"Even Castles made of sand, fall into the sea, eventually."
- Jimi Hendrix.

Jimi Hendrix was right: even castles don't last forever. One of the hardest things to accept as a person is that everything ends. No matter what we build or do, everything changes.

Then again, maybe that's why castles capture so many of our imaginations. Although their creators may have returned to the Earth, these magnificent structures live on. Nothing really demonstrates true power like a castle. The high, stone walls. The foreboding presence. And the history! They're like a physical embodiment of a time-gone-by. Indeed, for many of us, the middle ages are synonymous with those old fortresses. And a period-piece without a castle is barely worth watching, right?

But beyond what they look like in Braveheart or Game of Thrones, how much do we really know about these ancient structures?

Our European readers might be chuckling at that. In many countries on the continent, castles remain standing to this day—potent reminders of their long-dead architects. Still, though, for many of us catching sight of a castle in real life is only a fantasy. And so we're left wondering: how old are the oldest castles?  Why did anyone build them? Who lived inside them? This video will answer all those questions and more, as we strive to uncovered the mysteries of those monumental medieval buildings.