The Shadow Lands beyond Asshai map from Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire explained Blank map by - atlasoficeandfireblog.wordpre... Contact ► whycreatevideos@gmail.com Twitter ► whycreator
Still can't believe Daenerys never even tried to seek out the guy who gave her the eggs. "Thanks for giving me the most valuable and rare items in the world, and like, changing my life and stuff."
@@etowaifumura4952 Eto Waifumura i've read the books and i'm pretty sure that Daenerys didn't seek out the guy who gave her the eggs ( who i believe it was Illiryo Mopatis) because at that time they were just incredible precious stones, because everyone believed that the eggs were "dead".
More backstory and in-depth exploration would rob those places of the mystery that makes GRRM's world so special. I would prefer to have a familiar POV character go to one of those places briefly. Like if we saw Dany's perspective of a quick visit to Asshai or Tyrion's perspective on an diplomatic trip to Yi Ti
Asshai and the Shadowlands, in my opinion, are some of the most interesting places in the A Song of Ice & Fire world. They're so steeped in history and mystery.
@@thebeatleswin1 the manga is way better, but I'm seriously afraid that the author might not finish it. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes dark fantasy. I'm not the biggest fan of anime/manga, but I love Berserk.
Also as Martin warns, these places are on the other side of the world and the descriptions of them are through the eyes of maesters in the Citadel which might be very flawed. Still, Asshai sounds like one of the creepiest places ever. Reminds me of Lovecraft.
Could have to do with the Doom of Valyria, first the shadow lands became the shadow lands, then a couple hundred/thousand years later same thing happens to Valyria, now people are looking to do the same to Westeros
@@KingfisherMC dragons came to valyria from ashaii. They could have been immigrating to get away from a doom in ashaii, and then would do the same for valyria. They could be still around somewhere else
Possibly a arya series where she goes west but west is east and finds the further east of essos and she explores the shadow lands along with ulthos maybe even sothoryos
@@virtualunreality3771 nah fuck that little cunt, we want real hardcore adventurers different skills and back stories exploring the world , that would be a lot more interesting than bitch ass Arya
nine voyages of Corlys Velaryon. he reaches Asshai and sees the boat of Alyssa Farman who stole three dragon eggs from house targaryen during the reign of King Jaehaerys I. many believe the three dragon eggs she stole are the petrified eggs Daenerys gets later in the story. And those eggs could be hatchlings from Balerion and Vhagar!
One thing I would especially like is a full, global map of Planetos, just to see what it looks like from space. Circumstantial evidence suggests the Saffron Strait cuts from the Jade Sea to the Sunset Sea, with the Shadow Lands area being the eastern end of the continent, but pretty much everything we see except maybe Sothoryos is in the northern hemisphere, there's enough room for multiple continents in the completely blank space, and I'd really like to know what's there.
I always took the saffron straits as cutting into the eastern part of essos and ending, with Essos stretching further over. Seen some, fan made, maps of a continent of Easteros past that. I really like the idea that the section of the world we've seen in maps is like a quarter, or less, of the planet.
@@FieryFlamingFajitas Eh yes and no. In what I'm talking about they literally expanded the map to where Essos stretched off and another continent emerged, akin to Europe and Asia or North America and South America
More likely magically advanced than technological. And with all the similarities to Lovecraftian mythos, I’d suggest that a disaster related to some ancient horror is responsible for the state of Asshai or perhaps something similar to what happened to Old Valyria
More likely magically advanced than technological. And with all the similarities to Lovecraftian mythos, I’d suggest that a disaster related to some ancient horror is responsible for the state of Asshai or perhaps something similar to what happened to Old Valyria
Finally the Sahdow Lands!!! I just want a full tour of this area! It seems so much more "dark and creepy" than our westeros hahaha Keep up the good stuff bro 💙
The Shadow lands are the only place in ASoI&F that I can't associate with a real world country. I personally believe Asshai is actually based of the Greek Underworld.
The reason why the Shadowlands are mysterious, is because the people in Westeros amd Essos had never been there and explore it to the fullest. Remember, the world takes place in medieval time. The Shadowlands kinda looks like India. Back when India hasnt been explored by Europeans, they thought the land are full of mysteries with giant creatures, that we now know to be elephants.
Stygai feels a bit like Minas Morgul from Lotr, so I would definitely be interested in visiting. Also, Tolkien does mention fields of poisonous, pale flowers growing in the valley below that city, which sounds a bit like ghost grass in the Shadow Lands. Just nice little connections all around :D
Asshai sounds like my neighbor, a big mansion style building, never saw anyone leave or enter the building. Even at night, the lights are off but there are cars parked inside. 😨
what´s interesting about Asshai is that the title about a very ancient city before anything in the world also applies to K´Dath at northeastern Essos and Yeen at Sothoryos, but also could be linked with the ruins at inner Leng jungles, the ruins at Ullos nearby to Ulthos, the ruins at the Toad Island nearby Sothoryos, the forbidden dead city of Stygai, the mazes of Lorath, the foundations of the tower of Ancient City, and the unknown cities of the farthest east closer to the Inner Sea as Carcossa, the Winged Men city, and the cities of Bloddless Men, all of them very linked with some eerie common background.
I think Asshai is sort of like what Asia was to the Medieval Europeans. They knew about it and traded with it sometimes but it was so far away that hardly anyone ever went and so what they thought about it was more legend than fact
It's worth noting that the descriptions of these lands are from the perspective of Westerosi travellers/scholars, and aren't meant by GRRM to be the real lore. Just like in our real world timeline, the further away from 'Western' civilisation, the less people knew about the far away lands and thus wild interpretations were made. This is why the further from Westeros you go, the descriptions become less accurate and more fantastical
It's ironic that theres a place called the mountains of the morn in the lore when the game of thrones show was filmed around the Mourne mountains in northern Ireland.
It would be cool if Drogon brought Dany to the shaddow lands to revive her. And they both come back with a from there to westeros. This time Drogon fully grown. And capture westeros from Bran "the broken"
André Fagerberg That would be cool tho because he flew off with her and nobody knows where he went. Even when he left the first time, no one really knew where he was. Just that he was out exploring. A new spinoff should have him flying there with her and she being brought back just like they did Jon but in a different setting.
Asshai to me sounds like another Lovecraft nod, like the drowned god. An ancient city so massive and old no one knows anything about it's origins. Love this kind of stuff I am sad he doesn't want to explore these areas further in a story but also glad the mystery will remain.
I always thought Dany would definitely go to Asshai, just to be presented with a choice that would shape the rest of her arc. Like, that's literally what Quaithe tells her to do over and over. I think that was the point of getting her away from Mereen. She might team up with the Dothraki and fly past the Moon mountains on Drogon's back.
The one who was whispering in the mad king's ear was cthulu. The WW are on the good side. The Asshai, dragons, faceless man, god of death, rhllor, 3eyed raven are on the evil side. GJ, Arya. You just destroyed the last hope of light.
Considering that magic is allegedly strong there. There must be a small population of dragons. Since animals and plant life can't thrive there. It's kind of hard to tell tho.
I have a theory as to why the world seemingly ends at the Shadowlands, and why it's so dark and inhospitable there. This also explains the horrible winter Westeros experiences with decades between summer and true winter. I believe the planet is rotating on its side (like uranus) BUT it is not orbitally locked (unlike uranus), meaning the planet wobbles on its axis, with Westeros being near its sun-facing pole, but just south of it enough that it experiences micro seasons (think greenland). The shadowlands reside just south of the planet's rotational equator, meaning the sun bearly rises above the horizon save for a few brief periods during the "year". Now this means that over one orbit around its star, which I believe takes decades instead of a mere year, the axis fluctuates. Also this setup means that for 95% of the planets travel around the sun westerose is experiencing a relatively normal sunrise/ sunset reality, but at those two critical points where the pole westerose is either directly facing the sun (imagine greenland or antartica at the height of their summers) or facing away from its star, is when the joyous life giving summer happens with a few years of boundless sun, good crops, warmth and short nights and the opposite the dark long night. The wobbling axis would explain the variations in how long the winters last and why some are darker and longer then others. Past the shadow lands I imagine the exact same reality would befall whatever land is hugging the opposite pole of the planet.
Great video, and very thorough. I especially like that you noted the difference between the Shadow Men and Asshai'i. Most people ignore that, and think the people who taught the Valyrians were Asshai'i.
Sounds like a parrellel with the wall. The wall=The Five Forts. The lands of always winter=The shadow lands. Its like there are flame monsters and they are trying go to war against the whitewalkers and all humanity is caught inbetween.
I wonder if the ghost grass spreading across the region and killing of all plants and stuff is evidence on the Essos continent of winter returning, just as it is doing in Westeros with the Others return
Rose of Red Lake Yeah I always thought the white grass was a metahpor for whitewalkers, maybe the book will clarify these things but I dont mind it being left as a mystery either.
-None with its sphere of influence reaching old town or the iron islands. -Where the citadel tower base and the seastone chair are with both being made out of the same oily black stone the buildings in asshai are made of. -Also dragon skeletons in westeros. Might be remnants of this asshai empire.
Genetix yes very true! I wonder about the connection of this black stone. But aren't the dragons in Westeros the remnants of Targaryon rule. I don't know if House Valaryon had any dragons but maybe since they are the only other full Valyrian bloodline in Westeros, i believe.
This is just me but I believe that all of the blackstone structures, such as the throne in the iron isles and asshai, were made by a long lost empire that was mostly situated to the east, maybe one of their main cities, or possibly even capital being asshai, but seeing as the meteors that these black stone things were in were almost definitely powerful in their own right, most likely containing large amounts of dark magic seeing as asshai is one of the most magical places in the world and the fact that the bloodstone emperor of Yi Ti often practiced with them. Anyway, they might’ve gotten too egotistical or whatnot and got a bit more risky with their experimenting and had some giant magical disaster take place, destroying their empire in one blow and causing the shadowlands to form, the only place being safe being Asshai, the city made out of black-stone. One thing I like to think is true is that this cataclysm caused the wildlife to become mutated wherever the black-stone was and make the local wildlife into hideous monsters such as dragons and whatnot, maybe this even made Sothoryos what it is today. I know this is a commonly believed theory but I just wanted to lay it out for people.
A book/show/movie about the Shawdowlands would be epic. I wonder since GRRM doesn't seem to want to write about this, if he would be will to sign the rights to someone who would? Great work, thanks for the post.
I always wondering that further north of land of always winter is somehow connected with grey waste in further east of essos. Is it coincidence both of place had been through long night in same period, one was caused by bloodstone emperor & the rest was caused by war between first men and children of forest
Carcosa and the Yellow King was already a literary tie in when True Detective used it, it seems a lot of science fiction and horror writers use it in their works, which means whatever is there in Ice and Fire is probably just as bad if not worse than what’s in the Shadow Lands
Could you imagine if we got spin-offs of places like Ib, The Summer Isles, Sothoryos, Ulthos, The Shadow Lands, YiTi, etc. So much potential being wasted :(
Awesome video like always. It's killing me though, where'd you get that picture you used for Stygai? It's the exterior of an Elder Scrolls dungeon, right?
I'mma throw out the possibility that the black stone was possibly mined in the shadow lands, since it seems to basically be one of the world's few places that is akin to death incarnate. Near a colossal titan of a city in Asshai, which is a port for trade, and also close enough to Yi Ti for them to have mined somewhere in there under their first ruler's reign to build the five fortresses.
Thank you for this. I love the part of the world. If I may just point out one point o correction: it's true that Mellisandra is from Asshai, but not Quaithe. She is "of The Shadow". GRRM has made the very clear distinction in he books between "Asshai BY the Shadow" and "The Shadow" itself. Not the same place, though they are near and associated.
Feels like GRRM wanted to do a tribute to the lovecraftian saga by naming a city Carcosa, specially a city standing by a huge lake (hidden sea). I know that Carcosa and the King in Yellow aren't originally from Lovecraft, but I think now they are part of the compendium
Man after hearing about Sothyros and The Shadow Lands I really don't care about the events in Westeros, Jon, Dany, etc.. Hope 1 day a series is made about them, probably 100years from now :(
Is there anything east of the shadow lands? There is like a line where the map ends at Essos where it just cuts off the land and doesn’t stop atthe sea like everything else with the exception of Sothyros and the Far North
corlys velaryon was in shadow lands and we getting a spin off series of him ,since house of dragon was a hit it will probably open gats for jon snow sequel, etc
Hi just wondering what the font you use in your videos for titles like "Asshai" is Love your videos! You, bridge4, and Alt Shift X are pretty much the only GoT/asoif video creators that I watch lol
I believe that the reason because westeros feels so lame compared to the far east is because the story is being told from the point of view of westeros/western essos. So, since almost no one has seen the far east and because of the lack of documented history, the stories become exaggerated. This is similar to hundreds of years ago when tales became exaggerated because of how isolated places were compared to present day.
I think is very european and thoughtful, the way george describes the world. Its always from some westerosi perspective, being westeros a land imagined as some medieval lands from our own world. These descriptions of wild things and animal people are a direct reference to many western europe scholars on the middle ages that discribed the same kind of wild things on the far east and beyond the sahara. Marco Polo describes cyclopes, some others reference dog-headed men in the andaman islands, yare yare daze...
Do you think further north than the lands of always winter there are ice dragons because George RR Martin wrote a story called the ice dragon also love your vids
Even in asoiaf there's talks of ice dragons between characters. I feel like they were added into the story only for world building and to sprinkle in some mystery, that all readers love. Plus I dont think there's enough time for something that drastic to be added in so late into the story :(
In Martin's lore, the planet is flat? Also it would be funny for him to like: Fan: "What lies in the far eastern? Or far south?" Martin: "That's what is for next expansion's story."
@@manica53 That is most likely impossible since what we've seen of the world is only in the northern hemisphere. And even if it wasn't, south doesn't connect to north like east does to west. You don't pass through the South Pole and end up at the North Pole.
So you tell me Arya forgot about sothoryos, ultos , the shadowlands , the north of the lands of always winter , the east of essos , and all these fantastic places and unexplored lands , and chose to go to the west where she is going to get killed by some sea dragons without even reaching it ????
I think what's west of Westeros is this world's version of Paradise/Valinor. The few people who have gone west and come back claiming they found nothing just don't want other people going there and ruining it.
I’d love to see a serise or a comic where we have a character from the town of Ashai and has to go beyond the mountains of it and seek out the lands bro that would be epic
The Church of Starry Wisdom is also a Lovecraft reference. It's in his short story The Haunter of the Dark. I think it's safe to say Martin was influenced by him.
I wish I could know more about Asshai and the Shadowlands. Westeros is mostly just Europe and I get that every day as I live in a region that's similar to the Riverlands.
Danaerys could have captured the free cities including Braavos, Shadowlands, Asshai, Yi Ti and Qarth before moving west to raise a large army and fatten her wallet. If she flew dragons over Braavos, the Iron Bank would have surrendered their wealth easily and she could have their navy as well. That's what I would have done if I were in place of D&D
Dragons aren’t invincible and Esso’s doesn’t want a new Valyria. If you had Yi Ti & all the free cities on your ass you would be screwed. SOMEONE in all of those must have some ideas on how to kill dragons.
@@bobmcbob9856 then we'll leave Asshai. Others won't stand a chance. How many people, houses, docks, ships will be burnt before someone can get one clean shot? No one. So they will surrender. Asshai I won't go then as although they are filthy rich, we cannot fight their sorcery. Plus the Shadowlanders with their magic will zero in on Asshai should the city be screwed by someone
I think this black stone is important. the tower in oldtown is made of it, but it isnt oily. maybe its good to build with, but becomes oily when it gets corrupted (or causes corruption)? may or may not have anything to do with dragons.