The Doom of Valyria seems vaguely nuclear-related?

[Kat013]

From AFfC (hardback, first edition, p. 440):

Every man there knew that the Doom still ruled Valyria. The very sea there boiled and smoked, and the land was overrun with demons. It was said that any sailor who so much as glimpsed the fiery mountains of Valyria rising above the waves would soon die a dreadful death, yet the Crow's Eye had been there, and returned.

We also know the Doom sundered the land itself.

I offer up the following as a curious observation of possibility:

Fragmenting of the land into islands - nuclear explosion

Sea boiling and smoking - non-critical nuclear reaction dumping lots of heat into the water

Demons - mutated animals / people

Sailors dying who get too close - radiation poisoning

Euron Greyjoy going there and surviving - he's been drinking some sort of iodine, which has stained his lips blue.

I seriously doubt that Valyria had achieved advancements in nuclear physics. But I don't think it would be completely out of the question for a gigantic natural deposit of uranium to react badly to, say, dragonfire. And possibly already-present volcanoes. I don't recall whether we know if the volcanoes of Valyria were there before the Doom or not.

It was Euron surviving his trip to Valyria and having blue-stained lips that made everything click for me. I just found the similarities between the Doom and a nuclear event to be interesting. It is very easy to play devil's advocate against this - the kinds of iodine that are in liquid form and can protect against a specific kind of radiation poisoning must be painted on the skin, and not ingested, for example. The explosion and continued heating of the sea could be due to large volcanoes. There could be any number of explanations for the 'demons', and the sailors could by sickened by inhaling fumes from volcanic activity. It could all just be magic.

[Zezibesh]

Fragmenting of the land into islands - Volcanic eruption

Sea boiling and smoking - volcanic activity

Demons - mutated animals / people - I agree. Might be because of magic contamination, might also be because of radiation. Who knows?

Sailors dying who get too close - Or the Smoking Sea is just stormy, they get attacked be demons, obsidian boulders rain on their ships, anything really.

Euron Greyjoy going there and surviving - He was careful.

EDIT: It's also possible Euron never really went there at all. He might have just bought the dragon horn from some scavenger. Who would tell if he hadn't been there? His crew is mute.

[Jay Bee]

I got a similar impression when reading that, but (for me at least) I think it's mainly due to being bred on a diet of books, comics and movies where at the end it turns out to have been earth after some sort of cataclysm. Think Planet of the Apes etc.

I sincesly doubt Mr Martin is going down that particular path (and fervently hope not)

[Bing]

Wrong genre. The very most you could say is that there are some magical side-effects that resemble the effects of nuclear fall out.

[taurunum dire cat]

I hawe idea that the doom of Valyria was Others-related.Maybe crazy but I thought that they were guarding the other side of waistlands ower the Wall,I mean it gota hawe another side?And things that can kill the Others are realted to Valyria(dragon glas,Valyrian steal,fire...)

[Zezibesh]

I hawe idea that the doom of Valyria was Others-related.Maybe crazy but I thought that they were guarding the other side of waistlands ower the Wall,I mean it gota hawe another side?And things that can kill the Others are realted to Valyria(dragon glas,Valyrian steal,fire...)

I feel like it was the world trying to balance itself. Neither Ice or Fire is good, and both are required for continued existence. When the Valyrian Freehold reigned it was clearly the age of fire. They could have conquered the whole world, and eventually probably would have. But then the center of their empire collapsed into the sea.

Now ice (Others) is emerging to balance the equation.

[Lummel]

I heard an interview with GRRM in which he said something along the lines of that Dragons were the nuclear weapons of Westeros.

I suppose if he meant that literally then an over concentration of Dragons in too confined a geographical space could have caused the Doom of Valyria!

[Arryk]

I heard an interview with GRRM in which he said something along the lines of that Dragons were the nuclear weapons of Westeros.

I suppose if he meant that literally then an over concentration of Dragons in too confined a geographical space could have caused the Doom of Valyria!

Or maybe he meant that dragons are like a deterrent much like having nuclear weapons? I think I remember someone here had brought up the idea that the original Faceless Men may have caused the doom to stop the slaving in the mines? There were also firewyrms living inside the earth, no telling how large they got and may have caused the doom as well?

[Hopeless]

We know that slaves were dying in the mines of Valyria's volcanic mountains before the founding of Braavos. They were forced to dig deeper and deeper, even as it killed them. Maybe they did dig so deep eventually they they somehow set off the Doom, and who knows, maybe it did somehow involve natural radioactive materials. And they already had different types of beings there, or at least Firewyrms are mentioned.

I definitely connected the blue lips with the warlocks, indicating that Euron had been delving into magic.

[ViennaGirl]

I fervently hope that this story isn't set on a post-nuclear future earth. I like a combination of volcanoes, dragons, and blood magic.

[Ygritte]

I fervently hope that this story isn't set on a post-nuclear future earth. I like a combination of volcanoes, dragons, and blood magic.

Me too--and I've always thought it was supposed to be analogous to the Thera eruption.

[Bastard of Varys]

I think the discovery of the dragons as an effective weapon was the catalyst of The Doom. The nuclear-like explosion might've been a result of overbreeding of dragons, or of an attempt to create a superdragon.

[TanRu]

I definitely connected the blue lips with the warlocks, indicating that Euron had been delving into magic.

Yes, he has been drinking "shade of the evening", and tries to get Victarion to drink some.

The rest did make me think of radiation though.

[Queen Horseface]

Magic Nukes? :drool:

[King_In_The_North]

I heard an interview with GRRM in which he said something along the lines of that Dragons were the nuclear weapons of Westeros.

I suppose if he meant that literally then an over concentration of Dragons in too confined a geographical space could have caused the Doom of Valyria!

I think that he meant they're an unstoppable weapon that can destroy EVERYTHING.

[Lummel]

Or maybe he meant that dragons are like a deterrent much like having nuclear weapons? I think I remember someone here had brought up the idea that the original Faceless Men may have caused the doom to stop the slaving in the mines? There were also firewyrms living inside the earth, no telling how large they got and may have caused the doom as well?

I think that he meant they're an unstoppable weapon that can destroy EVERYTHING.

er ...yes...it was a simile.

Hopefully as the series progresses we'll get some more background on the old Doom of Valyria.

[Kat013]

I had forgotten about the slaves, thanks for bringing them up.

I seriously doubt the world is Earth. And while I think the idea of massive natural uranium deposits + magic / dragonfire makes for an interesting explanation, it is indeed more plausible for too many dragons in one small area that's already volcanic to have resulted in disaster.

Also, something else I thought of and forgot while writing the original post - I don't know if we've seen whether or not the rest of Euron's crew has also been drinking Shade of Evening.

[Night's Scotch]

Or maybe he meant that dragons are like a deterrent much like having nuclear weapons?

that makes more sense. whoever has dragons in his army becomes the de facto superpower because of the destruction they can rain on any army they face

[The Oncoming Storm]

Maybe the slaves woke up some Eldritch Abomination down there... plus volcano effects and maybe a massive earthquake.

[Hodor Hodor]

I always read it as Valyria=Roman Empire, Doom=black plauge and pompeii sized eruption at the same time