The Doom of Valyria

[adiman83]

We know Valyria's technology was highly advanced and way beyond any of the other nations in their world even compared to their present standards. Because of this, ever since I've first read about how Valyria fell, I had the impression that the Doom was a nuclear holocaust or nuclear-like in origin.

I based my conclusion on the little we know about how the Doom happened and how Valyria looks like today:

- the Valyrian Freehold was completely obliterated in a single night. Some accepted theories among the fans speak about a volcanic eruption but volcanoes don't really have the destructive power to irreversibly destroy an empire in one night. There are signs of activity before a volcano erupts and the Valyrians would've noticed it. And volcanoes that are indeed large enough to cause such destruction would have been a peril for the entire planet, not only for a localized area. That's why I doubt this hypothesis. A nuclear weapon on the other hand, does have the power to turn an entire empire to ruin in a single night.

- they say that even if you simply glimpse at the mountains of Valyria you will soon die. I don't know about you but that sounds a lot like radiation poisoning to me. Exposure to very high radiation doses CAN kill a person in a matter or days.

- Tyrion read at some point that on the day of the disaster, every hill for 500 miles had split asunder to fill the air with ash and smoke and fire, blazes so hot and hungry that even dragons in the sky were engulfed and consumed. Multiple nuclear blasts?

- they say the Doom still rules in Valyria and the entire area is demon-haunted. Nuclear detonations can irradiate the environment to much that it will be deadly for centuries and animals can suffer from horrible mutations (the demons?).

Well, this is all I can think of right now. The signs in the book don't really point towards volcanic activity. The Doom was way to powerful and destructive for that.

Share your thoughts.

[Queen‍‍‍‍‍‍ Alysanne‍‍™]

I think it was destroyed by a long summer, just as westeros is on verge of being destroyed by a long winter.

[yolkboy]

Valyrian steel to nuclear bombs? That's some trick.

My thought are : this is absurd.

[Atroksia]

For me, everything points to a giant volcanic eruption, maybe evoked (but not fully caused) by Old Valyria.

[Usrnmhsnomning]

A meteor hit the Valyrian peninsula, triggering seismic activity that caused earthquakes and eruptions of all nearby volcanoes

[White Ravens]

Volcanoes, earthquakes and magic. Mystery solved. If we stick to the natural part, earthquakes and volcanoes have far more destructive power than a nuclear bomb.

[Arthur Dayne's Honor]

I personally have a crackpot that The COTF of Brans group used to be massive compared to what it is now, and a splinter group split off and sailed to Valyria and used magic to ignite the Fourteen Fires.

[adiman83]

Valyrian steel to nuclear bombs? That's some trick.

My thought are : this is absurd.

Not necessarily nuclear bombs. Maybe caused by magic but still nuclear. And how would this be absurd? In Westeros, for example, they had no idea what cannons are (they clearly didn't have them), barely knew what explosives are but they used Wildfire which behaves ridiculously like napalm. So why would it be absurd for the Valyrians to perform some magic ritual that went horribly wrong and caused nuclear explosions in some natural deposits?

Volcanoes, earthquakes and magic. Mystery solved. If we stick to the natural part, earthquakes and volcanoes have far more destructive power than a nuclear bomb.

Volcanoes and earthquakes are more destructive but they don't really leave a place still deadly and contaminated centuries after the initial event.

[Atroksia]

Not necessarily nuclear bombs. Maybe caused by magic but still nuclear. And how would this be absurd? In Westeros, for example, they had no idea what cannons are (they clearly didn't have them), barely knew what explosives are but they used Wildfire which behaves ridiculously like napalm. So why would it be absurd for the Valyrians to perform some magic ritual that went horribly wrong and caused nuclear explosions in some natural deposits?

Why would they do that after the vision of Daenys the Dreamer about the Doom of Valyria, which made the Targaryen flee to Dragonstone, to escape the fate of their home?

I think it was just volcanoes, earthquakes, triggered by their magic, maybe, but not intentionally. Why would they risk performing magic that could go wrong after Daenys warning. Imho you're thinking too far.

[BlackDragon]

The Valyrians were a great civilization but they were not technologically advanced enough to make nuclear weapons or have that much advance technology to make said weapons. If they did then I highly doubt that they would be already near us in technology while the rest of the world is still in the dark age technology. Now as far as magic being the tool it probably was, but not in the complete sense of what your saying. What caused the Doom of Valyria was a series of cataclysmic natural disasters that maybe was helped along by magic.

[Shadrich]

Volcanoes release poisonous gases, which can kill in matter of hours or minutes (Lake Nvos in Cameroon).

The Valyrian peninsula was were the most "key" Valyrian families resided, and it was a volcanic area - so it got rid off the ruling families when the eruption occured - de facto destroying the Empire.

Also, as somebody said, Volcanic Eruptions are far more powerful than nuclear weapons - but the "14 fires" were not necessarily super-volcanoes, but size-wise probably varied from Krakatoa to Mt Pinatubo (ish). So when the eruption occurred it most likely had a global effect - but not one especially notices, when winters are so unnatural there anyway.

But that all the Eruptions all happened at the same time is obviously very unlikely (unless "14 fires" were actually 1 super-volcano, but the shape goes against that), so an outside, magic factor most likely played a part (Faceless men).

[Tall Tyrion Lannister]

Does anyone else think that it's ridiculous that no other dragons survived?

I assume the Targaryens' bought/volunteered to rule Dragonstone. It was far away from the capital, so wouldn't have been appealing to many major houses. Also, if the Targs were selling all their property and estates in Valyria, then it wouldn't have been hard to bribe/manipulate the 'senate'(?) into choosing Aenar as the new Lord of Dragonstone.

Who were the governors' of all the other Valyrian colonies that weren't destroyed? Surely the governors would also have been Dragonlords? In the Roman empire, the governors were usually powerful aristocrats who were chosen by the senate. If so, why didn't other Valyrians with Dragons survive the doom?

Also the Dragonlords commanding the armies at the borders of the Valyrian Empire. Empires always have border conflicts, so there would have been dragons far away from the Doom.

My only explanation is that there was some sort of important event happening, so all the Dragonlords returned, with their dragons, to Valyria and died in the Doom. Aenar and his sons refused to return, and so were the only ones to survive. However, even that seems unlikely, armies and colonies always need generals and governors.

[DaarioKnowsBest]

Targs went to Dragonstone because the Dreamer had a vision/dream about the Doom.

[jet199]

Apparently every volcano erupted at once which is a bit suspicious especially as we have met magical beings who "sing the songs of the earth". The heat was so hot it even killed dragons in the air.

I think it isn't too difficult to work out that if you live in an area surrounded by volcanoes there may be a problem one day. The dreamer may not have been psychic but just had good instincts or she looked out the window one day and thought "um, live volcanoes erupt, don't they, and we have 14 of them. Oh shit". I think the other dragonlords though the Targs moving away was a sign of weakness so I think a certain amount of volcanic activity was usual and not considered a problem (which may explain why Dany has fire proof moments if they had some natural/magical defense against sudden pyroclastic flows etc)

[Tall Tyrion Lannister]

Targs went to Dragonstone because the Dreamer had a vision/dream about the Doom.

Yer, but they must have either bought/volunteered to rule Dragonstone. They couldn't make Dragonstone their seat without permission.

[DaarioKnowsBest]

Apparently every volcano erupted at once which is a bit suspicious especially as we have met magical beings who "sing the songs of the earth". The heat was so hot it even killed dragons in the air.

I think it isn't too difficult to work out that if you live in an area surrounded by volcanoes there may be a problem one day. The dreamer may not have been psychic but just had good instincts or she looked out the window one day and thought "um, live volcanoes erupt, don't they, and we have 14 of them. Oh shit". I think the other dragonlords though the Targs moving away was a sign of weakness so I think a certain amount of volcanic activity was usual and not considered a problem (which may explain why Dany has fire proof moments if they had some natural/magical defense against sudden pyroclastic flows etc)

Still haven't learned the lesson I guess, isn't Dragonstone a volcano too? An eruption would destroy it

[Mrs.Grumpy]

Maybe firewyrms made earthquakes because they were sleeping and the slaves woke them and some magic and BOOM!!!

[Lyse Stark]

I certainly believe that Valyria was standing on a unusually rich deposit of uranium or other radioactive material. It would explain the nuclear wasteland that was left of Old Valyria.

[joluoto]

Whether volcanoes can cause loads of destruction in just one day: Pompeii.

[adeadhand]

Always though it was a super volcano and have a crackpot theory that "waking the stone dragon" is a volcano under dragonstone...