Mythical Astronomy of Ice and Fire

HBO has ordered season 1 of Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and though it's still a couple years away, this video will give you a comprehensive look at what this show could bring us - the characters, the events, the mysteries, the tragedies, and the romances. I'll discuss the 3 published Dunk and Egg novellas AS WELL AS everything we know about their lives after the novellas. Some good memes and Bloodraven jokes.

Episode 4 of House of the Dragon was the best yet - and the hottest. My ep4 review will dive into the ideas behind Daemon's "big dragon philosophy" and how Rhaenyra experiments with putting that into play.

Daemon and Rhaenyra went on largely parallel journeys this week, overcoming some of their inner devils as they navigated a minefield of signs and portents. Viserys made a mess of his rituals and omens, did he bring a curse down upon House Targaryen?

Episode 2 was all about the game of thrones - the power game, in other words. Basically everyone was rising and falling, moving and shaking, so here's the breakdown and who's coming out ahead and how each character is developing their power... and why Rhaenyra was the most heroic character of the week! Also featuring Alicent, Corlys, Viserys, Daemon, and Ser Criston

The conversations between Valyrians stole the show in week 2, and the symbolism was shining bright! Full breakdown of the intro sequence as well! And yes this is a tad late, I'm updating the feed today and will try to get on top of it. I'm un the process of overhauling the feed to get more up here regularly, and don't forget that I do a live postgame show every week following the airing of House of the Dragon!

I may decide to make a separate House of the Dragon feed but for now, here's the 3 hours of therapy, fun, and analysis that I did with Grey Waste Tim and Girl Nettles after the first episode!

So... which team do we root for? Which lords, knights, queens, princesses, princes, or kings? Most importantly... which dragonlord? Can any of them live up to the standard Daenerys set?

Holy cow did I ever get behind on the podcast feed. Well get ready for tons of stuff this week. So sorry everyone. As always the video versions of these are on the David Lightbringer YouTube channel!Queen Alicent of House Hightower - is she one of the main culprits of the Dance of the Dragons civil war, or was she one of the wiser heads who made suggestions that could have avoided the war? or both? How will House of the Dragon adapt her story?

Did the maesters really help provoke the Dance of the Dragons Targaryen Civil War as way of killing off the dragons, and will this potential conspiracy plot-line be included in House of the Dragon? Apostate Archmaester Marwin the Mage directly accused the Maesters of this dastardly conspiracy in A Feast for Crows, so let's investigate in the first of 2 episodes.Check out the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IQyNfnaNWyA

By the time of the Dance, Vhagar is by far the biggest and baddest dragon in Westeros, with a 132-year rap sheet of destruction. Let us walk her path of carnage so as to better understand the role she'll play in HotD, where she'll be ridden by Laena Velaryon and Aemond One-Eye Targaryen. Check out the full video on the David Lightbringer YouTube channel to see all the latest fan artwork!

Get a preview of the 10 (or so) dragons (and dragonlords) we are likely to see in Season 1 of House of the Dragon (premiering Aug 21), including one you might not expect! And including a dragon-related trivia factoid for each dragon! Don't miss the YouTube version: https://youtu.be/cjwtmxY5S7s

HBO gave us some TASTY new House of the Dragon photos along with the release date (Aug 21st), and one in particular hits on a big reason why I think HotD could be better than Game of Thrones, particularly from a storytelling perspective. I'll tell you about that, break down all the images, and give you a bit on what makes these characters tick. If you haven't seen the images, you can check out the video version of this podcast on my channel, or this link to my twitter thread about them: https://twitter.com/thedragonLML/status/1509326566366474241?s=20&t=ligc3_TyAiiQsHVvlJrdOw

Hey friends, there's a longer note on the beginning of this pod, but just real quick, please enjoy my first video for my new "regular mythology" YouTube channel, Mythic Concepts. Please check out the video on the channel and give it a sub! Just follow this link or search "Mythic Concepts" on YouTube :) https://youtu.be/No2w-7-SZqA

What are Giant Ice Spiders? Will we see them when the Long Night falls? Can they climb the Wall? All that, plus a brand new theory about Others and the weirwoods - 'white walker teleportation theory.' Be sure to check out the YouTube version, as I've created some pretty fun white walker teleportation animations with Photoshop that I'm perhaps overly proud of. Right on the front page of the David Lightbringer YouTube channel!

It's here, my magnum opus of Dany analysis. This was two months worth of work, a double-length feature, and I hope you'll share it far and wide wherever you discuss ASOIAF. DOn't miss the YouTube version which includes some 400+ pieces of Dany art! youtube.com/c/davidlightbringer

The exciting conclusion to the Melisandre's Secrets series is here! This one focuses on Jon and Melisandre, and more broadly on all the ways Melisandre's magics and secrets could translate into spectacular deeds at the end of the story. I decided to present the script live so as to flow into a discussion of all the possibilities, so enjoy a mix of scripted content and discussion!

Melisandre is probably going to make Jon into a fire wight, sure, but did you know that she's also going to create a fire wight strike force of resurrected Night's Watchmen to fight at his side? It's true, and you need to know about it. Get ready for some classic mythical astronomy in this one, and even a sash of Timett Son of Timett!

George R.R. Martin has called Beric a "fire wight" and a foreshadowing for Jon Snow's inevitable resurrection, and most people think Melisandre will give Jon R'hllor's "last kiss" at some point, so it's an important thing to understand... but it also turns out to help reveal the secret origins of R'hllorism - an origin that has roots in both Asshai and Westeros, and the events of the Long Night.

Fire Others - beings of living flame, the exact opposite of the white walkers - exist. And Melisandre is becoming one... just in time for the great war against the Others. The ones made of ice. The true secret at the heart of R'hllorism is revealed here in Melisandre's Secrets 2!

Melisandre of Asshai is both a shadowbinder and a red priestess of R'hllor, a powerful sorceress set to play a big role in the endgame. With Melisandre as our guide, we'll be able to unlock the all-important, Azor-Ahai-centric secrets of the shadowbinders and R'hllorists, and figure out why Jon and Dany are both being advised by shadowbinders. Part 1 of 4. And don't skip out on the YouTube version - the Melisandre fan art is AMAZING!

Moon meteor theory has been updated in grand style! Be sure to check out the videos on YouTube; I've done some of my finest cross-fades, and I believe there's a comet-penis animation you won't want to miss. All 5 parts are packaged together here for your convenience. Nightbringer series playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEHvft-cyPmDUS-s6_uIR2XJ48k5eTl36

Time for a prediction / theory video: Dany will get her hands on a Valyrian glass candle and will use it for all kinds of fun stuff! I'm basically certain this will happen, so check out the evidence and just what it is I think she might use the candle to do.

New Theory Alert: Daenerys will be the one to sound the Valyrian Dragonbinder Horn! That's right - the foreshadowing is clear. Oh, and, that horn might do something much greater and much worse than simply "binding dragons," so we'll need to talk about that...

In the third of three videos explaining how the mythology of Odin and Yggdrasil heavily influenced ASOIAF, we'll dive into Jon Snow as the embodiment of Odin's berserk battle fury (for which Odin is named). I'll also show you how skinchanging, greenseeing, and northern culture in general comes from Odin mythology related to wolves, ravens, and bears.

In the second of three videos explaining how the mythology of Odin and Yggdrasil heavily influenced ASOIAF, we'll dive into Bran Stark's tendency to fall, fly, hatch eyeballs from his forehead, and of course, 'trip his little Stark nuts off.' We'll compare the Nightfort to Valhalla, and we'll visit Whitewalls from The Mystery Knight to discuss the wily Maynard Plumm, who is of course Bloodraven. As always, you van find the matching video on the lucifermeanslightbringer YouTube channel to enjoy the full visual experience.

The first of three videos explaining how the mythology of Odin, Norse god of shamanism and many other things, heavily influenced George R. R. Martin's ideas about magic, weirwoods, greenseers, skinchangers, and the North. Part 1 will cover Bloodraven and the greenseer relationship with the weirwood, p2 will cover Bran and his version of Bloodraven's Odin symbolism (plus action at the Nightfort and Whitewalls form the Mystery Knight), and p3 will cover Jon, skinchanging, and the animal-like fury of Odin's berserker warriors.

Well, this one literally took me a month to make, I hope you enjoy it! A deep dive into the mother goddess mythology and Vedic Indian mythology in particular from which George fashioned the greatest character in modern fiction, Daenerys Targaryen. Kali, Durga, Sati, Vritra, Dany, Shiva, Parvati, all play a part, plus we'll say a quick hello to Adam and Eve, Aphrodite, Jormungandr, Tiamat, and a few other notable personages from world folklore. Who hang out top the Great Pyramid of Meereen, dochyaknow. Indian music courtesy https://www.yellowtunes.net/

This video is both a culmination of the Origins of the Green Men series **as well as** a tour de force demonstration of George Martin's hyper-advanced "story-within-a-story" writing technique. You wont find writing like this anywhere else, in my experience! You also won't find this analysis anywhere else, nor because I'm smarter than anyone else, but because those other channels lack the devotion to Garth that we practice here.

My definitive theory on the the weirwood origins of the "white walkers of the wood," as they are called. This ties together my green man ideas and my crucial "Azor Ahai invades the weirwoodnet and corrupts it" theory and shows how they relate to the creation of the Others.

My definitive video concerning the Green men, Garth, the Isle of Faces, and the Weirwoods! It's going to get more than a little bit horny, fair warning :)

We're told very little about the Sacred Order of Green Men on the Isle of Faces - like, what are they even? But we know the Isle of Faces is full of weirwoods, and is probably important to the story. Good news! I think I've solved this most obscure of origin mysteries in ASOIAF, and the story begins in the far east, on the Holy Isle of Leng... or, rather, beneath it...

Sure, Jon may be the Prince That Was Promised... but what if he's also the Prince That Was Promised to the Others? This video will examine the possibility of an ancient baby-swapping pact with the Others that Jon may have to fulfill...

Hey friends! This is live podcast presentation form a couple months back that never made it to the feed, and it's a really good one too! The Stallion Who Mounts the World prophecy is thundering with symbolism, and we are going to ride the lightning along with Dany - and Bran. I'm working on catching up and getting more stuff on the podcast feed, so I hope you enjoy. Thanks for all your support!

Jon is dead, as of the last pages of A Song of Ice and Fire, and though we all expect his inevitable resurrection will be gnarlier than on the show, but just how much gnarlier? Perhaps, very.

Did mankind really "fall" with the eating of the forbidden fruit of the 'Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,' or did Eve actually take the first symbolic steps towards free will and self-determination? The lens of sacred symbolism reveals the hidden, ancient truth lurking beneath centuries of religious dogma, and it's a truth that liberates and transforms.  Also, big news: this video is the beginning of an upcoming BOOK! "Paradise Gained: Christianity, Sacred Symbolism, and Freedom from Dogma" by David Beers. Sign up for the Indiegogo mailing list by searching "Paradise gained" on Indiegogo or at this link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/--170477/coming_soon/x/25229751

The original, one-and-only "Darkstar will steal Dawn" theory, starring Ser Gerold "Darkstar" Dayne and also featuring Edric Dayne, fAegon, Arianne, Jon Snow, and of course Arthur Dayne.

There is no "Night King / leader of the Others" figure in the current book storyline like there was on the show. But one could emerge... and that one is Night's King Crowseye!  

Astral Projection! Weirwoods! Dunk and Egg! Sleipnir and Yggdrasil! It's all here in Weirwood Compendium 9! This was a scripted podcast that I presented live, lightly edited for the podcast feed. WWC 10 coming next week on the pod feed!

Daenerys Targaryen is an abolitionist dragonlord with fire to spare. The Others are magical ice demons who enslave the dead. Seems like a match made in the heart of winter...  don't miss the follow up Q&A stream on Sunday Sept 27th, or catch it on the replay on YouTube!

A god-king born from the graves a charnel pits. The most horrifying, twisted version of Azor Ahai reborn imaginable. The usher and the ruler of a new age of darkness. The third head of the dragon. A new Night's King. Euron Greyjoy may be all these things and more.

We haven't seen a leader of the Others yet in the books, but the symbolism suggests that one will emerge...  Hey friends! So sorry to get behind on the podcast feed, but I'll be catching up this week. I do want to remind you that most YT livestreams will not appear in the podcast feed, as it's simply too time consuming to edit all of the audio, so do make sure to check in at the channel. I will however put Weirwood Compendium 9 and 10 on the feed this week, so cheers and enjoy!

Were Azor Ahai and Night's King the same person? The symbolism of Stannis Baratheon and Jon Snow tell the story. Val is in this one too :)

Nothing less than my best case for the theory that Night's King and Queen lived during the Long Night and created the first white walkers. Huge thanks to Durran Durrrandon and his essay: https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/126880-one-god-two-gods-red-god-blue-god-melisandre-and-the-nights-queen/

We don't see much of the others on the pages of A Song of Ice and Fire, but George cleverly slips us clues about them by the use of a symbolic proxy, a kind of metaphorical stand-in... and that would be the white knights of the Kingsguard. Make sure to check out the video on the lucifer means lightbringer youtube channel so you get all my jokes. Love y'all. 

The Azor Ahai myth is moral relativism test for the reader - one which Dave and Dan failed. See why a deeper look at this all-important legend dictates that George R. R. Martin is *not* steering his books towards a similar ending.

How do the legends of Azor Ahai and Lightbringer, which are from Asshai and the Further East, connect to Westeros, Dawn, the last hero and his dragonsteel, the Night's Watch, and the War for the Dawn? Are any Westerosi Houses descended from the Great Empire of the Dawn? (hint: yes) It's all here...

Evidence abounds for the existence of a pre-Valyrian, pre-Long Night civilization of dragonlords, now mostly vanished from the pages of history. The evidence leads us to Asshai, and to a legend of a Dawn Age high civilization called the Great Empire of the Dawn... This is the audio version, but I highly recommend checking out the video on YouTube, as I included a lot of amazing Asshai, Five Forts, and Essos artwork that you probably haven't seen, as well as some handy-dandy visual aids and maps and things. Cheers!

Featuring special guests Quinn's Ideas, Melanie Lot7, and Ba'al the Bard! We will take questions from the live audience and discuss Dany's overall plot arc. We'll also hit a couple bits from the end of ASOS that we missed last time, like the Mhysa moment, the crucifixion of the Meereenese slavers, and her decision to stay in Meereen.

In AFFC, the Faceless Men of Braavos seem to take credit for engineering the Doom of Valyria, and most in the fandom agree they had a hand in it. But the Faceless Men usually work for hire, and there's this weird Valyrian prophecy about the gold of casterly Rock destroying Valyria... so did someone hire the Faceless Men to do the deed? There's a strong case to made that someone did - the Targaryens of Dragonstone. In other words... T+FM=D, or, "the Doom was an inside job."

Before the House of the Dragon arose on Dragonstone, there was The Doom of Valyria. House Targaryen was born from the ashes of the Doom, which left them as the only people in the entire world with control of dragons. Convenient, that. We'll discuss the motivations, mechanics, and machinations involved in pulling off the Doom, and how it shaped House Targaryen. Featuring Ba'al the Bard, recorded live Sunday 1/26/20

Dissatisfied in the extreme with Dany's ending on the HBO show, we're hitting the books to reveal her true character. This podcast will cover her A Storm of Swords chapters, which finds Daenerys beginning to her draconic power in Slaver's Bay. What does this portend for Dany's potential conquest of Westeros, and her use of power in general? Featuring Melanie Lot7. Recorded live 01/19/20