Interestingly 3 people with kings blood: viserys, rhaego, and drogo are are killed in close proximity to her 3 dragon eggs before they hatch. With the gold and white one being directly referenced before viserys is killed. Its also the first egg to hatch. Then rhaego is the second to die in the tent where her eggs are kept (rhaegal hatches second). Finally drogo (closest in nature to a king) is killed after blood magic is used on him. Drogon hatches last and its stated the power/sound of egg cracking “shakes the world” immediately being referenced to as the strongest. The colour schemes seem to fit too with viserion being white and gold like viserys when drogo poured molten gold over his head. Green and bronze for rhaego, with the blood magic that took his life using a bronze sacrifice knife, though we didn’t see much of rhaego so i think the green is significant the dragons future. Red and black are fitting for drogo, hes often associated with black, red could be the blood magic that ended him.
@tombullard: Your breakdown is the most reasonable one presented, for so many reasons. Otherwise this concept of "blood magic" just sounds wicked and mysterious, like gratuitous violence.
Drogo's life is saved in a technical sense only. Only his physical shell was saved, but nothing of him that made him a Dothraki, a khal, a husband, a LIVING person, so Dany sacrifices him..he is her last sacrifice and her first real one. It's not a real sacrifice unless you give something up. She has already sacrificed her brother (her past) (by abandoning the idea that he will ever get beyond himself enough to learn to offer respect to Drogo and the Dothraki,) she has already sacrificed her child (her future, a future) (by letting the ritual to "save" Drogo take place, she really did know at some level that the horse would not do it) but relieving Drogo of the pale imitation of life is the first time she takes full responsibility and real risks. In that moment, she is freeing him and not thinking about how she might be treated by his angry blood riders. She gives up her safety in a brutal culture that is not even hers. Only later does she remember the stirrings in the eggs and figures out how to hatch them in fire - and blood.
Maybe the whole "King's Blood" thing is more about the belief of the practitioner than of the actual status of the sacrifice. Because the mage believes it's more powerful, it becomes so due to that belief. Think of it increasing their focus. The Targaryens became kings due to conquest. The same is true for Robert Baratheon. Robb was proclaimed king by the northerners. Stannis only really has his army and relationship with Robert. Could the Varys' quote "Power resides where men believe it does" be more than about politics? Does the number of followers or "believers" in a king make the blood more powerful. If so, what about a religious leader like the High Sparrow? He's a king of sorts. He has followers and wields tremendous political power.
It's a lot like in Neil Gaiman's American Gods or the gods of Theros from the Magic the Gathering Multiverse. In both cases, the amount of followers affects how powerful a god is.
think it may be that and more, Possibly how much influence that person may have on history would empower the spell. If you sacrifice someone who no matter how slim may have become someone of note/change the course of history in the future the greater the spell that will effect the present.
I suspect that it has something to do with power. Or more precisely, potential power. Any unknown blue-blooded commoner, a "Gendry-like", if you will, has more potential power than his peers by virtue of his relationship with the nobility. That'd remain true, even if he was the bastard son of a lesser house, too. It is possible for any "Gendry" in the world to leverage that in his favour. The more potential power someone has, by virtue of all current circumstances at play, their predilections, ambitions, skills and handicaps, the greater the power of their blood. Rob Stark wasn't just named king, the people naming him *trusted* him. They saw him as their king. Their sovereign ruler. I can imagine that as something that might impart power to blood. Faith. The more power other people believe you have, the more potent a fuel for magic your body would become. In any case, Rob could have lived to radically restructure the power dynamic of the Seven Kingdoms, with but a closer eye on the politics of his bannermen. I'd call that quite powerful. Potentially.
Melly is shown to be essentially incompetent. My take: Power in king's blood is an ancient adage she takes too literally. The Valyrians imbued their blood with magic as presumably did the Starks through human sacrifice and execution, the more powerful the ruler more blood sacrifice thus the more power through sacrificing them. Hence the adage.
I always figured blood magic can be broken down in to simply: There are things out there, existing on a plane above ours, and they want something from you. And they will give you something in return if you appease them. What it is they want or what they will give you is not always clear tho, even among experienced mages. And you can accidentally make a bargain without even knowing it. (I honestly believe Daenarys accidentally cast such a spell when burning Drogo on a pyre)
It is just a force field; it isn't conscious. This is like saying "the wifi works because the electromagnetic gods grant it so." The people of ASOIAF are messing with forces they do not understand; hence, they purport that the gods are granting this power rather than understanding it was what happens when you impinge upon the force field that is the lifeforce of all living things
@pyropulse7932 Are you trying to say Wifi isn't caused by the Electromagnetic Gods? Better not let them hear you blaspheme, or you won't be watching these videos much longer!
Are you suggesting that fans "donate" blood to GRRM's writing? That's an interesting justification for serial murder/establishment of a death cult... On the other hand, it would be a great motivation for an *actual* blood drive - donate to save lives and see ASOIAF be finished!
Lord Varys said so himself. “Power resides where men believe it resides.” Kings Blood is powerful because everyone believes the King has all the power. The larger the number of people and the harder they believe in the power of their King the more powerful the blood magic is. This is why Khal Drogo’s death was powerful enough to wake dragons. At the moment of his death tens of thousands of Dothraki were riding the Khal Drogo choo choo.
in second book, i noticed that magic is somehow connected to dragons. one of the alchemists in kings landing says that somehow the old spells are working and thats why they could create such a great amount of wildfire and this is after the dragons are born
I don't think the Dothraki truly despise blood magic when looked at in that way. Culturally rituals for events are very significant, like at Danny's wedding. They did say it isn't a dothraki wedding without some blood spilled. It seems they despise blood magic used as a weapon, or direct manipulation of life. They don't see evocations and large amounts of bloodshed followed by victory celebrations as blood magic.
Except that "blood spilled" doesn't mean it's a religious offering. It could be said that "it's not a redneck wedding if there's not a fist fight between the families and the police get called." I suspect the Dothraki saying meant that violence was a key part of their life, so of course it's going to be a key part of their wedding ceremony. It's bloodshed, not a sacrifice.
Blood magic is a sacrifice of blood for power, but we are shown again and again that it is easier to offer someone else's blood - and that's not really a sacrifice!
The thing with Magic involving sacrifice is that the sacrifices willingness can effect the outcome. An unwilling sacrifice would create powerful curses, while a willing one can create an unbreakable protection. The thing about a good Magic system is that it should be, at its core, morally neutral, with every aspect of it being capable of being used for good or ill.
I always thought it was about how important they are to you. The reason the sacrifice of nissa nissa was so powerful was because of the importance of her to azor ahai, Thats why kings blood is so powerful. Because of the idea it comes from a king, not necessarily the actual blood. You just think its someone super important which does in reality make it a great sacrifice( because everyone believes so) so the sacrifice is more powerful
I go with the slightly different view that it matters how many people think the person sacrificed is important. King's blood is the most valuable because people think Kings are important (and presumably, the more people he rules over, the more powerful the blood). By extension, that would make Khal Drogo's blood more valuable than Edric Storm's - Drogo may not be a King but has a lot of followers and while people know Edric is semi royal, nobody really thinks of him as being a King.
Yup. Ties in with the themes about power existing not as an objective force, but rather where people think it does. It seems magic is much the same. If enough people believe a thing is important or magical, then it is. This is how real world religions and governments function after all, so it's a firm and poignant base for a magic system.
Also that quote is from someone who was used in a blood magic sacrifice and is old enough to have researched it. + he found and tortured the warlock so he probably knows alot.
I mean, it’s also fraudulent. The leeches Melisandre burned likely had nothing to do with the deaths of the 3 kings. She likely saw their deaths in the flames and then set up that scenario as a way to convince others that her blood magic was real, leading to convincing Stannis to want to burn Edric Storm.
Melisandre was a true believer, admittedly she used tricks to enhance her mystical aura just as much as she used real magic (fancy dust up her sleeve for flair, but also birthing shadow babies), and she tended to misinterpret her visions according to her political bias, which is probably not great for a priestess. However just because she used flashy fake stage magic in her presentation doesn’t mean she was a complete fraud. She was a believer and worker of real magic but one with an agenda outside of R’hllorism and found a bit of the ol’ razzle dazzle useful in converting others to her cause.
My theory has always been based on the whole "power resides where men belive" line. I don't think Kings blood really exisists, I think it only exists because a large enough combined conscious all put belief into this idea of Royal blood (similar to how the Orks work on Warhammer 40k)
Kings blood is Targeryon blood. The Baratheons have a Targeryon ancestor. Assumedly any Valyrian noble would suffice. This is also why some people believe varys is a blackfyre. His root and stem were used for magic.
watching this i had a lightbulb moment about the Targaeryens and their sibling marriages. We associate inbreeding with being bad because of disease. Heck, there is a prominent belief its what caused Targ madness. But if their magical blood makes them LESS prone to disease, there is not much risk of inbreeding for them! in fact, incest marriages would potentially make them healthier because it doesnt dilute that property. If that is true, that would put all the Targ incest madness theories to rest and would make the "madness through dragon dreams" much more important. It would highlight the corrupting influence of power and believed noble causes. This would also mean by conforming to Westerosi standards, they made themselves more vulnerable, the misunderstanding due to culture adding to all the already lost knowledge that plagued the Targs in their diaspora
Our author woild not have it all just one way though. I can easily see him, through the characters and the histories arguing that the excellent physical health comes at the expense of not so good mental health, especially that little thing that looks like a *hereditary combination of meglomania and pyromania!* Not what I want in a ruler or anyone with any level of power, actually!
My Theory on Valeria's Destruction. The Blood and Fire Mages became complacent, even careless in their work over the centuries, and the power and energy within the volcano was no longer controlled or controllable. It got out. But it wasnt the volcano but was something in the volcano. A demigod perhaps whose power and energy was being taken and suppressed that finally was freed and destroyed Valeria.
Robert, I must say you are my absolute favorite ASOIAF channel.. I love your style, and the quality speaks for itself. I think what I like most of all is your unique perspective... As with the Tower of Joy, Howland Reed and Ashara Dayne... Thank you so very much for all the brilliant work you put into In Deep Geek! 😊😊😊
Melisandre may have said king's blood but in all the situations involving her, she used blood from people who descended from Targaryens. In reality, the dragonlord's blood is the king's blood
@@SmarterthanyewRobert did have Targeryan blood, I think his great grandmother was Targeryan? But considering the Lords right and Targeryans have existed for centuries in Westros, pretty much everyone has a chance of having some Targeryan blood somewhere, if their ancestors had one pretty woman amongst them. Only the North men might not, because Dragons (and thus Targeryans) didn't do well in far North for any length of time.
Not buying it. This author likes complicated reasons for things, not simple ones. And he is all, ALL about people convincing themselves that what they want to believe is actually right.
I'd argue that Daenerys eating the horse's heart was more "consuming the flesh" than blood magic. It's because those rituals seldom involve blood itself. It's the flesh and organs (usually hearts, lungs, brains, etc.) that holds the power the consumer is trying to get, not the blood. Otherwise, they would have given her a cup, glass, or goblet of blood to drink. Even Cannibalistic practices consume the flesh of their victims in order to get whatever powers or properties that person held. For horses, biologically speaking, hearts are one of the most important organs, with race winning horses having much larger hearts than the average. So a nomadic people depending on horses to survive, yes, a horse hear would contain very potent magic... just not blood magic. Now, sacrifices that involve blood, like the ones to the weirwood trees in the stories, or the real-life examples, like the story of Exodus (Hebrews painting their doorways in sheep's blood so the angel of death passed over their houses when looking for first born to slaughter.) or the sacrificial practices of people like the Incas, you could call that blood magic. The difference is here the blood is what's important, where in Daenerys's example, it was the flesh.
Perhaps the king's blood theory really relates to the concept of sacrificing a powerful person, or someone near to that person, so Drogo, as a leader, qualifies for this purpose. After all they sacrifice the Year Kings in I think Pentos, and that man is an upper class person of some rank, right? Stannis is a leader, if not a king really. Craster might have some relation to the Starks of old, but he's not really a leader, so his king's blood is worth about average.
@@Jon.A.Scholt Sure, if you are talking Rhlor and whoever/whatever entity the Valeryian Blood Mages were calling. Some of the gods don't work that way.The weirwoods would want nothing to do with lightning - and they seem to accept any blood at all.
12:38 "Simply stabbing someone and praying is not magic. Even if you do it loudly and Even if you bring a lot of friends" You should put that on a t-shirt 😂😂😂😂😂
If Shireen is sacrificed to bring back Jon, he'll be disgusted with whoever does this and any philosophy they hold. BTW it could be Val or some other Free Folk person who kills Shireen, maybe as a mercy killing. Val, for one, thinks it is the only decent thing to do with a diseased child, who, although pitiable, will die soonish and might spread the infection as far as the Free Folk know.
lightbringer was a dragon, not a sword. azor ahai bound nissa Nissan's soul to a dragon egg. the targaryans are tight with their dragons because their dead ancestors souls live inside them. Nanna vaegar really is one of their great great grandmas I bet.
I am reminded of a quote from an old friend, "Power resides where men believe it resides." Poeple often put kings above that of ordinary men thus, their blood hold that power of belief
Great vid as always IDG. GRRM's magical system is quite fascinating and well done ; blood magic in particular. I always found it somewhat curious "blood magic" does seem to be given its own distinction / category , as to me many of the Planetos magics do seem rooted or sourced by blood. Fire magic seems to be with R'hllorist and surely Valyrian magical practices. Perhaps was not always the case but the current Weirwoods / Old gods certainly have a blood component (potentially caused by corruption at some point). The Warlocks and shadow-binders seem to as well. Among other examples etc. Blood seems to be at the heart of a lot of Planetos magic and all certainly has a cost. That cost and subsequent result seems to be affected by numerous factors. The sacrificed / sacrificer personal relation & closeness seems to factor in. Could also be a collective element , the collective view of a monarch's significance for example. Though "king's blood" i always found a bit of a messy concept especially with lines ending & usurpation etc. The collective view significance and more obvious impacts of sacrificing a monarch surely have influence. But i personally believe "king's blood" could be a concept misconstrued over many millennia. I think the real sacrificial impact in this concept may be actual "magical blood" involvement. Many of the ancient mythical kings (known & unknown) were likely magic users imo. Being magical would have set them apart , attract masses to rally around them and be raised to a monarch. Assuming many of the ancient monarchs were actually magical this could be the reason king's blood was / is so coveted & impactful (especially via sacrifice) ; and the "king's blood" concept may have originally related more to their / their descendants' magical blood.
In a way I think blood magic impact the Weirwoods tree as well in the sense that it feeds of the blood that goes into the earth. So many have died in battles in the lands and their blood is feeding the Weirwood trees; in quality as well as in quantity
Ever we learned of the Anogrion from Viserys and then when Amanda came out with her video about lava being petrified fire magic, I've been constantly thinking about how and why lava is a magical source and I came up with a theory that if you personify the planet like some do now, as "mother earth" then the molten lava would be the lifes "blood" of the planet. Because we know the earth's center is molten and lava flows through the whole planet sorta like blood flows through our veins, then by in using lava and actual blood sacrifice, you're not just using a human's life force you're also using the "blood" of "mother earth" to perform magic in a symbolic way...and we already saw George personify Westeros in the House of The Undying vision that Dany had of the 'beautiful woman being ravaged by 5 little men'....
I always thought that danys babys life was swapped with the dragon eggs since he had the wings of a bat and had been dead for years. Might be wrong but i like it.
9:00 A lot of people forget but Robert, Stannis and Renly are actually third cousins of Daenerys. Their grandmother was a Targaryen and the founder of house Baratheon was also a Targaryen. So they actually have a strong Targaryen heritage
I wonder if the power of king's blood is the power of that person's potential. In hereditary positions that potential is obvious even if it is unlikely for them to inherit, but even Mance's son had potential beyond what an "ordinary" person might have.
i think King blood power comes form the people that believe in the king, kind of like if everyone just throw a log on the fire, the more the people the higher the fire. I think this is why Melisandre first shadow was able to work, due to Robert just die and many of the people would believe that Stannis should be king. Then when there are 5 kings and the power of the belief of the Common people would be split, her kings blood magic was not strong anymore.
What happened during the blood magic ritual that Dany interfered with is blindingly obvious, yet no one states what I am about to state: What happened to Dany during this 'blood magic ritual' is that the Horse's lifeforce energy did, indeed, go into Drogo, which is why he was alive, but apparently 'brain dead.' He has the lifeforce, of a horse, and Drogo, the conscious entity, was dead, since his lifeforce energy was likely snuffed out during this, or overcame with the lifeforce of the horse. Either way, he was 'comatose' because he literally had the horse lifeforce within him. Since a horse's lifeforce is not sufficient for a human, he is just in a comatose state Regarding the dragon eggs 'quickening' and Dany's baby born dead with stink of corruption and worms; The Life-force of a baby is so powerful that it powered three baby dragon eggs, which is how they *quickened.* And the deadness of the dragon eggs transferred to Dany's baby, which is why it was born as if it were dead for years, scaly, with grave worms, etc. The _definition of quickening makes this blindingly obvious;_ the lifeforce energy of Dany's unborn child went into the dragon eggs, thus quickening them. Mirri didn't do this on purpose; she was literally just going to transfer the horse's lifeforce essence into Drogo, but Dany came in and interfered. Also, the dragons being born had nothing to do with 'reawakening magic'; in the world. Burning Mirri had nothing to do with hatching the eggs; the eggs were already quickened, so the heat is what prompted the dragons to hatch out of their eggs; this was just a normal, biological process at this point, with the difference being that dragon eggs likely need more heat than what would be considered 'normal' for eggs of that size. Once the eggs were quickened via blood magic, they were able to hatch under purely biological reasons. The reason Targs forgot how to 'hatch' dragon eggs is that it literally requires blood magic to quicken them; these 'beasts' literally have the lifeforce energy of human babes, which is how they are intelligent. This means you need to make a child sacrifice to 'born' a dragon via blood sacrifice o the baby's life essence. Furthermore, lifeforce energy is like that of magnetic forces, or electric forces (electromagnetic forces); a fundamental field that people can manipulate; in their ignorance, the people of ASoIaF think that the 'gods' are granting this power; this would be like saying a flashlight works because the 'gods' shine the light at your behest at the exact moment you press the flashlight's button.
@@tomswiftyphilo2504 He doesn't literally have the mind of a horse. He got the life essence of a horse, which is not sufficient for a human. Hence he is 'brain dead,' or comatose. This is so simple and obvious, yet you guys come up with even more insane and stupid hypothesis. In fact, you guys don't even really provide a valid hypothesis, yet try to dismiss what I laid out, despite what I said just being as obvious as 1 + 1 = 2
I hate the idea that hundreds of years of Targaryen efforts to birth dragons through any number of sacrifices were unsuccessful but this witch killed a horse and POOF! DRAGONNNNNS! miri wanted to kill them. Make them suffer. And dany hatched the dragons. Not some horse blood.
The burning of the leeches is absolutely what killed the three kings, even if it was by means of twisting fate. It can't be a coincidence that all three of them happened to die in the same book after that ritual.
I always thought it tied into the divine right of kings. So it didn't really matter if you were born to it, or by right of conquest, if the divinity allows you to rule that is enough.
I would say, any form of blood is magical, and spilling blood always infuses the one who spills it with some of the essence of those the blood is drawn from. If you go by GOT traditions, then becoming kings and queens means you spilled a lot of blood of a lot of people who also accumulated a lot of blood on their side, further compressing the magic in once own blood. But it's also inherited by your children, who can further accumulate the magic in their blood ... not like your siblings has any needs of it when they are dead, so you can get the throne. The question would be if what you gather is "power" or some sort of curse that can be channeled by communicating with the souls inside as blood "magic" Another guess would be that, fire has the ability to draw this magic from blood and releasing it into the world, making it easier to use for mages. Maybe by cleansing from its curse like aspect, transforming it in something raw, more natural.
Drogo's life is saved in a technical sense only. Only his physical shell was saved, but nothing of him that made him a Dothraki, a khal, a husband, a LIVING person, so Dany sacrifices him..he is her last sacrifice and her first real one. It's not a real sacrifice unless you give something up. She has already sacrificed her brother (her past) (by abandoning the idea that he will ever get beyond himself enough to learn to offer respect to Drogo and the Dothraki,) she has already sacrificed her child (her future, a future) (by letting the ritual to "save" Drogo take place, she really did know at some level that the horse would not do it) but relieving Drogo of the pale imitation of life is the first time she takes full responsibility and real risks. In that moment, she is freeing him and not thinking about how she might be treated by his angry blood riders. She gives up her safety in a brutal culture that is not even hers. Only later does she remember the stirrings in the eggs and figures out how to hatch them in fire - and blood.
“Power resides where men believe it resides”… And a large mesh of believers on one person or bloodline creates a shatter point of events, all tracing back to that one person that through others beliefs can move thousands. Their sacrifice, through magical bargain or not will break the fault lines in the shatter point. I believed that whatever powers reside outside of their comprehension also put their trust into those shatterpoint ppl.
The power of kings blood, and that of all magic is belief in it. Just like Varis told Tyrion, "Power resides where men believe it resides". If you think kings blood has power then it dos..
Stannis will be the one that kills Shireen. Melisandre will not do it behind Stannis' back. George labeled Stannis' decision to kill Shireen as one of the shocking moments he told the showrunners.
I wonder why Blood Magic is so often (always?) viewed as a dark and terrible thing in fantasy fiction (Dragon Age, Ice and Fire, Avatar: Last Airbender). There are many examples of horrible things Blood Magic can accomplish, but I'd like to think Doctors would be able to use Blood Magic in very useful and positive ways. I'm not talking dramatic defying the laws of nature with life and death stuff, but, rather, I imagine there would be MANY useful Medicinal applications for a Magic that can manipulate the properties of Blood.
I would guess the main reason for that would be because of how it's used most of the time we see it. Take Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra, for example; I'm sure blood bending could be used in a medical way, like to help filter poison out of blood, but all of the times we see it in use is to suppress others and to inflict harm.
This is in line with what I think. Blood Magic isn´t necessarily evil. But it´s risky. Unpredictable. Powerful and chaotic. Which is probably why not many people use it.
Blood Magic requires a blood sacrifice and unless there are going to be altars and sacrificial scalpels in operating rooms, I doubt it would be a thing.
Generally speaking, in most fantasy settings, blood magic isn't specifically magic ABOUT blood, it's magic POWERED BY blood... so yes, a blood mage could theoretically do powerful magical healing and medicine -- by sacrificing an innocent life and spilling their blood. That is the morally negative part of blood magic in most systems, not the explicit relationship with blood itself but the idea of taking a life by force to accomplish an end, using human life as a resource to accomplish a goal... There are all kinds of ways you could write a fantasy story that avoid those tropes, though: maybe good blood mages willingly limit themselves to only using spells that can be powered by a pint of blood or less (ie, a nonlethal amount to take), maybe the blood mage only uses their own blood (altruistic sacrifice for the good of others), maybe there's some kind of religious cult like the House of Black and White in ASoIaF where people who are old, sick, or dying can go to voluntarily be sacrificed by the blood mages to power spells keeping everyone else safe or happy, etc...
Because blood magic isn't manipulation of blood. It's magic that is explicitly fueled by killing and sacrifice; usually the more "pure of heart" a person being, the more power can be extracted from their sacrifice. Blood magic is inextricably linked to the idea that power at any cost is evil, and so too are the people willing to make such immoral deals.
Personally i think GRRM likes to keep magic mysterious because he doesn't understand it. By that i mean,he doesn't understand the serl world inspiration for it. He addmited to not undrstanding Gandalfs death and rebirth, calling it cheap, and thrt he would hrve just killed off Gandalf. Gandalfs death was about Gandalf overcoming his fears and doubt about the war against Sauron. The heavens revived him as the White Wizard,leader of the forces of Light and emmissery of the hnavens. To cast spells that work you need to believe without any doubt that it can come true. The fact that GRRM calls Gandalfs death scene cheap,shows how little he both understands and respects the inspiration behind it. Magic and religion are only in his books to make it a fantasy, not because he believes in it Like Tolkien did.
I'm going to be the "I haven't finished the video yet" guy just because I'm so interested in this topic. I want to hear what our boy has to say but I'm too antsy to just sit and listen so I'm going to type for a minute: I'm of the opinion that *all* "magic" in "A Song of Ice and Fire" is psychic power manifesting. see through the eyes of a wolf? psychic power. seeing far-away people, places, and times through a tree? psychic power. using a charm to obfuscate your appearance? psychic power. change your face? psychic power. control a dragon? psychic power. insert yourself into people's dreams? psychic power. create a gust of wind that can slit throats? ~~The Forbidden Planet~~ psychic power. there are others I'm forgetting my point is that, in this story, belief is pretty clearly an influence on the magnitude of your abilities, right? just like with anything else in life, the more confident you are in yourself and others are in you, the more successful you'll be at trying something. I think the reason king's blood is so effective, especially when you're doing something like a public sacrifice, is because everyone believes it has power. that psychic energy must add up, whether it's in the form of actual measurable power or simply via collective will, the very real importance and value of a king's blood is going to affect people's beliefs no matter what. even if you don't like the king personally, or you don't like his policies, or even if you think he's illegitimate, *he's still the king.* period. so as long as he's actually a king and he's actually ruling then his blood is going to have value for someone doing blood magic. that's where I'm at. I'm curious and excited to hear Robert's opinion
King's Blood isn't tied to the political machinations of some feudal system. Rather it is tied to high valyrian dragonlord blood. The three headed dragon is of the rider, the dragon and their proto ancestor that guides dragons to high valyrian blood. If you could easily ride a dragon because of your blood (which the bartheons do have targeyon blood) then you have king's blood. I imagine that working with blood with raw magical potential allows for more powerful spells to be cast
I thought it was Mellisandres misinterpretation that kings blood was powerful and it was only valyrian blood. And since the Baratheons have a little of that through marriage it works. And Mellisandre only thinks Mance Raiders blood would do anything...
I know that you have spoken about this before, but the significance of experience with the warlock and having his genitals burnt, and then speaking into the flames and receiving an answer that sounds like some crazy blood magic to me
Around 8:30 when Robert mentions khal drogo and Rhaego’s blood, I think it’s worth thinking about if the deep connection the Dothraki have with their horses also added to the horse’s death aiding the magic
I slways thought kings blood is a mistranslation from valyrian blood. Or maybe noble valyrian blood. We only hear it claimed in westeros, where for 300 years valyrian and royal were synonymous. And it is probably just a way to guess best who has magic in his blood, and it would make sense that magical blood is a stronger sacrifice than non magical (or less magical, if you go by the odea that life itself is magic)..but since humans can't see magical potential they tried to come up with signifiers that are often tied to those who have it.. Kingsblood in westeros, vslyrian features in varysses case, greendreams with jojen, strength with the dothraki and so on..
@@TeethToothman Blood is the very lifeforce of humans, is it not. To sacrifice your very life, sometimes literally (Shireen),... Sounds risky at best. Not necessarily evil, but intense and risky.
I don’t think Daenerys eating a horse heart has anything to do with blood magic. As you mentioned it, Dothraki do not believe in that. It has more similarities with the practice of cannibalism in primitive societies, where by eating a strong and brave soldier it was thought to bring you his strength and courage. Here, Dothraki worship horses that they regard as very powerful animals. Daenerys eat one of their hearts would bring strength to her son to be. Simply that.
I think the king's blood is generally meant for Old Valerian blood, but in instances where that is not a factor, or less of a factor as all blood stems from the first men, etc, perhaps blood of someone of lesser breeding, such as Khals, have the power of their blood derived from how many follow them. Love, adoration, and the power they have garnered through their lives etc being some kind of factor in elevating the magical properties in the blood? But I think any blood, or in more powerful magic, any life can pay the fee for magic, but Valerian blood just has a much more powerful effect.
How does the blood know it's king's blood? Would Rob be considered to have king's blood? Why? Because he declares himself to be one? Because other people declared him to be one? How many are required? Or is it battles won?
My guess is that in the world of ASOIAF, what makes a king is people believing someone is a king. In other words, “Power resides where men believe it resides.”
What powers magic is sacrifice. A sacrifice is greater the more meaningful it is to the person performing it (much like the Faceless Men's flexible pricing structure). The power of kings' blood follows entirely from those first principles, without kings actually needing to possess any intrinsic magic. If you're a leader and you willingly shed your own blood or kill a close family member for a spell, that's a much greater sacrifice than some underling with no say in the matter. Alternatively, you could go to war in order to sacrifice a rival king - less personal, but the God of Death will certainly get his due from the war. The point is, killing a king is never something anyone does _lightly_. Even if you look at cases of distant descendants of kings (say, the theory that Varys is a Blackfyre and he was castrated for a blood magic ritual) - potential kings have power too, there are plenty of examples of unlikely claimants being used as pawns in royal power struggles. And that power makes their sacrifice significant too, albeit less so. Someone might have used that Blackfyre boy to start a new rebellion in Westeros, but a sorcerer chose to use him for a spell instead. Arnolf Karstark has a distant trace of king's blood, but he's also an important political hostage - which of those facts is more magically powerful should Stannis choose to burn him?
Is it known how much more George has in store for the book series, has he said a book "limit" or estimation? Would be fun if you made a video about it (if you havent already) talking about it and what things that happened in the TV Series that might not, or maybe even probably wont happen :) THanks for an amazing channel! If I wasnt poor and a student I would happily support you better on Patreon
His current plan for the series is The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring being the final books in the series. However his original plan was that the series would span 3 books, so that's not necessarily set in stone.
The thing is, practically every other country besides the us doesn't hold that word at such a high standard which i think is great. By making it some forbidden word you only give it more power
I think the kings blood thing is literally a genetic thing. Many houses have magic in their ancient roots, ancient blood of dragons, or blood of green men, etc. basically the blood of kings is often blood that has some traces of ancient magical crossbreeding with fantastic creatures.
It kinda bugs me that GRRM doesnt want us to be able to understand magic, i don't mind having to do tons of extra research and even buy an extra book or two of his, in fact id prefer it that way. I know it sounds probably dumb and/or contradictory, but I like magic systems that are deeply complex and able to be broken down into basically science of a sorts. Ive actually always loved video games that had complex rituals and the like that make you actually have to take notes and not just follow given directions. I'll give an example, even if it is a fairly simple one (just goes to show how rare truly complex magic systems are implemented): in Oblivion, there is a ritual to create black soul gems, you have to find one of either 3 or 4 altars in the overworld. Once every 7 or 8 days (from the day of the week you start the game) these altars begin to glow for a short time during the night. If you can get your hands on a reasonably rare item called a Grand Soul Gem, you can place that gem inside the altar (during that short window of time once a week) and then cast the Soul Trap spell on it, once cast it will convert the Grand Soul Gem into one of the rarer items in the game called a Black Soul Gem. Now to my knowledge, there IS a quest somewhere that will run you through the ritual once, with quest text and NPCs giving you general info on where to go and what to do, but with the massive scope of Oblivion, you're not super likely to run into it. At the same time though, you never need to actually do the quest to even perform the ritual, if you just stumble onto the info (im thinking it can be found in an in game book) and thus know what to do, you can just go do it. The best part of it is that while it might seem kinda annoying having to do all this legwork and stuff to put everything in order and keep up with the days passed and all that, the reward is a genuinely useful one for the game, because black soul gems are incredibly powerful items overall (they allow you to store a human soul) that are normally really hard to obtain for all but the very high level characters out there, and even for them they're a bit annoying to come by. I absolutely ADORE when developers add things like that into a magic system in games, and in the same vein, i enjoy researching and piecing together bits of info for complex and obscure arcane arts in books, shows, and movies. To see a world so well built as ASOIAF with such an interesting seeming set of magical rules/laws, it makes me instinctively feel as though there should be countless advanced texts one could research in order to piece together the inner workings of the magic there
It's not Blood Magic! It's Love Magic! Magical sacrifice of someone you love! The Targaryen bond with their Dragons is one of Love. That's why Daenerys's Drægons are named for his husband, the brother she knew, and the brother she didn't. These are the only three people that Daenerys loved.
Valyrians used a lot of blood magic and they also required a lot of slaves. Those slaves were specifically referenced to be used in the 14 flames. The center of which is where they worked their spells and I believe referenced to be where dragons come from. Magic requires blood, I don’t think this specifically means they have to be willing nor do they have to be important. Dragons are living representation of blood and fire. They are living and fire made flesh(blood). It’s also said that ALL Valyrian magic was related to blood magic. My theory is that Valyrian blood combined with blood sacrifices and fireworms led to the creation of dragons and with dragons more blood was acquired and more magic done. Even look at how white walkers are created with blood sacrifices. I think and it’s just a theory but Targaryen blood and why it’s so important is because it’s the last trace of Valyrian blood magic, literally the last of the dragonblood. It makes even more sense when you consider that not all Valyrians were dragon lords. The first riders might have the very first sacrifices which is why their dragons hatched and were bonded. Targaryens were dragon riders even if the least of them. I think that Targaryens stillbirths are a form of blood sacrifice for dragons to continue to hatch.
i think its like when you pray. you can pray for anything but its up to God to give u anything at all. you can sacrifice all you want but it up to the true god in the book seems like lord of light the true god. its all up to him to answer it or not
What makes kings blood powerful is that people believe it's powerful. This may not only be a figurative thing, but may be literally true. Perhaps the source of the magic power of kings blood is faith in a way.
I mean in this context id assume that kings blood just means that your of a higher status in the sense that if your like prince targaryian, i think his and calisis blood would actually help alot just because of who they are as people they have the spirit of rulers they are smarter than most and theyve come from a strong bloodline, vs like actual king joffery i dont think his blood would yeild the same results or like ludd whitehill vs lord lanisster lord lanasters blood would be stronger and more potent, spirits and higher powers can sense the way someones soul is the better the spul the more and better the power you get, plus i also feel like it depends what your trying to do with it as well a dirtier soul might be better for an evil feat
Interestingly 3 people with kings blood: viserys, rhaego, and drogo are are killed in close proximity to her 3 dragon eggs before they hatch. With the gold and white one being directly referenced before viserys is killed. Its also the first egg to hatch. Then rhaego is the second to die in the tent where her eggs are kept (rhaegal hatches second). Finally drogo (closest in nature to a king) is killed after blood magic is used on him. Drogon hatches last and its stated the power/sound of egg cracking “shakes the world” immediately being referenced to as the strongest. The colour schemes seem to fit too with viserion being white and gold like viserys when drogo poured molten gold over his head. Green and bronze for rhaego, with the blood magic that took his life using a bronze sacrifice knife, though we didn’t see much of rhaego so i think the green is significant the dragons future. Red and black are fitting for drogo, hes often associated with black, red could be the blood magic that ended him.
@tombullard: Your breakdown is the most reasonable one presented, for so many reasons. Otherwise this concept of "blood magic" just sounds wicked and mysterious, like gratuitous violence.
Drogo's horse was called "his red".
Drogo's life is saved in a technical sense only. Only his physical shell was saved, but nothing of him that made him a Dothraki, a khal, a husband, a LIVING person, so Dany sacrifices him..he is her last sacrifice and her first real one.
It's not a real sacrifice unless you give something up.
She has already sacrificed her brother (her past) (by abandoning the idea that he will ever get beyond himself enough to learn to offer respect to Drogo and the Dothraki,) she has already sacrificed her child (her future, a future) (by letting the ritual to "save" Drogo take place, she really did know at some level that the horse would not do it) but relieving Drogo of the pale imitation of life is the first time she takes full responsibility and real risks.
In that moment, she is freeing him and not thinking about how she might be treated by his angry blood riders. She gives up her safety in a brutal culture that is not even hers. Only later does she remember the stirrings in the eggs and figures out how to hatch them in fire - and blood.
Green is a good color for dragons!
This is crazy. Thanks
Maybe the whole "King's Blood" thing is more about the belief of the practitioner than of the actual status of the sacrifice. Because the mage believes it's more powerful, it becomes so due to that belief. Think of it increasing their focus.
The Targaryens became kings due to conquest. The same is true for Robert Baratheon. Robb was proclaimed king by the northerners. Stannis only really has his army and relationship with Robert. Could the Varys' quote "Power resides where men believe it does" be more than about politics? Does the number of followers or "believers" in a king make the blood more powerful. If so, what about a religious leader like the High Sparrow? He's a king of sorts. He has followers and wields tremendous political power.
So, power resides where men believe it resides.
It's a lot like in Neil Gaiman's American Gods or the gods of Theros from the Magic the Gathering Multiverse. In both cases, the amount of followers affects how powerful a god is.
think it may be that and more, Possibly how much influence that person may have on history would empower the spell. If you sacrifice someone who no matter how slim may have become someone of note/change the course of history in the future the greater the spell that will effect the present.
I suspect that it has something to do with power. Or more precisely, potential power.
Any unknown blue-blooded commoner, a "Gendry-like", if you will, has more potential power than his peers by virtue of his relationship with the nobility. That'd remain true, even if he was the bastard son of a lesser house, too.
It is possible for any "Gendry" in the world to leverage that in his favour.
The more potential power someone has, by virtue of all current circumstances at play, their predilections, ambitions, skills and handicaps, the greater the power of their blood.
Rob Stark wasn't just named king, the people naming him *trusted* him. They saw him as their king. Their sovereign ruler. I can imagine that as something that might impart power to blood. Faith. The more power other people believe you have, the more potent a fuel for magic your body would become.
In any case, Rob could have lived to radically restructure the power dynamic of the Seven Kingdoms, with but a closer eye on the politics of his bannermen.
I'd call that quite powerful. Potentially.
Melly is shown to be essentially incompetent. My take: Power in king's blood is an ancient adage she takes too literally. The Valyrians imbued their blood with magic as presumably did the Starks through human sacrifice and execution, the more powerful the ruler more blood sacrifice thus the more power through sacrificing them. Hence the adage.
I always figured blood magic can be broken down in to simply: There are things out there, existing on a plane above ours, and they want something from you. And they will give you something in return if you appease them. What it is they want or what they will give you is not always clear tho, even among experienced mages. And you can accidentally make a bargain without even knowing it. (I honestly believe Daenarys accidentally cast such a spell when burning Drogo on a pyre)
It is just a force field; it isn't conscious. This is like saying "the wifi works because the electromagnetic gods grant it so." The people of ASOIAF are messing with forces they do not understand; hence, they purport that the gods are granting this power rather than understanding it was what happens when you impinge upon the force field that is the lifeforce of all living things
@@pyropulseIXXI This makes the most sense. There very much doesn't seem to be any higher consciousness, it's just a force.
Most of that sounds like religious worship/prayer and rules/sins.
@pyropulse7932 Are you trying to say Wifi isn't caused by the Electromagnetic Gods? Better not let them hear you blaspheme, or you won't be watching these videos much longer!
A better description would be Dany unknowingly bargaining her child's life for Drogo. She knew what she was doing by burning Drogo and Mirri Maz Duur
We need a lot of blood magic to be sure that Martin will ever write last two books
Are you suggesting that fans "donate" blood to GRRM's writing? That's an interesting justification for serial murder/establishment of a death cult...
On the other hand, it would be a great motivation for an *actual* blood drive - donate to save lives and see ASOIAF be finished!
@@neuralmute ASOI&F blood drive is a great idea!
@@margaretwordnerd5210not really lol.
I’ve already given up on a dream of spring
He's going to be 6 feet under before he finishes
Lord Varys said so himself. “Power resides where men believe it resides.”
Kings Blood is powerful because everyone believes the King has all the power. The larger the number of people and the harder they believe in the power of their King the more powerful the blood magic is.
This is why Khal Drogo’s death was powerful enough to wake dragons.
At the moment of his death tens of thousands of Dothraki were riding the Khal Drogo choo choo.
Kinda like beserk. The anime if you have read that. Evil is given power because people believe it has power.
actually at the moment of his death most of the khalasar had abandoned Dany already but it did make the ones who stayed the fiercest of her followers
@@ry8539anime is crap and stolen ideas from other crap
in second book, i noticed that magic is somehow connected to dragons. one of the alchemists in kings landing says that somehow the old spells are working and thats why they could create such a great amount of wildfire and this is after the dragons are born
The red woman also said that her spells had become more potent and she didn't have to rely on tricks
It’s mentioned dozens of times in the text, so glaringly obvious even the show runners thought to include it so yes good catch
Also mentioned in this video, starting at about 5:16
I don't think the Dothraki truly despise blood magic when looked at in that way. Culturally rituals for events are very significant, like at Danny's wedding. They did say it isn't a dothraki wedding without some blood spilled. It seems they despise blood magic used as a weapon, or direct manipulation of life. They don't see evocations and large amounts of bloodshed followed by victory celebrations as blood magic.
Except that "blood spilled" doesn't mean it's a religious offering. It could be said that "it's not a redneck wedding if there's not a fist fight between the families and the police get called." I suspect the Dothraki saying meant that violence was a key part of their life, so of course it's going to be a key part of their wedding ceremony. It's bloodshed, not a sacrifice.
Blood magic is a sacrifice of blood for power, but we are shown again and again that it is easier to offer someone else's blood - and that's not really a sacrifice!
The thing with Magic involving sacrifice is that the sacrifices willingness can effect the outcome. An unwilling sacrifice would create powerful curses, while a willing one can create an unbreakable protection. The thing about a good Magic system is that it should be, at its core, morally neutral, with every aspect of it being capable of being used for good or ill.
I always thought it was about how important they are to you. The reason the sacrifice of nissa nissa was so powerful was because of the importance of her to azor ahai, Thats why kings blood is so powerful. Because of the idea it comes from a king, not necessarily the actual blood. You just think its someone super important which does in reality make it a great sacrifice( because everyone believes so) so the sacrifice is more powerful
I go with the slightly different view that it matters how many people think the person sacrificed is important. King's blood is the most valuable because people think Kings are important (and presumably, the more people he rules over, the more powerful the blood). By extension, that would make Khal Drogo's blood more valuable than Edric Storm's - Drogo may not be a King but has a lot of followers and while people know Edric is semi royal, nobody really thinks of him as being a King.
Yup. Ties in with the themes about power existing not as an objective force, but rather where people think it does. It seems magic is much the same. If enough people believe a thing is important or magical, then it is. This is how real world religions and governments function after all, so it's a firm and poignant base for a magic system.
@@archonambroseus Power is "a shadow on the wall." And when they sacrifice that power, they can birth shadows.
Power resides where men believe it resides. Right?
Also that quote is from someone who was used in a blood magic sacrifice and is old enough to have researched it. + he found and tortured the warlock so he probably knows alot.
I mean, it’s also fraudulent. The leeches Melisandre burned likely had nothing to do with the deaths of the 3 kings. She likely saw their deaths in the flames and then set up that scenario as a way to convince others that her blood magic was real, leading to convincing Stannis to want to burn Edric Storm.
She killed Renly herself.
Melisandre was a true believer, admittedly she used tricks to enhance her mystical aura just as much as she used real magic (fancy dust up her sleeve for flair, but also birthing shadow babies), and she tended to misinterpret her visions according to her political bias, which is probably not great for a priestess. However just because she used flashy fake stage magic in her presentation doesn’t mean she was a complete fraud. She was a believer and worker of real magic but one with an agenda outside of R’hllorism and found a bit of the ol’ razzle dazzle useful in converting others to her cause.
@@bananaforscale1283 Yeah, but she used sex magic to draw some life force from Stannis to create the shadow baby that did the deed.
My theory has always been based on the whole "power resides where men belive" line. I don't think Kings blood really exisists, I think it only exists because a large enough combined conscious all put belief into this idea of Royal blood (similar to how the Orks work on Warhammer 40k)
Kings blood is Targeryon blood. The Baratheons have a Targeryon ancestor. Assumedly any Valyrian noble would suffice. This is also why some people believe varys is a blackfyre. His root and stem were used for magic.
watching this i had a lightbulb moment about the Targaeryens and their sibling marriages. We associate inbreeding with being bad because of disease. Heck, there is a prominent belief its what caused Targ madness. But if their magical blood makes them LESS prone to disease, there is not much risk of inbreeding for them! in fact, incest marriages would potentially make them healthier because it doesnt dilute that property. If that is true, that would put all the Targ incest madness theories to rest and would make the "madness through dragon dreams" much more important. It would highlight the corrupting influence of power and believed noble causes. This would also mean by conforming to Westerosi standards, they made themselves more vulnerable, the misunderstanding due to culture adding to all the already lost knowledge that plagued the Targs in their diaspora
Our author woild not have it all just one way though. I can easily see him, through the characters and the histories arguing that the excellent physical health comes at the expense of not so good mental health, especially that little thing that looks like a *hereditary combination of meglomania and pyromania!*
Not what I want in a ruler or anyone with any level of power, actually!
Resistance to diseases doesn't equal resistance to mental health issues.
My Theory on Valeria's Destruction.
The Blood and Fire Mages became complacent, even careless in their work over the centuries, and the power and energy within the volcano was no longer controlled or controllable. It got out. But it wasnt the volcano but was something in the volcano. A demigod perhaps whose power and energy was being taken and suppressed that finally was freed and destroyed Valeria.
Robert, I must say you are my absolute favorite ASOIAF channel.. I love your style, and the quality speaks for itself. I think what I like most of all is your unique perspective... As with the Tower of Joy, Howland Reed and Ashara Dayne... Thank you so very much for all the brilliant work you put into In Deep Geek! 😊😊😊
King's blood = Valyrian blood = Golden Empire Of The Dawn DNA. All powerful magic comes back to the Golden Empire.
Melisandre may have said king's blood but in all the situations involving her, she used blood from people who descended from Targaryens. In reality, the dragonlord's blood is the king's blood
Gendry?
@@SmarterthanyewRobert did have Targeryan blood, I think his great grandmother was Targeryan? But considering the Lords right and Targeryans have existed for centuries in Westros, pretty much everyone has a chance of having some Targeryan blood somewhere, if their ancestors had one pretty woman amongst them. Only the North men might not, because Dragons (and thus Targeryans) didn't do well in far North for any length of time.
Not buying it.
This author likes complicated reasons for things, not simple ones. And he is all, ALL about people convincing themselves that what they want to believe is actually right.
I'd argue that Daenerys eating the horse's heart was more "consuming the flesh" than blood magic. It's because those rituals seldom involve blood itself. It's the flesh and organs (usually hearts, lungs, brains, etc.) that holds the power the consumer is trying to get, not the blood. Otherwise, they would have given her a cup, glass, or goblet of blood to drink. Even Cannibalistic practices consume the flesh of their victims in order to get whatever powers or properties that person held. For horses, biologically speaking, hearts are one of the most important organs, with race winning horses having much larger hearts than the average. So a nomadic people depending on horses to survive, yes, a horse hear would contain very potent magic... just not blood magic.
Now, sacrifices that involve blood, like the ones to the weirwood trees in the stories, or the real-life examples, like the story of Exodus (Hebrews painting their doorways in sheep's blood so the angel of death passed over their houses when looking for first born to slaughter.) or the sacrificial practices of people like the Incas, you could call that blood magic. The difference is here the blood is what's important, where in Daenerys's example, it was the flesh.
Perhaps the king's blood theory really relates to the concept of sacrificing a powerful person, or someone near to that person, so Drogo, as a leader, qualifies for this purpose. After all they sacrifice the Year Kings in I think Pentos, and that man is an upper class person of some rank, right?
Stannis is a leader, if not a king really. Craster might have some relation to the Starks of old, but he's not really a leader, so his king's blood is worth about average.
Craster's blood isn't even worth about "average", you shed that stuff in the name of the gods and you're getting struck by lightning!
@@Jon.A.Scholt Sure, if you are talking Rhlor and whoever/whatever entity the Valeryian Blood Mages were calling. Some of the gods don't work that way.The weirwoods would want nothing to do with lightning - and they seem to accept any blood at all.
Maybe they quenched their "vallarion" steel in blood instead of oil.
I'm sure that's misspelled
Here's a video topic for you. If illyrio mopatis was supporting Aegon VI the entire time, then what was ultimately his plan for viserys and Daenerys?
The Faceless Men also require a payment of great value, not sure if this counts as blood magic, but it fits the theme
They also cut Arya‘s face before putting a new one on, so I’d say that definitely counts as blood magic
12:38
"Simply stabbing someone and praying is not magic. Even if you do it loudly and Even if you bring a lot of friends"
You should put that on a t-shirt
😂😂😂😂😂
I don't care for merch but I'd buy the heck outta that shirt! 😆👍
If Shireen is sacrificed to bring back Jon, he'll be disgusted with whoever does this and any philosophy they hold.
BTW it could be Val or some other Free Folk person who kills Shireen, maybe as a mercy killing. Val, for one, thinks it is the only decent thing to do with a diseased child, who, although pitiable, will die soonish and might spread the infection as far as the Free Folk know.
Danny accidentally wiped Viserys’s blood onto the dragon eggs in vaes dothrak where ‘no blood can be spilled’. Loved this subtle detail.
lightbringer was a dragon, not a sword. azor ahai bound nissa Nissan's soul to a dragon egg. the targaryans are tight with their dragons because their dead ancestors souls live inside them. Nanna vaegar really is one of their great great grandmas I bet.
I am reminded of a quote from an old friend, "Power resides where men believe it resides." Poeple often put kings above that of ordinary men thus, their blood hold that power of belief
Great vid as always IDG. GRRM's magical system is quite fascinating and well done ; blood magic in particular. I always found it somewhat curious "blood magic" does seem to be given its own distinction / category , as to me many of the Planetos magics do seem rooted or sourced by blood. Fire magic seems to be with R'hllorist and surely Valyrian magical practices. Perhaps was not always the case but the current Weirwoods / Old gods certainly have a blood component (potentially caused by corruption at some point). The Warlocks and shadow-binders seem to as well. Among other examples etc. Blood seems to be at the heart of a lot of Planetos magic and all certainly has a cost.
That cost and subsequent result seems to be affected by numerous factors. The sacrificed / sacrificer personal relation & closeness seems to factor in. Could also be a collective element , the collective view of a monarch's significance for example. Though "king's blood" i always found a bit of a messy concept especially with lines ending & usurpation etc. The collective view significance and more obvious impacts of sacrificing a monarch surely have influence. But i personally believe "king's blood" could be a concept misconstrued over many millennia. I think the real sacrificial impact in this concept may be actual "magical blood" involvement. Many of the ancient mythical kings (known & unknown) were likely magic users imo. Being magical would have set them apart , attract masses to rally around them and be raised to a monarch. Assuming many of the ancient monarchs were actually magical this could be the reason king's blood was / is so coveted & impactful (especially via sacrifice) ; and the "king's blood" concept may have originally related more to their / their descendants' magical blood.
In a way I think blood magic impact the Weirwoods tree as well in the sense that it feeds of the blood that goes into the earth. So many have died in battles in the lands and their blood is feeding the Weirwood trees; in quality as well as in quantity
Ever we learned of the Anogrion from Viserys and then when Amanda came out with her video about lava being petrified fire magic, I've been constantly thinking about how and why lava is a magical source and I came up with a theory that if you personify the planet like some do now, as "mother earth" then the molten lava would be the lifes "blood" of the planet. Because we know the earth's center is molten and lava flows through the whole planet sorta like blood flows through our veins, then by in using lava and actual blood sacrifice, you're not just using a human's life force you're also using the "blood" of "mother earth" to perform magic in a symbolic way...and we already saw George personify Westeros in the House of The Undying vision that Dany had of the 'beautiful woman being ravaged by 5 little men'....
.....so dragonglass is blood of Planetos and explains its power to kill the Others?
I don't know if this man writes or not but his content is excellent storytelling in and of itself.
ty my friend 🙏
woo! Love your stuff, great to catch this so early
I always thought that danys babys life was swapped with the dragon eggs since he had the wings of a bat and had been dead for years. Might be wrong but i like it.
9:00 A lot of people forget but Robert, Stannis and Renly are actually third cousins of Daenerys. Their grandmother was a Targaryen and the founder of house Baratheon was also a Targaryen. So they actually have a strong Targaryen heritage
The topic isn't that interesting but I just want to listen to his calming voice to close out a stressful friday
Hope everything goes well!
I wonder if the power of king's blood is the power of that person's potential. In hereditary positions that potential is obvious even if it is unlikely for them to inherit, but even Mance's son had potential beyond what an "ordinary" person might have.
i think King blood power comes form the people that believe in the king, kind of like if everyone just throw a log on the fire, the more the people the higher the fire. I think this is why Melisandre first shadow was able to work, due to Robert just die and many of the people would believe that Stannis should be king. Then when there are 5 kings and the power of the belief of the Common people would be split, her kings blood magic was not strong anymore.
What happened during the blood magic ritual that Dany interfered with is blindingly obvious, yet no one states what I am about to state:
What happened to Dany during this 'blood magic ritual' is that the Horse's lifeforce energy did, indeed, go into Drogo, which is why he was alive, but apparently 'brain dead.' He has the lifeforce, of a horse, and Drogo, the conscious entity, was dead, since his lifeforce energy was likely snuffed out during this, or overcame with the lifeforce of the horse. Either way, he was 'comatose' because he literally had the horse lifeforce within him. Since a horse's lifeforce is not sufficient for a human, he is just in a comatose state
Regarding the dragon eggs 'quickening' and Dany's baby born dead with stink of corruption and worms; The Life-force of a baby is so powerful that it powered three baby dragon eggs, which is how they *quickened.* And the deadness of the dragon eggs transferred to Dany's baby, which is why it was born as if it were dead for years, scaly, with grave worms, etc. The _definition of quickening makes this blindingly obvious;_ the lifeforce energy of Dany's unborn child went into the dragon eggs, thus quickening them.
Mirri didn't do this on purpose; she was literally just going to transfer the horse's lifeforce essence into Drogo, but Dany came in and interfered. Also, the dragons being born had nothing to do with 'reawakening magic'; in the world. Burning Mirri had nothing to do with hatching the eggs; the eggs were already quickened, so the heat is what prompted the dragons to hatch out of their eggs; this was just a normal, biological process at this point, with the difference being that dragon eggs likely need more heat than what would be considered 'normal' for eggs of that size. Once the eggs were quickened via blood magic, they were able to hatch under purely biological reasons.
The reason Targs forgot how to 'hatch' dragon eggs is that it literally requires blood magic to quicken them; these 'beasts' literally have the lifeforce energy of human babes, which is how they are intelligent. This means you need to make a child sacrifice to 'born' a dragon via blood sacrifice o the baby's life essence.
Furthermore, lifeforce energy is like that of magnetic forces, or electric forces (electromagnetic forces); a fundamental field that people can manipulate; in their ignorance, the people of ASoIaF think that the 'gods' are granting this power; this would be like saying a flashlight works because the 'gods' shine the light at your behest at the exact moment you press the flashlight's button.
it's not like he acted like a horse. He acted like a blank slate. We know that blood magic works; but we don't know that it's one-for-one
@@tomswiftyphilo2504 He doesn't literally have the mind of a horse. He got the life essence of a horse, which is not sufficient for a human.
Hence he is 'brain dead,' or comatose.
This is so simple and obvious, yet you guys come up with even more insane and stupid hypothesis. In fact, you guys don't even really provide a valid hypothesis, yet try to dismiss what I laid out, despite what I said just being as obvious as 1 + 1 = 2
@@tomswiftyphilo2504 True, but the thing about the eggs and the baby does seem extremely fitting.
Pretentious and wrong. The worst combination. 🤣
I see you are a believer of the Glidus school of thought, that Khal Drogo is actually a horse
I hate the idea that hundreds of years of Targaryen efforts to birth dragons through any number of sacrifices were unsuccessful but this witch killed a horse and POOF! DRAGONNNNNS!
miri wanted to kill them. Make them suffer. And dany hatched the dragons. Not some horse blood.
Great video as always Ser Robert!
Keep upp the great work 🩶🔥
The burning of the leeches is absolutely what killed the three kings, even if it was by means of twisting fate. It can't be a coincidence that all three of them happened to die in the same book after that ritual.
11:29
ah yes the great and scary karkens from the deep
And dispite his efforts hes told us everything we need to know about how magic works
Great analysis!
I always thought it tied into the divine right of kings. So it didn't really matter if you were born to it, or by right of conquest, if the divinity allows you to rule that is enough.
Dany on the show re-created Lightbringer as a pillow... But then forgot to bring it with! Should have been used to end the Night King.
Thanks for your efforts
I’m pretty sure Euron isn’t just using chum. My bet: the Hammer of the Waters!
Thanks!
You have completely changed how I’m looking at GoT.
I would say, any form of blood is magical, and spilling blood always infuses the one who spills it with some of the essence of those the blood is drawn from.
If you go by GOT traditions, then becoming kings and queens means you spilled a lot of blood of a lot of people who also accumulated a lot of blood on their side, further compressing the magic in once own blood. But it's also inherited by your children, who can further accumulate the magic in their blood ... not like your siblings has any needs of it when they are dead, so you can get the throne.
The question would be if what you gather is "power" or some sort of curse that can be channeled by communicating with the souls inside as blood "magic"
Another guess would be that, fire has the ability to draw this magic from blood and releasing it into the world, making it easier to use for mages. Maybe by cleansing from its curse like aspect, transforming it in something raw, more natural.
Drogo's life is saved in a technical sense only. Only his physical shell was saved, but nothing of him that made him a Dothraki, a khal, a husband, a LIVING person, so Dany sacrifices him..he is her last sacrifice and her first real one.
It's not a real sacrifice unless you give something up.
She has already sacrificed her brother (her past) (by abandoning the idea that he will ever get beyond himself enough to learn to offer respect to Drogo and the Dothraki,) she has already sacrificed her child (her future, a future) (by letting the ritual to "save" Drogo take place, she really did know at some level that the horse would not do it) but relieving Drogo of the pale imitation of life is the first time she takes full responsibility and real risks.
In that moment, she is freeing him and not thinking about how she might be treated by his angry blood riders. She gives up her safety in a brutal culture that is not even hers. Only later does she remember the stirrings in the eggs and figures out how to hatch them in fire - and blood.
“Power resides where men believe it resides”… And a large mesh of believers on one person or bloodline creates a shatter point of events, all tracing back to that one person that through others beliefs can move thousands. Their sacrifice, through magical bargain or not will break the fault lines in the shatter point. I believed that whatever powers reside outside of their comprehension also put their trust into those shatterpoint ppl.
The power of kings blood, and that of all magic is belief in it. Just like Varis told Tyrion, "Power resides where men believe it resides". If you think kings blood has power then it dos..
Stannis will be the one that kills Shireen. Melisandre will not do it behind Stannis' back. George labeled Stannis' decision to kill Shireen as one of the shocking moments he told the showrunners.
I wonder why Blood Magic is so often (always?) viewed as a dark and terrible thing in fantasy fiction (Dragon Age, Ice and Fire, Avatar: Last Airbender).
There are many examples of horrible things Blood Magic can accomplish, but I'd like to think Doctors would be able to use Blood Magic in very useful and positive ways.
I'm not talking dramatic defying the laws of nature with life and death stuff, but, rather, I imagine there would be MANY useful Medicinal applications for a Magic that can manipulate the properties of Blood.
I would guess the main reason for that would be because of how it's used most of the time we see it.
Take Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra, for example; I'm sure blood bending could be used in a medical way, like to help filter poison out of blood, but all of the times we see it in use is to suppress others and to inflict harm.
This is in line with what I think. Blood Magic isn´t necessarily evil. But it´s risky. Unpredictable. Powerful and chaotic. Which is probably why not many people use it.
Blood Magic requires a blood sacrifice and unless there are going to be altars and sacrificial scalpels in operating rooms, I doubt it would be a thing.
Generally speaking, in most fantasy settings, blood magic isn't specifically magic ABOUT blood, it's magic POWERED BY blood... so yes, a blood mage could theoretically do powerful magical healing and medicine -- by sacrificing an innocent life and spilling their blood. That is the morally negative part of blood magic in most systems, not the explicit relationship with blood itself but the idea of taking a life by force to accomplish an end, using human life as a resource to accomplish a goal...
There are all kinds of ways you could write a fantasy story that avoid those tropes, though: maybe good blood mages willingly limit themselves to only using spells that can be powered by a pint of blood or less (ie, a nonlethal amount to take), maybe the blood mage only uses their own blood (altruistic sacrifice for the good of others), maybe there's some kind of religious cult like the House of Black and White in ASoIaF where people who are old, sick, or dying can go to voluntarily be sacrificed by the blood mages to power spells keeping everyone else safe or happy, etc...
Because blood magic isn't manipulation of blood. It's magic that is explicitly fueled by killing and sacrifice; usually the more "pure of heart" a person being, the more power can be extracted from their sacrifice. Blood magic is inextricably linked to the idea that power at any cost is evil, and so too are the people willing to make such immoral deals.
Personally i think GRRM likes to keep magic mysterious because he doesn't understand it. By that i mean,he doesn't understand the serl world inspiration for it. He addmited to not undrstanding Gandalfs death and rebirth, calling it cheap, and thrt he would hrve just killed off Gandalf.
Gandalfs death was about Gandalf overcoming his fears and doubt about the war against Sauron. The heavens revived him as the White Wizard,leader of the forces of Light and emmissery of the hnavens.
To cast spells that work you need to believe without any doubt that it can come true. The fact that GRRM calls Gandalfs death scene cheap,shows how little he both understands and respects the inspiration behind it. Magic and religion are only in his books to make it a fantasy, not because he believes in it Like Tolkien did.
I'm going to be the "I haven't finished the video yet" guy just because I'm so interested in this topic. I want to hear what our boy has to say but I'm too antsy to just sit and listen so I'm going to type for a minute:
I'm of the opinion that *all* "magic" in "A Song of Ice and Fire" is psychic power manifesting. see through the eyes of a wolf? psychic power. seeing far-away people, places, and times through a tree? psychic power. using a charm to obfuscate your appearance? psychic power. change your face? psychic power. control a dragon? psychic power. insert yourself into people's dreams? psychic power. create a gust of wind that can slit throats? ~~The Forbidden Planet~~ psychic power. there are others I'm forgetting
my point is that, in this story, belief is pretty clearly an influence on the magnitude of your abilities, right? just like with anything else in life, the more confident you are in yourself and others are in you, the more successful you'll be at trying something.
I think the reason king's blood is so effective, especially when you're doing something like a public sacrifice, is because everyone believes it has power. that psychic energy must add up, whether it's in the form of actual measurable power or simply via collective will, the very real importance and value of a king's blood is going to affect people's beliefs no matter what.
even if you don't like the king personally, or you don't like his policies, or even if you think he's illegitimate, *he's still the king.* period. so as long as he's actually a king and he's actually ruling then his blood is going to have value for someone doing blood magic.
that's where I'm at. I'm curious and excited to hear Robert's opinion
King's Blood isn't tied to the political machinations of some feudal system. Rather it is tied to high valyrian dragonlord blood. The three headed dragon is of the rider, the dragon and their proto ancestor that guides dragons to high valyrian blood. If you could easily ride a dragon because of your blood (which the bartheons do have targeyon blood) then you have king's blood. I imagine that working with blood with raw magical potential allows for more powerful spells to be cast
I thought it was Mellisandres misinterpretation that kings blood was powerful and it was only valyrian blood. And since the Baratheons have a little of that through marriage it works. And Mellisandre only thinks Mance Raiders blood would do anything...
I know that you have spoken about this before, but the significance of experience with the warlock and having his genitals burnt, and then speaking into the flames and receiving an answer that sounds like some crazy blood magic to me
Around 8:30 when Robert mentions khal drogo and Rhaego’s blood, I think it’s worth thinking about if the deep connection the Dothraki have with their horses also added to the horse’s death aiding the magic
I slways thought kings blood is a mistranslation from valyrian blood. Or maybe noble valyrian blood.
We only hear it claimed in westeros, where for 300 years valyrian and royal were synonymous.
And it is probably just a way to guess best who has magic in his blood, and it would make sense that magical blood is a stronger sacrifice than non magical (or less magical, if you go by the odea that life itself is magic)..but since humans can't see magical potential they tried to come up with signifiers that are often tied to those who have it..
Kingsblood in westeros, vslyrian features in varysses case, greendreams with jojen, strength with the dothraki and so on..
King's blood = valyrian blood. Bobby B had it through one of his Targaryen grandmothers.
Blood Magic is what it sounds like. A horrid sacrifice with a fickle outcome.
How does it sound like that?
@@TeethToothman Blood is the very lifeforce of humans, is it not. To sacrifice your very life, sometimes literally (Shireen),... Sounds risky at best. Not necessarily evil, but intense and risky.
Thousands of people die at war. Many die everyday. Hardly a sacrifice killing in a world like that.
@@bananaforscale1283 “what is one life compared to whole world” “everything” or something like that
@@TeethToothman 😊
What if kings blood is Targaryen?
Baratheons are a break from the Targaryens so Shireen and Edric would be off shoots
The Wall is filled with corpses. Blood magic.
I wanna see Robbert the Stag king and Rob the Wolf king come back and tear sht up
I don’t think Daenerys eating a horse heart has anything to do with blood magic. As you mentioned it, Dothraki do not believe in that.
It has more similarities with the practice of cannibalism in primitive societies, where by eating a strong and brave soldier it was thought to bring you his strength and courage.
Here, Dothraki worship horses that they regard as very powerful animals. Daenerys eat one of their hearts would bring strength to her son to be. Simply that.
I think the king's blood is generally meant for Old Valerian blood, but in instances where that is not a factor, or less of a factor as all blood stems from the first men, etc, perhaps blood of someone of lesser breeding, such as Khals, have the power of their blood derived from how many follow them. Love, adoration, and the power they have garnered through their lives etc being some kind of factor in elevating the magical properties in the blood?
But I think any blood, or in more powerful magic, any life can pay the fee for magic, but Valerian blood just has a much more powerful effect.
The blood magic in the World of Ice and Fire, how I anderstand, is like "Melkorism" i J R R Tolkien lore.
The shadows come to dance my lord
This kinda means Voldemort performed blood magic to get his body back
How does the blood know it's king's blood? Would Rob be considered to have king's blood? Why? Because he declares himself to be one? Because other people declared him to be one? How many are required? Or is it battles won?
My guess is that in the world of ASOIAF, what makes a king is people believing someone is a king. In other words, “Power resides where men believe it resides.”
Pretty sure it has to be someone linked to certain bloodlines.
Yea kings blood is very powerful. It has the qualities of the gods.
What powers magic is sacrifice. A sacrifice is greater the more meaningful it is to the person performing it (much like the Faceless Men's flexible pricing structure). The power of kings' blood follows entirely from those first principles, without kings actually needing to possess any intrinsic magic.
If you're a leader and you willingly shed your own blood or kill a close family member for a spell, that's a much greater sacrifice than some underling with no say in the matter. Alternatively, you could go to war in order to sacrifice a rival king - less personal, but the God of Death will certainly get his due from the war. The point is, killing a king is never something anyone does _lightly_.
Even if you look at cases of distant descendants of kings (say, the theory that Varys is a Blackfyre and he was castrated for a blood magic ritual) - potential kings have power too, there are plenty of examples of unlikely claimants being used as pawns in royal power struggles. And that power makes their sacrifice significant too, albeit less so. Someone might have used that Blackfyre boy to start a new rebellion in Westeros, but a sorcerer chose to use him for a spell instead. Arnolf Karstark has a distant trace of king's blood, but he's also an important political hostage - which of those facts is more magically powerful should Stannis choose to burn him?
Blood Magic sounds cooler than it is. Like Blast Processing or Ray Tracing. It's just the same old magic with a jazzed-up name.
Is it known how much more George has in store for the book series, has he said a book "limit" or estimation? Would be fun if you made a video about it (if you havent already) talking about it and what things that happened in the TV Series that might not, or maybe even probably wont happen :)
THanks for an amazing channel! If I wasnt poor and a student I would happily support you better on Patreon
His current plan for the series is The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring being the final books in the series.
However his original plan was that the series would span 3 books, so that's not necessarily set in stone.
Summerhall had people die but no dragons. The red comet likely why they came back as they did then
The thing is, practically every other country besides the us doesn't hold that word at such a high standard which i think is great. By making it some forbidden word you only give it more power
I think the kings blood thing is literally a genetic thing. Many houses have magic in their ancient roots, ancient blood of dragons, or blood of green men, etc. basically the blood of kings is often blood that has some traces of ancient magical crossbreeding with fantastic creatures.
It kinda bugs me that GRRM doesnt want us to be able to understand magic, i don't mind having to do tons of extra research and even buy an extra book or two of his, in fact id prefer it that way. I know it sounds probably dumb and/or contradictory, but I like magic systems that are deeply complex and able to be broken down into basically science of a sorts. Ive actually always loved video games that had complex rituals and the like that make you actually have to take notes and not just follow given directions.
I'll give an example, even if it is a fairly simple one (just goes to show how rare truly complex magic systems are implemented): in Oblivion, there is a ritual to create black soul gems, you have to find one of either 3 or 4 altars in the overworld. Once every 7 or 8 days (from the day of the week you start the game) these altars begin to glow for a short time during the night. If you can get your hands on a reasonably rare item called a Grand Soul Gem, you can place that gem inside the altar (during that short window of time once a week) and then cast the Soul Trap spell on it, once cast it will convert the Grand Soul Gem into one of the rarer items in the game called a Black Soul Gem.
Now to my knowledge, there IS a quest somewhere that will run you through the ritual once, with quest text and NPCs giving you general info on where to go and what to do, but with the massive scope of Oblivion, you're not super likely to run into it. At the same time though, you never need to actually do the quest to even perform the ritual, if you just stumble onto the info (im thinking it can be found in an in game book) and thus know what to do, you can just go do it. The best part of it is that while it might seem kinda annoying having to do all this legwork and stuff to put everything in order and keep up with the days passed and all that, the reward is a genuinely useful one for the game, because black soul gems are incredibly powerful items overall (they allow you to store a human soul) that are normally really hard to obtain for all but the very high level characters out there, and even for them they're a bit annoying to come by.
I absolutely ADORE when developers add things like that into a magic system in games, and in the same vein, i enjoy researching and piecing together bits of info for complex and obscure arcane arts in books, shows, and movies. To see a world so well built as ASOIAF with such an interesting seeming set of magical rules/laws, it makes me instinctively feel as though there should be countless advanced texts one could research in order to piece together the inner workings of the magic there
So blood magic follows the law of Equivalent Exchange then? I wonder if George RR. Martin is a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist lol.
It's not Blood Magic! It's Love Magic! Magical sacrifice of someone you love! The Targaryen bond with their Dragons is one of Love.
That's why Daenerys's Drægons are named for his husband, the brother she knew, and the brother she didn't. These are the only three people that Daenerys loved.
Daenerys being tricked by the magi is the hardest part of rereading/rewatching.
Well, the warlocks and bull's blood gave Samwell Tarly courage all right, just not the kind that his father was looking for.
Valyrians used a lot of blood magic and they also required a lot of slaves. Those slaves were specifically referenced to be used in the 14 flames. The center of which is where they worked their spells and I believe referenced to be where dragons come from. Magic requires blood, I don’t think this specifically means they have to be willing nor do they have to be important. Dragons are living representation of blood and fire. They are living and fire made flesh(blood). It’s also said that ALL Valyrian magic was related to blood magic. My theory is that Valyrian blood combined with blood sacrifices and fireworms led to the creation of dragons and with dragons more blood was acquired and more magic done. Even look at how white walkers are created with blood sacrifices. I think and it’s just a theory but Targaryen blood and why it’s so important is because it’s the last trace of Valyrian blood magic, literally the last of the dragonblood. It makes even more sense when you consider that not all Valyrians were dragon lords. The first riders might have the very first sacrifices which is why their dragons hatched and were bonded. Targaryens were dragon riders even if the least of them. I think that Targaryens stillbirths are a form of blood sacrifice for dragons to continue to hatch.
Trust is, hitting like before the video even begins.
so oringally the horse was paying for drogo's life, but then the baby took precedent
i think its like when you pray. you can pray for anything but its up to God to give u anything at all. you can sacrifice all you want but it up to the true god in the book seems like lord of light the true god. its all up to him to answer it or not
Dang i thought he was gonna talk about REAL blood magic. Cause I dabble a bit myself
OKAYYYY do me a favor and stay far away from me at all times THANKS SO MUCH!
Doesn’t khal mean king in Dothraki? Wasn’t Drogo a king? If he was then Rhaego surely would have been
10:00 But Jaime lost his blond hair from season 3 on. :)))
With this connection between blood and magic, I wonder what amount of blood was spilled to build The wall 🧐
What makes kings blood powerful is that people believe it's powerful. This may not only be a figurative thing, but may be literally true. Perhaps the source of the magic power of kings blood is faith in a way.
❤
So I want get magic how can I do
I mean in this context id assume that kings blood just means that your of a higher status in the sense that if your like prince targaryian, i think his and calisis blood would actually help alot just because of who they are as people they have the spirit of rulers they are smarter than most and theyve come from a strong bloodline, vs like actual king joffery i dont think his blood would yeild the same results or like ludd whitehill vs lord lanisster lord lanasters blood would be stronger and more potent, spirits and higher powers can sense the way someones soul is the better the spul the more and better the power you get, plus i also feel like it depends what your trying to do with it as well a dirtier soul might be better for an evil feat
It's not blood magic but it is horse magic, and the Dothraki LOVE horse magic!