The Real Mythology behind 5 Game of Thrones Creatures
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2024
- With the Game of Thrones Season 7 Finale now in the books, this might be a good to take a closer look at the real world Mythology and Folklore that inspired George RR Marin's novels, and fantasy fiction in general. In this video, I will breakdown the mythological origins of 5 Game of Thrones creatures or races.
If know of any other mythology that may have inspired Game of Thrones, tell me what it is in the comments below, and let me know your favorite fantasy creature in the show and novels.
All of the clips in this video are credited in accordance with the TH-cam Fair Use Guidelines.
Instrumental produced by Chuki.
/ chukimusic
Hello Everyone! I addressed this in an earlier comment but I've continued to get a lot of comments stating that Daenery's Dragons are actually Wyverns. Just to clarify a bit, I was aware of Wyverns before making this video but decided not to mention them for several reasons:
1. George R. R. Martin has gone on record stating his Dragons are Dragons, not Wyverns.
2. The rule of Dragons having 4 legs, 2 wings and Wyverns having 2 legs, 2 wings, only applies as a hard rule to Heraldry from around the 1500s onward, and also only in British Isles countries. Dragon mythology in Western Europe, and specifically in the British Isles goes back much further than the rules regarding Dragon and Wyvern legs, and there seems to be no set rule regarding the number legs in earlier mythology (at least that I can find). For instance, the word "Dragon" or the equivalent in various languages, is used to refer to many of these Dragons depicted in manuscripts from the middle ages ( goo.gl/hfknis ), and while several are from the British Isles, there is a lot of variety regarding the number of legs they are depicted with.
3. Because George R. R. Martin has stated they are Dragons, I didn't want to piss off his fans by implying his Dragons are something other than what he says they are.
Regarding the last point, had I known so many people would bring up "Wyvern-gate", I would have at least addressed the issue in the video. I didn't anticipate it would be such a sticking point, so I regret not mentioning them in the video now.
I welcome any disagreements regarding the classification of Daenery's Dragons. So if you do believe they are Wyverns, let me know why in the comments below.
Thanks for watching.
Fanation Great video and comparisons but G.R.R.M himself has compared the White Walkers to the Seide(think I spelled that right). In the books at least the Walkers, while terrible and horrifying, are also said to be inhumanly beautiful.
Fanation I yelled at the video when I called them dragons
Wyverns also exist in GRRM's world, and they are different from dragons. They are less magical (more like just reptiles), do not breathe fire, are not tameable and live in Sothoryos.
If you'd like to learn more about the historical evolution of dragons, and their multitude of different forms, you should check out the video Aron Ra made, titled Draxonomy. It was a presentation he did at Dragoncon a few years back, and its concise, but still very comprehensive with it's information. He is very learned in the evolutionary sciences, and it's interesting to see him put that knowledge to use with a mythological creature.
Your videos are really really good!😊🍺🍻🍺👍
Im pretty sure that the white walkers are inspired by draugar
Felix Dinerf
Funny isn't it, we also have wights that were little spirits of the lands.
We? who is we?
Right lmao
The Wight Dragon is definitely my favourite :D
Nimrod Sentinel Viserion.
About time I found someone who knows the difference between an Ice Dragon and a Wight Dragon
Barack Trump actually, they are wyverns not dragons. Dragons have four legs and two wings, wyverns have two of each.
+Barack Trump Can I see your sources talking about ice dragons vs Wight Dragons?
Jim Myers The word used for dragon and or wyvern should not be generalized. If the writer wants to call a dragon a wyvern or what ever way. He can it's his word and his world. But in general yes dragons have wings on the back and four legs while wyverns have to back legs and winged front leg. Not all fantasy stories need to follow the same guidelines.
LOVE mythology. I’d love for you to cover Celtic mythology, then Norse mythology,etc. That would be incredible
One thing I read about the origin of dragons in mythology that always stuck with me (aside from the obvious likelihood of people finding dinosaur bones) is that they represent a synergy of two of humans' oldest and deepest fears: Serpents and wolves. A lot of legends of dragons in a lair menacing a village, then being hunted by a mob or a hero mirror stories of a lone wolf preying on a village. Look into photos and you can see some Medeival depictions (of the 4 legged variety) are very canine with wolfish heads. I thought it was interesting, and never put together before why some Medeival art looked that way. There is of course the Daconian dragonwolf banner, which is unique as an intentional blending of those two sigils. I've looked into it because they are among my favorite creatures 😊
great vid ! i would love to see you make a vid about the gods of Westeros
keep up the good work !
yes do that too
The Expanse, please.
I always thought the Targaryan lineage was more similar to Eleven mythology. They're both magical beings, both on the edge of extinction (like LOTR), very proud, physically beautiful and built a great civilisation that died out.
I agree but, I also think the Valyrians (where Targs came from ) are inspired by the Roman empire, since they conquered a big part of Essos, had advanced technology/magic, built great roads to connect their cities etc
Carlota C *and eventually fell due to outside forces.
Michael Rossell GRRM has been on record saying that in his books, the "white walkers" which are called something totally different and in the books they actually physically look more like elves than any species in the GoT universe. They have pointy ears and pale fair skin. Beniof and Weiss created something entirely different just for the show. I guess these crazy looking "white walkers" you see in the show were "enhanced" to make them look a lot more dramatic I guess.
They do speak Scraw though, which sounds like ice cracking. That's the "white walkers" language. Not sure if I spelled it right.
Riley Dinkleman Yeah, in the introductory chapter of AGOT, the whites are described much more beautifully, there is a glow to them and the weapons they use. I wonder if in the books they were also created by the children of the forest and obsidian. Sincerely I doubt the showrunners came up with such original idea by themselves, so yeah it will probably be that.
About the White Walkers, you are forgeting Draugr's. The Nordic corpis of soldiers who died at see and or on the battlefield.
the white walkers and the wytes also parallel with the horned King, the army of the dead and the power of the black cauldron from the book series The Chronicles of Prydain.
The white walkers remind me of daugrs or the mythical wild hunt
I love to hear more about the history that inspires maesters, the iron bank, and the religions of Westeros and essos. I'd also love to hear more about the folklore behind the magic of Westeros like glass candles, the dragon binder horn, the Horn of joramun, and the various soothsayers and Fortune tellers in the story. Thanks! I loved this video. :)
do the Wheel of Time, that is the best series that i've read in the sense of blending myths, cultures and history with fantasy
Something else I do like in this story: the seven wonders of the ancient world are all represented:
1. Pharos, the majestic lighthouse of Alexandria = the lighthouse of Oldtown built on a rock of dragonglass
2. Kheops, the great pyramid of Giza = the great pyramid of Meereen, with the smaller sister pyramids including those of Yunkai
3. Colossus of Rhodes = Titan of Braavos
4. Artemis temple at Ephesus = great scept of Baelor in Kingslanding (both are prestigious buildings dedicated to religion)
5. The hanging gardens of Babylon = the gardens of Highgarden (we haven't seen much of them, but we can imagine)
6. Statue of Zeus at Olympia = the gigantic horses statue at Vaes Dothrak
7. Mausoleum of Halicarnassus = crypt of Winterfell (although different in aspect, these two can be categorised as wonders by their magnitude and have both the function of mausoleums).
And an eighth one, which was made too late in history for being counted as wonder but could have easily been: Hadrian's wall = the great wall of the North.
The Grea Sept of Baelor is more like the Vatican Cathedral
Mark *Hadrian's Wall
Great wall of the North is obviously drawing upon Hadrian's wall. However, in terms of it being an ancient wonder of the world, better to compare it to the great wall of China.
I agree, the great wall of China is way more impressive than Hadrian's wall, if only by its length.
I compare the wall of ice to Hadrian's wall partly because it was the inspiration of George RR Martin, partly because it was built during Antiquity, therefore it is more impressive in the ancient times when the engineering and architectural techniques were not as well developed. The great wall of China as we know it was built during the middle ages mainly during the Ming dynasty. There is nothing left from the ancient wall of China that was built around 210 BC and we don't know precisely how it compared with Hadrian's wall.
True but I didn't know which other building of A Song of Ice and Fire to compare to the temple of Artemis. The religious function is a common link, as well as the fact that the Sept of Baelor is described as a majestic and splendid building that raises it to the status of a wonder.
Could you do a video on the myths behind The Chronicles of Prydain book series?
Yay! Yes please
giant riding on a mamoth just gave me flashbacks to skyrim
I want to know the mythology behind the relgions of a song of ice and fire
Game of thrones and skyrim give me the same vibe. Giants..dragons.. Draughts.. The fight for the throne
I'd like you to do a video on the folk-magic traditions that Orson Scott Card used in The Tales of Alvin Maker...a particularly enjoyable series of books that takes magic out of its usual pseudo-medieval European setting and adds a healthy dose of Americana that beats the Harry Potter books by a country mile!
Deader deadening death. Cool name for a band.
😅
This is why your my favorite channel, it's your attention to detail, myths, and history!
Very slick and informative, thanks man!!
Could you go into talking about the citadel? I know it's not necessarily mythology but possibly historical. Is it based on the library of Alexandria? And if so what parallels are there between the two? Like in real life did they have 'maesters', some books under lock and key, science studies? I'd love to see what you could say about the citadel and the maesters of GoT and how they compare to real life.
The largest gray wolf on record was 175 pounds. Most average a max weight of 130 pounds. Not that much of difference to ancient dire wolves.... Most think that gray wolves are, dire wolves, or a slightly smaller direct descendent... My pit bull weighs a 100 pounds
Wights were actually in Norse myth, they were spirits of the lands ... In the past, those who lived on the land would set food or gifts outside their homes to keep the wights happy.
Thank you!
Great Video, very insightful, I used to read the Dragonlance novels and had the Advanced Monster Manual for D&D and Dragons were always magical in nature and very intelligent.
Their hides were used as armour, Their blood had magical properties as well as Their teeth. GoT doesn't play the magical card which is a shame, as it could explain most weird things that go bump in the night.
The ones the nazgul ride are called fell beasts dragons are in the lotr universe, but They are different
drageben had to scroll down and see if some one else commented what I thought when he said that
drageben correct
This was very interesting
The dead guys in the white kings army look more like draugr from Norse mythology
Dude i love your content great work good clips keep it up
a boat of fingerst and nails, now thats gangsta
Now, that's comedy gold!
Thanks 😅😂
The nazgul of the lord of the rings don’t ride dragons
The Children Of The Forest were likely inspired by wood sprites.
Nice vid and you were fast to implement the events of the newest episode :D
So, are the heroes of Azorath going to rise up and stop the Lych King, I mean Night King?
I have a question for you guys. Hopefully someone can help me. Does anyone know of any good books to read on Slavic mythology? I'm in the beginning stages of writing my own fantasy novel series. I'm doing research on several cultures and mythologies of the past. However, Slavic mythology is one that I have not obtained very much information about. I've been asking around on TH-cam for weeks and no one gives me any answers.
kashchey the immortal HAS to be at least a visual inspiration for the Others on GOT. He looks 100% like one of the white walkers, albeit it skinnier and not frozen
Wight's don't resemble anything close to the honored dead of Valhalla. They most closely resemble draugr. The name wight is from an actual part of Germanic lore which is a natural spirit of the earth. way off on some of the mythology.
Do more of these yes
What about the stone people?
Could we get one on the Origen of the Seven?
To me it is the prominent archetypes of all polythestic religions distilled into a neat little group. 'Mother, Maiden, and crone' are as you probably know popular in modern Paganism, so there is a male counterpart for all three and something that is both, neither, and not quite of this world. Kind of missing the trickster, but that could be encompassed in the Stranger. I love it, one of my favorite fictional religions, along with the Old Gods.
I always thought the white walkers were based on Draugr.
That is the Wights.
But I see the confusion. since int he books the Wights are called White Walkers.
Dragons are cool I’ve never here’d of them before
White walkers - draugr
4:20 Frame of reference, an average gray wolf weighs about 100 (in a well fed state.) That dire wolf (as shown) could easily weigh over 300, making it unrealistically large. Also worth pointing out that dire wolves were not taller than a gray wolf, just broader.
I know I'm going to get shit for being overly accurate, but whatever.
🔥🔥😂👌🏽
💩💩💩
Except for British Columbia grey wolves, which are about 130lbs, so a large one would likely be the size of a dire wolf
Jutenhime is the realm of mountain gaints
Jotunheim or Jötunheimr
Good information. Thanks
What about the Dragon Riders in the ERAGON book series???
kashchey looks a lot alike night king rather than lich king himself.And i guess its story may be a spoiler of game of thrones season 8:P
How come you don't mention Harry Potter? All these crratures exist in that series and the resemblence between "kaschey" and Voldemort is umdeniable.
There where 2 great walls built one between england and scotland ( so the highlanders cant get into roman terriotory amd one around the pale (mordern day dublin) to keep the savage celts out (the oneills)
What a great video. About suggestions for future videos, actually, those addresing the mithology behind any other element in ASOIAF/GOT would be welcome. The gods and religions, for example.
4:29 whoa slow down there skippy "The Childern of the Forest" are almost a bang on match for Dryad's aka Wood Nymph's and not elves or faerie's
The only thing I don't agree with is the title. You can't say "the REAL mythology". Better to use the words "actual" or "original". Mythology is not real otherwise it would be history.
You also forgot about harry potter there are mythological creatures that r in harry potter that r similar to GOT. The white walkers r similar to the frost giants from norse mythology. Also beowolf fights a dragon in the tale of beowolf and is drawn to gold simular to The dragon Smaug from the hobbit.
I always thought of the Walkers as Frost Giants, which intrigues me regarding their story. Frost Giants have good reasons to despise the Aesir who took over and killed many of them.
I thaught the wights would be like Draugr from norse Mythology?
Robb Stark yes, me to. But draugrs don't have their own ambitions, they're just living corpses.
Johan Öhgren well, the wights are just living corpses in the any of the dead. It's the walkers having ambitions and creating them.
Exactly, it's a bit of both. For what it's worth, Odin has the ability to raise the dead. This is what he is doing when the dead seeress tells him the prophecy of Ragnarok. A rendition I heard describes her eyes as glowing blue, but that might have been artistic embellishment of the reader. I haven't read the original in some time so I don't remember for sure.
I love the dragons best. Thanks for making this it was fun and fascinating.
The raft is made from the toenails of corpses. He feeds on the flesh of fallen men. With their blood sullies the seats of the stars. Oh, how The sun will swart with this new drawing dusk and sharpen the summers thereafter into a final cruelty. Brothers shall slay brothers and their sisters kinship stain across a woeful world. An age of wolves. And shattered shields. And weeping blades: ere this world crumbles.
@Fanation +Fanation really enjoyed this informative and interesting vid. thanks for this. can u focus on the "incest" aspect of GOT in another vid? thanks!
Cesar Antonio De Los Reyes It's not only incest but underaged sex as well. R.R. Martin has a wicked mind. Which is why I like him.
The night king wasnt created by grr martin, it doenst exist in the books. Its a creation by d&d for the show
The Night's King is definitely in the books, but he is only a legend, not the leader of the Others like in the TV show
In regard to dragons, GRRM might've gotten the 'three heads of the dragon' out of East Slavic tradition from Zmey, a three headed dragon.
Most think of Ymir today as the cynical girl from AoT...
If they knew folklore, they would have known well before that she's a titanshifter.
Did you use an instrumental beat from Chuki? :P
The white Walkers are coming
2:40 BATHORY!!!!!!
Ay, I caught that too
GRRM didn't create the night king
@6:13
7:15 More like Voldemort in Harry Potter no?
You're pronouncing -heim wrong
Good video. The mythology behind ''American gods'' deities would be an interesting topic for a new one.
Well done.
How about Greek mythology ? Tyrion gives me Minotaur vibes. Herra could be Cersei.. And so on.
Cersei could also be Circe 😂
Nordic zombies are called Draug(u)r
the drowned god please
Nice pronunciations
Wow, that was really interesting!
10:56 Can someone give me a link to this image? I want to use it as a wallpaper.
Also, very nice video. It was pretty informative.
You should make a video about the gods of game of thrones
What's that background song you have going?
DREGEN
In the Lord of the Rings books, the Nazghul did not ride on dragons. The flew on giant carrion birds, like undead rotting versions of the giant eagles. The movies depicted them as dragons, but we know from The Hobbit, that Dragons were rare and enormous in Middle earth. Sauron's entire army could have fit on Smaug's back, so the Nazghul were definitely on something a tad more practical.
lol my friend rescues wolves and his white is 230 lbs, he has 3 and the smallest one is 90 lbs and female, the males are well over 150. but pyro is 236 and just amazingly beautiful. cool vid thanks
interesting point about the heart of the night god living somewhere remote and tucked away and if you find it you can destry the 'night species' . What if it is all in that white tree?
So THAT'S where the hulcruxes in Harry Potter originate from.
why not mention that danarys dragons are actually wyverns
Leviathan 77 *eyeroll*
I probably should have mentioned them, but the distinction of Wyverns having two legs and Dragons having four, only applies consistently to heraldry, not mythology. From what I read, it's unclear if those rules apply to much of European mythology. Daenery's dragons also have a lot of dragon like characteristics that generally don't apply to Wyverns, like their size and ability to breath fire. Martin labeled them dragons in the novel, so I thought it was better to simply go with that and not confuse things, but I could be wrong about their classification. I think their visual design on the show may be more influenced by dinosaurs than Wyverns.
Wyverns already exist in "Planetos". And GRRM has said his dragons have 4 limbs because it's plausible from an evolutionary stand point.
Leviathan 77 No, it's not. It's just dragon in ASOIF universe. Stop it with Dragon - wyvern legs comparisons
very good answer thank you! I was only referring to the design, since its definitely an inspirational source, but you are right, wyverns are definitely more of a heraldics things. (I wasn't even aware of the "controversy" around the GoT dragons until after I posted here).
I think there is also a connection between the white walkers and the wild hunt
Michael Corriveau the naglfar (guess I butchered the writing) or what? That's just an idea and out wouldn't for imho...
Necromancers really don't have a big presence in ancient mythology and are mostly seen in modern fantasy / sci-fi / horror fiction. Plus, the night king hasn't actually made an appearance in the Song of Ice & Fire Books. Zombies too are wholly different from the undead of vampire lore and have their origins in west African & Voodoo mythology and the Norse underworld warriors aren't zombies but just dead warriors whose bodies aren't rotted.
the Nazgûl ride fell beasts, not dragons.
*Wyvern..
*Dragon
Titanic they're dragons only in that the writer refers to them as such, but in term of the lore that inspired them, the ones on the show would be categorized as Wyverns..
ismail Cem Eroglu lol, nope. The only difference between Dragon and Wyvern is the amount of legs..
ismail Cem Eroglu there is no definitive version of either, safe for the leg count..
I'll fucking write a book where dogs are called dragons so people who try to use this shitty "unified dragon classification" can go fuck themselves with a hardcover copy of it.
That's like saying Christianity's mythology
7:01 So that is JK Rowling's inspiration for Voldemort and his horcruxes.
What's an essay question for this video?
actually, i feel the Wights from ASoIaF and Got were inspired by the mythical Norse creatures resurrected from beyond the grave: the Draugr, thats what the "dishonorable dead" are called in the Nordic Mythos
The -heim in Muspelheim and Yotenheim is pronounced with an i sound. It is the Germanic pronounciation of any word with an ei. The true vowel sound is given to the i not the other way around as is in English.
How about the Mythologies that influenced the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
I think it was a Wyrm that created the original crypt's at Winterfell.
Can you do "The Witcher 3" ?
For a more recent historical version of dire wolves, refer to the Beast of Gévaudan.
The Real Mythology.... let's think about that phrase for a second.
Aren't the Children of the forrest also close to dryads?