Hey youtubers it's Charlie and last week as a follow up to my Blackfyre Rebellion video
I said I'd do a Golden Company video explaining their history and how they might fit into
the show. They're one of the major mercenary companies in A Song of Ice and Fire and they
got namedropped in season 4 which foreshadows that we might end up seeing them at some point.
I'll also be explaining my Game of Thrones Comic Con giveaway at the end of the video.
Hello any new people, if you're just finding me for the first time I do Game of Thrones
videos every week. Be sure to subscribe to get everything. Congrats to Norru, you win
this week's book giveaway. I'll be messaging you for details.
It's a weekly thing, all you have to do to participate is be a subscriber and leave a
comment. I'll pick one random from the comments to get a Martin book.
The Golden Company has a couple of sayings which give you an idea of what goes on in
their headspace. The one everyone quotes is "Our Word is as Good as Gold". Which is pretty
self-explanatory. We don't break our word, so you can trust us to do whatever our contracts
say.
That motto started in their early days after the city of Qohor refused to pay a contract
the Company had completed. They sacked the city in answer and thus began their reputation
of fidelity.
Their battle cry is a little bit different, it's "Beneath the Gold, the Bitter Steel."
it's an homage to the founder of the Company, Aegor Rivers, also known as Bittersteel. Bastard
half brother of Daemon Blackfyre and The Bloodraven. They were all part of the first Blackfyre
rebellion. I case you didn't see the video I did for that I'll add a link in the description.
The creation of the Golden Company was part of a sequence of events set off by the Blackfyre
Rebellion. So let's rewind to a little over a hundred years before current day on the
show.
At the end of the first Blackfyre rebellion, Bittersteel managed to reclaim the Targaryen
Sword Blackfyre that had belonged to Daemon Blackfyre and all the Tagaryen kings preceding
him back to Aegon the Conqueror.
He along with the Blackfyre allies that survived fled to Tyrosh in the east.
The Bloodraven was on the other side of that war and Bittersteel ended up taking one of
his eyes out. I think the show did not follow up on this when they showed the three eyed
raven. For those who haven't read the books, the Bloodraven was what the Three Eyed Crow
was called when he was younger. Now he's just known as the the last Greenseer. Even though
technically Bran should be called the last greenseer.
The Blackfyre Rebellion ended and Bittersteel fled with his family members and the other
survivors. When they established themselves in the free cities they did what any high
born trained sword would do. Most of them joined a mercenary company.
It's a lot easier choice to make for someone trained in combat. And most highborn males
and briennes receive extensive weapon training. The exception is when people decide to join
the citadel and become maesters.
Bittersteel joined the Second Sons first and rode with them for about a year but left to
form his own Mercenary Company when he saw several other exiled lords joining other mercenary
companies. All of those people had been supporters of the Blackfyres during the rebellion.
Because he wanted to try again to retake the Iron Throne, Bittersteel formed his own mercenary
band called The Golden Company. It was a way to rally the banners of the other exiled lords
and support for a future Blackfyre war of conquest.
Aegor was a Targaryen bastard, so he had the blood of the dragon flowing in his veins as
did the other bastards in Aegon the Fourth's line. Daemon Blackfyre the first had a son
that survived the first rebellion and was part of the Golden Company, his name was Daemon
the second.
He had what's called Dragon Dreams, just another word for foresight like the kind Daenerys
the Dreamer had and Daenerys Targaryen on the show now. If you don't remember the older
Daenerys, she was the one who foresaw the Doom of Valyria causing her family to get
the fuck out before all the volcano's blew.
The Golden Company over the years has been linked with several further rebellions against
the seven kingdoms. Because the ursurpers are usually Blackfyre survivors and the Golden
Company was founded by Blackfyre survivors. Anytime a new rebellion starts, their support
is either sought out or implied.
For instance, on the show, Daenerys said that her brother Viserys feasted the captains of
the Golden Company in present day trying to get them to take up his cause. But they just
laughed at him. That's why they had to marry Daenerys to Khal Drogo, because they needed
his khalasar to use as infantry.
So if the Golden Company had backed Viserys claim, we might not have ever met Khal Drogo.
If you remember, when Khalo Drogo killed Viserys by pouring the molten gold all over his head,
it was straight out of the books, but you could also draw a reference to the death of
Bittersteel.
Bittersteel decreed that upon his death, his subordinates should boil his skull, dip it
in gold and carry it on their banners when they made war against the seven kingdoms.
That's why their sigil is a spear with golden skulls on it. Boiling former commanders skulls
and dipping them in gold to add to the banner became a tradition. In present day it's mandatory.
But you're dead, so what do you care? About 16 years after the first Blackfyre Rebellion.
The second Blackfyre Rebellion started, led by Daemon Blackfyre the second. It was unsuccessful and a little over 40 years
after that another Blackfyre descendant and several other sell swords started the War
of the Ninepenny Kings.
It wasn't completely a Blackfyre War, but because they were led by Malys Blackfyre the
Monstrous, you could think of it that way. He was also captain of the Golden Company
at that time.
After they carved out a bunch of territory in the free cities and then turned to Westeros.
So over time the Golden Company has been associated with wars to take the Iron Throne. And because
there have been so many rebellions a lot of characters on the show have participated in
one way or another.
For instance, Barristan Selmy was the one who killed Malys the Monstrous. He was called
Monstrous because he was born with a conjoined twin that fused in the womb. So he had this
little head growing out of his neck with a larger than normal upper body. People claimed
that he had eaten his twin in the womb. Thus he became, Malys the Monstrous.
It would be like if The Mountain had a little head growing out of his shoulders that looked
like the Hound. Imagine that if you dare.
Which is actually a good transition to current day on the show. Ser Davos mentioned them
to Shireen before he and Stannis sailed to Braavos. He wasn't thinking of them in the
context of the Blackfyres, most of his interaction with them in the past was with regards to
their activities purely as mercenaries.
He suggested that Stannis use money from the Iron Bank to hire them. Currently on the show
Davos says they number about 10 Thousand. One difference in the way the show is using
them versus the books is that other characters in the books only think Stannis hired the
Golden Company when in fact he did not.
On the show they play it kind of ambiguously, but I think show Stannis did hire the Golden
Company, just because they're combining a lot of things from the books.
Jorah Mormont on the show also said he fought with them at one point, but in the books he
was never part of their Company.
The main takeaway is that because the Golden Company is made up of exiled westerosi nobles.
They'd be much more willing to sign a contract with anyone wanting to reclaim or usurp the
Iron Throne. Although now on the show it seems like Stannis, the most likely candidate, has
turned his attention to the White Walkers.
Season 5 will have a lot of interesting things from books four and 5 to tell up there.
So what I'm going to do now is talk about book 5 stuff, so if you don't want spoilers
for anything in Dance with Dragons, just skip forward in the video like 30 seconds or turn
the volume down. I'll have details about comic con and giveaways after this. I'll wait just
a sec...Everybody ready? Okay
The Golden Company comes back in a big way in Book 5 via Jon Connington and Young Griff
who Connington says is Aegon Targaryen, the supposed dead son of Rhaegar, the one the
Mountain is said to have killed during the sack of King's Landing.
Connington uses the Golden Company to Rally support for Aegon and it becomes this whole
big side story going on in Westeros.
It's unclear whether the show is going to do any of this, right now it seems like they'll
skip it. As it seems the Golden Company is all at the Wall serving Stannis. It's possible
that they could break the contract, but I think Season 5 is going to mostly focus on
Jon Snow and Stannis' stories in Book 4 and 5, the Martells in Dorne, Daenerys and the
aftermath in King's Landing in Book 4 and 5.
Plus, Varys left King's Landing with Tyrion at the end of the season, which is a huge
change from what he does in the books. I think he and Tyrion will seek Daenerys out or at
least Ser Jorah first, then Daenerys.
So I think they'll just cut out all the Young Griff stuff. For those wondering, yes I think
he's really a Blackfyre. I don't think he's really Rhaegar's son.
I know cutting stuff out sucks, but remember, Michelle Fairley is pretty sure she's never
going to be back to do Lady Stoneheart. So Dan and Dave completely cutting big story
arcs out has happened before.
In case you had the volume down you can turn it back up. Here's what's going on with Game
of Thrones at comic con. I'm going to be recording the panel. But I have a link to a poll in
the description. You can vote on which panels you want me to upload. It will really help
me prioritize which footage to post, so please do the poll.
I will be posting one more bonus comic con video before it starts next week. When I do,
that will start the giveaway. I'm just going to be giving away a bunch of fandom related
toys for the different things I do on my channel. So naturally there will be a Game of Thrones
one.
It's going to be just like any other giveaway. All you have to do to participate is be a
subscriber and leave a comment when I post that video.
The Game of Thrones Comic Con panel is on Friday, July 25th. So I should be able to
post the video of that by late Friday night. Internet at comic con is terrible because
there are a hundred thousand people trying to use it at the same time. So even if it
takes longer to post, I'll still be posting it. Be sure to subscribe to get everything.
George RR Martin always gets tons of Winds of Winter questions, and he's shown no indication
he's going to finish before Season 5 of the show starts next year. Which means that by
Season 6, we'll pretty much be caught up. So talking about spoilery things won't really
be an issue for book readers.
I haven't done one in a while, but I will do a Winds of Winter video again soon. We
know a lot about it already. Martin releases bonus excerpts from it several times a year.
Right now, click here to learn more about the Blackfyre Rebellion. The stuff that happened
right before the Golden Company was formed. And Click here to learn more about the White
Walker Prophecy.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tomorrow. High Fives!