When some people get into positions of power they go absolutely cray cray.
Lets talk about that.
♪ (theme music) ♪
- Good mythical morning. - You've heard the saying that power
- corrupts and absolute power - (both) corrupts absolutely.
- In unison. - Yes.
- I've heard that. - But I would like to add an addendum to
that, that absolute power makes people go - Oh, an addendum
absolutely crazy.
- There's a-- - Sometimes.
Sometimes. There is a phenomenon that when people
reach a certain level of power, maybe absolute power,
they start to go totally nuts and their behavior just goes totally bizarre.
And this is the kind of crazy that we are very much interested in.
So we have done some (boop noises)
- Yes. - Historical research.
Oh, historical research?
And now we are gonna present to you rulers behaving bizarrely.
Okay, lets start with Justin II. Apparently there was another Justin
- before him. - This just-in.
But he-- You know what?
Not concerned about him.
- I had a friend named Justin as a child. - Yep.
- This is not him. - He was an interesting dude.
This is the guy who ruled the Byzantine empire from 565 to 576.
Good for him. Not too long.
He's an odd bird, he had-- Things got a little bit squirrely towards
the end of his reign to the point that he began to be wheeled around the palace on a
- throne on wheels. - Okay.
- So, at some point he was just like - That's actually cool.
"this is convenient." Why have a throne room when you can just
- have a throne on the move? - A throne car.
And-- But that's kinda cool but
- Yeah. - this next part is not.
- Alright. - Because he would bite servants on the
head as he was rolled around on his mobile throne.
- Bite people on the head. - I would assume that--
- Probably the people pushing it. - With a certain level of power you can
- get any food you want. - Yeah.
- Including the heads of your servants. - Including servants?
And it isn't just that he bit them but a legend arose that he actually ate two of them.
- Oh, entirely? - That he devoured--
I guess he started from the throne on the head then he worked his way down.
See, it smacks as legend just because I prove that just by my conjecture of
"you know you can eat anything you want, why would you eat servants?"
See, it's sounded like I was saying he was eating the servants and then that's how
legends get started, Rhett. All he did was bite their heads.
- But it's not as fun unless it's true. - It was probably normal.
- It's not fun unless it's true, - I'm just saying
- he ate people, - It could be normal that
he was biting them.
- on the heads. - it's historical fact.
- We did research. - Maybe that was just how he dolled out
discipline. (bite noise) Just give a little bite and
they'll say "you know he'll eat a full servant if you
- don't mind him." - A full servant?
- Is that a play on words? - (laughs)
Alright, I got one. My namesake.
Charles the sixth. That's a V and and I.
I had to actually write 'sixth' in my notes here because
I get confused with Roman Numerals. -- Of France.
1380 to 1422 was when this guy was the leader.
- He was known as "Charles the Well Loved" - Oh.
but then in his older years, he became known as,
"Charles the Mad." So, you tell me if the shift in
(inaudible)
- is justified. - Hm.
- One, he refused to bathe. - Some people have skin conditions.
- Doesn't necessarily make you mad. - Right.
We have proven that it's good for you not to bathe.
- Right. - We've talked about that.
- Smells good. - Two, he would run through the castle
- pretending to be a wolf. - Okay.
He would howl at his servants. He wouldn't bit them on the head.
Maybe he would! But he would pretend to be a wolf.
- My child does that. - Is this getting a little bit more?
- This is a little bizarre for a grown man - And finally,
he would go ballistic when people tried to touch him because he was convinced that
- he was made of glass. - (laughs)
- Made of glass! - That's a problem.
The glass wolf. Like that's a good name for like
- Oh, I like that. - a Minecraft account.
Like, "Ooh. Here comes the glass wolf. He's in here--"
- Playing Minecraft again? - A little bit.
A little bit on the side. They call me the glass wolf.
(giggles) They call-- Yeah. You just gave it away.
- Look for me on Minecraft servers. - Look up the glass wolf on Minecraft.
- I'm the glass wolf. - How about Vlad the Impaler?
- (laughs) How 'bout him? - This guy was the prince of Wallachia!
Which is modern day Romania from 1456 to 1462.
Now, first of all a hint he was called "Vlad the Impaler."
- Hm. - He doesn't put things in pales.
- He puts people on stakes. - Oooh.
That is what he was known for.
- This guy was so crazy Brom Stoker who - While living.
wrote "Dracula" based his character Dracula on him because Vlad was also known
as "Vlad of Dracula" because that was like,
- Where he hailed from. - It was where he's from.
Anyway, this guy is famous for being one of the most tyrannical leaders
in the history of the world. He basically took the light in mistreating
people in horrific ways. He was known for, first of all impaling.
People while they were alive, yes, maybe more than one person together
at the same time, on the same stick.
Torturing, burning, skinning, roasting and boiling people.
- They call him "Shish Ke-Vlad the Impaler?" - (both laugh)
Feeding people the flesh of their friends or relatives.
- Oh Vlad, come on Vlad! - Cutting off limbs,
skinning the feet of thieves and then putting salt on them and then letting
goats lick off the salt. He got very creative.
It was like a guy just sitting in his room trying to figure out ways to make peoples lives
ho-- the end of their lives horrible.
- Dang Vlad. - He killed 14,000 people during his reign
Just between 1448 and 1478 and for me this is one of the reasons Im glad that we have
- elected representatives. - Yeah man, for real.
Don't feel like Vlad the Impa-- I don't think "I'm the Impaler" would be a
- great campaign slogan. - (laughs) Yeah.
- Well, it don't fit on a bumper sticker. - Yep.
- Well, it probably could. - Too many letters.
- A long one. - But--
- Okay, a long one. - Yeah.
Maybe it is a good idea. Let me bring the mood up a little bit.
Joanna of Catstile, AKA "Joanna the Mad."
- Mhmm. - She's the queen of Castile which is in
north west Spain if you didn't know. 1504 to 1555 she was in leadership.
She was in an arranged marriage with I got another nickname here "Philip the Handsome."
of Austria. Now, she actually fell madly in love with
the guy but that's not crazy,
- it's not mad to fall madly in love with - Right.
someone especially if their name has got "the handsome" in it.
- Right, he's kinda asking for it. - But then he dies.
- Oh that's a problem. - Typhoid fever 1506,
that's when things start to get a little craz-azy.
Once he was buried in his tomb Joanna had the tomb reopened.
- Yeah, as you do. - Several times.
- Okay, yeah. - She made a habit of this.
Why? So she could stare at his decaying face.
Hmm, nice, he was handsome. Even as he was decaying.
She would kiss (kissing noises) and caress his courpse
- and then when she was forced to leave - Yep, bet it flaked off a little.
because the plague came to town. (boop noises) she had to open that tomb
one more time and get one last look at him to make sure he was still in there.
- But she didn't take him with her? - There was really an attachment thing
- going on here. - Yeah.
- Didn't take him. - And that's as crazy as it got?
- Whoo. - (laughs) Well how about Maria El Eonora?
she's the Queen Consort of Sweden from 1620 to 1632.
Basically the same deal here - Ok.
Obsessed with a dead man? - Yes but before that, she was unable
to produce a son, instead had a daughter and she really really
wanted a son. The king-- her husband didn't really care it was a daughter
but she disliked it was a girl so badly that she had multiply times
tried to kill to baby by pushing it down the stairs,
or accidentally dropping it - (Moans)
- And then eventually the king himself is killed
in battle, the baby-- the baby is two years old
so what she does is, is she griefs in a similar way
she kept his-- instead of putting him in a tomb
and opening it up, she just kept him above ground
for 18 months, and periodically touched the body, that's how she
spent time with her decaying husband, and she also this poor daughter
sleep underneath a casket that had the heart of the dead husband in it.
- Wow. - Don't do that to your'e kids.
- Don't do that to your'e kids - Don't do the whole heart and the casket
thing to your'e kids. Don't do that.
- This guy has nothing to do with kids. So--
- Ok good. - So I'm gonna' try to bring it up again.
- Ok. - I don't know if I'm going to.
"Ibrahim the mad" Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
- 1640 to 48, eight years is how long he was in
- Right - Because he went mad.
He was obsessed with a few things. - Ok.
- First thing was very large women - Hmm.
- I'm just sayin' - Ok.
- He had his- - (inaudible)
- He had his agents track down the largest women
they could find, and add them to his harem.
- Mhmm. - But at one point he had 280
of them drown in the ocean when he heard they have been compromised
by another man. So that was his first obsession
very large women. His second obsession was perfume.
Now, you like to put some of that stuff in your'e beard
- Oil, bonds - He would drench his beard, his clothes
- Yeah, I'm all about this. - And wall hangings, like everything
in Amber grease. - Oh yeah, Amber grease!
Never heard of it. - It is a solid waxy flammable substance
of a black-ish color, produced in the digestive system of a sperm whale
- Sounds like it smells great doesn't it! - (Chuckles)
- Let me rub some of that on my beard! - Can I get this on Amazon?
- Digestive juices of a sperm whale! Yeah Amazon Prime that stuff
- A drone just flies it right up to my beard.
- As if I needed to tell you, it officially has
- (Smudging noises) - A quote "Fishy and fecal odor."
- Yeah fishy and fecal, my two favorite smells.
- That does become earthy-- like a rubbing alcohol scent over time
- So-- - Fishy Fecal from Hugo Boss
- (Chuckles) - He rubs this stuff all over himself!
and then, you know, brought in the large women
- And then he would-- if that's not bad enough
- You got to like a man who has distinct taste
- He would regularly feed coins to fish in the palace pool
- Like-- that's when it really gets crazy. - They're eating them, why not?
- (Laughs) - Money grabbing fish, man.
- Ok. - That's not-- that's just cruel
- I think the lesson learned here is that it's good to be able to vote
for the people that are in leadership. - Yeah.
- But it's fun to talk about the ones who weren't.
- Thank you for liking and commenting on this video.
- You know what time it is!
- Hey! My name is Arianna from Toronto, and it's time to spin
the wheel of mythicality!
- We have been nominated for three Webby awards
- What?! - And you can help us win,
we need you to help us win the People's Voice Award.
Those links are in the description. We will talk about that a little bit
about that in Good Mythical More
- Three different links. Click through to Good Mythical More
where we talk about the secret personal life of Hitler
he had some problems.
- Unisong about turtles
- (Unison) Hey there buddy! You are a turtle.
and that's why I love turtles. - That doesn't make any sense.
Your'e a turtle and that's why I love turtles?
- Right. You are the reason I love turtles, turtle.
- Got it.
[Captioned by Hayleigh, Whitney, and Lana: GMM Captioning Team]