Happy Holidays, Game of Thrones fans. I hope
you’re all able to find some time to be with friends and family, eat some good food,
and maybe sit by the fire and watch a good movie or show. Today, let’s talk about an
age-old holiday topic: eugenics, and how Bloodraven might have manipulated the Targaryen gene
pool to fulfill everyone’s favorite doomsday prophecy. In the Game of Thrones books, the upcoming
War for the Dawn between the living and the dead will be the perfect culmination of over
five novels of set-up. We know that prophecy is deeply involved somehow with the Long Night,
because characters like Melisandre and Haldon Halfmaester, and Rhaegar all have their candidates[d]
for a reincarnation of Azor Ahai, or the Prince that Was Promised. If this magical hero (or
villain depending on who you ask) really was born again, and will have something to do
with defeating the Others, there’s actually a good chance that Bloodraven made it possible. It’s sort of a meme in the ASOIAF community
that when in doubt about some mysterious event, just blame Bloodraven. That’s because Bloodraven,
or Brynden Rivers, is one of GRRM’s most fascinating characters. He was born a bastard;
legitimized by a tyrant; Hand of the King to a forgettable weirdo; was a sorcerous,
incestuous kinslayer; and possibly a genetic manipulator. This video will be told in three
parts: Bloodraven’s Origins, his time spent as Hand of the King, and how his actions (along
with some of his family members’) culminated in the playing out of Aegon’s prince that
was promised prophecy. Legal Disclaimer: I do not condone or promote
the concept of eugenics in real life, which is a negative practice that reinforces harmful
stereotypes for the sake of racial superiority; it’s merely fun to think about a weird medieval
albino kid being super into race science for the sake of his ancestor’s prophecy okay
back to the video. This all begins in the year 175 AC, when Brynden
Rivers was born. Well actually it begins like two centuries earlier, but we’ll get there.
Brynden was the thirteenth child of King Aegon IV Targaryen, the Unworthy. If you watched
my latest Targaryen family tree video, you’ll remember that Aegon IV had kids with seven
different women (and only one was his wife). One of those women was Melissa Blackwood,
who became the King’s sixth mistress in 172 AC, after the previous lady, Barba Bracken,
was sent back to Stone Hedge with their bastard, Aegor. The Brackens and Blackwoods have hated
each other for eternity, so it was a big deal when Melissa Blackwood took Barba Bracken’s
place as Aegon’s mistress. Aegon grew to love Melissa so much that he gave a pair of
hills called the Teats to House Blackwood after previously having given it to the Brackens.
Aegon was a simple man, and he had nicknamed the hills Barba’s teats when he initially
gave them to the Brackens. But when he learned that Barba insulted the size of Melissa Blackwood’s
breasts, he re-nicknamed the hills Missy’s Teats and gave them to the Blackwoods of Raventree
Hall. So that’s how boobs can factor into the realm of geopolitics. Melissa Blackwood was Aegon’s mistress for
five years, during which time she was very busy giving birth to three bastards: two daughters
named Mya and Gwenys, and then a boy named Brynden. Melissa was kind and generous and
beloved by everyone, including Aegon’s brother Aemon the Dragonknight, their sister Queen
Naerys, and Naerys and Aegon’s son Daeron. Well Aemon, Naerys, and Daeron were all normal,
well-adjusted people so it makes sense why they liked Melissa. Aegon was a spiteful,
lustful ingrate, so he dismissed Melissa from court and brought in another Bracken, Lady
Bethany, to replace her. In 178 AC, when Brynden was 3, Aegon’s newest
mistress, Sweet Serenei of Lys, died giving birth to a girl named Shiera, Star of the
Sea. As young bastard children at court, Brynden and Aegor Rivers formed a hateful rivalry
over their love of their sister, Shiera Seastar, and the enmities of their mothers’ families,
the Blackwoods and the Brackens. Shiera liked Brynden, not Aegor, even though Aegor was
a really nice guy - you see, this is how incels are made. Aegor eventually became known as
Bittersteel for obvious reasons. Brynden was born with a red, wine stain birthmark
on his right cheek, which was shaped like a raven. So Brynden became known as Bloodraven,
a much cooler name than Bittersteel. Bloodraven was also an albino, with milk-white skin,
white hair, and red eyes, not the customary Valyrian purple eyes. His half-sister Shiera
also had a mysterious, exotic look. She was considered a great beauty, but had one dark
blue eye and one bright green eye, and they were “large and full of mischief.” In
184 AC, as King Aegon lay dying, Bloodraven was 9 years old and he, Shiera, and all of
Aegon’s other bastards became legitimized. Aegon the Unworthy did this because he liked
his bastard son Daemon Blackfyre more than his true son Daeron, but it also meant Bloodraven
became fifth in line to the throne. Not that that really mattered, it’s just interesting.
Aegon gave Daemon the ancestral blade of the ruler of the Iron Throne: Blackfyre, which
is why he took that name for himself and his future family. Perhaps a response to Aegon
giving his bastard son the sword of Kings, Bloodraven took Dark Sister, the sibling sword
to Blackfyre, wielded by the likes of Visenya the Conqueror, Baelon the Brave, and the Rogue
Prince before him. In 196 AC, 12 years after Aegon IV’s death,
Bloodraven’s elder half-brother, Daemon Blackfyre, finally began his rebellion against
King Daeron the II, Aegon the Unworthy’s trueborn son with Naerys. The three of them
grew up in the same court of the Red Keep, and Bloodraven had to choose a side. Would
he join his fellow legitimized bastard, Daemon, the King who bore the sword? Or would he remain
loyal to King Daeron in King’s Landing? Well, Bittersteel joined up with Daemon Blackfyre
about as quickly as he could, and King’s Landing had Shiera Seastar in it, so the choice
was obvious for Bloodraven. At the age of 21, at the climactic Battle of the Redgrass
Field, Bloodraven met both Daemon Blackfyre and Bittersteel amidst the fighting. Bloodraven
had a group of personal guards called the Raven’s Teeth, who he outfitted with white
Weirwood longbows. He commanded them to rain arrows down on the Blackfyre host. First they
slew Daemon’s son and heir, Aegon. Then Daemon went to his son’s dying body, where
Bloodraven loosed seven arrows into him. Finally, Daemon’s younger son, Aemon, picked up his
father’s sword Blackfyre. Bloodraven killed him as well. As their three leaders had died in battle,
the Blackfyre army began a retreat. That is until Bittersteel took charge and led the
host right back to the Targaryens. Bittersteel and Bloodraven fought a bloody duel amidst
the clashing armies. Aegor slashed out Brynden’s left eye, but Bloodraven eventually got the
upper hand with Dark Sister, his Valyrian steel sword, and caused Bittersteel and the
Blackfyre army to retreat for good. Ten thousand men, including Daemon Blackfyre and two of
his sons, died on the Redgrass Field. Blackfyre supporters said “it was the kinslayer who
turned the tide with a white arrow and a black spell.” For the rest of his life, Bloodraven
wore the burden of being labeled a kinslayer. Bloodraven hated the Blackfyres. Not because
they were a personal insult to his Targaryen legitimacy, because they weren’t and he
wasn’t. Bloodraven facilitated order through direct displays of power, which earned him
a reputation throughout the realm as a dark sorcerer and villain inside the Red Keep.
He was a reviled kinslayer, like Jaime Lannister is a reviled kingslayer - two ironic monikers
for the best deeds either of them did. Jaime killed a mad tyrant and Bloodraven killed
war-hungry belligerents who tried to destabilize the realm. Don’t feel too sorry for Bloodraven
yet, though… In 209 AC, 13 years after the Redgrass Field,
the Great Spring Sickness fell over Westeros. The plague killed King Daeron II and his two
grandsons and heirs, Valarr and Matarys. Daeron’s second son, Aerys, ascended the throne, and
Bloodraven became his nephew’s Hand of the King and master of whisperers. This is a time when a lot of Targaryens were
dying, and the known kinslayer and suspected sorcerer Bloodraven is theorized to be the
culprit. But he had good intentions, I swear, what are a few family members’ lives against
the survival of humanity? The best way to describe Bloodraven’s thought process is:
the ends justify the means. He doesn’t care if he has to become a kinslayer if it means
ending the war with the Blackfyres, for example. So let’s take a brief interlude and look
back at Bloodraven’s ancestor, Aegon the Conqueror, who lived about 150 years before
Brynden’s birth. As we all know by now, ever since the premiere of House of the Dragon
and confirmation by George RR Martin, Aegon Targaryen had a prophetic dragon dream about
the coming threat in the north - the Long Night 2.0. In House of the Dragon, Aegon believes
that from his blood will come the prince that was promised, and he must unite the realm
against the cold, dark evil up north. Those specifics weren’t confirmed by George - he
just confirmed the existence of Aegon’s dream about the Others. But it’s pretty
reasonable to assume that Aegon, and then Jaehaerys, Viserys, and others after them,
believed that a Targaryen must be on the throne to deal with the Others. This prophecy may
have been lost in the shuffle in the decades after the Dance of the Dragons, with lots
of political turmoil and shifting of kings and heirs. But by the time of Aerys the First’s
reign, which began in 209 AC (78 years after the Dance ended), it seems the prophecy was
re-entering the Targaryen zeitgeist. We learn in the Dunk & Egg stories that Aerys read
about dragons returning in a prophecy - potentially the PTWP prophecy that Aegon the Conqueror
wrote down. At this point of Aerys’s reign, Maester Aemon and his little brother Egg were
young men and Bloodraven was about 35. These three Targaryens, Aerys, Aemon, and Egg, all
became enamored with this prophecy. And it’s quite possible that Bloodraven did as well. Let’s skip back to 233 AC. King Aerys I
has died and King Maekar I, the father of Aemon and Egg, has been ruling for 12 years.
And wouldn’t you know it, Maekar dies as well, getting crushed by a rock in a battle.
As I said, a lot of Targaryens have been dying and the succession is getting murky. Let’s
take a look at the family tree. Daeron II, Bloodraven’s older half-brother,
had four kids. Baelor Breakspear was his eldest son and heir, and he died defending Ser Duncan
the Tall in a Trial of Seven. He had two sons, Valarr and Matarys, who both died with King
Daeron during the Great Spring Sickness of 209 AC. So Aerys I became king but he strangely
had no kids, and never had any kids during his 12 year long reign. He also had a younger
brother Rhaegel who was very, very insane. He died choking on pie, and both of his children,
Aelor and Aelora, died as well. There was some vague unnatural disaster that Aelora
caused, which killed Aelor and later on Aelora killed herself. So Maekar ascended the throne
and he had six kids, four of them being sons and heirs. The eldest was Daeron the Drunken,
who had a daughter, Vaella, and died of an STD. The second eldest was Aerion Brightflame,
who did have a son, Maegor, but died drinking wildfire because he wanted to become a dragon.
Then there was Aemon, who chose to study at the citadel assuming that he was so far down
in the succession he would never need to become king. Even once Daeron and Baelor and Valarr
and Matarys and Aerys and Rhaegel and Aelor and Aerion and Maekar all died, Aemon refused
the throne. So the youngest son of Maekar, Aegon, or Egg, was chosen as king by the Great
Council of 233 AC. That’s nine male heirs older than Egg who
had to die between 209 and 233 AC before he could become king. During that entire span
of time, Bloodraven was Hand of the King, and ruled the realm for most of that time
as well in Aerys’s stead, who was a pretty hands-off monarch. Now, I’m not saying that
Bloodraven used sorcery and schemes to ensure all these men died so that Egg could become
king. But I’m also not not saying that. King Daeron and Baelor’s sons, Valarr and
Matarys, died of the Great Spring Sickness. That was a plague that killed thousands, so
we probably can’t pin that on Bloodraven. Baelor Breakspear dies in a Trial of Seven
defending Ser Duncan the Tall. It’s revealed that it was his brother Maekar who accidentally
dealt the killing blow to Baelor, but Maekar claims he doesn’t even remember striking
Baelor in his head. Maybe Bloodraven was involved with this, and skinchanged into Maekar in
order to kill Baelor. This would be shockingly evil, as we learn in the ADWD prologue that
skinchanging into another human’s mind is one of the most vile acts a greenseer can
commit. I wouldn’t necessarily put that past Bloodraven - the whole point of this
video is that he’s a pretty messed up guy - but Baelor probably just died by accident
- remember, GRRM’s world is still random and ironic, so a lot of these deaths would
happen with or without Bloodraven. A beloved prince like Baelor, who would have been a
kind and fierce king, gets killed defending a low-born hedge knight by his own brother’s
accidental hammer blow - that’s just classic GRRM writing. Both Aerion and Rhaegel were insane. Rhaegel
died choking on pie apparently, which means there’s lots of ways Bloodraven could have
killed him. Maybe he poisoned the pie, or poisoned Rhaegel, or used some sorcery to
close his throat, or just got him killed in some other way and put a fork in his hand
and a pie on the table to make the crime scene more explicable. Aerion died drinking wildfire
because he thought it would turn him into a dragon. Surely he was insane enough to do
this on his own, given what we know about his cruel nature in The Hedge Knight, but
it’s also possible that Bloodraven the greenseer got inside Aerion’s dreams and told him
to drink wildfire and become a dragon. Then there’s Rhaegel’s kids. All we know is
that Aelora caused some sorcerous mishap that killed Aelor, which just has Bloodraven and
Shiera written all over it. Daeron the Drunken was a known alcoholic and philanderer, so
dying from an STD isn’t hard to believe for him. As far as King Aerys I himself goes
- that’s interesting. Bloodraven was his Hand, and we know that Aerys liked to read
prophecies. It’s very likely that Aerys knew about the PTWP and knew it would not
be born of his line, so he purposely never had children during his reign, during which
time Egg was growing up and got married to Betha Blackwood. He and Betha were married
in 220 AC, when Egg was 20, and just a year later in 221, Aerys died. Maekar died in 233,
so Bloodraven had 12 years during Maekar’s reign to ensure that Aerion and Daeron died
and Aemon was a maester so that Egg could become king. All I’m saying is that it’s incredibly
convenient for the one Targaryen who was sane, strong, kind, and not a maester is the one
to carry on the Targaryen royal line. And he did it with Betha Blackwood. Recall that Bloodraven’s mother was Melissa
Blackwood, a mistress of Aegon IV in 175 AC. The Blackwoods are a House in the Riverlands
who have strong ties to the Old Gods, just like the Starks. They even keep a great Weirwood
heart tree at Raventree Hall. Bloodraven uses a weirwood longbow and he himself is sort
of a physical embodiment of a weirwood tree. He’s an albino, so his skin is white, and
his one eye was red, as was his birthmark. Bloodraven was said to be a sorcerer, and
maybe that was true. But Brynden Rivers was really a greenseer, likely having obtained
that power through his First Men blood from House Blackwood. As most fans know, the Three
Eyed Raven who teaches Bran Stark in the cave beyond the wall, is Bloodraven, using the
power of the weirwood to keep his cryptkeeper body alive. At the current point of ASOIAF,
he’s 125 years young. At that Great Council in 233 AC, the one Bloodraven
assembled and where Egg was chosen as king, Bloodraven used that opportunity to kill another
Blackfyre because killing Blackfyres was just his favorite. Bloodraven invited Aenys Blackfyre,
a son of Daemon Blackfyre, to come to King’s Landing from Essos to be considered by the
council. But as soon as he showed up, Bloodraven arrested him and beheaded him. When Egg was
chosen and became King Aegon the Fifth, his first act as king was to send Bloodraven to
the Night’s Watch. Aegon probably didn’t know about Bloodraven’s plan to ensure the
birth of Azor Ahai through Aegon’s line with Betha Blackwood, and sending him to the
Wall wasn’t out of character for Egg, who was capable of being stern and didn’t have
a great relationship with his great uncle Bloodraven anyway. or Bloodraven, his work
in the capital was done, and it was time for his work in the north to begin. As Hand of the King for over a decade, all
the male heirs who came before Egg in the succession were killed. Baelor Breakspear
and his kids, Daeron the Drunken, Aerion Brightflame, Rhaegel and his kids. Bloodraven very likely
had something to do with a lot of those deaths. Some deaths would’ve happened anyway. Remember,
the ends justify Bloodraven’s means. He does have a reason for wanting Egg to be king
in the end. Bloodraven was a greenseer and Old Gods enjoyer, as well as a High Valyrian
prophecy enjoyer. This is where Aegon’s dream comes back into play. Aemon and Egg
would often talk about their family’s lore and dragons returning, and as Bloodraven was
so close to Aerys I during his reign, he likely knew about the prophecies Aerys was getting
into. Bloodraven may have come to the realization that it was up to him to ensure the birth
of the prophesied Targaryen who would one day be Azor Ahai reborn, or the prince that
was promised. Those are Bloodraven’s ends. The means were to ensure Aegon V ascended
the throne no matter the cost. So Bloodraven hated the Blackfyre pretenders since he knew
the prince that was promised would not be born of their line. It would be born of Aegon’s,
whose children with Betha Blackwood would carry First Men blood, and the potential for
green sight just like Bloodraven himself had. So Bloodraven committed atrocities like kinslaying
and perhaps even skinchanging another human to ensure a clear path of Aegon’s ascension.
In ASOIAF, there are times when characters must forfeit their morality, if they had any
to begin with, in order to achieve their ends. Another example of this sense of false-righteousness
is Melisandre, who makes blood sacrifices of R’hllor deniers and those with king’s
blood. She may end up burning Shireen Baratheon alive as a sacrifice to achieve her ends,
which, like Bloodraven, are to ensure the coming of Azor Ahai. She believes it to be
Stannis, but thanks to Bloodraven’s genetic tampering, it’s more likely to be Jon Snow. And Bloodraven was right in the end. Egg was
succeeded by his son Jaehaerys, who was half Blackwood. Then Jaehaerys did some classic
incest with his sister Shaera, so their kids Aerys and Rhaella kept that Blackwood DNA.
Jaehaerys was adamant that Aerys and Rhaella be married as well, since a wood’s witch
told him the prince that was promised would be born of his line, which was also Aegon
V’s line and Aegon the Conqueror’s line. And of course, Aerys and Rhaella had Daenerys,
a potential Azor Ahai candidate who contains some First Men, Old Gods DNA from Betha Blackwood.
Jon Snow has even more First Men DNA: both from Betha Blackwood through Rhaegar, and
a ton of it through his mother, Lyanna Stark. Obviously this assumes R + L = J, which has
been essentially confirmed by GRRM. This insistence that the Prince that was Promised
must be born with both Valyrian and First Men blood is consistent ever since the rise
of Bloodraven, about a century before Jon and Dany’s births. Let’s talk about the
Starks, then. The specifics of Aegon’s dream are unknown,
but there is no doubt that it convinced him to align his family with the Starks in the
North. After all, it was in the Stark’s kingdom of the North that the threat of Aegon’s
dream would break out. When Aegon was fully in the midst of his conquest, King Torrhen
Stark marched south with 30,000 northmen to confront these foreign invaders. When Torrhen
crossed the neck, and learned of the Field of Fire, where Aegon and his sisters burned
the heck out of the army of Kings Gardener and Lannister - the largest combined army
Westeros had ever seen - and that stopped Torrhen in his tracks. We learn in Fire & Blood
that Torrhen Stark never attacked Aegon Targaryen, as he was likely afraid of being cooked by
the three dragons. Torrhen sent his brother, Brandon Snow, as well as some maesters to
negotiate and talk with Aegon. The next morning, Torrhen met with Aegon himself, knelt, and
gave up the Crown of Winter. Many fans believe that Aegon told Torrhen Stark about his dream,
told him why it was so important for Westeros to be united - with a Targaryen dragonlord
in the South and a Stark of Winterfell as Warden of the North. Aegon may have believed
the Starks had an important role to play in the coming of the prince that was promised
and the War for the Dawn. This Targaryen-Stark friendship persisted
into the Dance of the Dragons. I’m going to spoil a plot point of House of the Dragon
season 2 right now, so skip forward to THIS timestamp if you don’t want to hear it.
Early in season 2, Jacaerys Velaryon, Rhaenyra Targaryen’s son, will travel to Winterfell
and meet with Lord Cregan Stark. There, they will reach an accord: the pace of Ice and
Fire. In this pact, Cregan Stark agrees to support Rhaenyra’s cause in the Dance. And
Jacaerys agrees that as Rhaenyra’s heir and the future King of Westeros, his firstborn
daughter will marry Cregan Stark’s heir, a baby named Rickon. This marriage alliance
would infuse the line of House Stark with Targaryen blood - but it never happened. Jacaerys
died a little while later and a Targaryen never wed a Stark. In HotD, Rhaenyra is really
into Aegon’s dream, and she might have told Jace about it since he’s her heir, just
like Viserys told Rhaenyra. I wouldn’t be shocked at all if in season 2, Jace mentions
Aegon’s dream to Cregan, and the two decide to continue this dragon and wolf friendship. This simply supports the idea that the Targaryens
valued the Starks, and Bloodraven may have still wanted to ensure that First Men and
High Valyrian DNA got into the royal line somehow. So, he paved the way for Egg to become
king, and the future of House Targaryen carried Blackwood DNA. Then, Rhaegar, who was into
the same prophecies that Aemon and Egg and Bloodraven and Aerys were into, chose Lyanna
Stark as mother for his prophecy baby, who he believed would be the Prince that was Promised.
A hero born of both dragonlord and northern First Men DNA. It’s also very likely Bloodraven shared
this interest in Targaryen genetic manipulation with those aforementioned Targaryens who were
super into prophecy: Egg and Maester Aemon. Egg becomes obsessed with hatching dragons
as a method to bring power back to his family. With dragons, the threat of Aegon’s dream
would be more easily confronted. If we assume that Egg was clued in on Aegon’s prophecy,
it was his job to bring dragon magic back to his family, after Bloodraven, Aerys, and
Aemon did their part of ensuring Egg’s ascension, abstaining from complicating things by having
heirs, and by being a maester, respectively. Of course, Egg and several members of House
Targaryen die during his dragon egg hatching attempt at Summerhall, where it just so happens
Rhaegar was born as the castle was burning. Maester Aemon went to the Night’s Watch
with Bloodraven to become their maester. Bloodraven was a ranger from 233 AC until 252 AC, when
he disappeared and became a tree wizard. Egg probably did send Bloodraven to the Wall simply
for his crimes, since he had no love for his great-uncle. But part of Egg must have known
Bloodraven had a part to play up north to gather intel about the dark northern threat,
since Egg let Bloodraven take the Valyrian steel sword Dark Sister with him. Dark Sister
is probably still with Bloodraven up north, and we know that Valyrian steel can kill White
Walkers. Will Bran discover this and give the sword to Jon Snow when they reunite? It
would be poetic for Jon to use an ancestral sword from his Targaryen family that was also
used by the man who was hell-bent on ensuring Jon could even be born in the first place. That’s also where Rhaegar comes in. Rhaegar
was born in 259 AC, long after Bloodraven left King’s Landing. But Rhaegar was very
close with Maester Aemon, keeping constant contact with him via raven or perhaps even
visits to the Wall. Both Aemon and Rhaegar shared an interest in the deeper mysteries
and lore of their family and of the world. Barristan Selmy tells Daenerys that one day,
Rhaegar found something in his scrolls that changed him. He realized he must become a
warrior. He must’ve discovered Aegon’s prophecy just like Aemon , Egg, Bloodraven,
and Aerys the First did. Rhaegar first believed himself to be the prince that was promised,
but became convinced later on that the prince that was promised would rather be born of
his line. In AFFC, Aemon talks about his and Rhaegar’s misinterpretation of prophecy,
and how Aemon now believes Rhaegar was wrong. His son wouldn’t be the prince that was
promised, but rather his sister Daenerys is the one. Of course, Aemon may not know that
his pupil, Jon Snow, is also a PTWP candidate, born of both Stark and Targaryen blood. Bloodraven’s
initial goal, if this theory is correct, was to infuse the Targaryen line with First Men
greenseer DNA like he himself had. This is achieved to a certain extent with Daenerys,
who brought the power of dragons back to her family, after so many had tried before her
and failed. , often entering the mind of his wolf, Ghost, and who is also almost certainly
a Targaryen, who may end up bonding with one of Dany’s dragons, making Jon the ultimate
warg dragonlord of Bloodraven’s wet dreams. Maester Aemon might have even told Rhaegar
about the importance of First Men blood to the prophecy, which is why Rhaegar chose Lyanna
Stark to have his prophecy baby with: Jon Snow. By the way, Maester Aemon has a book
called the Jade Compendium, which tells about Azor Ahai and the legendary sword Lightbringer.
Aemon gives this book to Lord Commander Jon Snow before he leaves for the Citadel, telling
Jon that “knowledge is a weapon [..] arm yourself well before you ride forth to battle.”
In this book, Jon learns what Lightbringer should look like, and that the sword that
Stannis the Mannis has is just a glamor, an illusion created by Melisandre. Aemon doesn’t
want Jon to believe Stannis is Azor Ahai reborn and become a red-god worshipper. I only bring
this up because it’s possible that Rhaegar sent the Jade Compendium to Aemon, which his
son Jon Snow ends up reading. Bloodraven has been the hardest working man
in the Seven Kingdoms for the better part of a century. He was born an albino bastard
of the worst king in his family’s history. He grew to love his mystifying and potentially
sorcerous sister, Shiera, the Star of the Sea. Together at court in King’s Landing,
they read about prophecies in old texts and scrolls, likely uncovering Aegon’s prophecy
that inspired the Conquest and the union of dragon and wolf. So Bloodraven set himself
to work to ensure the birth of this prophesied hero he’d been reading about. Some members
of his family, like King Aerys the First, Maester Aemon, and Egg all shared this interest
in their family’s destined legacy, but Bloodraven went to further lengths than anyone else.
King Daeron’s son and heir, Baelor Breakspear, despite being a great man, was not going to
produce the prince that was promised. Neither would Aerys, who may have understood this
and intentionally did not have offspring so as to simplify the succession. Rhaegel and
his kids were no good either, and neither were the elder sons of Maekar. Bloodraven
came to realize around 220 AC, after some of those aforementioned Targaryens had died
by his hand or not, that Egg’s line would be the one to produce the prince that was
promised, thanks to his genetic mingling with Betha Blackwood. So Bloodraven took care of
those other male heirs, like Daeron and Aerion, in order to result in a genetically manipulated
Targaryen royal line. One that Bloodraven likely committed atrocities to ensure, but
one that may very well have produced Azor Ahai reborn. The devil works hard, but Bloodraven works
harder. And evil-er. I hope this video wasn’t too pro-Bloodraven. Even if this theory is
true in any way, and he did ultimately cause a good thing in creating the circumstances
for Azor Ahai’s birth… he still killed members of his family and potentially used
mind-torture and sorcery to do so. Not to mention how he infiltrated Bran Stark’s
mind without consent, and possibly did the same to other proteges (I talk about this
in my Euron video.) We can thank Bloodraven for Jon Snow, but we can also thank him for
whatever morally corrupt actions Bran does as the most powerful greenseer in the world,
like skinchanging a un-consenting Hodor and maybe even eating Jojen Reed if you’re into
that creepy theory. I’ll end this video by reminding you that
most of this is just a theory, and I’m far from the first to consider Bloodraven’s
inclination for eugenics. This is not to say, though, that Bloodraven is still pulling all
the strings at the current point in ASOIAF. If this theory is true, Bloodraven’s work
in creating the circumstances for Azor Ahai is done, and now his influence really just
pertains to Bran. He’s not a puppet master, and characters in ASOIAF still have their
personal agency. However, all the deaths and what we know about prophecy do make for a
pretty strong case that Bloodraven either directly or indirectly caused the deaths of
several family members. The ends justify the means. The ends are Azor Ahai, and the means
were all of these blood sacrifices. In the north as the Three Eyed Raven, Bloodraven’s
ends revolve around producing a replacement for himself, a powerful greenseer to watch
over the world through the eyes of weirwoods and other beings. His means were to train
students, and one such student became successful, in Bran Stark. After all the tampering from
Bloodraven, and assists from men like Rhaegar, the world may see a trio of saviors in Jon
Snow, the perfect successor to Azor Ahai, Daenerys Targaryen, the one who succeeding
in bringing Aegon’s power back into the world where Aegon V failed, and Bran Stark,
the boy who sees all. Let me know in the comments what you think
about Bloodraven and whether or not he may have genetically influenced House Targaryen.
If you thought the video was interesting, be sure to subscribe for more content in the
future. Also, I’m planning a New Year’s Q & A video, so if you have a question about
ASOIAF, Game of Thrones, or anything else, feel free to leave a question in the comments,
or in the comments of this community post. 2022 has been a really fun year on YouTube,
and I hope the channel is able to grow even more in 2023. As always, thanks for watching.
