Where Benjen Stark Probably Is (ASOIAF Theory) Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-09-27 | Where exactly Benjen Stark went has always been a mystery in A song of Ice and Fire. In Game of Thrones he came back as coldhands but we have good reason to think this won't be the case in the books. So where did he go? In this video I talk about what I think is the most likely option.
Does Skin Changing In ASOIAF Take Inspiration From Skin-Walkers? Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-10-02 | In a song of ice and fire there are magical people called skin changers who can take possession of animals and in certain cases even other people. The Stark children all have this power. Bran Stark is going through an initiation at the end of A Dance With Dragons to level up his power and become a full on Greenseer. In Navajo legend there are people called Skin-Walkers who wear the skins of animals to take on a form that grants them magical powers. George RR Martin lives very close to the Navajo nation, could these legends and their similarities helped to inspire his world building around the idea of skin changers in ASOIAF?
Who Will Wield Dark Sister In The Winds of Winter Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-08-20 | Daemon Targaryen in House of The Dragon has a cool Valyrian steel sword called Dark Sister, this sword has been passed down through the Targaryen family and eventually found its way to Bloodraven. Which means we were probably supposed to see it in the later seasons of Game of Thrones and will likely see it in The Winds of Winter, but who will be using it? Today we try figure that out.
Alys Rivers Is Hundreds of Years Old (Heres How That Makes Sense) HOTD Theory Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-08-17 | In House of The Dragon we have gotten to know the witch of Harrenhal Alys Rivers, but certain interview answers given by her actress imply pretty strongly that we have a lot more to learn about her. Gayle Rankin has said more than once Alys Rivers is potentially 400 years old. So let's take a look at some A Song of Ice and Fire magic and lore to see if we can get to the bottom of how this is possible.
The Magic Weapons of Ice And Fire (ASOIAF/ Game of Thrones Theory) Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-08-13 | In A Song of Ice and Fire as well as the show Game of Thrones we see the others have a magical weakness that results in a one hit KO. These beings of ice magic melt on contact with dragon glass in the books and Valyrian steel also has a similar effect in the show (and probably will in the books as well). This brings up an interesting question, if the magic ice monsters have a weakness to fire magic weapons, do the magic fire monsters also have a weakness to ice magic weapons? Well there is one character in the history books named Brandon Snow who seems to think so. The half brother of Torrhen Stark the king who knelt had a secret plan to wipe out all three of Aegon the Conquerors dragons in a single night, and it turns out that plan might have worked. Will this set up have a pay off in the future books? Do Dany's dragons have a secret magic weakness we have yet to see confirmed?
Maester Luwins Funny Relationship With Magic Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-08-10 | In A Song of Ice and Fire as well as Game of Thrones Maester Luwin is the skeptical man who has to tell Bran Stark that magic isn't real. The only problem for him is that Bran Stark is very clearly developing magic powers the entire time he is trying to tell him this and Luwin happens to be wrong about almost everything. This leads to a rather funny character arc which I want to talk about briefly.
People Think Aegon The Conqueror Couldnt Have Kids (Heres Why I Find That So Interesting) Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-07-26 | Some people in the world of A song of Ice and Fire and book readers in the real world doubt that Aegon the Conqueror's children were actually his. His struggles to make an heir were a talking point in his time and in the in-world history books and there are rumors of his wives infidelity. One of his two alleged children seemed to be unable to have children himself leading some fans to speculate he was a product of dark magic. We may never know if this is true unless it becomes a plot point in a future Aegon the Conqueror show or movie, but I do think there is something very interesting about this when you compare it to some things in the main story of Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire. Today I wanted to have a quick chat about those comparisons.
Lets Talk about ASOIAF and other such things Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-07-04 | This stream is brought to you by my second channel @CowboytownYT which you should subscribe to if you want to see some silly cowboy shenanigans coming soonI have some time for some random ASOIAF chat so lets do that.
The Creepy Weirwood Ruin Game of Thrones Didnt Show You (The Whispers) Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-07-02 | In a feast for crows Brienne of Tarth visits a strange ruined castle called the whispers. Which happens to be the only place we see a "young weirwood" in the books. While here a voice in her head gives her some advice that seems to save her life. This is a chapter where George RR Martin is giving us a lot of hints at various magic throughout his world but doing so in such a way that we are left unsure how much magical shenanigans are actually going on here.Let me know in the comments what you all think about Brienne's trip to the whispers and what might be going on here.
The Fate of The Boltons In The Winds of Winter (ASOIAF Theory) Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-06-25 | The Boltons are one of the most hated houses in A Song of Ice and Fire. In the television show they were defeated as winterfell was retaken by the starks. Will something similar happen in the books? If so the timing seems to be right for the Boltons to fall in The Winds of Winter. So how will it go down?
GRRMs Original ASOIAF Outline - What Can We Learn Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-06-22 | when George RR Martin first began work on a song of ice and fire he had to sell the series to publishers. This caused him to right a pitch letter that has since leaked online and become known in the fandom as "the pitch letter" or "the original outline" today I want to go over this outline and some of the wild and crazy things that were supposed to happen in our story, things like a love triangle between Tyrion Arya and Jon Snow. Surely nothing so crazy could really happen... right?
Lets Talk About The Clash of Kings Prologue (And More) Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-05-20 | In a mostly unplanned fashion I want to chat about the clash of kings prologue as well as several other things in a song of ice and fire.
Melisandres Manipulation of Jon Snow (ASOIAF Analysis) Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-05-09 | In this video I want to dive a little deeper into what I talked about last time involving Melisandre, Jon Snow, and letters arriving at castle black during A Dance With Dragons. It turns out the pink letter is not the only one which influenced Jon Snow and was taken advantage of by Melisandre. Going back through Jon's chapters I can't help but wonder how much of this is a part of Mel's plans and how much of it is just her taking advantage of the chaos. I am also starting to wonder if she is fully aware and planning for Jon Snow to die.
Who Wrote The Pink Letter And Why (I Think I Finally Get It) Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-03-29 | Today we talk about one of the mysteries in ASOIAF that has had fans debating for years. Just who wrote the pink letter and why? I think I finally found an answer that satisfies all of my questions and I am excited to share it with you. Let me know what you think, is this the reason the pink letter was sent to Jon Snow? How could this play out going into the winds of winter? I would love to hear your feedback.
Jon Snow And The Old Gods (Live Chat) Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-03-20 | I have been re-reading Jon Snow's chapters and I want to talk about his arc in A Game of Thrones and how many of the events around Jon throughout the first book are manipulated by the old gods.
Bran The Builder Might Have Known The Nights King Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-03-13 | Today we are looking at several ancient legends and try figure out how close they are to one another and what connection these powerful figures may have had. The last Hero, Bran The Builder and The Night's King were three very important figures who all may have had their lives overlap in a very interesting way.If you want to support my content check out my Patreon patreon.com/c/MichaelTalksAboutStuff
The Other Kinds of Others Around The World Of Ice and Fire Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-03-07 | The others are legendary monsters from the world of ice and fire, but they are far from the only ones. Each area of the world seems to have a legendary monster that plays a suspiciously similar role to the others. Living on the edge of the world or beyond some great structure. So what exactly is going on with these other demons or monsters? What about all the other long night legends and heroes that we hear about? Is there a simple way to make sense of what GRRM is doing with this world building that all seems to rhyme so well?If you want to support my content check out my Patreon patreon.com/c/MichaelTalksAboutStuff
Great News For The Future Game Of Thrones Video Games (WB Games New Direction) Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-02-09 | Recently WB games who owns the rights for A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones based video games has made some major shake ups. They have announced a change to their head of games as well as full support for fan mods for their current popular game Hogwarts Legacy. What will this mean for the future of Game of Thrones video games? In my opinion it can only be a good thing. Let's talk about why and let me know what you think.
Who Created The Others And What Do They Want? (ASOIAF) Michael Talks About Stuff 2025-01-16 | If you want to support my content check out my Patreon patreon.com/c/MichaelTalksAboutStuffThe others are a huge mystery in the a song of ice and fire books and until we get to the bottom of what they are and what they want we really can't begin to figure out how these books could end. This video is basically part two of a deep dive into what I think they others are. That was the topic of part 1 with this part being focused around who created them and what their motivations may be. Will it be similar to what we saw in game of thrones season 8 where they are intent on wiping out all life? Or will it be a little more complex than that?This video will contain a tier list ranking of all the suspects that takes up roughly 2/3s of the video, the rest is tangents that are related and things I wanted to fit into the last video but flowed a bit better with this discussion.If this one seems a little more rambling it is covering many different theories all trying to fight their way into one video. Hope you enjoy.Here is part 1 youtu.be/kcNa964eP7Q
What The Others Actually Are Explained (ASOIAF Theory) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-12-22 | If you want to support my content check out my Patreon patreon.com/c/MichaelTalksAboutStuffIn this video I will be going through a huge amount of evidence as to what the others are in the a song of ice and fire books. The explanation we were hoping to get from the late seasons of game of thrones but never did.I will be laying out the times we see the others as well times other characters describe them, as well as a lot of out of book evidence. I think when all is said and done you will see there is a solution that all the evidence seems to be building up and working toward.After we get through all the evidence and make the case fully we can get into where this is likely to go in the winds of winter and a dream of spring.
Was Bran The Builder Even Real? (And What Was He Like?) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-12-19 | If you want to support my content check out my Patreon patreon.com/c/MichaelTalksAboutStuffI am going to try to start posting there more often in 2025In this video I want to discuss the legends around Bran the Builder as well as take a look at what George RR Martin has told us about the age of heroes. Specifically drilling in on the questions of was Brandon the builder even real? If he was then what was he like?The ancient history of A song of Ice and Fire is messy but I do think there is enough information to put the puzzle together on a basic level.This discussion comes up a lot in regards to weirwoods and the old ways and greenseers in my theories but I figured at some point it was probably worth its own video getting to the bottom of the Bran The Builder legends.
The Old Ways Have Been A Problem From The Beginning (ASOIAF analysis/theory) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-11-30 | From the very start of the a song of ice and fire books as well as the show game of thrones, we learn about the old ways. We learn about them in the context of Ned stark executing a deserter as Bran Robb and Jon watch on. Let's take a look at what actually happened in this scene with hindsight and pull on that thread to see what GRRM might be saying about the old ways, punishment and justice in this world.
What Will The New Game Of Thrones Movie Actually Be About? Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-11-02 | It has been reported that there is a "Game of Thrones" movie in early stages of development. I wanted to take a moment to think through what possible movies they could be thinking about. This is my first thoughts on some things that might make a solid movie and that HBO and Warner Bros might be thinking about at the moment. Obviously we have no real idea but I think it is a fun topic to speculate about and who knows, maybe they haven't even decided yet on which option they want to go with.What movie would you make first in George RR Martin's universe if it were up to you?
Trying To Make The Playoffs Backyard Baseball 97 (Livestream) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-10-31 | The mighty wombats face a tough stretch run of games which will decide if we make the playoffs or not this season.
Giving Pablo Sanchez A Start On The Mound In Backyard Baseball 97 Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-10-27 | With a tough stretch of games in the backyard baseball season the mighty wombats need to find another arm or two they can rely on besides their ace Angela Delvecchio. In the first game today Pablo Sanchez will get a start on the mound to see what he has to offer.
Old Nans Stories Are Even More Important Than We Thought Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-10-26 | In the early part of the a song of ice and fire books we all fall in love with old nan and her stories. She is constantly remembered by the stark children as the books go along but I am starting to think the memories of old nan and her stories are going to be more important than we even realized before.
Backyard Baseball 97 Trying To Get Revenge On The Melonheads Then Two Close Battles Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-10-25 | The loud game sound will be dealt with a little bit into the stream so just skip ahead if it is a bit annoying to start.
Trying To Win My First Game of Backyard Baseball In 20 Years Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-10-20 | Backyard Baseball 97 has just been brought back with a steam release. Join me as I relive my childhood and see if I am still any good at backyard baseball or not.
Do Weirwoods Break Free Will In Westeros? Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-10-19 | The weirwood visions seen in the season finale of house of the dragon as well as what we see happen to Hodor in Game of thrones and A song of ice and fire raises some serious questions about free will in westeros. So lets talk about what we should make of all of this.
Why Was Jojen Shown His Own Death? Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-10-05 | Jojen Reed knows how he will die from the moment we meet him in the a song of ice and fire books. But when you think about it that seems like an odd thing for him to be shown when the 3 eyed crow is willing to lie and manipulate people. Why is he being so honest with Jojen anyway? Is there a reason Jojen was shown his fate?
Is Sunfyre Alive Or Dead? (HOTD Season 2) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-09-14 | Season 2 of House of The Dragon left many things up in the air. One of those was the fate of Aegon's dragon sunfyre. We have been given reason to think the dragon is dead as well as reason to think it is still alive. Today we try get to the bottom of what is going on. We also will talk about things that happen in fire and blood and after a spoiler warning we will get into major end game events.
Major GRRM Blog Post Drama Shows Its Do or Die Time For House Of The Dragon Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-09-05 | House of the dragon season 2 has ended and George RR Martin has made his feelings known. He went in so hard he has since deleted the blog post and I wanted to cover what he said about butterfly effects and why he chose the example he did to highlight in his blog. I want to explain what I think this means for the show going forward as well as where GRRM's head is at to make such a post.Will this post by GRRM cause the uproar he needs to get him back into a position of more power in the writers room? Or will this only serve as the moment the relationship between GRRM and the writers was broken beyond repair?
Who Captured Otto Hightower? (House of The Dragon Season 2) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-08-22 | The end of house of the dragon season 2 has revealed that Otto Hightower has been captured by someone. The season is over and we have no idea who did it. So lets take a look at some of the most likely options and see who we think it most likely to have captured Otto Hightower.
How Helena Got Into Daemons Weirwood Vision (The Connected Magic of ASOIAF) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-08-17 | The House of The Dragon Season 2 Finale showed us Helaena Targaryen talking with Daemon Targaryen in the middle of his weirwood vision and it seems she was actually there talking to him. It wasn't just a vision of Helaena it was an actual astral projection of some sort. So how does this magic work in George RR Martin's world? Is she using a glass candle? Moon and Star Magic? Something Else? Has GRRM set these things up to be connected and is that what we are being shown in HOTD?
Why The Wind Is Talking In House Of The Dragon (And Why It Matters) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-08-12 | In season 2 episode 8 of House of The Dragon we got a scene that showed us a classic little bit of GRRM lore when we saw a whisper on the wind coming from a weirwood. This is a thing that happens in the ASOIAF books as well and might be setting up for something important in the winds of winter and beyond. This video I will try explain what is going on with the idea of the wind talking.
House of The Dragon Just Confirmed an Old Nan Story (The Green Men) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-08-10 | One of the biggest reveals in House of The Dragon season 2 episode 8 was something that happened very quickly before Daemon had his big Harrenhal weirwood vision of the song of ice and fire. We saw an antlered man walking up to the weirwood tree. Today we need to talk about who that was because it is really important.
The Magic Behind The Construction Of Harrenhal Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-08-03 | The strange construction of Harrenhal was said to be a product of the arrogance and folly of Black Harren. But what if there was actually a magical plan behind the actions taken in the constuction of harrenhal and what if Harren the Black had found some ancient magical knowledge? I think we have the clues to piece together that this is likely exactly what happened and we might even have evidence that his plan was working right up until Aegon the conqueror ruined it.
What Are Weirwood Seeds? And How Do You Grow A Weirwood? Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-07-27 | There has been much talk lately about weirwood seeds and weirdly there is almost no mentions of them in the books, nor any details about growing a weirwood tree. So lets take a look at the clues George RR Martin has given us and see if we can solve the mystery of how would you grow a weirwood if you were transported into ASOIAF, and what are weirwood seeds anyway?
Talking House of The Dragon Live (Mid-Season Chat) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-07-21 | There have been a few episodes of house of the dragon since my last livestream and we need to talk about Harrenhal and Alys Rivers and more.
Dangerous Promises Made In Wartime And Winter (House of The Dragon/ASOIAF) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-07-17 | Westeros has many events that rhyme and what we are seeing with season 2 of house of the dragon is very similar to what we are seeing in the main series of ASOIAF books. Characters making promises not knowing if they can keep them.
Is House Of The Dragon Setting Up For A Major Old Gods Lore Reveal? Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-07-13 | Today I want to talk about a bit of foreshadowing in House of The Dragon surrounding a very mysterious and magical location in Westeros. The Isle of Faces. If House of The Dragon leans into the magical side of the source material we might be in store for a major reveal that could give us clues toward the way things might go in the books.
Did Daemon Just Drink Weirwood Paste at Harrenhal? Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-07-08 | It looks like daemon might have just drank weirwood paste in house of the dragon season 2 episode 4. The weirwood magic on display at Harrenhal has been one of the best parts of the season for me and bumps up against a lot of the cool things we have talked about in the past. I needed to get out my initial reaction to the weirwood potion that Daemon seems to have just drank and what it could mean. I really look forward to your reactions to this one and to seeing what effects this has on Daemon in the future. Is this paste similar to the paste bran drank with the 3 eyed raven/crow and the children of the forest? I think the evidence says they are similar, but how much so remains up in the air.
The Most Secret Magical Location In Westeros - The Black Gate Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-07-06 | In Game of Thrones House of The Dragon and ASOIAF there are many magical locations, but very few can make the case to be known by fewer people than the black gate. The secret talking weirwood face at the nightfort might have in fact been fully lost or sealed away until recently and may only be known to the few characters we have seen in our story.
There Are Weirwood Roots In The Walls of Harrenhal(And Why That Is Important) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-07-01 | House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 brought us to Harrenhal and showed us one of the best examples of weirwood magic from any of the HBO game of thrones/Westeros shows.I needed to get a quick reaction out to the fact that there are weirwoods in the walls as it is something very relevant to several things I have talked about before. Some videos I mention in this video, or that you might enjoy watching next...How The Wall Was Built youtu.be/zQU5tk4i1CsBloodravens Cave Video youtu.be/iMy4NbhQda0A Video about the isle of faces youtu.be/be0q3h32s48
Talking House Of The Dragon + 10,000 Subscriber Celebration Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-06-29 | We need to talk about house of the dragon season 2 so far. We also need to celebrate 10,000 of you hitting that subscribe button. Lets do both at once.
How An Old Gods Prophecy Lead To The Birth of Jon And Daenerys Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-06-22 | Jon And Daenerys are both descended from the line of the Mad King Aerys and his sister wife Rhaella Targaryen. But the often overlooked part of world building around this is that those two only got married because of a direct prophecy told to their father the Targaryen king. This video will track the details behind that prophecy and show how it likely came directly The Old Gods of The North via a weirwood tree and the children of the forest.
The House Of The Dragon Season 2 Intro Is Full of History And Lore (Every Scene Explained) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-06-17 | The House of The Dragon season 2 intro sequence is wonderful. It gives us a full history lesson of the Targaryen family and their dragons. It might even give us some hints at some dragon lore that has been speculated on by the fans for a long time now.
Why I Think Winds of Winter Is Coming Soon (And Why It Has Taken So Long) Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-06-15 | The Winds of Winter is one of the most anticipated books of all time. There are many people who have given up hope it is ever coming. I am not one of those people. Today I will explain why and cover all the things I have seen about Winds of Winter recently that make me think we might really be getting close.
The Weirwood Eating Maester Game of Thrones Didnt Show You Michael Talks About Stuff 2024-06-08 | Marwyn the Mage is one of the characters from the A Song of Ice and Fire books who was left out of the later seasons of Game of Thrones. In this video I want to discuss an interesting little theory about one of Marwyn's habits and how it might be a cover for constantly chewing on weirwood leaves.Let me know what you all think of this theory and what the possible implications could be if this is true.
