In Game of Thrones Season 7, we learn that Jon Snow’s real name is Aegon Targaryen
. He’s the son of Rhaegar Targaryen , which means Daenerys is Jon’s aunt – yes, Jon
has sex with his aunt.
Rhaegar’s dead now.
So’s Viserys Targaryen, and Aerys and Aemon Targaryen.
In the books, there’s still Bloodraven, a Targaryen bastard, and Young Griff, who
claims to be Targaryen.
But Brynden’s a tree , and Griff might be fake – go watch those videos.
So really, Daenerys and Jon are the last Targaryens – last of the dynasty that ruled Westeros
for centuries, and last of the dragonlords of Valyria .
Valyria was an empire that ruled half the world for thousands of years, until, four
hundred years ago, it exploded.
This was the Doom of Valyria, and it’s a mystery, connecting to magic, Faceless Men,
Lannister gold, and the legacy of Daenerys and Jon’s family.
So Valyria was a peninsula to the east of Westeros.
Thousands of years ago , the Valyrians were shepherds among volcanic mountains called
the Fourteen Flames – until they discovered dragons, and trained them as weapons of war
. At the time, the area was dominated by geese – by Old Ghis, an empire built on slavery
. So the Valyrians and their dragons conquered the Ghiscari , and took them as their own
slaves . The Valyrians expanded , building an empire across most the known world . They
called themselves the Freehold, cause all landowners had a say in government – but
wherever they conquered, the Freehold took slaves , sending thousands down the Fourteen
Flames to mine for gold and silver . Valyria had advanced technology and magic . They used
dragonflame to shape stone into beautiful towers . They made Valyrian steel swords , long
roads , and colonies – Valyria’s like ancient Rome, just with dragons . And with
incest – the dragonlords traditionally married their own siblings.
They believed they were “descended from dragons” , and wanted to keep their “blood”
“pure” . The dragonlords lived in the capital city of Valyria, using magic and politics
in an endless struggle for “power and glory”.
Valyria was the “center of civilization” – until the Doom came.
Every hill in Valyria erupted with fire, smoke and lava, so hot that dragons were burned
from the sky.
The earth cracked open and swallowed whole towns.
Lakes boiled and the sea flooded in.
The clouds rained obsidian and “black blood”.
Within hours, the whole peninsula was “shattered” , the empire gone . All Valyria’s knowledge
and technology, like how to make Valyrian steel, was lost . The only dragonlords to
survive this Doom were the Targaryens, who had left Valyria years earlier, because Daenys
Targaryen foresaw the Doom in a dream . So these Targaryens, the ancestors of Daenerys
and Jon, settled on Dragonstone, and would later conquer Westeros.
Now, four hundred years after the Doom, Valyria is a “smoking ruin” , “accursed” , and
“demon-haunted” . In the show, Tyrion and Jorah visit the ruins and survive, but
in the books – no one returns from Valyria.
Whole fleets and armies have disappeared there, including Tyrion’s uncle, Gerion Lannister
. Euron Greyjoy claims to have been there , but he might be lying . Whether the danger
is demons, or toxic volcanic fumes, the place is dangerous – the Doom still rules Valyria
. But what was the Doom, and what caused it?
The Doom might have been a natural volcanic eruption – author George Martin compared
the Doom to the eruption of Krakatoa, and the fall of Pompeii.
But Valyria, he says, involved magic . Valyria is a place of fire magic – it's got dragons,
and volcanoes, it’s called the “Lands of the Long Summer” . Compare that with
far north Westeros, called the Lands of Always Winter – which has white walkers, and ice
magic.
These two places seem like centres of ice and fire in this world – maybe they're connected
to the irregular seasons.
The north had an icy disaster in the Long Night, and Valyria had a fiery disaster in
the Doom – and this affected the world's magic.
“when the Doom fell on Valyria”, “Magic … died in the west” – it’s only recently
returning . So the point is that Valyria had some serious cosmic elemental magick happening
– and the Valyrians fucked with it.
The Valyrians were sorcerers , and for thousands of years, they used “spells” to “tame”
the Fourteen Flames . But at the same time, they mined the Flames for gold and silver
. These were volcanoes full of magma and “firewyrms”, and slaves were killed by the hundreds.
And yet they kept mining, deeper and deeper , like some Khazad-Dûm shit – in Lord of
the Rings, the dwarves of Moria “delved too greedily and too deep”, and they awoke
the fiery balrog . Maybe Valyria is similar – they got too greedy, “delved too deep”,
and set off the Fourteen Flames . Cause that’s what happens when you mess with magic in this
world – we’re told over and over that magic’s dangerous . The Valyrians in their
arrogance thought they could control it, but it blew up in their face.
So now their ruins stand like Ozymandias or Atlantis – a warning against hubris, and
the mining of magic volcanoes.
But there’s still more to the story.
In Book 4, Arya joins the Faceless Men – a cult of assassins who worship death . She’s
trained by “the kindly man”, who tells her that the Faceless Men began in Valyria,
among the slaves who mined the Fourteen Flames . He says the slaves suffered so badly in
the mines that they wished for death . [] The first Faceless Man gave the “gift” of
death to a slave . Arya argues that the man “should have killed the” Valyrian slave
masters instead . And he replies that the Faceless “would bring the gift to them as
well … but that is a tale for another day” . [] So this is a hint that the Faceless Men
caused the Doom of Valyria . Which makes sense – the Men arose from Valyrian slaves, and
they’re now based in Braavos, which was founded by ex-slaves escaping Valyria . And
the Faceless worship death, so killing thousands in a Doom is probably their idea of a good
time.
But how could the Faceless cause the Doom?
One theory is that they used dragon eggs – at Summerhall, it seems that dragon eggs caused
a deadly fire . Maybe the Faceless used lots of eggs to set off the Fourteen Flames.
But there’s another possibility that ties in to a prophecy.
The worldbook says that Valyrian “sorcerers foretold that the gold of Casterly Rock would
destroy them”.
Casterly Rock is home to the Lannisters, who were famous for their gold mines , even in
Valyrian times.
[] But for some reason, the Valyrians never contacted the rich Lannisters, even though
they were so hungry for gold that they were mining volcanoes.
Maybe the Valyrians avoided the Lannisters because of this prophecy . [] But the Lannisters
back then really wanted a Valyrian steel sword – all the cool Westerosi families had one,
like Stark’s Ice, and Tarly’s Heartsbane.
[] So “in the century before the Doom” the Lannisters bought the Valyrian sword Brightroar
for a huge amount of “gold” . We don’t know who sold Brightroar to the Lannisters,
but if this gold went to Valyria it could’ve fulfilled the prophecy of Valyria’s destruction.
How could gold cause the Doom?
The great families of Valyria were in “constant” “conflict” . Sometimes they assassinated
each other – which was a problem, cause some of these Valyrians were sorcerers whose
spells held back the Fourteen Flames . The worldbook suggests that too many sorcerers
were assassinated, so the spells failed, and that’s why the Doom happened . Maybe these
assassinations were carried out by the assassins of the Faceless Men . But the Faceless don’t
kill for free – they charge a high price . So maybe they were paid with that Lannister
gold that a Valyrian got by selling Brightroar.
So the Valyrians were so caught up in their petty political conflicts that they paid for
their own destruction, giving prophecy gold to the death cult that arose from their slavery
and oppression.
As Tyrion says, Valyria was built on blood and fire – and they reaped what they’d
sown . So that theory brings together all the hints
from the text – Lannister gold paid for Faceless assassinations that destabilised
magic and caused the Doom . But you can add some tinfoil on top.
Cause it may be that the Valyrians ordered these assassinations not knowing they’d
cause the Doom.
But maybe it was deliberate.
Maybe one of these warring families wanted to wipe out the competition – and be the
last dragonlords standing.
We know the Targaryens were a fairly minor house in Valyria – when they left for Dragonstone,
their rivals thought them cowards . But maybe the Targaryens ordered these assassinations
to cause the Doom to destroy their enemies – made up some excuse about a dream, went
to Dragonstone, and watched their homeland burn, leaving them the only dragonlords in
the world , free to be the unopposed rulers of whatever realm they chose.
Maybe House Targaryen, Daenerys and Jon’s family, is founded on a terrible, genocidal
betrayal.
But that’s just speculation.
Whatever caused the Doom, Valyria has lessons for its descendants, Daenerys and Jon.
Because the Valyrians were assholes.
They seemed to think that just cause they were magic and pretty, they could enslave
the world.
They conquered peaceful peoples, and worked thousands of slaves to death . With their
theories of racial superiority, they’re basically Nazis with dragons.
So when they destroyed themselves with their own “fire and blood”, it’s kinda hard
to feel sorry for them.
Valyrian blood gives Dany and Jon the power of dragons, magic and prophecy.
But the ruins of Valyria should remind them to use their power with humility and compassion.
The Doom of Valyria destroyed a whole civilisation’s knowledge.
Skills like the forging of Valyrian steel were lost forever.
Luckily, our world’s knowledge and skills are available on Skillshare.
Skillshare is an online learning site with thousands of classes in design, business,
writing, and forging steel . So if you want your own family sword, check out this course.
We’ve used Skillshare to learn some After Effects techniques, and they’ve got some
really high quality courses.
If you want to learn how to start a business, edit video, produce music, or found a continent-spanning
empire of blood and fire, sign up for Skillshare today – get a two month free trial at the
link below.
Thank you to History of Westeros for scripting help.
And thanks to the Patrons, including Zach Whiteman, Thony Ekström, Gannon McDonald,
Leslie Mercado, Tristan Sather, Natasha Lea, and zezibesh.
Cheers.