In the Game of Thrones books, there was
a mythical empire in the far east which existed long before the Seven Kingdoms
and even before Valyria. Currently, the land is ruled by the Golden Empire of Yi
Ti, but legend says that thousands of years ago, there existed the Great Empire of the
Dawn, stretching from the Bone Mountains to the freezing Grey Waste, nestled beneath
the Shivering Sea and above the Jade Sea. We go to the Red Waste and Qarth in Dany’s
story, but the mysteries of the far east are something greater. These ancient god-emperors
were the most powerful beings on the planet, and had more wealth than Valyria did at its
height, and had armies of unimaginable size. The Great Empire of the Dawn
began with the God-on-Earth, who was the son of the Maiden-Made-of-Light
and the Lion of Night. He ruled the Great Empire for 10,000 years and the mythic
empire prospered during his reign, but eventually he ascended to the stars and was
succeeded by his eldest son, the Pearl Emperor. He ruled for a thousand years, one
tenth as impressive as his father. After the Pearl Emperor came the Jade
Emperor, then the Tourmaline, the Onyx, the Topaz, and the Opal. Each emperor’s reign
was shorter and more troublesome than the last, as beasts pressed the Great Empire’s borders,
as lesser kings grew proud and rebellious, and as the common people gave themselves
to murder, incest, and laziness. The Amethyst Empress succeeded her father, the
Opal Emperor. But her reign was cut short by her envious brother, who killed her and became the
Bloodstone Emperor. He began a reign of terror, and practiced dark arts, slavery, and cannibalism.
He cast down the true gods so he could worship a black stone that had fallen from the sky. Some say
that it was the Blood Betrayal of the Bloodstone Emperor killing the Amethyst Empress that actually
caused The Long Night. With the Long Night came the brutal end of the Great Empire of the Dawn,
around 8,000 years before the books begin. Mysterious black stone exists in places all over
the world, seemingly unrelated to each other. There’s the oily black stone like the Seastone
Chair in the Iron Islands, the buildings in Asshai that create a depressing atmosphere, the
city of Yeen whose oily black stone repels the jungle from creeping in, and the Isle of Toads,
where there’s a greasy black statue of a toad. There’s also fused black stone, created by the
Valyrians with dragonflame. Fused black stone is seen with the Valyrian dragonroads and the
Black Wall of Volantis and even Dragonstone, but fused black stone also appears where
historians agree the Valyrians never visited. The Hightower in Oldtown
is built upon fused black stone, and the Five Forts of Yi Ti consist entirely of
fused black stone. The Five Forts were said to be created by the Pearl Emperor during the Great
Empire of the Dawn, to guard the pathway into the Grey Waste. But fused black stone is made
with dragonflame by the Valyrian dragonlords, and both the Hightower’s foundation and the Five
Forts existed long before the rise of Valyria. Maybe the Great Emperors were the first
dragonriders. After all, their empire would have included Asshai, and many claim that dragons
originate from the Shadowlands, and that it was Asshai’i dragonlords who taught their magic to
the humble Valyrian shepherds. Asshai is built of oily black stone that drinks sunlight, casting
a dark atmosphere about the city. Directly north of Asshai are the Five Forts, built of fused black
stone with dragonflame. Both locations would have been part of the Great Empire of the Dawn, so
maybe fused black stone and oily black stone are just two versions of the same thing, and both come
from this mythical ancient realm that was ruled by the world’s first dragonriders. After all, the
Valyrian Freehold never conquered the far east, so why would they build the Five Forts with their
fused black stone in a land they didn’t even own? There are connections between the Great Empire
of the Dawn and the only current dragonrider: Daenerys Targaryen. Like several
other Targaryens in history, she has dragon dreams throughout the books. In book one, Dany dreams of her brother
Viserys, who tells her not to wake the dragon. She sees her dead husband,
Khal Drogo, and their son Rhaego, with copper skin and silver hair. She sees
dragon eggs burning, while Viserys again tells her not to wake the dragon - he is the
dragon, and the dragon will be crowned. Finally, she reaches a hallway, lined with
ghosts dressed in the faded clothing of kings. They held swords of pale fire, and had Valyrian
silver hair. Their eyes are described as opal, amethyst, tourmaline, and jade.
They yell at Dany to run faster and faster until Daenerys leaps into
the air and transforms into a dragon. Finally, she sees her brother Rhaegar, armored in
black. She hears Jorah call him the last dragon, but when Dany opens Rhaegar’s visor, she
sees her own face. She is the last dragon. She felt the fire within her and woke
with the taste of ashes in her mouth. Setting aside my love for George Martin’s dream
sequences, let’s focus on the hall of kings Dany sees. Their eyes are the color of gemstones,
the namesakes of those who ruled the Great Empire of the Dawn. What does this mean? Probably
nothing. George uses these gemstones to describe the color of lots of things, like Khal Drogo’s
eyes, the fire on Stannis’s fake lightbringer, and a unicorn pinned onto Lord Brax’s shirt.
There’s also the Tourmaline Brotherhood in Qarth, a merchant guild that gives Dany a three-headed
dragon crown bedazzled with gemstones. But I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume these
kings with gemstone eyes are the ancestors of Daenerys, Viserys, Rhaenyra, Aegon the
Conqueror, even Jon Snow. Euron Greyjoy even describes Daenerys Targaryen’s eyes as
amethysts, so George Martin may be hinting that Dany’s amethyst eyes are descended from the
Gemstone Emperors. This theory suggests The Great Emperors of the Dawn were pre-Valyrians, and after
the Long Night in which the Empire was destroyed, they lived on in the Valyrian Freehold,
from which House Targaryen originates. If the Great Empire of the Dawn made
it to Oldtown to build the fused black stone foundation upon which the Hightower was
built, maybe they went to Starfall as well. House Dayne is the most mysterious family in
the series. The first Dayne saw a falling star in the sky and tracked its location to where
Starfall now stands. Where the star fell, he found a stone with magical powers, and forged
the famous greatsword Dawn of the star’s magical material. It sounds hard to believe, but it’s
the only explanation for why there is no other sword in the world that behaves like Dawn, with
its pale steel that comes alive with light. It sounds a lot like the swords of pale fire that
the Gemstone Emperors held in Dany’s dream. Dawn shares the magical sharpness and strength
of Valyrian steel, but Valyrian steel is dark, and forged with spells. Also… the wielder of
Dawn is called the Sword of the Morning. And the sword, again, is called Dawn.
Like the Great Empire of the Dawn. The Daynes also have physical traits unique to
the rest of Westeros. Some Daynes, like Edric, have pale blonde hair. Gerold Dayne has silver
hair with a streak of black. And some Daynes, like Ashara, have dark hair. Their eyes have
been described as dark blue in the case of Edric, but also purple in the cases of
Gerold and Ashara. The only other silver haired families with purple eyes are
Valyrian, but House Dayne predates Valyria. It could be that the Daynes and Valyrians both
share the Great Empire of the Dawn as a common ancestor. Maybe other families too - like the
Hightowers. That could explain the fused black stone foundation beneath the Hightower itself,
and the Hightowers, just like the Daynes, have several family members with Valyrian features.
George Martin only describes the appearance of two Hightowers in the books. Alerie Hightower has
silver hair, Lynesse Hightower has golden hair and looks like Daenerys according to Jorah, and on
his deathbed, Old King Jaehaerys confused Alicent Hightower for his daughter Saera, meaning Alicent
might’ve had silver-blonde hair like a Targaryen. So maybe House Hightower and House Dayne were
founded by emigrants of the Great Empire of the Dawn, called “the men before the first men” by
Maester Yandel, who wrote The World of Ice & Fire. Or, maybe they weren’t. The black stone
beneath the Hightower is a massive labyrinth full of maze-like tunnels. This
is more reminiscent of the island of Leng, in the Jade Sea. On Leng, gods called the
Old Ones built labyrinths of tunnels. And the city of Lorath is famous for its ancient
colossal mazes built of stone. Lorath, Leng, and the Hightower all have enormous mazes
built with stone; it’s interesting that the same architectural feature can be found
in three vastly different places. Just like how instances of both fused and oily black
stone appear in vastly different places. We can combine theories to make one unified
theory that explains both the Great Empire of the Dawn’s connection to Valyria and Westeros and
also its connection to Yi Ti and real life China. Based on the fused black stone of the
Five Forts, which is said to be made by dragonflame, we can guess that this ancient
civilization were the first dragonriders, and they may have gone to places like Starfall
and Oldtown before the First Men. Asshai would have been part of the Great Empire, and if
dragons originated in the Shadow Lands, then maybe they brought dragon magic to Valyria after
the Great Empire of the Dawn collapsed - making the Great Empire a spiritual ancestor to
Valyria if not a direct, genetic ancestor. That’s because the Gemstone Emperors resemble the
mythological Chinese ancestral spirits called the Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors. These
were god-kings who introduced fire, farming, medicine, and silk to the Chinese people. Shun,
the last of the Five Emperors, gave the throne to Yu the Great, the first ruler of the first
dynasty in Chinese history, the Xia Dynasty. The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors are like
the Maiden-Made-of-Light and the Lion-of-Night, the two deities who made the God-on-Earth, the
first ruler of the Great Empire of the Dawn, like Yu the Great, the first
ruler of the Xia Dynasty. The 17th and final ruler of the Xia Dynasty was
King Jie, a tyrant who wrought the destruction of his empire. During his reign, strange phenomena
were seen in nature, like a volcanic winter of both hot and freezing cold weather. His
reign was filled with sex and luxury, polygamy and conquest. This sounds an awful lot
like the Bloodstone Emperor, whose sinful reign marked the end of the Great Empire of the Dawn
the same way King Jie ended the Xia Dynasty. Long story short, George Martin takes inspiration
from historical fact and mythology to flesh out the lore of ASOIAF. The Great Empire of the
Dawn will forever remain a mystery, but based on all this tinfoil evidence, the Great Empire was
inspired by ancient Chinese legend, and evolved into the Golden Empire of Yi Ti, which still
exists. Based on the time gap between them, there was likely no direct carry-over from the Great
Empire of the Dawn to Valyria, but with their silver hair, colorful eyes, and potential dragons,
they act as a symbolic predecessor to Valyrians. Let’s assume all these theories about the Great
Empire of the Dawn are true. They were the ancestors of Valyrians, they were the world’s
first dragonriders, at some point they settled both Oldtown and Starfall, and they died out when
the Bloodstone Emperor caused the Long Night. These answers breed more questions. For
example, why would dragonriders from Asshai, who were descendents of the Great Empire, share
their dragon magic with the Valyrian shepherds? What would they have to gain from that, and why
does Asshai no longer have dragonriders? I mean, we don’t know for certain that they
don’t, but characters like Quaithe, Melisandre, Marywn the Mage, Mirri Maz Duur,
and Euron Greyjoy have all been to Asshai, and none of them mention seeing any dragons there. So why would the Asshai’i give their dragon
knowledge to Valyrians, and then just pray to R'hllor they don’t turn around and get conquered
by them centuries later? It doesn’t make sense, but nothing about Asshai makes sense. There are
no children in Asshai, nor are there any animals, and everyone wears masks and veils to hide
their faces. Nothing is forbidden in Asshai, no matter how depraved, so
practitioners of necromancy, blood magic, and pyromancy can
all work on their craft freely. Asshai also probably contains dragonlore, according to GRRM himself. King Aegon V
thought so as well, because he once sent a taskforce to Asshai to bring back clues
about how to hatch dragons. The truth is, Asshai might have had a much larger role in
earlier drafts of the story, but now George says no character will go to Asshai, and if
we ever see it, it will be through flashbacks. My next video in this series will be about the
abandoned plotline of Asshai, what Daenerys may have learned there, and the link between The
Great Empire of the Dawn, Asshai, and Valyria. So we’ve covered what the Great Empire of the
Dawn was, how it may connect to Daenerys and Houses Dayne and Hightower, how the empire
was likely inspired by Chinese mythology, and why Asshai is so mysterious. Now
let’s look at how the Great Empire of the Dawn connects to an actual plot line
in future ASOIAF books: The Long Night. The first Long Night, about 8,300 years ago, is told in various but ultimately
very similar tales across the world. The North tells a story about the Last Hero, who found the children of the forest and
teamed up with them to form the Night’s Watch and defeat the Others, bringing an
end to a winter that lasted a generation. In Essos, variations of the story of Azor Ahai
are told. The Rhoynar have a legendary hero who unified their people and sang a song which
lifted the drought and ice from the river Rhoyne. Yi Ti says that during the Long Night, the
sun was ashamed of humans and hid itself, and a heroic woman with a monkey’s tail brought the
sun back. Azor Ahai is a legend from Asshai, telling of a hero wielding the flaming sword
Lightbringer and casting down the Long Night. Red priests of R'hllor are obsessed with
finding a new Azor Ahai. Because according to 5,000 year old books in Asshai, Azor Ahai
will be reborn as the champion of R’hllor. All these heroes from across the world may
just be different variations of the same story. This reborn hero is Stannis
Baratheon according to Melisandre; Daenerys Targaryen according to Maester Aemon
and the majority of red priests across the world; and also maybe Jon Snow, according
to Melisandre’s latest visions. If the Pearl Emperor, who lived thousands of
years before the Long Night, is the one who built the Five Forts, then why aren’t they
mentioned in tales about the Long Night? Massive forts that can house 10,000 men and are
1,000 feet tall (taller than the Wall itself) would surely have been useful when the Others
came. It’s possible that the Pearl Emperor, if he existed, didn’t live for a thousand years,
and maybe he did build the Five Forts, but he built them after the Long Night, like how Brandon
the Builder built the Wall after the Long Night. Another theory suggests that the
Five Forts were a prison for the demons sent to earth by the Lion
of Night. These demons, in reality, were Others, and during the Bloodstone
Emperor’s reign, he used necromancy to unleash the Others upon the world once more,
becoming the harbinger of the Long Night. There is another possibility. The Lion of
Night unleashed his demons onto the world after the Bloodstone Emperor’s Blood Betrayal,
which angered the gods. Maybe these demons, the Others, were sent to destroy the Bloodstone
Emperor - they were his punishment, not his power. The Long Night is a cycle. Perhaps the very first
Long Night occurred during the reign of the Pearl Emperor, who built the Five Forts to keep out
the Others. And then thousands of years later, after the Blood Betrayal, the Others came
again, and were defeated by Azor Ahai and the Night’s Watch. Now, the Others have come
once more. Who are they punishing this time? One candidate is Euron Greyjoy, who has a lot of
similarities to the Bloodstone Emperor. Both are kinslayers and usurped their elder sibling’s
throne. Both are said to use black magic. The Bloodstone Emperor worshipped a black stone,
and Euron Greyjoy lusts for the Seastone Chair, made of oily black stone. There’s also the
vision that Aeron Greyjoy has of Euron, from a Winds of Winter sample chapter
which may or may not be included as canon. Euron appears as a kraken-esque
monster, sitting on the Iron Throne with a shadow woman at his side, whose
hands were alive with pale white fire. Euron wants power, and he’ll commit atrocities
to get it. He thinks that he can marry Daenerys Targaryen, and create a powerful prophecy
baby. He says, “When the kraken weds the dragon … let all the world beware.” He
even describes Dany’s eyes as amethysts, like the Amethyst Empress, and says he knows about
gods with gemstone eyes. He’s been to Valyria, and has a valyrian horn called Dragonbinder,
and plans to use it to bind dragons to his will. He killed three brothers, tortures a
fourth, and mutilates a woman he impregnated by cutting out her tongue and tying her naked to
the prow of his ship alongside his brother Aeron. Euron Greyjoy is an evil, evil man, and with
the dragonbinder horn, his shade of the evening, his Valyrian steel armor, and whatever magical
knowledge he’s gained from his voyages, he’s a threat to the entire world. Perhaps
the Others have awoken to punish the world for producing someone like Euron. In his
hubris, Euron thinks he can marry Dany, tame a dragon, unleash a kraken, and become
the harbinger of the Long Night. However, it may be that the Long Night is coming for him. That’s just one idea. There are lots of theories
regarding Euron and the Bloodstone Emperor, and any of them or none of them could be true.
We will probably never know the truth about the Great Empire of the Dawn, but it’s a
fascinating piece of Ice and Fire lore, and I just can’t help losing some brain cells in
order to make sense of it. If you’re interested in more about the Empire of the Dawn, Asshai,
and all the other mysterious yet probably inconsequential parts of A Song of Ice and
Fire, consider subscribing. Thanks for watching.
