Here’s everything we know about the subject of Game of Thrones’ new unnamed animated spin-off series, an exploration of the Golden Empire of Yi Ti. Following Game of Thrones’ divisive season 8 finale, HBO announced several spin-off series that would be produced in the following few years. Several of the early greenlit contenders like Flea Bottom have already been canceled, but a few like House of the Dragon, Tales of Dunk and Egg, and the newly announced Yi Ti shows are still up and running. Although the Yi Ti-based series' timeframe is unknown, each spin-off so far is a prequel to Game of Thrones that is based on novels within the A Song of Ice and Fire world by George R.R. Martin, exploring more of the Game of Thrones timeline and history.
One of HBO’s upcoming spin-offs that has the least amount of prior knowledge by audiences is an animated series that will explore the Golden Empire of Yi Ti located in Essos. An intriguing aspect of Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels is the longevity it contains with kingdoms, factions, characters, and beasts that were barely explored in Game of Thrones. As such, the newly announced Yi Ti series will tackle the least known empire from the Game of Thrones universe that was never explored by Daenerys Targaryen in the original series.
Most of the knowledge on Yi Ti comes from The World of Ice & Fire book, explaining the history and cultural background of the wealthy empire. Like many of Game of Thrones’ other kingdoms, Yi Ti is loosely inspired by the real-life histories of Southeast Asia, with more particular influence from Imperial China. HBO's new animated series spin-off will take viewers back in time to the thriving kingdom, so here’s everything we know about its connections to the well-known Westeros and Game of Thrones.
According to The Lands of Ice and Fire companion book, Yi Ti is located on the far east side of Essos, a vast nation that stretches to the north of the Jade Sea coast and whose western border is a couple of hundred miles away from Qarth, the wealthy city visited by Daenerys in Game of Thrones’ second season. Compared to Westeros, the city is located as far east in the known world as humans have yet traveled. As Arya wonders “what’s west of Westeros,” it’s possible she would end up right back to Yi Ti’s coast or would find more continents and isles in between Essos and Westeros.
In Game of Thrones, religion was a crucial aspect of Westerosi conflicts, with different historical houses following certain religions that rule their way of life, typically under the Old Gods of the Forest or the Faith of the Seven. Eventually, the Seven’s Sparrows take control in season 5 as much of the royal family is condemned for their crimes against their gods. Yi Ti’s empire has a much different notion of religious devotion. Historically, Yi Ti believes in the complementary, dualistic gods - similar to Yin & Yang - of the Maiden-Made-of-Light and the Lion of Night. The two are said to have fathered the God-of-Earth, the first emperor of the world whose supposed descendants the Yi-Tish worship as their one-god emperors. The Maiden helps humankind while the Lion punishes man’s turpitude, with one such mythologized consequence being the Long Night.
The empire is one of the oldest existing civilizations, amassing vast wealth and ruled by a series of emperors, dealing with their own dynastic battles as Westeros had with the Iron Throne. Yi Ti’s history extends as far back to at least the Long Night, making it as old as Westeros itself. Since its conception, Yi Ti has been ruled by a string of emperors who are seen more as a divine god than a leader, though their power and influence have dwindled in the years around Game of Thrones’ timeframe. The god-like emperor still lives in the capital city of Yin within a castle the size of King's Landing.
Yi Ti’s history of reigning families also compares to Westeros in each dynasty’s seizing of the throne and shifts in power, with war taking hold of the civilization and periods of unrest in its transitions. Similar to the War of the Five Kings in Westeros, Yi Ti went through a prolonged period of a lack of central leadership, leading to civil war and anarchy until a new dynasty eventually established itself. The different dynasties of emperors are separated by color, such as Jade-Green Emperors, Scarlet, Grey, Pearl-White, etc. with the current ruler in Game of Thrones’ timeframe being the Azure dynasty.
Very few Westerosi citizens have traveled as far as Yi Ti considering the journey takes about two years, though the new House of the Dragon character Corlys Velaryon, nicknamed the Sea Snake, traveled to Yi Ti 200 years before Game of Thrones’ War of the Five Kings. Velaryon used the rare spices he retrieved from Yi Ti to amass a vast wealth for the Velaryon family, even giving his family enough notoriety that he became the father-in-law to House of the Dragon’s princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. Westerosi travelers know the lore of Yi Ti, but very few have actually visited, as even Daenerys only gets close when she visits the port of the Jade Sea at Qarth.
Yi Ti is an extremely wealthy nation whose conquests and interactions are primarily confined to its own territory. Because the empire is so hard for travelers to reach considering traveling through Essos is a daring journey like the one Daenerys takes with the Dothraki and a journey by sea takes about two years, nearly all conflicts of Yi Ti come from within. The only major conflict outside of its own warring dynasties is with the Jogos Nhai, a group of nomadic people who live north of Yi Ti. Jogos Nhai is ruled by three warring emperors at one time, similar to the Dothraki being ruled by multiple Khals. The Golden Empire of Yi Ti is constantly at war with the Jogos Nhai as the group recurrently raids and destroys many of Yi Ti’s cities and towns to ruin.
On the other hand, Westeros is often visited by those from the west of Essos, Summer Isles, and nations due to its easy access to ports. Westerosi conflicts become matters of international matters due to the intimate relationships it holds around the world, especially with Essos groups like the Iron Bank of Braavos and the Golden Company. Yi Ti’s conflicts will be contained to the far east of Essos, though the kingdom holds one thing all other eastern nations want: Gold. The extensive wealth of Yi Ti will make it an easy target for the nations that dare to journey to the empire in the new spin-off series, a concept not necessarily shared by Game of Thrones' Westeros.
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