The Fourteen Flames

[Grey Firewyrm]

Are the Fourteen Flames still burning as mountainous volcanoes or did they collapse into the sea during the cataclysm? Is this the reason that Valyria is shrouded in 'smoke'. It's not actually smoke but steam, from the boiling sea, which would carry the poisonous gasses that are present in volcanoes. Hence why no one can really stay there. 

As a secondary note what of the Firewyrms that were said to dwell in the rocks and mines?

[Vhaegon Targaryen I]

6 hours ago, Grey Firewyrm said:

Are the Fourteen Flames still burning as mountainous volcanoes or did they collapse into the sea during the cataclysm? Is this the reason that Valyria is shrouded in 'smoke'. It's not actually smoke but steam, from the boiling sea, which would carry the poisonous gasses that are present in volcanoes. Hence why no one can really stay there. 

As a secondary note what of the Firewyrms that were said to dwell in the rocks and mines?

I believe the fourteen flames erupted all at once which probably caused the doom, either that or magic or the faceless men. In any case, most of the fourteen flames still exist and some are known to be active. I think the whole boiling and smoking water is just some thing people use to scare pirates off. Maybe the smoke is just debris or came from the doom, or it's just mist/fog.

i think the wyrms could still be down there. It was said that the mines could be miles deep so... Or they might be the reason for the smoke. We don't know much about Valyria or the doom yet.

[Maester Egg]

Something is clearly still there... if you go too close, you never come back.

[Ckram]

Aboard the Selaesori Qhoran, Tyrion and Moqorro notice the red sky over Valyria. " Fourteen or fourteen thousand". No doubt there's still flames there.

[Lrd Commander Midnight]

It's said that the doom happened because to many of the fire mages who used spells to bank the 14 flames were killed off and assasinated from rival families fighting for power. 

11 minutes ago, Ckram said:

Aboard the Selaesori Qhoran, Tyrion and Moqorro notice the red sky over Valyria. " Fourteen or fourteen thousand". No doubt there's still flames there.

There could still be eruptions and rivers and canals of lava (that the pyromancers used for their fuel) flowing through Valyria and if their was heavy cloud cover or just cloudy conditions over Valyria that could have caused the red sky.

Its been around 300years since the doom I'm sure things have settled down since then?

[Ckram]

Well, it's not about things settling or not, since Valyria is discribed as if it was full of flames even before the Doom.

No one can tell if still there is a chain of volcanoes, but here's the complete quote from ADWD, Tyrion VIII:

Only the brightest stars were visible, all to the west. A dull red glow lit the sky to the northeast, the color of a blood bruise. Tyrion had never seen a bigger moon. Monstrous, swollen, it looked as if it had swallowed the sun and woken with a fever. Its twin, floating on the sea beyond the ship, shimmered red with every wave. “What hour is this?” he asked Moqorro. “That cannot be sunrise unless the east has moved. Why is the sky red?”

“The sky is always red above Valyria, Hugor Hill.”

[Grey Firewyrm]

So my interpretation is that the fourteen flames as they are described historically are gone but have either become one or there is now a more vast number of fires. They would have to be live in order to brighten the sky.

On 17/07/2016 at 0:23 AM, Ckram said:

 Tyrion had never seen a bigger moon. Monstrous, swollen, it looked as if it had swallowed the sun and woken with a fever. Its twin, floating on the sea beyond the ship, shimmered red with every wave

Are there two moons in TWOIAF?

[Jon Fossoway]

What. Is that actually a second moon.

[Ckram]

No. The "twin" is the same moon reflected in the water.

[Ckram]

On 12/07/2016 at 10:35 AM, Grey Firewyrm said:

As a secondary note what of the Firewyrms that were said to dwell in the rocks and mines?

The Doom of Valyria killed even dragons in the sky (ADwD, Tyrion VIII). The Firewyrms are probably dead too.

"But, why mentioning it on the books only to say they are dead"? - Well, maybe some character will go to Valyria and we'll know why, or maybe Firewyrms will be discovered inside Dragonmont (the volcano on Dragonstone).

[Jon Fossoway]

59 minutes ago, Ckram said:

No. The "twin" is the same moon reflected in the water.

Ah, "beyond". Silly english of mine, thanks.

[Shireen Purratheon]

On 7/12/2016 at 9:35 AM, Grey Firewyrm said:

As a secondary note what of the Firewyrms that were said to dwell in the rocks and mines?

I read an idea somewhere along the way that the firewyrms were actually underground magma veins that were personified into dragons because the people encountering them didn't know what they actually were. But that was a while ago, and I don't remember who I should credit.

 

[Grey Firewyrm]

I had an idea that some firewyrms were 'ejected' from the earth when the doom occurred spreading them to other regions. I don't know if that has been suggested before but I would find it quite a funny concept.

I may be wrong but wasn't it said somewhere there are rumblings in the depths of Dragonstone? (It might have been Casterly Rock during Jamie's dreams when he was captive though).

I would be disappointed to find out they were just magma. Perhaps Bran will find a way to warg into one since people can't go there.

[Endymion I Targaryen]

Maybe the Forteen Flames were activated in the Doom and have never deactivated since. Maybe the Doom created more active volcanos in the area.

[Ckram]

@King Endymion Targaryen 

Still, valyrian peninsula has been partially drowned where the Fourteen Flames once stood (semi-canon). That's the usual explanation for the smoking stacks and boiling water on the Smoking Sea.

Submarine volcanoes does not supposedly illuminate the sky the way Tyrion and Moqorro saw. So, I guess you're right about young volcanoes.