Summerhall: the tragedy before Game of Thrones
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What happened at the mysterious tragedy of Summerhall? Did King Aegon V Targaryen (Egg) sacrifice people to hatch dragon eggs? Is Rhaegar the prince that was promised? Who is the ghost of High Heart?
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Dunk & Egg videos: • Dunk & Egg (A Knight o...
Bloodraven video: • Bloodraven: what’s the...
Blackfyre Rebellions video: • Blackfyre Rebellions: ...
Euron apocalypse video: • Euron Greyjoy's apocal...
Images and video from Game of Thrones used under fair use.
Images from The World of Ice and Fire used with permission from Random House.
Summerhall, Iron Throne art by Marc Simonetti: art.marcsimonetti.com/
Aegon V, Duncan, Jaehaerys, Daeron & Rhaegar art by Karla Ortiz: www.karlaortizart.com/
Daeron II, Aegon III, Baelor, Aerys I, Edric art by Amok: amokanet
Map from The Lands of Ice and Fire
Summerhall photo: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Comic art of Maekar, Daeron the Drunken, Aerion, Egg, Daemon II etc by Mike S. Miller: / underdogmike
Black Betha Blackwood and Jenny of Oldstones art by Rae Lavergne: i-am-a-lady-damn-it.tumblr.com/
Rhaella, Bloodraven, Shiera art by Bella Bergolts: www.deviantart.com/bellabergolts
Maelys art by Andréa Boloch: www.artstation.com/balduck
Asshai art by René Aigner: www.artstation.com/reneaigner
Dunk and Rhaella, Rhaegar harp art by NaomiMakesArt: NaomiMakesArt naomimakesart
Dragonstone art by Ted Nasmith: www.tednasmith.com/
Ghost of High Heart art by Sanrixian: sanrixian.com/en/
Lyanna art by ImperfectSoul: www.deviantart.com/imperfectsoul
Doom of Valyria art by Sofia Golovanova: www.artstation.com/jdwis
Patchface, Marywn art by sprrow: www.deviantart.com/sprrow
Rhaegar vs Robert art by Justin Sweet: www.artstation.com/jsweet
Robb Red Wedding art by Zippo514: zippo514.deviantart.com/
Alys Karstark art by eluas: www.deviantart.com/eluas
Quaithe art by Lauren K. Cannon: navate.com/
Daario art by Borja Pindado: www.artstation.com/borjap
Ser Pounce art by andrewmar: www.artstation.com/andrewkmar
Dunk & Egg art by chillyravenart: www.deviantart.com/chillyrave...
Daenerys Drogon art by kittrose: www.deviantart.com/kittrose
Dragon flying art by Jordi Gonzalez Escamilla: www.artstation.com/jordi_gonz...
References & further reading:
JoeMagician on Egg seeing visions of Daenerys: • 🧙 Pyres and Blood: The...
Ripples in the Dreamscape by Bookshelfstud: www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comme...
History of Westeros: • The Tragedy of Summerhall
History of Westeros The Shadow of Summerhall: • The Shadow of Summerha...
In Deep Geek on Bloodraven as perpetrator: • Who caused the Tragedy...
In Deep Geek and Crowfood’s Daughter on ghost of High Heart and Summerhall, Aerys as perpetrator: • The Ghost of High Hear...
Westeros.org forums on Rhaegar as Summerhall dragon: asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php...
Westeros.org forums on Tywin Aerys perpetrators: asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php...
Special thanks to Patrons Cameron Weiss, Michael Appell, Ryan Steele, Triangle Wine Company, Harry, Shane Veglia, Ria McDoodle, Brian Sentient, Tim Cunniff, NotGac, Cara Heller.
0:00 Summerhall
0:53 King Egg
3:05 Dragons
4:18 Tragedy
5:48 Wildfire
7:30 Sacrifice
11:05 Prophecy
12:54 Dreams
17:05 Rhaegar
20:41 Conspiracies
24:04 Fire
#GameOfThrones #ASOIAF
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egg.
Why won’t George finish Winds of Winter?
great vid, cant wait for the next asoiaf abridged episode tho
The Maesters did it 100%
@KCxStealth Because people like you keep harassing him.
The Tragedy of Summerhall was just the gender reveal party for Rhaegar.
Summerhall was just a gender reveal gone awry...💀.😂😂
"People are so stupid"
- Brock a.k.a. Moo, L2D4 Funny Moments - There Are Fall Guys Among Us, 2020
Prince Aerys: It's a boy!
His entire fucking family: ☠👋
@Púca Boo Egg: “Ow. I’m on fire. I’m in danger”
aww, burn!
I can understand why the Targs have an obsession with prophecy, it's how they survived the Doom. So it would make poetic sense if their reliance on dreams ultimately ended their line.
It would also make poetic sence is they survived and even thrived after one of them chooses to ignore the prophecies.
Too bad we will never know because GRR is never finishing this story.
Ironic how Targaryens are represented by dragons, but at Summerhall, most were wiped out by fire.
@Kevin Freitas that's how almost all dragons die if you think about it, the Dance of Dragons saw fire fight fire & death was guaranteed. Basically similar to the birth of Rhaegar at Summerhall 🤷🏽♂️
It seems incredible that the Targaryen dynasty lasted for another 125 years after the death of the last dragon
Yes Sir! Respect
If you think about it, is it really tho? All IRL royal lineages that lasted hundreds, if not thousands of years did so without any magic backing them up, just through power of tradition and good politics alone. It's not like the recently crowned Charles III had to ride a fucking unicorn into Balmoral to lay claim to his mum's throne
@1v9 😂😂😂
@1v9 The difference is that the Targaryen ruled all of westeros while other royal houses like the Starks only rule the north.
@Charlie my brother in Christ, I was talking about IRL royalty. You know that Martin aint made all that feudalism shit up from his head right?
"fire and blood" is literally the family slogan. It's the recipe to hatch dragons.
Fucking grrm, this is so on the nose..
Actually not just hatch dragon but also a recipe to cook good egg
@Faisal kamal remind me not to eat breakfast at your house
@Rosco Jenkins you come for breakfast you stay for the dragon eggs hatching ritual
@Faisal kamal remind me to eat breakfast at your house because I need to see dragons hatching
The reveal that the Targaryans knew about the coming war between the dead and the living could help explain why Egg was so desperate to get dragons back into the world. He knew they'd be needed
The thing is George hasn't stated that it was passed from King to heir he only said that aegon the conqueror knew about it there's no mention of it being passed down to his heir
@Mustfly Now we do know this is true, it's mentioned in HOTD
@BabyPalpatine HOTD and GOT are not book canon. That is a creative liberty not mentioned in the books. Also not something to seriously consider with the Summerhall story
@Josh Miller the shows are lore canon. GRRM said the books are written from the perspective of a Maestor writing about events while the show is really what happened
@Myles He never said anything of the sort:
"We have two canons. We have the show canon, the Game of Thrones canon. And we have the Song of Ice and Fire canon," Martin said simply. "And in the book canon, obviously, still writing The Winds of Winter, I'm sure you all know that, and then there's another book beyond that. And as I write them, and I've said this in a previous blog post, I always knew that things were gonna be different, but as I'm writing, as the stories are coming alive, and the characters are coming alive, taking me further and further away from the show. So there's gonna be some very considerable differences, and the book canon is gonna be quite different from the show canon as we get deeper into it."
They are two distinct versions
I can so imagine Dunk carrying the princess to safety to give birth outside the burning castle, then turning around and saying, "I may be back, I may not. Either way, His Majesty is getting a clout in the ear." Then he dives back into the flames to slap Egg silly one last time.
Don't make me cry 😭
I can imagine that haha
Just started reading dunk and egg, love this comment so much
@Milkra I made it so long ago that it was like reading someone else's. Thank you. I'm very proud of it, myself!😁
Damn man that strikes deep. I really fell in love with dunk and egg.
Poor Rhaella. She gave birth to Rhaegar during a tragedy and died giving birth to Daenerys during a storm
Not to mention the multiple miscarriages and lost infants. And the way Aerys treated her. Basically all we know about Rhaella is reduced to the context of her pregnancies, from prophesied pregnancy forcing her to marry her brother to Summerhall to her flight from King's Landing to her death on Dragonstone. Her entire life wrecked by others' expectation for her to bear children.
What storm?. I never heard of any storm.
@Harleking YT You never heard of Daenerys Stormborn?
And Viserys was presumably an easy birth but just the absolute worst.
@gmcgill irony really lol
Oh I actually think Jenny survived. I think Jenny's song is about her going mad with grief. "Jenny would dance with her ghosts." It almost implies she refused to leave the crumbled and burnt ruins where her husband died until she passed away herself perhaps or malnourishment. That or she died because she wouldnt leave her already dead husband's corpse in the fire. Either way I think the song Jenny of oldstones gives her character just a bit more lore
The song always gives me chills.
Aside from frustrating his plans, Egg's kids really made sure that the Targaryens were very isolated from alliances. The only familial connection they did have, Rhaelle birthing Steffon Baratheon and her grandkids being cousins to Rhaegar, Viserys, and Dany, ended up siding against them in the war. Had all the betrothals gone through, the realm would have been much more stable and much more Targaryen-aligned. Rhaegar probably could have overthrown his dad easier.
He was trying to ally the north with the South he met lyyana learned of Lord starks southerns ambitions and was going to ask his permission to marry llyana but shit got fucked up
@marcus Gibson` He never met Lyanna before the tournament. He fell in "love" after catching her as the Knight of the Laughing Tree. Rhaegar attended the Tournament at Harrenhall because he wanted to gather support alongst the lords against his father but Varys found out and insisted that Aerys attend.
@Phrophetsam what you said doesn't contradict what I've said
To be fair keeping the bloodline in one part of the family meant there was no more rebellious branches
But unless your taking the Ottoman path and killing all non inheriting sons, you kinda have few options.
Gotta say the reveal in HotD that ASOIaF is a Targaryen oral tradition really adds a lot to the motivation of a lot of these “mad kings” each one crumbling under the weight of this apocalypse that may fall on their shoulders. It took a Targaryen who was not aware of the burden to succeed in the end too. So good.
Not so sure you can call it a "reveal" so much as an "artistic liberty"
@biggrocc19 Yeah its not really book canon. At least not yet.
i'm thinking Aegon's secret may die with Rhaenyra during the events of HotD, or perhaps afterwards slowly along with the dragons (depending on who she tells, who they tell, etc.) after a civil war, it very well may be lost or not believed at some point. all it would take is one Targaryen down the line to scoff at it like it's a fairytale or to die without passing it on to someone. then it is entirely reliant on someone holding the Valyrian dagger in the flames AND interpreting the prophecy correctly (which we see is not reliable in this great video).
@Josh Miller Except it kinda is.
There's no such thing,the prophecy is known thoughout the entire world and almost every culture has his own "Azor Ahai".
Show canon is different than Book canon
I'm into GoT but only superficially. It's very funny to know that Robert was technically the nephew of the guy he was trying to overthrow and, thus, was Daenerys' first cousin, who was trying to kill her.
That's why he got the crown and not Ned or Jon Arryan. He had the better claim because of that targ bloodline.
@B Kilg Well, Robert got the crown because it was Robert's Rebellion. He was the one that started it, and he was the one who killed Rhaegar, so no matter what, he would probably end up on the thrown. It's actually stated in the books that his Targaryen blood was really just the superficial justification for why he got the crown.
second cousin.
@Roman Spiwak Jon Arryn started the rebellion
The idea of a land where people have visions that come from different points in time, and always misinterpreting them is so tragic.
The tale of Dunk & Egg really makes the tragedy of Summerhall even harsher since we grew to know and like Dunk and Egg personally instead of seeing them as historical figures.
Dunk & Egg would make a great prequel along with House🏠 of the dragon🔥🐉🐲🐉🔥
@Daenerys Targaryen I think they’re actually working on Dunk and Egg
@Raymond Reviews They should do a 13 episode series on The First Blackfyre Rebellion to set the stage for Dunk and Egg
@G filmer Yep that would be Great
@G filmer I’m down for all the Blackfyre rebellions to get adaptations
The difference between Aegon's Summerhall and Dany's Pyre for Drogo could easily be that Dany didn't do it trying to make a prophecy come true. Doesn't that sound more like a prophecy coming true, than it did when someone tried to jam all the pieces into the puzzle?
"Only death can pay for life" and "Only a King's blood can wake the stone dragon" combined with the examples we got from the books makes me think that only people of royal bloodlines might carry the magic necessary to conduct a successful dragon-waking sacrificial ceremony. Trueborn or bastard, it doesn't seem to matter so long as they have the right bloodline
I think the reason the Wild Fire went out of control was because the dragons actually hatched. According to the alchemist, Wild Fire is more potent when dragons exist.
But then again fire cannot kill dragons and if they did hatchet what happened to them? I don't think he said that Summerhall fell, just burned. Maybe if there was sand, then the dragons got buried.
@Betsy Romero the dragons got buried prolly. Dang thats sad
@Bloodraven im sure u had nothing to do with it bloodraven
@Betsy Romero fire (from other dragons atleast) can definitely hurt if not kill dragons, during the dance, moondancer was blinded by sunfyre's flames
@JDFtrains Then maybe they can only be killed by fire from another dragon, not any type of fire other than that
So many small tragedies interwoven with the lore of this series. I feel like nobody really talks about the adorably sad story of Duncan Targaryen, the king's heir, rejecting his claim to the Iron Throne to follow his heart and marry the eccentric common girl he truly loved, only for them to both tragically perish in a fire caused by his own father, who was desperately trying to save the Kingdom from falling apart.
It is said that Rhaegar used to visit the Ghost of Highheart and sing her "Jenny of Oldstones" whilst she wept. He used to visit Summerhall often and was obsessed with the prophecy of Azor Ahai too. He too had dreams and visions of dragons and thought dragons and Azor Ahai were linked so this makes sense.
God seeing Egg go from a good little squire to a ruthless king willing to kill his children would be such a horrifying arc to read.
Idk about ruthless; id assume the one hypothetical dark spot in his life would be killing his children in this scenario. He wouldn't be seen as Aerys after him
Idk sounds pretty damn grrm to me
Just like Daenerys'
None of us will ever be able to read it
Unless of course George is somehow immortal
@Roberto 200 an immortal skinchanger
The fire at Summerhall actually started in the kitchen when some bread was left in the oven too long. There is substantial evidence that points to the cook responsible being Hot Pie's grandfather.
The idea that Egg went off his rocker and was intending to sacrifice Rhaella and Rhaegar and was thwarted by Dunk is damn cold but I can see that being a storyline because Egg mad with power in a moment of weakness abandons all decency in his quest for power and Dunk betrays him, only to return to his side and die with him in flames as penance for being unable (morally) to protect his king.
A feast for crows is my favourite book of all time partially for the “prophecy will bite your prick off every time” line, and just for the absolutely beautiful character/world building.
I think its the weakest in the series, still great though
It’s easily the weakest, least interesting for me and felt like mostly filler but opinions and that
Really? Well, while I find it the weakest, that's awesome you find it the best. And there are some excellent ideas and stories in AFFC but I dunno, ADWD fulfilled my hunger for the Northern story and Stannis Baratheon which AFFC did not
It was boring, only thing memorable was the King’s moot
If House of the Dragon is going to continue beyond the Dance, I think this tragedy plus a time jump to Robert's Rebellion is the perfect final season for the show. It would tie back with what we learned at the beginning of the series with Viserys obsession about Aegon's and his own dreams and the prophecy, and it gives us the perfect set-up for Aerys and Rhaegar and everything that ensues because of the Mad King and Rhaegar's plans. It kind of ends the series off perfectly leading into Game of Thrones. Egg's ambitions, the Mad King's tyranny, and the rebellion is the final time the House of the Dragon tore itself apart with ambitions gone awry and with a terrible king.
HOTD will definitely be four seasons. I think Robert’s Rebellion from the very beginning should be two seasons but also it’s own show.
@Leo Martinez Agreed. Each need their own show
I personally love and support Joe magician’s theory. However, I always thought it would be really interesting if what ever egg did actually did work, and a dragon hatched. And right after is when the terrible accident occurred, and whatever method was used got out of control killing everyone including the dragon. Or something like that. I have no proof of this, just think it would be an interesting twist on things if what ever they did actually worked.
I never knew before now that the main Baratheon brothers were so closely related to the Targaryen royal line. It's weird to think Bobby B and Dany share a great-grandfather and despite being decades apart in age are technically in the same generation of this family tree.
This was literally mentioned as Robert's claim to the throne (obviously it was conquest, but it did help that he had Targaryen lineage)
@All The Artsy a strange thougt that hé hates Targaryens!
@Bart Hoekstra he hates Rhaegar and projects the hate to the whole family...
@Otto JK i know but the Baratheons are related to Them!
7:59 to add to this, two deaths (Drogo and Mirri Maz duur) pay for two dragons. But Dany walks into the fire herself, perhaps ready to die. This would give the third and final life despite Dany not dying. Ofc GRRM wouldnt kill off dany right there and she survives, but perhaps this could also mean that willingness to sacrifice yourself has certain power as well.
Drogo was already dead, can that count as a sacrifice? And if the answer is yes, then how about baby Rhaego, he could be the 3rd sacrifice, after all he did die as a sacrifice to save his father.
@Brave and Blessed Maybe Viserys, Drogo and Rhaego were the sacrifices to wake the dragons from stone, Mirri's burning only maked the hatching!
@Pedro Lucas viserys was dead way before the dragons were born
@Brave and Blessed I don't think one sacrifice is good for two miracles? That hole shebang is a "special event", GRRM said I think. Dany('s skin) is untouched by fire here, but she can get burned later in the story
But don't forget the horse! 🤣 that's a life
GRRM did comment in a behind the scenes that the Valyriqns had found out with their magic that it wasn't a recipe that made it work, but on who you are, what you want and how much faith you had
I really like the idea that Dunk stopped Aegon from making a terrible sacrifice. That would be a really powerful juxtaposition to no one stoping Aerys from burning all the people he killed. It would even set up a parallel between Dunk and Jamie, who stooped Aerys from burning the whole city down
So this video is awesome, thanks for all the work that went into it. My theory on Summerhall is that Aegon had a vision that drove him to want to use the pyromancers to sacrifice Rhaegar in a fire while he was still in the womb. Dunk saves them and the rest is history until 40 odd years later when Daenerys awakens the dragons with a fire, some magic and her unborn baby as sacrifice. Basically Aegon's vision on how to awaken the dragons was correct but he had the wrong generation of Targaryens.
but if Aegon did successfully sacrifice Rhaegar then Rhaella would be rendered infertile like Daenerys was; so Aerys wouldn't have been able to have more children by her.
@Kushagra Agrawal I am only referring to Aegon wanting to reawaken dragons, not fulfill tpwwp necessarily.
This is the correct theory : In an insane final attempt, he tried to sacrifice Rhaella and her unborn son Rhaegar but Dunk intervened. The ghastly crime of trying to kill her and the baby and him being stopped (and killed) by his old friend Dunk is what I think the correct story is. You were right about that one.
I really like the latter theory of Dunk having to kill Egg in that last scenario inside Summerhall. It just fits with GRRM's themes of tragic bittersweet endings. It was never about black and white with GRRM, just like life he wanted to reflect a lot of grey in his story telling.
In the books Daenerys rises from the fire with her hair burned away. Egg may have seen the bald Daenerys in a vision and mistaken her for himself as a young bald prince.
God I want to believe...
Lol
@Yet Again she was pretty young in the books at that time but i guess u r right (also the D), maybe he didn't see the full body only face and shoulder or something like that
@Yet Again smoke/dragons obscuring them, viewed from behind, unclear "visiony" imagery, plenty of reasons for Egg to miss the bewbs.
I think that blood is needed only for resurrection of petrified dragon eggs. That's why targaryens never had problems with hatching them in firepits, those were fresh, living eggs. Dany's, and Aegon's eggs were petrified, dead.
I just feel so bad for Aegon :c
He was a normal guy and a decent fellow, but then his kids got crazy (I supossed his parenting didn't help) and when he indulged in some valyrian craziness himself he almost got them all killed
To be honest, I really hope that the story of why summerhall remains mystery, since all the possibilities are so much more powerful than any written put story can ever be.
I think “only death can pay for life.a great gift requires a great sacrifice” is why danny’s, johns and tyrions mothers all died giving them birth. I think their mothers is the sacrifice they needed to pay for the ability to be able to ride dragons. Yes I think Tyrion will get to ride a dragon at some point. So much is made of how much he loves dragons, had always wanted a dragon or see a dragon etc. I believe he will actually get to ride one. The three mothers dying giving the 3 main characters birth is not coincidence. I think the “Tyrion is a Targaryen conceived via his mother being raped by the mad king” theory very well could be true.it would make sense.Everything grr rights has a reason even if we don’t realise it.
This makes a looot more sense if Egg found out about Aegons asoiaf prophecy, and knew they'd need dragons to defeat the white walkers. He was all about helping the small folk, so what would a guy like that do to protect them from what he found out was coming? Something desperate, I'd imagine
I really like how Alt Shift X doesn’t just propose wild theories, he also shows what would make sense from a story perspective
I think Sir Pounce with a can of gasoline most likely based on the evidence, but you have a point
@Zene Bean fair point
And whenever he proposes a wacky theory, he's self aware & shuts it down with evidence
@Gabe’s Workshop I do like that. He will often discuss various theories proposed by the fans, and then go into why some of them are unlikely for logistical or story-telling reasons. See the whole "Euron = Daario" video.
This is illustrated perfectly in his Knight of the Laughing Tree video when he says "but in the end, it was probably just Lyanna".
I'm 100% behind the theory that the Maesters were behind Summerhall plus it was also suspicious that only one of Eggs sons survived so he may have been in league with them aswell
A sad ending for Dunk and Egg, one of the best duo in world of ice and fire.
The big question no one asks is, "how do the maesters have enough Valyrian steel to forge there chains?" and "How do maesters know how to reforge Valyrian steel?" If you ask me, the maesters used Lanister gold to pay the faceless men to kill all the fire mages; that keep the 14 flames from erupting. They influenced the Hightowers into starting the dance. They were probably responsible for paying the "one handed Shepard" to convince the commoners to charge the dragon pit. They prevented the re-birth of dragons at summer hall by killing half the Targaryen's; destroying there remaining eggs. Now they plot to kill Daenerys dragons.
Egg could have sacrificed himself but he would have never harmed his family intentionally. He was a good lad.
Crazy to think that less than 100 years seperate Summerhall and War of The Five Kings. Just goes to show how rich and indepth history can be, and what has been lost in our own history.
“Or maybe it was Daario disguised as Ser Pounce with a book of matches and a can of gasoline.” Best theory ever.
D&D be like.
Ser Pounce, that son of a gun, at it again
And still weren't found out
That’s better writing than season 8
Reminds me of that meme with the car carried by a firefighter "T'WAS I WHO SET HOUSE ABLAZE!"
I just cannot, at all, picture Egg murdering people to raise dragons. Sacrificing himself? Probably, but not anyone else. It would be completely out of character for him, and at the very least, Duncan wouldn't let him murder an innocent.
There is a French book series called The Accursed Kings, which is basically a novelization of 14th century French Kings. GRR Martin was inspired by the series and its narrative structure and it led him to write ASOIAF . Being that he is American and we have no Kings, he had to use English history as a source and found plenty to write about in the near 400 year reign of the Norman/Plantagenet line of Anglo/Norman Kings. I would say Anglo Scandinavian Kings but William the Conquerer was a descendant of Rollo the Viking thus making it a distinction without difference.
Anyway, I say all that to say this...if you study English history from 1066 on and especially the Cousin's War aka War of the Roses..theb you pretty much have read GoT.
As pertains to this video..the Summerhall tragedy is a stand in for the real life White Ship disaster.
Henry I was the 4th son of William the Conquerer. He had 2 children, William and Mattilde.
At some point, Henry along with William made a journey to Normandy and when it was time to depart for England, he was offered the use of another vessel, the White Ship.
William and about 300 people opted to use this ship while Henry sailed on in another.
The sailors of the White ship got drunk and then decided to outpace Henry I's ship...and struck an unseen boulder/rock outcrop.
The ship capsized and most of the 300 aboard died, including William.
The death of William directly led to the crisis of succession after Henry I's death that led to the Anarchy period where Mattilde battled Stephen of Blois for the English throne.
I think Egg sacrificed himself to hatch the eggs.
He gathered the rest of his family so they can all know what happened and be ready to deal with the fact he's gone.
But then the fire got out of hand. Perhaps he couldn't stand the heat and panicked when he caught alight
The mystery of Summerhall capture what’s so endlessly fascinating about this world and series. The intrigue tragedy and wonder of this story all rolled into one piece of largely unwritten lore.
*How to control Targaryen population*
King Aenys:- Has many children
George:- Let's have a mad uncle kill them all.
King Jaehaerys:- Has way too many children.
George:- Disease, stillbirth, childbirth, accident and more disease.
King Viserys:- Has a flourishing family with loads of dragons.
George:- Let's make them fight and kill each other.
Aegon III:- Secures his bloodline.
George:- Sorry I think Daenerys is descended from his brother Viserys II so all his (AEGON) children will die childless or useless.
Aegon IV:- Way too many children.
George:- They are not all Targaryens!
Daeron II:- has children
George:- Mad, mad, accident
Maekar I:-
George:- Accident, mad, Wall, Summerhall
Aegon:-
George:- Summerhall
Jaehaerys II:-
George:- Incest, so 2 children will lead to less children.
Mad King:-
George:- Miscarriage, miscarriage, miscarriage and yeah rebellion.
I think it's absolutely fantastic how well built the world of A Song of Ice and Fire is. I mean, we can literally have thousands of hours of discussion about a world and stories made up by one old guy's head. And the story isn't bad, it's good and well written and can be worked through dozens of times without becoming uninteresting. That's prlly also the reason for why Winds of Winter is taking forever. Worth it tho ngl.
Yeah ive seen alot of people saying "oh if George had written 1 word a day and its as long as Dance hed be done by now"
While sure, he is obviously taking his sweeeet ass time, imagine just making yourself clear on all the minute, interconnected details of this extremely complex and rich world
Like writing is probably the easy part
Copium
@janaki pejov oh man im inhaling so much you have no idea
I mean yes but it's all based on English history and other things anyway. But it is well written
@RK It's inspired by that, but the grand cast of various characters and their long history still is mostly original.
I had no idea just how much back ground George R. R. Martin put into these stories. I am impressed, he has fully fleshed out stories with rich histories, tragedies, and prophecies. It's too bad someone didn't insist on waiting for the books before butchering the series. As much as I hated how the series ended, and as much as I hate to do anything everyone else is doing, I think I'm going to have to read these books. Sigh.
I feel like they succeeded in hatching an egg at Summerhall, but it was deformed and crazy (which happens) and it went crazy with it's fire and died with everyone else.
Summerhall is one of the more fascinating, unanswered questions in Game of Thrones mythos. I've heard a number of these theories, but not all of them, so thanks for putting it all together - great video!
Great Video!
Dunk has giant's blood. I think Blood Raven was skin-changing him all along [all Dunk's missing time in the Dunk & Egg stories]. I think he took control of Dunk and instigated the tragedy at Summerhall, probably with a single kick of the pyre.
Summerhall being the heart wrenching end to dunk and Eggs story is brilliant. Dramatic and deviating to see or read. I think thats a solid theory, very GRRM
Can't believe Ser Pounce really committed regicide and killed a generation of Targaryens just so his boi Tommen could be King.
A great gift requires great sacrifice.
Lmfao isn’t that the cat
@El Duderino He's Azor Ahai and you *will* respect him as such
Who knows what he did to become a Ser? Do we really know some Maester didn't change him into a cat?
@El Duderino The Pounce that was Promised!
I love your videos! They keep my love for this series alive after I was traumatized by Season 8 of Game of Thrones, the “Summerhall” of the TV series.
Can't wait for Blood and Fire part 2. Unlike ASOIAF I think he will actually give us B&FII (pretty sure Winds will come at some point, but not hopeful for anything else). I put off Part 1 because I was never very interested in the Targaryans, but when I finally got around to reading it, the book won me over and left me wanting more.
This video is amazing. Since the day I read the stories about Dunk and Egg, I was trying to understand what happened to them, it's so sad. I think it was the same that Jaime had to do, become a kingslayer to save his innocent newborn Rhaegar, because a true Knight will only fight for the innocent, because it's better to see a friend die than become a monster, Dunk sacrifices himself to save Egg's faith, to save his friend from himself.
I'd like to think that Egg had discovered the secret and was about to bring dragons back to the world, but outside forces sabotaged him at the last minute. Then Dany fulfilled the destiny of their line and succeeded all those years later.
This is my favorite channel by far. I live and breathe your ASOIAF theory videos. They are really well made and narrated. Looking forward to many, many more! Amazing job mate.
I like the idea that Ser Duncan the tall chose to save Rhaella and Rhaegar first and then still went back in to try and save egg, and dying together.
I agree. Although the theory where Egg goes mad (like his grandson) and does some f***d up things which lead to his own death by Dunk also makes sense (surely, after Dunk saves Rhaella and Rhaegar).
I have another thing to add on why Danys dragons hatched. Now we know dragonstone is made from valyrian engineering and it might have sorcery woven into it that allows hatching of dragons. But as u mentioned, death is needed to bring life. Now the dothraki have constant deaths around them. They fight not just with different groups, they also fight within the same group. Deaths r commonplace. The dragons might have been responding to those many deaths around them, because even before they hatch we see them glowing red and stuff, signalling they r recovering from petrification
I also wondered if Aegon had gone crazy in his twilight years and tried sacrificing 7 Targaryens. He had the faith represented in the 7 dragon eggs; and 6 Targaryens died. What if Duncan couldn't stand by and watch and so interjected, then shit hit the fan
Crastor the wildling is in his late 50’s in the books, assuming he’s always been giving his children to the white walkers, and there is no mention of anyone one else doing this, it means the white walkers awoke and began filling out there ranks at least 30 years prior. The only significant and possibly magical event that happened around that time was Summerhall. Is it possible that Summerhall was somehow that catalyst that moved the Whitewalkers into action.
The greatest danger for someone with power is to pair that with the belief that they are special. Though ultimately this is Danny's undoing, she is the one capable of unlocking the magic of dragons because at that point she has very little power. Jon Snow's most consistent character trait is his refusal to believe that he is special, protecting him from delusions of grandeur.
I like to think that egg caused the fire as a temporary bout of madness to save the realm by sacrificing his wife and unborn child to summoning dragons. It ends with Dunk convincing egg that this isn’t right, but it’s to late. And egg goes out trying to control the flame to buy time, and dunk leading egg’s wife to safety, but dying in the process.
If Egg hadn’t misinterpreted the prophecy and burned it all down (in theory), then the Daenerys story line never would have happened like that. So ultimately his misunderstanding was key to Daenerys’ dragons.
It's the idea of a deterministic future
No matter what the characters decide to do,the way things go is already determined/decided by the hands of fate (in this case the author)
Egg was fated to cause the summerhall incident so that things play out the way they did (by giving him future visions to misinterpret)
@Mohamed Elhedi Issa I think it's less deterministic than it is just a cycle - the characters ultimately choose to follow or not follow the visions, I think part of the point is that if people stopped listening to their dreams they could end up much happier people.
That's kind of how prophecies always work, isn't it?
But if she hadn’t hatched her dragons, the night king never would have gotten a dragon to break the wall? If we believe that the show storyline is true(ish)
@Hope In the books, there was a magic horn that could break the magic of The Wall (or tame dragons?). I don't remember, read it years ago. And IIRC Victarion Greyjoy somehow tamed a dragon or went on a quest to do so. There's A LOT more important characters in the books and it gets so complicated, that probably GRRM couldn't untangle it all to make sense so we probably won't have the last two books : P The show merged some characters together and simplified some storylines. Changed some important events too.
If GrrM is not already working on a Dream of Spring and simply holding back Twow because he wants to be sure that he has everything in line, everyone where he wants them, with plots and character arcs that make sense. I honestly naively believe or hope this is true, because of GrrM's gardener type approach to writing this could be the case, where holding back twow is logical and necessary. If not, I really desperately hope that in his secluded cabin, he pounded out some Dunk and Egg Novellas at the very least. The Fans, and even more so the true Fans have been completely abused by Dan and Dave and we really truly need some hardcover redemption.
As well as his intentions were and the necessity of dragons to defeat the White Walkers... how would Aegon V intend to *maintain* this rule of peace when he A: can't live forever to ensure its stability and B: can't stop his descendents from abusing the power as both monarchs and dragon riders? Just because you dreamed something doesn't always mean you should pursue it recklessly
The tragedy at Summerhall was nothing compared to the horrific ending to GOT
The tragedy of season 8, truly horrific... We try not to talk about it anymore
George seems to have a cycle with the Targaryen history, every time they repopulate the family he brutally kills them all off again.
-Rhaenys gives birth to Aenys
-Rhaenys soon after gets killed leaving only 3 targs alive
-Aenys has a couple kids
-Maegor kills almost half of them
-Jaehaerys has a ton of kids
-Jaehaerys outlives almost all his kids (if not all can’t really remember)
-Family grows from J’s grandkids
-Dance of Dragons wipes out almost the entire family
-Survivors have some kids
-Daeron I, Baelor and Viserys die rapidly
-Aegon IV kicks it into overload with having kids
-Blackfyre rebellions
-Breakspear killed
-Great Sickness wipes a ton of people
-Blackfyres start to simmer out, Egg repopulates the family pretty well.
-Summerhall
-Aerys becomes king
-Roberts Rebellion leaves a handful left and all either are in exile or on the wall.
That's how you make unpredictable story.
@New Kings Content If Jon and Dany mary then the family might repopulate again
Yeah, but it's probably also pragmatic. I imagine George was realizing how complicated the Family Tree was getting and thought "I've got to kill off a lot of Targaryens"
@Akmon Ra George is great at explaining lores with logical explanation
It would be so ironic if Duncan, one of the greatest members of the Kings Guard did the same as Jamie and killed his king to save the innocent only to be remembered in high regards while Jamie, who succeeded in this far more, gets shit for it the rest of his life.
-Growing up among the common folk
-Learning from a humble knight
-Dreamed of being a Knight and defending the innocents as a child
-Growing bitter from the politics, war and rebellion
-Desiring peace, freedom, justice and security for his citizens
-Grows convinced that absolute military authority and power is necessary
-Destroying everything in one big event that killed everyone
-Paving the way for a mad tyrant to take over
-His descendent rebelled against the mad tyrant with a rebellion
.
.
.
Egg sounds an awful lot like Anakin "murder the youglings" Skywalker
I hate to be sitting here defending the final death throe actions of Anakin Skywalker... But the younglings had to die. They were too old to undo the indoctrination, not old enough to understand what was happening and what had to happen, and too well trained to not be a problem later. They could not be trusted.
damn! good eye!!
He was still fighting for the smallfolk in the end though. Anakin stopped caring about ordinary citizens.
@Mehek True, he wanted dragons so he can pass these laws without the noble houses rebelling against him. He didn't want military power for his own benefit, but because otherwise the nobles would rebel and start some shitty war again where the smallfolk have to fight it out for them.
But with dragons, no noble would risk themselves.
Is it possible that the now lack of magic in Westeros at this point in history contributed to the difficulties of hatching dragons? And that’s part of the reason a blood sacrifice is needed? I mean it would take something pretty drastic to “reawaken” the magic in a dormant dragon, especially with their Caliber to be powerful magical beasts
If the maesters did poison the dragon eggs so that they wouldn’t hatch, maybe the poisoned eggs reacted to the fire the way that a bomb or some kind of uncontrollable chemical reaction would. And because the eggs given to Daenerys at her wedding weren’t from Westeros and had supposedly hardened with age, maybe these dragon eggs were spared the poisoning because they were smuggled away before the maesters began poisoning the eggs. In the lore, Elissa Farmon supposedly smuggled exactly 3 dragons’ eggs from Queen Rheana and then sold them in Braavos, maybe these are the three eggs that Daenerys was able to hatch only because they weren’t poisoned the way the other eggs left behind in Westeros were.
Hey! Love the videos! So much I didn’t see and it’s making me reread the books again! Thank you!
Curious here. What are your (and everyone in the comments) opinions on Val the Wildling Princess and her role?
I think she’s going to be more important in the books especially to Jon?
I wish you could make more videos about so many dark and mysterious ancient places like Asshai, The Shadow Lands, Stygai, The Heart of Winter, Valyria, Sothoryos, Ulthos, The Five Forts, The Great Empire of the Dawn, The Empire of Yi-Ti...
He covers most of these places in his video explaining the East
As someone who hasn't read the books, hearing that dragons were supposed to save the kingdom makes the ending of the series even worse...
Dragons are supposed to secure the throne and bring stability to the realm. The ending of the series agree with this.
i like your theory about Dunk and Egg having a confrontation at summerhall:
Dunk: you cant kill innocents
Egg: I need dragons!
Dunk: you were supposed to bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness
Egg: wait, what?
Dunk: what?
😆
" I hate Sand! "
@Richard Davies “We had a fine time in Dorne!”
*You were the chosen one!*
Dunk: "It's over Egg, I have the high ground,!"
Egg: "Said no knight ever!"
Dunk: "Oh Be One"
Egg: "Gaslighting really? Am I Over-Easy?"
Dunk: "These aren't the droids your looking for."
Egg: "I hate you!"
The multiple conspiracies can create an interesting question, not who was the murderer, but who wasn't? Maybe a reason the Doom of Summerhall, reminiscent of Valyria's Doom, is so mysterious is several separate factions tried to assassinate the Targaryens and they just happened to coincide. Maybe King Egg wasn't going to sacrifice a family member, maybe he thought a new birth might result in more powerful magic than a death sacrifice, the blood of birth over the blood of death, but when trying a risky ritual, several destructive factions wrecked the rex's ritual. The idea of Egg trying for a more white magic than dark magic might tie into how there seemed to have been dragon lords older than the Valyrians, the Empire of the Dawn, who's peoples who likely made the foundation of Hightower and the white sword of House Dayne. House Dayne often has the same eye colors as the Targeryens, and Egg is half Dayne, but instead of an inherited Valyrian steel sword, which were made with Valyrian magic, dragon fire, and are black, House Dayne's sword is white and older than Valyrian swords, made from a fallen star. Maybe Egg found out about older, less-evil dragon magic, that of the Empire of the Dawn's, who predated the Valyrian's dark practices. Maybe Maester Aemon found out in Hightower and told his brother, Egg. Maybe Egg was trying to rebirth this older magic to coincide with the birth of his great-grandchild, but like so often in Martin's Westeros stories, dark deeds stopped better intentions, for the sake of power. Maybe Maelys Blackfyre did hire the Faceless Men, who felt excited to commit an act similar to committing the Doom, centuries prior, just to weaken House Targeryen in preparation for the Ninepenny Kings' invasion. Maybe the Maesters wanted to avoid reawakening this old magic, used Pycelle as an agent and he conspired with Tywin and Prince Aerys, like Tywin was later willing to murder a wedding, he felt no qualms about murdering at a birthday party, and this also began Aerys' addiction to burning his perceived enemies. Maybe Bloodraven saw how this tragedy could be the means justifying the ends of rebirthing Azor Ahai, so he had the Ghost of High Heart and Shiera/Quaith make sure it happened. Afterwards, Quaith was aware of the Faceless Men and went East to keep a closer eye on them. Given Bloodraven and Shiera seem to use dark magic they also might not have liked the extra conflict of old, light magic being reborn, and another reason they let Egg's ritual go awry (It would be a real weird plot twist if Shiera relies on older light magic whilst her paramour Bloodraven relies on dark magic, but I'm likely forgetting some facts about her). Meanwhile, all this political and magical plots against the Targaryen family members are partly thwarted by the simple morality of Dunk the Tall, who in his last acts of heroism ensured a baby was born and sacrificed himself to save his king a d friend. A simple man guided by morality and dying for it, going against greater powers fits with themes Martin wrote into the Dunk & Egg stories, and he also keeps in the Song of Ice and Fire. That's another central theme of the Dunk & Egg stories, greater powers create a conflict that Dunk and Egg have to combat, whatever means they have, Egg's royal power, Dunk's physical prowess, the friendships they forge along the way, and it wouldn't be surprising if they died the way they lived. Martin often has characters die by the morals they've lived by, ie Prince Baelor for Dunk, Ned Stark, and Jon Snow. (Man, I write long comments on these videos)
Hold up, there are 3 dragons and 3 people in the fire; drogo, maz duur, and Danny. In some ways the dragons, and the power they brought, killed Danny over time and ultimately lead to her death.
In some ways, 3 people died in that fire.
There’s also really cool parallels between Maz Duur, the idea oh hollow life in the form of drogo, Danny’s essence being eroded away by power, and the white walkers being empty men.
I’d love to watch a video about the war brewing in Essos during Dance of Dragons. There are a lot of references to it during Tyrion and Daenerys’s chapters, but we never really get a real explanation. With your repute, I think you’d do a great job going in depth on the topic.
I always come back to watch this because it really puts the entire main story into perspective. This is essential lore. I feel it should be more widely known and referenced.
I believe that the uncontrollable blaze that killed so many at Summerhall was finally contained and overpowered with a little help from another Noble House. Word of the raging fire reached Ser Joffrey Mormont, who raced there on the back of his family’s guardian and companion, the enormous and powerful Brown Bear, Smokey. Ser Joffrey ran around like a headless foodfowl, clueless as to how to stop the fire, but Smokey turned his giant, hairy backside to the flames and dug into the damp soil, flinging it out from between his back legs until it smothered the fire and extinguished it. The following part of the story has had it’s veracity debated by Maesters, Loremasters, and Historians, but the accounts of the events by people who witnessed it all corroborate each other’s testimonies and verify the truth of the matter.
They claim that after Smokey put out the fire
single-handedly, (or single-pawedly), he turned to the victims and those who came to help, and was heard to utter human language, very growly and low, but in common Westerosi- “Only YOU can prevent castle fires-“, and here he looked to King Aegon with a look that gave the foolish King a trembling in his bowels, and I think he pooped a little bit here, and Smokey continued-“…only YOU.” At this point, King Aegon went off in search of some poor person to help him clean up his dirty legs and throw His Royal drawers into the woods where none could see His shame.
Properly spruced up and looking quite dapper but for the peasant leggings he was forced to wear in order to hide the Royal Hiney, The King gave unto House Mormont the ancient Isle Of Squirrels and It’s surrounding waters, in thanks for the bravery displayed by the Mormonts and their guardian animal Smokey, the bear. Thenceforth their home was renamed “Bear Island”, and they took for their House Sigil a coat of argent, a Bear rampant sable, and were a brave and honorable ally to their neighbors and The Crown.
(Thank you to anyone who actually read all of the nonsense I just wrote here- I started out trying to make a simple joke, and it took off with a life of it’s own, and I was just along for the ride. And a special thanks to Alt Shift X, for making such awesome lore and analysis videos- I listened to this one about three times while writing this silliness 😆. Anyway- thanks everyone❤️)
Rheagar as Azor Ahai while Jon and Dany are Lightbringer and Lyanna as Nyssa Nyssa is a theory Ive never thought about, but its so smart in a typical GRRM way - giving the whole setup for the story a even deeper meaning, by making the Azor Ahai an already dead person
That has always made the most sense to me. Or at least Rhaegar is azor ahai, Lyanna Nyssa Nyssa and Jon is Lightbringer... Lyanna being killed at childbirth is a close enough connection to the metaphor of being stabbed = sex/conception... it literally says he "thrusted" the sword... weird verbage for stabbing.
Excellent job breaking down the pedigree information so perfectly! And you made is super interesting, as well. Great video, I'm getting ready to do some re-reading, or even starting a new book in this universe, so I appreciate the video!
What if the eggs did hatch, and it was their breath that sparked the wildfire to consume the whole palace? Maybe Dunc would have to kill the very things they were trying to bring to life in order to stop everyone from dying, but in the end he fails anyway. His last good deed can be to save Rhaella with Rhaegar before he goes back to die with his King. It all sounds very tragic.
If you are not already on George's payroll, you should be for keeping people interested in the books. Great video as always.
The reason the 3 eggs didnt hatch when Aegon 5 "egg" burned everyone in summerhall is maybe because dunk saved rhaegar and his mother. So there wasnt really a sacrifice but suicide killing. sounds crazy but maybe dunk made it not hatch by saving Rhaegar.
Maybe the true tragedy is that summerhall truly did have the sand protection for wildfire, and Egg's plan was going to work, but when Dunc went back for him he saw the wildfire out of control and activated the sand, not realising this was his Kings plan all along.
Dragons could have roamed the earth and secured Eggs legacy and dream, if only his loyal kingsguard was not so devoted to saving the royal family and Summerhall
I really like the idea that Egg saw Daenerys hatching dragon eggs but thought it all applied to himself
He probably thought bald Daenerys was himself.
@Mistonklelees or maybe he thought it was Rhaella
This is what a world of ice and fire implies happened . But if I’m being honestly we will never actually find out bc ggrm will never finish the last Duncan book .
@Kevin Mendoza he wont finish anything
"Summerhall" looks suspiciously similar to Moritzburg Castle.
For those who don't know, Moritzburg Castle is in the town of the same name, Moritzburg, which is in the vicinity of Dresden, and Dresden is a city in Germany.
My grandpa dropped bombs on dresden.
@ANSELAbits x0b001 bruh lol
I think Aegon V is the closest Westerosi king we have to Aragorn.
A true hero, a good person, and a great king. This is why I love GRRM, because even though he had all these 3 aspects like Aragorn, his reign as king wasn't perfect.
It was riddled with Rebellion and discontent with the lords. His dynasty gave him a lot of trouble. And as much good as he believed he was doing, it seemed to piss someone off somewhere else.
There's so much one can accomplish in one lifetime and there was so much Aegon wanted to do. He believed if he only had dragons, he could accomplish everything and do more good for the realm. So I love how in his later years it slowly turned into an unhealthy obsession that eventually killed him. Truly a fascinating character, and its awesome we get to see his whole life play out.
I would love to know more about Dunk and Eggs relationship after Egg becomes king. Just the tragedy of Egg becoming more consumed with dragons and prophecy infont of Dunk would be heartbreakingly good stuff xx
I know if this was intentional it mustve been TERRIFYING for Duncan the Tall to realize Egg had become consumed by this unnatural madness,and was now too far gone and no longer there anymore, I would imagine after this is when he went to save Rhaella. Maybe afterwards he goes back to try to save his old friend and is killed by either flame or sand.
21:10 I think it's also interesting to note about the maesters that we KNOW they didn't actually cause the extinction of literal dragons, that was the Targaryen's civil war, so possibly that's another instance of them using "dragons" in place of Targaryens, and they DID cause the extinction of those, or at least push them a lot closer to it.
Based on the lyrics, I always assumed Jenny survived the fire and wasted away at Summerhall in her grief
Yeah, I thought that's why Rhaegar went to Summerhall, to visit Jenny
I assumed the same! I’m glad to see I wasn’t the only one 😊
I like this theory
I think this is the truth.
A story in my head is that Jenny never wanted to leave the ruins of Summerhall, and she stayed there until her death, dancing with the Ghosts.
Rhaegar visited her frequently and inspired by her story wrote the song Jenny of Oldstones.
This song, Rhaegar performed at the tournament in Harrenhall and made Lyana Stark cry.
The rest is history!
Oh... uh... I always assumed the song implied Jenny couldn't deal with the loss at Summerhall and committed suicide there...
I think I can speak for everyone that we would all love a dunk and egg story that ends at summer hall. And after eventually a show about rhaegar leading up to the events of roberts rebellion. In that show you get to see his obsession with prophecy and growing up as the last dragon. It would honestly be amazing
A tv show about dunk and egg that leads and ends at sumemr hall too set up rhaegar Targaryens tv show that leads and ends at roberts rebellion
Great video. I loved how you went through all the prophesies. You did a great job sharing this information.