There’s some wild shit going on in the far corners of the Game Of Thrones map

Due to the limitations of television, there’s a whole bunch of stuff from the A Song Of Ice And Fire books that will never make its way into the HBO adaptation. The world George R.R. Martin created is simply too densely packed with cultures and histories for it all to ever be fully represented. In fact, there’s tons of a stuff in the world of ASOIAF that doesn’t even fit in the main series of books and only exists in the pages of non-narrative companion texts. The latest video from Alt Shift X—a great source for all things Game Of Thrones—takes a look at some of the wild shit going on in these far flung corners, and theorizes how it might effect our heroes back in Westeros.

The jungle continent of Sothoryos is populated by dinosaurs, hoglike Brindled Men, and hordes of pirates who decorate their islands with human skulls. The Shivering Sea in the far northeast is home to ice dragons and the green-skinned fish people of the Thousand Islands. But, as with many fictional fantasy worlds, the cultures of the far east are the most exotic and intriguing.

Problematic orientalism aside, George R.R. Martin has put a lot of work into building up the mysteries of eastern edge of his map, particularly the shadow-covered city of Asshai. This is where Melisandre, Quaithe, and a whole bunch of dark magic comes from. The buildings made of inky black stone may also hold the secrets of The Long Night, the first time the White Walkers emerged, and how an ancient hero stood against them. We’ll probably have to wait for the prequel series to make any real sense of that, but all the better to start learning about it now.

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