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