocalypse). There's some decent connective tissue between many of the Wall's themes (tribalistically other-ifying your neighbors and duty versus love), and the uneven seasons' themes (the cycle of the game of thrones and the short-term-thinking life-is-good summer-will-never-end versus winter-is-coming mindsets) that I think you could connect the two ideas neatly in this way? Not much of a theory LOL... barely even a starting-off point...

Awesome vid. It made me feel like I have know life, because I watched all the vids you're referenced. Haha. But it was a cool look at the connections between the three.

Hyped for this one

Awh hell yeah. Kickin it at work with a whole lotta nothin to do other than count inventory. Perfect.

wasn't it a pj thing that the wall was some sort of future tech construct. yes the wall regenerates but couldn't this be some sort of engine, that is doing the necesary freezing of moisture, and water from the sea, rivers. basically could the walll work like electo the ship from grrm's story warship. the thing had an ai that both repaired it after it recieved damage from it's own crew trying to kill a disease the ship itself made to kill the crew. could the wall be kinda sentient.

It’s tangential, but I think there are 9 Others. Why 9? They are the ones the Nights Watch swears vows to in the Grove of 9.

Oh fuck it's here!

Low key upset that this is a serious video on April fools day

POWs would not be willing sacrifices, and for magic to be really strong, it must be founded on a willing sacrifice. And basing theories on what Glidus and Altshift X call the Bad Dragon Show - even if a tiny bit of it, in the LATER seasons - NOPE!

Nice and calming video to fall asleep to. Then I got to the noise transition :D Maybe you could reduce the volume on those.

Great video. Except your transition the TV static hurts me

DA WALL

Please kill the white noise transition. Its just god awful for ear phones for no reason please!

Stop using static noise for transitions, man. I'm using these videos to sleep and that noise is too loud lol

The "explaining to an idiot" tone of Michaels voice make his videos unwatchable to me. Gods bless you.