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Chasing the Dragon, Part 1: Analyzing an Alchemist


Rooseman

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This is a pretty long essay, in which I examine the Prologue of A Feast for Crows for clues about the Alchemist's identity, his mission, and who he's working for. Some of these connections are well-known, but others aren't. I believe that if we look closely, there's much more that can be puzzled out than the mere identity of the man. But judge for yourself:

https://warsandpoliticsoficeandfire.wordpress.com/2016/12/06/chasing-the-dragon-part-1-analyzing-an-alchemist/

(If you need a TL;DR, feel free to skip ahead to the conclusion)

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Very Nice. Its been i while since i read a theory that actually makes sense.
 I have to admit ive never even considered marwyn as the culprit.

But you are right technically it never says All archmaesters have a key.

A number of possibilites open up. Is Marwyn trying to steal the book to avoid the grey sheep of using that knowledge to kill the dragons or rather he is the one to kill the dragons?

Looking forward to the next essay.;)

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A number of possibilites open up. Is Marwyn trying to steal the book to avoid the grey sheep of using that knowledge to kill the dragons or rather he is the one to kill the dragons?

I'll definitely address that when I write more about Samwell V. But I think your first idea is probably pretty spot on. Marwyn is very concerned with the other archmaesters interfering with his plans, and he actually believes that they killed all the dragons the last time around.

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Great job! I really enjoyed your theory and liked all of your points and your overall approach. 

An alternate theory popped into my head while reading based on those wine spots...

What if Leo isn't working for Marwyn, but working directly for Jaqen? Or more to my point, what if Leo isn't Leo at all, and he is another faceless man, and those wine spots were actually blood spots on the original Leo's clothes, evidence of his murder. The FM stole his clothes, assumed his identity, and began to put this plan into action. 

While I think your theory makes more sense, and I've never seen any evidence of FM working in groups (maybe Jaqen was both of them?), it's just something that popped into my head. 

Keep us posted on that next installment!

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 6-12-2016 at 3:25 PM, Rooseman said:

This is a pretty long essay, in which I examine the Prologue of A Feast for Crows for clues about the Alchemist's identity, his mission, and who he's working for. Some of these connections are well-known, but others aren't. I believe that if we look closely, there's much more that can be puzzled out than the mere identity of the man. But judge for yourself:

https://warsandpoliticsoficeandfire.wordpress.com/2016/12/06/chasing-the-dragon-part-1-analyzing-an-alchemist/

(If you need a TL;DR, feel free to skip ahead to the conclusion)

Very nice essay! Thanks!

Especially your analysis of Leo Tyrell's behavior was spot-on. I liked the idea that the FM works for Marwyn.

One item which I think you glossed over too soon, is which book he stole. Just because the book Blood and Fire is mentioned in a different chapter, doesn't mean that that is the book they were looking for.

I'm looking forward to the next installment of the series. I wonder where you will take us next.

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While I think you did a good job on the essay, it seems to me that you made your conclusion at Marwyn hiring him and then made certain leaps to support this which are not there to make.  The big one obviously being that Marwyn does not have his own key, I just don't find your logic solid.  You state that with the other archmaesters disliking him why on earth would they trust him with a key, yet they still trust Walgrave with a key when they know he is not mentally fit.  This seems like a rather strong piece of evidence to indicate that all archmaesters get a key.  I feel the argument falls apart from there on.  Martin is the archmaester who would get the most use out of the types of books and scrolls locked away down there, if anyone would have a key it would be him.  He also surely does not lack access to Walgrave, and with his glass candle should have been able to find the key himself.

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