The Source of Magic in Westeros Explained | HOTD/ASOIAF Theory 

‼PLEASE Leave a LIKE and a COMMENT... it REALLY DOES HELP‼Let me know your thoughts or just leave an emoji to let me know you were here. After you comment, CHECK OUT MY NEWEST VIDEO here ---> ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2u8qYEMCsUY.html

"Only life pays for death." Magic is dangerous, it does seems to require souls. The prologues are all so revealing.

One thing I will always love about the main series is how the magic levels rise gradually in a world of skepticism about magic. Weird stuff happens with out explanation. What does it mean? We wonder, ritght along with the POV characters. It's elegant.

Company of the Cat has a good one postulating that the mutant stillborns among the dragon riding families is a sort of downpayment sacrifice for the dragon affinity.

It's not everyday someone recommends that old video on the Night King's power, but it's a welcome one. Should probably remake it at some point, especially after watching this.

I love that George Martin made magic something you have to work for, and not everyone can have control of it! It makes it more powerful and even spiritual! It’s awesome!

I completely agree that all magic is based on the transfer of the spirt/soul into another being or object and you presented it very well, and I think the most interesting suggestion is the transfer of the soul into stone: - The Children say their spirit goes "into the stones and into the trees" - The Children have "Gods of Forrest and stone" as well, suggesting souls inside stone which are seen as Old Gods too - And the Children do have stone columns with faces (suggesting souls inside) beneath the Rainwood which could be these Old Gods of Stone - The Weirwoods even turn into stone, suggesting souls residing inside stone yet again - And even Danys waking of her dragons implies the transfer of life into stone eggs too And I think this ability to transfer the soul into stone, in addition to the kiss of life transferring the soul explains: - the Shrouded Lord who was stone statue and was kissed to life - The Grey King and the Iron born drowning ritual in which people are blessed with stone and kissed to life - Berric who is described as “Still as stone” and is kissed to life - Catelyn who came back as Lady STONEheart when she was kissed to life Suggesting to me a soul could be transferred into a stone body (eg, a Greyscaled body) and allow them to rise again harder and stronger... Amazing video again Amanda, once again proving your the best out there mate 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

The varamyr sixskins chapter where his soul took a rollercoaster after he tried to warg thistle is one of my favourite chapter.

Videos like this are why this is one of my very favorite channels overall and my very favorite ASOIAF channel.

Some other interesting stones in ASOIAF: -Dawn is forged from a meteor, a stone that fell from the sky; -The Gemstone Emperors of Yi Ti, and the "black stone that fell from the sky"; -All the items made of oily black stone, special attention to Yeen in Sothoryos, "a place so evil not even the jungle will enter".

EPIC! as usual. GRRM loves his wordplay and the interchangeable use of terms like "stone heart", "heart stone", "heart wood", "petrified wood", "living rock/stone", "stone men", "stone statues that are "alive" within the crypts", etc....etc....clearly demonstrates the connection between these two seemingly opposing symbols (ice and fire, if you will). The concept of the "Soul Tree" crops up in many IRL myths and plays a huge roll in the "Elden Ring" video game where the "Erdtree"(Earth tree) houses many powerful souls, and Tolkien's use of his twin trees and the white tree of Gondor also act as "soul symbols", not to mention all of the Norse and Biblical mythological allusions, as well. Jewels like rubies, sapphires, obsidian, crystal, etc....indicate especially powerful/magical items. Virtually all of the "Big Magic" seems to incorporate them, or use gem-based language in some way. The White Walkers themselves are even said to be crystalline and "shatter" like glass/gems when killed and ice has many similar properties to stone/crystal, while obsidian is "solidified fire" a "fire stone", so to speak(Feurstein in German, which is itself a version of "Ruby"/Rubenstein...."Bloodstones") (Ice and Fire). Many "special" also characters have "gem eyes" and the glass candles are uber-magical cut glass/gem/crystals in their own right. Even all of the "oily black stone" and "fused black stone" are indicative of "supernatural"/magical forces at work on "rocks". The depictions of Old Valyria in the World Book also show very "crystalline" structures and architecture, which I assume GRRM had to sign off on to some extent, and the High Septon has a staff with a crystal prism atop it. Clearly special rocks have special powers and are vital to many magical processes. Metals, including various forms of steel, are technically crystalline structures, as well, which makes them more similar to gems/rocks than something like wood, or plastics, and it does seem clear that blood is one of the required ingredients to create VS from scratch. (Get it? "scratch", bleeding, magic....) Using a term like "blood magic" is major clue as to the connection between souls(living energy/blood energy) and magic itself. When Dany consumes the raw, bloody horse heart, her soul is also "re-born" as Khaleesi, proving once again "You are what you eat" ;) The entire concept of "Only Death can pay for Life", reflects this same basic principal of blood/soul based magic. "You cant get something for nothing.", especially magic. The more powerful the magic, the more blood/soul is required to pay for it. As you noted, The House of the Undying is based almost entirely on people willingly giving up their soul/life, so that the Faceless Men can use them for their various magical purposes, and it seems to require constant replenishment. Valar Morghulis....(or the FM are out of business). White Walkers also need living babies to perpetuate their magic/create more WWs. Only Life can pay for Death, so to speak. Can't wait for the upcoming All-Star Livestream on the 22nd! 3 of my favs together at last. \m// Cheers & Tschuss!

Hotd season 2 has brought me back to watching lore vids and this is a good start 😊

One thing a fantasy writer has to do when they begin writing is figure out magic. So I never explain magic and just use it when i write myself into corners. Figured out.

Great vid as always Amanda. You continually show you are one of the best minds in this community. Very interesting stuff as usual , the "soul" connection between magical mediums - be it the Weirwood Network as a soul collective & skin-changing and green sight , FM magic via the faces , the Others' magic (which fittingly seems like dark versions of the CotF magic and makes all the more sense if CotF created) , dragon-bonding , shadow-binding , R'hllorist magic , blood magic and beyond. To me really plays into the idea that magic is commonly sourced and a magical nexus of sorts in GRRM's universe. There seems so many genuine inter-connections and overlap between the differing magical mediums. Many of them there is a blood component (nearly all of them tbh) , all feature sacrifice / cost , numerous offer types of resurrections and many are prophetic vehicles etc. Those with prophetic abilities via different magical mediums often foresee the same things and often the practitioners can even see each other in those visions even via different types of magic. Many similarities between other magical abilities from different types of magic as well, a lot of which discussed in this vid. The soul as a prevalent component via different types of magic and varying magical abilities gives further credence to the commonly sourced / magical nexus concept in ASoIaF. Well done as usual , you are one of the best discovering such evidence for a concept and being able to expand upon it. Great vid as usual and look forward to more of your content on the way.

Great video❤ I am of the same beliefs about magic, and I think that is why the religion of R'hllor is so fascinating to me. Melisandre's fear of death and how she truly believes that they have to beat death so they can live eternally, but death is the only way for their magic. Souls and spirits look like they almost "feed" the elements, fire included, remove that and their power is heavily diminishes.

13:00 love the shoutout to Grey Area! When two queens link up to maximize their joint slay

Something Ive been thinking about in the potential link between green dreams and dragon dreams: Every dragon dream prophecy from Daenys onward was leading towards stopping a second Long Night, so presumably that goes backwards in time from Daenys as well (Daenys was taken seriously, so presumably the Old Varyians knew about dragon dreams). But why would a Valyian magical phenomenon be so focused on a Children of the Forest issue, unless there was some now-forgotten connection between the Children and Valyria. I suspect the Children who used to exist in Essos may have played a role in the creation of dragons and Valyrians for the specific purpose of stopping the Others, and thus Valyrian magic is a divergent subset of Old Gods magic

This is the deep-dive I've been looking for. I was always so curious as to the nature and operation of magic in this fantasy world. Excellent.

Jon is having wolf dreams as well. He is having the same issues opening his third eye that Bran had. Jon doesn't even know he has a third eye to open. But death and resurrection may be the thing to pry it open and Jon will go Super Saiyan.

So happy you've been posting again! Definitely one of my favorite ASOIAF channels, and I rewatch/listen to your videos often. I was about to go back to sleep for a bit before work, but I guess that's not happening now... Lol worth it though! ❤

You have the best and most informative ASOIAF videos, always happy to see and hear your insights!

Could you imagine what an absolute unit Daenery's son Rhaego would had been? With a dad like Khal Drogo, imagine some one as imposing as The Mountain but with long white hair, the guy would had been stuff of Legends.

Always here for The Disputed Lands. Top shelf as always. Thank you for trying to answer the question all us overthinkers have chewed on. Pretty sure Crowfoods Daughter is tapped into the Weirwood net.

Great video, it's criminal that you don't have at least 100k subs! You deserve it, high quality content!.

Great analysis as always! GRRM being a former hippie would naturally lead him honoring the SOUL ✌🏾

Thank you for all you do❤ It is always an oasis from a stressful day 💜 watching your videos🎉

Wow. I am speechless by your depth of knowledge and incredible knack for communicating it in an accessible and visually engaging way. I am reconnecting with my Irish and Celtic Druidic roots and this series along with your video fill me with joy as I dive deeper and understand these interconnected lineages of magic. May the roads rise to meet us and the winds be ever at our backs ☘️

One thing to add is Mel says that sleep is a little death. Which makes sense if the third eye is more easily opened when asleep

Your voice is amazing. I could listen for hours. The content is stellar as well. Subbing.

Earliest I've been to one of your videos! I'm excited for it, your videos are exceptional :D

This is where my thinking is concerning the magic. It’s all blood/soul magic.

Great videos, as always. Thanks for the recommendations :)

Just the thing I needed to start my day. Thank you, Crowfoodz Girl. Your videos and work have given me so much. Thank you, from the depths of my old heart.

When you metioned shadow in literature. I instantly thought of peter pan losing his shadow and chasing it. It could be part of his "soul" which was locked in a young boys body.

How has YT never suggested this channel?! What do you think the differences are between blood and soul sacrifice? They seem different. I can't imagine Euron's upcomimg bloodbath being the same as Nissa Nissa's sacrifice. I could listen to you read the back of a cereal box

You are amazing! Your knowledge is ever growing and you explain things so well! Thank you for your devotion to the World of Ice and Fire and for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us!

Good video. I like how your presentation style has evolved from your earlier videos when you would use that voice effect for reading directly from the text - I always found that kind of disconcerting. Your presentation is much smoother without that or any music playing in the background, sometimes that stuff works but other times it’s just distracting.

"Like fighting fire with fire"... Got chills from that, fantastic as always!!

It seems you can make valerian steel with conventional blood magic, but you cannot make LIGHTBRINGER without a WILLING sacrifice. Watch for that theme to find its way into WOW or DOS.

I wonder if the magic is changed somehow when a soul is taken/used against its will. Valyrian steel swords clashing together are supposed to sound like screams. Obviously this could be the souls in the blades screaming in pain, but I wonder if it would be different if the souls in the blades were given freely and willingly. Great video.

I wonder how all this ties into Dragons making magic easier? I think there is a second part to it. The soul and a focus. The focus is usually elements like fire for valerian magic or water for the ryonish. But with Dragons even the warlocks had the boost despite not being fire based.

Thank you CD for this great video! It made me think of Lady Catelyn. When she is resurrected she goes by the name of Lady Stoneheart.

Awesome video.

Hearing this level of honest nerditude from a woman gives a dreamer stuff to work with. Loved it!

The only thing worth writing about is the heart in conflict, which really translates beautifully to, The Soul in conflict ❤

Great video as always! This is really breaking down the magic to its basics.

So happy to see a new video! Love your theories.

People need to give G.R.R. Martin more credit for Elden Ring's lore

This video is truly amazing and well done, thank you for making it!!!

Excellent video as always! Thankyou ❤😊

Another great video. And thanks for highlighting Grey and Joe's videos. I will check them out.

Informative video as always, Miss Amanda.

In tha shadow of tha moon her sarrows bleed.Man Amanda love your vids so much your style of breaking down your theories is totally your own so good.Maya when they sacrificed their victims they would pull out there heart/soul/essence. Heart in vain is a heart in pain.It is often said our children is our heart & soul ❤️ 💯. Thank you 4 your wonderful and awsome vid Amanda your tha best.

So nice to see you posting more videos

I see magic in Westereros working on 2 different levels. Consciousness (soul) & lifeforce (blood/breath) Blood magic works on lifeforce. Warging works on projecting your consciousness into another living being. Polytheistic pagans did not have a Christian concept of a soul as a single unit but conceieved of it as having multiple parts or aspects. (Some of which stayed in the physcial body after death as an "essence" & that body needed to be preserved in some way & revered as a ritual object to contact the consciousness or spirit of that person for protection, wisdom, etc. Basically ancester worship.) Animism & shamanism believe in a life force that permeates, animates & connects everything. Some, probably most, belief systems have both concepts of a soul & a lifeforce. I think that's what's happening in ASOIAF. The weirwoods become a depository of a collective consciousness that needs to be fed lifeforce. Other magic seems to work on the alchemical principals of mutual exchange (aka sacrifice) like Blood Magic & resurrection. Theoretically you can resurrect or heal someone by giving them lifeforce but not consciousness/soul. In otherwords you can re- animate them but not give them their soul back. Hope this made sense 😅

I’ve watched so many videos about magic in asoiaf , this is by far the best one I’ve seen yet.

if the weirwoods really are a component of forging valyrian steel, maybe that would help explain why the Andals fleeing the Freehold's expansion were so intent on destroying the trees, since they couldn't use them themselves

3:16 the Wierwood tree looks like George ive not noticed it before as i probably wasn't looking for it Thank you for this enlightening video

God I love your videos! You're the most original ASOIAF RU-vidr. Can you spoiler what will be the next subject you are going to cover?

One of the best vids on ASOIAF magic! Thank you! You also have a wonderful voice for story telling

Incredible video analysis. Thank you.

Love it! Thank you for your amazing insight ❤

All your videos are the shit you always get it right on the money great work

Skinchangers don't necessarily become part of everything. When they die their spirit goes into the Weirwood then seeks out and melds with the animal that they were bonded to. In the same prologue you quoted Varamyr muses on his mortality and the "second life" that awaits skinchangers. The soul of the skinchanger and their animal meld and the skinchanger eventually forgets that they were once human. We see this happen with the skinchanger that Jon kills named Orell. His soul lived on in his eagle. Varamyr tells Jon "the bird hates you he was once a man". Varamyr's soul goes into One-eye his oldest wolf after in the prologue it happens right after the quote you mentioned.

Best explanation of the lore I've seen or heard! Thank you! 💜

Thanks again for the gift at Joe magician channel ❤

That was more comprehension than a college class. ❤

Most of the cold undeads seem soulless, unlike say, Mel -or even Beric, who seems aware he loses himself a bit each time.

this is already one of my favourite ASOIAF videos

Most people in this world only realize that their souls are part of nature when they die the final death, wargs have at least A CHANCE to realize it beforehand.

Yay more Amanda vids 🎉

Great video as always

I love your breakdown. Definitely subscribing.

Great video again

great stuff as always! i think this speaks well to the idea that magic could be inherently evil act of power over others - It's like the opposite of the lord of the rings, it's not sad and tragic that magic dies out, but something necessary for progress.

Wooooooowwwww great video!!!!

That deatil about children from Unnatural history was amazing. Are you on Patreon?

I never saw anyone doing a video about it, but most people think about the same magic is the same or connected. So I just thought that is the same dragon dream greensight dragon knight = warg and weirwood= dragons as they keep old souls to reach immortality the difference is the objects used as medium to achive magic

I still lean towards the idea that the magic is what's left of the technology of a previous age. An ecosystem-wide nanotech ai. Magic wielders are just people alive who retain some limited ability to interact with the remaining scraps of tech.

Great stuff!

George put his face on the trees with magic . Love it .

Commenting to boost that algorithm!

Damn I never thought about ASOIAF universe being soul magic but the universe I've been building for a decade has similar magic. In my universe all magic done must consume some soul energy whether that be through the casters themselves or by the sacrifice of another's essence.

Amazing video/thesis, w😮w🤌

Listen, listen if GRRM helped create Elden Ring and the souls of the people in the Lands Between go into and then are reborn from the Erd Tree, it makes total sense that in Song of Ice and Fire souls also go into weirdwood trees and then are transformed into the nature aspects! He reused some of his story elements to help write Elden Ring!

All the souls are also the souls of the beasts and the trees themselves...it is known!

Great video!

16:40 The clone wars Umbara arc!

We don't have many insights about Martin knowledge on real psychology and psychotherapy. Yes, he is an author capable of good PoV writing. Yes he probably knows a lot about Campbell and the hero's journey. However here i am to point my finger on some deep, queer similarities between ASOIAF magic systems/religions and Jung's theory of the psyche... and possibly the endgame of the series. Let's start with dreams. Deams and symbolic visions (greendreams, dragon dreams, prophetic dreams, glass candle dreams, etc) are a huge part of the ASOIAF magic system. But they are also a fundamental part of Jung studies. Jung noted that the unconscious has a timeless quality. It contains the past, still in living form and reaching far back beyond our conscious memory; it also shapes the future through its inscrutably purposive quality. Vaster than consciousness, which neatly separates events in some presumed causality, the unconscious is always pregnant with a yet to be conscious future - even if that future is at odds with our conscious desires. With his concept of synchronicity, he noted that events separated in space and time are yet related by meaning. And so manifested in dreams through symbols, which are hardly grasped by ego/consciousness. So we can now go and explore the Ego, the conscious realm. The interesting thing is that a domain of pure Ego/Consciousness is present in ASOIAF, and it is the realm of skinchanging (personal consciousness ) and the weirwood net (collective consciousness) . Skinchangers are migrating Egos that can posses other bodies as their own. The Old Gods on the other hand are the disembodied and collective Ego of the Children of the Forest (children, which name is also a reference to the Puer Aeternus, the archetypal immortal god child inside everyone). Than we have the Faceless Men, the men that can assume the PERSONA of anyone ( PERSONA is a kind of mask, the face, designed to make a definite impression upon others, and on the others, to conceal the true nature of the person). Faceless men steal role, looks, mannerism, but inside have no ego, they are hollow, literally "No One". They aren't moving their egos, only wearing the look. Hidden beneath the awareness of the consciousness lies the unconscious. The contents of the unconscious are anything that has been forgotten and or repressed; anything not permitted to integrate into the conscious personality - and these can be positive as well as negative psychic components such as personal qualities, talents, dreams, desires, nightmares, fears, terrors, hatreds, psychic toxins. The darker aspects form ‘The Shadow", the lighter is the Mana. Shadows, in Jung, can be Personal Shadows and Collective Shadows. Personal Shadows resemble really close the shadowbabies created by the shadowbinders. They are psychological projections of the darkest, deepest desires of the person. Like the BLACK shadow of stannis who kills Renly. The shadow personifies everything that the subject refuses to acknowledge about himself. Shadowbinding is a process that brings with it "the danger of falling victim to the shadow ... the black shadow which everybody carries with him, the inferior and therefore hidden aspect of the personality"-resulting in a merger with the shadow. According to Jung, the shadow sometimes overwhelms a person's actions; for example, when the conscious mind is shocked, confused, or paralyzed by indecision. "A man who is possessed by his shadow is always standing in his own light and falling into his own traps" But we also have a Collective Shadow. The Shadow of society, the shadow of human race. The Collective Shadow is humanity's dark side. It is the sum total of past and present atrocities, cruelties, tragedies, and horrors perpetrated by humankind and stored at a deep, unconscious level. To me, the Collective shadow of Men are... The Others . The WHITE Shadows. Or, if you want, the GREAT OTHER. They are in-human, alien, not of flesh and blood but of ice. Nevertheless they look human, they skinchange (not living things but dead bodies), they talk, laugh and fight. In essence, the collective shadow is the combined projection of the shadow of every human ever lived. And it has remained in darkness and growing deeper, darker and larger for a very long time. Imagine the collective shadow as an invisible but very real potent energy force made up by the antithesis of humanity. Imagine this, locked up, removed from westeros. Not in the underworld, not under the earth, but in the far North, removed, isolated, brooding by a barrier. Like a HUGE magical ice wall that divides physically and mentally (jon struggles to sense Ghost while the wall stands in the middle) a continent. The majority of the population are oblivious to its existence and potential danger, going about their daily lives with no awareness of what is on the other side and what is about to occur. Sooner or later, the pressure builds to such a level that it can no longer be contained, and the wall explodes - leaving everyone in complete shock, and catastrophic death and destruction in its wake. And when the collective shadow is huge enough, it casts a LONG NIGHT. Sensitive people can feel the collective shadow; are aware of its existence. This is why many people have had feelings, insights, dreams, that something big was coming this year. Jung himself viewed the World Wars as expressions/projections of the collective shadow and he was so intuitive that he dreamt of and sensed the war drawing near way before it was evident to others. Those attuned to Mother Nature, the environment and the animal kingdom, knew that we were reaching a tolerance point. And so are a lot of men in Planetos. And now we are arrinving to the last, but not least, part. The Manic aspect of the unconscious psyche. The most famous of Jung's concepts: the Archetypes. And yes i'm talking about the Faith of the seven. The Father, the Mother, the Warrior, the Maiden, the Smith, the Crone, and the Stranger are 100% junghian archetypes. The role of the Faith was to stop the Ego driven Old Religion, to encourage the Men to discover their true selves. Sadly septons became politicians and the Faith lost its way. But what does it mean, why GRRM would ever structure is supernatural world like that? Well, we know that his preferred narratives are anti-war narratives. And for Jung, the psychological process to overcome the conflicts between the ego, the shadow, the mana, and the dreams is the process of acceptance and INTEGRATION.

You should do an episode about Septon Barth! The best Hand of the King ever, in my opinion!

I think you mixed some show lore into the section about white walkers' control of wights, no? It hasn't been established in the books that killing a walker eliminates it's wights, and in fact if I'm not mistaken doesn't Sam kill a walker and then like a dozen wights still surround him? Great video I just can't tell if you're mixing canons.

Upcoming al star live stream? (mentioned by Karl Karlsnark) WHERE/ WHEN?

I'm encline to believe Syrio never lied to arya, which would mean that death is the root of all magica

The magic in ASoIaF is blood magic. Magic is paid for in blood.

Excellent video. Also… Weirwood paste is people!

Great Video!!!!

So great, thank you 👌

I'm glad the fantasy elements aren't in your face, makes for a more grounded world to delve into and more relatable in a way as oppose to everyone just spouting magical terms and chucking spells at one another. The characters and the world of Game of Thrones feel more real.

Great research

"Another name for a weirwood is a 'heart tree' which isn't the most straightforward name." Ummmm that is like the most literally straightforward name possible.....