🧙 The Dark Wizard (2026) - Season 1 Episode 2
In a world where magic has been forbidden for centuries, one soul is chosen to wield the power that could save—or destroy—everything. In the series premiere of The Dark Wizard, a mysterious apprentice discovers an ancient artifact, unleashing forces long thought lost. As darkness stirs and allies emerge from the shadows, the journey to master the unseen begins.
🔹 Episode Highlights:
• [Hook: "A hidden tome reveals a prophecy that changes one life forever"]
• World-building: a richly crafted realm where magic, politics, and destiny collide
• Character introduction: the reluctant hero, the enigmatic mentor, the looming threat
• Signature visual style: cinematic spell effects, atmospheric landscapes, and mythic storytelling
• Cliffhanger ending that demands you watch Episode 2
🔹 Series Info:
• Format: Fantasy Drama / Magical Adventure / Epic Series
• Original Network: [Customize: e.g., Streaming Platform / International Syndication]
• Season: 1 | Episode: 2 - Series Premiere
• Theme: Power, Responsibility, Magic vs. Morality, Destiny vs. Choice
• Language: English (Original Audio) + Subtitles Available
• Runtime: ~45-60 minutes (full) | Clip/Highlight version: ~10-15 min
🎧 Prefer audio? Listen to fantasy series recaps & lore podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts.
👉 Enjoying the series? Hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and comment: "What kind of magic would YOU want to wield? 👇🧙" Turn on notifications 🔔 so you never miss the next spell!
#TheDarkWizard #TheDarkWizardS1 #FantasyDrama #MagicalAdventure #NewSeries2026 #S1E1 #EpicFantasy #BingeWatch #StreamingSeries #WizardLife #MagicAndMystery #FantasyPremiere
⚠️ Copyright Disclaimer: This video is shared for promotional, review, and informational purposes only. All rights to "The Dark Wizard" belong to the original production company and broadcasting network. This upload complies with Fair Use guidelines (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act). No copyright infringement intended.
In a world where magic has been forbidden for centuries, one soul is chosen to wield the power that could save—or destroy—everything. In the series premiere of The Dark Wizard, a mysterious apprentice discovers an ancient artifact, unleashing forces long thought lost. As darkness stirs and allies emerge from the shadows, the journey to master the unseen begins.
🔹 Episode Highlights:
• [Hook: "A hidden tome reveals a prophecy that changes one life forever"]
• World-building: a richly crafted realm where magic, politics, and destiny collide
• Character introduction: the reluctant hero, the enigmatic mentor, the looming threat
• Signature visual style: cinematic spell effects, atmospheric landscapes, and mythic storytelling
• Cliffhanger ending that demands you watch Episode 2
🔹 Series Info:
• Format: Fantasy Drama / Magical Adventure / Epic Series
• Original Network: [Customize: e.g., Streaming Platform / International Syndication]
• Season: 1 | Episode: 2 - Series Premiere
• Theme: Power, Responsibility, Magic vs. Morality, Destiny vs. Choice
• Language: English (Original Audio) + Subtitles Available
• Runtime: ~45-60 minutes (full) | Clip/Highlight version: ~10-15 min
🎧 Prefer audio? Listen to fantasy series recaps & lore podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts.
👉 Enjoying the series? Hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and comment: "What kind of magic would YOU want to wield? 👇🧙" Turn on notifications 🔔 so you never miss the next spell!
#TheDarkWizard #TheDarkWizardS1 #FantasyDrama #MagicalAdventure #NewSeries2026 #S1E1 #EpicFantasy #BingeWatch #StreamingSeries #WizardLife #MagicAndMystery #FantasyPremiere
⚠️ Copyright Disclaimer: This video is shared for promotional, review, and informational purposes only. All rights to "The Dark Wizard" belong to the original production company and broadcasting network. This upload complies with Fair Use guidelines (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act). No copyright infringement intended.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:16Transcription by CastingWords
00:19My whole life, I've been obsessed with the dream of falling to my death.
00:35First, I'm in the air. It's just massive wind speed.
00:41Then somehow there's these strange faceless beings beside me.
00:48They're making weird squeaks.
00:51For some reason, I know to do what they'll do and I'll fly.
00:57All of a sudden, I'm flying, but I become panicked and filled with anxiety,
01:05start dive bombing back towards the ground.
01:07Right when I'm about to hit it and impact, I wake up, sweating, heart beating, you know, wondering if I'm
01:19dead.
01:26Up here on the top of the tight end.
01:30Pretty scary coming up here.
01:42When Dean picked up base jumping,
01:46jumping off cliffs with a parachute,
01:51you could tell that he was nervous.
01:58He was so edgy.
02:0510 seconds!
02:07All right.
02:0810 seconds!
02:10What?
02:11I said 10 seconds!
02:14Don't say anything!
02:16I was telling Brad.
02:20He was drawn like the moth to the flame to the most dangerous thing that he had found in his
02:29life.
02:293...
02:302...
02:311...
02:32See ya!
02:35He's fucking me.
02:522...
02:533...치
02:55Kil regrets被 camping What
02:58do you think? Like
03:02us? 2...
03:033...
03:03Down and smashed into earth, into dirt
03:05How my skin did explode, leaving only my shirt
03:09And the earth looked at me and said it wasn't that fun
03:13And I'm reborn, I'm sorry if I hurt anyone
03:16She said, better look next time, don't worry so much
03:20Without ears, I couldn't hear, I could just feel the touch
03:24As I fell asleep softly, the edge of a cave
03:27But I should've gone deeper, but I'm not so free
03:46I'm Jay Epstein Ramirez
03:47You know, face jumping, it's one of those sports that runs right into you
03:51And socks you in the side of the head and just changes your life forever
03:55Way back in the day, I met Dean at this outdoor film festival
04:00Dean's climbing movie plays
04:05And then my movie plays of me and my friends base jumping in Mexico
04:10And Dean's standing behind me, as big as a tree
04:13And he's like, oh my god, oh my god, I gotta learn how to do this
04:19Dean, you know, I knew the minute I met that guy
04:22He was destined for madness
04:27Before you make your first base jump, you need to learn how to skydive
04:32Practice and learn how to fly your body
04:35Where there's nothing to hit
04:41Nice job, Dean
04:43I was like, pack up the car, we're driving to Moab, it's time for your first cliff jump
04:49Unlike skydiving, when you base jump, there's no wind to work with
04:53So it's really easy to tumble out of control
04:56It's a lot like free soloing
04:58You have to really believe in yourself
05:00That you can launch in a perfect position
05:03Five seconds
05:05In your first jumps
05:06God damn, is it scary
05:08Okay
05:09Next level's scary, man
05:18Boy, you know, Dean's one of those guys, when he likes something, he likes something
05:26He liked it
05:27All of a sudden, he was getting the dopamine that he needed
05:32This whole death consequence thing
05:36Base jumping
05:36The heaviest drug there was
05:39In the heaviest dose
05:40And it was like, he lit up
05:42Ba-boom
05:43All right, brother
05:49But it just made everybody fucking nervous, I can tell you that
05:52I had filmed base jumping before Dean got into it
05:57And had a base jumper nearly die in front of my camera
06:05He's there, he's floating
06:07I began to mistrust the nature of the sport
06:11The addictive power of raw adrenaline
06:14In these concentrations and these frequencies
06:18I warned you, you're hitting this stuff too hard
06:27Let's go back to climbing
06:29Free soloing
06:30Woo!
06:31That's so beautiful
06:33Yeah!
06:34But Dean took it as the advice of a friend
06:37It could be easily ignored
06:41I had been running trips to Mexico
06:43Wait till you guys get into this place
06:45It's like going to Mars
06:46Dean, I mean, he'd only been active six months
06:49When I invited him to go jump the cave of the swallows
06:53It's just this giant hole in the ground
06:55That's perfect for base
06:57So you're jumping 1,200 feet into the earth
07:00There's no wind
07:03It's almost impossible to hit anything
07:05It's really, even though Dean hit something
07:10And the weather had been weird
07:12We'd gotten some rain
07:15And I think Dean's parachute got wet
07:18And that's not good
07:2110 seconds
07:242, 1, see ya
07:32Dean jumps into the cave
07:34And this parachute opened, twisted up
07:38My parachute opened in a spin
07:41And I lost the perception of where I was flying
07:46We had a rope hanging in there
07:48He'd hit the rope
07:50The parachute collapsed and wrapped around the rope
07:53And I swung in and grabbed the rope
07:56And he's 250, 300 feet off the ground
07:58With nothing
07:59And he's sliding down the rope
08:01Burning off my skin on my hands
08:03And I'm like, fucking don't let go, dude
08:05Don't let go
08:06I thought it's just like the dream
08:08You know, where I'm falling to my death
08:10And that feeling charged my body with this amazing power
08:13And I held on with everything I had
08:16He literally breaks himself
08:17Completely stops
08:18Like two feet off the ground
08:21And his hands are smoked
08:23You know, you can see tendons
08:24You can see bone
08:25When I hit the ground
08:27Part of me was ashamed
08:29But mostly I was just happy that I was alive
08:35As I laid there
08:37There was this dying bird beside me
08:40And similar to what I had done
08:42The swallow had hit the rope
08:45My friends came down and rescued me
08:51And I questioned
08:52Why did I live and that bird died?
08:59I am drawn to the pit of swallows
09:03I have a near-death accident
09:07And the dying swallow
09:11Which Dean has told me he felt came into his body
09:14And inhabited his body
09:15He just says, in the dying swallow period
09:17I enter deep depression
09:19My hands are injured badly
09:23When you feel you are unstoppable
09:27You have to say enough
09:34I'm Elizabeth Potter
09:36Dean's older sister
09:40And I'm a teacher and a writer
09:44Dean was eight years younger than me
09:46So he's the baby
09:49We grew up in a military family
09:52Lived for a chunk of time overseas
09:54In the Middle East
09:57When he was almost five
09:59Dean decided he was going to climb up
10:01This huge stone wall around our house
10:04He fell off the very top
10:07And knocked himself unconscious
10:10I probably should have been watching him more carefully
10:13But the story of my life
10:17After that
10:18He was really plagued by nightmares and night terrors
10:24Even when we were kids
10:26Dean always talked about the dream of falling
10:32In the journals
10:33He says that again and again
10:35The dream is back
10:39You know, he would say to me
10:41Do you have falling dreams?
10:42And I did
10:43I mean, it's a common thing
10:46But for him
10:47The dream was very real
10:49And it stayed with him
10:54When we moved
10:56To New Hampshire
10:59For Dean
11:00School
11:01Could be difficult
11:04Being, you know, that family
11:05That's not from here
11:07When I was growing up
11:09I'd arrive at different schools
11:11And never quite fit in
11:14In high school
11:15I didn't make the basketball team
11:18It was a lot political
11:19I didn't hang out so much
11:21With all the other kids
11:22I was like an outsider
11:24And I started working out
11:25In the weight room
11:26Getting stronger
11:28Went from being one of the weakest kids
11:30To now like the strongest, toughest kid
11:32I think that brought up
11:34That competitive thing
11:35That Dean
11:36Throughout his life
11:37Was trying to manage
11:39He wanted to be the best
11:41You know
11:42He wanted to win
11:47It's been said
11:48That Dean was
11:50A combination of his army colonel father
11:53And his yoga teaching mother
11:56There was some truth to that
11:58But my parents were
11:59Not a stereotype
12:02Dad was not a disciplinarian
12:05At all
12:05And wanted everybody
12:07To just have a good time
12:10And my mother
12:11A lot of Dean's spirituality
12:14His meditation
12:15Comes from my mom
12:18But mom was a disciplinarian
12:21The strictness
12:22This is what you will do
12:23This is how you will behave
12:27She would say
12:28You know
12:29You're not going to do anything dangerous
12:30If you look at
12:31Pretty much any picture
12:32Of Dean and mom
12:33She's got one hand on him
12:36This grip
12:38You combine that
12:39With a spirit like Dean's
12:42He felt controlled
12:43Held down
12:47If you look at his writing
12:49During that time
12:50It's very rageful
12:53Angry
12:55Like a trapped animal
12:59Dean talks
13:00In the journals
13:01About the sad gene
13:03Or crazy gene
13:05His code
13:07For the depression
13:08In our family
13:12You know
13:13Especially kind of
13:14In the years
13:15Leading up to my parents' divorce
13:18You could feel that energy
13:20That darkness
13:21Of a relationship
13:22That was coming apart
13:25It got ugly
13:29Dean was seeing
13:31That his father
13:33Did not have
13:35Freedom of voice
13:36And choice
13:36And that really
13:38Affected Dean
13:40In his own relationships
13:45He was always
13:46No one's going to tell me
13:47What to do
13:48No one's going to
13:49Control my life
13:49I'm going to do things
13:50My way
13:52That was when he started
13:54Escaping to
13:55Joe English
13:56There was this cliff
13:57On this army base
13:58Near where I lived
13:59And there was just me
14:00And this friend of mine
14:01Scrambling around
14:02Coming across
14:03These little crags
14:05And going into
14:05These off-limits zones
14:07It was against the rules
14:09And that's kind of
14:10What attracted us to it
14:12Was just being free
14:13Doing what we wanted
14:14He would climb
14:16Without the right equipment
14:17Using whatever he could find
14:21And then he would climb
14:23Without any equipment
14:24At all
14:24In my teens
14:26Since I started
14:27Free soloing
14:28On this cliff
14:29Near my house
14:29Being out there
14:31Alone
14:32With no protection
14:33It scared me so much
14:35But that kind of
14:37Magnetized me to it
14:39I always thought
14:40My early childhood dream
14:42Was the
14:44Premonition of my death
14:45And I wanted to
14:47Prove
14:48To myself
14:49That I could overpower it
14:51Trying to push harder
14:53And harder
14:53Into that fear
14:56So much of his life
14:58Has been to prove
14:59The dream wrong
15:00Plunging forward
15:02Towards his fear
15:03And trying to conquer it
15:06Saying to himself
15:08I'm not going to
15:10I'm not going to die
15:18That near death experience
15:20In the cave
15:24It humbled him
15:25A little bit
15:26So I don't know
15:27If any of you guys
15:28Heard about my
15:29Little mishap
15:30Down in the cave
15:31With the swallows
15:32But it wasn't
15:34A whole lot of fun
15:36And I'm still
15:37Kind of sorting things
15:38Out in my head
15:39But then
15:40I think less than
15:41Three months later
15:42He actually
15:43Comes back
15:44And is fully functional
15:45And jumping again
15:47And yeah
15:48Crazy
15:48Right
15:49Look at that
15:50I got the call
15:52From Dean
15:52And he said
15:53Can you come out
15:54To Yosemite
15:55I want to jump
15:56LCAP
15:56I want to jump
15:57Everything
15:58For base jumper
15:59Here in the United States
16:01Yosemite
16:01It's the pinnacle
16:03Huge cliffs
16:04Perfect for base
16:06Biggie
16:07Biggie
16:07Biggie
16:08I've always
16:09Put all my energy
16:10Into you know
16:11Holding on to the rock
16:12Base
16:12You look very clean
16:14Things in place
16:15Looking great buddy
16:16Now
16:17You have the skill
16:18To fly your body
16:20Off the walls
16:21This whole new world
16:23Has opened up
16:24You've always wanted
16:25To jump off
16:25LCAP
16:26Yes you're right
16:26Here it is
16:27Here it is
16:28See you Dean
16:29You're the man
16:32Yeah
16:34He was horny
16:35As horny gets man
16:37I mean the kid
16:38Was on fire
16:40We should go
16:40For the one day
16:41Right now
16:41I'm not filming
16:42LCAP
16:42Hold on to that
16:44You're going to touch
16:44You
16:45Don't touch me
16:45Okay
16:46Don't touch
16:47No problem
16:48Dean
16:48See you guys
16:53He owned the valley
16:54I mean he really did
16:55He had just been there
16:56For so many years
16:57He knew all the cliff
16:59Exits and landings
17:02The only problem is
17:04Yosemite has a steadfast policy
17:07Against base jumping
17:09The National Park Service
17:11Says they banned jumping
17:12For a lot of reasons
17:14Gathering spectators
17:15And disrupting the serenity
17:17Of the valley
17:17National parks
17:18Weren't set up
17:19So that everybody
17:21Could recreate
17:22In every way
17:22They wanted
17:24In the 90s
17:25Pretty famous base jumper
17:26Frank Amvali
17:29Alright kids
17:30This is the real deal
17:31He was jumping
17:32Off LCAP
17:33Somebody ratted him out
17:35Just told the rangers
17:36And they were waiting
17:37For him
17:37He tried to outrun him
17:39And swim across
17:40The Merced river
17:41And he drowned
17:42The guy survives
17:43All these base jumps
17:44And then he's killed
17:46By just trying to get away
17:47From the rangers
17:49After the death
17:50Of Frank Gambali
17:51There was quite an uproar
17:52And threats
17:53Of a mass jump
17:55A few months later
17:57Base jumpers organized
17:58A protest jump
17:59On LCAP
18:00Woo!
18:01Woo!
18:01Woo!
18:01Woo!
18:03Woo!
18:03I was there in the meadow
18:04Base jumpers land
18:06And shake hands
18:07With the rangers
18:07Like let's try and find
18:09Some common ground here
18:10I am not a criminal
18:11I am simply an American
18:12The agreement was
18:13The park service
18:14Would confiscate their
18:15Parachutes and their gear
18:16Nine
18:17Eight
18:18And then this woman
18:19Jan Davis
18:20Six
18:21Jumped off
18:22And I could see it
18:23One
18:24See ya!
18:25Jan didn't want to lose
18:26Her stuff
18:27So she used gear
18:28That somebody loaned her
18:31Problem was
18:32She was used to having
18:32The pilot chute
18:33Mounted on her leg straps
18:34And she came down
18:36And she came down
18:37And then she started flailing
18:38She's got problems man
18:40She's just reaching
18:40On her leg
18:41Looking for this pilot chute
18:43And from where I was
18:45Which was at the top
18:46Of a tree in a meadow
18:47I saw her hit the ground
18:50Dude she's got big
18:51She went in
18:52Oh my god
18:53What?
18:54Boom
18:54It just
18:56Boom
18:57She just hit
18:58She went in
19:00What the fuck?
19:04After that
19:05Park services were like
19:07See?
19:08Base jumpers basically
19:09Became public enemy
19:10Number one
19:12For the next few years
19:13Base jumping in Yosemite
19:15Was pretty quiet
19:17But Dean
19:18Changed that
19:19Here in Yosemite
19:21We're in one of the most
19:22Wild places
19:23Left in our country
19:24But base jumping
19:26This ultimate expression
19:28Of freedom
19:28For some reason
19:29That threatens them
19:30And unfortunately
19:32It means that I need
19:34To evade the law
19:37You know when Dean
19:38Embraced base jumping
19:41He really introduced
19:42This new era
19:42To Yosemite
19:44Check him out
19:45Check him out
19:46How cool is that?
19:48Dean definitely inspired
19:49A lot of the monkeys
19:50If you were a climber
19:52And wanted to start
19:53Start jumping
19:54You had his example
19:55This game of
19:57Base jumping
19:58In Yosemite
19:58It was sort of
20:00Secretive society
20:01It was like
20:02A ninja society
20:03On the top of El Cap
20:04Yeah
20:06Dean, mentor
20:07And coach
20:07All of us
20:09Good
20:10It's awesome
20:11Man
20:11It's like we're jumping
20:13Yeah
20:14Dean was like
20:15A father
20:16In this way
20:17Want to give a gear check?
20:18Are you all good?
20:19Yeah, check me out
20:20He was very meticulous
20:21Pin good
20:22Pin's good
20:23Dean was doing
20:24Crazy stuff
20:25That looks good
20:26That looks good
20:26But he was really good
20:27At minimalizing the risk
20:29Make it to a nice
20:30Safe spot
20:31On the far side
20:32Okay, Emigo
20:34The fact that it's illegal
20:36That's a whole other
20:37Like level of tension
20:38But Dean had figured out
20:40These rules
20:41Don't jump in the middle
20:42Of the day
20:42We should hold off
20:43Another 15 minutes
20:44At least
20:4415 minutes
20:45Early morning
20:46Evening
20:47That minimizes
20:48Your chances
20:49Of getting caught
20:49That's the way
20:50Though
20:50We got a guy
20:51Down there
20:51You always have
20:52Ground crew
20:53It would often
20:54Be Bullwinkle
20:54Someone talked
20:55With Winky
20:55My job was
20:56To ensure
20:57That my jumper
20:58Does not get
20:59Apprehended
21:00By law enforcement
21:01Nothing too
21:01Out of the ordinary
21:02Right now
21:02He's looking
21:03Almost ready for us
21:04The first time
21:05We ever jumped
21:05In Yosemite
21:06He got a base rig
21:07And then I had
21:08To get a base rig
21:09You know
21:09Dean gave us
21:11Advice
21:11Scary
21:12He down climbed
21:13To a ledge
21:14They call the
21:14Electric chair
21:15Holy shit
21:16Pretty focused
21:17Pretty gripped
21:17Yeah whenever
21:18You're ready
21:18Fucking hell
21:20The box is
21:21Just steamed up
21:21Dean was just
21:23Calm
21:24Relaxed
21:24Take him off
21:25Calm down
21:25You ready brother
21:26Yeah
21:27Let's do it
21:28Okay
21:29Three
21:29Two
21:30One
21:30Three
21:31Two
21:32One
21:32People will be like
21:33You know
21:33Three two one
21:34See ya
21:34Or like ready set go
21:35Or something like that
21:36Then maybe just
21:37Sometimes you
21:38You're not ready
21:39I know
21:39I usually don't count though
21:40That's the thing
21:41What do you mean
21:41You don't count
21:42I just don't count
21:43I just kind of go
21:44When it feels good
21:44You know
21:45Okay
21:46You want me to count then
21:47Want me to count
21:48Um
21:50Alright
21:50Corb
21:51You ready
21:51One
21:52Wait
21:52Wait
21:53Three two one
21:53Or one two three
21:55Three
21:56Two
21:57One
21:57See ya
21:59I don't like
22:00Three two one
22:00See ya
22:00Let's just do
22:01One two three
22:03Go
22:03Alright
22:04That's the count
22:04Alright
22:05Holy fuck
22:06One
22:07Two
22:08Three
22:10See ya
22:11Go go go
22:12Go go go
22:13Go go go
22:18Go see ya
22:20Dean just told me
22:21Man I love you
22:22You will see another world now
22:24Yeah
22:24Yeah
22:25Right now
22:25Ow
22:32I can remember making a comment
22:34I was like
22:34Dean like
22:35A lot of the climbers are jumping
22:36And he just looked at me
22:37With a stern Dean voice
22:39He goes
22:40I know
22:40It's happening
22:42He was just like
22:44Prophezizing
22:44Party time
22:47Right now bros
22:48Let's get it on
22:49I know there won't
22:50Down here
22:52For the park service
22:53And the federal government
22:54This was blatantly illegal behavior
22:58In a national park
22:59Dean was the face
23:00Of base jumping
23:01In Yosemite Valley
23:02Period
23:04As soon as that parachute opens
23:06I'm just scanning
23:08For rangers
23:09And looking for my escape route
23:11These guys better haul out
23:13Front
23:13There's a car
23:14Dean was high profile
23:16Naturally drew attention
23:19The law enforcement officers
23:20At park rangers
23:21Would have known
23:22Dean if caught base jumping
23:23Would represent a big catch
23:27Don't use my name
23:29Puff head
23:30They're spending years now
23:32Of man power
23:33But I do what I do well
23:34And they're not going to catch me
23:36I mean I think Dean
23:38Had to have something
23:39To rebel against
23:40Yeah
23:41He saw the rangers
23:42As sort of oppressive
23:43Authoritarian tool
23:44Like figure
23:45That was his word
23:46The tool
23:47If you're looking at this tool
23:48I'm not very happy
23:51Which I think means like
23:52Tools of fascist depression
23:54Or something
23:55Yeah we're going to jump
23:56This ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
23:58Dog spire
24:00And this was one way
24:01To socket to the tool
24:02Here it is in your face
24:04And there's nothing
24:05You can do about it
24:06Jump in the spire
24:08Jump in the spire
24:13That was fucking awesome
24:15Face jump with Dean today
24:18Yeah
24:18He's the man
24:21Flying with the fucking ravens
24:28It had been a couple of years
24:29Since the whole
24:30Delicate Arts scandal
24:31Where Dean had lost
24:33His hero status
24:35But now
24:36He was something even better
24:38He was a fucking anti-hero
24:41He was even more like that revolutionary
24:44That outsider
24:45That outcast
24:47He became somewhat paranoid
24:49And he stayed within this very tight-knit secretive group of people
24:57People worshipped Dean
24:59And they followed Dean
25:01I mean we all did
25:02Yeah
25:03His energy
25:04Was so fucking intense
25:06The dark parts of Dean
25:08The mystical part of Dean
25:10Was coming to the fore
25:13And he was convinced
25:15That he had some connection
25:17With fucking ravens
25:23He looked at him
25:24He looked kind of like a raven
25:26They both kind of had this gothic doomsday vibe to them
25:31There was something magical about Dean
25:33But there was also this darkness
25:35That lurked inside
25:37That's why we started calling him
25:39The dark wizard
25:40The dark wizard
25:42He drew his strength from this dark energy
25:46The whole dark wizard thing
25:48And the magnetism around Dean
25:52Was very cult-like
25:54Dean had been dominating the scene in Yosemite
25:57For almost a decade
25:59Soloing harder than anyone
26:02Base jumping harder than anyone
26:04He was still the most badass motherfucker in the valley, right?
26:08Nice
26:09And we thought we would never see anyone
26:11Challenge Potter's dominance
26:15But, you know, nothing is forever
26:18The next generation comes
26:19And they push the limits further
26:21Common slate, take one mark
26:25My name is Alex Honnold
26:26I'm a professional rock climber
26:29Growing up in suburban California
26:30My climbing gym
26:32Showed VHS climbing films on loop
26:35So I would have been 14
26:37When Master of Stone 5 came out
26:40Watching Dean Potter
26:41Going up a huge wall
26:42All by himself
26:44Looking like a total stud
26:46Yeah, this had a big impression
26:48On 14-year-old me
26:49I just remember thinking
26:51That is what badass climbing looks like
26:53I want to be able to do that
26:55When I was 19
26:56I dropped out of college
26:58Went to Yosemite
26:58Following directly in Dean's footprints
27:02Basically I wanted to climb everything
27:03That Dean had ever climbed
27:04Alex shows up in the valley
27:07Hungry to repeat the achievements of his idol
27:10And he starts ticking them off pretty fast
27:13We're like, who the fuck is this kid?
27:14You know?
27:15When I got to Yosemite
27:17All the cool kids
27:19The stone monkeys were spending a lot of time
27:21Enjoying themselves
27:22Base jumping
27:23Dropping acid and doing rope jumps
27:25Life's pretty good here in Yosemite Valley, baby!
27:34And I came to climbing with a slightly more focused approach
27:38I would show up in Yosemite with, you know, goals and like spreadsheets
27:42You know, I was really into fitness and training
27:44And doing 150 pull-ups before bed every night
27:47Highlining and base jumping
27:49I didn't do any of those things
27:50There was a bit of a generational change
27:53We were kind of counter-cultural
27:55And fuck the rules
27:57Hey, how are you doing?
28:00Alex was this dork
28:02Do you have girls in here a lot?
28:04Do I look like I have girls in here a lot?
28:06But we all saw this talent
28:08I filmed with Eric Perlman from Master of Stone 6
28:11But it was a big deal for me to make it into one of the Master of Stone movies
28:14Oh, there's this new kid, Alex Honnold
28:17Dean was actually jealous
28:18He said, well, I free solo those
28:21I said, yeah, but I kind of want to open the door to some other people
28:25And I don't think he really took it that well
28:28Well, so this is my original climbing journal
28:32It's a log of everything I've ever climbed
28:35It has no emotional component to it
28:38It's just a list of roots
28:41Oh, here we go
28:42Hong Kong Phooey
28:43Hong Kong Phooey is a climb of legend
28:46Dean Potter's visionary first ascent
28:49The hardest crack in the desert
28:50This was a climb that took Dean months of brutal effort
28:57The crack was so narrow
28:59That he had to jam his bare toes into it
29:06Pop Vicodin just to deal with the pain
29:10I made my way to Utah seeking out Hong Kong Phooey
29:14I climbed it
29:15I don't know, I think I did it second go
29:17I think
29:18Like, why do you take off one shoe?
29:19Why do you take Vicodin?
29:20Why do you do all these things?
29:22I was just kind of like, yeah, I wore my shoes
29:23It was great, it's fun
29:24Now I'll go climbing again tomorrow
29:26With Dean, I built him up on this pedestal
29:28This incredible, mythical figure
29:31And then when I started to repeat some of his roots
29:33I was like, oh, you know
29:34Turns out that he's still just a climber
29:36And anybody can go climb his roots if they try
29:39Ronald was quoted in this climbing magazine article
29:42Basically called Dean's Climb Easy
29:44Your quote was
29:46I wouldn't even call them accomplishments
29:48Just another day of climbing
29:49If you don't put any work into something
29:52It's not nearly as meaningful
29:55Yeah, I can see how the quote would rub somebody the wrong way
29:58I think now in retrospect
29:59I would phrase it a little bit differently
30:01Just so that it pays proper respect to the effort
30:03That Dean put into establishing the route
30:06Dean definitely read that
30:08Oh
30:10Here's a new kid on the block
30:12Denigrating his achievement
30:14Nobody had challenged Dean like that
30:18This is no longer somebody paying homage to their hero
30:21This is someone coming for their spot
30:25At that point, I was young
30:27I was hungry
30:27Thinking, what can I do that's new
30:29That's a step further
30:31How can I make it a splash?
30:41Moonlight Buttress is a big wall
30:43In Zion National Park
30:46When Honnold went up there
30:47It was the proudest solo
30:49That had ever been done
30:53There was something else about this guy
30:56Unlike anything you'd ever seen
30:59Dean is all about confronting the fear
31:03With Honnold, it was like
31:05This weird ability
31:07To not be afraid
31:10I would check out the no-hands knee bar, baby
31:13Yeah
31:14I just don't feel fear
31:16As viscerally as other people
31:18It's all just constructs in your head
31:20Shit that you make up
31:21People were stunned
31:25This kid
31:26Who is kind of a one-in-a-billion climbing freak
31:29He's dropped
31:30Right into
31:33Dean's wheelhouse
31:34Playing precisely his game
31:36For someone who had
31:38A monstrous, colossal, psychotic ego
31:40That has to have been massively destabilizing
31:45He always said
31:46He hated the fact that he was competitive
31:48That competitiveness
31:49Oh, it was there
31:50Deep down inside of him
31:54Honnold lit a fire under Dean's ass
31:58Yeah, yeah
32:03He was trying to figure out
32:04Where's my limit?
32:08How far can I push it
32:10And stay alive?
32:18But I remember thinking
32:22I'm not sure if he has a plan
32:41But of course there was something cooking
32:44In that manic brain of his
32:47He knew that if he was going to try to one-up Alex through soloing harder things, he was going
32:52to die.
32:53He knew what his limit was soloing.
32:56Alex is younger, stronger, better climber than he was, and a better soloist than anyone's ever been.
33:04But Dean has all these other skills.
33:08He's got really good vision.
33:10If you want to get into that competition with Alex, you're just going to have to focus everything that you've
33:13got, every resource you have.
33:16The dark wizard was going to use his alchemy to create something new, some dark arts.
33:24As humans, we're so limited by the fear we have of falling to our death, and my mind's spinning on
33:30how to change that.
33:32If you're free solo and you're climbing up a rope, you fall, you die.
33:35So generally, you climb the good notch below your limit.
33:40But imagine if you could find a way to really push your limits.
33:43Instead of certain death, you've got a chance.
33:46How can I turn my biggest fear into, you know, something I'm comfortable with?
33:51Dean came up with the concept of climbing without a rope, but with a parachute instead.
33:57If you fall off the rock, I think I have a fair chance to survive through this bass-free solo.
34:03You know, I call it free bass.
34:07Bass jumping is already dangerous enough, but the free bass thing just seemed so out there.
34:17Dean had been looking for a place to do some test runs of this idea.
34:22He decided to go to Europe, where it was legal to bass jump.
34:26The first proof of concept.
34:38When I'm on the wall climbing, knowing I'm going to take a fall, I'm just feeling real scared and real
34:46exposed out there.
34:50I'm sure I have the bass rig, but that's still super uncertain.
34:59I'm fighting to control the adrenaline pumping through me.
35:12I'm kind of way over-amping.
35:32With free bass, I love the idea that I can change the worst possible thing to the best possible thing.
35:41I'm dying to flying.
35:44The biggest danger is hitting the wall.
35:51I need to spin my body and enter into the tracking position with my hands at my side to rocket
35:59away from the wall.
36:04It's all really difficult to do, but I want to get to a point where I feel a comfort level.
36:14At least in my mind, this allows me to try things that I would never try to freeze solo.
36:21I think it has good potential to be taken further and further.
36:27Once he knew it was possible, he wanted to take this somewhere iconic.
36:32He chooses this route in Switzerland on the Eiger, this mythical place in climbing lore.
36:38The Eiger, on its north buttress, there is a shield of blue limestone.
36:46It's the perfect route for the first free bass.
36:52This is how Dean would pose it.
36:55When I heard about the free bass concept on the Eiger, it's an incredible idea.
36:59And I thought from the beginning it was possible.
37:03And I got a call from Dean, and he said, I have some money for working on a documentary.
37:08He has this whole production company involved.
37:11But he wanted to keep things small.
37:13Just a one-man camera crew.
37:16We had been friends for a lot of years, and I had been there for most of Dean's biggest sense.
37:22People would call me the Dean Whisperer, because I could navigate the mood swings.
37:28When he asked whether or not I want to come along and film it,
37:32I instantly said, yes.
37:37When I joined him in Switzerland, he had shaved his head.
37:43Gave him kind of an aggro look.
37:46Instead of hippie Dean, it was like, Dean, here to do business.
37:54Dean wanted a bass jump as much as possible to prepare himself.
38:01We stayed down beneath the Eiger in Loderbrunnen.
38:06That whole area is like the bass jumping capital of Europe.
38:11Dean was enamored with the bass scene there.
38:15But in my opinion, the whole scene was pretty disturbing.
38:20It was like hanging out with drug addicts.
38:22You never thought about getting into bass?
38:24No, and I've never smoked crack either.
38:27Yeah.
38:28You'd be hanging out with people, and they'd go out bass jumping.
38:33Somebody would die.
38:34And, like, people just didn't really talk about it.
38:38They just kept jumping, kind of joking.
38:41You'll probably see there.
38:42We're on the ground, hopefully not splattered.
38:46Ha, ha, ha, ha.
38:47All right.
38:47Sit.
38:47Go.
38:50One morning, things didn't go as planned.
38:53He kind of got this side-to-side wobble.
39:01Oh, damn it.
39:06Oh, damn it.
39:20Oh, damn it.
39:26Bunch of bass jumpers showed up.
39:28Oh, it's a good-sized fucking tree to get stuck in.
39:3025 meters, yeah.
39:31They all thought it was kind of a funny thing.
39:37It's quite amusing to see the best climber in the world get stuck in the tree.
39:41We called him out there, and he got a bit furry with the moss.
39:44Yeah, he was lucky.
39:46Dean had this really out-there emotional energy.
39:51It worried me.
39:52His behavior, his decision-making.
40:00Eventually, we headed up to the Eiger for the free base.
40:16He wanted to climb this route, deep blue sea.
40:20You do this traverse.
40:22All of a sudden, it drops off a couple thousand feet.
40:26Then you climb up this head wall to the top.
40:30Wild to think about free soloing this route with nothing but a parachute to save himself.
40:40Dean rappelled in to practice the climb.
40:49The climbing was more difficult than he was expecting.
41:00He was having a hard time doing the moves.
41:08He needed to practice a lot more.
41:15But, you know, the weather would come in, and then the rock would stay wet for days.
41:22Don't have to go very far for the water.
41:25Drinking from the belly of the Eiger.
41:28We built a camp right on the side of the Eiger.
41:33Got anything you want to say?
41:35It feels pretty claustrophobic inside this fog.
41:42Oh, lightning.
41:44Could be sent in for another 14 or 16 hours of sleep.
41:49After days festering up there, Dean would kind of go to a dark place.
41:56Just stare off into space for hours.
42:02I think he felt pressure to do this climb.
42:06To make this film and stay it in the limelight.
42:11Why not just solo stuff you can control?
42:27I don't really have an answer.
42:29I don't know what you're doing.
42:34It all came to a head one day.
42:37He was, like, getting really impatient.
42:38The weather had been bad for a long time.
42:42And he's like, I'm going to go for it.
42:47It didn't seem good to me.
42:50It didn't seem like he was in the right head space.
42:58He starts out on the traverse.
43:02I'm up above.
43:03I'm on this fixed line.
43:04And there's clouds moving in.
43:11The problem was, if he does fall, he needs to be able to see his landing zone and any obstacles
43:20that could be in the way.
43:31I was hoping he would climb back across and bail on the attempt, but he kept going.
43:50He was forcing it.
43:53It just felt like really forcing it.
44:03And he gets up to, like, the hardest section.
44:12And he has this sequence he has to nail.
44:36He blows his sequence.
44:43He looks at me like deer in the headlights, like, fuck, I'm fucked.
44:47I can't.
44:47He couldn't reverse the move he was doing.
44:49But with the clouds, he couldn't jump off.
44:54He's like, you've got to come get me.
44:58Jim, drop the end.
45:00Okay.
45:01I've got all the rope coiled underneath me.
45:04And he's like, dude, hurry, I'm barely in here.
45:06If you don't drop the end, I die.
45:10Okay, I will.
45:12Please, Jim.
45:14Will you drop the freaking end?
45:16It's twisted.
45:17Well, I need a drop.
45:19I'm getting slack to it.
45:20A whole bunch.
45:21More.
45:22More.
45:23More.
45:25Oh, fucker.
45:29And then get down to him, and I get near him, and he grabs onto my leg, like, onto my
45:34foot.
45:37And from my leg, he grabs my harness like that, and clipped into the line, and then wrapped
45:44down to the ledge.
45:45I'm going to dangle now, Jim.
45:49I was really angry.
45:50I was like, tell me if I'm wrong, but everything about this today felt wrong, and you went anyway.
45:57And that was like the first time that, I don't know.
46:05It was like the first time that it happened.
46:11And then it got worse, because I called him on it, and I said, if you're doing this for
46:17any other reason than you wanting to do this climb, you're an absolute fucking idiot.
46:23And he tweaked, of course, alpha male being talked to like that.
46:30And he said, well, at least we got the footage.
46:33And I'm like, dude, you know, there's a bigger picture here.
46:38And I thought of the one thing I could do that could really get his attention.
46:42And I was like, I'm going to delete the footage.
46:44And he's like, you're not going to destroy my art.
46:47He took a rock, and he like threw the rock at me, and I'm like, you motherfucker.
46:52And I put the camera down, and I took a rock, and I threw it at him.
46:56This whole time, this weather has been moving in, and he's literally chasing me across the
47:01eiger.
47:03I ran off and hid.
47:06Kind of, what the fuck am I doing up here?
47:11Eventually, the testosterone subsided.
47:15I hear this voice, I'm so angry, I can't find my way down.
47:22And I think I yelled, I was like, dude, I love you.
47:29We got back to camp.
47:32He was embarrassed.
47:35Really unhappy.
47:39I'm Dean Potter.
47:42And I'm a great guy.
47:44I don't have much value for my life.
47:49Just going out on the solo end where I'm probably going to eat it, just for the camera.
47:56It's pretty much what I come down to.
48:09I don't think I'm a very good role model for children.
48:20I think he cried all night.
48:29The next day, we wandered down and took the train back to Lauterbrennen.
48:40I was, like, fully intending to leave.
48:44I had had enough Dean.
48:48But he wanted me to stay.
48:52I felt like I was there partially to try to help keep him alive.
49:01The weather had been bad for weeks and weeks, and I was kind of freaking out that I couldn't do
49:05my thing.
49:08Instead of being the Zen master I want to be or whatever, I gave in to some thoughts that I
49:15should have said no to.
49:18And that's the whole underlying theme in my life is there's no going over the line.
49:25And then I did, you know, the clouds were there.
49:32You're going to die if you fall in the clouds.
49:38I had to call for Jim to rescue me, all because I was feeling the ego pulling in, couldn't control
49:46myself.
49:48I was trying to push a little bit more than was there.
50:01Dean, he was often asking himself, what is my primary motivator here?
50:11Why am I doing what I'm doing?
50:15He had the devil on the shoulder of wanting to be better than somebody.
50:21Or just wanting to be recognized.
50:26And I think in his most centered moments, he knew it's getting in the way of that pure expression of
50:35what you're really capable of.
50:50A couple weeks later, the weather cleared.
50:53Somehow he convinced me to go back up with him.
50:58It's like drinking hard, you know, once you forget how bad it really was.
51:03You're like, oh yeah, why not?
51:23The whole body's tingling.
51:46Oh man.
51:48Oh man.
51:53He gets up to this spot where they had to rescue him.
52:00He gets everything perfect.
52:30He gets everything perfect.
52:33He gets everything perfect.
53:06He gets everything perfect.
53:06He gets everything in the middle.
53:06He gets everything perfect.
53:11He gets everything perfect.
53:14It's just that, too.
53:28Up there on the Iger, I kind of had this crazy feeling where I knew I was doing this totally
53:35out there thing that I would never do without the parachute on.
53:44But with the spark of the idea, and the intention, and the willpower, the impossible can become reality.
54:04It was just kind of classic Dean.
54:07The entire thing was a fiasco, and then he pulls it off.
54:12Three, two, one, see ya?
54:15It was mad genius.
54:16It was mad.
54:45Yes.
54:46And then it went to newspapers and television.
54:52And then Dean wanted to take the concept to different disciplines.
54:57Combining base jumping with high lines.
55:00Losing the idea I once had that falling off the line was death, it's like a huge perception change.
55:08Pretty quickly, Dean was everywhere.
55:11It wasn't just inventing new sports.
55:13It was this dark wizard mystique.
55:16This man performs to no one.
55:19Some of that media attention, it was pretty over the top.
55:22This is a man obsessed and willing to risk it all.
55:26But he didn't care.
55:27He created this incredible spectacle that took his shit to a new level.
55:32Dean Potter, venture of the year.
55:34Dean Potter is a paradigm shift in athletic achievement.
55:37And now he's got some brand new sponsorship contracts.
55:39He's becoming more and more famous, getting more and more money, like bling.
55:55And everybody was impressed, except, of course, for one guy.
56:01I mean, it's easy to be the best if you're the only one doing it.
56:04And I feel like Dean really took that to darker pastures.
56:06When I saw Dean freebasing, I was like, that's a fun trick.
56:10Like, that's a weird gimmick.
56:11And, you know, it's like really beautiful to watch.
56:13Like, it's really good on film.
56:15But why don't you just sold the route without a parachute?
56:18That's way cooler of an achievement.
56:21Freebasing, highlining.
56:23Like, leave it to circus performers, who would probably do it better anyway.
56:27Yeah.
56:39Come on.
56:40Bye.
56:40Umm.
56:47Bye.
56:51Joel Uhmm.
56:51That's it.
56:52Bye now.
56:54Bye-bye.
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