The History and Lore videos are always a highlight of the Game of Thrones DVD/Blu-ray sets. For example, here a History and Lore video about House Clegane from the Season 2 boxset, narrated by Rory McCann, who plays the Hound.
Five home boxsets in, there are a lot of History and Lore videos out there, with more on the way. The Season 6 boxset, which will come out on November 15, will include videos on subjects like the War of the Ninepenny Kings, the war between the Children of the Forest and the First Men, the city of Oldtown, and more. As the series goes on, the History and Lore videos have focused on more obscure aspects of the series’ mythos, but they are far from comprehensive. The Song of Ice and Fire series, after all, is extremely dense.
A new YouTube channel, called simply asoiaf, may help pick up the slack. The proprietor of the channel has uploaded several fan-made videos highlighting lesser-explored aspects of the mythology. For example, here’s his video on the mysterious city of Asshai, where Melisandre calls home.
The narration is drawn from The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros, a supplementary book written Elio M. García, Jr. and Linda Antonssonin in conjunction with George R.R. Martin. These videos aren’t narrated by cast members, but they fill out the corners of this world nicely. Here’s another one on R’hllor, aka the Lord of Light.
Actually, Game of Thrones does have a video on this particular topic, narrated by Paul Kaye (Thoros of Myr). Here it is, for comparison’s sake:
The fan behind the asoiaf channel also has a video on Azor Ahai, an important topic from the books that’s just now getting some attention on the show.
Finally, he has a pair of videos about warlocks, some of the more unsavory citizens of Qarth: one about the warlocks specifically, and one about the Shade of the Evening, their favorite beverage.
This is another topic about which HBO has made an official video, narrated by Nonso Anozie (Xaro Xhoan Daxos).
If you’d like to take more deep dives into the show’s mythology, there’s a lot of material available. We’ll see you in a week or so.