#Omber asoiaf full#

The plan is, later on, to dive into individual places and explore them in more depth, but this post, from here on out, will be an overview and introduction to the wonderful land of Essos. Today, I’m going to talk about Essos as a whole.

Well, you know what, George? If you won’t take us there, I’ll do it myself. My Essos-loving heart wept upon reading that. (I, being Essos-loving trash, sat up straight upon hearing this.) Sadly, this theory was put to rest by GRRM, who has said that Asshai would only ever be seen “in flashback and memory, if at all”. Additionally, many speculated that “to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow” refers to Asshai – also known as “Asshai-by-the-Shadow”. While, symbolically, the prophecy seems to allude to Daenerys needing to “return to her roots” – something she does, in her final chapter of ADWD – others interpret it more literally, suggesting that when Dany invades Westeros, she will do so by travelling east: setting sail from the far eastern shore of Essos, circumnavigating the globe and thus arriving in Westeros from the west. To go forward you must go back and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow. To go north, you must journey south, to reach the west you must go east. Or (and I do believe this is the most likely option) GRRM just hasn’t created anything further than that, because it’s not important to the story.Īnother theory is based on Quaithe’s prophecy to Daenerys in A Clash of Kings: Or, potentially, there might be either natural or magical factors that inhibit travel further than Asshai. Others speculate that Essos does simply end – there’s just nothing of interest past Asshai. One popular theory that, despite being debunked by GRRM himself, continues to endure, is that Essos and Westeros are actually connected: the far eastern part of Essos wraps around and connects to the far north of Westeros, either via land or an ice sheet. Some fans have wondered why it is that the world seems to abruptly end just east of Asshai – and what, possibly, could lay beyond it. Even Lomas Longstrider, renowned in Westeros for his travels, did not reach Asshai, having seen the Bone Mountains and believed he had reached the end of the world. Asshai, Carcosa, the City of the Winged Men, K’Dath: all are known only through third-hand travellers’ tales and maesters’ books. Indeed, the furthest eastern reaches of Essos – the lands past the Bone Mountains – are spoken of in whispered legend rather than fact. “Some of that is, Here there be dragons,” Martin cautioned. GRRM has stated he wanted to evoke the same lack of knowledge of the world as in medieval times – a “here be dragons” vibe. It’s mind-bogglingly huge, basically.Īnd, just as in our own history, the “Orient” was once seen as a mysterious and exotic place, so too do the Westerosi view Essos. The incredible Adam Whitehead at Atlas of Ice and Fire, who is better at math than I can ever hope to be, puts the width of the mapped portion of Essos at around 6300 miles – wider than the entirety of Asia. All shall be converted! Now let us begin. And now I set out on my mission to convince everyone else of this fact too. Whichever.) So yes: while Essos may not be the most popular among the fandom (“Lenny mo Kravitz”, anyone? I see you, Reddit. (Tyrion’s chapters on the Shy Maid paid my tuition fees, cleared my acne and cured my depression, in case you were wondering, and I will not have any insult to AFFC or ADWD under this roof.) Not to mention, racial diversity! (Although, as much as GRRM tries, he is not always as successful in his attempts to deconstruct racism and colonialism as he is with patriarchy and sexism.

#Omber asoiaf full#

And here, with Essos, we have a huge, mysterious land, taking inspiration from a wide range of cultures, full of magic and dragons and ruined cities, and we barely get to explore any of it.

Feudal order, knights, patriarchy, with very little variation on the formula. Sure, GRRM’s take on it is more interesting than most, but still.

Because I have a Thing about medieval European fantasy, in that I never want to see it again. Martin confirmed that we’ll never get an Essosi point-of-view character in A Song of Ice and Fire, a part of my soul withered and died. This, friendos, is a place for everything Essos, Sothoryos, Ulthos, and Summer Isles: factsheets, histories, cultural study, meta analyses, and theories.