I call his velarion i lord hobot hightower promise to be faithful
i swear this by the old gods and the new
is basically a feudal society it's ruled by many noble houses some of them going back
hundreds or even thousands of years two of the biggest players are the valerions
and the hightowers the height i was from a very ancient wealthy powerful household you know we've
been front and center of politics for hundreds of years the high tower sigil has a torch on it
and their motto is we light the way that comes across within the characters of the high towers
their seat of power is the southern coast old town which was for many thousands of years the biggest
city in westeros the faith was headquartered there for many years that was where the high septon our
equivalent of pope had his seat within the series you have old gods and new gods and the seven is
new religiosity and the high towers have a strong connection with the high septum when we first
open the series otto hightower is hand of the king and i think there's a high tower fire there
there's a saying when the king eats the hand shits he steers the small council on the king's
behalf when it's necessary and ensures the king's wishes are enforced otto's an advisor but viserys
is quite suspicious of him otto sees the danger in everything and even though his intentions are good
he's also persuaded himself that there is nothing but good intention behind his action
the gods have yet to make a man who lacks the patience for absolute power your grace
Welcome back everyone it's charlie i've gotten a lot of requests to do a house of the dragon
video for house hightower since we really didn't get to see them a lot during the main show game
of thrones so i'll explain how they fit into the story in the history of their house because they
are one of the oldest and most important houses in ancient westeros going back to before the time
of the original first men like way before the children of the forest ever created the night
king and the white walkers that's how ancient their family is if you're new to the channel i'll
be doing videos for all the house of the dragon episodes just like i did for the main series be
sure to subscribe to get all of them and they just announced that they renewed the show for season
two but we all knew that they were gonna renew for season two so many people watched the premiere
episode it broke every record that warner brothers hbo has like it's the most popular premiere of any
one of the biggest most powerful ancient houses in a song of ice and fire that they just flat out cut
out of the main show game of thrones they were still around during the events of game of thrones
they just weren't as active in the story as the starks the lannisters the tyrells the houses that
they featured the most during that show during the time where house of the dragon takes place
here around the dance of the dragons they're much more central to the actual action of the story so
that's why you're seeing so much of them like otto hightower is the hand of the king for many many
years so they're very close to the center of the story to say nothing of alicent hightower being so
close to king viserys obviously huge part of the story we haven't even gotten the older versions of
their characters yet where things really get crazy with the targaryen civil war so whereas the main
show was mostly like starks and lannisters with a bunch of other important houses but really it's
starks and lannisters house of the dragon is more like targaryens in high towers in the clip that i
put at the beginning of this george rr martin and the actors talk a little bit about the hightower
characters that are important to the story in a very quick teaser for how they fit into the story
their house motto is we light the way the symbol of their house the sigil is the high tower itself
the family controls old town where the high tower is we saw that briefly during the main show the
maester citadel is there that's why samwell goes there to be trained as a maester the archmaesters
live there it used to be the main port of westeros up to the time of aegon's conquest
you could say that it was kind of like the capital of westeros before king's landing was created but
it wasn't actually the capital before the conquest the seven different kingdoms had mostly just been
seven different petty kings all ruling over their different realms and because old town
is inside the reach technically the reach was ruled by house gardner before the conquest so
like during aegon's conquest the high towers were kind of like a vassal house of house gardener when
people think of the reach they mostly think of the tyrells the tyrells didn't start ruling the reach
until aegon's conquest because the gardeners did not bend the knee and they were ruling the reach
so aegon the conqueror soundly defeated their army and basically replaced them with the tyrells
and said you are now ruling the reach and they moved into highgarden that's why highgarden is
called highgarden because it was the seat of house gardener one of the cool differences with the high
towers though is that it's actually said that their ancestors actually pre-dated the original
first men who crossed over the arm of dorne to westeros during the age of heroes long before
the first men colonized westeros and started fighting the children of the forest it's believed
the ancestors of the high towers were a different group of people who were just a seafaring race
who settled in this area and used it as a trading post for like ancient valyria geese
the summer isles just like this general region of the world here so technically the hightower
family descends from a slightly different line than the original first men but one of the cool
things about their family like their seat is the high tower itself there are all kinds of rumors
that the maesters believe different theories about the creation of the hightower because the
original base that the high tower sits on was constructed before the time of the first men
so maybe someday if they do a show about the first men just thousands and thousands of years ago in
the timeline we'll learn more about some of these ancient dead cultures usually you only hear about
them in passing in the books like they don't discuss them in great detail but like the first
men for instance are just one of many ancient races a lot of them being dead usually when
you think of westeros you only think of the first men you think of the andals later in the timeline
but like there are many other ancient cultures that were around when the first men were around
the current lord hightower on house of the dragon is otto hightower's older brother we see him in
the trailer here is hobert hightower his chambers are actually at the top of the high tower itself
within the song of ice and fire it is one of the great wonders of the world but the actual highest
point in westeros is casterly rock itself just because the rock casterly rock is built on sits
at a much higher elevation just for comparison casterly rock sits at a higher elevation than
even the top of the wall that's how high it is in addition to being a really powerful fortress and
a lighthouse the high tower is so tall people can also use it as a sundial so like people living in
the area can tell the time just by looking at the shadow of the hightower because the hightowers had
been so rich and powerful controlling the central port of westeros for so long house of the dragon
isn't the first time members of their family have been connected to the targaryen kings since the
conquest the only reason they didn't get in big trouble during aegon's conquest is because when
the gardeners stood against aegon the conqueror and lost the high towers refused to fight for
the gardeners so aegon the conqueror spared their family in like at the beginning of episode one we
meet the older version of king jaehaerys before jiharis took the iron throne at age 14 maegor
the cruel was married to one of the hightowers had a very very bad marriage to her later during his
reign when he continued to become more and more cruel the current lord hightower helped save the
lives of one of maegor's relatives one of the targaryen princesses who he'd ordered beheaded
and then the hightowers supported jaehaerys's claim to the iron throne which he eventually won
which basically brought them into much greater favor where you see them in house of the dragon
now under viserys rule and even though we haven't actually been to the great sept on house of the
dragon yet it exists right here you see it in all the trailers as george rr martin says before
aegon's conquest the faith center of power was in old town with the high towers for thousands
of years so the high towers themselves as a family have had a deep connection with the faith of the
seven for a long time that's why you see the older version of alicent hightower here next to the iron
throne wearing their symbol around her neck the seven-pointed star and going forward because
we're talking about the dance of the dragons the targaryen civil war the blacks versus the greens
because alicent hightower as you see in all the episode 2 trailers becomes viserys's second wife
and queen the hightowers are like the leading backers of the greens in the dance of the dragons
after episode one a lot of people were also asking too if otto hightower was knowingly throwing his
daughter alicent at the king in his grief and at least the way the actor talks about it rhys ephons
otto hightower thinks that he's doing right by the king and what's best for him and what's best
for the realm he's not really thinking too much about the power play that might be going on here
he's like a slightly less hardcore version of tywin lannister also he's not the head of
his family like tywin lannister was the dynamics might change a little bit in future episodes but
at least at this point in the timeline he thinks that he's doing right by a widower and because
he's the hand of the king he wants to ensure that the realm continues to operate smoothly
so he wants the king to be able to actually be king and he can't do that in his current state
also side note 2 the whole idea with alicent like she isn't throwing herself at the king either she
doesn't really care about him in that way she's just trying to be a really nice person and just
for context predating the beginning of the present day of the show when she was a little bit younger
she was actually the caretaker for king jaharis at the end of his life before viserys officially
took the iron throne so she's not meant to be like a margaery tyrell type of personality she's just
like a really caring person at least at this point in the timeline like i said things can always
because the hightower family will continue to be really really important and be involved in a lot
of these really crazy events but if you have any other questions about what's going on with house