0:02 did you know that at a crucial time in
0:03 the history of Westeros the Seven
0:06 Kingdoms was ruled by the maesters well
0:08 by one maester in particular and with
0:11 more power than any king or hand of the
0:14 King has ever had before or after let's
0:17 take a look hi everyone this is Robert
0:19 welcome to indeep geek on this channel
0:22 we dive deep into A Song of Ice and Fire
0:24 the Lord of the Rings and The Witcher
0:26 and more when we get the time if you're
0:27 new here
0:29 welcome after the end of the dance of
0:31 the dragons and I suppose there are
0:33 slight spoiler warnings here for House
0:35 of the Dragon just proceed with caution
0:37 if you're a showon person after the end
0:40 of the dance of the Dragons aegon III
0:43 was King but he was only 10 years old
0:44 both his parents and all his
0:46 grandparents were dead and he was
0:48 understandably rather traumatized by
0:50 what he had already experienced in his
0:52 short life everyone agreed that the
0:55 continent needed peace and as the wounds
0:57 of War were still raw the Iron Throne
1:00 itself must be visibly above the fault
1:03 lines that had Riven the kingdom aegon
1:05 was therefore married to Jara the
1:07 daughter of his predecessor and rival
1:10 Aon II and the post of defender of the
1:13 realm was established an existing title
1:15 but not always used and given to a
1:18 former member of Team black leoen cor to
1:19 balance the new hand of the king
1:22 Thailand Lannister former Green in
1:25 addition as Aon was under AG the powers
1:28 of the king were taken on by a regent or
1:30 as it turned out a team of Regents
1:32 seven of them no less to ensure that no
1:35 one person had too much power and
1:37 beneath all that there was the usual
1:39 small Council to manage the different
1:41 aspects of the realm's bureaucracy and
1:43 the Lord's Paramount in the regions so
1:46 far so good it was a slightly unwieldy
1:48 Administration nine different people who
1:50 each thought they could act with the
1:52 authority of the king plus the king
1:54 himself plus the small council with
1:56 their varying egos but it only had to
1:59 last a bit over 5 years until Aon III
2:01 could take the Reigns himself and
2:03 appoint his own team surely in a time of
2:06 Peace most if not all of those otherwise
2:08 perfectly healthy people could survive
2:10 for just 5 years to ensure the balance
2:14 of power well let's see Aon III himself
2:17 kept out of politics during this time he
2:19 rarely spoke or even left his Chambers
2:21 unless things got personal to him he
2:24 largely left the politics to others as
2:27 we've seen the system had been set up so
2:29 that no one Personal Agenda could
2:31 dominate Westeros it would be ruled by
2:34 consensus seven regions a full small
2:35 Council a hand of the king and a
2:39 defender of the realm but they started
2:42 to fall the protector of the realm leoen
2:46 cor died of winter fever in 133 AC
2:48 Thailand Lannister hand of the king died
2:51 in the same year of the seven Regents
2:54 Kus valion died of old age in 132 Royce
2:56 Karan resigned the same year to focus on
2:59 fighting the dornish the next year Torin
3:01 Mand resigned because his father had
3:04 died and he was now Lord of white Harbor
3:06 and Roland westling died of winter fever
3:10 and old age the next year 134 AC Jane
3:13 Aon died of a chest cold and Manfred
3:15 muton died of old age and illness
3:18 apparently that's four of the seven
3:20 Regents dead within 3 years and another
3:23 two resigned the one who miraculously
3:26 survived was Grand maester monan we'll
3:28 come back to him in a moment because
3:30 those Regents were replaced with three
3:33 more Unwin Peak was made Regent and also
3:35 hand of the king but Fell From Grace
3:38 after an attempted coup and was stripped
3:41 of both titles Corwin cor lasted only a
3:43 few months as Regent before he was
3:45 killed in the Civil War in the veil of
3:48 Aaron Thaddius Rowan lasted a bit longer
3:50 as both Regent and hand of the king but
3:53 his fate was even more tragic he died a
3:55 Broken Man relieved of his offices and
3:57 on his way back home we're not told by
4:00 the maesters how he died just that he
4:02 died along with two of his sons on the
4:05 way home move along there's nothing to
4:07 see here we don't know all the members
4:10 of the small council at the time but we
4:12 do know that Thaddius Rowan was also
4:14 master of laws before his untimely death
4:17 gmond Peak then alen valion were both
4:19 master of ships at various points but
4:22 had left the position vacant by 135
4:25 Willis Fel Robin Massie and Mar and
4:27 Waters all served as Lord commander of
4:30 the King's Guard between 131 and 13 five
4:33 but all three also died Mar and Waters
4:36 also served as hand of the king before
4:39 dying in the care of Grandmaster monan
4:42 monan again seriously remember the name
4:43 because let's pause for a moment and
4:45 consider what happened to the leadership
4:48 of the Seven Kingdoms between 131 and
4:51 135 AC a period when the country had a
4:54 few border disputes and the like but was
4:56 overall trying to heal and unite after
4:59 the Civil War three or maybe even four
5:02 Four Hands of the king died one after
5:04 the other every member of the small
5:07 Council died or left the council six of
5:09 the seven Regents appointed died or left
5:12 their posts three more were appointed in
5:14 their place and all of them left their
5:17 posts within 2 years King Aon was warned
5:20 of the potential for this incidentally
5:22 during his own short stint as hand of
5:25 the king craan Stark told the king that
5:29 this city is a nest of vipers there are
5:32 liars turncloaks and poisoners in this
5:34 court who would murder you as quick as
5:36 they did your uncle to secure their own
5:40 power only one person survived all this
5:43 just one person Grandmaster monan if
5:45 you've never heard of him don't worry I
5:47 suspect history by which I mean the
5:49 history recorded by the maesters has
5:51 deliberately not Shone much of a light
5:53 on him outside of his role as maester and
5:54 and
5:56 chronicler we know nothing of manan's
5:59 early life just that he was chosen by
6:01 the citad as their new Grand maaster at
6:02 the conclusion of the dance of the
6:05 Dragons so if he has any previous
6:08 affiliations or prejudices we don't know
6:10 but we can be pretty certain that this
6:11 is the man that the Citadel wanted there
6:14 for whatever agenda they had and after
6:17 all this monen writes his true telling
6:19 of what happened during this time and
6:22 during the preceding dance which even
6:24 the maesters accept is a bit less than
6:27 true but still our version of fire and
6:30 blood is in large part based on his true
6:31 telling if you've read Fire and Blood
6:33 you'll know that monan and his true
6:36 telling are referenced literally dozens
6:38 of times as Arbiters of what actually
6:40 happened and only occasionally
6:42 challenged history is written by The
6:45 Victors as they say and I think George
6:47 Martin wants us to question whether what
6:50 we read is actually what happened anyway
6:53 back to monan monan arrives in person in
6:56 King's Landing in the year 131 AC
6:58 shortly after the end of the war to be
7:01 welcomed onto the council of Regents and
7:02 we have an intriguing insight into how
7:04 he viewed the king he was acting on
7:06 behalf of when he wrote back to the
7:09 Citadel we read that he thinks first
7:12 about aegon and his child bride both of
7:15 them are broken aegon shows little
7:17 interest in his wife or any other girl
7:20 he does not ride or hunt or joust but
7:22 neither does he enjoy sedentary Pursuits
7:25 such as reading dancing or singing
7:27 though his wits seem sound enough he
7:29 never initiates a conversation and when
7:32 spoken to his answers are so Curt one
7:34 would think the very Act of talking was
7:36 painful to him he has no friends save
7:39 for the bastard boy G in pale hair and
7:41 seldom sleeps through the night aegon
7:44 seldom smiles and never laughs but
7:46 neither does he display any outward
7:49 signs of anger or fear save in regards
7:51 to dragons the very mention of which
7:54 sends him into a rare rage all while was
7:56 want to call his grace calm and
8:00 self-possessed I say the boy is dead
8:02 inside he walks the halls of the red
8:04 keep like a ghost Brothers I must be
8:09 frank I fear for our King and for the
8:12 Kingdom so monan thought that his King
8:16 was broken dead inside like a ghost that
8:18 sounds like a strong motive to provide
8:20 leadership of the Seven Kingdoms in the
8:23 king's absence and sometime in the year
8:26 135 monan finds himself in control of
8:30 the entire Seven Kingdoms how come well
8:33 as we've seen monan was the last man
8:35 standing of the sizable bureaucracy that
8:36 was left managing the Seven Kingdoms
8:39 during aon's infancy there had been
8:41 seven Regents then six died or left and
8:44 three more were appointed and they also
8:46 died or were deposed leaving monan as
8:49 the sole Regent five different hands of
8:52 the king came and went ending with monan
8:54 as hand of the king one protector of the
8:56 realm died and the post ended and at
8:58 least six other members of the small
9:00 Council Di died or left their office
9:03 leaving monan as the only member of the
9:06 small Council hand of the king the only
9:08 Regent the only member of the small
9:11 Council if you want more of a conspiracy
9:13 theory you could point to the fact that
9:15 monan was there for the deaths of at
9:18 least two of the Regents consistently
9:20 acted to contain information of what was
9:21 happening in King's Landing from
9:23 reaching the wider Kingdom and
9:25 personally persuaded aegon to remove the
9:27 last other Regent and hand of the king
9:30 from power or or perhaps you could just
9:32 point to the fact that it feels
9:35 inconceivable that perhaps as many as 20
9:37 otherwise healthy people should die or
9:40 be deposed in such a short space of time
9:43 leaving just monan any way you look at
9:46 it Mon's role here is really shady and
9:49 the timing for a silent coup could not
9:51 have been more perfect normally you
9:53 might expect the Lord's Paramount to
9:55 notice what was going on in King's
9:57 Landing and maybe intervene but at this
10:00 time the aons were in the middle of a
10:02 veil wide Civil War the Starks were
10:04 dealing with a brutal six-year winter
10:06 the Lannisters were effectively at war
10:08 with the greyjoys the tules were dealing
10:10 with the devastating aftermath of the
10:12 war and the baratheons Lannisters and
10:15 tyrells had regencies of their own for
10:18 child rulers in summary monan was in
10:20 complete charge of the Seven Kingdoms
10:22 with his newly acquired Powers as well
10:25 as the MA's own influence and control
10:27 over Communications and recordkeeping
10:30 and no one had any way to to either stop
10:33 him or even know what he was doing and
10:36 that situation lasted for well we don't
10:38 know exactly how long for because Fire
10:40 and Blood quickly glosses over that
10:43 period but maybe 6 months to a year from
10:47 partway into 135 AC through to sometime
10:50 in 136 at which point monan oversaw the
10:52 apparent random selection of three more
10:54 regions though as even Fire and Blood
10:58 admits the Lots fell to William STAAR
11:00 Mark Merryweather and laurren Granderson
11:02 of whom it could truly be said that they
11:05 were as inoffensive as they were
11:07 undistinguished so not exactly the kind
11:09 of political heavyweights that might get
11:11 in the way of any plans monan might have
11:15 had so monan had pretty absolute power
11:17 with almost no oversight for a
11:20 significant amount of time and the way
11:22 he got it with Regents and hands
11:24 dropping like flies around him was
11:26 pretty suspicious but what might he have
11:28 done with that time well Fire and Blood
11:32 gives us few details just that for the
11:34 rest of that year the grand maester
11:36 served as both Regent and hand for the
11:39 realm required governance and aegon had
11:42 still not reached the age of manhood and
11:44 we have to say that we don't have any
11:47 evidence that he did anything
11:50 suspicious except the coincidence that
11:53 before manan's Reign dragons were still
11:55 being hatched from eggs as usual and
11:59 after none ever were again the D of the
12:01 Dragons had hugely reduced the dragon
12:03 population of Westeros at its start
12:06 there were 20 by its end just four with
12:09 just one of those mourning in Targaryen
12:11 control but there were still a lot of
12:14 dragon eggs and no one really doubted
12:16 that given time the dragon population
12:18 would increase once more the thing was
12:20 that the new boy King was understandably
12:23 rather anti-dragon at the time I say
12:25 understandably because he had just
12:27 witnessed his mother being eaten by a
12:29 dragon and his father and three Brothers
12:32 had also just been killed riding dragons
12:35 and then as we read in Fire and Blood
12:37 the people of King's Landing woke to a
12:39 sight that had not been seen since the
12:43 dark days of the dance a dragon in the
12:46 skies above the city lady Raina at the
12:49 age of 19 was flying her Dragon mourning
12:52 for the first time the king refused to
12:55 step outside to witness it then followed
12:57 the hatching of another Dragon but this
13:01 one was we read a monstrosity a wingless
13:04 worm maggot white and blind it
13:07 immediately attacked Baby Lena valaran
13:09 the king angrily demanded that all
13:12 dragon eggs be removed from the red keep
13:14 if ever there was a moment to act it was
13:17 now the dragon eggs had been gathered in
13:19 one place and out of sight the king
13:21 wanted nothing to do with them the
13:23 maesters were soon in complete control
13:25 of the instruments of government and the
13:26 rest of the Seven Kingdoms was
13:29 distracted by events elsewhere and and
13:31 the maesters did want the dragons dead
13:33 we looked at that in our previous video
13:35 about the maesters and there is at least
13:38 one in the no maer marwin in A Song of
13:40 Ice and Fire who believes that the
13:43 maesters did kill all the dragons last
13:46 time around do we have any evidence that
13:48 monan did use his power to poison the
13:49 dragon eggs so that no more healthy
13:53 dragons were born we don't but then
13:55 monan wrote the history of that time so
13:58 of course we wouldn't but he 100% had
14:01 the meaning motive and opportunity and
14:04 it is undeniable that something changed
14:07 then to stop healthy dragons being born
14:09 incidentally if you're wondering there
14:12 were just three dragon eggs that were
14:14 outside of the maer's control at this
14:16 point so almost certainly weren't
14:18 poisoned by them the three that Alyssa
14:20 farman stole and then sold to the Sea
14:22 Lord of braavos and what happened to
14:25 them well I think we next see them in
14:27 the opening chapters of a Game of
14:30 Thrones but that's another video
14:32 is Arch Meester marwin right did the
14:34 maesters kill all the dragons the first
14:38 time around if so it was here after the
14:40 dance of the Dragons as Grand maester
14:43 monan emerged alone as the Undisputed
14:45 most powerful man in the Seven Kingdoms
14:47 and then refused to write anything of
14:50 what happened during that period in his
14:52 history book if you'd like more videos
14:54 like this diving deep into the history
14:56 and lore of A Song of Ice and Fire
14:58 there's a link appearing now on the left
15:00 of your screen or to support this
15:01 channel thank you there's a link
15:03 appearing now on the right of your
15:05 screen that's all for this time thanks
