0:03 where is Blackfire the sword of Aon the
0:05 Conqueror and many other Targaryen Kings
0:07 will it make a reappearance in A Song of
0:10 Ice and Fire Let's Take a Look hi
0:12 everyone this is Robert on this channel
0:14 we dive deep into Georg ARA Martin's
0:16 World Of Ice And Fire as well as the
0:19 Lord of the Rings The Witcher and more
0:21 welcome there are many legendary
0:23 Valyrian steel swords in the world of
0:25 Ice and Fire some that have been handed
0:26 down generation to generation for
0:29 centuries and with whom great Deeds are
0:31 accomplished but perhaps the most famous
0:34 of all is Blackfire the sword of Aon the
0:37 Conqueror himself from him it was passed
0:39 down generation to generation and King
0:43 to King magor wielded it and jeris threw
0:46 out his long Reign then viseris it
0:47 survived the dance of the Dragons was
0:50 used by Daran I first in his invasion of
0:52 Dawn and Aon ivth during his unworthy
0:55 rule simply put it was the sword of
0:58 Kings we're told that even sheathed the
1:01 blade could be mistaken for no other and
1:03 from early on it was seen as a mark of
1:06 legitimacy for Kings after anise gave
1:09 Blackfire to his brother magor Vena
1:11 apped that why else would he have given
1:13 Blackfire to my son he knows that only
1:16 magor has the strength to rule when
1:19 jeris reached his maturity and flew to
1:21 King's Landing to claim the throne he
1:23 wore no kingly Garb but very obviously
1:26 carried Blackfire with him when Aon II
1:28 claimed the throne at the Dawn of the
1:30 Dance of the Dragons we read that that
1:32 every visible symbol of legitimacy
1:35 belongs to aegon he sat on the Iron
1:37 Throne he lived in the red keep he wore
1:39 the conqueror's crown wielded The
1:41 conqueror's Sword and had been anointed
1:43 by a septon of the faith before the eyes
1:45 of tens of thousands it would be
1:47 overstating the case to say that
1:49 Blackfire was the only symbol of
1:51 legitimacy for targaryan rulers but it
1:54 was a very very important one the sword
1:57 of kings and everyone knew it things
1:59 became complicated however when King
2:01 aegon the fourth broke with protocol and
2:03 didn't give Blackfire to his eldest
2:05 legitimate son Daran as tradition would
2:06 have suggested he should have done
2:09 instead he gave it to one of his bastard
2:12 children Damon Waters this was
2:14 understandable on one level because
2:16 Daren was not a fighting type and Damon
2:19 definitely was but still the sword was
2:21 so Laden with symbolism that when
2:23 combined with aegon the fourth's
2:25 questioning whether Daren was indeed his
2:27 legitimate son there's a whole other
2:29 story there we'll get into at some point
2:31 lots of people interpreted the move as
2:34 aegon saying that Damon should be king
2:36 witness this conversation between eustus
2:39 osgr and egg in the Sworn Sword years
2:43 later Eustace osre speaks first Damon
2:45 was the better man the Old King saw it
2:48 too he gave the sword to Damon Blackfire
2:51 the sword of Aon the Conqueror the blade
2:53 that every Targaryen King had wielded
2:56 since the conquest he put that sword in
2:58 Damon's hand the day he knighted him a
3:00 boy of 12
3:03 my father says egg says that that was
3:05 because Damon was a swordsman and Daren
3:07 never was why give a horse to a man who
3:09 cannot ride the sword was not the
3:13 kingdom he says your father is a
3:17 fool half the kingdom held the same view
3:19 Damon even adopted Blackfire as his
3:21 surname to underline the importance of
3:23 the gift and the inevitable eventual
3:26 result was the first Blackfire Rebellion
3:28 the culmination of that was the Battle
3:31 of the redgrass field Damon Blackfire
3:33 died on that field with Blackfire
3:35 briefly being taken up by his son aimon
3:38 before he too died then aor Rivers
3:39 Damon's half brother and one of the
3:42 great Bastards of aegon IV took it up
3:43 fighting blood Raven no less who was
3:46 wielding dark sister bitter steel took
3:48 out blood Raven's eye but the battle was
3:51 lost and he fled the Rebellion abandoned
3:54 to Exile in OS though we have no
3:56 firsthand accounts of the sword
3:59 Blackfire in OS it's pretty clear
4:00 everyone believes it to be there in
4:03 bitter Steel's possession for example
4:04 during the abortive second Blackfire
4:06 Rebellion which was seeking to place
4:09 Damon II Blackfire on the Iron Throne
4:11 one point of contention among the rebels
4:13 was that bittersteel hadn't given the
4:16 sword to Damon II in the mystery night
4:19 Lord butterwell says he does not bear
4:22 the sword if he were his father's son
4:25 bittersteel would have armed him with
4:28 Blackfire there are several possible
4:29 reasons why bittersteel didn't give
4:31 Damon the sword but the important Point
4:34 here is that he has it and seemingly
4:36 reserves the right to decide who it goes
4:39 to for me what is odd is not that
4:40 bittersteel didn't give it to one
4:42 particular Blackfire Heir it's that he
4:45 didn't give it to any of them he did
4:47 support hagon Blackfire in the third
4:49 Blackfire Rebellion crowning him and
4:51 fighting alongside him but we don't hear
4:54 of Blackfire being there hagon was
4:56 disarmed and killed and aore himself
4:59 captured but no Blackfire bitter
5:01 similarly supported Damon the thir
5:03 Blackfire in the fourth Blackfire
5:06 Rebellion sir Duncan the tall killed
5:09 that Damon but still no Blackfire bitter
5:10 steel was dead by the time of the last
5:12 Blackfire Pretender and the war of the
5:15 nine peny Kings but still no sword
5:19 Blackfire so where is it it was last
5:22 seen in OS but then what well before we
5:24 get onto the majority view among the
5:26 fandom that it is still in OS let's just
5:29 cover off a few other possibilities it
5:30 seems pretty clear that it wasn't
5:33 regained by any of the main targaryan
5:35 family or other loyalists during various
5:37 rebellions this would have been a big
5:39 win for them and would surely be taken
5:41 back by whichever King was on the throne
5:44 at the time perhaps blood Raven took it
5:46 for his own mysterious purposes and then
5:48 hid it from everyone he did duel bitter
5:51 steel twice after all while I wouldn't
5:53 discount this you know I'm always the
5:55 sucker for a good blood Raven Theory it
5:57 does seem to be stretching credulity a
5:58 bit to suggest he could smuggle it off
6:00 the battlefield with without anyone
6:01 noticing or even noticing that
6:03 bittersteel was wielding it in the first
6:06 place this is a big and famous sword so
6:09 probably not as a complete aside we do
6:11 have one very specific confirmation from
6:13 George Aram Martin from back when George
6:15 Aram Martin often answered questions
6:18 from fans he was asked whether longclaw
6:22 might be Blackfire he simply said no or
6:23 perhaps some other completely random
6:25 person got hold of it somehow by
6:27 stealing it from the battlefield or
6:29 bitter Steel in the real world that's a
6:32 very realistic possibility but georgea
6:34 Martin has repeatedly emphasized the
6:36 importance of this sword so it seems
6:38 likely that it will make a return and
6:40 hasn't just been melted down and resold
6:43 somewhere in deeper OS so let's go with
6:46 what everyone inor thinks bitter steel
6:50 had it in Exile but then kept it without
6:52 passing it on to any of the successive
6:55 Blackfire heirs why well we often assume
6:57 that bittersteel is the Blackfire
6:59 loyalist and chief but clearly his
7:03 loyalty wasn't without any boundaries he
7:05 actively didn't support the clear
7:07 Blackfire air in the second rebellion
7:10 and though he did support later heirs he
7:11 seems not to have given any of them the
7:14 single biggest symbol of legitimacy that
7:17 he had so maybe he had another agenda
7:19 going on let's briefly look into his
7:22 background and see what that might be
7:25 bitter steel was born of Aon IV's fifth
7:27 mistress barara Bracken and while he was
7:29 still newborn the King's wife wife
7:32 nerice nearly died leading to talk that
7:35 maybe barar might become the new Queen
7:37 and giving bitter Steel by implication a
7:40 legitimate claim to the throne when NES
7:43 didn't die the brackens became unpopular
7:45 at court for overstepping their place
7:47 and were banished back to Stone Hedge
7:49 Barbara's place as King's mistress was
7:51 taken by Melissa Blackwood Who Bore him
7:55 a son Bryan Rivers AKA blood Raven that
7:58 was the start of bitter Steel's Feud
8:00 against blood Raven which was further
8:02 exacerbated when their half sister Shira
8:06 sear chose blood Raven not him when
8:08 everyone was grown up and it was obvious
8:10 that of all of the great bastards Damon
8:12 was the one people would be most likely
8:14 to Rally around bitter steel threw his
8:17 lot in with him he pushed Damon to claim
8:20 the throne for himself blood Raven
8:22 needless to say was a staun supporter of
8:24 Daran I first who was currently sat on
8:25 that throne and although we have very
8:28 little detail on this we're told in the
8:30 world of Ice and Fire that
8:32 Damon agreed to Wed his eldest daughter
8:36 kala to aor and separately we're told
8:39 that bittersteel was angry all his life
8:41 when you take all this together it seems
8:43 that at the very least bittersteel was
8:45 motivated not So Much by a belief that
8:48 Damon was the rightful King as a hatred
8:50 of blood Raven maybe he even saw Damon's
8:52 Rebellion as a chance to get at blood
8:54 Raven more than a matter of putting the
8:56 right man on the throne if that's the
8:59 case it explains why he might not have
9:01 thrown his full support behind all of
9:03 Damon's descendants and why in both of
9:05 the first rebellions he ended up in a
9:07 one-on-one duel with blood Raven on the
9:09 battlefield might he have harbored some
9:12 thoughts that he should have been king
9:14 or perhaps his descendants should be
9:16 hence him asking to marry Damon's oldest
9:19 daughter though if so even that was
9:22 thwarted back in 2018 Friends of the
9:23 Channel History of West Ross got the
9:25 opportunity to ask George R Martin
9:28 whether bittersteel had any children his
9:31 response was I don't think so which is
9:33 all a bit of a digression and we'll
9:35 probably not know all the ins and outs
9:36 of bitter Steel's character until we get
9:38 to Fire and Blood Part Two or perhaps
9:40 we'll learn some more in future Duncan
9:43 egg stories but what we do know is
9:45 suggestive that bittersteel wasn't
9:48 necessarily A Blackfire absolutist he
9:50 only threw his weight behind someone he
9:52 thought would be a good king or had a
9:54 good chance of being King he had
9:56 Blackfire and was extremely picky about
9:59 who he gave it to we also know he was
10:01 the kind of person to think ahead and
10:03 care about his legacy because he founded
10:05 the golden company to act as a standing
10:07 army for the next Invasion attempt and
10:10 even left a bizarre demand that the
10:12 golden company should dip his skull in
10:14 gold and carry it before them when they
10:16 finally head back over the narrow sea to
10:19 retake the throne everything we know
10:21 about him suggests that he will have
10:23 planned ahead about what to do with
10:25 Blackfire he wouldn't have necessarily
10:27 given it to who he thought was the
10:29 rightful Blackfire Heir he himself held
10:31 on to it after all despite never
10:34 claiming to be the rightful Heir himself
10:36 he saw himself more as a kingmaker
10:37 throwing his support behind candidates
10:40 he liked but not those he didn't and
10:43 very probably he will have thought that
10:45 to succeed even long after his death
10:47 with his skull still figuratively
10:49 leading the golden company into battle
10:51 remember would be his way of finally
10:53 getting one over on blood Raven who had
10:57 thwarted him so often in life so he will
10:59 probably have given the sword to some
11:01 someone who he felt was most like him
11:03 someone who would eventually fulfill his
11:05 dream of leading the golden company
11:08 across the narrow sea and placing a
11:10 black fire on the iron throne and not
11:13 just any Blackfire but one who was fit
11:15 to rule and perhaps they in turn gave it
11:18 to someone else to keep the dream alive
11:20 so is there anyone in the books who has
11:23 been doing just this plotting for years
11:25 raising up a claimant to the Iron Throne
11:28 who is worthy hiring the golden company
11:30 and getting them to sail across the
11:32 narrow sea well yes there's someone
11:36 who's been doing all of that aoop
11:39 patus okay so that might feel like a big
11:42 leap from bitter steel too but they do
11:44 definitely seem to both want the same
11:46 thing you may remember in a previous
11:49 video I set out the argument that young
11:51 Griff the man claiming to be aegon I 6th
11:54 is actually perhaps a secret Blackfire
11:56 through the female line and probably
11:58 also the son of valo himself and his
12:01 very Val Ian featured second wife Sarah
12:03 if we hadn't had that confirmation from
12:05 Georg ARA Martin that bitter steel
12:07 didn't have any children I'd wonder if
12:10 Sarah was a descendant of his and Callas
12:12 anyway iio seems to be in the business
12:14 of trying to put a black fire on the
12:16 Iron Throne pretending that they are a
12:18 Targaryen he's already gifted Daenerys
12:21 with three dragon eggs at huge cost and
12:23 negotiated to get the Dothraki to join
12:25 The Invasion and then after his plans
12:27 changed a little got the golden company
12:29 on board with varis then recruited Ing
12:31 barrist and seli the legendary commander
12:33 of the King's Guard where does all this
12:36 leave the sword Blackfire dragon eggs
12:38 and barrist and SEL me are good symbols
12:41 of a sort of legitimacy to have with you
12:43 but the sword Blackfire the sword of
12:46 Kings would be even better might yio
12:48 have it he is the one taking on the
12:51 bitter steel kingmaker role here if so
12:52 we might expect him to get it to Young
12:54 Griff in time for his assault on King's
12:57 Landing some people may rally to him for
13:00 that reason alone as it happens there is
13:03 a hint of this before the release of A
13:04 Dance with Dragons George Oram Martin
13:07 did several readings of draft chapters
13:09 one of them a Tyrion chapter where he is
13:11 talking with Ayo included this
13:13 intriguing segment as recalled by
13:15 someone who was there the summary we
13:18 have is that ilio says he wants to give
13:21 young Griff His blessings and has a gift
13:23 for him in the chests heldon tells him
13:26 there is no time for the litter Lio gets
13:28 angry and says there are things Griff
13:31 must know ham eyes Tyrion and then
13:33 begins to speak in another language
13:35 Tyrion cannot tell what it is but thinks
13:38 it might be volentine he catches a few
13:40 words that come close to hyan the words
13:45 he catches are queen dragon and
13:48 sword so there's something secret going
13:50 on here something the plotters don't
13:52 immediately want Tyrion to know the
13:54 reference is to queen and dragon or
13:56 almost certainly about Daenerys the plan
13:58 at this stage is to marry young Griff to
14:00 Danny so so that they can jointly retake
14:02 the Seven Kingdoms with her dragons but
14:05 the reference to a sword which other
14:07 sword could this be about than Blackfire
14:10 the sword of the Targaryen Kings to be
14:12 clear that section wasn't included in
14:14 the final draft implying he either
14:16 changed his mind or he was saving the
14:18 Revelation until later in the books
14:20 something he has done on several other
14:23 occasions some rather large chests were
14:25 still loaded onto the shy Mage though
14:27 they apparently contain a variety of
14:29 things including armor money cloes and
14:32 gifts for Daenerys so perhaps George
14:35 decided to keep going with the idea but
14:36 make it less obvious there was some big
14:39 secret here in any event I think we have
14:41 here the closest thing we're going to
14:43 get to an answer on Blackfire unless
14:45 blood Raven took it and stashed it
14:47 somewhere for his own nefarious reasons
14:50 bitter steel had it and was keeping it
14:52 not just for whoever happened to be the
14:55 Blackfire Heir but for someone special
14:57 in the future perhaps he was even one of
14:59 those targaryens who gets prophetic
15:01 dreams and he had a vision of someone
15:03 the sword had to be held for I wouldn't
15:06 rule it out it's most probable that he
15:08 then passed it on to someone or some
15:10 people who would keep on with his vision
15:12 the golden company were founded to be an
15:15 army of this future leader and probably
15:18 today AO has that sword and is honoring
15:20 the wishes of his dead wife Sarah in
15:22 placing their son on the iron throne and
15:24 giving him that sword to bolster his
15:27 legitimacy well there is a lot we don't
15:29 know here this does current seem to be
15:31 the most likely place for Blackfire to
15:34 be and all the other theories have even
15:36 less evidence so come The Winds of
15:39 Winter we will perhaps see young Griff
15:41 with silver hair newly washed clean from
15:44 the hair dye holding black fire aoft as
15:46 he enters King's Landing to the Acclaim
15:48 of the crowd a black fire pretending to
15:51 be a Targaryen or as Dany Sees In The
15:54 House of the undying a cloth Dragon
15:58 swayed on poles amidst a cheering crowd
16:00 perhaps if it's just a theory but I
16:02 think it's the best we have at the
16:05 moment but what do you think where do
16:08 you think Blackfire is if you'd like
16:09 more videos like this digging into the
16:11 deeper lore of A Song of Ice and Fire
16:13 there's a playlist now on the left of
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16:20 page on the right of your screen thanks
16:22 for watching that's all for this time
