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Was the wall keeping Maester Aemon alive?


Stormking902

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It's said that "ice preserves and fire consumes", I'm not sure exactly where, but I remember reading that. So, it's likely that living at the Wall helped prolong Maester Aemon's life and that when he travelled into warmer climates, the increase in heat sped up his demise. It may be possible, if Jon is dead and not just very near death, for his body to be preserved in an ice cell or in one of the food storage areas under the wall. If Jon is very near death, but his spirit/mind is warged into Ghost, that being placed into an ice cell could slow the process of death long enough for his body to be healed. That's all assuming that the Wall isn't in complete chaos after the mutiny and people can collect Jon's body quickly enough and get him into an ice cell.

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@Beren_One_Hand, it's Maester Aemon himself who mentions that in AFFC. 

Quote

"I should not have left the Wall. Lord Snow could not have known, but I should have seen it. Fire consumes, but cold preserves. The Wall...but it's too late to go running back. The Stranger waits outside my door and will not be denied. 

It's something I've wondered about myself. It seems like a confirmation that whatever magic is woven into the Wall has managed to keep Maester Aemon alive, and whatever balance that may have been struck between ice and fire is now gone since Aemon is away from the Wall. The further he got from the Wall, the worst he got.

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All of Aemon's brothers destroyed themselves because of magic. Aerion killed himself by drinking wildfire, Aegon killed himself at Summerhall, and Daeron heard voices in his head and became a self-medicating alcoholic.

When Aemon left the wall, his mental state rapidly deteriorated.

Proximity to the Wall, or distance from everything else, might have been protecting his mind. And it's not a big leap from there to thinking it might have been protecting his body as well.

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It's interesting the someone with Targaryen (Fire) blood would gain such a benefit from cold and Ice. But then again, the title is "A Song of Ice and Fire", not Ice against Fire.

So this leads to some interesting possibilities for someone who has both Ice and Fire blood, namely Jon. Is he going to be haler and heartier than most average men, able to withstand trauma that would otherwise kill another person? Will he have extra warging powers, able to not only tap wolves, but dragons?

And could the co-mingling of these two bloods represent a direct threat to others (perhaps literally?) on the planet. Was this the reason the Pact of Ice and Fire was never consummated?

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9 hours ago, Widow's Watch said:

@Beren_One_Hand, it's Maester Aemon himself who mentions that in AFFC. 

If this isn't magical, the whole thing is pretty weird.

While there actually is a bit of scientific evidence that living in cold climates may extend lifespan once you account for things like increased influenza, more sedentary lifestyles, more suicides, etc., pre-modern people didn't account for those things. The traditional beliefs in most cold countries is that old and sick people should move somewhere hot to stay alive. And that tradition persists to this day, as someone who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico would surely be constantly aware of.

And in-universe, while we don't see people migrating south for the winter too much, we do see that old people in the North go off to die when the winter comes, while people in the other kingdoms don't. So it doesn't sound like "cold preserves" is something people traditionally believe in Westeros any more than in our world.

So, I think Aemon probably believed that something magical about the cold kept him going, not the cold itself.

Also, he died of a chill while traveling the Narrow Sea out of Braavos, which hardly sounds like death by not being cold enough, but doesn't rule out death by being too far from the Wall's magic.

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The guy is a 102 there is a good chance that the journey by sea killed him due to his frail state and duration of the trip.

Regardless 2 questions remain though would he have reached 102 living in hotter climates, and would he have lived just as long in a cold climate away from the wall.

He seems to think the wall is important but he was often delirious, incoherent and also wished to have left sooner and potentially undertaken a longer journey to find Dany; which reinforces the incoherence as he apparently needs the wall to stay alive.

He states her, not them so at what point did he wish with hindsight to have joined her, at Slaver Bay she was famous and had her dragons, but way too far for the old man to travel, before then she was with her brother on the run but how was a penniless blind man bound to the night's watch expecting to find them?

Personally I think he is just rambling on his death bed

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45 minutes ago, elder brother jonothor dar said:

The guy is a 102 there is a good chance that the journey by sea killed him due to his frail state and duration of the trip.

Regardless 2 questions remain though would he have reached 102 living in hotter climates, and would he have lived just as long in a cold climate away from the wall.

He seems to think the wall is important but he was often delirious, incoherent and also wished to have left sooner and potentially undertaken a longer journey to find Dany; which reinforces the incoherence as he apparently needs the wall to stay alive.

He states her, not them so at what point did he wish with hindsight to have joined her, at Slaver Bay she was famous and had her dragons, but way too far for the old man to travel, before then she was with her brother on the run but how was a penniless blind man bound to the night's watch expecting to find them?

Personally I think he is just rambling on his death bed

Aemon felt bad for not being there for his family so during his death he dreamed and wished he could help Danny even though he himself knew it was a pipe dream. 

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Just to note, take any mystical equation out of it, and it's still easier to live to old age in the cold than in the hotter South.  Less disease going around.  IRL there is some scientific evidence to suggest colder sleeping temperatures add to longevity.

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It's unclear if the wall prolonged Aemon's life.  It does not have that effect on any other men, as far as we know.  Someone would have noticed a long time ago if the men serving at the wall had longer lifespans.  There are brothers who do not go out ranging and one would think the stewards, builders, and cooks would live longer than average if the wall actually preserved.  I don't think the wall had any effect on Aemon's lifespan.  Maybe he ate sparingly and caloric restriction contributed to his excellent overall health.  It is theoretically possible that Bloodraven may have helped prolong Aemon's life but there is no mention of it in the books.  Maybe it's just luck. 

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