Hey YouTubers it's Charlie this week for my bonus video I wanted to talk all about Asshai,
the place Melisandre comes from. The full name the people call it is "Asshai by the shadow"
The shadow refers to the name of the region, like you would refer to the Dothraki Sea.
For those that don't know, that's the area where Daenerys' dragon eggs came from.
There's a lot of similarities to the Valerian Peninsula, which is dotted with the 14 flames, the
14 volcanoes. So there might be some active volcanoes up around Asshai where we might
be able to find another clutch of dragon eggs. Asshai itself is mostly a trading city even
though the region is generally thought of as being very sinister. The problem is is
that it has a culture that predates the Valyrian freehold, but it's lost the time, the people
that actually live there have no idea who built the city. Most of what we learn about
it is through anecdotes given by other characters, which you can't always trust 100%.
The other big thing about the area, is it's where shadow binders come from. That's the type of magic
that Melisandre practices. She's a shadow binder who is a follower of the Red God. You can
be one without the other, although the dominant faith is for R'hllor. As you can see from the map
because it's so far East, it is probably a place we're never going to get to see on the show,
which is a bummer. Usually a lot of the context that we get for stuff like this comes from the
expanded materials too. It's referred to in the "Song of Ice and Fire", but it's not like somewhere where the
characters actually travel to. Or at least we should say say travel to yet, because, I mean, it's always possible
that someone can go there in the future. This area here 's the Jade Sea, you know there's a lot of trading
that goes in the area, especially around Qarth. So usually when we get stories, it's from sailors,
like the iron born people, like Euron Greyjoy. It'd be nice if Melisandre talked a little bit about
her homeland. She's not super chatty, when she's not talking about the war of light and dark.
There are certain areas in the world though where Melisandre says her power is greater
so like in Asshai, where she trained. That's where her power's really great. But at the wall right
now she said it's even greater. There's really no context to understand why that is. And even
though it seems like the series is positioning Daenerys as a protagonist with her dragons
against white walkers and the Night's King, which a lot of people think are really evil, especially
after last week's episode. Any connection between Melisandre's power and dragons is completely
anecdotal. It's all theories. And everyone's crossing their fingers hoping that some ice
dragon's gonna bust out of the wall or something like that. There is evidence that the wall
might come down during the series but, we have no idea if that's true. When you look at the
history of Asshai and the Shadowlands it gives you better context with which to frame the
Night's King and the white walkers. Really just two sides of a coin. It's not so much
about good and evil. Even George R. R. Martin, when all the craziness with Sansa happened
after episode six, he did a big interview where he said, "my stories are all about struggle"
you know not so much about good and evil. I just think it means that even though Daenerys
and her dragons might seem like the diametric opposite of the Night's King and his army of
White Walkers. It doesn't necessarily mean that Daenerys or her dragons are good characters.
There's a lot of people hoping that Daenerys might end up being the villain of the series. I don't
know if that's going to be the case, but you know like last week's episode she got those crazy eyes
when she talked about crushing the nobles of Westeros. I think that's her just showing
more agency, saying, you know, this is what I want to do, this is what I believe in, this
is why want to do it. if you're getting a vibe of the Mad King off of her, that's Dan and
Dave just messing with you a little bit. They want you to see that as a possibility. That's
why Tyrion entered the equation, because now that he is there hopefully he'll give her
some good advice. Daenerys in the context of the series is still a little kid who has some
really powerful dragons. So it's like giving a little kid the keys to a car. It's just no
matter what you do, something terrible is going to happen. Tyrion, as bitter as he is, seems
like he genuinely has the best interests of the world at heart. He's not a bad person
despite the fact that he's full of hate. I mean, he still wants to help people. At some point
they will have to meet Melisandre. I think that's the point where they'll really start to blur
the lines between good and evil. I mean, we saw the White Walkers last week, and they
seem pretty terrible. You know, raising up an army of zombies just screams evil. But that's only
because it was happening to Jon Snow, who the series has positioned as the protagonist.
Anyone who goes up against the person that looks like a hero is going to seem like a
villain, and as mysterious as Melisandre seems right now, she hasn't done anything worse
than any of the protagonist characters have done. But you have to consider the culture that
she flows from, the shadow binders - generally regarded as a really hard-core bunch. But there
are places where they come from, you know, up in the shadow that they're still afraid to go
where supposedly dragons might be. There's this ancient city called Stygai that lies way up
the Ash River, north of Asshai. It's thought of as a corpse city, but that is probably just
because nothing can survive there. The shadow binders are afraid to go there. They say the
area is inhabited by really dark creatures, demons and dragons. Because that area is also
a peninsula, there are also a lot of caves that pockmark the coastline, where clutches of
dragon eggs might be. We don't know if there are other dragons still living there, but there could
be clutches of dragon eggs, especially if there are volcanoes in the area to help preserve
them. So if you were to that dragons are good, you have to consider where they come from. If
the place is called "The Shadow" and is regarded by terrible people as being a terrible place
how good can it be. What I think ended up happening is is that at some point a volcano in that
area or multiple volcanoes erupted just, you know, covering the area with ash, making it impossible
for anything to live, killing whatever civilization originally inhabited the area. That's why the
river probably came to be known as the Ash River. There might even still be an active
volcano spewing ash into the atmosphere. The way I think about it though, is that "The Shadow"
to the East, is what the "Lands of Always Winter" are to the North. The Lands of Always Winter
are, you know, way up here. We saw them during Season 4, briefly. It's the place that the White Walkers
were banished to after the long night. They retreated to the coldest place possible.
It makes sense that at another point in history dragons did the exact same thing, just you know
retreating to an area pockmarked by volcanoes. There is no concrete evidence that dragons
love volcanoes, only that ancient Valyrians first discovered dragons near the 14 flames
which are the 14 volcanoes in the Valyrian Peninsula.The big take away though is that, you know,
if White Walkers have started to pour out of the lands of always winter, that it would make
sense that at some point dragons are going start pouring out of the Shadowlands. Just remember
that as evil as the Night King seems, Melisandre and dragons come from a very evil, sinister
place too. That's why I think 'Game of Thrones' is so much fun. You have a character like Jon Snow
who is caught between a rock and a cold place. it's like he's accepting help from Melisandre
who seems just as terrible as the Night's King. We just haven't gotten any of the
Night's King's story yet. We really don't know what he's trying to do, other than kill all of our
main characters. In reality, you know don't think of dragons as evil creatures. They're really
more like reptiles, they have their own intelligence. It's all about the person using
them. So if dragons are sinister, it's only because Daenerys is using them in a sinister way. Like
when she's roasting people in Meereen. So here's my big question for you guys, given this added context
as bad as the White Walkers and the Night's King seem, do you think that Daenerys and her dragons
are good characters? Or do you think that they're going to be just as bad? One of the limitations
of the TV show is that because of all the stuff it cuts out you don't get a lot of context.
You have to look at shows like Breaking Bad, where a villainous character is the protagonist
That could be the direction the series is going with Daenerys and her dragons. Tonight's
episode is called 'The Dance of the Dragons", you know hopefully we'll get to see some really
awesome dragon stuff. So be sure to subscribe to get my video, I'll post it after the episode airs.
It's actually a reference to a short story that George R R Martin wrote called 'The Dance
of the Dragons' I'll talk about that a little bit more in my Episode 9 video, and don't forget
there will be a new round of the giveaway too. So just look out for that video. While you guys wait for that to
post, if you want to learn more about the rise of ancient Valyria and their dragons you
can click here, and you can click here for last week's episode. Thank you so much for
watching, everybody, let's high five, and I'll see you guys tonight!