The Boiled Leather Audio Hour

We are finally reunifying Germany!

Why did the Yi Ti build gigantic forts? Where did Azor Ahai really come from? Join us to not get any answers!

We're nearing the end. Not that anyone expected it when 1989 rolled around, but hindsight is a bitch.

We' re continuing our series and talk about the FRG in the 1980s.

We're reviewing the final episode of the season. What I show!

We talk about the big event, of course, but there's also a huge discussion about the worth of flashbacks and we even add a little addendum about the new trailer for the third season of House of the Dragon!

Payoffs are coming. We talk about the emotional impact this episode had.

We review the third episode of a show that's just getting stronger every week, and giving you some sound structural reasons as to why!

We review the second episode.

We are reviewing the first episode of the Dunk&Egg saga! Follow us along interpreting the new Laughing Storm and Dunk's extremely serious naivitée and wonder with us whether it matters how tall he actually is.

Without any reason in HBO's programming schedule whatsoever, we tackle the "Hedge Knight" and its value system.

In our 11th episode of the subseries about the history of the divided Germany, we're looking at East Germany from 1973 to 1989 - the era named after its charismatic, relatable leader, Erich Honecker.

In this episode, I take Grant Piercy, better known as Heathen King, to task. We talk about revenge in ASOIAF and in the real world, as well. Find his books online!

It is the day of days - we're tackling one of the biggest chapters yet. Who are the three heads of the dragon? What are the betrayals? Who's the grey-lipped man on a ship? The false dragon? We're talking about none of that. Instead, we're taking the deep dive into what this chapter actually MEANS.

Is there good and evil in ASOIAF, or is just a morally grey mass and mess? I take this up with Quinn the GM, who made a very instructive video essay on it that I really wanted to discuss in depth.

Today, we're taking a look at the detente between West and East Germany. What were the factors breaking the deadlock in domestic and international politics? How did it happen? And, most importantly, was it a success?

Jon's death comes as a big surprise for first-time readers, and not because it's sprung on you but because Martin is a damn good writer. We explain all the ways of why and how.

We’re talking about the Whispering Wood, and come off with one fundamental insight: GRRM is a good writer.

I’m talking to Artyom Nichipurov from Wolffdesigna Games, a Latvian firm that’s most famous for the excellent “Guards of Atlantis II”, a tabletop adaptation of the MOBA game experience. If you don’t know what any of this means, no worry, I got you covered - the first seven minutes of the episode explain what MOBAs are and how GoA2 specifically functions so you can understand the episode. If you al...

Today, we're talking about the period from 1966 to 1974. Witness the Grand Coalition and the coming into power of Willy Brandt, heading the first SPD government of the Federal Republic with his slogan of "daring more democracy".

Today, we’re covering the first half of the history of the Democratic Republic of Germany - or East Germany, to its friends. From the earliest days of popular insurrection to the construction of the Berlin Wall and the twilight days of Ulbricht’s reign, we have you covered.

In our ongoing series on the best moments of the series, we take apart the Bridge of Dream sequence, which provides us with some unusualy challenges - we don't really know where any of this leads, so this is more meta and speculative as usual.

Today, we're looking at why the CDU could rule for 20 years in the early German republic. There's a good combination of electoral shenanigans, foreign policy questions and old Nazis involved.

From the Berlin airlift to the Berlin wall, this episodes covers Germany’s capital (and the capital of spies) from wall to wall.

Everyone and their mother knows Dungeons&Dragons, at least in concept. But few people know the most important German roleplaying game, “The Dark Eye.” With professor Adrian Daub of Stanford, I talk about this game that’s near and dear to my heart - and maybe yours too, soon.