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10 Shocking Discoveries We Uncovered From Analyzing Ancient DNA

2025-02-23T08:20:46Z

DNA is present in every living thing, including humans. It carries our genetic information, passing our traits onto the next generation. It also allows us to trace our origins down to our earliest ancestors.

It also works the other way. By analyzing the DNA of ancient humans and prehumans and comparing it with ours, we are able to discover more accurate information about our origins. The following are but some of the many things science has learned from studying ancient DNA.

10 Humans Are Descended From A Single Man And Woman

According to the Holy Bible, every human is a descendant of Adam and Eve, the first humans to ever live on Earth. Science partly backs this theory, albeit with some interesting differences. First, the scientific versions of Adam and Eve were not the first humans ever. Second, we’re not their direct offspring. Instead, every man is descended from the man, and every woman is descended from the woman.

Scientists call the man “Y-chromosome Adam” and the woman “mitochondrial Eve.” Y-chromosome Adam lived in Africa sometime between 125,000 and 156,000 years ago. Mitochondrial Eve lived in East Africa sometime between 99,000 and 148,000 years ago. Unlike the biblical Adam and Eve, it is unlikely that Y chromosome Adam and mitochondrial Eve ever met, although they could have been alive at the same time.

Scientists concluded that Y-chromosome Adam was the ancestor of all men after sequencing the Y chromosome of 69 men from seven different ethnic groups. For mitochondrial Eve, they tested the mitochondrial DNA from the 69 men as well as 24 other women. However, the timeline for Y-chromosome Adam is debated, since other studies have concluded that he could have lived between 180,000 and 200,000 years ago or even from 237,000 to 581,000 years ago.^[1]

9 Different Species Of Early Humans Interbred

In 2012, archaeologists unearthed a bone fragment from Denisova Cave in Siberia. The bone was part of the shin or thigh of an ancient human they named Denisova 11. DNA tests subsquently revealed that Denisova 11 was female, lived around 50,000 years ago, and was over 13 years old at the time she died. She was also a hybrid of two species of early humans: the Neanderthal and the Denisovan.

Denisova 11’s father was a Denisovan, and her mother was a Neanderthal. Interestingly, Denisova 11’s father was also a descendant of a Neanderthal-Denisovan hybrid. However, unlike his daughter, who was a direct descendant, his hybrid ancestor lived between 300 and 600 generations before him.

Scientists know Denisovans and Neanderthals separated 390,000 years ago. However, they never knew they interbred prior to this discovery. DNA tests also indicated that Denisova 11’s Neanderthal mother was more closely related to Western European Neanderthals than to a Neanderthal that had lived in Denisova Cave at an earlier point in prehistory.^[2]

8 Tibetans Are Descendants Of The Denisovans

Speaking of interbreeding, DNA tests have proven that Tibetans are descendants of the Denisovans. This does not mean Tibetans are Denisovans; they are Homo sapiens. One of their Homo sapien ancestors just happened to mate with a Denisovan.

Scientists discovered this when they compared the genomes extracted from Denisova 11 with the genomes of 40 Tibetans. They discovered that the Tibetan EPAS1 gene was similar to Denisova 11’s EPAS1 gene. The EPAS1 is found in all humans. It is responsible for managing our body’s natural response in low-oxygen environments.

Our bodies naturally produce more hemoglobin to transport oxygen to our tissues when there is not enough oxygen. While this ensures our survival, it also puts us at risk of heart problems. However, Tibetans have a mutated EPAS1 gene. Their bodies do not produce more hemoglobin when short of oxygen. This is why they are able to live at high altitudes, where oxygen is low.

Scientists suspect the ancestors of the Tibetans got the gene when one of them mated with a Denisovan between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago. However, scientists have not confirmed whether the mutated EPAS1 gene also allowed the Denisovans to cope at high altitudes as it does for the Tibetans.^[3]

7 The First Brits Were Black

In 1903, scientists uncovered the 10,000-year-old remains of a British man in a cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England. A 2018 DNA analysis of the man, who they call the Cheddar man, revealed that he had either dark brown or black skin, with curly black hair and blue eyes.

Considering that he is the oldest complete human skeleton ever found in Britain, this means the earliest Brits were black. Interestingly, in the 1990s, Professor Brian Sykes of Oxford University tested 20 people in Cheddar village and compared their DNA with that of Cheddar man. He discovered that two people were descendants of Cheddar Man.^[4]

6 King Richard III Of England Was A Hunchback

In 2012, archaeologists from the University of Leicester started digging at a car park in Leicester. The parking lot was the site of the former church of the Greyfriars, where King Richard III was supposedly buried. They found the remains of the monarch there, making Richard III famous for being the king whose remains were found under a car park.

Scientists confirmed that the skeleton truly belonged to the king when they tested its DNA against that of a living relative. The skull also had damage which matched fatal head injuries King Richard III sustained during the Battle of Bosworth. They also found something else. His spine was curved. This meant that the king truly was a hunchback—a fact historians had deliberated on for years.^[5]

5 King Tut’s Parents Were Siblings

King Tutankhamun remains one of the most famous pharaohs to rule over Egypt. He started ruling when he was just ten and died around 1324 BC, when he was just 19. Archaeologists excavated his tomb in 1922. Surprisingly, they found it intact—complete with precious stones including gold.

Physical analysis of King Tut’s remains showed that the king did not enjoy his short life. His left leg was deformed, forcing him to walk around with a cane. In fact, 130 canes were found in his tomb. Further DNA analysis showed that his deformed leg was the result of inbreeding. He also suffered from a bout of malaria, which would have stopped the deformed leg from healing.

DNA tests revealed that King Tut’s father was Akhenaten, the son of Amenhotep III (King Tut’s grandfather). DNA tests also showed that King Tut’s mother was also a daughter of Amenhotep III. This would make King Tut’s father and mother siblings. Some historians believe his mother was Queen Nefertiti, although this has been challenged because she was not related to Akhenaten.^[6]

4 The Clovis People Were Not The First To Settle In America

The Clovis people are believed to be the first settlers of America. They reached North America 13,000 years ago, moved to South America 11,000 years ago, and disappeared 9,000 years ago. However, in 2018, DNA tests on ancient humans revealed that the Clovis culture were not the first people to settle in the the Americas.

While DNA from ancient humans found in North America proves that the Clovis people lived in North America 12,800 years ago, it is a different story in South America. DNA tests conducted on the remains of 49 ancient South American people show that the Clovis people first appeared in South America 11,000 years ago.

Interestingly, archaeologists already have evidence that some unidentified culture lived in Monte Verde, Chile, 14,500 years ago. A 12,800-year-old set of human remains found in South America is believed to have belonged to this tribe, since it does not share DNA with Clovis people.

The oldest DNA evidence scientists have to prove that the Clovis people ever settled in South America was taken from an 11,000-year-old human. Scientists are unsure about the relationship between the Clovis people and this strange tribe. However, they are sure the unidentified tribe really existed, because today’s South Americans do not share DNA with the Clovis people.^[7]

3 Columbus Did Not Introduce Tuberculosis To The Americas

It is often said that Christopher Columbus’s voyage introduced several deadly diseases, including tuberculosis, to the Americas in the late 15th century. These diseases ended up killing 90 percent of the Native American population. However, DNA tests tell otherwise. Seals introduced tuberculosis to the Americas long before Columbus arrived.

Scientists made this discovery when they analyzed three sets of human remains from Peru. The people are believed to have died 1,000 years ago—500 years before the arrival of Columbus. DNA tests revealed the strain of TB they had is closest to the strain found in infected seals and sea lions.

Europe, Asia, and Africa were experiencing deadly tuberculosis epidemics at the time the Peruvians died. Scientists suspect seals and sea lions somehow got infected during one of the epidemics in Africa and unwittingly took it along when they migrated to the Americas. The Peruvian natives contracted the mutated strain of tuberculosis when they hunted the seals and sea lions for food.

This does not mean that Columbus and his men were completely innocent, however. For all we know, they probably still introduced the deadlier European tuberculosis to the Americas. The tuberculosis in America today is of European origin.^[8]

2 Descendants Of The Vikings Are At Risk Of Emphysema

A 2016 paper by researchers led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine revealed that Viking descendants have a higher-than-usual risk of developing a serious lung problem called emphysema. Normally, smokers are the likeliest to suffer from emphysema.

Analysis of a Viking-era latrine in Denmark showed that the Vikings suffered from worms so much that their alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) inhibitor gene mutated to stop the enzymes of the worms. The human body naturally produces inhibitors (including A1AT) to stop powerful enzymes secreted in our bodies from digesting our organs.

However, for the Vikings and their descendants, the A1AT inhibitor’s increased ability to deal with the enzymes secreted by the worms also decreased its ability to stop the enzymes secreted in their bodies from digesting their organs.

Today, the mutated A1AT inhibitor is useless, since we now have drugs to deal with worms. But DNA tests show that the descendants of the Vikings still have the mutated inhibitor. This means the descendants of the Vikings are left to cope with their bodies’ inability to deal with their own enzymes, leading to lung diseases.^[9]

1 Malaria Contributed To The Fall Of Ancient Rome

Researchers have always suspected that malaria contributed to the fall of ancient Rome. However, they have now confirmed that malaria did indeed plague ancient Rome and contributed to its demise. Scientists made this discovery in 2011 when they analyzed the remains of 47 babies and toddlers excavated from an ancient Roman villa in Lugnano, Italy.

The oldest of the children of Lugnano, as they are called, was just three years old. All died and were buried around the same time. More than half died before they were born. They were victims of one of a series of malaria plagues that ravaged ancient Rome and stopped farmers from going to their farms. However, the worst-hit was the army, which couldn’t mass enough soldiers to repel foreign invaders.^[10]

10 Common Misconceptions About Food Origins

2025-02-23T08:18:28Z

There are thousands of great dishes in the world, and considering this it is not surprising that many people have mistaken impressions of where certain cuisine comes from, or where it is popular. Many dishes that we think come from one country, either do not originate there, or are served in a completely different manner. Some things that we consider to be extremely popular in certain countries, or even believe are national dishes in certain places, may originate loosely in that country but are rarely eaten there. Below are ten common fallacies in regards to the origin of foods.

Misconception: French Fries originate in France.

French Fries are incredibly popular all over the world, but the origin really wasn’t French. While the French have tried to claim them in the past, the truth is that they were invented by the Belgians. While they were invented in Belgium, and still quite popular there, some of the folklore around them is a little fantastic. The stories say that some Belgians would often fry very small fish, and when they had no fish, they would make potatoes in the shape of small fish instead. The story may sound a little fantastic, but all good folk tales do.

Misconception: Chimichangas are a Mexican food.

Many people would name Chimichangas if you asked them to name Mexican foods, but they aren’t really a Mexican food at all. The truth is that Chimichangas would fit more in the category of “Tex-Mex”. However, this deep fried burrito does not originate from Texas either. According to recent developments, it is likely that the state of Arizona invented the Chimichanga, and they have been considering making it the state food.

Misconception: Egg rolls are a Chinese food.

The Egg Roll that we eat in many parts of the western world isn’t really all that much like the most similar Chinese food. The egg rolls westerners know was created by Chinese immigrants to America who were using what they had on hand to make something that would still seem like theirs, but was meant to appeal to Americans. However, the thick hard-shelled egg rolls are nothing like the actual spring rolls that you will find in Hong Kong or elsewhere in China. Spring rolls are much more delicate and light, while western egg rolls are much more like deep fried dough stuffed with lettuce and tiny shrimp.

Misconception: Nachos are a Mexican food.

While nachos were originally invented by a Mexican, they were made to satisfy the appetites of visitors from the USA, out of spare ingredients that were lying around. The man who invented them was known by the name “Ignacio”, which is where the name nacho comes from. A man named Frank Liberto eventually starting selling them at stadiums and the rest was history. They have now become a wildly popular concession food. The nachos often seen in western stadiums today are made with a strange cheese concoction invented by Liberto that would stay good longer and not need to get hot to melt. Basically, Liberto invented mutant cheese sauce.

Misconception: Sushi rolls are commonly eaten in Japan.

Most westerners think of sushi rolls whenever asked about Japanese food, however, the truth is that sushi is not nearly as popular in Japan as it is among those who are trying to emulate Japanese culture. Many Japanese people, just for starters, feel a little bit intimidated when they head down to the sushi bar. More importantly, however, sushi is rarely eaten in Japan. Less than a quarter of Japanese surveyed even ate sushi a couple of times a month or more, sushi is simply a meal usually reserved for an important event. And Japanese people would rarely eat the kind of rolls westerners are used to. What they usually eat is called nigiri and consists of a long piece of fish with a big ball of rice wrapped around it using seaweed.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Misconception: Spaghetti and Meatballs are from Italy.

When asked about foods that come from Italy, many people would think of Spaghetti and Meatballs before anything else, but Spaghetti and Meatballs is not a dish of Italian origin. While it was invented by Italians, they were immigrants in North America. But more to the point, in Italy Spaghetti and Meatballs is not on the menu, and not really something they serve. On the rare occasions that pasta and meatballs are even involved in the same dish, they are definitely not served together.

Misconception: Croissants originate in France.

Many people are under the impression that croissants were invented in France, some westerners even say it with a faux French accent in an attempt to sound sophisticated (in English it is pronounced “cruh-sont”. However, the croissant is believed to have actually come from something called the kipferl. While there are many conflicting stories about how the croissant came to be, most believe that it was by an Austrian man. Legend says the man was an artillery officer from Austria who decided to open up shop in neighboring France, and that after introducing the kipferl the croissant eventually followed.

Misconception: Crab Rangoon is a dish of Chinese origin.

Crab Rangoon for those who don’t know, is a cream cheese filled, deep fried wanton, with crab meat in it. It has enjoyed considerable popularity in the western world, but as you might have guessed, isn’t really Chinese at all. Rather, it fits into that dubious category of “Chinese-American Cuisine”. The main reason why this dish doesn’t make any sense as Chinese is that cheese in generally, especially cream cheese, is seldom eaten in China. Also, while the dish may sound good now, keep in mind that the crab meat inside is rarely actually crab meat. Much crab Rangoon only carries imitation crab meat, and some recipes call for it especially.

Misconception: Pizza is Italian.

While Italian’s do have their own version of pizza, it is nothing like what many in America would expect it to be. And the legends of who invented pizza, and where and how are very murky. However, it is important to note the differences between the two styles of pizzas. In America, pizza is generally slathered in tomato sauce with seasonings, topped with a ton of cheese and then heaped with toppings. However, in Italy, pizza is a much more exquisite creation that might disappointment American food cravings. They don’t always involve tomato sauce—some opting instead for fresh tomatoes— and frequently include fresh herbs and vegetables, some mozzarella and olive oil. While both dishes have the same name, they are strikingly different.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Misconception: Corned Beef and Cabbage is the national dish of Ireland.

With St. Patrick’s Day recently behind us, millions around the world may have eaten corned beef and cabbage in honor of the Patron Saint of Ireland. However, corned beef and cabbage really isn’t all that popular amongst the Irish, and it certainly isn’t the national dish. While Ireland doesn’t really have an official national dish, some believe that the most popular would be a bacon joint, likely served with potatoes and maybe vegetables. There are, however, many different great Irish foods. The key point is that there really isn’t any one national food of Ireland, and Corned Beef isn’t even all that Irish.

You can follow Gregory Myers on twitter.

10 Documents With A Profound Influence On History

2025-02-23T08:11:17Z

History can prove hard to uncover. When delving back hundreds or even thousands of years into our past, we have to make do with whatever bits and pieces we find, hoping they can provide us with an accurate picture of a time long gone. Sometimes, we get lucky, though. Occasionally, we uncover documents that detail some of the most notable events in history.

10 The Cyrus Cylinder

In 1879, archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam was excavating in Mesopotamia when he uncovered a number of clay tablets which provided us with an unparalleled look at the ancient world. Among them was the Cyrus Cylinder, a document written in cuneiform script which, according to some, represents the oldest charter on human rights.

The cylinder was created around 538 BC, shortly after Persian King Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon. According to the cylinder, Cyrus is portrayed as a liberator. He was chosen by the Babylonian god Marduk to free the city from the reign of Nabonidus, who had perverted the cults of the gods and enslaved his own people through forced labor. Cyrus entered the city without a fight, and the Babylonian people delivered Nabonidus to him and accepted Cyrus’s kingship.

Afterward, the cylinder is written in the first person to represent Cyrus giving an edict. He abolishes the forced labor instituted by his predecessor and promises to bring back the people deported by Nabonidus and restore the religious cults and temples that were previously forbidden.

Although Iran officially recognizes the Cyrus Cylinder as a human rights charter, others claim that it was a standard proclamation made by Mesopotamian kings when taking the throne. Regardless, historians view it as the first written record of how to run a true society filled with people of different faiths and nationalities. Cyrus’s Achaemenid Empire became the largest empire of ancient history, stretching from the Indus Valley in modern-day Pakistan to the Balkans in Europe.

9 The Blood Letter

In late 14th century, the disintegrating Bulgarian Empire was eventually conquered and incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. Around the mid-1870s, a state of national awakening emerged from Bulgarians who sought to live in a sovereign state again. This led to the April Uprising of 1876 in which Bulgarian nationals revolted against the Ottoman government.

One of the main leaders of the uprising was Todor Kableshkov. After he and other revolutionaries defeated the Ottoman presence in the town of Plovdiv, Kableshkov wrote a letter to the insurrectionists in Panagyurishte, urging them to do the same. He signed it with the blood of a murdered mudur (Turkish official), and it became known as the Blood Letter, the symbol of the revolution.

The actual uprising didn’t go very well. The Ottoman government brought in groups of irregular soldiers called bashi-bazouks who crushed all opposition. Kableshkov himself was betrayed and captured by Turkish authorities. He committed suicide in prison.

The bashi-bazouks quickly developed a reputation for incredible cruelty and total lack of discipline. An American war correspondent named Januarius MacGahan described the atrocities of Turkish soldiers burning down entire settlements and killing all inhabitants.

This turned international opinion against the Ottoman Empire. Russia saw an opportunity to minimize the empire’s influence and, after a failed peace conference, declared war in 1877. With the help of several Eastern European nations, Russia won the war. After the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, Bulgaria became an autonomous state once again after almost half a millennium of Ottoman rule.

8 Ryo-no-gige And Ryo-no-shuge

Photo credit: Otto Harrassowitz via Amazon, Kansai Daigaku Shuppanbu via Amazon

For centuries, Japan was governed by a code of laws known as Ritsuryo that was inspired by Confucianism and the legal system enacted in China during the Tang dynasty. The Omi Code appeared in AD 668 under Emperor Tenji, becoming the first collection of Ritsuryo laws in Japan. It allegedly contained 22 volumes of administrative code, but there are no extant copies and its existence can only be inferred from notes in other documents.

Several years later, the Omi-ryo was refined into the Asuka Kiyomihara Code of AD 689. It offered improvements on the older code such as establishing the Daijo-kan, the Great Council of State that remained Japan’s highest governmental body until it was replaced by the Cabinet in modern times. At least, that’s what we infer as there are no surviving copies of this code, either.

In 701 came the Taiho Code, which was the first revision to contain criminal as well as administrative code. Again, there are no extant copies. Its successor, the Yoro Code, was compiled in 718 but wasn’t promulgated until 757. This time, we have some information due to a book called Ryo-no-gige (“Commentary on the Ryo”). Written by Japanese scholars and published in 833, the book contained almost all the administrative code of the Yoro-ryo.

A few centuries later, it was complemented by another book called Ryo-no-shuge which presented a comparative study between the Japanese and Chinese codes. Eventually, historians were able to use the extant Chinese Tang Code to piece together the penal side and compile an almost complete Yoro Code.

7 Deir el-Medina Papyrus

Deir el-Medina has provided us with a wealth of information on ancient Egypt. When the tombs in the Valley of the Kings were being built, this little village housed the many tradesmen, artisans, and other professionals who were employed to work on the monuments. We have already found evidence that showed the workers benefited from a primitive form of healthcare system. But Deir el-Medina was also the site of the first recorded labor strike in history.

The entire event was detailed on a papyrus by a scribe named Amennakhte. It happened around the year 1155 BC during the reign of Ramses III. Craftsmen at Deir el-Medina were complaining that 18 days had passed without receiving their rations. Therefore, they refused to work and instead sat down at the rear of the temple of Menkheperre. This also probably marks the first recorded sit-down protest in history.

The strike continued for several days as the workers urged for their complaints to be taken to the vizier. Eventually, the vizier made his way to Deir el-Medina and successfully negotiated with the strike leaders. The scribe doesn’t note the strike being anything particularly uncommon, which means that it most likely was not the first workers’ strike to occur, just the oldest one of which we have a written record.

6The Braintree Instructions

There were several events that caused the American Revolution, but one of the main issues was the taxes levied by Great Britain on the colonies without their consent—“No taxation without representation.” This concern was exacerbated in 1765 when Parliament passed the Stamp Act. It required many materials printed in the colonies to be made using stamped paper carrying a revenue stamp produced in London.

As the act was mainly an attempt to increase British revenue from the colonies, it proved massively unpopular in America and led to several protests. It also led to one of the first official protests against Parliament’s authority in North America, a document known as the Braintree Instructions.

On September 24, 1765, the town of Braintree, Massachusetts, organized a town meeting where a gathering of about 50 people unanimously signed a document destined for the Massachusetts General Court. The document decried the actions of British Parliament as a violation of the Great Charter (Magna Carta). Eventually, the Braintree Instructions were published in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Gazette. Based on the document’s popularity, the reasoning and language used in the Braintree Instructions were adopted by dozens of cities in the state protesting the Stamp Act.

The Braintree Instructions also became notable for the man who wrote them—John Adams. His “career” as a political activist was just getting started, but he would play an important role during the revolution and later become the second president of the United States.

5 The Charter Of Privileges

In 1681, William Penn established the Frame of Government as a constitution for the Province of Pennsylvania. The original constitution was adopted on May 5, 1682. A new Frame of Government was adopted one year later and again in 1696, with the last one, known as the Charter of Privileges, ratified in 1701. This version of the constitution remained in effect until 1776. To celebrate the charter’s 50th anniversary, the Pennsylvania Assembly ordered a new bell for the state house which became one of the country’s most cherished artifacts—the Liberty Bell.

The legacy of Penn’s Frame of Government extends far beyond that, though. It is now regarded as an important step toward true democracy for the many liberties and rights that it provided for different religions. Although William Penn was a Quaker, he was an advocate of religious freedom who also negotiated peaceful deals with Native American tribes. Back in England, he was arrested numerous times for his beliefs and spent his jail time writing more pamphlets to further his cause.

When word of Penn’s new constitution reached Europe, it found support among those who shared his convictions. French philosopher Voltaire said that William Penn “brought down upon Earth a Golden Age” unlike any that has been before.

4 ‘To My Peoples’

On July 29, 1914, a manifesto titled “To my peoples” was widely distributed throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Signed by Emperor Franz Joseph I one day earlier, the manifesto officially announced a declaration of war on Serbia, signaling the start of World War I. In the document, the emperor portrays himself as a man of peace, forced into war by “incessant provocations” from the Kingdom of Serbia to defend the honor and position of his monarchy.

The title “To my people” was a common headline for war manifestos. Franz Joseph used the plural “peoples” to signify that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a multiethnic empire consisting of two equal monarchies plus the autonomous Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Within days, the document had been translated into all languages of the empire and distributed as pamphlets and propaganda posters. It was also published in all the newspapers.

The document was seen as the culmination of the July Crisis. Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, many people realized that war between Serbia and Austria-Hungary was inevitable. The latter made an “attempt” at a peaceful reconciliation by issuing an ultimatum to Serbia that contained unacceptable terms, including Austro-Hungarian government representatives in Serbia, Austro-Hungarian police in Serbia, and the removal from the Serbian government of all military and civil administrators named by Austria-Hungary.

Suffice it to say that the war didn’t go as planned for Austria-Hungary. The end of the Great War brought the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the fall of the Habsburg monarchy.

3 Pope Urban II’s Letter Of Instruction

Around AD 1095, Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus sent a request to Pope Urban II asking for military assistance against Seljuk Turks attacking his lands in Asia Minor. In response, the pope organized the Council at Clermont consisting of hundreds of clerics and nobles. There, Pope Urban gave one of the most significant speeches in history, triggering an event that would have a profound effect on Europe for centuries to come—the Crusades.

The council lasted from November 18 to November 28. Urban gave his speech on November 27, which is now regarded as the starting point for the First Crusade. The pope argued that it was time for Eastern and Western Christianity to unite against the Muslims. The following year, tens of thousands of soldiers marched east. The crusade culminated with the recapture of Jerusalem in 1099, although Pope Urban died a few weeks before word reached Western Europe.

We have six sources of information regarding the Pope’s speech at the Council of Clermont. The reliability of five of them is a matter of debate. They offered varying details on certain issues such as what kind of pardons would be granted to crusaders and whether the primary goal was helping the Byzantine Empire or retaking the Holy Land.

The sixth source is a letter of instruction written by the Pope himself in December 1095 to crusaders rallying in Flanders. It covers the Council of Clermont and remains the best source for one of the most important events in the history of medieval Europe.

2 The Mayflower Compact

Plymouth was one of the most notable early English colonies in North America. Some of its aspects are now deeply ingrained in American culture, particularly the Pilgrims and the Thanksgiving celebration. Back then, Pilgrims were typically referred to as Separatists—devout people who had fled England for a new place where they could practice their religion as they saw fit. Their iconic 1620 trip aboard the Mayflower is another essential tale of America folklore.

What’s usually forgotten is that the Pilgrims were actually a minority aboard the Mayflower. Over half of the more than 100 passengers plus the 25 crew members were “strangers” or non-Separatists. Originally headed for Virginia, the Mayflower had to settle for new land due to dangerous storms and a shortage of supplies. Worryingly, the Separatist leaders realized that most strangers had no interest in following Pilgrim rules once a settlement was established. In the words of a stranger, they were free to “use their own liberty.”

This resulted in the drafting of the Mayflower Compact, the first frame of government written and enacted in the United States. All men had to sign it before going ashore. The document granted authority to a “Civil Body Politic” to enact just and equal laws, but as the governing body consisted mostly of Separatists, it ensured that they stayed in power. Although the Mayflower Compact was not a constitution, it formed the basis for Plymouth’s government and remained in force until 1691 when the whole colony was absorbed into Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1 De Lome Letter

On April 25, 1898, war broke out between the United States and Spain, lasting for over three months and ending with an American victory. It was followed by the Treaty of Paris, which was heavily in America’s favor. Spain was forced to relinquish Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, thus losing all of its overseas territories except for a few in Northern Africa. Many see this as the end of the Spanish Empire, once known as the “empire on which the Sun never sets.”

Before the war, people in America were divided on the issue. Yellow journalism pioneers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were in favor of war and were accused of using the media to incite the public. In this regard, Hearst hit pay dirt in February 1898 when he acquired the De Lome letter.

Enrique Dupuy De Lome was the Spanish ambassador to the United States. He wrote an unflattering letter to Spain’s foreign minister about America’s involvement in Cuba. It described McKinley as weak and a low politician. However, Cuban revolutionaries intercepted the letter. Eventually, Hearst found out and published it in the New York Journal with the headline “The Worst Insult to the United States in Its History.” The scandal outraged the American public, and they demanded action. Two months later, they got their wish.

On the Spanish side, the war cost Spain international power and prestige, but the country did experience an intellectual rebirth due to a new wave of writers, poets, and philosophers known as the Generation of ’98.

Radu is into science and weird history. Share the knowledge on Twitter, or check out his website.

10 Bizarre Secrets Behind America’s National Treasures

2025-02-23T08:09:51Z

Growing up in the United States, you learn about all the big, quintessentially “American” sites and structures from a very early age. You’re told that they are important and given a vague explanation of why. Then you set about the task of never really thinking about them again.

That’s a shame because they can be quite fascinating—usually for reasons that they were never meant to be. Behind the stately columns and torches lies an entire world of weirdness hidden away from the public eye.

10 The Washington Mini Monument

The Washington Monument, the giant white obelisk in Washington, DC, was built in honor of the first US president, George Washington. You probably knew that. What you may not have known is that the monument has a forgotten baby brother.

Buried beneath an unassuming manhole right beside the famous landmark is a 3.7-meter-tall (12 ft) replica. Placed there in the 1880s, around the same time that the Washington Monument was finished, this shrunken clone served as a “Geodetic Control Point” for the National Geodetic Survey (NGS).^[1]

Officially named “Bench Mark A,” it was basically used as an exceptionally accurate starting point when making maps and planning railroad routes. However, due to its proximity to the monument, the NGS employees decided to dress it up a bit rather than use the standard plain metal rods.

Unfortunately, the miniature monument has sunk into DC’s marshy soil over the years. So it was given a proper burial. It was entombed in a brick chimney and sealed off from the world. It continues to sink about 0.5 millimeters (0.02 in) each year.

9 The Capitol’s Flag Factory

Aside from being your typical stately government building, the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, offers a special service: For a small fee, you can own an American flag that has been flown over the Capitol. So, if you wish to own a flag that is slightly more America-y than your neighbor’s, you’re welcome.

But before you reach for your wallet, there’s just one thing. The flag you receive will indeed have been flown over the Capitol, but only on one of three tiny, hidden flagpoles for 30 seconds.

Since its inception in 1937, the Capitol Flag Program (CFP) has supplied patriotic citizens with genuine “Capitol-flown” flags. However, when demand eventually outgrew supply, the CFP had to get creative. Rather than continue to sell the prominently displayed flags above the Capitol’s entrances, they just installed a bizarre “flag factory” on the roof.

Three unremarkable flagpoles, complete with a small service elevator and crew of workers, are used to fly as many flags for the state-mandated 30 seconds as possible each day. Security cameras have even been installed to prevent workers from flying the flags for a disgustingly disrespectful 29 seconds.^[2]

8 The Golden Gate Bridge-Boat-Tunnel Thing

While it isn’t a really a national monument, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge is still a world-famous symbol of American ingenuity. However, this bright orange engineering marvel came dangerously close to not existing. San Francisco almost built a tunnel instead. Stranger still, they almost built a tunnel designed by a man who had presumably no idea what a tunnel actually was.

When shopping around for ideas about how to span San Francisco Bay in the early 1930s, city officials were delivered an unusual proposal by local inventor Cleve F. Shaffer. His eccentric concept called for two bridges to be built—one from each shore—which would each connect to its own ship floating stationary in the bay. A tunnel would run between the ships, which would be raised and lowered to allow sea traffic in and out of the city.^[3]

Aside from the fever-dream design, the problems introduced by the plan were many. The narrow spiral ramps within the bridge-ships would create nightmarish traffic jams. In addition, the fact that most of the bridge was freely floating was a recipe for maritime disaster.

Tempted by the relatively low price tag, the city of San Francisco came bafflingly close to accepting this design before settling on their now world-famous suspension bridge.

7 The Supreme Basketball Court

The “Highest Court of the Land” is a title that has long been held by the US Supreme Court. It is well-deserved, albeit in a metaphorical sense. A more literal example would be the secret basketball court which sits just above the courtroom.

Once used as a storage area for journals and other legal documents, the fifth floor of the Washington, DC, Supreme Court building was converted into an all-purpose workout area for off-duty employees in the 1940s. At some point, the focus shifted to basketball and a slightly smaller-than-regulation basketball court was constructed.

In recent years, justices such as Byron White and William H. Rehnquist have shot hoops there to blow off steam. Sandra Day O’Connor used it to host women-only yoga classes. A weight-lifting area even caters to justices looking to strengthen their cores.^[4]

Unfortunately, this court is off-limits to the public. As it sits just above the courtroom on the fourth floor, there are strict rules in place. Signs warn visitors not to play when court is in session because squeaky sneakers can really blow your concentration when deciding the legal fate of millions.

6 The Disturbing Vision Behind the National Parks

Many people are aware that Theodore Roosevelt founded the US Forest Service and more or less created the concept of a “national park.” However, most people don’t know that he had help—from some of the most distressingly racist people on the planet. They saw national parks as an opportunity to prove the importance of racial purification.

These men were Madison Grant, Gifford Pinchot, and a handful of other aristocratic supporters of eugenics, the belief that some creatures—including humans—are genetically superior to others. They were fond of warning of the impending “race suicide” that America would face if it didn’t replenish its stock of white people and even suggested that certain people should be legally forbidden to reproduce.^[5]

However, they were also very vocal about the importance of wildlife conservation. When Roosevelt approached them for help in establishing the national parks, they saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

Essentially, their idea was to use the parks as a metaphor for human society—the noble bear and elk (white people) deprived of land and resources by weaker but more numerous species (nonwhites). Luckily, the message was lost in translation and now we just like looking at all the pretty trees.

5 Crazy Horse’s Ironic Insult

In 1948, sculptor Korczazk Ziolkowski began work on possibly the most ambitious statue in the world. Using the very mountains of South Dakota’s Black Hills, he planned to honor Native American folk hero Crazy Horse with a massive memorial, the largest on the planet. Unfortunately, he didn’t bother to consult any actual Native Americans before starting work.

Aside from the fact that Ziolkowski began unknowingly blowing apart a sacred mountain with no permission whatsoever, the statue itself has proven problematic as well. The plan calls for Crazy Horse, mounted on horseback, to be pointing dramatically across the land.

This is a reference to a folktale in which a white man asks, “Where are your lands now?” The legendary warrior replies, “My lands are where my dead lie buried.” It makes for a moving image. But there’s one small problem: It is unbelievably rude to point in Native American culture.^[6]

Needless to say, Native American spokesmen have been condemning the statue for decades, comparing it to a Mount Rushmore that features the presidents picking their noses. Luckily, the statue is not yet finished. Here’s hoping that someone takes over soon who is willing to actually speak to the people being honored.

4 The National Mall’s Dodged Bullet

The National Mall in Washington, DC, is absolutely packed with monuments to great Americans and moments in American history. The Washington Monument, the Smithsonian, and the Lincoln Memorial all call this long, grassy stretch home. However, in the early 1920s, it came dangerously close to adopting a new monument, seemingly praising one of the darkest moments in the nation’s history.

Having only been abolished half a century prior, slavery was still an extremely tender topic during the early years of the 20th century. This is exactly why the “Mammy Monument” was so baffling.

Proposed by North Carolina Congressman Charles Stedman in 1923, this statue featured a large slave woman holding a white infant. It was to be a memorial to slaves who “desired no change in their condition of life.”^[7]

Understandably, in an era in which many white Americans were still struggling to decide if freeing the slaves had been the right move, a monument to slaves that looked upon slavery “as the happy golden hours of their lives” might have been problematic.

Nevertheless, the Senate approved the proposal, nearly constructing the statue ironically close to the Lincoln Memorial. However, overwhelming backlash ultimately caused the project to be canceled.

3 Lincoln’s Cave Drawings

Speaking of the Lincoln Memorial, it isn’t immune to Hidden Historical Weirdness Syndrome (HHWS), either. Like other HHWS sufferers, Lincoln’s famous shrine hides its secrets well. Only a select few ever get to see it, but there is a man-made cavern full of modern cave paintings hiding just beneath Abe’s massive throne.

During the monument’s construction in the naturally swampy Washington, DC, terrain, workers had to dig down 12 meters (40 ft) to hit anything solid enough to build on. Then they poured several concrete pillars to support the weight of the memorial. This inadvertently created a huge artificial cave system beneath the structure. In the years following its 1922 completion, it even began growing stalactites.

But the truly bizarre bits are the cave drawings—charcoal graffiti left by bored workmen over 100 years ago. Perfectly preserved in their sealed tomb, intricate illustrations of dogs, horses, flapper girls, and men smoking pipes stare from the giant columns supporting Honest Abe.

Plastic sheets have been placed to protect a few of these drawings, but most are still exactly as they were left a century ago. Tentative plans are in place to open this otherworldly time capsule to the public in the near future.^[8]

2 The Roosevelt Geyser

Today, the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial sits on a quiet island in the Potomac River in Washington, DC. In honor of the 26th president’s love of nature and conservation, it largely consists of a simple park. However, upon Roosevelt’s death in 1919, proposals for a memorial began pouring in, and the current design was nowhere near the most likely.

At first, officials were drawn to a plan put forth by architect John Russell Pope. On the southern banks of DC’s tidal basin—home of the Jefferson Memorial—a fountain would be constructed in honor of Roosevelt’s spirit, which “sprang out of the deep sources of the nation’s history.” However, this would be no ordinary fountain. Larger than life, like Roosevelt himself, this fountain would blast water to a staggering 61 meters (200 ft), twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial.^[9]

Obviously, the man-made geyser idea never saw the light of day. Not only did many agree that it was too soon to build a memorial to the only one-year-deceased president, but the irony wasn’t lost on the public. After all, was such a monumental waste of water really the best way to honor the greatest conservationist in history?

1 Lady Liberty’s Makeover

New York City’s Statue of Liberty is far and away the most powerful symbol of the United States. Instantly recognizable the world over, this (now) green behemoth has welcomed ships to NYC since 1886. But bizarrely, her iconic look was not her first one—she was originally a Muslim woman.

Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the statue’s designer, had first planned to build the colossal statue/lighthouse for the opening of Egypt’s Suez Canal. She was to be a fellah (“Arab peasant”) clad in a simple Middle Eastern robe.

Entitled Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia, she would represent the Egyptians, her torch lighting the way for the rest of the world. However, after throwing obscene amounts of cash at the canal project itself, the Egyptian government passed on the costly—and entirely cosmetic—statue.

But Bartholdi was determined to bring his vision to life. So when the French government approached him to design a monument for the US for its centennial celebration, he jumped at the chance. After swapping her Muslim robe for a more Roman number and changing her official name to Liberty Enlightening the World, Bartholdi presented the United States with his now world-famous creation.^[10]

10 Big Screen Flops That Are Surprisingly Inspiring

2025-02-23T07:56:42Z

While box office disappointment is not necessarily a reflection on the quality of a motion picture, it is surprising to discover a really inspiring movie that initially failed to win over audiences. It is easy for films with a lot of heart to be labeled corny or overly sentimental, which can be one of the things that might prevent such a movie from being a hit. These are 10 films that flopped when they were originally released but still have the power to inspire those who are willing to give them a chance.

Related: 10 Real-Life, Romantic Love Stories from World War II

10 Slow Dancing in the Big City

The 1978 romantic drama Slow Dancing in the Big City is remembered as a huge flop. Overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles in order to achieve an ambition is a major theme that runs through this movie, which also involves the relationship between talented but ailing young ballerina on the cusp of fame, Sarah Gantz, and an earthy, out-of-shape newspaper columnist Lou Friedlander. So it’s no wonder publicity for the film compared it to Rocky, which was such an enormous hit just a few years earlier. The movie actually has many things in common with Rocky,” including the same director, John G. Avildsen, composer Bill Conti, and an underdog storyline.

Slow Dancing in the Big City turned out to be the failure that many people had expected the low-budget Rocky to be. The flaws of Slow Dancing in the Big City are apparent. Lou (Paul Sorvino) generally comes across as a doormat, and the inexperience of newcomer Anne Ditchburn, who plays Sarah, is obvious enough. Additionally, the scaled-back, unrefined style, which was so appealing in Rocky, did not work in this film. However, it is still very watchable and succeeds at inspiring audiences.

As Roger Ebert said, the movie: “cheerfully exists in the world of big hearts and brave tears and happy endings that make you blow your nose. It’s a classic of melodramatic overachievement.”^[1]

9 Author! Author!

Al Pacino received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as playwright Ivan Travalian in the 1982 comedy Author! Author!, but the movie bombed with critics and audiences alike. The plot revolves around Ivan’s efforts to mount his latest play on Broadway while struggling as an unlikely single father to his blended family when his unfaithful wife Gloria (Tuesday Weld) suddenly leaves him and the children. Amid all the chaos, Ivan complicates things further by embarking on an affair with a free-spirited actress, Alice Detroit (Dyan Cannon).

The timing of its release was likely one of the things that hurt this movie at the box office since it was such a big year for blockbuster action flicks like First Blood and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, but Author! Author! is far from perfect. One problem is the lack of focus. With so much going on in the story, the audience is as distracted as Ivan himself would have been on a typical day. On the plus side, Pacino’s depiction of Ivan is an impressive and heartwarming departure from his most memorable characters. Ivan’s love and commitment to these otherwise unwanted kids come shining through, and we root for him to succeed as he juggles family life with the theater.^[2]

8 The Rewrite

Hugh Grant has starred in more than his fair share of romantic comedies, and the 2014 film The Rewrite is often labeled as such, but it only partially fits into this category. It is just as much an inspirational movie about comebacks and self-discovery. Grant plays a down-on-his-luck screenwriter, Keith Michaels, whose career started to flounder after penning one legendary hit film many years earlier.

Struggling to pay bills, he reluctantly moves cross country to take a teaching job at Binghamton University in New York, where he is a complete misfit and nearly gets fired for his unorthodox approach. However, Keith is surprised to find that he has a real calling to teach, and he must choose whether to keep the position or accept an opportunity to work in the film industry again.

There’s plenty of humor and a sweet romance between Keith and single mom Holly (Marisa Tomei), but inspiration is at the heart of the story, which is very much about soul searching and starting over in life. Despite being written and directed by Grant’s frequent collaborator Marc Lawrence and featuring an impressive supporting cast, The Rewrite was a major commercial disappointment that mostly drew lukewarm reviews, but when it comes to films that encourage us to explore new horizons, it definitely hits the mark.^[3]

7 Lost in Yonkers

The 1993 dramedy Lost in Yonkers, about a dysfunctional family in WWII-era Yonkers, New York, is based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning Neil Simon play and features critically acclaimed performances from Mercedes Ruehl and Irene Worth reprising their Tony-winning stage roles for the screen adaptation. However, all this was not enough to make it a hit at the box office. This film, which follows two adolescent brothers, Jay (Brad Stoll) and Arty (Mike Damus), who are left with their father’s eccentric family one summer, may have been too offbeat to achieve mainstream popularity, but that’s also part of its charm.

The movie, which memorably co-stars Richard Dreyfuss, centers on the boys’ childlike Aunt Bella, who dreams of a home and family of her own, only to be deterred by her tyrannical mother. Lost in Yonkers veers between farcical, poignant, heartbreaking, and ultimately inspiring as Bella finds independence.^[4]

6 Beautiful

Some of the most inspiring films feature storytelling, which manages to be soul-stirring but not overly sentimental. This is the case with the dramedy Beautiful, starring Minnie Driver as professional beauty pageant contestant Mona. Mona must come to terms with her role as a mother to her young daughter Vanessa (Hallie Eisenberg), mainly being brought up by her roommate Ruby (Joey Lauren Adams), posing as Vanessa’s mom so that Mona can be eligible to compete in the pageants.

However, when Ruby is arrested for a crime she didn’t commit, Mona is forced to take on real maternal responsibility for the little girl and, in so doing, begins to confront issues rooted in her own painful childhood. Though it failed to turn a profit when released in 2000, Beautiful succeeds at being a feel-good movie that powerfully communicates the importance of making family a top priority.^[5]

5 84 Charing Cross Road

The quirky but heartwarming 1987 film 84 Charing Cross Road, starring Anne Bancroft as brash, struggling New York writer Helene Hanff and Anthony Hopkins as her unlikely pen pal, reserved London bookseller Frank Doel, isn’t the type of movie that is expected to be a hit at the box office. It was also fairly predictable that the film would be embraced by critics, considering the impressive cast and critical acclaim of the source material, which was Hanff’s bestselling autobiographical book.

Both of these things came true, but one surprising benefit of watching 84 Charing Cross Road is how inspiring it turns out to be. Helene’s frequent requests for obscure, vintage books and Frank’s skill for obtaining these rare volumes bring them together. It’s very moving to see how these two people, who are so different from one another, form a meaningful long-distance relationship through written correspondence without ever meeting. Knowing this was based on a true story makes it even more inspiring.^[6]

4 Children of Men

Well-made dystopian dramas are often among the most inspiring films, which makes sense considering how easy it is to root for a character who’s trying to save the world. Based on a novel by P.D. James, the 2006 sci-fi action thriller Children of Men is set in a disastrous world where humans have lost the ability to reproduce. Clive Owen stars as Theo Faron, a one-time activist turned cynical bureaucrat, who agrees to take a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.

Julianne Moore plays Theo’s radical ex-girlfriend, Julian, who re-enters his life and compels him to join her in a mission to effect positive change. One of the most inspiring things about this movie is Theo’s transformation from someone who could be seen as symbolic of the growing pessimism in society into a hero who is fighting for the future of humanity.

Despite all the film has to offer in the way of exciting and thought-provoking entertainment, it was not a financial success but did earn plenty of critical acclaim. In a Time Magazone article about Children of Men, the publication praised the work of director Alfonso Cuarón and called the film “a cautious incantation for a hopeful future.”^[7]

3 Dominick and Eugene

The 1988 drama Dominick and Eugene is a raw but uplifting film about the complex relationship between medical student Eugene (Ray Liotta) and his intellectually challenged fraternal twin brother Nicky (Tom Hulce). Nicky is helping to put his brother through school by working as a garbage collector. To Eugene’s new girlfriend, Jennifer (Jamie Lee Curtis), it seems like he is taking advantage of Dominick, but Eugene plans to pay him back once he becomes a brain surgeon by supporting his brother for the rest of his life.

Eugene’s intention to go away for two years to complete an internship at Stanford and other changes threaten the twins’ closeness. Eventually, their bond strengthens through adversity and the exploration of a traumatic past. While it has received a lot of praise, especially for the actors’ performances, this inspiring film was not a financially lucrative project. However, Dominick and Eugene is now considered to be a cult classic.^[8]

2 It’s a Wonderful Life

Given its legacy as one of the greatest Christmas films of all time, a lot of movie fans would be shocked to learn that the now iconic It’s a Wonderful Life was a flop when it premiered in 1947. With its strongly conveyed themes of hope, faith, gratitude, and individual purpose, this fantasy drama is about the suicidal George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart), who gets a new lease on life after an angel shows him the valuable impact he’s had on his family and community. It is a prime example of how inspiring some originally unsuccessful films can turn out to be.

However, the film didn’t inspire much when it was first released besides mixed reviews from the critics. Financially, it didn’t even break even, but the picture did get nominated for five Oscars. As with many box office duds that go on to develop a cult following, It’s a Wonderful Life later gained popularity when it was shown on television, leading it to become a holiday tradition.^[9]

1 The Shawshank Redemption

Prison movies aren’t usually particularly inspiring, but The Shawshank Redemption, a 1994 drama starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, is one of the exceptions. A commercial flop when it was first released, this film, written by Stephen King and Frank Darabond and directed by Darabond, lives up to its tagline, “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.” Robbins plays Andy Dufresne, falsely convicted of murdering his wife and her lover in 1947.

Instead of allowing himself to be eaten up by bitterness at his unjust circumstance, Andy’s positive attitude and compassion see him through the experience, which lasts for more than two decades. Nominated for seven Oscars and many other awards, the critical reception was mainly positive, with reviewers highly praising the movie, especially for its compellingly delivered message of hope and for the impressive performances. The film’s popularity has grown enormously with movie fans and is now considered a cult classic.^[10]

Top 10 Favorite Things of JFrater

2025-02-22T23:42:07Z

It is my birthday! This is the vanity post as promised. On the recent update, bassbait suggested a list of my favorite things, which appealed to me as it would hopefully also partly be a list of things people don’t know about me (another suggested list by witcharachne). So, aside from the obvious things that I love such as raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens (just kidding – I hate whiskers on kittens) here are ten of my favorite things.

The Winner: Top 10 Places You Don’t Want to Visit
The Runners Up: Everything on this list, Top 10 Clowns you don’t want to Mess With

It was tough picking between the clowns list and the places list, but the places list wins because it caused a bit of controversy. Shortly after it was published I got a call from a Canadian paper, based in one of the towns on the list (the one with the Asbestos Mine) – they seemed a little pissed that I had said you don’t want to visit their town. My favorite entry on the list is the Alnwick Poison Gardens, as it combines the bizarre and the forbidden – two of my favorite topics.

The Winner: Alfred Schnittke
The Runners Up: Charles Ives, Bach, Verdi

Alfred Schnittke was a Russian-German composer whose music I discovered when I was in Music school, as a teen. I first saw his Concerto Gross 2, and was blown away by the power and the unusual style. Interestingly, he has some similarities to Charles Ives with his use of pastiche and polytonality. The clip above is typical of his style. Schnittke died in 1998. I love Ives because his music is so unique and groundbreaking in its time. I especially love his Concorde Sonata, which I try (dismally) to play on the piano – I only have some success with one of the movements. And Bach I like because when he was writing there were no real rules to music, and, despite this, he managed to make music that will be remembered forever.

The Winner: Rorate Caeli
The Runners Up: Basenotes, eGullet, BBC News

I actually spend very little time on the web for entertainment – most of my web use is on Listverse (which I have not counted for this item as it is most obviously my favorite), with the rest of it being sites dealing with our accounts (marketing and advertising). So, for the runners up, I have listed the sites that I spend most time on when I do use the web for entertainment. As for the winning site, Rorate Caeli, I visit that every morning once – I skim the articles and read a few of the comments, if the article is of interest. It is a news website for traditionally minded Catholics, and, often, is first to come out with interesting or new articles from around the world. The writers are all very honest and they always seem to pick stories I find interesting. Incidentally, the Latin words “Rorate Caeli (or coeli)” are the first words of the Book of Isaias: “Rorate coeli desuper et nubes pluant justum” which means: “Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just”. The clip above is a Gregorian chant version of it.

The Winner: Marlon Brando
The Runners Up: Jared Leto, Christian Bale, Edward Norton, Leonardo DiCaprio, James Dean

Marlon Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time – he was so good that James Dean chased him about trying to get him to give him some training. Brando is absolutely amazing in a Streetcar Named Desire, and went from strength to strength throughout his career – no one will dispute his role in the Godfather was one of the best ever on film. As for my runners up, Jared Leto is good in everything – even the slightly boring film about the guy that killed John Lennon, Christian Bale has been amazing even as a kid in Empire of the Sun, DiCaprio is really an excellent actor even if you don’t like his personality or choice of films (namely, Titanic), James Dean is hard not to like, and Edward Norton is quirky but great.

The Winner: Bentley Mulsanne
The Runners Up: Chrysler 300C

It takes more than two months to make a Bentley Mulsanne, of which 50% is handcrafted. The Mulsanne was released this year and it replaces my previous favorite, the discontinued Bentley Arnage. Customers who can afford the $350,000 price tag have a choice of 114 paint colors, 21 carpet colors, nine wood veneers and 24 interior leather hides, and are able to specify a custom color scheme. I have always loved Bentley’s (the new models, not the old) and would love to own one one day. In the meantime, I am content with the runner up car, the Chrysler 300C, which is what I currently own.

The Winner: Lonestar Memories by Tauer
The Runners Up: Millesime Imperial By Creed, Attar Homage by Amouage

A website I really like reading is Basenotes – it is an online community of men and women who rate aftershaves and perfumes. Since I was a kid, I followed in my big brother’s footsteps by loving lots of different aftershaves – so this is a good way for me to learn about new ones. All three of the ones listed above are my favorites, and all three I discovered through Basenotes. Lonestar Memories is a love/hate aftershave – it is very strong and very masculine, but over the day it softens a lot. Millesime Imperial was the first one I bought on the list (which is why it is only a runner up) and it is a much fresher smell – more suited for going to the gym. Homage is the most expensive (at $350 for a tiny bottle) but it takes a field of roses to make. It is very possibly the nicest smelling aftershave in the world – but only my third favorite because it really takes a special occasion to wear it. It is typical of the new French-style perfumes coming from the Middle East with exotic ingredients.

The Winner: Anything by Michael Haneke
The Runners Up: All entries on this list

At present I am watching the films of Michael Haneke – an Austrian Director. I bought a box set of his DVDs recently because I saw the US remake (also by Haneke) of his original, Funny Games. As I go through the box set, I have not been disappointed at all by any of the movies. Code Unknown (starring Juliette Binoche) is my favorite, so far (it tells the story of several characters whose lives intertwine – a common theme for movies) though his most famous film is probably The Piano Teacher. If you haven’t seen anything by him, you definitely should. Here is the box set I bought if you want to buy it, and here is Code Unknown.

The Winner: X-Factor (UK)
The Runners Up: Great British Menu, Masterchef (UK), Glee, The Sarah Silverman Show

Wow – did I just confess that Glee is one of my favorite shows? The X-Factor is Simon Cowell’s British version of American Idol, and it has been running since 2004. It was the show that launched the career of Leona Lewis. I prefer the X-Factor to American Idol because the judges (and voting public) allow a much greater number of quirky people to get through the audition process, and when the contestants are chosen they all go to the judge’s houses for a bootcamp – so we get to see how Cowell and the other judges live. The selection of TV shows above is really about all I ever watch – I record what I want to see (or download it) and that is the only time I have the TV on. So this entry is not just my favorite TV shows, but my entire TV viewing at present. The clip above is my favorite auditionee this year – she is absolutely crazy! Note: in the X Factor the contestants audition in front of the judges and a huge audience.

The Winner: MGMTThe Runners Up: The Script, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, Muse

I can’t remember when I first heard MGMT but, the moment I did, I loved their sound. The music is so easy to sing along with, and very quirky and upbeat. If you haven’t heard them before be sure to listen to the clip above – they really are very good. I heard Arctic Monkeys and Muse on the UK show Top of the Pops, and liked them immediately, so I downloaded their albums. I tend to listen to the Muse more than Arctic Monkeys now, and think the last AM album was not very good, so I haven’t bothered to buy it. And for the record, I buy all my music at the iTunes store – I don’t download it free

The Winner: French Cheese
The Runners Up: Roast

I really surprised myself when I realized that there are only two foods that I go crazy for – the two listed above. I have always been a fan of French cheeses (my favorites being Roquefort – a salty blue vein – and Pont L’Eveque – a strong smelling, brie-like cheese). When I am dieting I can happily avoid anything (I haven’t eaten takeaways in six months) but the one thing I can’t resist is cheese and crackers. I always have some when I see it. As for roasts, when I have a day off my diet I always have a roast – usually chicken, beef, lamb, pork or veal, with all the usual trimmings of gravy, roast potatoes, pumpkin (or carrots), and a green vegetable (at present often Brussels Sprouts as they are in season). I have been known to have a roast every day of the week (perhaps the reason for my original need to diet!)

Jamie Frater

Jamie is the founder of Listverse. When he’s not doing research for new lists or collecting historical oddities, he can be found in the comments or on Facebook where he approves all friends requests!

10 Fascinating Animal-To-Human Diseases

2025-02-22T13:52:47Z

A zoonosis is a disease which is transmitted from animals to humans. With nearly 850 known zoonoses, many of which are almost never contracted by humans, there are bound to be many that we are unaware of. Besides entry number four, this list presents a number of fairly unknown zoonotic disease which, although rare, still infect hundreds or thousands worldwide each year. Each entry includes a brief rundown of symptoms, risks and treatment, as well as providing small factoids about the pathogen itself.

As the name suggests, the humble cat is the main carrier of Cat Scratch Disease. Transmitted through a scratch or bite, symptoms including painful regional and lymph node swelling and papules, which typically appear within one to two weeks of infection—although they can take up to to eight weeks to manifest. The majority of cases resolve themselves over time and do not require medical treatment with antibiotics, although in individuals with weak or compromised immune systems, such as children and sufferers of HIV, treatment is essential to prevent abscesses, pneumonia and even comas.

Endemic only to Australia, barmah forest virus is a non-fatal mosquito borne pathogen which is closely related to the equally non-fatal, but more common, ross river virus. The majority of individuals who contract barmah forest virus demonstrate no symptoms whatsoever, but in those who do the virus manifests itself within two weeks with a mild fever, headaches, lethargy, rashes and painful arthritis and swelling—particularly of the wrists and ankles. All of these symptoms, barring arthritis which can continue for up to six months or more, resolve themselves without treatment within a couple of weeks. Although relatively harmless, in susceptible individuals barmah forest virus has been known to cause Guillain–Barré syndrome or kidney inflammation, both of which can be fatal.

Carried almost predominately by sheep, orf is contracted when the virus comes into contact with cuts or abrasions on the skin. If normal wound infections procedures are followed, medical care should be unnecessary as there are no major complications which can arise from the disease. The main symptoms of orf are red papules or lesions at the site of infection.

With varying infection rates worldwide, Bang’s disease, or brucellosis, is a bacterial disease commonly contracted through the consumption of unsterilized and contaminated milk or meat from infected cattle, sheep, pigs or goats. It may also be contracted through cuts which come into contact with the bodily fluids of an infected animal. Symptoms arise within one month and initially include flu like symptoms such as fever, headaches, back and joint pain as well as fatigue. If left untreated Bang’s disease can lead to heart infection and liver abscess—both of which can lead to death—and also lasting symptoms similar to chronic fatigue syndrome. In pregnant women the disease can also cause miscarriages and birth defects.

Unlike many of the entries on this list, cryptosporidiosis can not only be frequently transmitted from animal to humans, but also from human to human. All infections result from the consumption of contaminated food or water. With an incubation period of up to ten days, the cryptosporidiosis parasite lives within the intestines of it’s host and can cause acute symptoms in the majority of patients, which can last up to two weeks. Symptoms include stomach cramps, vomiting, nausea, fever and dehydration. Treatments often target the symptoms rather the the parasite itself, and as long as one remains hydrated there should be few, if any, major complications. In patients with a compromised immune system, however, hospitalization is often required to prevent death from chronic dehydration.

Caught from contact with the infected feces of dogs, cats and foxes, toxocariasis is a parasite whose eggs can remain dormant within a host for up to two years before hatching. Once born, toxocariasis typically takes up residence in the intestines and cause moderate headaches, coughs and stomach cramps as well as a high fever should the parasite decide to relocate to an individuals organs. In rare cases the pathogen may infect the hosts eyes, leading to blurry vision and severe irritation, which if left untreated can lead to permanent blindness.

Probably the most well known entry on this list, rabies is of particular interest today as it’s no longer considered a total death sentence. Contracted through the bites and cuts from infected animals, rabies has an unpredictable incubation period followed by a rapid onset of destructive neurological symptoms, which eventually lead to death as the virus induces brain dysfunction. However in recent years the so called ‘Milwaukee Protocol’ has rose to prominence by saving around 8% of unvaccinated patients it has been used upon. That may seem low, but for a virus that once had a 100% mortality rate it is promising. During the Milwaukee protocol a patient with rabies is forcibly put into a drug induced coma and provided with high doses of antivirals. How exactly this technique works is unknown, although it is thought that by shutting down large portions of the brain it both prevents the brain dysfunction which typically kills, as well as providing more time for an individuals immune system to combat the virus.

Native to North America, Pahvant Vally Plague, or tulaermia, is a potentially fatal bacterial disease primarily transmitted from rabbits to humans via ticks and lice. One can also contract the disease by consuming contaminated food or water, or handling infected animal corpses. With an average incubation period of three to five days, many who have been infected are often surprised by the rapid onset of debilitating symptoms, which generally include a high fever, severe headaches, extreme weakness, lethargy, diarrhea, arthritis, chills, swollen lymph nodes and eyes as well as ulcers within the mouth or on the skin. Pahvent Vally Plague is considered a medical emergency which requires immediate treatment with antibiotics to prevent death from either dehydration, pneumonia or suffocation—resulting from respiratory depression caused by pahvant valley plague.

The severest form of leishmaniasis, black fever is a parasitic disease contracted from female sand fly bites in tropical and temperate regions of the globe. Infecting up to half a million people annually, and killing an estimated 50,000 of those, black fever is the deadliest human parasite known to man after malaria. With a untreated mortality rate of 100%, black fever’s symptoms are similar to to that of malaria—which often leads to a fatal misdiagnosis. Patients experience a high fever, blackening of the skin, ulcers, weakness, fatigue and anemia as well as spleen and liver enlargement. If left untreated black fever generally begins to attack the hosts immune system, which leaves the individual open to opportunistic infectious agents—many of which can cause pneumonia leading to death.

With a single colony hypothetically able to infect the entire human race, Q Fever is considered one of the most infectious agents known to man, as only a single Q Fever bacterium is required to be present for an individual to contract the disease. Although rarely transmitted from human to human (predominantly via sexual contact), the pathogen is far more commonly passed from livestock and domestic mammals to humans through contact with their bodily fluids—including milk, excrement and semen (There is a high rate of Q Fever amongst zoosexuals and zoophilies). Symptoms typically take up to three weeks to manifest and include, amongst others, a high fever, photophobia, extreme headaches and excessive sweating. Although there is a high risk of complications, including life threatening pneumonia and hepatitis, swift treatment with powerful antibiotics leads to a survival rate of over 90%. Antibiotic treatment for Q Fever typically has to be continued for months, or even years if necessary, as every single bacterium has to be eliminated fro the body to prevent relapse. There is typically less then a thousand Q Fever cases worldwide per year, and there is little threat of the bacteria mutating into something more powerful. Despite this, Q Fever is classified as a Class B bioterror agent due to it’s infectious and incapacitating nature.

Honorable Mentions: Anthrax, Avian Flu, Bovine TB, Cholera, Cowpox, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Dengue fever, Ebola, HIV, Plauge, Salmonellosis, SARS (Debatable), Streptococcus Suis, Swine Flu, Typhus, West Nile Virus, Yellow Fever, Leprosy.

10 Military Underdogs Who Triumphed Against Incredible Odds

2025-02-22T08:09:46Z

Underdogs have a special place in the hearts of many, whether it’s the upstart Celtic Iceni tribe led by Boudicca revolting against the Romans or the ice-veined Spartans fighting in one of history’s greatest last stands against the Persians at Thermopylae. Either through superior tactics or more technologically advanced weaponry, the outnumbered often achieve some form of victory, whether moral or outright. Here are 10 such examples of great historical underdogs.

10British East India Company
Battle Of Assaye

Arthur Wellesley, the major general of the British forces and future first Duke of Wellington, said this of the battle: It was “the bloodiest for the number that I ever saw.” One of the major battles of the Second Anglo-Maratha War, a conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire, the Battle of Assaye saw between 6,500–10,000 British soldiers face off against a 40,000–50,000 strong Maratha army.

Unfortunately for the British, their intelligence about the strength and location of their enemy was flawed. Not only were they in the wrong location, but they were much stronger than expected, having recently swelled by several divisions. Luckily for Wellesley, he was a better battlefield general than he was a strategist, as he quickly devised a plan to strike quickly, rather than wait for the reinforcements coming along under the command of Colonel Stevenson. (He had divided his army based on the faulty intelligence he had received, and the rest of his forces were miles away.)

However, the main reason for the British victory was the Maratha army simply didn’t believe that Wellesley would attack while being outnumbered so badly. This surprise led to a rout, one in which 5,000–6,500 soldiers of the Maratha army fell in battle. (The British lost about 1,500.) Later in his life, the Duke of Wellington reminisced about his many military triumphs and concluded that his victory at Assaye was the greatest of them all.

9King David IV And The Georgian Army
Battle Of Didgori

Otherwise known as David the Builder for his role as the architect of the Georgian Golden Age, King David IV of Georgia (the country, not the state) was faced with a problem that had plagued his country for years. The Seljuq Turks, Muslims from present-day Kazakhstan, had control over most of the Georgian state. (Various internal wars and earthquakes also helped to weaken the country’s resolve.) Ascending to the throne at the tender age of 16, David IV gathered together the various feudal lords in the area, formed an army, and began repelling the Seljuq occupiers, refusing to pay them any tribute.

Invigorated by the First Crusade’s success against Muslim armies, David IV initiated his plan to take Tbilisi, a great Georgian city and future capital of the country, which had been under Muslim control for nearly 500 years. So around 56,000 men began marching toward the city, camping at Mount Didgori, some 40 milometers (25 mi) from Tbilisi. Though contemporary records exaggerate the amount of forces facing the Georgians, conservative estimates put it at 100,000–250,000 men.

In a similar vein to Stalin and his infamous Order No. 227 (the “Not one step back!” order), David IV declared that retreat was not an option, barricading the route behind his men with trees and boulders. Then, in an act of treachery, he sent 200 heavily armed cavalrymen to the Seljuq leaders under the pretense that they were deserters. When they arrived, the Georgians attacked, killing the leaders and demoralizing the Muslim army. The Battle of Didgori was on, and it only lasted three hours, with the Seljuq Turks taking heavy losses, both as dead and captured, while the Georgians got off relatively light. (Actual casualty counts are hard to come by.) Tbilisi soon fell, and Georgia had its capital once again.

8Mexican Army
Battle Of Puebla

Picture it: Puebla, Mexico, 1862. The liberal Benito Juarez had been elected as president during the prior year, as the country began to fall into financial ruin, thanks to the enormous foreign debt they had accumulated over the years. Britain, France, and Spain each sent their own navies to Veracruz, demanding payment from the Mexican government. Deals were reached with Britain and Spain, who departed shortly afterward, but Napoleon III, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, saw an opportunity to establish a Mexican empire and refused to negotiate, landing an invading army instead.

Veracruz was stormed first, quite successfully, and the ease of the fighting convinced the French leaders that victory would come quickly throughout the country. Mexico City, the capital of the country, was the target, but a well-fortified city lay in the direct path the French decided to take: the city of Puebla. 6,000 French troops marched on the city, determined to wrest it from the hands of its ragtag band of 2,000 men. (As any military historian would tell you, a ratio of at least 3:1 is necessary for any sieging army.)

However, even with their superior numbers and artillery, the French were rebuffed in their assault. Starting at daybreak on May 5, the fighting lasted until early evening, with the French suffering five times as many casualties as the Mexicans. (Admittedly, the French only lost 500 people.) It was not strategically important—not only did the French ultimately take over the country for a short period, they even took the city itself a year later. But the victory served as a morale boost for the Mexican army, as well as the people of Mexico, who later created a holiday to celebrate the battle: Cinco de Mayo. (However, it is much more widely celebrated in the United States today than anywhere in Mexico, often under the misnomer of Mexican Independence Day.)

7Croatian National Guard
Battle Of Vukovar

When the president of Yugoslavia, Josip Tito, died in 1980, he left behind a fractured country, one cobbled together from formerly different states. (The six socialist republics were Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Serbia.) Serbian nationalists seized the opportunity and tried to centralize control of the country in their capital city of Belgrade. However, most of the other states wanted to break loose, with Croatia being one of them.

On June 25, 1991, the Croatians declared independence, though sporadic fighting between nationalist groups and police had been taking place since the end of March. Two months later, Serbian forces marched on Vukovar with about 36,000 men, determined to take the city, an important regional center on the eastern border of Croatia. Unfortunately for the Croats, the defending force was only 1,800 strong, with some of the Croatian citizens of the city doing what they could to support the troops.

For 86 days, the defenders held off the Serbians, before they finally surrendered, having ran out of ammo. (Reinforcements from other parts of the country never came.) Casualties on both sides were high, with the Serbian forces losing nearly twice as many men; the Croatian defenders lost nearly all of their men to death or injury. The aftermath of the battle was even worse for the inhabitants of the city, as the Serbs butchered 200 Croats who had taken refuge in the city’s hospital and had been promised safe passage out of the city. Widespread executions by Serbian forces were reported throughout the city as well, as ethnic cleansing began to rear its ugly head.

6English Troops
Battle Of Crecy

Though not as well known or devastating to the French as the Battle of Agincourt some 70 years later, the Battle of Crecy was arguably the most important battle in the entirety of the Hundred Years War. Relatively little attention was paid to the English longbow in the country, a weapon widely seen as one of the most devastating weapons in medieval times. That all changed in 1332 under the instruction of Edward III; he realized a large mass of longbows, fired in unison, could defeat much larger armies.

For 14 years, he built up his army of longbowmen, training and equipping them at a much lower cost than the traditional aristocratic knights who had previously made up his army. In July 1346, somewhere around 10,000 men landed on the French coast, outnumbered by nearly three to one. In fact, the French king at the time, Phillip VI, was so confident in his numerical superiority that he made a list of English knights he planned to take prisoner once they had won. Unlike Agincourt, in which the terrain played a large role in determining the outcome of the battle, Crecy was won simply because no one had really seen the longbow in action, and its novelty proved to be the deciding factor.

The French, as well as many other countries, had often looked at archers as defensive troops, with the crossbow seen as the most superior ranged weapon. However, the English longbowmen could fire six to seven times more arrows per minute, contributing to them killing the French crossbowmen very quickly. Any who retreated were cut down by advancing French horsemen, who took it as a sign of cowardice. In the end, confusion and fear (as well as longbowmen) ravaged the French forces, and at least 10,000 of them met their demise. (An argument could be made this isn’t an underdog victory, as the English enjoyed such a strategic advantage, but it shocked all of Christendom nevertheless.)

5Irish UN Troops
Siege Of Jadotville

The year was 1961. Ireland had only been recently admitted to the UN, as the Soviet Union had vetoed them relentlessly due to their neutrality during World War II, and this was their first peacekeeping operation. Though they weren’t exclusively made up of Irish soldiers (there were Swedish and Indian men as well), the UN troops in the state of Katanga in the Congo numbered only 158 and were very lightly armed. Stationed at the wealthy mining town of Jadotville, the troops were ordered to defend the locals from Katangan militia and Belgian mercenaries.

Having dug trenches, the Irish forces used accurate shooting and timely mortar attacks to repel the 3,000–5,000 strong force trying to storm the town. Somehow, by the end of the fighting, 1,300 of the enemies were either wounded or killed, with only five of the Irish wounded. UN forces tried to make it to the city to provide relief, but they were unable to break through the enemy lines. Out of ammunition, the commander of the Irish forces, Pat Quinlan, was forced to broker a ceasefire. (Or surrender, depending on your opinion.) Much of the Irish population felt they had surrendered, ignoring them on their return and denigrating the memory of anyone who served in Jadotville. However, thanks to the efforts of one of the men, John Gorman, their reputation has since been revived.

Perhaps the most famous quote to come from the conflict was made by Pat Quinlan, the Irish commander of the troops: “We will fight to the last man. Could do with some whiskey.” (Unfortunately, Irish nationalism changed that quote; he had actually requested water.)

4Swedish Soldiers
Battle Of Fraustadt

Though not as decisive nor impressive a victory as the Battle of Narva, a fight in which King Charles XII led a force of Swedes to victory over a Russian army nearly four times its size, the Battle of Fraustadt and the subsequent Swedish victory was one of their best and last in the Great Northern War. Besieged by three separate countries (Russia, Denmark-Norway, and Saxony-Poland), whose leaders sensed weakness in Sweden’s young king, the Swedish army enjoyed several initial successes.

One of those successes took place in 1706 near Fraustadt, a town in western Poland. 18,000 Saxons, Russians, and their mercenaries entrenched themselves a short distance from the outskirts of the town, and 9,000 Swedes did the same. The Swedish general recognized he had a numerical edge in cavalry, nearly three to one, and used that to his advantage. Using a pincer motion and the classic aggression of Swedish generals, he sent his horseman around the enemy’s flanks until they reached the center rear of their main line of defense.

The Saxon and Russian army collapsed at this point, leading to a rout in which only about 1,000 Swedes were either killed or captured and almost 16,000 of the enemy met the same fate. In addition, about 500 Russians who were taken prisoner during the battle were executed as revenge for atrocities the Russian forces were said to have committed in the city of Courland.

3Eastern Jin Soldiers
Battle Of Fei River

Widely considered one of the most important battles in Chinese history, the Battle of Fei River pitted the Eastern Jin dynasty of southern China against the barbarous inhabitants of the Former Qin dynasty of northern China. While the numbers might be exaggerated (a claim you could make against virtually every battle in human history), traditional historical sources say 800,000 soldiers marched from the north to face only 80,000 Eastern Jin Soldiers.

However, the Qin army was mostly made up of random conscripted soldiers, many of whom felt no loyalty toward their commanders or even outright hatred. In addition, they were poorly equipped and even more poorly trained. Fu Jian, the leader of the Qin dynasty, had conquered nearly all of the northern kingdoms of China, with those in the south squarely in his sights. So his men marched toward the lands of the Eastern Jin, successfully capturing many of the border cities.

In 382, Eastern Jin forces, led by the general Xie Xuan, decided to make their final stand at the Fei River, a waterway that is now dried up. The Eastern Jin forces were on one side of the river, and the Qin army was on the other. Xie Xuan sent word to his enemies, asking them to retreat slightly to the west so as to allow his forces to cross the river and commence the battle. When Fu Jin, the emperor of the Qin dynasty, agreed, many of his soldiers believed they had been defeated and panicked. Seizing this opportunity, Xie Xuan struck, killing nearly all of his enemies. By the end of the fighting, there was so much death that one account says: “The dead were so many that they were making a pillow for each other on the ground.” Shortly afterward, the Qin dynasty, devastated by the loss, plunged into civil war.

2Polish Infantry
Battle Of Wizna

Often described as the Polish Thermopylae, the Battle of Wizna saw an extremely outnumbered Polish force defend the city of Wizna against the onslaught of the German army. Though this is commonly seen as the beginning of the German blitzkrieg, the invasion of Poland was conducted through more traditional military means. Nevertheless, the difference in strength was overwhelming: 700 Poles were in the city, facing off against 40,000 Germans. (In fact more recent historians have claimed there may have only been about 360 Poles in the city.)

The fighting broke out on September 7, 1939, and lasted for two and a half days. To boost morale, as the Poles had heard of the vast army which was bearing down on them, the commander of the Polish forces, a man named Wladyslaw Raginis, vowed to not leave any defended position alive. However, the Polish forces quickly found themselves out of ammo, with no hope of reinforcements. In addition, the German commander, Heinz Guderian, threatened to execute every one of the Polish POWs if they didn’t surrender. In the end, Raginis agreed, sending his troops out of the bunker. One of them, Seweryn Bieganski, recalled later: “The captain looked at me warmly and softly urged me to leave. When I was at the exit, I was hit on my back with strong gust, and I heard an explosion.”

While they were unsuccessful in keeping Wizna out of German hands, the defenders did allow Polish leadership and many other soldiers to escape to Western Europe, where they continued the fight against the Nazis.

1Korean Navy
Battle Of Myeongnyang

Originally an army commander, Yi Sun-Sin began his military career fighting the Manchu nomads who roamed Korea’s northern border. A short while later, he was made commander of the Cholla naval district and defeated the Japanese fleet in several battles, thanks in no small part to his kobukson, the famed “turtle ships” of the Joseon dynasty. Due to a plot by a Japanese double agent, Sun-Sin was arrested and tortured for refusing orders that he deemed to be too dangerous. (Which they were, as the double agent wished to destroy the Korean fleet.)

Spared the death penalty but demoted to a lowly rank, Sun-Sin bided his time until the Korean leadership called on him again. The Japanese had mounted another attack and seemed to have turned the tide. Thanks to the many defeats of the general who preceded him, Sun-Sin only had 12 ships left to defend the country with, and he decided to make a last stand in the Myeongnyang Strait, just off the southwest coast of Korea. Though sources differ, the vast agree that at least 133 Japanese ships met him there, determined to end the war once and for all.

Using his knowledge of the ocean around him, as well as the strength of his ships, Sun-Sin routed the Japanese, destroying 31 of their ships while losing none of his own. Part of the massive victory was because the Japanese tended to try and win naval battles in the same vein of the Romans when they faced off against the Carthaginians: They tried to board the enemy ships rather than ram them. This proved fruitless against the kobukson, and Korea was victorious.

10 Tragic Facts About Sara Northrup, L. Ron Hubbard’s Wife

2025-02-22T08:08:11Z

“What happened to your second wife?” an interviewer once asked Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

He was referring to Sara Northrup, the woman who’d been at Hubbard’s side while he developed Dianetics and who later divorced him in a messy, public scandal. The whole world had watched their divorce fill the headlines of every paper. But still, when the question came, Hubbard just smirked and told the interviewer: “I’d never had a second wife.”

It’s an incredibly brazen lie—and a sign of just how much damage Sara Northrup could do to him. Her life is a story that the Church of Scientology is still trying to cover up because the amount of suffering she endured at Hubbard’s hands is nothing short of heartbreaking.

10 She Met L. Ron Hubbard In A Sex Magick Cult

Sara Northrup’s life was difficult from the start. When she met Hubbard, she was living at the home of physicist and occultist Jack Parsons. Both she and Hubbard were members of Aleister Crowley’s sex magick cult.

Northrup’s life was already filled with sexual abuse. She’d been molested by her father from a young age, a trauma that likely explains why she was already sleeping with Jack Parsons by age 13. However, he wasn’t just twice her age, he was her sister’s husband.

When Hubbard showed up, he must have seemed like a savior. Granted, he was every bit as strange as Parsons was. In fact, the two worked together to summon a Babylonian goddess, believing they could bring her to life by chanting, dabbing runes with animal blood, and masturbating on magical tablets.

But Hubbard was a war hero, injured in battle, or so he claimed. He won Northrup over by spinning stories about his heroism that most of the cult members wrote off as “tall tales.” But the young Northrup bought into them completely.

“I believed everything he said,” Northrup later said. “It just never occurred to me he was a liar.”^[1]

9 She And Hubbard Stole Jack Parsons’s Life Savings

Jack Parsons believed in free love. Bound by his own principles, he couldn’t do a thing but watch as his new friend, L. Ron Hubbard, started sleeping with his girlfriend, Sara Northrup. Parsons had to pretend to be okay with every bit of it.

Other lodgers at his house, though, could tell just how angry it made him. “There [Hubbard] was, living off Parsons’s largesse and making out with his girlfriend right in front of him,” one would later recall. “The hostility was almost tangible.”

Still, when Hubbard proposed that the two start a business together, Jack Parsons readily agreed to give him $20,000 to get things off the ground. Perhaps he just wanted to keep up appearances and pretend like it didn’t bother him. Either way, he was the only one who was surprised when Hubbard and Northrup took off to Florida with the $20,000 and a brand-new yacht, bought with Parsons’s money.

“He has given away both his girl and his money,” Karl Germer, one of Parsons’s friends, reported in a letter to Aleister Crowley. “It is the ordinary confidence trick.”^[2]

Parsons tried to sue them but quickly dropped the case. He accepted a few dollars of payment and, in exchange, let Hubbard and Northrup keep the yacht. It was a bad deal for Parsons, but he didn’t have much choice. If he didn’t comply, he was warned, Hubbard and Northrup would let the world know that Parsons had had sex with Northrup when she was 13.

8 Hubbard Was Still Married To His First Wife When They Got Married

Sara Northrup married L. Ron Hubbard because he threatened to kill himself. He’d asked her multiple times already, but she had refused every time until he made it clear: If she said no, his death would be on her conscience forever.

What Hubbard hadn’t told her, though, was that he was already married. Thirteen years earlier in 1933, he’d married Polly Grubb. She was the mother of his two children, and in exchange, Hubbard had taken off to New York to cheat on her with other women.

At this point, the two were so estranged that they hadn’t seen each other in about two years. But they were still married at Hubbard’s insistence. Polly had repeatedly asked for a divorce, but he kept turning her down.

Hubbard only agreed to a divorce after he’d been married to Sara for a good year and a half. But he still kept his marriage to Polly a secret. Instead, he took Sara with him to Polly’s house without explaining a thing, which forced her to try to figure out why these people were so hostile toward her.

It was his son, L. Ron Jr., who told her. Sara was devastated. She rushed out of the house crying and tried to get onto the next ferry that would take her as far away from Hubbard as possible.^[3]

In the end, she didn’t leave. Her new husband begged and pleaded until she stayed.

7 L. Ron Hubbard Brutally Abused Her

L. Ron Hubbard started beating his wife during summer 1946. It began when Sara’s father died. Despite her complicated feelings toward the man, Sara was overwhelmed with grief and sadness.

To Hubbard, her sadness was nothing more than an annoyance. When she cried, he would beat and strangle her into silence, complaining that she’d distracted him from his work.

Hubbard was losing his mind. He wrote a letter to Veteran Affairs (VA), begging them to help him pay for psychiatric treatment. But the VA never responded, and Hubbard got increasingly worse.^[4]

One morning, he woke up his wife by pistol-whipping her across the face. She’d been smiling in her sleep, he told her, and he was sure it was because she was thinking of someone else. Northrup fled into the night, nearly escaping her abusive husband again. But once more, she came back.

She felt sorry for him because she knew he was losing his mind. She later said, “I kept thinking that he must be suffering or he wouldn’t act that way.”

Staying only made it worse. By the time Northrup really did file for divorce, she’d gone through what the divorce proceedings described as “repeated” and “systematic torture.” He strangled her regularly. He threw her out of a moving car. He once kept her awake for four days straight and then tried to force her to overdose on sleeping pills.

Some of those scars would never heal. On Christmas 1950, Hubbard broke into such a rage that he deliberately ruptured her left eardrum. Her hearing would be impaired for the rest of her life.

6 Hubbard Tried To Beat Her Into A Miscarriage

None of those beatings, though, could compare to what he tried to do to her when she got pregnant.

One night, after Hubbard had gone into one his mad rages, he threw his pregnant wife onto the ground. They would not bring a child into this world, he had decided, and he would make sure of it. L. Ron Hubbard tried to make his wife miscarry by repeatedly stomping on her stomach.

By some strange miracle, the child survived. But this was hardly the first time that Hubbard had tried to beat an unborn baby to death.

His eldest son, L. Ron Hubbard Jr., claims that, as a child, he had caught his father standing over his mother with a coat hanger in his hand. And Hubbard Jr. says that his own birth, nearly three months premature, was the result of a failed late-term abortion:

“I wasn’t born. This is what came out as a result of their attempt to abort me.”^[5]

Hubbard admitted to some of the abortions himself. In his private memoir, he wrote that he and Polly’s marriage had resulted in “five abortions and two children.”

5 He Reported Her To The FBI As A Communist

As Dianetics started to take off and Hubbard became worth a small fortune, his eye started to wander. As he’d done with his first wife, Hubbard started to cheat on Sara with a young woman: Barbara Klowden, his 20-year-old PR assistant.

Sara didn’t take it lying down. After Hubbard forced her to go on a double date with Klowden, Sara started a revenge affair with one of his employees, Miles Hollister.

But nobody could bite back as hard as L. Ron Hubbard. He wrote the FBI a letter reporting his wife and her lover as “active and dangerous” Communists, calling Hollister “outspokenly disloyal to the US.”

J. Edgar Hoover actually answered Hubbard’s letter and invited him to meet with an FBI agent—which Hubbard did. He told them that Hollister had brainwashed his wife and driven her insane. Then Hubbard went into a mad rant about how Dianetics could bring an end to communism and how people said he was crazy but he definitely wasn’t.

The agent nodded politely, quietly making a little note in his book that just read: “Mental case.”^[6]

They never tried to bring in Northrup or Hollister. Perhaps, in part, it was because this was hardly the first time that Hubbard had tried to turn someone in. The FBI’s dossiers were full of letters from L. Ron Hubbard, reporting every German person he saw as an undercover Nazi and a “menace to the state.”

4 Scientologists Tried To Brainwash Her Into Staying With Hubbard

In their own ways, Hubbard and Northrup tried to make the marriage work. Northrup went to a psychiatrist and tried to convince Hubbard to get treatment for the paranoid schizophrenia that was destroying his life. But he wouldn’t listen.

Hubbard told her that she was in league with devils. Then he put two of his men, Richard de Mille and Dave Williams, to work at brainwashing her. As John Sanborne, one of Hubbard’s former confidants, recalls:

“He made this stupid attempt to get Northrup brainwashed so she’d do what he said. He kept her sitting up in a chair, denying her sleep, trying to use Black Dianetic principles on her, repeating over and over again whatever he wanted her to do. Things like, ‘Be his wife, have a family that looks good, not have a divorce.’ ”^[7]

It didn’t work. Northrup still wanted a divorce. In the end, Hubbard told her that he didn’t want to be with her, either. He was just worried about his reputation. There was only way out.

“If you really love me,” Hubbard told her, “you should kill yourself.”

In November 1950, Sara Northrup tried to do just that. While L. Ron Hubbard was out, she downed a bottle of sleeping pills and lay down, hoping never to wake up again.

It didn’t work. She woke up alive in a hospital bed, registered under a fake name.

3 Hubbard Kidnapped Her Baby

It was 1:00 AM on February 24, 1951, when L. Ron Hubbard and two of his friends dragged Sara Northrup out of her bed, still dressed in her nightgown. Hubbard had taken her baby. “We have Alexis,” Hubbard told her, “and you’ll never see her alive unless you come with us.”^[8]

They threw Sara into the back of a car and drove her to Yuma, Arizona. Not long after, Hubbard had a change of heart. He kicked her out, forced her to go back home, and kept the baby with him.

She tried begging Hubbard to give her back the baby, but Hubbard refused time and time again. Then, out of the blue, he called her and told her the worst thing imaginable: Alexis was dead, and he had killed her.

“He had cut her into little pieces,” Sara says he told her, “and dropped the pieces in a river and that he had seen little arms and legs floating down the river and it was my fault. I’d done it because I’d left him.”

Hubbard was lying. But Sara must have felt unimaginable pain when he said it. A little while later, he sent her a letter. He admitted that Alexis was alive and tried to blackmail Sara into giving him full custody.

“My will is all changed. Alexis will get a fortune,” he wrote, “unless she goes to you as she would then get nothing.”

He signed his blackmail note: “Goodbye. I love you. Ron.”

2 Polly Hubbard Had Gone Through All The Same Things

Sara publicized everything on the advice of a lawyer, who told her that she couldn’t keep all of this a secret any longer. “Tell the truth,” he told her, “for the truth will bring back [your] baby, if alive.”

She filed for divorce, and the papers became filled with horror stories about the man who had tortured her and taken her baby. Yes, she’d put it off too long. But now, it was clear that there was no other way to ever see her child again.

Polly Hubbard, Ron’s first wife, contacted Sara for the first time after reading about the divorce. Every word written by Sara was terrifyingly familiar to Hubbard’s first wife. Polly wrote Sara a letter of complete support:

“If I can help in any way, I’d like to. You must get Alexis in your custody. Ron is not normal. I had hoped that you could straighten him out. Your charges sound fantastic to the average person. But I’ve been through it—the beatings, threats on my life, all the sadistic traits you charge—twelve years of it.”^[9]

“Please do believe,” she wrote. “I do so want to help you get Alexis.”

1 Sara Had To Absolve Hubbard Of All Guilt To Get Her Baby Back

In June 1951, Sara Northrup got to see her baby again. For months, Hubbard had been hiding their child in Cuba, but now they were back in Wichita. Ron was willing to talk.

He’d completely given into his paranoid delusions. There was no sense of reality for him. Sara had no choice but to play along. In her words:

“He told me that I was under the influence of this communist cell. And that they were dictating to me what to do, and that I was in a state of complete madness. I told him, ‘Yep, I think you’re right. The only thing I can do is to work through it and do whatever they say.’ ”

He made her sign a paper absolving him of all blame. It was the only way that he would give her back her child.

“The things I have said about L. Ron Hubbard in courts and the public prints have been grossly exaggerated or entirely false,” the paper said. “L. Ron Hubbard is a fine and brilliant man.” That was what he cared about—not his child and not his wife, just his reputation.

But all Sara cared about was getting her child back. She signed the papers, and in exchange, he drove her and Alexis to the airport.

Hubbard stopped the car a few feet away from the airfield. He’d had a last-second change of heart. Shaking his head, he told her: “I’m not going to let you go.”

Sara clutched her child, got out of the car, and ran. She left her suitcase and all her things behind. Alexis’s shoe fell off, but Sara didn’t stop. She just kept running toward the airplane, toward freedom, with her child in her arms for the first time in four months.

“It was the 19th of June,” Sara later said, “and it was the happiest day of my life.”^[10]

Mark Oliver

Mark Oliver is a regular contributor to . His writing also appears on a number of other sites, including The Onion”s StarWipe and Cracked.com. His website is regularly updated with everything he writes.

10 Game of Thrones Characters Who Differed Greatly in the Books

2025-02-22T07:54:41Z

When adapting a sprawling, intricate book series like A Song of Ice and Fire into a TV show, it’s no surprise that some characters had to undergo significant changes. In Game of Thrones, many fan-favorite characters were reimagined, simplified, or had their storylines altered to fit the show’s demands.

These changes have sparked plenty of discussion among fans, especially when the show’s version of a character sharply diverged from George R.R. Martin’s original creation. Whether it’s the loss of certain character traits or entire plot arcs being cut, these differences reflect the creative challenges and decisions involved in bringing such a complex world to life on screen.

Related: 10 Real Historical Events That Inspired ‘Game of Thrones’

10 Sansa Stark

Sansa Stark’s journey in Game of Thrones is one of the most compelling, yet her character arc in the show significantly diverges from her portrayal in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. In the books, Sansa remains in the Vale under the tutelage of Petyr Baelish, learning the intricacies of court politics and manipulation. Her evolution is subtle and gradual, reflecting her growing understanding of the dangerous world she inhabits.

Sansa, operating under the alias Alayne Stone, becomes more adept at playing the game of thrones, carefully observing and learning from Littlefinger while still struggling with her identity and her past. This slower, more complex transformation allows readers to see Sansa as a multifaceted character, developing her strength and cunning over time.

In the TV adaptation, however, Sansa’s development is more accelerated and sometimes feels less nuanced. The showrunners condensed several of her storylines, notably merging her character with Jeyne Poole’s traumatic experiences with Ramsay Bolton—a plotline that does not occur in the books.

This change, while highlighting Sansa’s resilience and ultimate rise to power, also drew criticism for its handling of her agency and internal struggles. Despite these alterations, Sansa’s arc in the show still resonates with many fans, particularly in how she emerges as the Lady of Winterfell. This role showcases her growth into a strong, independent leader.^[1]

9 Tyrion Lannister

In the books, Tyrion Lannister is one of the most complex and multifaceted characters. He is a deeply intelligent, often cynical, and occasionally ruthless individual who, despite his sharp wit, struggles with self-loathing and a sense of being unloved by his family. In print, his physical appearance is much more striking and severe than what is depicted in the TV series.

In the novels, Tyrion is described as having mismatched eyes—one green and one black—and much more grotesque. He is a dwarf with a disproportionately large head, a prominent brow, and a mouth full of crooked teeth. After the Battle of the Blackwater, Tyrion suffers a serious injury that leaves him even more disfigured; his nose is almost entirely cut off, leaving him with a hideously scarred face.

In the HBO adaptation, however, Tyrion’s appearance is significantly toned down. Portrayed by Peter Dinklage, Tyrion is a handsome man with only minor facial scars after the battle, and his injury is reduced to a single visible scar across his cheek. Furthermore, after killing his father, Tywin Lannister, in the books, Tyrion’s character takes a darker turn. His journey across Essos is marked by bitterness, self-destruction, and a thirst for vengeance against those who wronged him.

This darker portrayal gives Tyrion more depth, showing a man grappling with the consequences of his actions and the bleakness of his reality. In contrast, the television show softened many of these darker aspects, focusing more on Tyrion’s cleverness and humor. While the show did capture Tyrion’s sharp tongue and strategic mind, it often reduced his character to comic relief, especially in the later seasons. His political blunders and questionable decisions in the final season also disappointed many fans who felt the show had strayed too far from the nuanced, morally ambiguous character in the books.^[2]

8 Euron Greyjoy

Euron Greyjoy on the screen is a far cry from the menacing, enigmatic figure depicted in Martin’s novels. In the books, Euron is a much more complex and terrifying character. Known as “Crow’s Eye” because of the eyepatch he wears in the books, he is a ruthless pirate and sorcerer who dabbles in dark magic, uses a variety of mystical artifacts, and exudes a mysterious, almost otherworldly aura.

His presence in the Iron Islands is marked by fear and awe as he returns from exile with a fleet of ships, a crew of fanatical followers, and a mysterious horn called Dragonbinder, which he claims can control dragons. Euron’s ambitions are grand, aiming not just for the Iron Throne but also to wield unimaginable power through arcane means. In print, he has a more elaborate backstory, including his travels to the ruins of Valyria and his claim of having a dragon egg.

In contrast, the show’s portrayal of Euron is much less nuanced and significantly less menacing. Rather than the dark, calculating sorcerer of the books, show-Euron comes across as a brash, over-the-top pirate with a penchant for violence and shock value. His character is reduced to being a swaggering, almost comical villain, more focused on personal gratification than on the grand, ominous schemes that define him in the novels.

Key elements of his character, such as his use of dark magic and the Dragonbinder horn, are entirely absent from the show. This simplified portrayal left many fans disappointed, as Euron in the TV series lacks the intricate, chilling presence that made him so compelling in the books.^[3]

7 Brienne of Tarth

Brienne of Tarth, one of the most beloved characters in Game of Thrones, is portrayed as a noble and skilled warrior who defies gender norms with her strength and honor. However, her storyline in the TV show significantly differs from her journey in the novels. In the books, Brienne’s character has a much more extensive and complex narrative.

After Jaime Lannister gives her his sword, Oathkeeper, she embarks on a lengthy and dangerous quest to find Sansa Stark. This journey leads her through various trials that test her loyalty, resolve, and sense of identity. It is filled with deep introspection and moral dilemmas, showcasing her internal struggle as well as her external battles.

In contrast, the show condenses much of Brienne’s storyline, focusing primarily on her relationship with Jaime, which the show depicts as more overtly romantic. Their relationship is complex and filled with mutual respect and unspoken feelings, but in the books, they part ways with unresolved tension.

While her knighting by Jaime in the final season of the show is a powerful moment, this knighting doesn’t occur in the books. Furthermore, the TV adaptation omits significant interactions she has with other characters, like her complex encounter with Lady Stoneheart, the resurrected Catelyn Stark, who commands her to kill Jaime.^[4]

6 Stannis Baratheon

Stannis Baratheon, a pivotal character in Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, is portrayed quite differently in the books compared to the show. In the books, Stannis is a rigid, duty-bound leader often perceived as cold and unyielding. However, his actions are driven by a strong sense of justice and responsibility, even when they conflict with his personal desires.

His unwavering commitment to what he sees as the rightful claim to the Iron Throne makes him a more complex and sympathetic character in the books. His use of Melisandre and her dark magic is also shown with more internal conflict, as he often questions the morality of his decisions and the true nature of her powers. The relationship between them is shown as deeply influential in the show, sometimes implying he is more swayed by her than in the books.

In contrast, the television series simplifies Stannis’s character, often reducing him to a stern, unlikable figure whose moral dilemmas are less explored. One of the most significant and controversial differences is his decision to sacrifice his daughter Shireen to the flames, a plot point that is hinted at but not executed in the books. This act, portrayed as a desperate measure to win the war, was seen by many viewers as a betrayal of his character’s complexity and the nuanced internal conflicts that define him in the novels.^[5]

5 Jeyne Westerling/Talisa Maegyr

In Martin’s books, Jeyne Westerling is the woman Robb Stark marries after a moment of vulnerability following the death of his brothers. Jeyne hails from a noble but minor Westerlands house that secretly serves the Lannisters, adding layers of political intrigue to her character and marriage to Robb.

Her relationship with Robb is largely driven by honor, as he marries her after sleeping with her, and she remains loyal to him despite the political complications. In the books, Jeyne’s story is tragic but understated—she does not attend the Red Wedding, and her fate remains uncertain as she is left behind at Riverrun under the watchful eye of the Lannisters.

In the HBO series, Jeyne Westerling’s character is replaced by Talisa Maegyr, a healer from Volantis who meets Robb on the battlefield. Talisa is a completely original creation for the show, embodying a more romantic and idealistic love story than the politically driven marriage in the books. The change from Jeyne to Talisa significantly alters the tone and depth of Robb’s storyline. Talisa is portrayed as more independent and strong-willed, contrasting with the more traditional and dutiful Jeyne.

This shift also simplifies the complex political machinations of the Westerling family and reduces the tension between Robb’s sense of duty and his personal desires. Talisa’s presence at the Red Wedding and her subsequent brutal death—along with her unborn child—intensifies the emotional impact of the scene, but it also diverges significantly from Martin’s narrative, leaving book fans with a very different interpretation of Robb’s downfall.^[6]

4 Doran Martell

Doran Martell is a master strategist in the novels, playing the long game with incredible patience and foresight. As the Prince of Dorne, he carefully plots to avenge his sister Elia’s brutal murder during Robert’s Rebellion. His character is deeply introspective, burdened by his responsibilities and the need to protect his people while seeking justice for his family. Doran’s plans are intricate, involving secret alliances and long-term schemes that gradually unfold throughout the books, showcasing his political acumen and deep sense of duty.

In contrast, the show reduces Doran Martell’s complexity, transforming him into a more passive and less influential figure. His screen time is limited, and his schemes are either glossed over or omitted entirely. He also has a complex political relationship with his daughter Arianne, a prominent character in the books but completely omitted from the show. In the show, Doran’s sudden death, orchestrated by Ellaria Sand and the Sand Snakes, deviates from the book’s narrative, where he is part of a larger political plot, and his death has significant consequences for the Martell family.^[7]

3 Asha Greyjoy/Yara Greyjoy

Asha Greyjoy, known as Yara in the television series, is a character who underwent notable changes in her transition from the books to the screen. In the novels, Asha is portrayed as a fierce and cunning leader who is deeply committed to her family and people. She commands respect among the Ironborn not just because of her lineage but also due to her proven abilities as a warrior and strategist.

Asha is also a key player in the Greyjoy succession struggle, using her intelligence and charisma to rally support for her claim to the Seastone Chair. Her character is rich with depth, balancing loyalty to her family with her desire for independence and power. In the show, while Yara retains much of Asha’s strength and leadership qualities, her character is somewhat simplified.

The television adaptation omits some of her more complex relationships and political maneuverings. For instance, in the books, Asha has a significant role in the Kingsmoot, where the Ironborn choose their new leader, and she presents a strong case for her rule, challenging traditional gender norms. In contrast, the show focuses more on her relationship with her brother Theon and her involvement in Daenerys Targaryen’s campaign. The show also depicts her as bisexual, with scenes showing her with both men and women. In the book, Asha is depicted as heterosexual with several male lovers.^[8]

2 Ser Barristan Selmy

Ser Barristan Selmy is a highly respected and legendary knight in the books, known for his unwavering honor and loyalty. After being dismissed from the Kingsguard by Joffrey Baratheon, Barristan seeks out Daenerys Targaryen in Essos and becomes one of her most trusted advisors.

In the novels, Barristan guides Daenerys through Meereen’s political landscape, offering wisdom in leadership and battle. He’s a formidable warrior and principled man, grappling with the moral complexities of serving a queen aiming to reclaim her throne. Barristan’s journey is rich and multifaceted, influencing key events in Daenerys’s court.

In contrast, the television adaptation cuts Barristan Selmy’s story short, killing him off unexpectedly in the fifth season. His death during a battle with the Sons of the Harpy shocked many fans, as it diverged significantly from his ongoing and important role in the books. This early demise deprived the show of a character who, in the source material, provides a crucial connection to the history and lore of Westeros.

Barristan’s impact on Daenerys’s decisions in Meereen is significant in the books, making his sudden exit in the show seem like a missed chance to explore his character’s depth. Killing him off early drew criticism from book readers who valued Martin’s careful crafting of Barristan’s narrative.^[9]

1 Lady Stoneheart

Lady Stoneheart, the resurrected and vengeful version of Catelyn Stark, is one of the most significant characters from the book and was completely omitted from the Game of Thrones TV adaptation. In the books, after Catelyn’s brutal murder at the Red Wedding, she is brought back to life by Beric Dondarrion, who sacrifices his own life to restore hers. However, she returns as a dark and twisted version of herself, consumed by a desire for revenge against those who betrayed her family.

Her appearance is described as ghastly, with her wounds from the Red Wedding still visible. Leading the Brotherhood Without Banners, Lady Stoneheart embarks on a ruthless campaign, hanging Freys, Lannisters, and anyone she believes had a hand in the massacre of her family. Her presence adds a layer of relentless vengeance and the supernatural to the story, making her one of the most feared and tragic figures in the books.

In contrast, the showrunners chose to exclude Lady Stoneheart entirely from the TV series, a decision that disappointed many fans of the books. This omission meant that viewers never saw the darker turn Catelyn’s character takes, nor the impact her vengeful actions have on the wider narrative.

The absence of Lady Stoneheart also significantly altered the arcs of several other characters, including Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister, who have key interactions with her in the books. Without Lady Stoneheart, the show’s exploration of themes like resurrection, justice, and the haunting consequences of betrayal felt less complex and less tied to the Stark family’s sense of enduring tragedy.^[10]