Hey youtubers it’s Charlie, my Bonus Video this week will be all about Braavos.
The episode 6 teaser had a bunch of scenes at the Iron Bank, so I thought this would
be the perfect time to talk about it.
We’re really just seeing the city for the first time so what I’m going to do is talk
a little bit about where it is in relation to Meereen and Slaver’s Bay, what the big
groups are and the Iron Bank’s role on the show.
If you’re finding me for the first time I do bonus videos for Game of Thrones every
week in addition to reviews of the episodes and Q&As.
Be sure to subscribe to get everything and feel free to leave me suggestions for videos
to do.
So first order of business.
Because some of you may have read the books, please try to be careful about posting spoilers
in the comments, or at least use spoiler tags.
We’re not really sure how much the show is going to change about what goes on in Braavos,
so best to play it safe.
Whenever I post my review I’ll talk about what those big changes are.
So WTF is Braavos?
If you saw the trailers, then this image here.
It’s the Titan of Braavos.
It’s one of the 9 wonders of man.
It’s inspired by the Colossus of Rhodes for any history buffs.
But the Titan is the most visible symbol of the city.
It’s even stamped on Braavosi coins.
And passing beneath the Titan is the only way for ships to enter the port.
Braavos itself is the most powerful of the Free Cities.
It’s located in a lagoon way up North on the tip of the eastern continent.
The city itself exists on a series of small islands connected by bridges.
Remember how Daenerys is in Meereen right now?
She’s way down here on the other side of the continent.
The city formed about 500 years before Aegon’s Landing in Westeros from people fleeing the
Valyrian Expansion.
It’s nicknamed the Bastard Son of Valyria because the people that colonized it were
trying to hide from Valyria’s dragons.
So it wasn’t till after the doom that Braavos started to make itself known to the rest of
the world.
It’s a port city that draws it’s wealth from trade and shipping, and as a result it’s
one of the wealthiest cities in the world.
Thus the Iron Bank of Braavos became the most powerful bank in the world.
The most notable locations in the city are the Titan itself, Drowned Town which is an
area where the city has sunken into the lagoon, The House of Black and White which is the
Temple of the Many Faced God, there are temples to a lot of different gods that all exist
in an area called the isle of the gods.
So as you see the temple of R’hollor Melisandre’s god is here too, there’s Purple Harbor which
is really only used by locals near the Sealord’s palace.
He’s the ruler of Braavos.
Then there’s the Iron Bank here.
This is where the scene with Mark Gatiss in the trailer takes place.
There’s Ragman’s Harbor, which is used by most foreign traders visiting on business
and then the Temple of the Moonsingers, they were actually the people that found the site
where Braavos would eventually be located after they fled Valyria.
There’s a billion different locations so the next time the show comes here I’ll go
into greater detail about the different locations.
The most important location for right now is the Iron Bank.
It’s the one common denominator amongst all the factions on the show.
You can’t win the Iron Throne without a war or a marriage.
And both cost money.
Which as we learned from Tywin Lannister last week, no one has.
The Tyrells are wealthy, but most of their assets are in farmland.
So the only way to get more money is to borrow it from the Iron Bank.
Just to give you an idea of how powerful it is, it’s bigger than all the other banks
in the free cities combined.
It’s the biggest bank in the world.
It’s mostly known for the way it goes after debts.
Which is funny, because up to this point on the show we’ve heard the Lannister motto
so many times.
A Lannister always pays his debts.
The Iron Bank’s motto is “The Iron Bank will have it’s due”.
What happens when a King or a nation borrows money and doesn’t pay them back is the Iron
Bank will support a new King.
And
once they install said new King, that person has to repay the original debt or the Iron
Bank will do the exact same thing and replace them with another King.
So when you think about it, the Iron Bank is the most powerful organization in the World.
Even the Iron Throne has to bow to them.
Which is why Stannis in the trailer almost looks like he’s begging Mark Gatiss for
money.
The conceit being that because King Robert borrowed so much money and never paid it back,
Stannis will probably try to convince them to back his claim in exchange for repayment
of the debt.
I don’t know how the show is going to deal with that plot, but I’m interested to see
what terms they set for Stannis.
And remember, if Stannis does get a loan and doesn’t pay it back.
The Iron Bank could always turn around and fund one of his enemies.
Needless to say, the Iron Bank controls the flow of money and therefore it controls the
balance of war.
Based on the teaser for episode 6 it’s hard to tell which other places we might get to
see, but her in the harbor you can see the Sealord’s palace.
But we might get to see some waterdancers or maybe a few easter eggs.
Remember how Arya was practicing her waterdancing for the Hound last week.
Syrio Forel who taught her was one of the Bravos.
Just one O in bravos.
They’re a special class of fighters that developed the waterdancing technique and they
dress in really bright loud colors as you can see.
The wealthy people in the city all dress in really drab grey colors.
As you can see Mark Gatiss, wealthy banker here.
Anyone in Braavos carrying a sword after dark can be challenged to a duel, it doesn’t
matter who you are.
It’s just part of the culture that they challenge each other constantly just for bragging
rights as the best fighter in the city.
So say someone like Syrio Forel probably had to fight people every single night.
And because he lived to a pretty decent age it meant he was a badass.
The place where most of them go to duel is the Moon Pool here, right near the Iron Bank.
So there’s a good chance we’ll see it in episode 6.
The city also has a really strong tradition of Courtesans that hold a special status in
the culture.
They command extremely high prices.
So just think of the money a prince with Oberyn Martell’s appetites would spend.
Like a kid in a candy store.
All the best whore houses are either up here in the Purple Harbor.
Or around the Moon Pool.
Isn’t it funny that all the best sex in the city is right next to the bank.
I guess that says something about people’s priorities.
Sex and Money.
Seems about right.
I’m really hoping that we get to see more of the city this season just because it’s
so much fun to talk about.
Of all the cities that the show has depicted, I would say this is the best, with Meereen
being number 2, even though we haven’t seen a lot of it yet.
And King’s Landing third.
Unless you count the Lands of Always Winter we saw in episode 4.
That white walker city looked pretty sweet.
But now it’s your turn, what are you hoping to see in Braavos this week?
I know a lot of the Doctor Who and Sherlock fans are excited to see Mark Gatiss.
Given what we know about his character from the books, I’m really interested to see
if he plays it more like Mycroft or if he’s going to play it a little lighter.
He essentially has the task of showing us what that motto means, The Iron Bank Will
Have It’s Due.
So I’m expecting a scarier version of Mycroft.
I’ll be posting my episode 6 review tonight after it airs.
Be sure to subscribe to get it.
Round 6 of the giveaway will also be starting then.
Real quick I want to say Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there.
Even Cersei.
Right now click here to catch up on last week’s episode and click here for my Q&A
Thanks for watching, see you guys tonight.
High Fives!