Isle of Naath and West of Westeros. Final tease in ‘Game of Thrones’.
Warning: Huge spoilers for the Game of Thrones series finale ahead.
Game of Thrones aired its final episode Sunday night, but HBO is already planning at least three spin-off shows. We know one is a prequel, but the other two could pick up where Season 8, Episode 6 left off. On that note, the series finale may have dropped two major clues about where this story is headed next: Where is the Isle of Naath? What’s west of Westeros? And could either of these locations reveal what comes after the Game of Thrones finale? Here’s what you need to know.
Where is the Isle of Naath?
In the A Song of Ice and Firenovels, Naath is a large, curving island. It is known as a land of peace where war does not exist. The people of Naath, the Naathi, are also known as the Peaceful People. As is typical of the peoples of Sothoryos, the Naathi are dark-skinned. In addition, typical Naathi features include a round flat face and golden eyes.Naath is located on the same line of longitude as Old Valyria, though much further south and separated by a great distance across the Summer Sea.The Naathi worship a single deity called the Lord of Harmony, who created the entire universe and everything in it. Due to their religious beliefs the Naathi do not harm any living thing, refusing to eat the flesh of animals and abstaining from violence and martial endeavors. As a result the Naathi are vegetarians — their main diet consisting of fruit — and their main recreational activity is the making of music. The Naathi religion is so utterly devoted to pacifism that they will refuse to engage violence even to defend themselves from direct bodily harm.The World of Ice & Fire sourcebook stated that Naath is also known as the “Isle of Butterflies” due to the many species of the insect that inhabit the island (this detail has been subtly included in the TV series; in the opening credits, the small image appearing next to Nathalie Emmanuel, who portrays Missandei, is a butterfly).The sourcebook also mentions that because the island’s climate is very conducive to insect life, Naath was once a major exporter of silk (from silkworms) to both sides of the Narrow Sea. Naathi silk was often found in the markets of King’s Landing, Oldtown, and the Free Cities, along with spiced wines and various handicrafts they also produced.Unfortunately, because of their tranquil nature, the peaceful Naathi are a favored target for slavers. They raid the island’s coastal areas and take numerous captives back to nearby Slaver’s Bay (to the northeast), or even to the Free Cities (to the northwest)- there is at least one Pleasure house in Lys that is famed for its Naathi girls. The slavers were always a problem, but after the Doom of Valyria, with no Valyrian fleets to control the seas, the slaving raids drastically increased and devastated Naath. The island’s silk industry was mostly destroyed as the inhabitants fled to the hills of the interior, and Naathi exports are now a rare sight in foreign markets.A large species of butterfly on Naath is a carrier for a horrific disease that makes the flesh literally slough off of a man’s bones, but the Naathi themselves are immune to it. For centuries, would-be foreign invaders would end up succumbing to the “butterfly fever”, and the Naathi say none maintained a presence on the island for more than a single year. It also deterred slavers for generations. However, slavers eventually realized that if they only stayed on the island for a few hours in quick raids and then departed with captives, they would not contract the disease — and better still if they attacked only at night, because the butterflies are only active during the daylight hours. Naath has still technically never been “conquered” by outside forces due to fear of staying too long and catching the butterfly fever, but otherwise the island’s society has been severely damaged by frequent slaver raids.
What is West of Westeros?
Before Jon Snow parts ways with his siblings and rejoins the Night’s Watch, Arya tells him that she won’t be returning North at all. Instead, she’s heading west of Westeros. What’s west of Westeros? No one knows. That’s where all the maps end, but we may have a few ideas.In the world of Game of Thrones, the water to the west is called the Sunset Sea, and it’s not the first time Arya’s wondered what lies beyond it. Back in Season 6, she asked Lady Crane (an actor in that Braavos theater troupe) the same question. Crane responded that nobody knew, but it might be the edge of the world, which seemed to pique Arya’s interest.Since we know the earth of Game of Thrones is a round one, the whole edge of the world thing seems unlikely. However, there are two distinct possibilities. The first, more logical one is that Arya could find the GoT version of America. After all, Westeros is basically Britain and Essos is Eurasia. So it makes sense that Arya could wind up “discovering” a whole new continent.