Welcome back to another episode my fellow lore enthusiasts! Today in Middle Earth we’ll learn about the flight of the Noldor, the reckoning of Melkor and the rise of the Sindar.And over in Westeros we’re going to The Vale for a meet and greet with House Arryn. So grab your flagons and let's go on an adventure. Music provided by: Keys of Moon Music on Youtube!
Austin: [00:00:00] Welcome back to another episode of For the Love of Lore. I am Austin, your co host for today's adventure.
Abby: And I'm Abby. We are so glad you're here.
Austin: So today in Middle earth, we are going to learn about the Flight of the Noldor, the Reckoning of Melkor, and the Rise of the Sindar.
Abby: And over in Westeros, we're going to the Vale for a meet and greet with House Arryn.
Austin: So grab a flag and a veil and let's go on an adventure! Let's go on an adventure! Woo!
welcome back, everybody. Welcome back to your favorite podcast, I assume for the love of lore. So this week we're going to start with a little check in because, you know, we're going to we're going to make sure the mentors are all good for everybody. And I have to address. The elephant in the room for you YouTube fans.
Yes, this week looks a little different. I, unfortunately, am a little [00:01:00] sickly. Got a little bit of the nasals. Got a little bit of the throat. Sore throat going on. Hopefully, just a little cold, but we'll see. Didn't want to risk getting the cysts sick. But, uh, it's going to look a little different on YouTube.
Should be mainly the same for you podcasters. Um, but that is a quick change. Um, check in for me. I've been pretty good. I mean, we're, we're kind of gearing up at work for the season. We got a little tease of warm weather and we thought, Oh, we can go do outdoor work and can't it's cold again. So, um, just kind of gearing up at work, getting ready for that.
Um, still doing my nerd things, still doing a bowling league. Got a one 86 this past week. So I, you know.
Abby: Now, is that good? I don't know
Austin: for a casual bowler. I'm going to call it good now. I'm sure some experienced bowlers would be like, that's. That's fine. But you know, for me, who doesn't bowl a lot, I'm going to call that pretty good because again, a perfect score is [00:02:00] 300.
I'd say.
Abby: Oh, okay. My, my
Austin: true average is probably around 130, 140. So for me, you know, that's, I felt pretty good. So that's me. How are you doing, sis?
Abby: You know, we're good. We, you know, um, one of the unpublished, um, George R. R. Martin books that we are waiting on first, of course, is Winds of Winter. After that, supposedly, is a dream of spring, and I feel like that is me right now.
I'm dreaming of spring. Um, we've got some exciting things going on at work. Um, I'm also, I'm a teacher, but I'm also part of the I co sponsor the yearbook, so we've got some big yearbook events coming up. One of them's tomorrow, one of them is in March, so yeah, that'll be fun. But, um, I am going on a spring break trip with my daughter, just her and I.
So that, that'll be fun. That's what I'm looking forward to that the most.
Austin: That's going to be awesome. So [00:03:00] I'm glad we were both doing well, because I must tell ya. Middle earth sis is, is not, it's not doing well.
Abby: Are we on the struggle bus in Middle earth?
Austin: We may be on the struggle bus. Um, we are now at chapter nine.
It is called the flight of the Noldor and, um, it's not great. So I got a little, I got a little blurb here to kind of kind of set the mood here for the, the next chapter of the Summerland. One of the longer ones, it was about 20 pages, which is a lot for the Summerland. And those chapters do usually. Around 4 to 10 pages, so 20, that's a lot for Tolkien and this book.
Abby: Yeah, a lot to say. A
Austin: lot to say. So here, I'm going to try to be as dramatic as possible. In the land of the undying, where the light of the two trees still shone, the greatest of the elves stood at a precipice. A choice between fate and destiny. And free will between loyalty [00:04:00] and vengeance, a fiery prince bound by an unbreakable both oath.
I said both a people caught between the will of the gods and the whisper of rebellion. What could possibly go wrong? A lot, a whole lot. Welcome to the flight of the null door where bad decisions and worst consequences reign supreme. Boom.
Abby: Now, did you write that or did Tolkien?
Austin: Uh, ChatGBT wrote that one for me.
I was trying so hard last night to, to get a creative bone going for that. And I was like, you know what, it's modern day. Let's use a little bit of AI in this podcast.
Abby: There we go.
Austin: Um, I thought they did pretty good. And that was a pretty, uh, it sets the tone pretty well for what's going to happen. And I, there was a couple of renditions cause they tried to get a little spoiler spoilery with it.
So I had to tell chat GPT to pull back cause I, they can't spoil it. This is my time.
Abby: I like your narrator voice.
Austin: I know I'm waiting [00:05:00] for some some voiceover calls Marvel hit me up. Star Wars hit me up. I'm ready Okay, chapter 9 buckle up because chapter 9 of the Silmarillion is one of the wildest rides in Tolkien's lore This is kind of where everything changes, and it is the moment where the Noldor kind of go from the golden child of Eru, um, to the most defunctional family reunion you'll ever see.
So, yeah. Fun
Abby: and dysfunctional?
Austin: Yeah. We're, ye shall see. So, I have kind of, I told Abby this before the podcast, I'm gonna, I'm changing up the vibe of how I tell this a little bit, because the way Tolkien, Wrote these chapters is shocker, very wordy, a lot of names, a lot of details that I didn't feel were integral to the story.
So I have kind of what I'm calling this [00:06:00] is my my my millennial breakdown of the Silmarillion. It's we're taking away the big words. We're taking away unnecessary names. We're getting this a little more casual. So Act one is called the Spark of Rebellion. So for a quick recap for what happened last week last last week.
Um, Morgoth, Morgoth has been a little naughty lately. Uh, his, his behavior has not been good. So he's been spreading his lies, he's been stoking his paranoia, and, uh, just when things are at their messiest, this dude goes and murders Fenway, the High King of Noldor. And he steals Fëanor's simirils. So if we remember, remember they, they burned down the trees, and now everything's dark and everybody's confused, like what is going on?
In that chaos, Morgoth went to the north, Morgoth. To Feynore's castle, [00:07:00] knocked on the gate, Fenway kind of didn't know who was there, he thought it was Feynore returning and right there, Morgoth kind of slashes his throat and goes down into the dungeons, steals all the jewels and the Silmarils.
Abby: Now, sorry, I know I was here for the last episode, I remember sitting here, but please remind me who Morgoth is.
Austin: So, Morgoth is Melkor, and it's funny you, funny you ask because when Feynor learns of the, this is a great transition sis, when Feynor learns of this betrayal, this is when he names Melkor Morgoth officially. Um. Morgoth has a specific name and meaning, which I will get into in a second. Um, but yeah, Faenor, he's a little, our boy's a little dramatic.
He's a little hot headed. And as his mom described him, he has the fire of a thousand suns within him. So, uh, as you can guess, he's not [00:08:00] very calm right now. Um, So Faenor, still riding that, that high of being exiled for threatening his own brother by the sword tip. Bold move. Um, that was even more angry and Melkor, well, uh, he's about to get it.
So Faenor thinks. So in his infinite sassy wisdom, Faenor has named Melkor Morgoth, which means the black foe of the world.
Abby: Okay.
Austin: So yeah, Morgoth, er, well, yeah, now Morgoth has kind of transitioned from that like That naughty, annoying pest who, this guy's no good. So, um, before anything, now he has named Melkor kind of the great evil of the world.
And we now get the Oath of Faenor. So, Faenor's dad's dead. Silmarils are gone. Dude's in a bit of a panic. So he gathers his seven sons in an over the top fashion. They swear [00:09:00] the most aggressive, no way out, doomed to backfire oath in history. And the key points are this. The Summerils belong to them, no matter what.
And if anyone else, man, elf, Valar, or stray housecat tries to claim them, they will be destroyed. And no tixpaxes.
Abby: Housecats, correct. No housecats. No justice for the cats.
Austin: No justice for the cats. It doesn't matter. They steal those Summerils. It's over.
Abby: Also, he has seven sons, so he, so that's, that's a good number according to Martin.
Austin: It is. This is, this is where they link up. Um, so right now he's, he's an angry little fella and, uh, the, the, the reaction from the Noldor is kind of like, um, this kind of seems like a bit much and this dude's a little full of himself, but Feynord doesn't really care. You know, his speech is electric, the mood is intense and somehow he convinces a ton of [00:10:00] the Noldor to go with him, even though they're kind of a little wishy washy there, they are upset about the trees being destroyed.
So that's why they're kind of pushed to go with them. The Noldor feel as if some action is warranted and. I have to give credit to Melkor slash Morgoth here. He is the one who has kind of sown these doubts, and even though he won't admit it, these doubts have been sown into Faenor about The Valar want to take these, uh, somewhere else for themselves, and now Faenor's kind of thinking, Oh, maybe the Valar actually took it in the darkness.
So, we've got some interesting things at play here. And if you were wondering what our gracious angels of the Valar think of all this, they're not happy. I think you could easily assume that. And they, they can kind of tell that there's Some, some, some bad things coming. So now we enter what I call Act 2 of this chapter, and it's called the Doom of Manto Mando's.
And I am calling it the ultimate. I told you so. So, [00:11:00] before they can leave, the Valar send Mando's, the Doom's man, One of the, one of the angels and his, his whole kind of thing is that he's, he's kind of a tough guy on campus. He's, he's the rule maker. He's like, you're going to follow what I say and you're going to like it.
So he goes up and kind of delivers one of the coldest, most terrifying prophecies in the history of prophecies. Um, so kind of picture like a ghostly figure kind of stepping forward voice, like a distant thunder. And I have paraphrased his quote to, to millennial talk. He goes something like this. You guys are about to make a HUGE mistake.
You will bring nothing but death, despair, and regret. Your journey will be full of betrayal, and you're somewhere else will bring more suffering than joy. And if you leave, you cannot return. So this, this actual quote was probably more than a page and a half in the, in the book, so that is why I millenialized it.
Um, but that is the gist. Mandos ain't happy.
Abby: So
Austin: what does Feynore [00:12:00] and the Noldor Elves do? Uh, they basically say, Cool story, bro. We're still going. And, uh, at this point, even the more level headed Noldor, like Fingolfin, which is Feynore's brother, Uh, are hesitant, but now they're kind of, they're kind of, they've gone too far to go back, essentially, with seeing how mad Mandos and the rest of the rest of the Valor are so, um, you know, after enter act three and we have a term that we have used in your segments quite a bit coming up here.
Abby: I see it.
Austin: It is the Kinslaying at Alcalonde.
Abby: Oh, it's a bad, it's a bad sin, can't be slaying no kin.
Austin: Can't be doing that. The old gods said no, no, no. And I think these gods also say no, no, no to that. So my, what I would call this act is, um, things get messy. So, the Noldor now full of anger and confusion and a little bit of I'm better than you, Valar [00:13:00] ishness.
March South, and they're kind of, again, remember I described This Amman as this crescent shaped land. They are heading now towards the middle where the Lonely Island is. We're heading back to the Lonely Island because apparently that's just where everything happened. Yes, we're on a boat. Um, so they are kind of ready to set sail for Middle Earth.
Mildur at this point said, We don't want to be here anymore. You guys are not gracious hosts. You guys maybe stole our jewels. Um. But there's one problem. The Noldor have no way to get to Middle earth, because if you remember, they got to Emon because an island floated over there for them. The Lonely Island floated for them.
So, yes. Look at you. Look at you. So, How do they get there? Well, they go talk to their elf brethren, the Talari, who I described a couple of episodes as the boatmakers, kind of the more whimsical, nature focused elves of the group. And, um, [00:14:00] they are at El Qolande, which is the Lonely Island. And Feynor kinda being the master negotiator that he is, all sarcasm intended there.
Um, he asked nicely for their ships and the Talari being rational and still followers of the Valor kind of say, uh, no, you can't have them. So, uh, the Talari kind of have no reason to support this again. They've kind of been doing their own thing. They're in my head. They're just in there. They're campers in the woods, having a great time, having campfires, singing songs, and then they're, they're cranky cousins come and they're Talari want nothing pardon, no pardon.
So they kind of say, you know, stealing our boats is a major no, no. So what does Feynord do in his infinite wisdom and calmness? Oh, you know, just kind of casually starts a war against his own people. Yeah. So this is, this moment marks the first time elves kill other elves. Kind of the [00:15:00] first murder, if you will, of Middle earth and Emon as a whole.
And it's brutal. It is not pretty. I mean, there is, the Noldor kind of take out their anger from the Valar and Morgoth. On the Talari Elves. The Talari Elves don't have a lot of weapons. You know, I told you Feynore's a ton for his Elves. The Talari, I kind of refer to them as the potheads of Emon because I think they're just kind of vibing in the trees.
So they really just don't have a way to defend themselves and they are just completely outmatched and Feynor and his warriors slaughter them and take their ships and Yeah, Fingolfin and his group of elves which includes Galadriel were not present. I want to make that clear. They were kind of lagging behind Feynor kind of kind of pushed ahead because he He is so angry, he is so desperate to go get this action done, and [00:16:00] Fingolfin has his reservations.
Thank God, he has an actual brain. And Galandriel, of course. Um, they did not take part in this, I want to make that very clear. Some people get that confused, they were not there. Um, they actually arrive after and they see the bloodbath and are just filled with so much emotion and sadness for their Tulare brethren.
And, uh, at this point, it's kind of that thing where you show up to the crime scene late and you kind of look guilty because you're there. So yeah, that this they're, they're kind of worried that they are now guilty by association, if you will. So they're kind of stuck in this mess and they're like, okay, well, I guess we're, we're going to ride with you now.
Fainor, we're going to have to, you put us in this spot. So we now move on to act four and this is what I call the great betrayal. Fainor's most villainous move yet. So now the Noldor have their [00:17:00] ships, the Tolari are dead. And they have set sail for Middle Earth, but there's one last twist and it's, it's a doozy.
Faenor, being Faenor, realizes he doesn't want to waste time ferrying everyone across. So instead of going back for Fingolfin and Galadriel, he says, uh, We're out, and good luck to you guys with the Valar. He burns the rest of the ships that he doesn't use.
Abby: Wait, what? Why?
Austin: Because he, he basically, he can feel that Fingolfin isn't fully committed to the cause and two, kind of wants to leave a scapegoat for the Valar in terms of who committed this murder.
So he leaves the Noldor stranded behind on the Lonely Island. And while him and his people are still in the Middle Earth to kind of go to go reign supreme over there and do what they want, because in Emon, they're under the careful watch of the Valar in Middle Earth. They're kind of on their own. And that's what Feynor wants at this point.
[00:18:00] So, Fingolfin now. Basically standing in a field of dead bodies and burning ships says well, we can't stay here either I mean, we're gonna be we're gonna be in trouble too. So he has no choice but to embark on the deadliest trek ever imaginable. He has to cross the, and here I'm going to butcher this name, the Helcoraxi.
Man, I hope I pronounced that right. Um, it's called the Grinding Ice. So a couple episodes I talked about how Middle earth and Emon are both kind of crescent shaped in a way, and they meet at a northern tip. But that northern tip is frozen over because of Morgoth's castle, Etumno. Um, his, his great evil is spreading and it comes in the form of cold ice.
Um, so it, it makes the cross from Amon to Middle earth very, very treacherous. It is, you know, it's sub zero temperatures. There's no food. You can't make a fire cause there's no [00:19:00] sticks or wood. I mean, it is, it is a long, cold march into Middle earth. And, um, the best way to describe it is a frozen wasteland of doom.
And many of the elves who went with. Fingolfin tragically end up dying on this journey because it is just so brutal. Um, but Fingolfin has that, that steel resolve. Fingolfin and Galadriel, I want, I want to give her some credit here. Had that steel resolve of like, we're not giving up. We have a, we have a battle to fight.
We have a wrong to fix. Um, so they push through, and by the time that they reach Middle Earth, um, Fingolfin is no longer Faenor's responsible brother anymore. He has now kind of made his own claim or right for being a king. So that is, this is the exact fear that Faenor had, is that Fingolfin was kind of amassing his own sect of the [00:20:00] Noldor.
And now, with this long, hard journey the Noldor now kind of look at him as the new king of the Noldor. So, as, as you can imagine, there are some tithes coming up. But the Noldor's fate in general is sealed. Fëanor's oath has been sworn, the blood of their kin stains their hands, and the road ahead is paved with war and sorrow.
But! Their tale is far from over, so the questions we now have to ask are, you know, what price will they pay for their defiance, and will the Simrels ever bring them the glory that they truly seek? Um, these are the questions we now kind of have to ask going forward, because Middle earth, again, yes, it was created by Eru in the Valar, but it is kind of a place of Or they're not as involved.
So it is now chaos is now on the table is what I'll call it. Um,
Abby: I would, if you will.
Austin: Oh yes. Just [00:21:00] like the application and the favorite word of Tolkien in this book. Um, I would like to take a moment to appreciate, I don't, you know, I don't like to appreciate villains too much, but I would like to say this, this was a masterfully created plan by Morgoth.
Like I told you last episode, he was trying to take basically three groups of elves. And a god and kind of so discord amongst them and this chapter, he really just kind of had to sit back, wipe his hands and be like, he didn't have to do anything, right? So he sat back and kind of watched everything self destruct.
And this is what I call a classic Morgoth move. So we now see how evil this guy is the, the, the power of his woven lies in the, the Elven kingdom. And, um, he's probably feeling pretty good about himself right now. So that was what I consider the [00:22:00] craziest chapter in the Silmarillion so far. That was chapter 9.
Abby: It's kind of jam packed and makes me wonder what inspired it in the first place, you know, because so much of the Lord of the Rings is kind of based on World War I, but this is set way before that stuff. So I wonder if, if, if he even drew on anything from history or if it was just in his imagination.
Austin: I know I'm trying to think back to, I mean, this will be more your alley.
I don't know how much there is of kinslaying in the English history. A
Abby: whole lot.
Austin: It feels like it is derived from something because, um, it is, you know, my, if you, if you read the whole chapter of Tolkien, you can kind of get a taste for the fall of Faenor here. My millennial talk may have gone too quick, but I didn't want to sit here for two hours [00:23:00] describing it.
But no,
Abby: yeah. And I, I think it made it more relatable.
Austin: Yeah. Because again, if you. If you sat down and opened this book and read this chapter, you would probably give up two pages in because it's just chock full of names you don't know, places you don't know, and it's just, I, I, you know, we, we haven't recorded in about a week and a half, and it's taken me a week and a half to really digest this chapter.
You should see my notebook. It's disgusting looking. So I hit a point last night when I was trying to write this script of like, I was writing it out. I just didn't feel good about it. So I pivoted and I was like, you know what? Let's just write this in a talk that I think is more digestible. So, that's what we got.
Vaynor, dude, I think could have been a great leader of elves, but just a lot of things went the wrong way and he is now Not a great fella.
Abby: Yeah, he's had like a downward character arc.
Austin: [00:24:00] Yes. And it's, it had been foreshadowed the whole time. If you shout out to previous episodes, if you go back, you'll hear all the foreshadowing of this fall of Faenor.
Um, but his story is far from over. We have a lot more to see and hear and learn about. And it will shape the future of Middle Earth. short term for bad, I think long term for good. You'll see later. Um, but now we kind of move on to chapter 10 and the focus shifts. In my script I said the focus shifts a bit.
I'm going to say it shifts a lot a bit. Um, so these events of chapter 10 take place while this whole Noldor uprise is happening. So while they were over there kind of busy ruining their own lives Another group of elves has been thriving in Middle earth the Sindar so to recap the Sindar are the gray elves They are Tolari.
That is that is who they are. They're the Tolari who I don't know if you remember this, they, they're the elves who heard the call [00:25:00] too late.
Abby: Yeah.
Austin: Um, they kind of got stuck there, but they also kind of wanted to be stuck there because they love the forest and the beaches too much, they thought it was too beautiful to leave.
Um, so they've kind of rena they've, they've rebranded, if you will. So then they now call themselves the Sindar or the Grey Elves. And, um, they, they do have a king and we, Faenor is, Faenor and Fingolfin are two names to remember, but if you're going to remember another one, it's this one, it's Thingol. Um, and if you look at our episode name, it is, it is the title of the episode because this is a very, very pivotal character.
Um, Faenor is the first main character that's pivotal. Uh, Thingol is gonna kinda transition and take that mantle as the next headpiece of the story going forward. Um, So, Chapter 10, I've broken this up into acts. A little shorter, a little more digestible. [00:26:00] Um, so act one is Doriath. Um, I called it Middle earth power couple.
Abby: Um,
Austin: uh, you'll see here in a second. So, uh, Doriath is a place I should say, first of all.
Abby: Oh, okay. I thought it was three people. I was like, that, that sir is a throuple.
Austin: I will, uh, I will clarify. Doriath is a place. Um, So Thingol is not just any elf. He is the, he is the one who actually met the Valar and he kind of lit the tell tale.
His claim to fame is, he falls head over heels for this elf named Melian. And she is a Maia, so she is technically a goddess. He, when he first lays eyes upon Melian, he literally freezes in place for years. While staring at her, isn't that wild
Abby: like fight, flight, or freeze?
Austin: [00:27:00] Yes. I'm like Tolkien. There's ways other ways to say that you love someone by the other than freezing in place and being kind of creepy.
Abby: But it's only funny. Cause that, that is also my trauma response is freeze. Like I. My whole body just stops and I'm like, I don't know what to do.
Austin: You're, you're channeling your inner Thingol.
Abby: I, yes, exactly.
Austin: Um, so he freezes in place for years, but good news is it does work out. Um, Melian agrees to be his queen and together they rule Doriath.
Um, it's kind of the heart. The Heartland of the Sindar, and again, Doriath does transition to be, um, the, uh, woods of the Mirkwood.
Abby: Oh, okay.
Austin: Yeah, at some point, again, where Legolas is from, it's just called Doriath for right now. Um, so, right now, she, again, she's very powerful. She is a minor goddess, technically being a Maia.
She is gifted with divine wisdom, supernatural foresight, and [00:28:00] a protective barrier of magic, and it is known as the girdle of Melian.
Abby: Oh, that's a terrible name.
Austin: It's awful. It is awful. I don't know what Tolkien was doing here. I think he got a little whimsical after so much stress and pain.
Abby: Now we got girdles.
Austin: We got girdles. Yeah. So this, this power, the way I'm going to tie it into Lord of the Rings is it's similar to what the Rings of Power do for Galadriel and, um, Elrond in ter in terms of protecting their realms. It is kind of the same power of, it, it doesn't specifically say what, it just says that it protects.
Um, their lands, it kind of keeps them safe. The first with Melians is actually hides the land too. So no one can find it.
Abby: Oh,
Austin: yes. And they, they kind of did this because they know about Morgoth and they're kind of trying to hide from him and all of this, his troubles. [00:29:00] So while they're kind of out here thriving, lived in the woods, having a great time in middle earth, um, Morgoth has now moved back into the north.
Um, he's not an assumed no and all. I'll talk about that in a second, but he is in the Iron Mountains in the north. So it's, it is fairly close to where Meliand is. So um, you got the Iron Mountains in the way north, and if you go a little southeast, you'll have the Lonely Mountain where the story of the Hobbit takes place.
And if you go a little southwest of that is where you'll, where you have Doriath. So they're, they're pretty close, Morgoth and Doriath are pretty close in proximity of this time. So, um, we now kind of get into act two and it's, I call it Morgoth's first attempt. Dun dun dun. The orcs are here. So, Morgoth now, you know, he has, he has a bit of a problem.
So he just kind of got back from Valinor with his stolen simirals, but [00:30:00] Middle earth is pretty empty. It's kind of a blank canvas for him. So the Sindar are everywhere, and he obviously sees that as an issue because he thought the Noldor were his issue, but now he's realizing that there's a new quote unquote foe for him, and it's the Sindar because they have just been multiplying, growing, expanding while he's been gone, and he, he don't like that.
Um, he kind of looks at them as a, as a sleeping giant. Um, so what is his first move? It is to release the orcs. So he is Created the orcs. Um, there is some, there's some debate about the origin of these orcs. Um, some people think they are elves who have been tormented over many ages and then kind of change transitioned into orcs.
And he thinks, you know, orcs, he kind of, they can go the Peter Jackson route where he kind of makes them down the mud and the grime and they are birthed out of that. There's a lot [00:31:00] of different theories. Um, I, this is where I kind of do like the rings of power. I think it is just corrupted elves. Um, who have been kind of transitioned into darkness, and that's why they become so, I don't know, feral is the right word, but you know, just angry with madness and bloodlust.
Um, so he releases his minions into the world, and now begins kind of the first war between the elves and, uh, Morgoth's armies. So, the, the Sindar, who up until now have kind of been chilling in the woods, kind of find themselves fighting for their lives against the hordes of Morgoth. And it's bad. It's really bad.
The Sindar do not have Feynor's creations of weapons. I mean, they still have their bows and their arrows, but past that, they're kind of fighting with stick spears and they're just not not doing well. So who saves the day? Not the Noldor, not Feynor. It is the dwarves.
Abby: Hey, yes,
Austin: the dwarf. We now enter Act [00:32:00] three and I call it the dwarves.
Enter the chat.
Abby: All right.
Austin: For all you millennials. So at this point, that's a little Gen Z ish to entering the chat. I don't know if you got that reference, but
Abby: I got it.
Austin: At this point, we kind of get the first real introduction to the dwarves. I did talk about them before. They were not made by arrow. They were actually created by outlay one of the Valar who was.
He was a little too eager to start creating things. He was getting all jealous. Everybody else got to do it. He was like, I want I want to create something. Luckily, Arrow did not smite them. He came very, very close, but he did not. And instead, he let them sleep underground until the elves woke up and kind of made it a fair trade.
The elves get to wake up. The dwarves get to wake up. So while the Sindar have been. Traveling around the land and growing that way. The dwarves have been thriving in their little caves, doing their little mining, their little creation in the Lonely Mountain and all [00:33:00] the other mountains of Middle Earth, kind of growing in numbers that way.
Um, and in Middle Earth, the dwarves of Belagost and Nograd have set up shop in the Blue Mountains. And the Blue Mountains are kind of, they're even more east than the Lonely Mountain. Um, but. They kind of hear, obviously they're attuned to what's happening on the actual surface, and they kind of hear whispers of this massive war with the elves and the orcs and They're like, oh fighting.
We've been kind of bored for centuries. Let's let's get in this. Let's this is our thing. Toss me. Toss me. I cannot make the distance. You'll have to toss me. So Fingal and his infinite wisdom meets up with the dwarves And they actually form an alliance, which is, which is a big deal in Tolkien's Legendarium because his Legends is the typical [00:34:00] elves and dwarves do not get along which that story will come up a lot more later
Abby: Well, that's right after he says toss me.
He says don't tell the elf.
Austin: Yes There's still always a little bit of bitterness there, even though they do they are friends at times Um, so now that the dwarves are in the chat, uh, the orcs get wrecked
Abby: as they should,
Austin: as they should. So the, the, this is where now the, the Sindar and the dwarves kind of help each other grow because now the Sindar have weapons.
The dwarves bring. Their own armor and weapons to the battle. Hint, hint. Mithril has now entered the chat as well. So this is where Mithril is discovered, and the elves use that to their advantage, the strongest metal in Middle earth. And the Sindar push Morgoth's forces back, and for now, Middle earth is safe.
Ish. So there is another kind of time of peace, and I say ish because [00:35:00] now is when, basically right when the orcs kind of get pushed back to the Iron Mountains of the North. So that's why I say it is safe ish. So now, the last little blurb before this chapter ends is Act 4. Um, I call it Morgoth Plays the Long Game.
Um, so the First War did not go as Morgoth planned, obviously, but he is a patient guy. He's been waiting centuries to kind of pull a move. So he's, he is okay playing the long game. And he's now kind of made his new castle up in the north, and he's got a lot of weapons in his arsenal, and He has his first dragon.
Glaurung is the dragon's name. And there's a lot more on Glaurung soon. But, um, for now he retreats and he makes his new castle called Angband. Which I love that name. Um, and he [00:36:00] just kind of sits and simmers and waits for his next move. Um, he chose, the reason he left the tomb though is it was kind of out in the open.
Um, and yes, it is in North in the cold, but it's not as defensible as Ingband because Ingband is knee deep in the Iron Mountains, which is just a mess to trek unless you know it. So that's why he kind of chose that location.
Abby: Well, we're going to talk about in just a minute about a whole other castle that's hard to get to in the mountains.
Austin: That's the theme. Hard to access castles is the theme. Um, but yeah, now the Noldor have arrived, bringing their own chaos with them. And the Sindar kind of have no idea what's coming, but their, their peaceful days are numbered. So, now using my, I now have another dramatic outro, thanks to ChatGBT. Not a sponsored plug, but, you know, you guys can sponsor us if you want to.
Here we go, my dramatic voice again. And [00:37:00] so, Middle earth braces for what is to come. The Sindar have defended their homes, but darkness has not yet been vanquished. The Nolor will soon enter their lands, and with them, they bring tales of betrayal, murder, and an oath that can never be broken. The fate of Balarand hangs in the balance.
What happens when two mighty elven kingdoms collide? And will Morgoth's patience soon pay off? Let's find out in the next episode. So let me know what you guys think on our socials. You know, if you guys think the elves are going to figure their differences out, or if Morgoth is going to kind of reign discord amongst them.
Um, just let us know, but that is it. We got through it. I told you, I warned you this week was going to be longer, but that is probably the longest chapter in the book. So
Abby: yeah, it's all right. It's we, we love the drama. We love the tea.
Austin: We love the drama. We love the tea and it is all chaos from here on. So continue to be strapped in if you will.
Abby: Oh, [00:38:00] I've been, yeah, we're locked in.
Austin: We are, we are locked in chat. So we now talked about an indefensible castle and we will now transition over to West roast
Abby: Welcome to the kingdom of mountain and veil. That is the former name of the veil of Aran prior to Agon's conquest. And, uh, with that, we have arrived at one of the smallest, but most heavily guarded of the seven kingdoms. And just so you guys know, map wise, the veil is kind of a peninsula, kind of, um, it's kind of like, It's, we'll talk about it in a second, but it's got these little like outcrops called the fingers.
It's got all these little juts of land that are peninsulas in and of themselves. So that kind of makes the whole region a peninsula anyway, enough about peninsulas, um, but three of its borders rely on water. The top border is a bay of water called the Bight, [00:39:00] that's the northern border. The narrow sea makes up the eastern coastline.
And then to the south, they have the Bay of Crabs. And then almost like nearly the entire western border of the Vale is mountains. And these, this range of mountains is called the Mountains of the Moon. Um, and so for this reason, because there's lots of mountains and rocks and stones, um, any bastards born in the veil, take the last name stone.
So the veil, you know, because it's kind of so closed off from the rest of the seven kingdoms, they tend to be a bit isolated. Um, in terms of trade and visitors by land, but they do trade by sea a lot. They have one really big city that we will talk about later. So, um, yeah, buckle, buckle up. There's a few areas that we're going to.
I have some pit stops and hope you brought your souvenir money. Cause they've got some cool, [00:40:00] cool little souvenirs that you might want to pick up along the way.
Austin: I love knickknacks. So
Abby: let's, uh, yeah, let's talk about the, the veil of Aran. So it's kind of confusing because that's the name of like the entire region, but then there's also this specific.
Valley called the Vale of Aran, and they sometimes refer to it as the Vale of Aran proper. So, it's just this really big valley, um, right in the middle of the Mountains of the Moon, and it's very fertile, very tranquil, lots of small rivers, lakes, uh, crops grow really well here, things like wheat, barley, corn, pumpkins, lots and lots of fruit.
All that type of thing can grow really easily in the soil here. Um, and it, this is accessible by road, the road that's called the high road, which kind of, it's like a, it's an East West road. And, um, so you could travel by road to get to the veil [00:41:00] proper, but. To actually get into the veil, the entire region, you have to, on the road, there's this place called the bloody gate and you have to pass under the bloody gate to get into the veil.
So. Let's dive into that because that's a heck of a name. I used to say that sounds
Austin: a little ominous.
Abby: It is a little bit The bloody gate is a large It's it. I mean it looks like a castle, but it's it's for military purposes only it can house like two to three thousand men I think So it's it's built right into the mountains along the high road And so there's like these two towers that are connected by a bridge, and it basically cuts off travel at any point between the Vale and the Riverlands on the high road.
So it's, it's actually so [00:42:00] narrow, like to pass under that bridge. The road is so narrow that only four nights on horseback could ride next to each other. Um, so if you recall back to the episode where we talked about the wall, the top of the wall is actually three times wider cause they said you can, um, 12 writers can ride next to each other on top of the wall.
So my God, very, very narrow. Yeah.
Austin: That seems like a hazard almost.
Abby: Yeah, well, it makes it easy to defend.
Austin: Ah, yes. Defensive strategy, yes.
Abby: Um, there is an appointed guard here called the Knight of the Gate. And he's in charge of the whole keep. But again, he's in charge of like two to three thousand men at a time, depending on how heavily guarded the gate is at the time.
And then they can, there's also been a few points in history where they've sent almost their entire army to the Bloody Gate. And so You know, those people are camping out kind of on the, on the [00:43:00] veil side, not the, not the Riverland side. So yeah, pretty impressive little way to completely shut themselves off.
Yeah. From any land invasions. Um, so then next, here's our next little pit stop for the day. This is called the Gates of the Moon.
Austin: I love that name gates.
Abby: Yeah, I do, too. Um, the Gates of the Moon and the Eerie itself, which is a big castle that the Arans live in, um, these two are actually really, like, distance wise, really close to each other.
Um, the Gates of the Moon sits at the foot of a big mountain called the Giant's Lance, and then the Eerie, of course, sits on top of that mountain. But, so, the, the Gates of the Moon, is a very sturdy, very large, but not altogether beautiful castle. It's very plain, kind of a plain Jane. Um, it serves its purpose.
Like it houses, it [00:44:00] can house a lot of people. It can house an army and a Royal family, but it's not necessarily, it wasn't made with the finest stone or marble or. Anything like that. It's not special. It's just big. So, um, yeah, that's, that's, it was originally constructed by the first men when they still lived there.
Um, and of course they constructed like ring forts. So it was, it was originally. meant to be, you know, to house military type people. Um, and it has been added onto over the centuries a lot. That's why it's so big now, but its main function was never to entertain or to have noble guests or anything like that.
It was built just because it's easy to defend. Um, it does have a moat and, and a gate house. yard for training and a well so they have fresh water and it houses these this like fleet of mules because those [00:45:00] the mules are what are the animals that can climb up the Giants Lance the big mountain to deliver goods and stuff and people back and forth from Uh, the gates of the moon down here and you got a
Austin: whole gaggle of mules is what I'm hearing.
Abby: Yeah. I got a gaggle. Is that what I have? No idea.
Austin: Oh,
Abby: yes. So that is the, the gates of the moon. So pick up a mule while you're there as a souvenir. Um, and then let's move on to the Erie. Now, the Erie is kind of the opposite of the Gates of the Moon. The Erie is relatively small, but extremely grand. Um, it juts out from a shoulder towards the very top of the Giant's Lance.
And it was built to be impregnable. It has proven to be impregnable, except by dragon. So, um, it is, it is, you [00:46:00] cannot try to attack it by land at all. There's no way. Um, to even get up there as a traveler, you first have to ride up the mountain on a mule. Um, it's a nearly sheer trail. There are parts of that trail you could walk, but like, why would you
Austin: when there's sounds horrible?
Abby: Yeah, um, and then you also have to pass these three way castles, which are basically just in place to prevent unwanted guests from gaining access to the royal family. Um, and the, these three little way castles have named like, they're just, they're fun to me. They each have their own little name and purpose.
Um, the first way castle is called stone. This is the only one that's really accessible by foot. Um, so there's that one. It's, it's kind of towards the bottom of the trail. To get from stone to the next one, which is called [00:47:00] snow. You for sure need to use yourself a mule.
Austin: Got to do it.
Abby: Can't be walking, can't be walking that path.
And then to get from snow to sky, that's the third way. Castle is called sky. That's the most treacherous path. And even on the mule while you're riding on it, a lot of travelers get vertigo while they're on this portion of the journey. Yeah. Between snow and sky. Um, and then once you get to sky, you have two options to get up to the Erie.
You can rock climb where, with some roughly hewn handholds, you can go full ninja warrior, or you have to ride up their little elevator, which is not a real elevator, but it's these little, not little, these big. Wicker baskets, like on a winch and the, the winch is powered by oxen.
Austin: It's a whole thing. Is it OSHA approved?[00:48:00]
Abby: I, you know, um, probably not. So, um, yeah, it's a whole thing. You, you still can, even if you somehow make it all the way up to sky, the third way castle, as if you're like an army, you still can't get to the Erie unless you want to make your army. Mountain climb. It's it's bizarre. They're pretty safe up there
Austin: though.
Abby: Yeah, it's actually great. So yeah So then you get all the way up to the Erie And that is where house are in resides, they live there three of the four seasons. They live there during spring, summer and fall, but during winter, they do have to descend their mountain and reside within the gates of the moon because even the mules struggle to carry goods up and down the trails in the wintertime, their winters are very harsh because of the mountains.
So we could even in the summer, the tops of all those mountains still have snow. [00:49:00] You can imagine the winters would be worse. But let's talk about the castle itself. 'cause this is, this is the stuff y'all, this, this is, this is the stuff right here. Yeah. Your, your souvenir from the Erie is some blue veined white marble.
Oh. So it is made out of pristine white snow stone on the outside. And then on the inside are these large slabs of marble that have dark blue vein. It's going through the marble. It features seven slim towers because we know the RNs love themselves. The seven.
Austin: We'll love the seven. Also quick interjection.
Can I get this marble for a countertop? Please. You could
Abby: sure try.
Austin: If it entails meals, I'm I'm out.
Abby: So then other notable features of the Erie, um, are that pretty much everywhere within the castle. You can hear [00:50:00] this waterfall that's nearby. Um, and it's the waterfall itself is called, I forget her name. It's some girl, I think. Elaine or Alice Sane or something. Anyway, it's her tears is what the waterfall is called.
So that's kind of fun and like pleasant, like you can just hear a waterfall around the corner. Um, so I think that's nice. And it's also, while you're there, it's very common to see Falcons flying around in the garden, the courtyards around the towers, Falcons love to fly around up there, they've got little roosts up there and stuff like that, and so.
Which is par for the course because their sigil has a falcon on it. So, you know, go figure.
Austin: It's all, is it the Alyssa's tears? Would that be the one? Yes,
Abby: that's it. Alyssa. There you go. And I forget why she was crying, but it's, that's also a whole story, but. Oh yeah, it's, it's
Austin: a full page in the wiki here. So we'll let you guys do the research on that one.
Abby: [00:51:00] Um, so then inside of the Erie, there's this big grand hall, which we kind of see in the show, but it's not as grand as what it's, it felt pretty
Austin: small and I assume that was just due to budget reasons.
Abby: I think so. And, and because there's really only like a couple scenes that happened there. Um, so anyway, and, and the show also makes it look like it's a round hall, but it's not, it's, it's rectangular and it's long and it's large.
Um, so it's called High Hall and at the very end of High Hall, there are two Weirwood thrones, one for Lord Arran and one for Lady Arran. In the exact middle of the high hall is the moon door and we did see an interpretation of the moon door in the show But it is described Differently in the book and I kind of like book version better show version was cool.
It played well for TV I just think [00:52:00] book version makes more sense and is less hazardous Cause if you accident, anyway, here we go. The real book version is that the, the moon door is a regular door built. Yeah. Um, it, it does open inward. So you like when you open it, you're pulling it towards yourself, but when you open it, it reveals pure sky, like a sheer drop off.
So that part they got correct. It's it's if you go out the moon door, you use dead.
Austin: It's like walking the plank.
Abby: Yeah, basically.
Austin: I like that.
Abby: Just the show itself Made it a door that opened up on the like on the floor. It's like a porthole
Austin: almost. Yeah.
Abby: Yeah Which was cool, but it
Austin: for dramatic effect. I get it, but I like the door on the wall better
Abby: Yeah, and it's the fact that it's like directly in the middle of this long haul.
Austin: Yeah, it's more ominous[00:53:00]
Abby: so yeah, the The other part that the show got right is that it is that's traditionally what they use for executions So you get walked, you know sent out the moon door. So that part all of that stuff they got correct It was just the way it's designed is tough way to go. Yeah,
Austin: there's a guy who fears heights That's that is my nightmare
Abby: for sure Eerie does have a God's wood, but there are no where would grows in it because they, they did try supposedly they tried to get a where would to grow there, but it wouldn't grow because the soil up that high.
The soil is so like stony and rocky. It just wouldn't take root. They, uh, they last fun. Feature which I don't know if it's necessarily actually fun, but it's a feature they anytime they have prisoners They put them in sky cells is what they call them. Oh Sky cells are what they sound [00:54:00] like they are a prison cell that is open to the sky
Austin: Mm
Abby: hmm.
Austin: Nope,
Abby: and Tyrion is in a sky cell for a little portion. Is he really? Yeah, you see it in the show and they do it They do it correctly Three of the walls are stone, and of course, the back wall has like a door on it that leads to the hallway, you know, to the rest of the cells. But, so there's these three walls of stone, and then the fourth wall doesn't exist.
It's just completely open to a sheer drop down the side of the mountain. Plus, then there's this added, the floor. It's not flat. The floor slightly angles down.
Austin: That is, that is evil. Oh my
Abby: God. Yeah. What happens
Austin: if you're sleeping and you just roll over in your sleep and then all of a sudden you're just tumbling down.
Abby: Right. Yeah.
Austin: Oh God.
Abby: So yeah, [00:55:00] it's a, it's an interesting little feature. Um, and then fun fact, the Erie itself took about seven generations to build the and in the middle of their, uh, during like the fourth generation, the project was actually completely abandoned and there was just a bunch of like unfinished stone walls.
Up on the top of the mountain, um, but I'm really glad they did come back and finish it. There's a few more details about this castle that are pretty fascinating. I'm going to skip them for now so we can talk about the rest of the veil. But, yeah, if you just want to give the Eerie itself a search on the wiki, it's kind of, it's a lot.
There's a lot. There's a lot there. Um, they obviously, because they're Andals, they, a lot of it is about the seven and the faith of the seven and all that type of stuff, but, but it's a cool place and it's not visited very often because it's so hard to get to. So I think [00:56:00] that's kind of, it's interesting how like grand and intricate everything is there since people don't go there very often.
Austin: Fascinating. So yeah. And you need to figure out why Alyssa is crying. So go check that out. I'm going to have to
Abby: figure out why. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. So we're going to keep on to our tour of the, of the veil. So we're leaving the Eerie and the Giant's Lance. And all that stuff, we're now going to the three sisters and the three sisters are three islands.
They're relatively small, actually, that, um, they sit in the bite, which is the Northern Bay, the Northern border of the veil. These three islands kind of sit in that Bay. They have names, each of them, of course, there is sweet sister, long sister, and little sister. And these three islands are, are actually very loosely held by the [00:57:00] veil.
Um, like they, they're part of the veil on maps, and like Mostly, most of the time when they feel like being part of the Vale, they are, but, um, they're actually kind of relatively independent. And there was like a thousand year struggle for control of those three islands between House Arryn and House Stark with, because on the other side of the Bight is the North is, is White Harbor.
And we talked about White Harbor. A lot. So the North is right there. Um, and these two houses really, really struggled over these three little islands for a very, very long time. Both sides saw some victories for long stretches of time. So they were, it's not like one side gained control for a couple of years.
And then it went right back to the other side. Like there was like a couple of hundred years where one house controlled them. And then another couple of hundred where the other house. So at some point, um, house Stark just [00:58:00] kind of decided like, why are we fighting over these three little islands when we already have so much land?
So when they kind of gave up or bowed out or whatever, then the ownership of the three islands passed back to house Aaron and the veil. Um, but these three islands still trade heavily with the North via White Harbor because White Harbor is not very far. And, um, for that reason, they're, they're Um, and a wealthy people that live on that, or at least the people who trade, um, and they also get all kinds of visitors from the North, but also from across the narrow sea, um, and the veil.
So it's, to me, it's a little bit like Vegas, um, and the septons, septons call the three sisters a den of avarice and sin. It's
Austin: Westeros, Vegas.
Abby: Yeah, it's Westeros, Vegas. That's kind of [00:59:00] how I took it.
Austin: So yeah,
Abby: that's, that's the three sisters. And now let's, let's circle back to those fingers. We were talking about, um, the fingers are individual peninsulas that kind of stick out into the narrow sea from the veil.
These are barren compared to, especially compared to like the heartland of the veil where farming is. Everywhere. Um, the, the fingers have no, no farming. They are described as treeless and stony. Uh, we do know that this is where the Andals first landed when they sailed over here from Essos, because on all these stony outcrops, they, they carved a whole bunch of seven pointed stars into the stone.
Yeah. They just went crazy with the carving. I forgot
Austin: they, they established, uh, we're here. Here's all of our carvings.
Abby: And another little [01:00:00] interesting tidbit is that the Fingers is famously the seat of House Baelish, but they hold very small keep on the smallest of the Fingers. And that fact, in addition to his small stature, is like he's very short and slim.
That is how Peter Baelish earned his nickname, Little Finger.
Austin: I never knew that, actually. Fun fact.
Abby: Yeah, his family reigns, if you can call it reigning, um, they're from the smallest finger. And he's also a very small man, in more ways than one, he's a very small person, like just a terrible person. He's
Austin: not a great guy.
Abby: Um, so the mountains of the moon is this is now. This is like our whole Western border and the mountains themselves are said to be [01:01:00] nearly impassable, like to try to navigate your own way through those mountains is nuts. Like you're not going to make it long, um, because the mountains themselves are treacherous, but also you're probably going to run into some of the mountain clans.
Um, so yes, the mountains themselves are very large, like tall and wide. They have super harsh conditions like sheer cliffs, snow capped summits, things like that. Um, what is that called? Like fall? What is that called?
Austin: Oh, I don't know.
Abby: Falling rocks.
Austin: Yep.
Abby: You know, when you're like driving out West and it's like, beware of the falling rocks.
There's that too.
Austin: A rock hazard is what I'll call it.
Abby: Rock hazard. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and they almost completely shut the veil off from the rest of Westeros. So, yeah, you're going to want to stay on the High Road, but then you're going to have to also [01:02:00] get through the Bloody Gate. If you veer too far off the High Road, you're going to probably run into these clans.
Austin: No, and you don't
Abby: want to run into these clans.
Austin: Yeah, I'm good.
Abby: Yeah mountain clans began when the Andals invaded the veil and began to drive back some of the first men and when they won or you know established control of the veil the remaining first men Retreated to the mountains and made permanent homes there and the descendants of those people still live In the same manner that they have for thousands of years, so the mountain clans operate independently from house are in.
They are not affiliated. They don't, they don't even like house are in. They're kind of enemies and, um, these groups of people are often referred to as wildlings, just like the wildlings that live beyond the wall. [01:03:00] Um, and just like those wildlings, they don't like anyone of nobility or anyone who swears fealty to any.
Okay. Sort of nobility it just kind of like goes against their personal code And something to note that I think we talked about this in the episode where we talked about the north In the north of the north, there are some other clans that can, that are sometimes kind of referred to as mountain clans, but not, those are not the same.
Those people are actually like respected by northerners and they, those people respect the Starks and all of that stuff. So these mountain clans are different than the ones that are in the north. Gotcha. Just to be transparent. Okay, and now here's a name drop, but but they're fun. It's a fun little name drop.
These are the known Mountain clans and they've got some fun names. So here we go. The black ears the burned men [01:04:00] Howlers milk snakes whoa moon moon brothers Painted dogs, redsmiths, sons of the mist and sons of the tree. Oh, and then the stone crows. Wow. Yeah.
Austin: I want to know the story behind milk snakes. I think we're all asking that question right now.
Yes. Oh, Lord.
Abby: Uh, and Tyrion, if you remember, he famously enlists about 300 mountain clansmen to help him, um, in a battle. I think the battle is actually against Tyrion. Like Rob Stark and the Northern Army, um, but they do actually end up following Tyrion and riding in the vanguard for House Lannister, and then he lets them come back to King's Landing with him, and it's a whole thing, because the Gold Cloaks don't want to let in these wildlings, but Tyrion says they can come in.
It's a whole, it's kind of [01:05:00] funny. Do you remember that part? I do. In the show
Austin: I do the golden era of GOT,
Abby: that is the mountain clans. Uh, and now let's make our way to Goal Town. And Goal Town is the only major city in the veil, and it's a port city. It sits right at the mouth of Bay of Crabs where it meets up with the narrow sea.
So it's at the southern part now or at the southern border of the veil. Um, goal town itself is completely surrounded by a wall. So it's like a walled in city and that offers a nice level of like safety and protection to captains that dock their ships there. And um, that's what helped it get so big, I think, because it's different than other port cities are pretty open.
Um, this one is, is walled in and easily protected. So, uh, this is how the Vale is able to [01:06:00] obtain so many treasures from Essos, like spices and Jewels and fabrics and things like that, even though it's shut off from the other seven kingdoms, um, and this is also kind of one of the ways they, they stay relevant with their counterparts in the rest of Westeros because Gulltown is one of the busiest port cities in all of Westeros.
So. There you go. All right. The people of the Vale are, they're called Vailmen, and they are known to be, especially the men, but even the women, um, are known to be well trained and loyal fighters. They are all extremely devout to the Faith of the Seven. Surprise, surprise. And they have greater numbers than it might seem, which I think at some important points in the story leads other noble houses to kind of underestimate them.
This is my own bias
Austin: because I always thought they were kind of a smaller faction. [01:07:00]
Abby: Yeah, they, I mean, they seem like they would be, but they actually are just good at hiding themselves because it's so hard to access their lands. You just can't really tell how many people they have. A
Austin: low key powerful kingdom.
Abby: For sure. Um, and Valemen are also really good farmers. They take advantage of the rich soil within the valley, you know, like the Vale proper. And they are actually able to grow crops that rival the crops grown in the Reach. And we'll get to the Reach in a couple episodes, but the Reach is, provides food to like most of Westeros.
Um. They're, they're kind of the known, you know, farmers and providers of crops, but the farmers in the Vale are just as good. That's kind of fun. All right. So let's, uh, let's, let's meet House Arren. House Arren is one of the great [01:08:00] houses of Westeros, and they are the ruling house of the Vale. They are of Andal descent, but they have intermarried with several lines of First Men, including House Royce.
House Royce is, is pretty important. Um, and we'll, I'm gonna tell you the whole backstory, and then I might touch on a little bit on House Royce in modern Game of Thrones times. Um, but the sigil of house are in features, a Falcon, and then their, their words are as high as honor. Of course, because
Austin: I get it.
Cause they're, they're high up there. Clever.
Abby: However, a house aren't actually originated from pretty humble beginnings. Um, if you remember from last episode, when the Andals first landed in the veil, it took them about 60 years or two generations to completely conquer the veil. And there was this one specific deciding battle that [01:09:00] sealed their control of the veil.
There were two main players in this battle. The first one was Sir Artus Aran, and he was just a knight. An Andal knight. That was, he was born in the Vale. Um, he was kind of like second generation, um, but he was not born over in Andalos. He was born in the Vale and was knighted cause he was a good fighter.
And then there's King Robar Royce. He's the, the reigning king of mountain and Vale rules. The first men, most of the first men, some of the first other groups of first men were still kind of. Operating on their own, but he was in charge of a pretty large group of them. And then, uh, sir, artists are in gained some notoriety through his ability to be, you know, a good fighter.
And he earned himself the nickname, the Falcon Knight. Mostly because his [01:10:00] helm had two Falcon wings on the top,
Austin: you know,
Abby: for funsies. Cause why not? Um, so here's how this battle, this is actually like a pretty epic battle and I don't love battle scenes, but this, if this one ever makes it onto TV, it'll be pretty cool.
Um, so King Robar Royce, he's the king of the first men. He had begun to unite his fellow first men against the invading Andals and he was doing pretty well. Like he was amassing. A pretty large number of First Men, he was training them properly, like they were, they were ready to fight off these Andals. Um, however, they, they charge up to the Giant's Lance and they get ready for this epic battle.
The battle itself is called the Battle of the Seven Stars. And the battle takes place at the foot of the Giants Lance, which is where the Erie [01:11:00] and the Gates of the Moon now sit is at the bottom, you know, on top and at the bottom of this very mountain. So King Royce and his men, uh, they arrive to this giant mountain, make camp, dig trenches, they fortify these trenches with spikes.
They're all set for a big epic battle. The Andals don't show up until three days later and they show up kind of at nighttime. So then. These two camps of people just have to like All night long be like, Oh, dang, tomorrow we're going to go to war. So then the following morning, the battle begins. And the legend says that the first men resisted the first six Andal attacks, but the seventh attack took, you know, of course, of course it was the seventh attack.
Always, always the seven. Uh, this is the, the attack that took out. A few key knights on the first men's side, not King Robar, some of his [01:12:00] really good knights. So then King Robar himself, he had kind of been sitting back, you know, protected cause he's the King. He himself joins the battle, he's like, come on, we got a charge, and, um, he, he slays this, this Andal knight named Torgald the Grim.
There's a backstory with Torgald, but basically, what a name, Torgald, yeah, uh, King Robart, you know, slays him. So Torgald is no more. And then King Robart, you know, kind of far away on the other side, he sees. Falcon Knight. He sees the helm with the wings. Oh,
Austin: iconic helm.
Abby: Yes, he's like, charge, you know. So he goes over there.
He starts dueling with this Sir Artist, you know, the Falcon Knight. And he slays him. Oh! He kills him. But, just wait. Just then. Coming around the corner [01:13:00] of the foot of the giant's Lance on like a goat trail or something This little tiny trail that nobody really knew existed 500 and all nights on horseback come around the other side
Austin: we're
Abby: getting flanked kind of Yeah.
They take the First Men by Surprise. And the this group of Andel Knights was led by the real third artist, ARN. Yes. The one that King Robbar killed was a decoy. He was dressed up in the, in the armor to make it look like he was Falcon Knight, but he was not so safe. Safe to say this tactic worked wonderfully.
Um, king Robbar was killed. It is debated who actually killed King Robbar. Nobody really knows, but, but in the end he was killed. Uh, this is when the first men were officially defeated once and for all in the veil, and then this is when the remaining first men then went to live in the mountains [01:14:00] of the moon and formed the mountain clans.
So
Austin: what a power move.
Abby: Yes, so the, uh, the Andals were so impressed with Sir Artus Aran, they elevated him to king, crowned him right then and there. He was King Artus Aran I of his name, you know. Wow. And that's what established House Aran. What
Austin: a, what a good day for that guy.
Abby: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: The poor, the poor sap who was the decoy, I wanna, I wanna mention him.
Shout out to that guy, you know, you paid the ultimate sacrifice, but you, you formed a kingdom with your death, so.
Abby: You put the team on your back, put the team on his back.
Austin: No.
Abby: Um, yeah. Since then house RN has actually like when you go back and look, they're so like quiet and like, we just like kind of forget that they're there.
But when you go back and look at it, they've played an important part in almost all the political dramas that we. Witness in Westeros, um, like during Aegon's [01:15:00] Conquest, they resisted and fought against the Targaryen invasion, and they were actually resisting pretty well, um, so that eventually Aegon sends his sister wife, you know, because she's both his sister and his wife, her name is Visenya, um, he sends her to the Vale to subdue them, Quotes, subdue them.
So knowing that this was coming, a queen regent of the veil, her name is Shara. Arin, she's the regent. 'cause her son is too young to rule. Um, but she sends her whole army to the bloody gate to be like, you can't come in. You know?
Austin: Yep.
Abby: But Yesenia is a dragon rider. And her dragon is Vegar. We know, we know Vegar.
Austin: I know that name.
Abby: Yep. We know him. That's an old dragon though, like, crap, crap. Yeah, he is old. Um, she flies Vhagar right on up to the inner courtyard of the Eyrie.
Austin: And Is this the first person to access it? [01:16:00] I
Abby: mean, unwelcomed, yes. Wow. Uh, and Shara, I think, was down Don't think I wrote that she was at the bloody gate.
I don't think she was at the bloody gate I think she was down at the the gates of the moon like the bigger castle at the bottom of the thing of the mountain Anyway, by the time Shara makes it back up to the Erie her her little son and he's like young is sitting on Visenya's lap and Asking if he can go for a ride on the dragon with her So at this point, Shara really has no choice but to bend the knee.
Um, and then from then on house Aron has been known as the defenders of the veil and the wardens of the East. Wow. So, um, they also house are in plays a super important role in the dance of the dragons as well. We've already met a couple of the important people from their house in the show house of the dragon.
The first is lady Emma, [01:17:00] who goes on to be. Queen Emma. She, she was born in Arryn. She is the first wife of King Viserys and the mother of Rhaenyra. Oh! She's half Arryn and half Targaryen. And then she, you know, marries a Targaryen. Yeah. And then the second important character that from House Arryn is Lady Jeyne Arryn.
And we did meet her briefly towards the end of season two, but I'm not gonna say nothing else about her because I don't do no spoilers.
Austin: So for, for someone who doesn't know spoilers, Let me try to connect the dots here. She is the one who turned one of the daughters away. And now she's kind of like gone off trying to find a dragon.
That's what it looks like. She's doing that. So that's that storyline.
Abby: Damon's daughters from Lena.
Austin: Yes.
Abby: Yeah. She turns, she got turned away. Yeah. Not, I guess just the one, not the other daughter is still with just Saris. Yeah. Cause
Austin: yeah. Didn't she go with two of her nearest kids too?
Abby: Yes. The little ones.
Austin: [01:18:00] Yes.
Did they get turned away too, but they're going back now?
Abby: Well, they're, she's not turned away. She just, she's sending them to SOS so that they stay safe. Gotcha.
Austin: Thank you for the recap.
Abby: Yeah. Yeah. You're welcome. Um, but I'm not gonna say anything else.
Austin: Cause you know. Lips are sealed.
Abby: Um, and then in present day Game of Thrones, just as a reminder, in case you forgot, we all know that the death of Jon Arryn, who was the hand of the king to Robert Baratheon, is the, his death is pretty much the catalyst of the entire series.
So, cause you know, if he hadn't died, Robert wouldn't have asked Ned to be the hand.
Austin: Oh,
Abby: so he's pretty, pretty important. Um, we know that John Aron was married to Lysa Tully, who is Catlin's sister. John was like 30 years older than Lysa. So it was always a, a loveless marriage. Lyso is actually always in love with Peter Baelish, [01:19:00] Littlefinger.
Ew! And she pretty much, even in the book, she, it's, it, they, they basically say it in the show, and then I think in the book it's kind of the same thing, like, she doesn't 100 percent confirm it, but she kind of implies that her son, Robin Aron, is actually not an Aron at all, he is actually a Baelish, or a stone.
So, truthfully, where the current, Game of Thrones story stands, the Arryn line has ended, which is a little bit sad because they have incredible origin story. Um, but it is mentioned multiple times throughout the series and in his other, some of his other series too, like, uh, Dunk and Egg. It's mentioned that House Arryn has these like lesser branches kind of sprinkled throughout the Vale.
Um, and one of those lesser branches is actually pretty wealthy because they control Gulltown. So there is a chance that if it, if it [01:20:00] comes out that Robin Aron is, is not really an Aron and if, if that's content, contentious or whatever, maybe one of these distant relatives will pick up the torch for, for House Aron.
Gotcha. Man, that is
Austin: tragic.
Abby: That's our tour of the veil and house aren't
Austin: you know, I had no idea that they had this much history because I, it's part of their identity, I think, is that they, they get involved in the politics, but not, they don't overreach and they're just so defensible as a nation that you really can't, you can consider them untouchable almost.
Abby: Right, exactly. Yeah.
Austin: So they're, they're a low key, strong faction of Westeros and I had no idea.
Abby: Yeah. I think, well, and I think that is, so the book has not gotten here yet, obviously. Sorry, my dog is barking. Um, we are not here yet in the books, but in the show, when Um, Sansa enlists [01:21:00] the help of all the Knights of the Vale to, to help, you know, in the battle of the bastards with John and all that, like, that's why that's so significant.
And I think that kind of got lost in the show because they didn't get to explain all this back history of House Arren. But yeah, the fact that she shows up with the Knights of the Vale, that's a pretty big deal.
Austin: Yeah, it was, it was a very quick in the show. It was a very quick, like. This is big because they're here and John's surrounded and all that jazz, but the weight of them actually being there and the history of their house, like it did not play well into the show and I get it because they only have so much time, but it was nice to have this, this intro to them really because we, it's so limited on the show.
Abby: So now if you go back and watch the battle of the bastards now, you'll know, you'll know it has a
Austin: whole new weight to it even better. I love that episode.
Abby: Yep. I do too. That was great at the end. She, she gets Ramsey.
Austin: [01:22:00] Oh my
Abby: God.
Austin: That's again, that's in the show. It's just peaking. It was awesome.
Abby: Oh my gosh.
This dog. Sorry if you can hear her. It's
Austin: actually not. You can't. It's not being captured. So I think you're good. Okay. All right. Perfect. Perfect. right, well fellow adventurers, I think that is a wrap for today's journey into the realms of Westeros and Middle earth We hope you've enjoyed journeying through the histories, mysteries, and fascinating lore of these worlds.
Abby: We'll return with insights, laughs, and maybe even some unexpected dragons of wisdom along the way. Next up in our Middle earth adventure, we will learn of the hiding of Valinor and the creation of men. Whoo! Who are of Westeros will take us to the Westerlands and we'll get cozy with our favorite villains, the Lannisters.
Austin: Yes, I cannot wait. And, uh, we encourage you guys to join our conversations on our Instagram. It is at fortheloveof. lore. Um, share your theories, tell us your [01:23:00] grievances, or just chat about how you discovered these epic sagas yourself.
Abby: Like what's your favorite character arc in Game of Thrones or your favorite battle scene in the Lord of the Rings?
We want to hear from you.
Austin: So thank you for tuning in and remember the best adventures are the ones we take together. We swear it by the old gods and the new.