The War for Magic: Moderator-Friendly Edition

[Ser Ronan Storm]

The previous iteration of this post was deleted for not adhering to the show spoiler code, how clumsy of me. Here it is in edited form, because I still think this is a discussion worth having.

In ASOIAF, the story begins with magic mostly gone from the world. With the second coming of the Others and the birth of Dany's dragons, magic begins to become more and more prominent, and the revelations of several factions who are magical or use magic or seek to control it come to light. These various factions seem destined for conflict with one another in GRRM's final two installments. GRRM has said that the series will end with less magic than is currently present in the series, so one wonders if these factions don't wipe each other out, or if numerous magic users/dragons have to die to make his diminished magical ending a reality. These are our players:

The Others. Virtually nothing is known about them accept for the fact that they seem to like killing people and things, and they have "ice" magic that allows them to control and reanimate those corpses. They allegedly last troubled human society 8,000 years ago. We do not know why they suddenly stopped and what they were doing before popping up to dance with Ser Waymar Royce. Some wildlings believe they accidentally woke them up/broke some enchantments keeping them at bay when Mance and his army was disturbing tombs in the mountains looking for the Horn of Winter. No other theory is posited about why the Others have suddenly returned. They seem to want to bring death to every living thing. There endgame may or may not be more complex than that.

The House of Black and White. The order of the Faceless Men can be considered a death cult. They worship the Many-Faced God and practice assassinations, giving the gift of death to others. A favorite saying is "All men must die." They seem only too happy to bring about universal death. The Faceless Men originated as slaves of the Valyrian dragonlords and may or may not have engineered the Doom. It is likely that they are not thrilled about a dragonlord resurgence via Dany, and they may be working against her. A Faceless Man was hired by Euron Greyjoy to kill his brother King Balon, and now another (or the same), Jaquen, has infiltrated the Citadel at Oldtown to find something. Speculation is that he is hunting for a book on dragon lore, and is either in Euron's employ, or seeks it for his cult's own purpose regarding Dany's dragons. It should be noted that Faceless Men use some form of magic/blood magic to change their faces at will.

The Citadel. The center of learning and scientific knowledge in Westeros (and perhaps the world), Sam learns from Marwyn the Mage that the maesters have worked hard to create a world without magic and that they have sent agents to harm Dany and her dragons. It is hinted that the Citadel is responsible for the deaths of the last dragons. How deep does this conspiracy go, and will they come into conflict with Dany?

R'hllorism. The Lord of Light seems to be the only deity in the series that has power, at the moment. We have witnessed several red priests perform supernatural feats, and this power seems to have grown with the birth of Dany's dragons. The red priests seek to ally with Dany as Team Fire against the eternal war with the Great Other and his servants (Team Ice). It is also mentioned by Melisandre that red priests have the power to see through the magic used by Faceless Men to disguise themselves. Nothing is made of that reference since, but I wonder if the red priests and the Faceless Men will end up facing off (pun intended) because of their opposing attitudes towards dragons. Whether the Lord of Light is real or not, Fire magic seems critical in the pending war against the Others.

King Euron Greyjoy, the Party Crasher That Was Promised. Euron is still the wildcard here. He may or may not be lying about his travel(s) through the ruins of Valyria and his acquisition of a dragon egg. But he has a magical horn meant to control dragons. He has

Spoiler

many priests of various religions on his ship, the Warlocks that had been hunting Dany, and a suit of Valyrian steel armor.

I'm not sure what Euron's endgame is, but he may well sit the Iron Throne for a time. I also think he will provide some handy exposition about the forces of magic on Planetos, and he may even be an agent of the Drowned God if he is able to summon a kraken or two.

Bloodraven and the Children of the Forest. Another faction we know almost nothing about. We know a fair bit about Bloodraven's life before he became a tree, but what made him want to spend decades as a tree? And to what extent is his warging ability? It is hinted that many of his Raven's Teeth personal guard were mind slaves of his. Melisandre also has a vision of him and Bran and interprets them to be the Enemy. Now, Melisandre is the world's worst interpreter, but it makes me wonder...we don't really know what Bloodraven's motives are, and why he thought it best to "fight" the Others by becoming a tree as opposed to his position in the Night's Watch.

Bonus Event: Summerhall. I really don't care about Summerhall all that much because it doesn't seem like anything that has yet to be revealed about the tragedy there will factor into events in the main series. I have a theory that since most of the Targaryen family perished there, perhaps it was an attempt by the Citadel to wipe the bloodline out. Maybe knowledge was revealed during the ceremony to revive the dragons about how to accurately do so. Or maybe a prophesy about the Prince That Was Promised was created. Who the hell knows. But if GRRM is just saving that information for his last planned Tales of Dunk and Egg adventure (since Dunk and Aegon both die during the event), then it seems that any reveal is unimportant for the current story in ASOIAF.

So what say you all about the War for Magic? Go forth and speculate!

[Ckram]

Would you please point out references in the books about the "variety" you mentioned in the "hidden contents"?

Thanks in advance.

[Ser Ronan Storm]

3 hours ago, Ckram said:

Would you please point out references in the books about the "variety" you mentioned in the "hidden contents"?

Thanks in advance.

Read the Aeron I Balticon Reading thread in the Winds of Winter forum on this site. Notes compiled from GRRM's reading of the chapter reveal

Spoiler

that Euron has been collecting priests from different faiths. Specific mentions are given to a septon and a red priest. Also, he has the Qarth Warlocks, which are kinda religious in their own way.

I don't have the book handy to give a page number, but in A Feast For Crows, during the Kingsmoot, Euron mentions that he knows more about the gods than anyone else assembled there, because he claims to have raided temples from all over the world. Euron seems deeply interested in the power of gods, but to what end?

[The Fattest Leech]

23 minutes ago, Ser Ronan Storm said:

Read the Aeron I Balticon Reading thread in the Winds of Winter forum on this site. Notes compiled from GRRM's reading of the chapter reveal

  Hide contents

that Euron has been collecting priests from different faiths. Specific mentions are given to a septon and a red priest. Also, he has the Qarth Warlocks, which are kinda religious in their own way.

I don't have the book handy to give a page number, but in A Feast For Crows, during the Kingsmoot, Euron mentions that he knows more about the gods than anyone else assembled there, because he claims to have raided temples from all over the world. Euron seems deeply interested in the power of gods, but to what end?

His own. He is an ego maniac. 

 

Try this when you need book references to help with theories, etc  

https://asearchoficeandfire.com