The Holy Isle of Leng (Origins of the Green Men) 

this comment..is but a humble sacrifice to the algorithm gods.

The idea of Robert and Ned playing hide and seek in the crypts of winterfell is so pleasing

“Weirdest video” you say? Hold on... *grabs bong* okay, fuck me up LML

"Ned, my bestfriend, who thought my muscles were like a maiden's fantasy, and like a true bro thought about my deep blue lake like eyes and very manly described me as a horned god" Baratheon, Robert

Large eyes are NOT generally associated with animals that are nocturnal or cave dwelling. Large eyes are associated with animals that are Crepuscular, i.e., active not in the day or the darkest part of the night bur rather at Dawn and/or Dusk. A lot of animals commonly thought of as nocturnal, such as owls or racoons, are actually crepuscular rather than nocturnal. Large eyes help one see better in twilight, but not in true darkness. Truly nocturnal animals, and animals that spend all their lives deep in caves, tend to have very small vestigial eyes and may be almost or entirely blind as there is no benefit in investing the resources to maintain powerful eyes if they won't be exposed to enough light to use them well.

Man, the whole King Robert of the Infinite Libido bit was amazing.

9:30 It should be noted that only small cats have elliptical pupils, large cats are almost exclusively predatory and all possess circular pupils.

Was that "down in the crypts with my platonic friend" or "with my plutonic friend"? Because either works.

I absolutely adore the self awareness of LML saying "you probably clicked onto my weirdest wideo" in a glorious party city wig. Love your work man, I clicked as fast as I possible, can't wait to dive into Leng rabbit hole.

Ned + Robert is the ghost ship I didn't know I needed

The fact that the punishment for going down into the caves is torture in death to mean implies there is more to the story of those soldiers returning, it sounds like they fear what’s down there so I wonder what stories they told.

Thank goodness there are some ASOIAF youtubers who continue with coverage on the magical and strange aspects to the series.

These underground cities all over the map have always made me think The Long Night that "lasted a generation" pushed a whole lot of people underground to survive. A world ending comet impact that filled the sky with soot and ash. Followed by ice monsters crawling across the land and killing, then enslaving everyone and everything, sounds like a pretty good reason for the remaining population to dig tunnels deep underground to survive.. Even using existing caves and carving steps everywhere. These people were there for a LONG time. It all matches up pretty neatly when you piece it together and take a step back. Love these typed of videos Mr Lightbringer. Keep up the fantastic job and as always (MORE BASSSSS) keep on rocking on.... 🤘🤙✌🖖👌

The Ghiscari in Slavers Bay make their hair into horns among other things. This could be a tradition from the Old Ghiscari Empire. If so it could be a memory of some sacred horned people they met. If they travelled from Leng to Westeros they must have passed by right?

GRRM has created such a complex world that the story possibilities seem endless.

That Illyrio nod is definitely something. Yeah, I always noticed that Varys and Illyrio basically enslave "children" and cut their tongues out to keep them from telling their secrets. In this obvious comparison, I wonder what the two men are meant to represent, in relation to the children of the forest?

A fun fyi: Carcosa as a city was originally created by Ambrose Bierce. Then Robert W. Chambers borrowed the name for some of his stories. And the HP Lovecraft, who was a fan of Chamber's work, turned around and borrowed the name from him. And then GRRM, inspired by Lovecraft used it! :D

The First Quote makes me think of the House of Black and White, the Cave of the Three-Eyed Crow and the Winterfell Crypts. The black water, white fish and underground rivers seen in these places also can be seen in the black waters of the Ash River through the Shadow Lands, and in the cave beneath the Rainwood visited by Arianne in WoW. One commonality among these locations is that they seem to have been the locations Children of the Forest, at least in Westeros. It is less clear whether the Children ever lived in the Shadow Lands or east of the Bones for that matter. However, it does appear that locations abandoned by the Children of the Forest turn into strange ghostly ruins similar to Stygai and Vaes Leisi. Another deep cave that gathered worshipers doesn't match the pattern though. The endlessly deep mines of Valyria that also reach to the center of the earth.

ppl talk about GoT being realistic but i like how the further u get the more straight up high fantasy it really is

Also with regards to the bonus round: the sea serpent Nagga, was a boat made of weir wood trees. You get a Yig made of Ygg.

Man, I wish you could have a lengthy (pun not intended) talk with GRRM about all of this. Wonder if he'd be impressed that all of this has been figured out? Perhaps disappointed that his mystery has been solved?

The Second and Third combined are curious. The God Emperor sent countless warriors into the underground cities beneath Leng before sealing the underground cities' ruins and forgetting. The God Empress had congress with the Old Ones living below the ruined subterranean cities and they told her at least four times to put all strangers on Leng to death. The World of Ice and Fire shows that the Valyrian Dragons were named after the Old Gods, and the Children of the Forest also worship the Old Gods of the earth. The House of Black and White, the Faceless Men and, in a more concealed manner, the Faith of the Seven all worship the Stranger, the God of Death or the Many-Faced God. The Opal Emperor had a daughter, Amethyst Empress, and a younger son, Bloodstone Emperor. The Bloodstone Emperor murdered his sister, the Amethyst Empress, became the last ruler of the Great Empire of the Dawn, took a tiger-woman as wife, feasted on human flesh, cast down the Gods of Yi Ti, and began worshipping a black stone fallen from the sky. Not only is the Bloodstone Emperor doing all of the things Bran is told a skin-changer should never do, but he also seems to be the one who initiated the worship of black stones, which seems to have been in conflict with the Gods of Yi Ti that the Bloodstone Emperor had to cast down to begin his worship of the black stone. The line of Death worship tracks along a straight line from Yi Ti, Lion of Night, to Qohor, The Black Goat, to Braavos, Many-Faced God, to Andalos, Faith of the Seven's Stranger. Whatever gods were worshipped in the forests of Yi Ti, the God Emperor of Yi Ti was clothed in green and gold which are the colors of life and fertility. In the excerpt, the God Emperor, of Yi Ti perhaps, is at odds with the God Empress of Leng. The God Empress seems to be aligned with the Old Ones, and is ordered to put strangers to death. The Lengii look like giant Children of the Forest, and Children of the Forest look like cats because of their eyes. It seems like they may spend most of their lives in the shadows of the forest and underground and seem to have been most active at night when the moon is out (surely for singing purposes). Yellow eyes and dappled skin sounds like a tiger as well, perhaps the place where the Bloodstone Emperor found his hot tiger-wife. You can similarly track the forests of the children-like Lengii from Leng, north to Yi Ti, Ifekevron, Qohor, to Wolfswood or south to Sothoryos, the Summer Isles to Rainwood. These two lines track all of the interbreeding to the south and oddly close to the Death Worship line we discussed to the north.

About the connection between the Sarnori, the Mazemakers and the Isle of Leng: The Disputed Lands has released a video on this just a month ago, it's really interesting and lines up with your theory in a couple of places, but also diverges in some. If you want to check it out, it's called "The Mazemakers of Lorath/ ASOIAF Theory ."

This is everything I need today; dramatic musical intro, dark & creepy subterranean set dressing and full tilt tin foil theorising! Let it begin. Let it begin! 🤩🤩🤩

My good sir i had to hit like after that spot on Bobby B impression🦌

it seems like all magic humans can perform comes from interbreeding in the past, weather forced and unnatural, like with old valyrian and their dragons, or naturally as it seems to be with the children of the forest and their kin in various locations.

The only thing that I know about Leng, is that it has a massive library. And when it is on the "battlefield," you have no maximum hand size.

Whoa...what if the bloodstone emperor’s tiger woman was lengii, who was really a child of the forest or had some of that blood? He might mention this im only a few minutes in

I've had my own tinfoil wrapped theory cooking about possible Far Eastern Essos connections to Westeros, specifically Far Mossovy, the Grey Waste and the North. (Working theory title: Eldric Shadowchaser and the Russian Starks). Watching this video makes me want to make one of my own on the subject. Currently lacking the resources to do so I'll probably just hit you up with a nice patreon donation to get your thoughts on it.

The Langi seem like the elves to the Children’s Fae. I’d bet the Naathi interbred with the Langi or their Old Ones ancestors making them a sort of cousin branch to the Children and the Crannogmen, Kinda like how Europeans interbred with Neanderthals and Asians interbred with Denisovans

The Lengii' Empress was just " Making Leng Great Again"

I've always been a huge fan of your clever theory ("theory" already in the scientific sense, since you've been able to make predictions based on it, which defines a theory, huge congratulations!) that GRRM draws quite a number of ideas from HPL in the world of ASOIAF! And I am so thrilled to meet the old ones in TWOW - maybe as a nemesis for Euron's bloody fooling around with magic? Or as something far beyond the wall in the Lands of Always Winter, which could be directly connected with the forbidden caves of Essos? (But this is in fact only a thesis, not a theory!) - Thank you so very much for all your great content!

the comment section is dark and full of memes

Lol that intro!!

Awesome video! Thanks to you and Quinn (and George himself of course) I really want to get into Lovecraft. I've listened to a couple of audiobooks of his stories (thanks Well Told Tale! 👍) but I've never actually read any. I also appreciate the fact that you are making videos under an hour now. 😜🤣 I really liked your long form, in depth videos, but these shorter ones are easier to consume, and you still manage to pack in a lot of good information and insight into them. Keep up the good work 👍👏

0:14 “George? It’s me, your brother Lucifer Lucas” I know others have covered it, but I’d love to hear your take on the Fisher Queens and the former inland sea, it’s my favorite lore deep cut

I didn't wanna smoke this early, but now I kinda have to.

Nooo, I'm going to dinner at my mothers place, I can't watch this now, but I really want to... Leng AND green men? This is going to be good, can't wait until I get home again!

Great video. Don't have much else to say since I just woke up.

Leng is Skull Island... Awesome video x)

Beautiful morning surprise this was

That you actually managed to begin and finish (I assume) The Dreamquest to Unknown Kadath is testament to your dedication to the cause, because I have never managed to finish it, despite my best efforts and I never leave books and stories unfinished. This story, however, beat me with its sheer volume of descriptions and sheer lack of action. I get that dreams often meander and ramble, because I dream also, but this story really drained me. Well done you!

Yeah I’m going to file this one away in the “tf did I just listen to” part of my brain. In all seriousness, this is incredibly interesting, and sheds light on the weirder parts of asoiaf lore. Man, I love this channel.

The Ashaii in Martin's world seems to be like the Men from Leng in Lovecraft's. They both have a bad reputation, hide their faces and trade with gold and gems.

Ok the Robert Baratheon intro was Hilarious! 😂😂😂Thanks for that.

Your Robert impression killed me!

I'm sure going to savour that video.

The "c" in Cernunnos is pronounced like a "k" and is sometimes even replaced with a "k". Great video ty

Been waiting so long to see you do a video connecting The Dreamquest to Leng in ASOIAF! It's one of my favorite Lovecraft stories. Really cool video!!

I love the King Robert riff you rocked here.

all this mythical astrology stuff us fun, but the real jewel of this video is the premium nedbert content

Ouch, the story of the Elves' size in Tolkien is... complicated.

Leng - the Taiwan of Planetos (with a sprinkling of Sumatra and Lovecraft). Congrats on getting Robert Baratheon as a channel sponsor!

Almost forgot about Leng. Great video LML.

May the old gods accept these words as a sacrifice to help me sleep and feed the ever ravenous algorithm

That King Robert intro 😂😂😂

Thanks LML. You are really on top of your game here. I've always hoped that Cthulhu mythos is a bigger part of asoiaf than just filling out the world map. Old Gods might just still be some kind of elder race or The Great Old Ones themselves. Just imagine that Euron is Nyarlatothep. Fills my nerdish heart with joy :)

Sometimes I feel like Martin's original idea (until the 2nd book, I feel) was to show us all of this Far East mysterious lore through Dany and her party's POV in the books. I just wonder how it would be all these revelations (through a symbolism orgasm, of course) and connections happening simultaneously in Essos and Westeros.

The art you are using is amazing. I am sure it is fun to see the symbolisms in each one.

I’ve been waiting for this!

if I'd done nothing last year but listen to the channel's library of content whilst working from home.... then 2020 wasn't such a bad year in my eyes...

Your King Robert is great, I hope he becomes a regular!

I know it probably took you a long time, but I really enjoyed the production values of this video. I'm not suggesting that you do this kind of thing all the time, I also enjoy your more free-form videos. But it's nice to watch this kind every now and then.

Wow. Thanks for pulling all this Lovecraft green men info out. Great vid as always!!!

This is some of my favorite stuff from Game of Thrones I Enjoy the Lovecraft references this is a really good video man

Wow. A video I didn’t know I wanted! Great work!

Not even a minute30 in and the comedy game is strong asf

"Welcome to what is possibly my weirdest video" ...that's a lot to live up to - you've done some pretty weird videos, but that's part of what I love about you!

This far east ancient myth shit is right up my alley, great job!

Comment for the almighty algorithm. The opening of this was absurd and utterly delightful. Thank you for your content. I hope the birds are happy with attention after the King Robert Livestream. Have a good one.

Cool. Thanks for posting. Your previous green men videos was a little thick for me. Thanks for the summary video. Keep them coming!!! Good Stuff.

Weirdest video? Right on! Strapping in and getting my flaming sword polished and ready for some reading with swordlight 🔥♥️

Hi David. Idk if you'll see this but I really felt the need to leave this comment. You are an inspiration to me. Your way with words and your explanations of George RR Martins works are pure artwork. You've inspired me to start writing my own novel, and I've been given the opportunity to teach a class centered around writing. I really hope that I can teach and inspire the writers in my class as you have taught and inspired me. I will be recommending your channels to all my students and I wish you the very best. Thank you for being such a positive force in my life!!!!!

I never cared much for the plot of the books but the world itself seems interesting as hell, im glad this channel exists

A small quibble but when you list all the place names GRRM used which are from HPL you included Carcosa. Carcosa was created by Ambrose Pierce in 1886, only to be picked up by other authors (HPL included).

What if the underground tunnels and cities all over the world are connected? The CotF's name for themselves is translates to "those who sing the song of earth," and the only such Singers we've ever seen are 1) Leaf & Co., who live underground; and 2) the Ghost of High Heart (probably), who lives in the vicinity of a great hill, and the worldbook says the CotF live in "hollow hills,' among other housing options. Oh, and maybe the dwarf servant at the House of the Undying. Those Shade of the Evening trees are just photonegative weirwoods, so something is going on there.

This is the stuff I LOVE about this world

Hey i just got that book!

My second listen, and your King Robert gets me every time. You should always voice him like that.

Great King Robert Ad lmao xD

More of note, in Lovecraft lore Shub-Niggurath, "The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young", is another of the outer gods and takes the position of an abominable fertility deity. Of course, the people of Qohor worship the "Black Goat", a deity which demands endless blood sacrifice. This calls to mind the mass sacrifices on Leng and the blood sacrifices to the Weirwood in Westeros, and naturally the figure of a goat is reminiscent of the stag/fertility god imagery present in old Westeros as well. Combine this with certain other facets of imagery, particularly the Lengi and Children being described with "teak" and "nut-brown" skin, the "green men", and even the twisted horns of the stag possibly being analogous to the branches of a tree, this leads me to question whether these people and figures are perhaps descended from the woods in a literal sense. After all, if humans can enter the genetic consciousness of the Weirwood, does it not follow that humans, or at least some humans, literally share a genetic heritage with the Weirwood, the "Old Gods"?

Wow, I never would've thought of this. Great stuff, as always!

All the work you have done for the series is so unique and eye opening. You have reveled many secrets and an overall understanding of ASOIAF, but I think more than that, you have discovered a way (Georges way rather) that each characters arc is laid out. And now that the story makes more sense we can guess at the many paths of the future ( when expectations are subverted it will be because their are so many options). Thank you for your hard work, here's to your health!

Your pronunciation of lovecraftian lore entities is maybe the best I've ever heard

Another well thought out and articulated piece of work. Thank you 😊!

@23:06 I thought my PC was spazzing out for a sec cuz I got that same pic of Big Bobby B and Ned as my desktop wallpaper. Also, love love love this video! Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is one of the few Lovecraft stories I have yet to read. This video gives me the urge to finally read it!

This just brightened my day!! Love the mystery surrounding this place!

lml: "this will be my strangest video" me: put the seat belts on

Now I wanna read about the adventures of young Bobby and Ned playing hide and seek.

Great video. Perfect thing to vibe with before work. This one was especially good and chock full of symbolism. 🖤🔥👹🐉🌊🌟🌀⚔🤙🏻

Your channel is great buddy, consistent quality. Keep it up

On point Bobby B impression 🦌🤣 never thought of him and Ned just immediately heading underground to the crypts as a parallel to the old ones on leng. Fits pretty freakin well. Looking forward to hearing more in the livestream today.

I have been waiting for this for YEARS now! 👏👏👏

Thanks to Quinns Ideas i found your channel and i am very glad that happens. Your channel is simply amazing. I watched so many of your videos over the last couple days and i can't get enough. Very amazing work. Greetings from Germany

Lucifer means Lightbringer I discovered you and Quinn like 2 weeks ago during my revisit to the books after not touching anything since the show ended and I’m completely enthralled

Praise be to the Old Gods! I find your videos so amazing, Please never, NEVER, stop teaching all of us all MYTH HEADS about this wonderful world🤟much love and appreciation.

I am SO glad I found this channel. It's as if my life now has meaning. But for real, love your videos so much.

Nice editing! I'd love to elaborate on YiTi or Ashai. Very Lovecraftian.

please give us that weird-wood knowledge!! 🦌

Wake up to a possible weird ass Green Men video.... Let me get ready to #PraiseGarth