Melisandre eating the poison seems explained to me by her necklace. When Dany gets to Qarth I think shes in a litter with Xaro Xhaon Daxos. He offers her a necklace with a red gemstone at the middle and he says its supposed to make one immune to poison.
These types of videos about themes present in this series truly make awe at the writing prowess of GRRM. No wonder we don't have Winds yet. The book is going to explode open so many of your theories!
It's astounding to me, how complex GRRM's ASOIAF (that's a lot of acronyms. I'm sorry) world really is. It's so much more world building than most fiction. His attention to detail is incredible, but he's also a master of withholding some info, revealing some info, and letting the audience know that some accounts are not reliable at all, so what you think you know might just be a myth, or propaganda...so we sit here for TEN YEARS theorizing what's going to happen in the next book. It's crazy and I love it.
Yeah and I'm afraid that it's just become to big for him to handle. He kept his garden growing to big and to vast it's eventually bind him in the neck and tragically strangled him. Idk, I'm just not really sure if he will finished the series himself and write the conclusion with all of this mess of situations in the books. Needless to say I'm also quite eager to be proven wrong and still waiting just with a slight bit of disappointment with every passing deadline he promised but didn't make.
@@theoctagonjones I think many writers in the future should and will be picking up bits and pieces of asoaif to their own work because it's interesting and worth to explores.
Kevin Pendragon has a video on the masks. Short version: Sending a shadowbaby at someone first requires that you see their face, so most shadowbinders wear masks to protect their identity. Mel uses her fire-visions to look for threats to her person instead
I think you can just as easily apply a Jungian interpretation as well, that the shadow being is the manifestation of Stannis's subconscious, unintegrated Shadow that she is using to do what Stannis in his conscious mind may not have been able to do as decisively, perhaps due to the stigma against kinslaying.
It makes a lot of sense for fire magic and shadow binding to be connected. SB is probably a highly advanced and specialized skill only the most powerful can try to master. I think all priests of r'hllor are trained in fire magic, but not in shadow binding. it is stated that Mel is very talented at fire magic and is one of the best, sees more than others. so as a sort of "fire magic prodigy" she got this advanced education in a rare art. they compliment each other well so maybe Mel is able to combine them in a unique way. she mixes elements of both. for example, controling a shadow to do your biding: shadow binding. but instead of the cost comin from her, she uses her r'hllor magic to tap into someone else's life force and take the needed energy from *them* instead. the pregnancy thing? who knows if that's the normal way to do it or that comes from adding *life* into it so it goes through a faux-version of life creation aka pregnancy. she's the only shadow binder we have seen do magic so who knows, she might be freestyling
@graydrive5796 I don't think I can agree with that. I have a hard time believing there aren't actually rules to the magic systems in this story given how complex and obsessively mituculous literally everything else in the story is. Besides, it's just lazy writing if you don't have actual rules to your magic systems. They don't have to be explicitly defined in the text, but they do need to exist, otherwise it just becomes cheap and contrived.
@@Tyler_WWhat a bad understanding abouth magic... Sanderson really did a number on how people understand magic in literature. "And I know here I’m an outlier, cuz I think most of fantasy writers, contemporary fantasy writers would disagree with me, but I never wanted to devise a magic system, as it’s called. A lot of fantasy writers, you know, are very proud of their magic systems they devised. To my mind, magic and sorcery, it’s not part of the natural world. It’s supernatural, it’s unnatural, it’s dangerous. And if you make it so systematic that, okay, if you take the eyes of a newt and the balls of a bat and the blood of a virgin and mixed them together you’ll get a love potion. Then you’ve just, you’ve taken the magic out of magic and you’ve made it science, but you’ve made it fake science that doesn’t really work. And I’m not interested in that. I think you look at the history of magic in the real world. Magic. And for most human history, people believed that there was magic, there was sorcery. They believed there were dragons, they believed there were witches. But did their magic actually work? If their magic actually worked, then they would’ve ruled the world. But their magic works sometimes, if suddenly you got a bad case of boils, you would blame the old woman down the road that gave you the boils, for you didn’t like her. And then if you could convince people, they might hang her or set her on fire. But she couldn’t give boils to everyone or she would do that. It was… magic was unreliable, it was dangerous. And I think that’s also true of dragons and blood magic and… everything magical and sorcerous that goes on in my world, it’s not easy." GRR Martin, History of Westeros podcast. You don't need a magic system, and some writers don't use it. You have to accept that.
Here I am, trying to figure out her secret hidden identity; meanwhile lml is over here figuring out her entire secret hidden religion and endgame plot! Great video as always, can't wait for part 2!
I can’t express how much emotion and joy I feel when I see Zecharys The Thunderer’s dragon name appear on screen. (In this video, it appears at 8:16) @David Lightbringer, you worked pure magic for me with that tribute, and it means the /world/ to me. Thank you. This is the first time I’ve told the story behind that Dragon’s name, but I want to share with everyone now because it means a lot to me. Zecharys is a tribute to & named after my cat who passed away on Christmas Eve of 2020. He was a grey tabby with bright green eyes and his favorite toy was a stuffed white wolf that he carried with him for all 13 years of his life (and would accept no substitute for). He would sit on my lap and we would listen to every LML video together for the past few years. I couldn’t have asked for a better tribute to his memory.
Awww ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I’m glad it’s so meaningful, it’s great to honor our animal friends when they cross the great bifrost bridge in the sky. Take care Kara and yes, you should post a picture in the myth head Facebook group if you are on FB. facebook.com/groups/584487499573185/?ref=share to request an invite
As I have said before: I seldom drink myself silly and praise Garth at the same time, but when I do I always love LmL's videos! Much love from the Land of Always Winter(Norway).
I've started to think that Greenseeing is a magic based on the blending of souls. Such as the weirwood net, hive minds, skin changers dying in their animals. While Shadowbinding is a magic based on soul fragmentation. Beric's degraded copies of himself, the loss of Stannis's life fires. So, since Jon will be resurrected by both, maybe he will have kind of a whole soul?
Maybe something like fire needs fuel (soul) to burn, ice preserves but doesn't regenerate etc. While green is alive and can thus grow/regenerate after a wound etc.
Jon’s soul goes into his wolf, thereby preserving it since it never left. Once his body is jump started, he transfers back… or they do the ritual and it doesn’t work… but it really did and Jon just needs to jump back into his body
Not sure if the timeline is correct, but the reference to dragons in Asshai might be a left over foreshadowing of Dany going to Asshai which was a plot point that George changed. The idea that shadowbinders hide behind glamors and masks because they are inhuman, probably some kind of shadow/fire wights just makes too much sense considering what we know.
I know what you’re saying about dragons here, but there’s actually a ton more evidence to support that idea. Check out the great Empire of the dawn video
It seems intuitive in the way it explained by GRRM that Fire magic and Shadow Binding magic are the same. Consider a bright sunny day, where the light is bright, and the shadows people cause are darkest. Now consider a day that is overcast, yet the sun still shines; the shadows people cause are not as dark. Without one, you can't have the other.
I recently discovered this series and could not be more grateful. As a lover of greek mythology and mythology in general, I am compelled to ask: I find echoes of Hecate, goddess of death, the moon, necromancy, magic and crossroads. What would be your opinion? Thank you so much and wish you keep up the great work.
Seems logical that Shadowbinders are flame magi because she says that whole thing about shadows being servants to the light and with that and the term shadowbinders it makes sense that the shadows are binded and servants to the flame.
Mel has already “paid the ultimate price” she is already a fire wight. What is dead can never die …. My head cannon is she was taken from the doom of Hardhome part one.
Lucifer means Lightbringer was fun while it lasted. All the best for the book David. I am signed up for the email list and I read the excerpt aas well. Enlightening Stuff. 👏
Everything important has already been written here so I'll just add that I love the art in this video very much ❤️ Thank you for your hard work, David!
I finally was able to take the time and finish A Dance With Dragons knowing I have nothing left to read until TWOW and you have been filling in that void!
Dealing with shadowbinding theyres a constellation in Virgo/libra called Corvus “The Crow” I’m pretty sure George knows the myth and it’s the backbone of the Bran story. Long story short Apollo sends his companion Crow on a mission to find his Lady friend wife. In the myth originally Crows were white because they were the sun gods sent rays as his messengers. But when the Crow arrives he sees the lady laying with somebody else, he knows this is bad an lingers in doubt but eventually returns with the bad news. “Dark wings Dark words” but not yet, he comes back to Apollo who obviously gets pissed. In his rage his light burns the crow turning him black forever then he kills his wife before he comes back to his senses. When he finally does he remembers she was pregnant with theyre son, he quickly does a magical C-section an saves the boy who grows up to become the Snake charmer Constellation Ophiuchus. Corvus is in the west too in the 7th constellation of the zodiac. That time of the year is when spring turns to fall n with all that Brans been through i see it as Jon as the Morning star that disappears for 3 days after death and Bran as the Evening star that renews the promise of spring before Winter. I think the mono myths of constellations is what George is pulling from and bending but idk still interesting tho.
I tend to think that all magic in ASoIaF is either completely separate from each other but usable in tandem to create different effects (like the shadow baby which seems to use both fire and shadow magic) or that there really is just one kind of magic and different magic users only draw on certain aspects of it due to the way they were taught or their own misconceptions. Why else would fire, ice, and greenseer magic all be able to resurrect the dead? And then there's all the similarities between Corpse Queen and the creation of the Others and Melisandre and the shadow babies. Since Others are compared to white shadows, it seems like their creation might involve a combination of ice and shadow magic, which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense if shadow and fire are really two sides of the same separate magic (unless all magic is really the same thing). Since Melisandre seems so abysmal at reading the flames apart from threats to her own life, I've never really bought into her explanations of magic, since those could be just as flawed. I'm definitely interested to see if any of this comes up in your next video.
Good thoughts here, and yeah I’m gonna discuss some of this in the rest of the series and some of this that relates to the others on a live stream very soon
I think that it is definitely one of the two. Shadowbinding and fire magic both being taught to the red priests and or trading practices when those priests go to the shadow lands. I mean maybe both are one and the same and both reasonings work together. Side note I’ve always wondered about Quaite, or however her name is spelled. Does anyone know about her tittle. She is of the shadow not by the shadow. How strong is she really then if she’s from the corpse city? Like damn
House of the Dragon put me back into A Song of Ice and Fire rabbit hole and led me to your channel. Your videos are fantastic and I look forward to binging them all, this series seems like a great place to start. Thanks for all you do!
Fantastic start for what is sure to be a very interesting series. I love the mystery and mysticism which surrounds the Red Temple, Asshai, and Shadowbinding. Eager to see where this series takes us!!!!
I think with R’hllor powers she can use fire to create shadows, but with shadow binding she is able to have control over the shadows. If we believe in r’hllor we know that at mid day we are stronger when the sun gives us it’s full light, at dawn or dusk we receive less light from the sun, but we also know that in opposition of each time, mid day makes the smallest shadow and dawn and dusk makes the biggest shadows. And if we practice shadowbinding we would be able to control those large shadows we produce. Now the deeper magic that mellisandra is using is some type of life-light absorbtion to create a living shadow and control it with shadowbinding. Essentially she is becoming an instrument to separate life from a person in form of light and transfer it into its own entity in form of a shadow.
Quaithe using the glass candle to influence Dany is comparable to a conspiracy theorist sitting under a barebulb except her theories are truths lol excellent content as always !
Pretty spot on comparison. I think Quaithe speaks in riddles because other people are listening with glass candles and she needs to be somewhat guarded or she'd be straight with Dany.
Okay, I really LIKE it when you do content like this--still thoughtful and exploratory, but a lot more digestable and bite-sized than an entire 2 hour live event. You're really GOOD at this! And these shorter ones are a lot LESS likely to get me fired from work for not getting shit done while I listen to a 2 hour expose on dead dog spirits. PLEASE, do more of these! :)
@@DavidLightbringerI admit to probably getting a little greedy here. But big or small, I like 'em all! Keep 'em coming. We can definitely tell you put a LOT of hard work, thought, cool sounds, and Jojen paste into each and every video. And we 'preciate it!
First of all, love your work so much, spent my whole weekend devouring your videos. Second I think the biggest thing about Rhollor and Mel comes from two factors. One is that the fire priests are clearly an organized religion of people with an agenda. The second is George openly plays with the idea that the gods of the world aren't real and that people may just be believers in their practices and some of those practices are magic they are tapping into. So if you think about the narrative of the fire priests they seem to be learning some of the darkest magic and their agenda is to spread across the continents. Mel openly says some of her power is tricks, but she also genuinely believes in rhollor and in george's work intense religion is usually not a good thing, to that end I think this coincides with your lightbringer night's king theory and the sort of duality of these religions being bad. The others are the Ice evil, but the sacrifice of your nissa nissa with blood magic to gain some kind of power may be a counterbalance of evil. Melisandre may accidentally cause something horrible when she sacrifices shireen. I think when she revives jon we're going to get an interesting perspective on her new thoughts.
After two weeks of Venetian absence, I see I'm right back in time for a no doubt great series about one of the most fascinating characters (Mel) and orders (shadowbinders). Bind my shadow!
You crack me up man. I never thought about the mask possibly covering up tats before.. it would make sense to why the 2 seem so intertwined, meaning rhollorist and shadowbinders.
I often wondered about the difference between Rhollorism and Shadowbinding. For me it always came to Shadowbinding being a 'darker' version on fire magic. Maybe once you control one, it's easy to do the other. Also, I loved the transition from Quaithe to Dany with the glass candle in the front. You are getting awesome with your editing skills!
I can just throw your channel on my computer, hit play, and listen aaaaaaaall day long. The way you are able to connect all the dots is so insanely satisfying, I just drink it right up lol
Just thought of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. A character called Light Spinner became Shadow Weaver. While this change is attributed to corruption and desire for power, it's interesting all the same.
Great job supporting your theory regarding shadow binders and red priests/priestesses- I’m convinced. Your scripted videos are so slick and entertaining. Two enthusiastic thumbs up 👍🏻 👍🏻
The reference Mel makes when discussing glamors she specifically mentions finger bones which has to be a direct nod to David who lost his, could George be implying something there. Just seems like an oddly specific reference.
I think it could just be about the fact he is "dead" but its crazy to think about if Mel might have his fingerbones from the black water idk how she would get them but maybe, or someone else could have them and we might see a Davos in a stannis chapter that actually isn't him.
@@phenomquazza those were kinda my thoughts as well since George doesn't really use throw away lines like that, I think he might have something like that planned
She’s going to glamour someone to look like Davos and that person is going to convince everyone that Stannis told him to burn Shireen for better weather or to win the battle of ice
@@SunDogGod true she could use the fake Davos to get shireen from her mother to use her for a sacrifice but I think it would to bring Jon Snow back if he isnt otherized
Mel was, at the very least, trying to mindf*ck her audience. The reference to finger bones was too specific to be coincidental. But all of these othe ideas are interesting and I can't wait to read how it might play out.
thanks for explaining the name change! I'm a long time watcher and have to admit the name has always made me wince uncomfortably, so I hope it does bring you more audience.
I'm discovering your videos. I'm getting back into ASOIAF after a complete 5 year break (that's how pissed I was after D&D ruined so many characters & plotlines). I got confused when I saw/heard you because I was sure I saw you elsewhere before but I was also sure I was new to your ASOIAF content... Then I saw you have a video about the vedic origins of Daenerys and I realized I saw you a while back on your other channel, in the video about Indian origins! It seems we have many interests in common 😄 Melisandre is among my fav characters, this was a very interesting video, I think I'm gonna love your channel! 👌
I'm really late to this party, been trying to catch up on your streams first but I'm really looking forward to this. Speaking of your streams though.. for the amount you have been putting out the quality has been surprisingly high still. So cheers to that.
Loved some of the editing tweaks (like the sped up bit to pull out The World of Ice & Fire and show off the relevant section). It’s great to see you continue to hone your craft as a RU-vidr. Lots of good foundational info in this one & so, so much fantastic art.
In terms of the Bloodstone Emperor connection, I'm very worried that Euron and Cersei well actually become some kind of dynamic duo. Being that the Bloodstone Emperor allegedly married a tiger woman and Cersei is constantly compared to as a lioness
I am very much caught up with the Hinge of the World idea. Something that has a hinge is something that opens (a door, a chest, etc.). Do you think that this is an oblique reference to some sort of Hollow Earth/Subterranea (from Marvel comics) aspect of Planetos? This could easily tie into the already existing theories about the underground rivers between the weirwoods. I have no evidence but my gut tells me that the hinge has something to do with the Night Fort and the Black Gate. Cheers.
I agree about the NF. I think the NF was built around the weirwood organism, and before the Wall. As for the hinge, the doorway we are talking about is the astral one, the door of death.
I always thought that R'hllor was a being of some kind (think Lovecraftian), they just link it to fire because that's where it's power is strongest on Planetos. I don't remember where I saw it but i thought R'hllor was one of the only confirmed higher beings in ASOIAF?
@@DavidLightbringer Specially considering how GRRM closely links hive minds to gods in his other works. Just to make the distinction for those not familiar, he essentially points to how losing your individuality to join the unity of a hive mind would be the closest to some kind of afterlife that a "god" might grant.
This is my Melisandre is my favorite character. She’s done horrible things, but she her ultimate goal seems to be the prevention of the Long Night happening again. She has a lot of layers. Also, the part at 13:04 sounds a lot like magic that is used by the Faceless Men to change their appearance. I think it would interesting if there was a connection between the Order of R’hllor and The Faceless Men.
Can’t wait to get your new book! Love these videos so much David and I couldn’t be more in support of you changing up your handle. Brilliant stuff, David! Go all the way ans don’t stop!
Loving your videos. Its hard to take them in order but following other videos Iargaryens coming in 3. Perhaps Azor Ahai might be also a coming in 3 thing.
"a bag of finger bones" .. Wait wait wait..I never realized she said that before but that's creepy, considering Davos lost his finger bones. I can't imagine how Mel could've gotten ahold of them but still... It's interesting that she would mention them in that context.
Calling it now, Mell has all that weird contradictions because she’s actually a trans squisher, casting a powerful glamour on herself via the neck ruby, and this will all be revealed in kingdom hearts: 3650/29 days: warning of the sacred storm
