The Golden Company is a formidable sellsword company founded by Westerosi exiles with a historical allegiance to the Blackfyre pretenders, now serving as a key military force in Aegon's invasion of Westeros, though their original motivations and composition have significantly evolved.
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Who or what is the Golden Company? What
is their origin, their association with
House Blackfire, and their role in A
Song of Ice and Fire? Hi everyone, this
is Robert. Welcome to InDeepge Geek. On
this channel, we cover A Song of Ice and
Fire, The Lord of the Rings, The
Witcher, and much more. If you love
in-depth discussion of great fantasy and
science fiction, welcome. This video was
produced in collaboration with The
Wonderful History of Westeros, please do
check out their channel and podcast.
There's a link in the
description. Boasting 10,000 fighters,
the Golden Company is the largest Salord
free company in the known world. Most
are far smaller. The Windb Blown under
the Tattered Prince is at 2,000. The
Second Sons under Brown Ben Plum 500.
The Brave Companions, aka the Bloody
Mummers under Vargo Hot, were only 100.
While their great size makes them all
the more formidable and expensive to
hire for whatever war you wish to fight
in Essos, we are more interested in the
Golden Company because of the many ways
they interact with the plot of A Song of
Ice and Fire and going back in time,
Duncan Egg. Going back all the way to
the first Blackfire rebellion, 13 years
before the first Duncan Egg story, when
Damon Blackfire was slain on the Red
Grass Field, his half-brother,
Bittersteel, rallied the survivors,
recovered the symbol of their cause, the
Valyrian steel sword Blackfire, and fled
overseas with the remainder of Damon's
sons, vowing to continue the fight. The
rebellion was over, but the surviving
rebels fled across the narrow sea to
Tyro, which had supported them during
the war. Damon's wife, Rohan, was
Tyroshi herself, making their children
Tyroshi as well. Bittersteel himself had
already married Damon's daughter, Kala,
thus strengthening the ties between them
all. They would be safe there for a
while. Back in Westeros, the victorious
King Darren II and his council,
including Blood Raven, formally stripped
land and titles from the rebels. Zero
tolerance. The rebels knew that the only
way they could now return was at the
point of a sword. They could never
return home except as
conquerors. Moving forward a few years,
then came the events of the mystery
knight, the third Duncan egg story.
Following a dream, Damon II Blackfire
went to Westeros without an army,
thinking to raise one from within and
somehow reclaim the throne. Bittersteel
saw the plan as folly and did not
support it. And he was right. It was an
abject failure. Partly because of Duncan
Egg, a lot due to blood raven, but
mostly due to the rather lax approach to
planning by the Blackfire pretenders.
Bittersteel recognized that if he wanted
to finally put a Blackfire on the
throne, he'd have to make his own army
in Essos to lead the invasion.
Thankfully, he had a lot to work with.
There were lots of lords and knights and
various hangers on who had been a part
of the first Blackfire Rebellion and
were now exiled in Essos. their homes
and lands in Westeros now confiscated
and given to someone else. Many had
spent the intervening years fighting for
various cells sword companies, meaning
they were quite experienced at warfare.
But more importantly, they all held a
grudge against the current regime in
Westeros, an army with a mission.
Bittersteel gathered them back together
and gave them a purpose. And so, 16
years after the first Blackfire
Rebellion, the Golden Company was
formed. They would not fade into
obscurity. After all, they would return
again to take back their homes or die
trying. Their battlecry became, "Beneath
the gold, the bitter steel," in honor of
their founder. However, their official
motto became, "Our word is as good as
gold." Because they made it a point of
principle to always stick to their
contracts. In a cutthroat world, this
was rare. Bittersteel led the Golden
Company throughout Essos for 7 years,
gaining combat experience and earning
reputation unlike any other cells sword
company. They never once broke a
contract, never failed to act
professionally, and perhaps most
important of all, left a series of
victories behind them. Make no mistake,
the Golden Company forged a reputation
as the gold standard when it came to
SOCord companies, and their honor went
both ways. When Cohore tried to renegade
on a payment, Bittersteel ordered an
attack on the city itself, they were
successful and took payment by way of
loot. This was a high-profile moment for
them that sent a powerful message. They
won't break a contract, and expect the
same from their employers. Still,
Bittersteel and the Golden Company
didn't lose sight of their ultimate
objective, to return to Westeros and
reclaim their lands and inheritance. In
the year 219 AC, 23 long years after
Bittersteel fled into exile, he returned
at the head of the Golden Company,
intending to overthrow King Aries I
Targaryen in favor of King Hagen the
First Blackfire. Many in Westeros took
their side, the third Blackfire
Rebellion, but the first headed by the
Golden Company. The Golden Company was
ultimately defeated after a long and
difficult struggle against notables like
Prince Mar, his sons Aegon and Aryan and
Blood Raven. Powerful houses like
Ironwood and Greyjoy sided with the
rebels, at least for a time, but
eventually the Golden Company had to
retreat back to Essos with their tail
between their legs. Bittersteel was
captured and allowed to take the Black.
But like a scene from an action movie,
he escaped on his way to the wall. The
ship he was on apparently overtaken and
boarded by Blackfire sympathizers. In
other words, someone on the inside knew
exactly when Bittersteel would take ship
for the wall and passed that information
on to the Golden Company. This is
notable. Even after the failure of three
Blackfire rebellions, the Golden Company
still had spies and sympathizers in the Red
Red
Keep. Cut forward another couple of
abortive rebellions. This is how the
Golden Company operates today as well.
They are not simply a cell sword
company. They are a complete
self-sufficient military organization.
For example, they have a spy master to
keep them a breast of world news,
something no other cells sword company
seems to have. His name is Lysono Mah of
the free city of lease. And they employ
everyone they need from pay masters to
cooks to grooms to smiths to squires.
They have health care, disability pay,
and the benefit of membership of the
most famous and respected company in the
known world. Mess with a member of the
Golden Company, and you mess with his
9,999 well-armed brothers. In summary,
they aren't just a cell sword company.
They remain a community with a shared
aim, a grouping of exiles ready to serve
and ready to return home as soon as the
timing is right. At the time of the
third Blackfire Rebellion, which was
only seven years after the company's
founding, they surely looked nearly
identical to any other Wester Rosie
army. Ditto the fourth Blackfire
Rebellion of 236 AC, which was another
failure, but it appears to have been
despite rather than because of the
Golden Company's professionalism.
5 years later in the year 241 with King
Aegon V on the throne and Blood Raven
Lord Commander of the Night's Watch,
Bittersteel, the founder and leader of
the Golden Company, died, having taken a
mortal wound in the disputed lands
during a forgotten skirmish between Tyro
and Mia. It seemed as though the
Blackfire cause would end with him,
leaving the Golden Company as just
another cell sword company in Essos. Yet
as he lay dying, Bittersteel commanded
his men to boil the flesh from his
bones, dip his skull in gold, and mount
it on a pole. His final command was for
the Golden Company to carry his skull on
their standard before them as they
retook Westeros, whenever that day may
come. Those who have followed him as
Captain General have continued this
tradition. Every fallen captain general
has their skull dipped in gold and
planted on a pike, forming a circle
around the current captain general's
command tent. Quite the sight. The
company is now 88 years old as of A
Dance with Dragons, and Bittersteel has
been dead for 59 years. 42 years have
passed since the Golden Company last
attempted to place a Blackfire Pretender
on the Iron Throne. In total, they tried
that three times, with their founder,
Aigor Rivers, obviously having tried one
more time before that. But during the
decades that followed, much has changed
with the Golden Company. The Blackfire
line is believed in worlds to have died
out with me the monstrous in 258 AC. So
he was the last Blackfire captain
general of the Golden Company. Following
him were various other less storied
Wester Rosies. Most recently, Sir Miles
Toin called Blackheart. The Toys were
exiled from Westeros back in the time of
Aegon IV whom they tried to assassinate.
They failed but slew Prince Aemon the
Dragon Knight in the process. And now
the leader is Harry Strickland, a less
than impressive figure and seemingly a
company man born and brought up within
the Golden Company like his father and
his father before him. The Stricklands
were original Blackfire supporters in
the first Blackfire Rebellion, fighting
hard alongside Bittersteel and the
others, but Harry is now heard
complaining about blisters on his feet.
a red flag that this is not a tough man.
John Conington thinks that he is no
blackheart, no Bittersteel, no Meiss.
Even young Griff or Aegon refers to him
as an old maid. And as another red flag,
at one point Strickland says that while
waiting for John Cunnington to arrive,
he could have accepted a contract where
the company would be paid in slaves,
something that would be anathema to true
Westerosis, not to mention Daenerys
Targaryen. There wasn't even a flicker
of suggesting that he didn't want the
slaves, just wanting Jon to know what
had been given up to join Aegon's new
invasion. And it does seem that the
original Westerosi exile ethos has been
diluted somewhat over the years. For
example, there are now quite a few
non-Westeri men among the company's
officer corps. The captain of their
archer corps is a summer islander called
Black Balac. He leads a thousand men of
the 10,000 total. Some wield crossbows,
some wield esozie bows, some wield
westerosi bows, and a few more use the
golden heart bows of the summer islands.
Quite a mix. Their pay master is from
Volantis and their spy master from
Lease. And they have elephants, a
strange sight in Westeros, though some
have managed to make the crossing across
the narrow sea with the Golden Company
because yes, the Golden Company are once
more attempting to return to Westeros.
Which brings us to the innate
contradiction of the Golden Company.
They were founded as a free company of
Westerosi exiles and invaded three times
in an attempt to return home and reclaim
what they view their rightful
inheritance. 500 of the company are
knights and they remain core to the
company's fighting strength and
connection to Westeros. And they retain
a formidable reputation as the
preeminent cells sword company in Essos.
They build orderly, defensible camps
every night, operating with schedules,
rigid routines, and extensive
pre-planning. John Conington notes that
these were the heirs of Bittersteel, and
discipline was mother's milk to them.
They know how to fight, but this is
clearly not the same golden company that
was formed by Aigor Rivers. They are
their great grandchildren, or more.
Their personal allegiance to the
Blackfire cause is gone with the
Blackfire line. Many of them, including
several of their senior management team,
are not even from Westeros. Their
Westerosi values are clearly diluted by
decades in exile. Their current captain
general seems more interested in
contracts than battle. And although he
is honoring the deal struck by his
predecessor with Yo and John Conington,
he doesn't seem enthused by it. John
Conington may have been impressed by the
Golden Company's military discipline,
but he also considers them ghosts and
liars, revenants from forgotten wars,
lost causes, failed rebellions, a
brotherhood of the failed and the
fallen, the disgraced and the
disinherited. This is my army. This is
our best hope. He doesn't sound that
optimistic. So, there's a balance here.
The corruption of the Golden Company's
values through weakness and profit
motive is significant, but should not be
taken as a reason to see the entire
company as soft. All of which is to say
that although the Golden Company remain
an impressive fighting force, this is
not a personal mission for them in the
way that perhaps Yo and even Tyrion
think. Tyrion asks Yo why the Golden
Company, Blackfire Loyalists, should
fight for Aegon or Daenerys as
Targaryenss. Yo's response is that black
or red, a dragon is still a dragon. When
me the monstrous died upon the
stepstones, it was the end of the male
line of House Blackfire. And Daenerys
will give the exiles what Bittersteel
and the Blackfires never could. She will
take them
home. Yo is, of course, hinting that
there are still Blackfire descendants
from the female line out there. One of
those may very well be young Griff, as
we discussed in Is Griff a Blackfire?
But Yriio simultaneously asserts that it
doesn't really matter because a dragon
is a dragon. The exiles want lordships
and lands. They don't care all that much
who leads them to it. John Conington, a
member of the company for 5 years,
introduces Prince Aegon, clearly
expecting a response, but they seem
unsurprised, prompting John Conington to
realize that they already know Young
Griff's identity, and they don't really
care. There is no bending of the knee to
a true king, nor bearing of steel to an
enemy of the Blackfires. As Olivio said,
fake, real, Targaryen or Blackfire, he's
a ticket to Westeros. They may be
supporting him because of the historical
ties of the Golden Company or agreements
by previous captain's general. And they
may have broken a contract for the first
time in their 88year history to do so.
But to most of them, this is just a job,
not personal. If they want to get to
Westeros, this is the time to do it. It
is time to win or die. And it's probably
the pragmatically wise move to side with
the people who have dragons. Of course,
going against dragons ended them in
moments in the TV show, but they are
unlikely to line up in tight formation
to make Drogon's job easy in the books.
They haven't faced a dragon before, but
they are probably wise enough not to
take one head on. Not that they will
wait for Dany. She has disappeared into
the Dothraki sea and they've lost enough
contracts already just waiting for her
and John Conington. So, it is onto the
Stormlands. A sensible place to start
given that Renley is dead. Stannis is
headed north with his army and John
Conington will be well known there. And
judging from the pre-released chapters
from the Winds of Winter, they're doing
well. Several castles have fallen,
including Storm's End. We'll cover off
whether Aegon's new invasion will be a
success in the final part of this rather
slow and ad hoc series of videos, but
for now, let's focus on the Golden
Company. If they were the original
Golden Company, we might expect them to
support Young Griff because he is the
rightful Blackfire heir. And when the
Iron Throne is one, we might expect them
therefore to disband. They are a free
company of exiles, not a true sellord
company. And once they have returned
home and had their lands and honor
returned to them, there is no reason for
them to stay together. But this isn't
the Golden Company of old. They are led
by a company man. They appear unbothered
by the reveal of young Griff's identity.
Several of their leaders aren't even
Westerosi. What will they do when
Daenerys arrives with dragons? In
contrast to what happened on the TV
show, they are an experienced and
renowned company of professional
fighters. Surely they will have enough
sense not to just line up in straight
lines for Drogon to firebomb. Assuming
they keep to Young Griff's side. They've
broken one contract. Why not another?
They don't seem to have any particular
allegiance to Young Griff because he's a
Blackfire. Or perhaps that information
died with Miles Toin, their last leader
who met with Yo and John Conington.
Perhaps to them he's just another
Targaryen. Young Griff's whole claim on
the throne stems from that. And
certainly he seems to believe it. But
why side with the Targaryen without any
dragons? The Golden Company are a
deliberate gray area in George R.
Martin's world, a world of
contradictions. They have never broken a
contract, and yet they have now for
someone they seem very underwhelmed to
meet. Why? They are led by a very
unimpressive captain general, but still
remain professional and unbeaten in
combat. They play up their credentials
as Westerosi exiles, but most of them
have never even set foot in Westeros,
and some of their senior leadership have
no connection to there. Plenty of them
claim Westerosi surnames and therefore
inheritances that are very clearly not
theirs, or with very clearly overlapping
inheritance claims, if they even were
true. Lothston's, Strongs, and Peaks.
The contradictions abound, which makes
it very hard to see exactly where their
story will go in the last couple of
books. For now, they are the focus of
Young Griff's invading army, and there's
no reason to think that they will give
that up easily. It is early days, but
their plan seems to be working so far.
Key strongholds have fallen to them, and
the enemies of the Lannisters are
exploring potential
alliances. What then? Well, let's save
that for the last video in this series.
But for now, the key question is, how
bought in are the Golden Company? How
loyal are they to Aegon V 6th? Would
they fight to the death, disband once
they get back the lands they claim on
mainland Westeros, or break another
contract when the dragons come? Let me
know what you think in the comments
below. If you'd like to see more A Song
of Ice and Fire videos, please click on
the link to my playlist appearing now on
the left of your screen. Or to support
this channel, thank you. There's a link
to my Patreon page on the right of your
screen. That's all for this time. Thanks
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