The free city of cohort cost, nothing.
You can have it or not. No, it's one of the nine, the
farthest east, probably the most magical at one point, perhaps
the most wealthiest maybe not so much anymore, but pretty wealthy
famed for their goods. And their proximity to the old
region of Tsar nor and the Dothraki sea currently Fame, for
their goods and their bed. All right, bad point.
Good point. So we'll be dealing with their
entire history as much of it as we can what we know their
connections to valyria and the current story what characters
are featured. Who's Corey?
Who's been to go horror all that fun stuff and more on this
episode of history of Westeros podcast.
Hello my fellow historians. Welcome back to another episode.
Shawn you've got a Nirvana shirt that has Owen Wilson on the
front instead of her. What's the deal with that?
Is this one of those that what's that thing where everyone has
like a shared false memory? You know?
Owen Wilson was it lead singer and that is news to me.
Hmm. Hey bear striking resemblance
well never mind. I am not drinking coffee today.
I've got tomato juice in my giant storm trooper cup is
things go well and another Storm Troopers and tomato juice
tomato. Juice tomato, have a Red Bull
have dragon fruit. Red Bull, mix with the protein
Berry naked drink and Sparkling Ice Fred right on.
It's a little tart, little tart, more tart than my usual actually
probably super sweet to most people salting heart.
I'm gonna call it a little slut. I would have been stronger
description of that more - it's not a Target that drink check
out. Good Queen Ali.
Dot tumblr.com. That's a lie with one, L Nina,
got a good question about the she-wolves of Winterfell
somewhat related to our discussions last week about the
marriages of Serena and Sansa and edrick and Brandon and Barth
again and all of them and try to make some sense of that.
So good post. Check it out.
Inna has some good thoughts on what might have been going on
there, even though we can't be too sure.
This episode was voted on by patrons next week, patrons have
chosen house, sell cigar beating out some other Island houses
that we floated. Hey, if this episode ends and
you want to stay immersed. We've got you covered with
suggestions for topics related. To this one quite a few relate
to this one. As often happens when we do a
more world-building, heavy topic, they always connect here
and there are two other things. Let the little threads both
slender and thick that connect other Topics.
That's at the end. Like I said, so is the answer to
this trivia question? The black goat is the patron
deity of cohort. But one character in A Song of
Ice and Fire was jokingly referred to as a black vote,
whom do I refer The first mention of cohort or is here
quote. Danny had cried when the red
door closed behind them forever. They had wandered.
Since then, from Bravo's to Mere Vermeer to tie Roch and onto
cohort, and volantis and Lease never staying long in any one
place. Her brother would not allow it.
The usurpers hired knives were close behind them.
He insisted, though, Danny had never seen one, so they got It
just stayed. Because as we found out indeed,
the reason she'd never seen one was because there weren't any.
Of course, if you've seen hired knives might be in big trouble
if they're close enough to be seen.
But anyway, so it's free comes up first obviously, as a part of
Danny's back story, particularly her flight from Westeros.
After her family, loses the throne in a lot of stories,
these places might only be names, just that nothing more
places that the author invented. Fill out this piece of backstory
but since this is A Song of Ice and Fire, all of these places
are well developed. Several of them, we've been to
lots of detail onto history, six of the nine, free cities were
listed there. All those cities listed were all
free cities. It's kind of an odd route
braavos to mirror that I rush around a cohort.
That's way that got bear then back to volantis, which is all
the way back south maybe now Danny was only five.
Maybe she doesn't have the order, quite, right?
But also George had drawn to map a little differently early
awesome cohort. Might have been closer.
You gotta do what you gotta do. When you're on the run it's
true. Maybe they're like What's run
really far like it. My, it does, it sound like it
doesn't make sense. It's just a question because the
map was different back then George actually intended but
it's still rewrite, it totally works.
Bill makes sense to go somewhere, whatever the
opportunity they had or whatever dangers they sense to rumor.
They're working off. But yeah, I'm going from cohort
of Atlantis is a lot easier than the other way around because you
go Downriver. Dow, go down the coin.
Fell into the wrong, all the way.
You just float all the way down and pick it.
An inner tube all the way from coin with the Q.
Yeah. Coin with thank you all the way
to volantis. Yeah.
So that's six of the nine free cities not mentioned with
Pentecost which of course where she is when she's having this
quote and law rapid nervous or not mentioned.
If you maybe never went to either of those.
Now of those nine, go horse, probably the most magical.
I said, probably because, you know, magic isn't always out in
the front and public, so there's stuff happening behind closed
doors and be sure. But cohort has the most, like,
obviously stuff going on in this might be A little contrary or
less exciting, the most people want but I tend to always want
to kind of downplay magical and fantastic element.
And my thought here is the even if cohort is the most magical,
what does that mean? I wasn't necessarily that
magical, right? Like if you had 10 people and
nine of them have one dollar and when I'm has two dollars are,
he's the richest one? Why stage?
Which is anyone up, but it's only two dollars, you know, so
humble. Yeah.
So yeah, you're right.
It's relative. There's probably enough bear to
be noteworthy, probably more beneath the surface and what
scene. And Dan only has to see one real
magic fainted or a person only has see one real magic thing to
change your world perspective, but I still, I don't think you
go to that City and like, everyone's flying around.
I magic carpets and everyone's like drinking potions of
immortality is really just? Yeah.
Totally. Yeah.
I don't see it that way more than anywhere else, but still
not that much. And this is a good time to bring
this point up that, and in response to that, or to add on
to what Saying cohort is the farthest of the free cities
away, farthest east, which isn't necessarily the farthest by
travel, but it's perhaps, the most remote.
Maybe lorath would be. So the farther you get from
Westeros the bigger, the rumor mill is going to be the less
actual information. They have the more links and the
whisper chain. Yes, game of tell ya, the more
time to be exaggerating the more difficult to verify, the rumors
are Spanish and talk about cohort, and no one's gonna be
like Been to cohort, that's not true you know like no one.
Yeah, that's not as likely to happen.
Nina writes. I can only imagine how Daenerys
Saco horror during however long she and Becerra stayed there.
She never thinks about it. In detail might have been her
first experience with a widespread prevalent practice
with magic or just the first time, she saw any magic at all,
to the extent that cohort really is a Haven for sorcery and blood
magic and it is to some extent though.
We don't know to what level like John's correct question.
Just how much there is. Clearly, it is so especially
with the continuing practice of Valyrian steel, not making but
trying to figure out what they did and we mixing it.
So Danny may have been exposed to that somewhat.
Are they? She may have just been too young
to have really understood anything.
Like when you're 5 or 7 year old distinguishing magic between
just cool stuff. Is well you're not very good at
that. Are you like that?
Viserys isn't probably going to Be the best teacher.
I mean, he's the guy telling them they're telling her,
there's hired knives following them.
When there aren't he does seem more likely to play it up here.
You know, to keep her uncertain of reality.
You know, he might have gives him more control over her.
He might have said, things like, you know, the we came from a
family that used to be part of society, ruled all this.
You know, that's maybe more along the lines of things he's
gonna point out. We also actually see not cohorts
specifically, but the forest of Co Horror in her third chapter.
So we get a little more right away, almost right away, quote,
for half the moon, they rode through the forest of cohort,
where the leaves made, a golden canopy high above them and the
trunks of the trees were as wide as City Gates.
There were a great elk in that wood and spotted tigers and
lemurs was silver fir and Huge purple eyes but all fled before
the approach of the callous are and Danny got no glimpse of
them. Yeah.
I mean 100,000 people. Yeah the animals would run away
from that, that's how roughly how big Brokers khalasar was.
So even though she's riding in the front yeah they're animals
feel the ground rumbling. Like with all that coming like
that we should get the heck out of here.
It must have been very wondrous. The Danny going through.
The forest of Co horror. This is someone who had lived in
cities most of her life. Led the red door as we just saw
and wanted to go back there. So not only does this Forest
particularly interesting and deep and huge, it might be the
biggest forest in the known world.
So it isn't just big and fancy. And interesting, it's
particularly massive and there's things in there that you would
never see anywhere else. Like it says trunks of trees as
wide as City Gates. I mean that's like redwoods you
know. Like that's the closest
equivalent on on Earth and redwoods really are that big.
I mean, there's redwoods you. Can drive a car through.
I don't mean you can, like, theoretically, I mean, you
literally can't like they have it carved out, and you can drive
the car through it, like roads flow through the center of the
trees, not through the forest of trees, but through a individual
trees. So, if you've never been to the
Redwood forest in California, it's or I mean, it's not all in
California, I believe that leave its pants outside of California,
but whatever it's super cool. It's a bucket list thing.
I suggest it's not on your bucket list.
Maybe you should add it. It's really just Yeah, it's hard
to those trees are so big. And, and so old, they have soil
up like 100 feet in the air there.
You know, grass grows on their limbs are.
You know, there's animals that live up there that have never
touched the ground and never will they have no reason to,
they're like, well, we live up here so there's almost certainly
that sort of fauna and scenario going on in the forest, bitch
whore to. Yeah, the branches have been
entangling and whining for so long.
As Sean said that they actually have a, they actually conformed
to hold the soil layer or multiple.
So yeah, it's It's kind of hard to Fathom that forests and be
like that, but it's true. So, the huge golden canopy, that
Danny sing here is, is sort of an extension of that as well,
where it sends out, I suppose there's thicker areas where you
wouldn't have any light coming through.
So, that's pretty pretty amazing.
And we're guessing that George was kind of, thinking of the red
report, she's probably been there.
And if not, he's seen pictures and well, George likes to go big
and well, there's the biggest trees we have in the real world.
So, yep, that's the inspiration. And probably Nina agrees
guessing that he was probably thinking of the Redwoods.
Here's the first we're up. Oh yeah, we're Ash a group.
That's right. So, she has some familiarity
there and I was with you when I saw them for the first time, I
believe. Yeah, I guess I don't know if
that was your first time but you were sure with me.
When you saw that was my only time.
Yeah. So yeah, yeah.
That was pretty cool. I was part of my missing last
week's episode is I was out in California.
We went to it was a state park, not a national park that had
some redwood trees there. They were younger ones, they
were Whereas massive but you see the tree trunks of some massive
ones they have been chopped down there were like I don't know,
three of me why I kind of like this and I doubt those are even
like the biggest ones during those are pink wood trees.
When you're the first mention other first mention here are Co
subject the patron deity of cohort.
Not exactly as popular elsewhere but quote is this your own
scheme? He gasped out embarrass.
Are you in League with Littlefinger?
That's it. To amuse the eunuch, I would
sooner wed the black goat of cohort.
Little finger is the second most devious man in the Seven
Kingdoms. That's a great quote.
He's like so you're calling yourself.
Number one, aren't you - yes? Yes, I am and I earn I deserve
it. Don't I?
Hmm. Yeah, probably you do probably
you do. I wonder about virus because
this is not a casual mention necessarily he isn't emanates,
emanates or Originates from essos.
So he would know more about the black vote than your average
westerosi and he may have even been there.
He's probably been to cohort. He was in a traveling Mummers
troop after all, and they would go to the large cities and
cohort is one of them cohorts, fairly wealthy.
So it seems like it would be a very likely Target for traveling
group of performers. He was in that group for a while
so there's very likely, he's been there.
Now we've seen mirror and lease and tie Roch as quote, sister
cities of each other and daughters and they're sometimes
called the truth. They were the try our key for a
while there. So they're often embroiled or
Allied or something lorath nervous and cohort or something
of an equivalent. They're, they're not as
connected. They don't fight each other as
often as merely Sentai rash, but there they have a lot of things
in common. So as we discuss the founding
and Geography of boho or we talk about things like this.
All three of those were founded by religious dissidents but
under different circumstances under different times.
Here's what the world of Ice and Fire says of it.
Now even more mysterious than nervous and lorath is their
Sinister sister, the free city of cohort eastern.
Most of all the daughters of Illyria Co R stands in the
river, coin on the western edge of the vast dark primordial
Forest to which she gives her Name.
The greatest would in all of essos looked at me as your guys
are lucky. That that quote, I did there.
I have nobody catch the together.
What I saw is, he's like, the way, his eyes just like looked
at me. He's fucking okay.
I said it though, I don't mess it up.
You did it. You did it.
I did it. I said I did the greatest
wouldn't hold back so I can tell For most of the free cities, it
almost wasn't. There is a city called s Aria,
which was a Valyrian Colony that, never really got going
because the Doom happened and then this Rocky destroyed it.
So having had more time passed over or may not have been
considered the easternmost, the free cities and that's assuming
a sorry. I even became a free city, which
maybe it never would have been. It may have been more like a
mint re sore, one of these cities that mantar is this
mantar, is that when are we gonna hear about woman, Tory
spear? Seriously.
And that which is ruled by valyria, but was considered one
of the three seasons, direct direct ruled I suppose.
So anyway, Course, it's on the coin River.
I kind of wonder which name came first, probably the coin and
cohort was named after that, which is a little odd because
the coin is a rhoynar name, but so cohort could just be a
coincidence. They both start with q, but when
students with the queue, yes, coincidence, with a coins
coincidence and the coin, of course, has that name.
It's a tributary of the Rhine. Voss.
It's on the knowing mirror, sits on the Moines and pain toss,
it's on the point. Yeah, just sits on the know you
made that made most of the Rind annoying is real and the coin is
real. A different name for the coin,
is the darkling daughter. That's a, like, a nickname for
that area. The dark wash is another
tributary that feeds into the coin, which then feeds into the
Rhine main branch, that is so throughout all the worship of
the river and the long-standing naming.
And civilization, that lived along at there have been a
variety of nicknames and ways to refer to different regions of
it. And I wonder if cohort coexisted
with the rhoynar, it may not have though.
It may have. If it did then they would have
traded with the city of our Neu, which is the green marble city
of one of the, you know, one of the ruins, of course.
And that would be interesting, or maybe they just sort of took
over that region after our tour was destroy.
That would make sense as well. We do not know how old cohort.
It's not like lorath where it was founded by religious
dissidents. Followers of bow, Ash or
whoever. And then that cult died out long
before current times and the Valyrian expansion to include,
it was an add-on rather than thing was founded as part of the
earth. Whereas cohort seems to have
been like a Myna, Lumber Colony that at some point, was taken
over by followers of black goat and then became cohort.
So its Origins are a bit humble but it the point or one of the
main points takeaways here, is that That it was Valerian almost
from the get-go. As soon as it was recognized as
a major spot, they would also be trading with nor vas, Laura
half. Of course because there's a
sister cities that are close by, probably a good amount of trade
with It, Babe, Nina. Suggest that a lot of people and
products from probably make their way to cohort, but less so
than some of the other places because it's not on the coast,
it's not a port. It's by the forest of cohorts, a
River Port, but that River doesn't extend into the The
northern Seas. So despite its proximity Goods
might go through another spot before getting the Cold War.
Now, Urban would also make a very good market for cohorts
Timber exports. But cohort or mostly a shipping,
their Lumber down river. Because that's easy float, the
logs than the current just takes them down to wherever they need
to go. Whether that's to all the way to
volantis perhaps or one of the steps along the way, one of the
smaller cities, one of the unmarked Villages or probably
Lumber camps and miniature towns that are focused on just cutting
trees and processing them for castles and homes and whatever
tools. Of course this our Nori cities
were there in addition to the cities of the Rhine.
This were more sure of that there was trade going back and
forth. Nina says cohort is sort of like
the Western associate equivalent of qarth and maybe that's why
their names are a little similar, just from an authorial
perspective. Just as car sits on the border
between the more well-known and well documented, part of the
assoc continent least, as far as See documentation goes and less
so more mysterious areas like e.t. laying in the shadowlands
cohort straddles. The more urbanized portion of
Western SOS, right Western SOS is where there's a lot more
cities, Less open spaces more. It's also more familiar and it's
farther away from the Dothraki sea.
But Gore's right there, the forest is what divides it from
the diffraction. See if it wasn't for that or
might not be there anymore more on that later.
I want to point out another primary use of lumber In
addition of, you know, building parts and tools and houses and
stuff. But but maybe the main thing
because once you build a house that's it, you don't need more
wood but firewood that's her gets use for ya.
Now, in cart a carts in qarth, I mean in cohorts but with a cute
right Q AR T. Let's also take a quote here
that discusses more about its position in the region and what
that does for it financially. Cohort is also famed.
Is the gateway to the east or trading Caravans Bound for vaes
dothrak and the fabled Lands Beyond the Bones are outfitted
and provisioned before heading into the Gloom of the forest.
The Desolation that was Tsar nor and the vastness of the Dothraki
sea conversely, Caravans returning from the East come
first cohort to refresh themselves.
After the crossing and sell and trade the treasures, they have
acquired This trade has helped to make cohort.
One of the richest of the free cities and surely the most
exotic though. It is said the city was 10 times
richer still before the destruction of star nor with its
gleaming Alabaster cities shining lakes and fertile Farms.
Yeah, this is super important. This is a city that sits in
between a lot of major trade routes from different regions,
based do Frack itself. As a bustling Market remember,
Danny visiting there and seeing things from all over seeing
people from as far as a shy and the shadowlands.
In addition to people from the free cities and that's based,
oh, Frack not cohort, which would have a lot more of that
sort of thing. And you can just imagine back in
the day, when Tsar nor was there all like, it says the gleaming
Alabaster cities they were trading with all those cities
and boy, that must have gotten them quite a lot of Bank, the
trees they could have sold to Sorry, Nora cities and the goods
that the past through the taxes, they levied, the food, they sold
to people going back and forth is Caravan by huge amounts of
food and water, and exchange goods from far away and
information. You know, that's gonna travel
through there, you know, people would have learned, little tips
of the trade or whatever and all sorts of different aspects of
life, and News of the World, and itself would be a value at.
I don't know about books and such to.
That's a great point. Sean like that is something that
they do at the market of based oath.
Rock example that we just used is drawers like me, go see if
there's some letters, you know. And yeah, of course he's sort of
doing a little chicane hurry there, but still the point is
he's able to do that. There is able to use that spot
to communicate and even though it's all the way back in
Westeros, so he's trying communicate within the show,
they actually made a cohort that that you're sent his message
from about Amy's pregnancy. Like as soon as he's told she's
pregnant, he's like Gotta ride the cohort.
I'll meet you guys later and it's like, hello, like, it's
soon as he finds out he's pregnant.
He runs not quite as subtle, but Also like you said information,
not just news, but techniques like how to do things like how
to make higher quality Goods cohort is known for the best
swords and armor in the world that we know of potentially Nick
not counting, Valyrian steel. But even they work with Valyrian
steel, I'm talking about, you know, regular steel.
But also they have fancy like wooden goods and lots of other
things. And a lot of that they probably
learned through contact with these other nations.
Because those other nations were there before them.
So they're unlikely to have been The Originators of all these
techniques. Some of them perhaps sure.
But a lot of it they would have learned from their neighbors and
some of them from far away. Neighbors.
Like you said, Sean is these things connect to each other
that Caravan from base, growth Rock would maybe go back to
cohort and then to Bravo something like that.
But it might continue through the bone mountains, all the way
to like e.t. or jogos nayar, who knows?
Trader town, or bonetown? Yeah, bonetown go to Bone down.
Hometown our bus. So as I said, shortly before,
this Aria was to the east that was called Base caddock by the
Dothraki, wouldn't they destroyed it?
The city of corpses next along the road.
If you're traveling East would have been sarna app itself City,
the tall tower. So Corps was located near the
capital, the largest. Well maybe not the capital may
not be the right word, but close enough.
It's the largest city and thus are Nori Empire or They're going
to call it your Wonder referring back to our noise are no, I was
nearby and they were known for their green marble.
You wonder about that Source. Where does this green marble
come from? And does cohort have access to
it now? Because it would have been our
noise in that far down, river from where cohort is now.
So, whatever that Source was probably some of these mountains
that are just a little bit West of the force for cohort is a
decent, guess I would think. But also just the idea of
coloring strikes me because The co horak are the only people who
know how to add color to metal without just painting, that's
what table ummat tells Tywin or maybe Ned he says that you know,
everyone else just paints it but we cohort know how to add color
to the metal itself. So that's why that came up and
wondering if maybe this coloration technique thing is
actually something that they acquired from rhoynar, who knows
just a pretty random gasps. But there's a little bit of a
regional connection there. As it says their cohort might
have been the richest of the nine for a while.
It says maybe 10 times richer than it used to be which is
maybe that's an exaggeration. But even if it was only five
times richer, that's very rich and if it was richer than
volantis, that's a pretty big deal because Lantus was
extremely wealthy being supposed to Valyrian All That.
So Co whore is we're thinking of rating the different free cities
amongst different categories like well magic or size of their
military. Very well.
They wouldn't be very do very well on that third category,
size of military. But in terms of wealth and Magic
here, they'd be near the top if not the top.
And you don't need as big a military to defend yourself as
you do to go out and Conquer other people.
So if they're just trying to extricate themselves secure that
they probably military seems fine enough for that.
Yeah, and they have the money to, you know, pay people off.
They bribe the Dothraki calls, sometimes they can hire
sellswords, like a lot of the free cities do most, the free
cities don't have standing armies, but some of them have
standing Navy's. My really sure what cohort has
as far as a standing Navy. They probably have riverboats,
because River piracy is a thing, big thing as We saw when Tyrion
and Company went down the Rhine. Balanced by them being so close
to the former cities of Tsar nor is that they're not as close to
being to the other three cities there.
Perhaps, as I said, maybe not as remote As lorath in some ways,
but in some ways, they are more remote because Laura is much
more reachable by ship. Nor Voss is the closest to
cohort, but nor Voss is equally close to cohort, as it is to
Laura, F Bravo's and pentapox. So that is nor boss, is a little
bit of little bit of a hub thing going on, being so close to the
other ones. Meanwhile, cohort has more of a
distant mystery Vibe going for it, that mystery is absolutely
enhanced by the forest, we had the quote about Danny passing
through, but here's the quote, from the world of Ice and Fire,
the woods that surround Or are the principal source of the
city's? Well, the earliest settlement
here was a lumber Camp, the city's history is reveal.
And even to this day it is as hunters and Foresters the korok
are most Fame, The Shining cities and sprawling towns of
the lower Roy hunger for wood and their own forests, have long
ago, been depleted, cut down and plowed under four fields and
Farms huge. Barges heavy with Timber Depart
the docks of cohort every day for the long Voyage down the
coin 2 dagger Lake, and the markets of cell whore.
He's ballasts are voluntaries and old volantis The Forest of
cohort. Also yields up Furs and pelts of
all kinds, many rare and fine, and highly prized, as well as
silver tin and Amber. The vast Forest has never been
fully explored according to the map.
It's and Scrolls Citadel and it likely conceals many Mysteries
and wonders at its heart. I had to not look at you.
When you said we're going hunger for what I saw.
You slightly start to chuckle. Terra incognita in the chat said
your mom hungers for wood and I also have struggled to keep
together their so-called whores on the western edge of the
forest. It's the farthest east of the
free cities but it's on the western edge of the massive
course Pearl Harbor. It's probably better known than
we think. And as far as the settle things
but still when it says it's never fully explored, I totally
believe that. I mean, there's forests in the
world today that have never been fully explored.
So the idea they wouldn't be fully explored back in the lower
Tech time. The place like this.
Yeah, that is easy to accept Nina guesses, that it's about
the same size as the haunted forest north of the wall, which
is also really huge, but bigger than the wolfswood.
So, Yeah, really, really big but impossible to say for certain
that's part of the idea of it, not being fully explored, it
mapping its borders that is it going to be precise.
That's going to be true for the other ones but we did see that
it took at least the direction Danny was walking, which was
riding, which is from west to east took two weeks to crossed
going that direction. North south would take even
longer there. There's a lot less reason to do
that as far as I know. So what appears to have happened
back in the day? There was a lumber Camp there.
Is doing its thing. It was surely profitable because
it was told this is a very profitable industry.
And then in valyria, as we discussed, there was a religious
dissidents of different types at different times.
And this happens from time to time because of malaria was so
open with religion, they allowed all religions to practice, and
some religions don't like other religion.
So, they actually don't like that.
Some religions were like, hey, we can practice.
And Do our thing, and they can do there's, and we'll all get
along. But not everyone was happy with
that. Like the followers of real or,
for example, they're not so happy with other religions and
the black goat followers are one of those religions and it's kind
of, not hard to see why they left.
Anyway, the black goat seems to be a deity of the woods, so it's
kind of like why they picked this spot.
Might not have been ideal to be in valyria and the first place.
Like Forest God volcanoes. That's not you know maybe go to
the forest might make a little more sense for them to kind of
see. It might not have just been
about wanting to practice their religion and persecute other
religions find a place where they were.
The only one is also seems to be sort of like a home for them,
like a, an appropriate place to be, given their values and their
beliefs, their values, such as they are.
I put that in quotes, the followers of the black voter.
Nasty punch from what we can tell.
We wonder if there's any ethic evren in this area.
Probably not be if a Kevlar on or farther east and that's the
kingdom of the ethic of Ron is if a Kevlar on is that like the
the SOS Children of the forest, Marinette rice.
That's right. That's so it's possible that the
forests used to connect to. This are these two areas in some
ancient time but maybe they just were never in this Forest but
maybe they were because, you know children the forest
Apparently being all the forests in Westeros perhaps that was
true here. Given the sheer size of this
Forest would necessarily think they'd have to flee.
You know, they could still probably be hiding in the deeper
parts of this Forest, but it's pure guesswork and it's not
called the kingdom of the ethic of Iran, which is to the east,
so that maybe hints that they aren't in this Forest but we
really couldn't say, for sure. No one probably could say for
sure, even in world. By the way, I think George could
have had all his book set in that fourth.
I mean, that's like they fit takes two weeks to cross through
it on horse. That's a massive amount of
territory with it. Huge potential, for all sorts of
stuff. Yeah, I could tell their stories
here, the World building here is great.
Its robust So as we'll discuss later in the episode, The Force,
it's probably important for the use of magic, it probably
relates to it. But as its says distinctly, it
is absolutely important for their wealth or their making
good money for trees and through the for Flora other flora and
fauna and different things like that.
Compare it to the vast unexplored, jungles of South
Aureus to the forest of cohort or I think there's a few
comparisons to be made here especially using magic as a
jumping off point. We talked about how the Bud.
Magicians of gothos would have loved to get their hands on all
the variety of species their toy with and do their genetic
manipulation on. I would think that that might be
true here. Maybe not quite the level of
biodiversity because it's colder but substantial biodiversity
substantial. I mean massive I mean there'd be
like other things like mushrooms and more things like that that
you may not see as much of and 30's like I'm not enough of
them. LG guy to know to list off all
the possible differences. But still we're talking massive
ancient for an ancient matters. A lot, you got old growth,
you've got under things, you've got one of my favorite bands is
called The Sword and they have a line about it would Untouched by
axes never heard the sound of axes.
It's so deep. They don't even know what an axe
is those deep forests. So that's that's cool.
I think of that even though there's all these Lumber camps,
the horse is so vast that there's places that have Ever,
even heard the sound of an axe. Yeah, along that same line just
thinking about if it takes two weeks to ride a horse through
it, like how long would it take to chop a robe trees?
The that distance? You know what I mean?
Like you're just I think maybe literally by the time you did
that new trees to be going back to the beginning.
There has to be an act of Beverage.
So like I want in fact they're probably is area, is that once
her chop down, that soil is probably pretty fertile and it
becomes Farmland, it supports the area that can Extra Value.
The ends up coming from them. A forest.
I believe some of the Valyrian roads connect up there.
Yes, you can see him? Yep, they're there.
Yeah, you can see them. So, that's pretty cool.
That works out really nicely, as we've talked about the idea of
valyrians Neverland roads. They used their dragons, they
can clear a path more easily. Maybe that's how they blazed a
trail through the forest. And once there's a trail like
you said, Sean is so difficult to make your not like making a
bunch of other ones like rough. Let's just use this one.
I mean, why go through The effort of making another one.
This one this road already leads to base, both Rack, or before it
would have led to sarnath or sorry, or both like yeah.
Why do we need another road? So there's probably some really,
really old trees in there. Nina says the stoutest tree in
the world is on a Montezuma Cypress and Mexico with the
trunk measuring 30 feet in diameter.
And the roots are 46 feet but that's not part of it for us.
That's kind of a solo wish tree. Yeah I was going to point out
that I there's some parts of this of cohort that Me of Mexico
City Mexico. You think of Mexico is being
kind of this desert is landscape but that's goes really big.
It's bigger than my Texas and California and hold Southwest
put together, and a large part of the northern part of Mexico
is pretty desert us, but guess what?
Now, we're Mexico City is. It's a huge freaking forest and
it's surrounded by multiple big lakes and I think it's got some
parallels to. I didn't realize it.
The largest tree was in Mexico. Now I wonder if some of that was
inspiring towards to, we'll get to it later, but like human
sacrifice Aztec, culture, or There's some parallels there.
Good point. Yeah, there is a lot of
sacrifice and cohort. So that's, that's a good point.
There was a lot of sacrifice and among the mashita as you say.
Amber is a major export from cohort, it's a major source of
wealth. Its treated like a gem in real
life and it's sort of like the blood of trees because Amber is
fossilized tree resin. When you harm a tree like it's
gouged resin flows to that spot and hardened sort of to protect
like a almost like a scab technically resin in the real
world is classified as tree resin.
That's 40,000 years or older so it's like the Warhammer room.
It's 40,000, so Amber is oh sorry.
Yes. Amber my bad.
Yeah and so if it's been so if it's under 40,000 years it's not
considered a yet and 10 and silver are also mentioned as
being present which implies the presence of Mines.
So, mining is a real awful Endeavor in medieval ancient
societies. It's brutal and involve slavery
and lots of poisoning of the environment and they're not
fully aware of what they're doing.
But of course, it also, Also means wealth 10 is important for
making bronze. It's one of the two main
ingredients of bronze and copper and Tin silver.
Obviously I need say very little about the wealth that comes from
Silver. Most of the coins in the world
are probably silver, not our world but that may have been
true at one point. Most of the coins in the world
of essos and West was probably our silver Maybe not, maybe
bronze, I don't know. And then mature, when you go
further, back both in the real world, or in Martin's rolled, I
don't know how much 10 was used for container.
Like a little mini has to be replaced a nowadays, but canned
used to be made out of 10 and aluminum, has some minor
advantages and took over for 10. But I wonder how often 10 was
just used for cups or cans or anything of that, sort of that
technology to steal stuff. Like we do now another human.
Yeah. We'll talk about some features
of the city itself. As is true of several of the
free cities, they specialize and thrive in part due to specific
Industries. Quote, The Artisans of core are
far-famed, cohort, tapestries, woven, primarily by The Women,
and Children of the city are just as fine as those woven and
mirror though. Less costly Exquisite.
If somewhat disturbing wood carvings can be bought in
cohorts Market. The city's forges have no peer
tapestries. Often have Metals woven into
them. This case, we would expect
silver to be that precious metal, maybe some gold here and
there as well, but the silver would be more plentiful and
available locally. When it says the women, women
and children are making the tapestries, does that suggest
slave women and slave children, or maybe not because it
certainly that's the case in a stupor and Marine.
You have specifically, this industry is slaves.
That's one of the ones where Danny here's a case from a
former slave owners like well why are they making all this
money off? This thing that I taught them,
and he's Are you kidding me, bro?
You're asking me that. So this is like you're paying
that muscle. She like punishes in more but
the point isn't that it's that example was they were weaving
tapestries. They were Loom people.
Not Loomer, isn't there? Many years lemon here, which is
this there's a lot of skill in that tapestries are expensive
and like like a high-end tapestry made by hand like a
skilled tapestry maker in modern.
X it working by hand can make like a yard like a square yard
in a month. Which is to say, again, that
doesn't mean slaves aren't doing it here, but if they are, these
are valuable slaves. You know what I mean?
So either way it's a high-end industry.
And I suspect part of the reason this city flourished Merkin with
mercantilism and was never a city of all about war Conquest
was because, like I said at the beginning, pretty much right
away, they were under the protection of the Freehold, like
who's going to mess with cohort. When it's one of a protectorate
of valyria protector, isn't the right technical term.
It's a free City. It's a vassal vessel isn't quite
the right term either. But whatever, a lie there under
the domain are ruled by valyria, just indirectly.
Which is why they're called the free City, the free City.
That term is always so confusing because that you slavery, they
weren't free. It's like yeah, independent
city. I wonder if that's a better way,
you know. Yeah.
And our world in our understanding independence by
more accurate than for. Yeah, that would be.
Yeah, especially now in the current times like without
valyria in the picture and more independent is pretty accurate,
they are pretty independent. Now the this of course
distinguishes them or makes them more similar to some of the
other for you. Cities, of course, like Thai,
Roch, and mirror, and Penthouse, they all have slavery, although
Penthouse doesn't right now, according to the deal that was
forced on them by braavos but they want to have slaves and of
course braavos was founded by escaped slaves, tie Roch was
founded to be a military Outpost at first so it did have a
military bent the military kind of angle to it right away
whereas it's kind of evolved in something else now but it is
start that way where score was never about military.
Although it was a bit has always been about military production
because It's makes the best swords and armor in the World.
Imagine they make a lot of Spears to write.
If your has a major rheinmetall points in the woods shafts and
great Point great Point. Yeah, mmm.
So nor boss is the most similar as we said, but not that
similar. In a lot of ways.
The similarities are they were founded by religious dissidents.
Religion is still really big today.
Whereas, for example, lorath was founded by religious dissidents
but it's no longer a particularly religious by it's
changed. Nor Boston Laura, I mean or
Vossen cohorts. Still are like that they're
still very much ruled or semi ruled by one particular belief
system. So we have Artisans especially
blacksmith, but also tapestries and hunters and Trappers and
Amber collectors, and Silver Mines.
And the magic stuff, which we have yet to fully dive into.
But as I've been leading up to here, with the discussion of the
black, oh, let's talk about that.
This is what sits Atop The City. It's a patron, deity.
And that is very odd and very interesting because it's not
what you expect to see at the top of a bustling Mercantile
city, is this Really dark, very evil, sounding deity.
That you kind of, might have thought, would have people want
to move past this and then, you know, but they haven't.
So, let's talk about the black goat, starting with this quote,
black goat, quote, it is known that the bearded Priests of
norvos regard, the black coat of Co her as a demon with an
especially violent treacherous nature, of course is what a lot
of religions say about the deities that aren't their own,
but I kind of agree with recent, or mosses does sound kind of
like a demon? Even when especially violent
treacherous nature, for example, mokoro calls, the Drowned God
and demons like you're, you know, that's no God, it's a
demon and the cars like careful, what you say, priest?
He's not not careful that. It's.
Yeah, and we hear that real or worshippers in cohort or rioted
and tried to burn the black goat down.
So apparently it's represented by this large flammable, edifice
of some kind. I don't know what I mean.
It's partly part. Tried to burn it down.
They did fail. Either they did fail and that
was recent. That was like Tyrion hears about
this, I think it was Tyrion anyway so it's happens.
This is during A Song of Ice and Fire that, this rumor comes up
what was going on there? Nina suggest, maybe they were
putting the black goat to a spiritual test, could you know?
Because they're their God, is the god of fire.
So, if fire consumed, the black goat, it would have maybe proven
something to them. It would have been more
meaningful to them than perhaps other people.
Although, for worshippers the black hole would have been
writing tests as well. So it would have meant a lot to
them off. But but we're loras, you know,
they think real or is the only God, the one true God.
And the black goat is just some Demon or this, some interloper.
It doesn't belong on the same. Tier, you know, if we're doing a
tier list of God's, we're loras. Would put real, or on the S
here, and the black goats all the way down on the sounds very
Blast for this. Yeah.
On the beach here for black goat.
I think that I mean I don't think I'm stretching much here
but I think it's Man and the book that moment is meant to
show that rulers kind of rising everywhere.
Yeah, good point. Even in the cities, interesting.
And even the city where they get home religion of something else.
Yeah, that's definitely enough. You're right.
I also I think we'll talk about this more later but I think the
black goat like real or there are like two sides to it.
Right. There's the light and the dark,
right. And I almost think the black
goat is part of like I think the Drowned God and a black goat are
the same thing, their death. They're just, you know,
different names and different cultures or whatever and that is
Is not not without agreement within the text.
I think I think we have a quote coming up in a minute here that
that suggests that. Yes, the black coat is a version
of like the stranger. Yeah, I mean I think God okay
you talk about the many-faced God we talk about the house of
black and white that's where you pick.
Talk a lot about the idea of multifaceted odds, even if that
is like true somehow, I feel like if that is true, the
follow-through Laura bringing the black goat, you're like,
hey, it's not like death doesn't exist.
That might even be part of your own religion.
You just don't realize it If they don't realize it, they have
their own agenda or their own or maybe even if they recognize it
is part of their religion, they still don't want to worship it.
We should be worshipping something different.
This is I'm not I can this actually does bring me to a new
thought. Remember that one of the things
that the relora star expecting is the eternal Summer which know
everyone lives forever. So pushing back against the god
of death is sort of symbolic, in terms of what their expectation
is. For this Revelation coming,
true, this Predictions prophecy coming to Earth for real.
So yeah, that's kind of neat like they're a getter there.
Anti-death I like no we're done with you deaf.
We're gonna live forever. That's great, right?
I think so like that. We'll see ya.
Maybe they've loosened up somewhat because clearly if
there's enough followers of real or in cohort have a riot.
Yes, they didn't succeed. Maybe it was a smaller number
that just the story, really traveled.
Maybe there's only like a dozen of them, but still, there's
perhaps more religious tolerance and cohort than there used to
be. And that makes sense.
Given how much the city is about making money?
You know, if you're making money, you gotta gotta be loose.
It's a lot of these things. You can't allow these belief
systems To stop the flow of cash, right?
That's that's how it seems like Barak real, God is money and
that sits behind the black goat perhaps and over time as a
culture like that gets exposed to more different other cultures
and religions and gods and time passes.
You know I can see it's natural for a new religions to come and
old ones to Wayne. Even if they generally maintain
control they might and especially in a moment like
we're witnessing in A Song of Ice and Fire right now where
there's General Rising magic, this General Rising world.
Lord, we're seeing new miles with.
We're seeing changing. Yeah, yeah, this is a time of
change. We've referred it to refer to it
as like the second Age of Heroes like that.
So yeah, you would expect lots of things to change forever
potentially and big changes as well.
I would think that behind that maybe, yeah, there must there
might be some benefit to keeping the black code in place for the
powers that be and go whoever. They are the richest of the
rich, the elite of cohort. They must see some benefit to
it, or at least it's too much for them to push aside.
So they either they accept it. Because getting rid of it would
cost them too much or be too risky or something like that.
They play nice because there's no other no better way or they
play nice because it actually benefits them.
Maybe they even also understand this is the god of death.
It doesn't mean there can't be other gods but death is still
real. We're good.
It's what we worship except for understand these other gods and
religions but this is still death, he's still rules over
everyone. Whatever else you think you want
to worship? You know, I can understand him
having an open mind about other religions.
It's and still worshipping this one.
I agree that makes sense. So the priest apparently where
Cowles, which is, you know, that's pretty standard operating
procedure for Priests of the dark God to wear Cowles, right?
It's totally the uniform, you're right.
But I still wonder about like how this came to be how I had
persists. And why people still to this day
would join with like, why would you be born into this city and
be like, yeah, worship that, you know, I think they were tricked
because it's spelled with the cube.
Yeah, Nina suggested, maybe there's been reasons to be
thankful to the black coat. May be there the way things have
been spun. For example, perhaps the most
basic recent ish reason would be that maybe they see the black
goat, having saved the city from the Dothraki.
The goat stop the horses. Four-legged animals, go into
battle goat, came out ahead, Yeah, so that might be a reason
to be to be thankful and that fits in with how they worship
black coat. Black coat isn't like a DD that
they love. It's one that has to be
placated. Daily.
Sacrifices are offered and it's supposedly, they believe that if
they don't do this, they'll fall into ruin or the black coat will
be unhappy and punish them. So it kind of makes sense that
they would have this sort of Stockholm syndrome relationship
with this God, that protects them, but also is going to kill
them if they don't do what he says.
Says it's also like a horse sighs go right?
Not a cute little Billy goes a giant Pink.
Monstrous go. Yeah, quote-unquote go.
Yeah, that's correct. That's exactly right.
When Aria sees, what are you get to the house of black and white?
She's a whole bunch of deities, and some of them and you kind of
gotta think about it to see, which is to figure out, which is
which, but not the black goat, because it says, a Shaggy, black
goat, the size of an aurochs like that one's pretty
straightforward. Yeah, an aurochs is like six to
seven feet tall. We discussed it back in.
An egg, I think because of the pony Of Orcs being kind of like
Buffalo. Yeah, right?
Hairy buffalo are very buff another giant.
So imagine that you buy a goat of that size, 6 or 7 feet tall
maybe standing on its hind legs that demands daily sacrifice.
That's scary. That's terrifying, right?
I mean, yikes. So is the worship of the black
goat connected to sorcery, like a lot of religions are so
powerful and so long-lasting because they have real power,
but that is that is a bit would be a very strong explanation
that is what one, Stannis over to real or and Melisandre hidden
believes. He's like reluctant to accept
all this God nonsense, but when he saw smells under actually
predict the future and actually do other sorceries, he's like,
All right. Well, you can't go denying that
that's real. He she really did that.
So if this comes from real or then that's real power and I
can't just shun or despise that that explanation would totally
work for me here. As a reason why this creepy
strange religion is still ruling.
We're still so powerful after so long.
Seems like the kind of thing that would eat itself, it would
just destroy itself. Almost like valyria did, you
know, although blurry lasted a very long time, Lively Rock.
Add lots of magic to keep itself going.
So that maybe also works here as an explanation.
I've talked about this before sometimes it once you make a
certain sacrifice towards admission a goal and end or
whatever. It's harder to turn back like
yeah once they've already been sacrificing something every day
for years for your life for Generations, whatever its it'd
be really hard to be like we should have been done that.
We're not going to do it anymore.
You kind of you kind of have to keep going with your I mean too
much has already been put into it once.
Matt mining happens that, you know, like a week later after
you stop, Lexi is just the beginning, it's gonna get worse,
you're all bad things happen because because we stopped or
there's that also, but I'm just thinking of the cost already
invested, you can't admit to yourself that that wasn't worth
it, right? It's a sunk cost to keep going.
It's yeah. Here's a direct quote from the
kindly man who teaches art is teaching Aria how they sort of
Envision. The black goat there at the
house of black and white cohort is the black goat, UT the lion
of night in Westeros. The Stranger all men.
Must bow to him in the end, no matter if they worship the seven
or the Lord of Light, my mother or the Drowned God or the great
Shepherd, all mankind belongs to him else.
Somewhere on the road, would be a folk who live forever.
You know of any folk who live forever.
Well, she doesn't. But speaking of the immortality
stuff that is very relevant in this sense.
So I like this idea this concept that yeah, these are all just
faces Beth and the Palace of black-and-white positions
himself top like yeah, we figured it out, were the Smart
Ones, those are all just death, gods, and ours, is the one that
actually represents them all. They're just Reflections in the
lake, you know, where the, where the true version, but it makes
sense because deaf Gods are prominent because death is a
real thing that happens in every culture.
It's a fact of life, what is that?
That onion article World death rate, still holding steady at
100 percent. Yeah, but it's not just a fringe
belief. It's not something.
Only The Faceless Men claim that the black goat is one of many
versions of the death. God even Tyrion says something
similar on the eve of battle, Penny quote, that's stranger
coming Penny, the black goat, the pale child, him of many,
Faces call him. What you will?
That's death. Yeah.
Death rules over Co horror and in some way that is kind of
absolutist. It's like, well yeah.
We're all gonna come face-to-face with this one day.
But why does it have to be a black coat?
Why does it have that specific face on it?
You know, I really wonder about that, that's, that's so
peculiar. So I must be a pretty widespread
belief that a lot of people around the world.
See the black goat is a version of the god of death.
Perhaps the only one that rules directly over a city.
Perhaps not but arguably there's some other things that you could
say are similar like the house of black and white doesn't rule
braavos. Even though they are kind of a
death cult or maybe not kinda maybe they're just a death
called a different kind of death but they don't rule to use.
Are you sure? They don't really they kind of
do an assessment. Yeah they do sort of they do
have a share of their innocence certainly they have a share over
the rule of who lives and who dies.
That's that's for sure. It demands daily sacrifice and
that's kind of wild. It doesn't seem like that's
changed since the Doom. Like, they must have been
demanding daily sacrifices before the Freehold fell and
apparently, it's still happening.
Now, quote, Cavs bollocks horses are the animals most often
problem for the black boots altars.
But on holy days, condemned criminals.
Go beneath the knives of his crowded priest of his Celtic
priests and in times of danger and crisis.
It is written that the high Nobles of the city offer.
Their own children to placate the God that he may defend the
city. So honestly, I don't Flinch
much. It's sacrificing animals, I mean
in this context and given in this world, I mean if you eat
animals, it's hard to be that squeamish about us sacrificing
one. But children, who that, I mean
that's great shelter and then it's true if you eat children
this probably doesn't bother you.
But yeah. Need to point out the prince of
Pentecost bit which is Is, you know they sacrifice the prince
of pentos whenever the city loses a war or for crop fails.
They sacrificed? Yeah.
Or if the plague happened so it's kind of aristocratic
privilege mingled with sacrifice.
Like, well the aristocrats have this privilege but if they don't
wield it properly, we get to call for their deaths and it's a
similar sort of scenario, except that we don't hear about the
adults being sacrifice here, the powerful and cohort of past that
off to their children rather than to the adult.
So They're both pretty barbaric. The pentoshi ways a little
better since they're not killing kids but still pretty bad and
it's a slippery slope, right? What's this was a criminal
especially in a city ruled by one particular zealous religion
like what counts as a criminal like you could for your laws are
written by religious groups. And they could easily write the
laws to include like blasphemy and things.
Like, I mean, we have out in the real world all the time.
So yeah, criminals, we're not just talking murderers and To
your we're talking? Yeah I know it's a very slippery
slope of saying we're deciding based on our morality.
Yeah. Morality is the black goat
especially that is the morality that we're going on, then.
Yeah, that's yeah, dangerous little bit of a tangent, but I
remember talking about, I wish you could know what the context
was been talking about that system and pintos how it at.
Least there's some sort of like it's like a motivation for the
prince to make sure he's doing a good job.
Like even something is out of his control like a drought.
Well, he better start preparing Reserve grains in cases of
drought. Otherwise, he's going to get
himself killed but what are the kid's supposed to do to prepare
themselves to defend the city know like, yeah, they're pretty
out of control and innocent and get punished for it.
Anyways, that's a great Point John.
There is more of a rational element to the stick and the
carrot and the stick dichotomy there.
The prince of Penzance has motivation.
Good thing but the people go or like, you sacrifice your
children because the Dothraki are coming.
Like, what is that gonna do? I mean, how does that motivate
you in a future to be prepared for the Dothraki coming?
Okay, so it sounds crazy, but this is from real life.
It's the stories, the Romans, and the Greeks tell of Carthage
speak to exactly this their godbole and or mail cart,
Actually sacrificed the children of nobility when the city was in
Peril. Of course, this is what the
Greeks and Romans say the carthaginians did, and the
Romans sacked, Carthage and destroyed all their books.
So, we don't actually know if this is true, but considering,
there are multiple sources for it isn't.
Just the Romans say, it's a Greek state to.
So, it might be true. There's also some pan Vibes here
because it's a black go. Right?
Go plac. Pan was a piper who sometimes
encourage people to throw off civilization and just go live in
the woods. And he basic and just do that
stuff goats in Christianity and Western societies, goats were
associated with Satan, but that was, that was propaganda.
That was actually not like, from ancient times.
That was invented as a pushback against other forms of
Christianity and other religions.
And that doesn't mean just persist today.
They're still like goat skulls or still like metal bands.
Love to show goat. Skulls is kind of push back
against that old propaganda from.
Any. So that's that's probably part
of what, influence George here, but an even bigger influence on
George was almost certainly HP Lovecraft, who we brought up
many times here. There is a one of the great old
ones in the HP. Lovecraft deity list.
Is the black goat with 1,000 young, a hellish cloud-like
entity, who is connected to astarte, and Ishtar, and ball in
some Miss Cycles, which brings it all the way back.
Back to the carthaginian beliefs in ball and milk part.
So there's multiple paths to get to the same influence pathway
here, pretty cool. Isn't there?
Some God that like he wanted his followers to sacrifice their
firstborn son and I think he ended up sacrificing his own
wasn't? Yeah we just have didn't we just
pass over that holiday recently? Wait isn't this Easter like
right now? Where did George get these crazy
ideas of having People sacrifice their kids for religion.
I didn't choose Easter for this on purpose.
What happened? Our patrons did.
That's right. The black coat isn't only works.
Have been cohorts. Just the one place where it's
the most prominent like a shy. It's Worship in a shy where
nothing is forbidden. You know, talk about religious
freedom. They certainly have it, they're
not shy. Now, they chose the black, go to
be their Patron, deity their mascot, if you will, when they
could have chosen this instead the little Valerian quote, like
many Northerly forests, it contains elk and deer in great
numbers along. Along with Wolves tree cats,
bores of truly monstrous size, spotted bears, and even a
species of lemur. A creature known from the Summer
Isles and sith'ari O's, but otherwise rarely seen farther
north. These lemurs are said to have
silver white fur and purple eyes and are sometimes called little
valyrians a preserved example of a lemur from The Forest of
cohort can be found stuffed and mounted in the Citadel though so
many hands have padded it for luck in their examinations but
it's fur has long since fallen out like a beloved stuffed
animal. I just naturally occurring these
bees lemurs or this is like a blood magic experiment that
actually created animals. That can breed because most
blood magic experience creates Darrell Creek.
Just like in real life, when you cross breed animals like
donkeys, or mules, or whatever, they're usually sterile.
So I wonder if this is one of those because they're, it's kind
of an unusual animal. And like, real lemurs don't live
in Forest lemurs live in Madagascar.
And that's it. Well, that's where they came
from. They may be, like, they've been
taken elsewhere and Madagascar is very warm.
It could easily, especially George will be some magical
thing, but it's worth noting. It could also be a I can't think
of the term but artificial selectivity I think like for
example I think it's off the coast of Japan.
There's this crab that look like the show of its crab.
Looks just like the face of a samurai and it's because
centuries and centuries fishermen when they pulled out
crabs that look like the face of a samurai they throw back in a
ones it didn't they kept him. So eventually they start to all
the ones that survive with that DNA pass on that DNA.
And eventually they all just have the face of a samurai
direct. So It could be that selectively.
If they were hunting these lemurs or feeding the Lemur,
they would hunt the ones that don't look like valyrians and
feed. The ones that did that make
sense, they might have selectively ended up causing him
to look more and more hilarious that you're saying Nina tends to
agree that it's a little coincidental that this number
one blood magic spot that's a Valyrian now it has just happens
to have these unique Valerian looking lemurs and the Nearby.
Are they ever sacrificed? We're here bulls and bears and
other things sacrifice. They sacrifice a little
valyrians, yikes. Probably not there to Valyrian
for that. Now, they want to sacrifice
lesser beings. So apparently lemurs in the real
world used to be as large as Guerrilla.
Everyone ther that big just like, whoa, imagine casters me
cuz it's really big but it's an island.
So I had to like you a lot of unique evolutionary branches
take off including lemurs I'm is like 20 or something, different
species of lemurs and of Course, you know, I think the really big
gorilla type one to become extinct.
Most of them are like, I don't know, hi under 20 pounds or
something, but some of them are really like there's one called a
mouse lemurs three inches long and weighs like 10 oz.
Like yeah it's crazy. Cool.
Is it Go wide? Variety of very specialized
lemurs matter, dusters pretty cool lemur.
There's another little clue here that the Lemurs might be
magically oriented here in western or an SOS, because the
word Lemur in Latin means ghost or spirit.
Those are kind of like the ghosts of valyria and sense.
There are a Remnant, they look like malaria, which is gone.
Now, you know, the Doom, which is a segue to the doom and what
happened there. And what happened in Co horses,
we have a very interesting quote cohort, had something peculiar
happened, let's hear it. What followed in the sudden
vacuum was chaos, Dragon Lords had been gathered and valyria as
was their won't accept for a Nar Targaryen his children and his
Dragons who had fled to Dragonstone and so escape.
The Doom, some accounts claim that a few others survived to
for a time. It is said that some Valerian
archons didn't Irish and least were spared but that in the
immediate political upheaval following the Doom they and
their dragons were killed by the citizens of those free cities.
The histories of cohort, likewise claim that a visiting
dragonlord, Aryan. In raised forces from the
cohort, colonists and proclaimed himself the first emperor of
Bulgaria. He flew away on the back of his
Great Dragon. With 30,000 men, following
behind a foot, to, lay claim to what remained of valyria and to
re-establish, the Freehold, but neither Emperor, Orion, nor his
hosts were ever seen again. Like the idea of a ghost Army.
Yeah, I know right. Just like all of a sudden a man
were there and like 30,000 men. Just like show up.
Lost Through The Mists of time. Yeah.
It's like. Where did they?
That's a lot of missing Foods. Yeah, Orion was never seen
again. Sure fine.
But 30,000 people were never seen again.
Where were the where there's this?
Where did the bones go? Yeah, just shank and Must have
had equipment. They must have had yeah swords
and shields and horses and yeah, it's wild, fun events like this
kicked off the Centre of blood, I mean, all sorts of wild stuff
happen there, right? It is made the title free City.
A bit closer to true as they were no longer ruled by valyria,
of course. They a dude claiming to be
Emperor here, but that didn't last very long, so that was a
short, little episode for them. And of course, I still have
slavery in the blood sacrifice and we'll get back to that
later. But as we've said, been saying,
Coco whore, Not a city of warrior.
So these colonists these people that he raised to be his army.
Yeah. Might not have been the best
army you've ever seen so because they are used to hiring milk
mercenaries and when they were ruled by valyria, they probably
didn't even do that because they were like, they probably didn't
have much to worry about in terms of being attacked by
Outsiders like Tsar nor wasn't going to attack them there.
It's their trading partner starting or doesn't want war
with valyria. So certainly these 30 some
thousand non warriors were not enough to intimidate a blasted
Wasteland into submission. I don't even think good Warriors
could have done that Nina wonders.
Why he didn't just try to set himself up there?
Maybe he would have come back to it though.
Maybe he was going to go to valyria and maybe he was his
plan was to return to cohort and maybe He did things in cohort to
establish himself before, leaving things that still?
Our true now are things that are still in play right now.
In other words, like the Valyrian steel secret, how did
it get from valyria to cohort even though they didn't get the
whole secret because they don't know how to remake it?
Is it things like this? I like maybe Orion was like
alright cool horik, in exchange for you supporting my candidacy
here, I'm going to give you half the secret of Steel, and when I
come back I'll give you the other.
He never came back so they didn't get the rest.
That might be. That's a little random.
As I guess, you know, it's there's not a lot to support
this idea but I feel like Orion couldn't have just given orders
and been like all right you guys all follow me now.
Like he might have tried that because he's a big dragon lord
and outranks everyone but still he would want to not just tell
everyone want to do. He went on to give them some
motivation to follow him. He would like some of the rich
people of cohort might have other options and he went to
make sure they were on his side and he would give them
concessions or things of value to make sure they're on his side
especially if he's going to be leaving.
He wants to make sure that The city is still loyal to him while
he's gone. It's obviously time of great
chaos. So he can't just be like you
wait for me, you know, and don't do anything until come back.
Like core is really far from valyria.
Kind of doubt he just told them gave them orders and expect them
to stand Pat and that's that. So yeah I do Wonder I stood a
little bit on it. Also like maybe the 30,000
number was exaggerated some of those he picked up on the way
from other cities, you know. Yeah.
Or maybe some of them trailed off along the wave that, you
know, they may be literally died or starved or got lost or
abandoned revenues me tune. That were marching into a
blasted landscape. Like this is not once word got
to them that we can't actually merge there.
Yeah, I guess so. Well, I mean, I guess I just I
just it's, like, 30,000 people like, you picture, like On
Tuesday, the first 10,000 people crossed into like hell on Earth.
The next twenty thousand does turn around, like, it's hard to
imagine they all day. They all just keep going.
Yeah. Like I can't because I'm like,
makes me think like okay, like a bunch of them crossed over and
then got infected with those like worms or whatever.
They like a ray of God may be like they all got killed by
something that just like spread through the Army, you know, like
maybe a callus are got them. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. You think maybe they would brag
about it or talk about it or whatever.
Be some record or there would be there?
That's dragon bones. Something there.
What happened to that dragon-like?
Yeah, yeah. I guess, I guess that's all I'm
going to say. I now feel that it was illness
that ended up killing the whole Army off that.
They got some magical disease that just like, wiped them out.
No Trace. Even a regular disease were
still things that you would think that.
One experienced leader would be like test the water before
everyone drinks it but maybe they did was poisonous and but
there was no other water and they just all died of thirst or
starvation. Even still where are all the
equipment and bodies of these 30,000 or six?
Agitated 15,000. That's still a lot of people
just gone actually, if there weren't cohort armor, that's
some good stuff. You want that?
And I have another little one next year.
Okay, my theory is that they get to the border of valyria, okay?
Like they get to It starts to look like hellish, okay?
And let a lot of people are like, I think we should turn
around and like maybe they would have, but the worms are some
magical disease starts, just ripping through them and they
all die. And then the border of valyria
like extend the little bit, you know.
And then they're all just pulled into the lava and to like
there's they're just they're just all burned up and they're
all in the bottom of the, you know secondary aftershocks.
Got like a secondary. Yeah, something like that.
I don't wave or something like, wow.
Some all off the coast or something like that.
Yeah I think natural disaster like extending the you know like
they thought they were not as in danger.
Yeah I do. That's what I'm not.
Makes a lot of sense there. Aftershocks make sense like they
were just be the one explosion and that's it is like very often
when there's an earthquake. There's a secondary or tertiary
or quaternary or I'm losing running out of cash.
It might be that someone like dust like digging into under
like a mountain and I'm about and be like a pile of rocks and
I go oh there's 30,000 corpses and all their arm.
Ultimately quarks, I mean, tougher discover if they're all
washed into the ocean. Yeah.
Also, as an effective your earthquakes and volcanoes can
tidal waves in the ocean, you might imagine that sometimes,
sometimes on just finds a cool suit of armor on the all the
like something washes, ashore. And they've a great payday.
Oh no well one of the thought Theory question I have.
Is it possible that his Dragon survived?
Aren't there? A few dragons out there that are
like I don't know loners, you know I have a mysterious or Ends
or appearances is possible. His is one of them.
I'm not quite up enough on all the dragon lore, but could his
Dragon be a dragon? Is it could have survived or it
wouldn't have? You know, would have died a
while back. Most likely the Doom is more
than 400 years ago. So, we've never heard of a
dragon being 400 years old 200. We've heard of.
So it could, it's not like really out of the question, but
maybe that Dragon didn't die and then was riderless and just
lived its life out in valyria. Or was killed by whatever carved
in nine foot long Scar and balerion.
Yeah, yeah. So it could have been killed by
a separate, like I'm not sure that a natural disaster killed
this Dragon, but maybe it did. Like if there's a secondary
Aftershock of substantial size, that could that mean dragons
were killed by the original Doom.
You think the aftershocks of the Doom would be pretty substantial
given how substantial to do in itself was So later in the
century of blood cohort teamed up with norvos to defeat
volantis and stop their Imperial Ambitions.
Because after member ohryan failed the V ballantine's, try
to do something similar and position themselves to be the
inheritors of the heir to the Empire, to quote, a recent Star
Wars, trailer and Union also wonders.
If maybe Orion if he had set himself up a little differently,
if you tried to do, like, the targaryens, did where they had a
base. That wasn't Directly connected
to the continent like Dragonstone, something like
that, where he set himself up outside of former spot and ruled
from there, but no, it didn't, it didn't happen.
This defeat of the volunteers involved, something called fire
galleys which I really hope they called water dragons or river
dragons. Because you know, seems like
something you would do. Like this is a former Valerian
City. Like it hasn't been that long
that the dragons were gone and, you know, anything that's
breathe. Adding fire sort of would get
nickname, the dragon. And it would make sense like, I
mentioned briefly earlier would make sense to have a lot of
river craft and cohort, actually, don't have deep sea
vessels because they have no connection whatsoever to the
oceans. There, waterway that leads to
the ocean is super far from that given how important river travel
would be for their economy. And there are a lot of river
pirates in the area. Well they have the timber to
make the ship's they'd have the economic incentive.
There would be no people that maybe aren't in the timber
industry. Could be like hey I could make a
buck being Protector of the industry.
Like I'll set myself up and fight Pirates, being anti pirate
guy and people will pay me for that kind of thing.
I would imagine that sort of thing exists.
And if you've got paid well enough, then you can turn pirate
become one of them, if you can't beat em.
Join em other way around, maybe maybe beat the Pirates and gets
him to join them and become anti Pirates.
That's a whole, all these things that probably happened
throughout the longest repo horror.
The rivers are huge and expensive.
This is the rhoynar or the Rhine we're talking about after all,
even if this is just one corner of it, the upper Northeastern
corner of the Rhine, it's still all part of the giant river
system, the largest in the world.
So that's got to be relevant. Let's take our halfway break.
Here, we are sponsor list at the moment.
So I want to put out a call for you all to join us on either
patreon or Spotify as a subscriber.
We're on patreon right now, we're running a special at the
end of the month. At the end of May, we are doing
away with the two dollar level. If you are already on the two
dollar level, you get to keep it.
So if you sign up now, the two dollar level, you can be grand.
Other than as the level disappears and still, keep those
benefits to keep that level even when it's gone.
So, now's your chance, you've got a couple weeks left.
If you're hearing this after the end of April 2023, well you
could still sign up, not a two dollar level, but you can still
sign up and we'd be much appreciative of that, and we
will offer you things in return, such as bonus episodes.
Other levels have access to scripts and things like
shoutouts. And we're as we discussed last
week, we're going to be adding some new features.
Sean and Ash. And I are figuring out exactly
how to deploy these things. But one thing we're gonna have
like, a game night, maybe like a trivia night kind of thing for
people who are signed up. So all the more reason to get
in. Now when it's the cheapest
possible and we would like I said, very grateful.
If you could support us there We're gonna replace the two
dollar level with 2005 in y'all. It's really it's a killer.
You should have said 3,000 Sean, because that's the title of our
next section. The 3000 of cohort.
Yes, another major side. Effect of the Doom was the
emergence of the Dothraki. They first feasted on the
scenario. As we saw the Centre of blood
saw, the destruction of all the SAR Nori cities by the track. -
that one that's still there. That's only like twenty thousand
people, it's hardly even a city that the tracky cities are much
closer or rather, the Dothraki Homeland is much closer to the
sorry cities and the mother of mountains then any other
civilization and the sorry lack the protection of the forest of
cohort which is not the hugest. Most impenetrable force there
are you know, Danny and grow but they just walk right through it
on some Trails presumably. So it wouldn't have been the
biggest obstacle for. Rocky call khalasar to follow.
But it's something. It is at least put some little
farther out of the way a large khalasar.
Under a man named Khal temmo, who was one of the biggest calls
to emerge during the century of blood.
Jorah claims. This cauliflower is only half
the size of drug goes, but drogas calls are as monstrous,
so this is still 50,000 people. This drug was maybe a hundred
thousand Cohorts Defenders were insufficient.
They had a lot of warning that this call is our was coming.
Presumably because it destroyed us, Aria and sarnath.
And these other places and you can see the writing on the wall.
The like okay, they're destroying all the cities
closest to them pretty soon. We're going to be the closest
one left. We should prepare for this.
So they hired sellswords including they bought some
unsullied and the unsullied. Of course, as you might be able
to guess even without Get a map. A stupor is not exactly close to
cohort. Slavers Bay is Southern esos,
cohort is Northern essos. And isn't like some river
system. They can really use to connect
the ROI, not the Rind enter, you know, exits down on the other
side of the Blasted Peninsula. Valerius.
So These guys marched from a stupor to cohort.
That is a long long march that long march made the miss most of
the action. By the time they got there, the
Dothraki had already defeated, the cohort Defenders, and the
cells were companies had run away.
Are you sure that wasn't afraid in charge of the unsold?
Well, they still fought. So maybe not.
If this was not a, this is not a smart Fray if he was afraid.
So the core was almost beat they Were on their last legs.
Even with these unsullied approaching, the Dothraki got
cocky and took a bit of extra time.
Just before they were to take the city itself that single
night made all the difference, the unsullied arrived and
position themselves between the city and the Dothraki cams, this
did little to curb call temos arrogance.
In fact, it increased it arguably.
They could have easily flanked the unsullied as Jorah says, but
it is important in Dothraki. To show contempt to those who
are riderless using strategy against lesser foes is as
beneath them as the dirt on the ground that they are.
Not trotting on that, the unsullied are, here's jarrah.
Sean with the rest, the Dothraki charged and so lead locks their
Shields lower their Spears and stood firm against 20,000
screamers with bells in her hair.
They stood firm, 18 times the Dothraki charge and broke.
Ourselves into Shields and Spears like waves on a rocky
Shore Thrice timmo, sent his archers.
We only pass Narrows felt like an arrows fell like rain upon
the 3000, but the on solely merely lifted their Shield above
their head until the Squall have passed.
And the end only 600 of them remained but more than 12,000
dollars Rocky lay dead upon that field including called him o his
blood Riders his costs and all the sons the morning of the
fourth day, the new call led the Drivers asked the city gates in
a stately, procession one by one each man.
Cut off his braid through a down before the feet.
The 3,000. Since that day, the city guard
of cohort has been made up solely of unsullied.
Every one of whom carries a tall sphere on which hangs a braid of
human hair, man. George is great with these
anecdotes, that's so good. So this are Nori didn't have
that the sorry Nora if they had, maybe they should have hired
someone so annoyed too late. Now to keep in, Mind part of the
reason, the Dothraki were so arrogant as they had already
destroyed the Sartori. So that was kind of a little
column, a little from column B also jar may have embellished,
he probably did after all his purpose, here was to get Danny
to buy and Sully turns out they are pretty badass.
Like, they are pretty much as advertised.
You can imagine that the unsullied in astapor and cohort,
they probably also all embellish that even the Dothraki would be
motivated to embellish or they lost.
You're totally right. Even jarrah.
One thing he's almost certainly embellishes.
Is he says the unsullied were purchased almost as an
afterthought like 3,000 unsullied.
We know how expensive they are. We saw Danny, Dave like all
these trade goods and drogue on for 8000 of them.
So yeah, that wasn't an afterthought.
He did say almost and cohort was 10 times wealthier than the
other cities that might have been, you know, small cost
that's at the peak of their wealth.
That's a great Point. Okay.
So they met they could have afforded an absurd amount and
they Might have underestimated the Dothraki.
Overestimated, the sellswords already had, could have been see
a lot of factors have been some Miss estimations all over the
place. Yes, lots of lots of bad math on
both sides here. The Dothraki also have contempt
for math. Sort of the unsullied little
like counting and influence wise as well.
This has Shades more Greek influence because of the 300 of
Sparta the hot Gates third of stand at Thermopylae, even the
movie, which wasn't very Accurate.
Well that's an understatement used a line that is attributed
history, which is somewhat reflected here.
The line about how many arrows there were the Spartan Commander
layout. It is said in response to the
archers of the Persians are so numerous that it will blot out
the Sun and Leonidas was supposed to have said and we'll
have our battle in the shade and this is kind of similar to the
arrows fell like rain upon the three 1000 but they lifted Our
Shields until the squalid passed.
Its kind of making arrows into a weather thing.
You know, whether it's the Sun, the shade or rain and the fact
that they just kept coming, but they just kept holding the
flanking as well. That in the case of the 300
Spartans, they couldn't be flanked because it was a pass
until a Trader showed the way around arath, passing attack
from the rear, which the Porsche that that's where the parallel
ends because the Dothraki just gave up and said, all right, you
guys win, we cut off our braids and walk on.
Past. Yeah, now the the Persians lost
not long after getting through the hot Gates, but that's
another show, another parallel. I guess also a tangent but it is
a frustration to me of the story of the 300, is it, especially
way the movie presents it. Is there a fighting off?
This invading slave culture, so they can go back home to their
own space, they're there because democracy, but Greek democracy
was not real the Spartans especially I didn't even that
all very Spartan. You never mock me.
And right, they had Kings two kings, which was Kinda weird.
The reason there were these tough Spartans is so that they
could keep their slaves in line. I was like yeah.
It's very, very a historical and that's as yeah.
They weren't really the good guys.
They were just guys you know I guess I do we know of cohort had
slaves were kind of so he's got two but yeah because there are a
million and that's who. Yeah.
And we know that slaves are sacrificed for blood magic and
things like that there. Yeah.
And so on some level you want to like be proud of the people
defending their home City against invading horde, who You
are going to enslave them but this city also employed slaves
to defend themselves so they can maintain their slave state.
So I don't know who it's there. I'm necessarily proud of them
for winning, but so they still employ unsullied to this day as
City Guards. So that's relevant to.
But as Jorah, also points out Unsullied who serve in small
groups lose their Edge. When they, they have to be a
cohesive unit, that holds their values, and maintains their way
of life, to stay that strong and formidable unsullied that go on
guard Duty and becoming dislike all other guards.
They kind of get lazy and overweight.
And like, you see the ones that drawer, a Delirious Mansion,
they have very little to do. There's no real threats.
They are not practicing as hard as they used to, they're not
living out in the wilderness. They're not.
Yeah, they're not tough in it. Yeah.
Which might be what's the state of the unsullied of cohort.
Now and certainly before because of this next anecdote, which
comes only about 80 years ago. So not super long ago, it
involves the golden company. It said in current times a
certain calls, Echo visits, Co her every three to four years
and cohort is buy him off. He comes back they give him
money. He was much like God rogo did it
then toss and how other calls let's do another free cities, or
all the proceedings pending You'd think that they did this
because it was rational right like well we can't beat that so
let's pay him to go away. That's really our only choice
but they may have also gotten cocky at one point not towards
the Dothraki. But towards the golden company
in a show of extreme foolishness, they tried to stiff
them. They just didn't pay them.
We don't know the exact circumstances, they just or the
reason they just refuse to pay for reasons.
This was sometime between the two 12 2219 span, it said that
it helped establish them help, put them on the map.
So that's which is why we know it.
Hey, came early in their existence, the gold company was
formed into 12 and the third blackfyre rebellion was a to 19,
so I'm guessing it was before the third blackfyre Rebellion.
So the correc thought they could get one over on this.
Rookie sellsword company. These noobs, they could just
stiff them. And what could they do about it?
But instead it was pretty much the opposite is what happened
instead of stiffing, the golden company golden company, put
themselves on the map by showing what happens when you don't pay
the golden up and they sacked core turns out the golden
company as they like to stick the contracts and that means
both ends of deal. They also they don't break a
contract but they also want to let you break a contract that
put them on the map. The unsullied guards whatever,
they had at the time and these high walls they had was not Stop
the golden company. I'm not sure they sack the whole
city because I mean, don't can be 10,000 people, which is
really big for a sellsword company, but I don't know if
that's enough to carry away the entire City's wealth, probably
not. But a lot of wealth they
certainly they probably carried away.
Unless I wonder if they were just like, we're going to take
exactly what we rode and that's it just to really make a point,
you know, to set their reputation.
Kind of feel like it'd be hard to control them in that regard
especially cuz they were so new and maybe that discipline hadn't
fully set in Tin. They had to establish that, and
also on the other side, bittersteel was trying to fund a
return to Westeros. So, and if he can pass that up
as an opportunity to get as much loot as possible, it might be
why they were able to start the third blackfyre Rebellion.
Not that long after this because they got so much, my still
witness early loot everything because a lot of things are hard
to move, right? Like if they lose a bunch of
like rare are in joules. They're no longer Warriors.
They are now fences. And I mean they must have new
jobs of. Yeah it's too awkward and
difficult to That around keep it safe and find a buyer, but you
get the gold. You get swords, get food, you
get horses. But yeah, necessarily take all
their like large heavy ornamental tough to move items
through. Yeah, you're carving the.
You're pulling the gemstones out of the statues eyes.
You're not taking the whole statue.
Yeah, I have to think they went straight for those cork
steelworks and took all those nice swords and armor.
Especially again, they're getting ready to invade Westeros
and start the black fire. Bell a third blackfyre,
Rebellion thing and have some nice swords for That right?
Bittersteel would be particularly interested in that
since he didn't ever got a Valyrian steel blade of his own
while his two half brothers did and he's like, I want but no, no
evidence. They found any Valyrian steel
there but maybe they're gonna say and it still didn't hear.
Apparently yeah. So that's too bad for them.
I would think. Maybe they knew how to hide it.
You know, people were like, oh hide your they couldn't have had
that much, they probably did what they had.
So I have to think this may have been a particularly invasive
sack, because I think they would be looking for that.
They may have even tortured people to try to find.
Worms hidden or whatever. But again there's a lot of
guesswork here bittersteel was intent on establishing a
reputation for his company's reputation was, you know, our
word is as good as gold. Not, we torture you to find your
sword. Maybe this would come later than
their reputation is already established.
But I don't know. I'm not sure what kind of
leeway. He thought he had or what, he
thought was the most important goals and Etc.
He might also might not have wanted to create lifelong,
enemies either, write a piece tax them too hard.
Then they'll make Commission of coming back form, true
Generations, later or whatever. And he's like, look, I just need
some money right now, so I can get back to West.
He wouldn't want the other free cities to just not do business
with him either, you know. Yeah, that relevant here.
So there's a lot of considerations here and we're
not really we can't be too sure of what he prioritized versus
other things but still you gotta think it was a big part of the
reason Big Boost in their ability, to start the third
blackfyre Rebellion, especially the forges all that, all that
armor and weapons and to Create and maintain our Prestige as a
social work. Um, yeah.
Absolutely established them. It's probably the thing that
first big news item about them. Like the first thing that spread
other than the fact they may be just in the first place.
So it's this place is called the city of sorcerers.
Let's talk about why it's not entirely clear, other than the
Valyrian steel stuff. But let's get started here with
the quote in folklore. Even as far as Westeros cohort
is sometimes known as the city of sorcerers for.
It is widely, believed the dark arts are practiced here even to
this day divination, blood, magic and necromancy.
Are whispered of those such reports can seldom be proved One
truth remains Undisputed. However, the dark God of cohort,
the deity known as the black goat demands daily blood
sacrifice. Notice how it says divination
blood magic Necromancer whispered of those such reports
can seldom be proved which implies that they have sometimes
been prunes like it rarely, but not never.
So that right there is. I mean a little bit is a lot
when you're talking about divination necromancy and blood
magic and how connected are these things.
Again I ask the question again, we didn't really get too deep
into it. How connected is the religion
and worship of the black goat with actual magic?
Like, how much is the sorcery of do?
They attribute to the black goat?
We have discussed many times that the actual origin of magic
is disputable. And maybe just there's different
ways to tap into it and human beings, put the face of the
deity on that Source, whatever. Even if they don't know what the
source truly is. So fitting this into that works
really well. They the base they put on it, is
the black goat? Why?
I don't know, maybe it's imagery, they saw in their
Visions or something like that or some particular person saw in
his Visions or her Visions. When the religion was just knew
some profit of the black goat that got it.
All started other people over time, followed that person and
it grew over time. I mean every religion has to
start somewhere every strange worship of some bizarre
animalistic creation has to start somewhere.
So apparently in valyria is where it started or at least
flourished before moving to cohort to have its own spot.
So his neck Matthew part of the black goats worshipping.
His blood magic is divination. Blood magic, seems the most
likely given the sacrifice sacrifices are associated with
blood magic very clearly and they believe it's got a actual
purpose here, sacrifice is demanded by their deity or else,
or else, what is an entirely clear?
But it's not good. Like you said Shawn, once they
get started, they don't want to find out what happens and to
them. It's just all.
We're sacrificing some criminals, some animals. he's
like, it's not that big a cost in their minds to us, it's like
creepy and weird and but to them it's just, you know, I wonder
how just how customary it is. Like, if you grow up there it
is, it just seemed really normal or even like two people who are
citizens is like man. This even to me a local, this
seems, you know how much ability to like look at themselves to
they have here, you know, it is on the extreme end, but people
do a lot of things in a name, religion or even tradition in
general. And it's not just totally made
up for the store. I want to use the word Aztec,
but I think that's like a little inaccurate because it has Tech
was like, an outsider word used to write.
A bunch of different cultures is through a sheikah.
Yeah, the right but they were which is basically what is not
Mexico City but they were doing Human Sacrifice on a pretty
massive scale. And their religious belief was
that they had to do it. It was like imperative for the
world to continue like The Sun Won't rise.
Rise. If we don't do this, you know,
and so even that's maybe like a weird thought, or we are belief.
But once you do believe that if you really do, believe that you
really better sacrifice somebody.
Yeah, that's like way less evil than letting the world end,
right? Like, yeah.
Like yeah, put yourself in that mind State.
I say to mind like, yeah, this is its evil.
Might seem evil to sacrifice people, but it's the lesser of
two evils way, lesser, right? Like, in a way like everyone
would die, everyone. You know, would care about
whether this this person you're sacrificing included the hit,
They're dead either way, by the way, they look at it as person,
you know, kind of like what, what creegan Stark said last
week, when he's like, one of those, those men were dead.
The minute they marched. You know, they marched out.
They were already dead like, oh, you're not actually dead, but
they're going to die either way. It's kind of his point, whether
it's to the Revenge of the god, or to be sacrificed to placate
the God one way or another. It's happening.
Hey, it is hard to wrap. Your head around, Human
Sacrifice or animal sacrifice being so.
Well, that it's a daily like feature of the city, not just
something that people do in their home on a daily basis
because there's all sorts of weird things that people do like
even in our neighborhood here though who knows what they're
doing as people chickens. And goats in this neighborhood,
I don't think they're sacrificing them.
But there were goat heads found in a stream like a couple years
ago here. Oh yeah.
There were, there was those those big theory about
sacrifices and then some people got up in arms are like, no, we
wouldn't Like, get rid of the goat head.
Like, that's not like, that is disrespectful, we wouldn't do
that. So there was like a lot of
debate about whether it was really religious sacrifice,
because religious sacrifice wouldn't treat the goat head.
So disrespectfully and you even sacrifice bro.
Yeah, so people are weird. Yeah, look at heads for
religious sacrifices are just some weirdos.
Yeah, either way the fact that Was goats is almost certainly
relates to the thing I said earlier, as of the, like, the
Christian propaganda against trying to is so, trippy
associated with Satanism, like, centuries ago, that still
persist. Now, I think it's all just a big
miscommunication. You're supposed to be
sacrificing black Oats. Not go to talk about the blurry
and steel thing here. Did the valyrians take note of
the penchant for sacrifice amongst worshippers of the black
goat and same. This would fit in pretty well.
Well, this is a good home for this industry, probably not
because the industry of Larry and steel reworking seems to
started after the Doom, but maybe that's why it ended up in
cohort. Was there anyone was there an
effort to save the knowledge of Valyrian steel if?
So, it seems peculiar or not peculiar, but interesting that
it ended up in the place that's most equipped to handle it, a
place that's already. Willing to do blood sacrifice on
a daily scale and regularly. And is also already an expert at
making sorts, you kind of feel like is it, it's like a chicken
and egg thing like the their expertise in metalworking come
first. And that's why they're the
inheritors of Valyrian steel or the other way around being the
inheritors of Valyrian steel is where they got their expertise.
I kind of think the first, because it sounds like they've
been famed for their sword making since before the Doom.
So they may not have any. I don't, we don't I think they
were making Valyrian steel before the do.
That's only in valyria and then it spread after with that in
mind if we operate on that as the more likely of the two
scenarios than probably, the secret was taken to them.
Someone brought it there or some several, someone's knowing this
would be the best place for it and perhaps knowing not just
like, oh, I must preserve the secret, the world needs it?
No, it's just, it's valuable. I would have liked carry the
secret because it can make them a lot of money.
That seems more likely like oh the secret can't be be a shame
if the secret was lost forever. I don't know if that's, it could
be that but I'm guessing profit motive more likely, maybe
slightly, less cynical though still very cynical.
They may also not want it to fall into the wrong hands, like
they know it requires a sacrifice and like on some level
maybe they have some reverence for this sacrifice that they
wouldn't trust. The people to have that other
people might just do this profit motive but we're doing it for
the art of it or for our religion or Etc.
Something that is not a reason that wouldn't hold up under
scrutiny but they tell themselves this.
Yeah, yeah like it's something that they convince themselves
with that makes sense. I had totally see that.
Here's a quote that refers to their quality and gets us into
this topic. Little more, go horak swords
knives and armor are superior to even the best.
Castle-forged steel of Westeros. And the city Smith's have
perfected, the art of infusing deep color into the metals of
their work producing armor and weaponry of lasting.
Beauty. Only here in, all the world has
the art of reworking Valyrian, steel been preserved, its
Secrets, jealously guarded, lots of places claim to have the best
forages, but cohort seems to have them actually.
All beat seems to be the evidence says that they are
actually number one, Nina, agrees with the The my
suspicions that they became the inheritors of Larry and steal
because they already had the skill that it seems to be that
that seems to have been in place.
First actually quality of metal, they were actually good at it
before the magic became a factor.
But what about this other little more about the recipes stuff.
Was any other magic brought with it is that may be the origin of
some of the other magical practices there.
And some of the other sorceress practices that escape the Doom,
like what like other forms of blood magic.
We know the blood magicians were very powerful there, but they
weren't all located in Bulgaria. There must have been some
enclaves elsewhere and some of those would have had connections
with the valyrians. In fact they may have been
communicating directly using things like last candle, so it
may not have been like a carrying messages back and
forth, kind of thing. Again these Visions these
abilities to look into the future and past and see dreams
and Visions could be the origin of the black goats physical
form. As many as it manifests to
humans, someone may have seen it in a vision and be like I keep
seeing this black goat. In my mind it must be.
The this is the deity speaking to me even though it just ends
up being a different aspect of death to most everyone else.
So it all kind of fits pretty well together in terms of how it
settles into various societies and individuals, it does seem to
be true. That the secret of Valyrian
steel was confined of leary in the first place.
That's something that I kind of skipped over.
But I wanted to clarify that because if that wasn't the case
and it'd be a lot easier to see how cohort got the secret before
the Doom. Because otherwise, you're
saying, well, how did the Doom happened so fast?
It's not like someone could have just, oh, here comes the Doom.
I've got the ticking Time Bomb. If I can get out.
Get out of here. Quick enough.
I'll carry the secret with me. No, I was just Sudden and on
predicted at all, like people were completely caught off guard
by it, so, no one could have in advance, run away with this.
I don't think besides, you know, someone like Danny's the dreamer
who did see it coming and has we speculated many times.
It's very unlikely day. Nice.
The dreamer was the only person who foresaw the Doom given what
a huge event, it was and given how many people seemingly have
access to various forms of divination and prophecy.
So maybe just Maybe some lesser magician type person.
Saw this coming convinced some other people was able to prove
to them that the Doom was coming and they left valyria and
carried some secrets with them in part.
One of the reasons they knew they could get away with it was
they knew that the people who would want to come after them
for the secrets would soon all be blown away by the tomb.
So they were like, we could get away with this because they're
all going to die. Yeah, and again, that brings us
back to Emperor, Orion. And maybe some of his
manipulations, or maybe he seeing valyria destroyed.
He knew that. Well, someone in his court.
When his followers, one of his top Artisans, someone sworn to
him, was one of the people that knew how to make learning steel.
And that guy, maybe stayed behind in Co horror, while a
Orion went off to subjugate the subcontinent and when Orion
didn't return that guys like Guess it's time to set up shop
here. So the ingredients were already
there. Some of the groundwork was
already there. It's pretty cool.
A lots of possibilities here. We can't get like all the way
there, but can really see how the elements add up to this
happening. The closest modern tale.
We have here is on a guy named Meister poll.
Now we don't know when this happened but it's probably
fairly recent. And he tried to fish out the
secret a few times and got punished a few times.
Here's the quote Meister. Paul's Treatise on for horak
metalworking written, during several years of residence, in
the free City reveals just how jealously the secrets are
guarded, he was rice publicly whipped and A stout from the
city for making too many inquiries.
The final time. His hand was also removed
following the allegation that he stole a Valyrian steel blade.
According to Paul the true reason for his at final Exile,
was his discovery of blood sacrifices hooting, the killing
of slaves as young as infants, which the go Horrocks myths,
used in their efforts to produce a steel to equal that of the
free whole. So, Sean, um, A good question
here, you notice is that they need to do sacrifice, not to
make it, but just to remix it so that caused you to think of a
make a connection there. Didn't it with ice?
Yes, right ice? Yes.
Because he reforged is well for all we know it was right around
the same time. Period.
Roberts bastards were killed, right?
Not exactly. I need to point out that comes a
little bit later, that's a little, it comes a little bit
later. It's borrow was killed by the
time of Tyrion Clash of Kings and tearing to class.
She Kings and Gendry, they were already hunting for Gendry by
that point. So you ran away at the end of
The Game of Thrones Tyrion doesn't give the Tywin, doesn't
have ice melted down until the end of a Clash of Kings.
So like all these kids are killed, way it.
Well before that and they're not killed any sort of sacrificial
way. They're killed by Sir sees
people? Yeah, to be clear, I didn't
think that necessarily Tywin or whoever killed the bastards in
order to have that at your house.
Yeah. What for but it might have been
a happy coincidence. Happy, I will have to tell you,
even if it wasn't Roberts bastards.
Yeah, I don't think time would have batted an eye if he told
tobo maje, I want you to reforge Send it to more swords and told
my side. Well, I need the blood of a
child. Tom was like, okay, how many
children? Yeah, you know, like I don't
think is like, oh never mind. They need to look a certain way.
What hair color. I thought you'd think he'd I got
you bro. I don't care about that.
I would said yeah, I agree with you time when would not scruple.
Yeah. And I don't know, maybe just
another factor to consider that doesn't necessarily prove
anything, but didn't those blades?
Have a red tint to them? They did.
And he was like, other Valerian blades.
Don't Really have read tense and even if what magic was used, but
maybe this is reforging other, maybe blurring blades aren't
reforge, or maybe told him it's not just good or he got
teenagers blood instead of but, you know, I think of all kinds
of reasons why maybe it's a little different but they I
still can't help but have these different Pieces come together
to feel like Jordans hinting at least at the idea.
Yeah it is it is clear. He's here because he okay so
let's let's review what actually happened.
He brings the swords to I went and he's like, I'm sorry I can't
get them. The Lannister red that you want.
Every time I do it, it just gets darker.
He's like these Valyrian, this Valyrian steel.
It's kind of got, you know, will of its own this dark sorcery.
Kind of, he's like, I he refers to spells that he uses to make
the color which is probably just something he calls it to make it
sound, you know, he might even thinks dispelled they don't
understand the nature of chemistry and how molecules
interact boy. Yeah, he may not be lying.
He may just think that it is a spell like for him it basically.
Is a spell, that's a great Point.
Either way, tywin's happy with it.
He's like, oh yeah, don't worry about it man.
This looks great. It's just rare.
A rare show of magnanimity from tout magnanimity from Tywin,
actually. Like, he's actually like happy,
you know, for a second, like almost smiles, But something is
a lot of odd things about this. Anecdote?
All right there, Sean, besides the that thing that you pointed
out, there's also this like all they did was cut his hand off
for stealing, Valyrian steel all and they he discovered blood
sacrifices and all that, and all they did was Exile him.
Like that does imply that it's a, you know, he didn't actually
get secret, they like, they're, they're confident he doesn't
understand it or else they would.
They would want to kill him, to keep him from spreading it.
Then I call that dude doesn't actually know.
Grid or we'd have to kill him. It's also interesting.
I think that even if he doesn't know the full secret, the fact
that he's trying so hard and has been warned not to.
And at least I'll sensibly stole a blade, it still seems like
that's enough to kill them. Like, why did they not kill him?
I wonder if it's better for him, better for them to leave him
alive. Maybe it implies, there's less
to steal, or maybe it implied. Maybe he's got some things wrong
and they're happy to let him spread misinformation because
yeah, like oh, he's saying he's telling me.
All these wrong things. As what about like this, like
this thing is probably wrong. Like, it doesn't like Tha
Beaumont probably didn't kill a child to reforge ice and and
there's a really good reason why I like for he protected Gendry.
So like this guy just isn't and heat like even when Ned was
quizzing him, Ned decides, he likes table home mom's because
of the way he protected. Gendry really does not scream
child sacrifice at all. Yeah.
Right. Like this is there's a strong
piece of evidence against it. Maestra Paul's probably wrong
about this. There's probably not, maybe they
do it, but it isn't necessarily might be some corks miss that.
Sacrifice a kid for good luck. Just so, you know.
Yeah, better to sacrifice one than not, right?
Just in case but Tabo mods. Like now you don't do that and
he's not in cohorts, so he doesn't have to go through the
who follow some tradition. Yeah, he knows you knows better
and being separated from cohort. Maybe he's learned a lot in his
own experiences own experimenting.
Exactly. So it seems like there's some
wiggle room here for Maestra pole.
The reason they let him go as he He didn't really discover the
truth. They're like this guy is
annoying. Cut his hand off and kick him
out, but he's not a real problem.
Maybe because like a lot of maesters, he's not fully
accepting of magic and as an element to this and so that
Park, it's downplayed. But that seems unlikely because
like what fool could think, there's no magic involved in
Valyrian steel, like it has to be magic.
It doesn't lose its Edge, right? Like, I guess he could maybe
think that's a work of, man. It's hard to get.
You're getting the mind of When you really get into the minutiae
of what people in this setting would see as magic and not
magic. Analog, analog reality, I don't
know. So it also may be tells us that
they just haven't we discovered the secret.
They're still trying to figure it out themselves or like yeah
that's that's the reason he can't steal.
The secret is they don't even have it themselves.
All they know is the remix and not the report but it does
imply. They're still trying if they're
still trying hunting, the old methods and one day, perhaps
they'll stumble on it again. It also implies that he wasn't
just after the secrets of Valyrian steel.
It says Meister, poles Treatise on caloric metalworking, not
just Valyrian steel. It's co horak metal work.
So he was also trying to figure out how high their swords and
armor are better than Westeros and stuff.
So his interest wasn't entirely balerion steal here.
That's a really important aspect to make sure people understand
because whenever this anecdote comes up, it sounds like that
was his main interest was Valyrian steel know.
He was just trying to study all the steel and blurry and steals
just But the most interesting one, I suppose the most peculiar
bizarre the most misunderstood moving on to the other forms of
magic of returning to them. Anyway yeah Valyrian steel and
blood magic. You can see how that's relate
especially if you take it back even farther and get into the
tales of likeness and Nyssa forging lightbringer which
sounds like there was blood magic there.
You got someone jamming a sword in someone's heart to make the
sword work and before that you tried a bull Heart of a Lion.
That's pretty blood magic e Dawn similar.
Qualities to it, but pale white instead of, you know dark which
may be implies. There was no sacrifice of used
to create it. It's wholesome like Blurry and
steel but still it's peculiar because it has this same
lightness and sharpness and permanence to it.
That otherwise is the same as learn steel, but clearly looks
different and unlike any other blade so that also implies magic
but a different form of magic yet similar considering the
result is so simple. Yeah, and the ferris magical
purposes outside of blood magic. We talk about the supply of
different types of animals that might be relevant like certain
animals, produce different results in blood magic.
I don't know how this stuff works, you know, towed it.
You know the heart of wings of a bat, I have Newt, you know, all
that sort of stuff. Right.
You've got boars and Elks and stuff in the fourth Decor.
Got different magical ingredients.
I don't know, mushrooms. I think I mentioned the
mushrooms already but that's got to be a thing.
I think there's a lot of you, a lot of mushroom for and
mushrooms. Religion and Magic go together
because people get into trances and maybe it was mushrooms that
led to someone to perceiving the black goat.
The first time maybe that's how h p Lovecraft perceived it
divination know, in general, there's lots of forms of
divination. I wonder what their artisanal
crafts. I wonder if they've ever made
glass candles or if that was purely, a Valyrian, only thing
because we're pretty far from the volcanoes and you know, it's
Frozen fire on one hand. They're so good with forges and
lame in general and the controlling of fire on the other
hand. That magic Source may require
the volcanoes is like a hinge of the power.
I don't know, still pretty cool. Necromancy, what about that?
I could kind of see it working better there, than in other
places because it's colder. So, decomposition would would
take longer and when you're working with dead bodies
decomposition, seems like that's a relevant thing to have to deal
with. Don't you know anything about
necromancy is Jesus? The more did competition the
better. Oh okay, so I want more
decomposition. Okay, so say I take it all back.
This is a terrible place for necromancy.
I don't know if you don't want them to be barely necro.
We want them to be fully necros. This is it possible?
This is just all about the necks of crows Crow man.
Why is it all man? See, is there any necro woman?
See, ya, definitely. A lot of possibilities.
Not a lot to like really get our hands deep.
Pintu. So tell us what you think, what
other sorts of magic you think might be gone and cohort or any
thoughts, y'all have we'd be, we'd love to hear it will maybe
shout them out in a future episode, lots of room for
theorizing. So have at it y'all our last
section 4 days people and characters.
Given the suggestion of the Tsar Nori cities being destroyed one
by one by the death rack Nina. Suggest that there were
refugees, not all the sorry were arrogant enough to Stay there
and expect the winds. Some of them are like some you
guys. I think we can win but like
their 444 on destroying our cities so far, I'm going to
leave. Yes, some people probably let
unlike lease, which is on the opposite end of the Spectrum
which has a lot of leery and blood because it's like the
dragonlords playground where they father bastards and you
know all the time and live there a lot cohort or doesn't sound
like there is nearly as much Valyrian blood in place there.
So it would be more of terms of Nick makeup, you might have more
Soren re Bloodlines maybe just other people from like lorath
and maybe old and dolls things like that.
Not entirely clear, but there's a decent chance.
It's got a bit, more of a Melting Pot feel to it.
Then might think for one of the free cities is it certainly not
going to be like Bravo's, which is the ultimate Melting Pot of
the world. As far as we know, cohort mine
actually be more diverse than one would think.
It's not a port, so it's still kind of limited in terms of like
truly being a worldly, Cosmopolitan City and, you know,
can't be Cosmopolitan. When your deity, is the black
goat. But hey, that's what I'm saying.
It's probably more so than you would think.
Given those factors, who else has been there?
Fanny, the saris, of course, Georgia and Drogo the golden
company Baris. Like we said, probably has been.
There's probably a lot of others who had a sojourn there.
We might hear later, someone might think of it having been
there. Like, oh, Person's been to
cohort. I didn't realize that
Melisandre. Maybe he's been there.
Mokoro. Who knows?
Someone who's older? That's been around a while and
as melisandre's apparently quite old and someone is that oldest
had time to get around? I think your arms been there.
Interesting. Well, it's not easily accessible
by ship. So that kind of might take it
off the list but if he's searching for like forms of
magic, you could use to bring back and, you know, utilize in
his quest then maybe. Yeah, maybe.
Oberon. Whoo.
Yeah, that's possible. He's definitely been overseas.
He definitely fought in the free companies and the free company.
He's fought in, maybe went to cohort and the one.
He founded maybe took contract there.
Yeah. That's that's entirely possible.
That's a very good call. I like that one.
One that we know for sure is strong beloit's strong beloit's
when it was sold from Marine to cohort, which might mean the,
there's pit fights there, but I don't think so.
I don't we don't hear of anything like that.
So I think he was just sold their to be a guard.
I think he was done pit fighting, which is why he was
sold from marine and then illyrio bought him from cohort.
Not sure why he picked him specifically.
Interesting. Maybe.
Because he had been from a stupor and that's eaten.
And he'll area wanted someone from a stupor, or had been out
that part of the world to be a Danny side.
Makes sense. Someone who's thinking picked
him because he was strong ah, that too.
That's him. Yes.
And he is he is not a bad choice by illyrio.
So he and he has a good guard, you know, when you say that
whole hired naivete never seen one of the hard knives.
Well, strong Bell wasp was right there for some protection.
Of course, it came in the form of poison locusts, but
bodyguards got a bodyguard one, Whatever.
Whatever It Takes y'all. The street of Steel in Kingsland
is where most of the metal workers in the city have their
shops. And there's a, like a hierarchy
here, the closer you are to visenya is Hill.
The Fancier the shop, especially as the shops are going up the
hill where it's like, visibly a visible hierarchy as it leads
towards the sept of baelor, right?
The highest up shop the tippy top table home odds guardian of
Gendry liked by Ned. We talked about the reforging of
ice and the child stuff but he says he's the only one in the
city. Who knows how to color through
the metal coloring thing, which makes you think, man.
If you're a cohort Can you know how to do these things?
Yes, set up shop somewhere else, you'll be the best in town and
you'll make bank because it looks like top of mods doing
quite well for himself. He owns a shop and has a big
house like multi storey house on the sand, use Hill and he's you
know, Westeros isn't the kindest to foreigners.
I wouldn't call it Zena phobic. But this guy is a foreigner and
he's become wealthy there. He kind of made his way in
another city, so that's that's pretty cool.
Isn't he? Also the one that made the green
armor was that? Yeah, that he made renly's armor
know he had that he didn't make renly's armor, renly's Army was
painted, he specifically Renly came to him, but didn't actually
buy from him, I think I'm right. Oh yeah, I think I think that's
right. I could be wrong.
Could be readily you. He might have done really there
but I think not he actually says, he's the best in the Seven
Kingdoms and it's one of those times where You might actually
not be bragging that might be true might actually be right.
The biggest city in the whole Kingdom an armor from the city
that produces the but yeah I can believe it.
He's sitting might actually be true too bad for gundry.
He was in a really good spot. He would have learned from, he
was learning from him and he did get, you know, he learned enough
to learn how to forge a Helm and enough to work for the brother
without banners, but that's kind of cool, right?
The Brotherhood without banners their blacksmith was taught by a
cohort, so they might have Better steel than most Outlaw
bands would have. Even though he wasn't, he didn't
fully, he didn't complete his apprenticeship.
But table Ahmad said, the boy had promised and refused to out
his true identity. I just wanted to make a joke
that somewhere down the line, someone's got to come along and
call themselves better Steel. Next up someone that Ned would
not like is Vargo hoat. The Paragon of Ethics that he
is. He actually uses the black Goat
as His Banner while leading the brave companions though, it's
probably not the banner of the Brave companions historically,
because we're told that it hasn't always been led by a
cohort. They're not a cohort free
company, even though their leader is currently one.
But remember, when we brought up the star Nori Refugee, some
people that may have fled Tsar nor an To the track e and
settled in cohort. Well, Vargo hoat is unusually
tall and the sorry, were the tall, man.
Maybe his chance that he has, sorry ancestry.
But the sorry would not like to claim him as one of their own.
I'm sure. But, but hey, they aren't around
to complain. Now Vargo is also known as the
goat go to harrenhal and he had a goatee with 0 that term does
not exist in Westeros. They do not call it a goatee,
they just call it chin beard. I look I was like no goatee but
then I looked up chin beard and that that comes up several times
really. Get you a goat, Ste one of the
other, of course, one of the other holders of a chin beard is
a little thing. Who is similar ethics to Vargo
hoat? I don't know that little finger
will have the ending of our go. Do you had one of the worst
endings of all slowly dismembered by Gregor?
And I would point out that those that, that type of facial hair
is often associated with the devil, just like the goat.
Mmm. Yeah.
Who else, who has not seen art of like, Satan of the devil of
like a little chin. A little goatee.
That's true. It's true.
Never a full beard for him. Jamie had jawsman pickle, didn't
throw Vargo. Hoat Rogers Haute, vargo's head
is Cote. D'Ivoire goats coach made of
goat. We have the makings of a really
fun Limerick here. Yes, that's coach was a little
rhyme about Fargo home. Goat fat.
So yeah. So jobs he had, Jamie had
jawsman, pickled and throw Vargo hoat Ed into the gods eye.
So, this is a black goat skull down, in the depths, maybe,
maybe near a some, some other famous bones down there among
his many ethnicities. So, we're not 100% sure.
He's being honest here, this guy at the most honest, man Brown
Ben Plum claims. He's got some cohort through his
grandmother. He also claimed his enemies and
the enemies can't aren't supposed to be able to mate with
humans. So he's met a little with humans
just they don't make me like well it's that like men women we
like it were only certain it's the whole like Giants and humans
marrying like true that you maybe an ebony is man can't meet
with a human woman but in Ebony's woman can make with a
human man that kind of thing so I do think that's very possible
anyways. No brown bear.
And plums slander and if knees woman mate with a plum.
Okay, here's our final quote of the day, it's an interesting
footnote, that's another part for arrive.
Oh yeah, quote foot, it's gonna be great.
Limerick, a whore to consider as far as their future goes, here
it is. To believe that the stand of the
3,000 of cohorts put an end to Dothraki dreams of Conquest.
However suggests a complacency akin to that of the high king of
Tsar. Noor's when the horselords first
came boiling out of the East wiser men know it is only a
matter of time until the callous ours unite again under some
great Paul and turn west. Once more in search of new,
conquests some great. Call me, hmm.
Perhaps these stallion who mounts the world.
Maybe if the Dothraki want to go west again, cohort would be the
first city on there, you know map there since they were
stopped by the 3,000 that way it was next and then they got
stopped. So if they were to start up
again that's where they would go.
I'm not so sure Danny would go to Koh whore.
But she might. Well she might and she might
send like a Detachment there to danil or to work out a deal or
to threaten them and it would not be good for them.
They don't want to deal with the death Rocky.
They don't want to have that fight.
They might pay them off. They might give what's needed.
They made. Yeah, certainly is interesting
to consider too because they think they have unsullied Arts
there. And Danny is like mother of the
unsullied innocence at least those ones that follow her and
maybe those ones could made me part of convincing them to be
like Down. Of course the unsullied are
particularly loyal. On the other hand, the other
other hand, these are the same unsullied that are just on board
guard duty all day long and maybe aren't what they used to
be. Their training is falling off.
It's been years since they've been trained and, you know,
nothing was reinforcing that they're not being beaten to stay
in line anymore. That might also be the thing
that she would go there for or send someone there for is to
release the slaves. Yeah, exactly.
I had to pay make sure of you, I'm not going to set your city
but you have to release your slow man and solid would be
slaves themselves and might be hey, that's being basically any
place. That's killing children slaves
or has children slaves or any slaves but especially child
slaves. Would be on Danny's Blacklist,
the black goats on her Blacklist.
Yeah. She would want to either.
Do you want to deal with it one way or another right?
It makes a lot of sense that you just go right back to Marine
first and maybe stop off in volantis on the way maybe lease
and mirror anti-russian they're actually on the Waco horse on
the way but she could make it on the way for part of her Army.
If she really unites the entire Dothraki race into one horde,
you can send a card lit off to the to go.
Is led by someone she trusts you know likes and Dario yeah or one
of her blood rites and Recaro you know like how much really
trusts, you know, like mean she kind of trust Dario but her
blood Riders sworn to her and they're like Ultra loyal so send
some unsalted with them to you know, like I don't know there's
much that love the idea. I don't know if George is going
to fit that into the story. Yeah, it's expansive enough.
It's the wrong direction. The off page.
That's why I think of it does happen won't be Danny going
their self again. We hear that she sends men to do
this and they submit and we just saw A couple paragraphs like
they do. We do have room for a couple
pair, but yeah, I agree. We don't, we're probably not
going to go there directly at least not in Dan's POV.
You never know someone else. Although I can't guess anyone.
I can't think of anyone who seems likely but hey, it's a
great City. It's interesting.
There's a lot of stories that could be told they're just
because it doesn't happen in A Song of Ice and Fire his fandoms
wide open. We gotta imagine bigger than
what's coming in the rest of the books.
We know they're going to do more shows, more other things here
and there who knows what the future holds and cohort.
Got to be part of that future. I think maybe dunk goes there.
Oh, that would be cool. Yeah.
Dunk and egg going to co whore? I'm a can see why they would go
to the disputed lands and those areas because of bike, the
golden company and all that stuff.
But yeah why not? It's also not a really good
reason. It's pretty far away.
I don't think it's likely but I just want to go everywhere.
Yeah. In his cues from were drunk
story so it sounds like a few people.
Got the trivia question, right? The question again, was, who
else was called a? A code, the full explanation of
this was posture Tully, calling the Blackfish, the black goat of
the Tully flock, and he goes. Yeah, but Polly's, our fish.
So, I'm the Blackfish and that's where his nickname came from.
So someone named little finger guests, first little finger, you
already knew that little finger, then Megan wolf and ran a
pitcher. Good job.
Y'all, another trivia question next week for you to test your
Song of Ice and Fire knowledge, with it will be Celtic our house
L cigar won the vote beating out how Tarth the arbor and Esther
Mont Little Island. I kind of want to do a poll next
week and asked people how they say itself.
Cigar Celtic are gonna find out alive.
Probably is the same as how people say Celtic or Celtic,
right? Yeah, I'm very similarly,
similar. I would ever be curious if it's
if people are the same. Yes.
Yeah, we could do a little poem Nancy, what people say and then
we'll we report if we were if we remember will include that in
the episode next week. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, we mentioned a lot of episodes or topics that refer to
other episodes. We've done the Centre of blood
loss blur and steel with Tommy Pappas, blood magic, which would
be the most recent of these gaseous, which is a bonus
episode available to patrons, go to patreon.com/scishow of
Westeros or sign up for Spotify and you get the episode that way
the kingdom of Sorrow nor episode 1 of our ballerinas, for
the world of Ice and Fire episodes.
We got had a lot of fun with that more Lovecraft influence
there as well. By the way, love captain.
It's like the Lovecraft influence part of the world up
in the Northwestern corner there.
So thanks you all those of you who are already patrons or
Spotify subscribers or those of you who donate through our
website. There is a third option there,
you can just send a one-time donation, thanks to Nina for her
great notes. The idea of the Tsar Nori
refugees, for example, moving to Coho was her idea among many
other things, but I particularly like that call, so I'll shout it
out again. Also, Joey, Jesse and Brad,
thanks to you all for the music, the intros, and outros, and
Michael Farr fell of course, who's got his hand intro outros,
as well as these awesome Maps, you see behind us.
I referred to his maps all the time, especially at these
world-building episodes. I'm trying to like, look up with
the geography is and remember what's nearby, what their trade
Partners probably are, or were this map in particular is
awesome because it has all the ruins of the Iraqi cities with
its original Rocky names written on there and all that.
It's really good. Oh, we got a nice little poem
from Julie a to send us off to, okay?
I like it a lot Vargo. Hoat cooked, a goat and flavored
it with pride. Those who ate vargo's goes were
caused die, I cooked holds goat, but didn't add the Rye, I'll be
blamed. I'm not fame.
And have been known to lie. It's real fun while eventually
from that's awesome. Good job.
Yeah. My the trivia question was
almost who ate the Flesh of Vargo hoat.
Oh yeah. I was working on one myself, I
go all even listen to you. I was like I wanted right was
like a quote, I wrote about that renowned goat Fargo.
Hope I just never just wrote to him, I must promote and vote and
vote. That's right.
I have a lot. I would like you got all that in
like eight minutes. That's really good.
I'm think I'm inspired. He's Perfect Limit.
Yeah. Anyways, I hopefully will
remember. And we'll have more Pope's
Prime. Thanks Julie.
Yeah. Well, we'll go to the
dictionary. Find everything that runs
worked. Um, there and flip them all.
Yeah, with that all the more reason to do a rearing because
you'll find more examples and more inspiration.
So I say what I always say as we bid you adieu, well are we
Wheats?