A thousand years ago, Karlon Stark put down a rebel lord and was rewarded with lands and a castle he named Karhold. The Karhold Starks became House Karstark, greatly benefiting Winterfell and the reverse to the Dreadfort. Over the centuries, the Starks and Karstarks would intermarry several times, renewing their ancient ties through marriage alliance. But the events of ASOIAF have seen great change, as Rickard Karstark went from staunch ally of King Robb Stark to the execution block. There’s now a rush to claim Karhold - his daughter Alys married Sigorn, son of the man who led the attack on Ca ..read more

Once the closest thing to a town in the lands beyond The Wall, something terrible and mysterious befell Hardhome about 600 years ago. It has since become an overgrown ruin, shunned and considered accursed… Yet despite that, it is suddenly important again - as hordes of refugees flee there, following the dreams of a woods witch. As reports reach Jon of wights in the woods and waters, dreams reach Melisandre of an impossibly cold mist turning the Free Folk into skulls. What the heck happened all those years ago? And what the heck is happening there now? Could this be how the Others get their arm ..read more

A twist, two trailers at once - we dive into them both, turn on video on Spotify to view the images. Many screenshots from both trailers will have their due! Rize: https://rize.io/u/westeros and use promo code WESTEROS for a 25% discount off your first three months! Bonus Eps & More - www.patreon.com/historyofwesteros Shirts & Stickers - historyofwesteros.threadless.com Sean's YouTube: bit.ly/3818H9X www.historyofwesteros.com ..read more

“How often do you think about the Roman Empire?” is a fun question that went viral in 2024, but in this episode we’re concerned more with how often GRRM thought about Rome (and not just the empire) when writing ASOIAF. We’ll also take a few minutes to talk about how HBO’s Rome was pivotal to the making of HBO’s GoT. Rize: https://rize.io/u/westeros and use promo code WESTEROS for a 25% discount off your first three months! Bonus Eps & More - www.patreon.com/historyofwesteros Shirts & Stickers - historyofwesteros.threadless.com Nina: goodqueenaly.tumblr.com Sean's YouTube: bit.ly/3818H9 ..read more

A look at the early life of the man who became the most devious in the Seven Kingdoms. We’ll delve into his days on the street, learning to steal and survive, to the mummer’s troupe and being sold for a ritual that maimed him. When left to die, he vowed to live, and what a life it was for the Spider… From near death to Prince of Thieves and a lifelong partnership with a certain bravo named Illyrio Mopatis. Bonus Eps & More - www.patreon.com/historyofwesteros Shirts & Stickers - historyofwesteros.threadless.com Nina: goodqueenaly.tumblr.com Sean's YouTube: bit.ly/3818H9X www.historyofwe ..read more

The second half of Aziz's discussion with Alt Shift X. This portion includes spoilers for all Dune books and includes discussions on themes and parallels... and some major differences as well ..read more

DUNE is one of the most successful sci fi creations of all time, and GRRM is absolutely one of the many who was influenced by it. In this episode, Aziz and Alt Shift X discuss both authors, their styles and the many parallels to Dune found in ASOIAF. There are NO spoilers for Dune 2 the movie in this episode - but look out for part 2 of this episode, which WILL have spoilers. Bonus Eps & More - www.patreon.com/historyofwesteros Alt Shift X- www.patreon.com/AltShiftX Shirts & Stickers - historyofwesteros.threadless.com www.historyofwesteros.com ..read more

The First Dornish War was Aegon the Conqueror’s last war. For the rest of his reign he was largely concerned with peace. However, enforcing peace in warlike Westeros is no easy thing. Did Aegon actually rule well, or was everyone just afraid of him? Did his policies lead to the many civil conflicts that came less than a generation after his death? Go to https://magicmind.com/westeros and get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with code WESTEROS20. Bonus Eps & More - www.patreon.com/historyofwesteros Shirts & Stickers - historyofwesteros.threadless.com Nina: goodqueen ..read more

A strange but true fact about the First Dornish War: by far the longest and most brutal phase came after the Conqueror declared victory and took most of his troops home. We break down the assassinations, bounties, raids and other shameful acts of intrigue that came to define the conflict more than battles ever could. You get 1 month for free, when you’re subscribing for 3 months at: https://magicmind.com/JANwesteros And with our code WESTEROS20, it’s an extra 20% off, which gets you to 75% off, until Feb 10. Head to factormeals.com/westeros50 and use code westeros50 to get 50% off. Bonus Eps ..read more

Last time we discussed the first few years of Aegon’s reign. The final subtopic we covered was the peaceful attempts to bring Dorne into the realm. We wondered what kind of offers and/or threats were made… regardless, though, they didn’t work. You get 1 month for free, when you’re subscribing for 3 months at: https://magicmind.com/JANwesteros And with our code WESTEROS20, it’s an extra 20% off, which gets you to 75% off, until the end of January. Bonus Eps & More - www.patreon.com/historyofwesteros Shirts & Stickers - historyofwesteros.threadless.com Nina: goodqueenaly.tumblr.com Sea ..read more