GRRM's Old Drafts of A Song of Ice and Fire - (1 Hour of Interesting Things Found) 

I had a thought about the glass candles. 1. Blood keeps the people who are bound to the glass candles alive. 2. The maesters bleed on the glass candles trying to start them, as their final test. A test (ritual) that continuously feeds glass candles blood. 3. The faceless men (assassins) aren't trying to steal a glass candle, they are going to destroy one, to kill the person who is bound to it. Destroying the glass candle is them fulfilling their contract to kill some immortal person.

melisandre got varys to get davos’s fingerbones for her, using his mermaid powers

I love it when Michael drops a new schizo asoiaf vid

An HOUR long video!?!?! This was the BEST thing to wake up early to today... Lol

“I should have thought that heat ill suits you Starks,” Littlefinger said. “Here in the south, they say you are all made of ice, and melt when you ride below the Neck.”

The only one i wish he hadn't changed was the time jump. He was gonna jump 5 years in time which makes complete sense to me. Not only the age of the characters but also more development of the characters. Like Dany going to Asshai. It got mentioned way to much for us t not go there, and the character needed to go their to learn. And now i'm guessing that would be where Melisandras candle is, but he might have dropped that idea with it too.

i think the main idea grrm is trying to do with story "would the sacrifices of these heroes be enough to bring change and lead a path for balance & are they willing to sacrifice anything or potentially everything for it". given how he says "i like to write about conflict within heart" or "i like to praise effort of heroes not just their outcome". Sacrifices -> ned his honour, potentially his marriage to save jon. Dany in meereen. Jon sacrificing his love for yigrrite or vows of black for wildings. jamie's honour. Bran potentially his soul and his identity for this hivemind greenseer Etc. Balance -> how out of balance is westroes weather, balance b/w magic as sometime fire overpowers(Valriya) or ice (other) or old gods(weirwoods). Highlords having immense power over weaks. Pact b/w children of forest & first men.

23:05 To me this seems more likely to indicate that she is being spied on by Euron with a glass candle, hence the Blue lips, pale skin and twisted blade. The ice reference can easily just be tying Euron to the Others. We already know that Euron has plans for Dany and likely has a glass candle. I don't see a connection to Jon stabbing Dany at all in my opinion. That is just me spit-balling though. I really love the video. Great stuff.

Man I love videos like this where it's basically just a straight hour of Michael Talks About Stuff just... talking about stuff.

My daughter (Arya) turned 10 yesterday. Thanks for the video.

Spoiled us with a hour long video??!?!? Awesome. A lot of people do videos about drafts and stuff but I just love the way you break things down and explain things. Never get bored listening to you.

41:16 I thought you were going to mention Reed's strange magic where he potentionally "sunk" the tower of joy by turning its foundations into mud.

these videos along with LML are the perfect videos have in the background while im drawing warriors of antiquity

Interesting, but I think we also have to keep in mind that it has been over a decade and that GRRM did recently say in his blog back in 2022 that he changed his mind on a lot of things and that the ending of the show and the books will be very different. “What I have noticed more and more of late...is my gardening is taking me further and further away from the television series. Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in Game of Thrones you will also see in The Winds of Winter (though maybe not in quite the same ways)…but much of the rest will be quite different.” “One thing I can say, in general enough terms that I will not be spoiling anything: not all of the characters who survived until the end of Game of Thrones will survive until the end of A Song of Ice and Fire, and not all of the characters who died on Game of Thrones will die in A Song of Ice and Fire...And the ending? You will need to wait until I get there. Some things will be the same. A lot will not.” --GRRM

Davos never actually LOOKS at the bones. Only touches the bag. Could have easily been swapped while he was in the cells at Dragonstone, imo.

I just wanna say ive been watching all your videos and its crazy interesting hearing yor take on the white walker history its hella unique and youre not just parroting the same fan theories and information that eveyrone knows. keep it up

side note relating to eldenring. i try to be spoilerfree tho. there is a character called Goldmask which is a golden order fundamentalist and essentially a sort of mathmatician of said order. his questline reminds me greatly of what you talked about the Maesters and if you care enough but dont wanna play the game yet (even so i recommend that a lot too) there is a great Video by SmoughTown about Goldmask. the parallels are apparent id say.

Man you’re one of my ASOIAF RU-vidrs. I hope you’ll be on a stream with David LB at some point (:

I know what I’m doing for the next hour

I've been looking forward to a video breaking down the drafts. Hype!

Arya killed that Nights watch deserter in Braavos and kept his boots and that got my attention when Melisandre mentions boots for glamoring. Was wondering if that was gonna be a thing later

A question comes to mind, it makes sense that benjen is not coldhands, and may have a greater purpose, if the others in chapter one were looking for a stark.

@MichaelTalksAboutStuff recent viewer of your channel. Your theories seem so accurate that I prefer them over all others. Honestly, if they're not cannon, I'll wish they were.

I always thought that blue lips and pale skin ind Dany's dream referred to Euron, but the Old Ice theory is pretty cool, whether it becomes canon or not. This also makes me wonder if Jon's resurrection will be more sinister than we thought. I can see him coming back as a vengeful new Night King after all he went through for the greater good of Westeros, and the betrayel he suffered at the hands of his comrades anyway. This would make an interesting parallel to Dany's villianous transformation in Mereen. Fire and Ice turning heel to rain destruction down on Westeros, before cancelling each other out in the end sounds good to me

Melisandre obviously used the same westeros Dive crew that dredged up the undead dragon for the white walker inc up north for Davos's finger bones.

I live in Houston and had no idea about the Cushing Library, I'll have to visit one of these days

That earlier version of the glass candle lighting as the comet passes was amazing they should’ve kept it

Mark this video for later watch. It’s so exciting to see it’s an hour long🥳!

1:41 Words are Winds… of Winter. This phrase always made me wonder if spells will be used within POV plot lines. In the history and lore, we are told of magical spells being used, but apart from limited instances, we have not been given much to go off of. So perhaps we will get a look through POV chapters. Who knows, this may even imply a potential inspiration for house words 🤷🏻‍♂️ One of George’s largest literary influences is author Jack Vance. In Vance’s novel, Tales of the Dying Earth, the way that sorcerers apply spells is through the use of specific syllables. Although I’ve never read that particular book nor any other books in that series, the phrase “words are wind” has always stuck out to me. So naturally, I’ve suspected that foreshadowing as heavy handed as that would play a role in future books. Idk, I could be wrong but I thinks it’s a fun idea

I think that another option for when George says he hasn’t quite figured out Marwyn is that he hasn’t figured out his writing style or his mannerisms.

Melissandra insists on having a fire perpetually on the go. I've long wondered if she has a sliver of a glass candle beneath the kindling, to keep her young. Against that is the issue, as you say, of the black candles not being 'activated' until the dragons hatched, but maybe her Assai-sourced 'souvenir' works differently.

After talking to you for over 3 hours the other night, now an hour listening to you, you're going to be the voice in my head.

White Crown is another confirmation that Naga's teeth(Grey king's crown) was weirwood.

I think Melissandre swapped Davos' bag of fingerboard before he left with Stannis to attack King's Landing, and he was carrying something else. As to the why, I don't know.

I've long felt marwin was a red herring, has too much useful info to ever actually reach dany and reveal it to us or help her use it, but your theories have made me think he will be the one to steal viserion and either get himself and the dragon killed or deliver it to aegon

In the Jon draft Ghost smells *_'hunters'_* living men and dead men near Bran. _Who are the living men hunting Bran?!!!_ In the show they had Locke track down Bran, is this a book thing too?

I think only thing here that is a big leap is the idea of Jon stabbing Dany. The show back end can’t be used as accurate metrics because they stopped interacting with GRRM and did do their own plotting. Could someone stab Dany - sure but to use Jon as the stabber is too much of a leap right now and the plot point wasn’t part of the plot points GRRM gave them.

I appreciate the old drafts suggest a theory I've been putting forward for a while. Jon will escape in or with Ghost and return the the Fist. I wouldn't mind someone applying the logic of the Dany essays to Jon. Dany's is not the only character struggling with their own values. People tend to give Jon a more rosy interpretation but I think the point of both characters is identical. The outcome may not be as much the same, but their journey is certainly built on the same tests of compromising values. There is a question left behind about the glass candles that may be worth exploring though. We know explicitly of one and are suggested another. Marwyn's and Nightwalker's. If any of his previous designs survived that should mean two characters that can't die. The funny thing is, we have two characters that roughly fit. Dany and Beric. Granted Mel probably has one, her candle would already be lit. Question is which candle would apply to whom. Did the burning of Drogo light the one in Qarth or the one in Old Town? If resurrection is indeed connected to candles, which one was used for Beric? Could it be Marwyn who's playing the game influencing it by raising Beric and Cat?

I found a new comparison between bran the builder and Marika I left it as two comments in your last video

Couldn’t the blue lips be a reference to Euron, who drinks shade of the evening, has the goal to marry Dany and clearly knows what he’s doing on some regarding a lot of things

We getting past the wall with this one

Waking a dragon from stone can only mean burning stannis’s daughter waking jon

5:40 this is one thing i've never been clear on; with this "love triangle" thing. Would it have been a Jaime/Cersei type of relationship with Arya sometimes including Tyrion to join in their couplings?

Your channel is easily the best new ASOIAF channel, keep it up

Howland Reed was on the Isle of Faces for a 2 year winter before leaving for the tourney at Harrenhal. A 2 year winter honing his magics...2 years! Is Bran with Bloodraven for a long winter?What did Howland learn being there for a 2 year winter?

The main theory I've heard about how Mel got Davos' finger bones is that she stole them by swapping hia bones for fakes/ someone else's before the battle.

Mel would just use wights to dive into Blackwater Bay and bring the bag of finger bones back to the surface. You know, just like Rhaegar did with Viserion north of the Wall. 😂

It is probably the case that Jon was older than Robb. I still think it's possible Jon could be Ned's son, there is an account of Borrell who he suspects to be Jon's mother when talking to davos. The annotation says Borrell is displaying ignorance and Jon was born around the sack of King's Landing. Catelyn believes Jon was conceived after the marriage. Catelyn's assumptions are pretty spotty. But Borrell would be far earlier. I don't think Borrell's story is correct either but it is there for a reason plus the annotation. To doubt the timeline of events and Jon's age. I think the truth is in the middle. Not the woman Borrell suspects and a bit later, but 9 months before the sack could still be before the wedding. In Jon's early chapter at the wall, he mentions around Benjen's supposed return he turned 15 while earlier both him and Robb were both 14 while sparring. Before that Robb's name day wasn't mentioned. we hear Robb grow and get stronger but not his age. Jon being older is still something Ned would want to keep hidden even if he is his son.

nice

Ohohohoohohohohohoohhhhhhhhhhhhh 🎉

I love Dany's "Im just a young girl" thing. Its such utter bull because shes brilliant and knows exactly what is going on and she plays these people like shes a silly young dingbat...but NOPE!!

What about using half a heart beat? What about everyone in asoiaf can eat properly? They eat an orange and half of it spills down their face

Cold Hands being Jon Snow could be a thing

Who is Anne-Marie? Maybe she can get coaching from Chinchilla, bc I already heard of Chinchilla before this lol

awww... I dont want Victarion to die yet, i wish he gets revenge on Euron...

very dark souls bone fire here the glass candle

Bronze First Men Rune is Ice to Gold/steel Valeryian Rune Fire

I think Dany & Jon were born via C section

Any chance that Jon could have been born via C-section? That might be a good reason to have the Kings Guard stopping it? I mean we've seen in Hot D women have no say in what happens to their bodies. Absolutely no body autonomy. In either direction.

Pssst, dude; rename the title, call it Cut Content 👌 Instantly more views.

bro the books are done but he has them set to release after he dies

First

1:43 lol "Words are wind" isn't even that cool of a phrase...