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House Hightower A Complete Mystery?


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@The Hairy Bear: I am not saying Aegon I should have given the Hightowers dominion over the Reach because they were the most powerful lords of the Reach. I am saying that Aegon I could have given dominion over the Reach to the Hightowers as a REWARD for opening the gates of Oldtown to Aegon I the same way how he rewarded the Tullys and the Tyrells for doing him valuable service. If complaints from the Reach lords over the Tyrell appointment didn't sway Aegon I, then complaints from the Reach lords over a Hightower appointment won't sway Aegon I either. If the Reach lords didn't complain about the Tyrell appointment (which is likely considering they fought against Aegon I on the Field of Fire and the Hightowers and Tyrells didn't), then they won't complain about a Hightower appointment either.


Also, the Lannisters, Arryns and Starks would have had a stronger hold over their bannermen, considering they were former kings of their region, than the Hightowers, who were never kings of the Reach yet Aegon I appointed Loren Lannister, Ronnel Arryn and Torrhen Stark Lord Paramount as a REWARD for surrendering their crown to him. Being the strongest lords of the region seems not to have been an objection to Aegon I, who had three dragons at his disposal, when he named his Lords Paramount if they did him valuable service which he appreciated. Not only did Lord Manfred open the gates of Oldtown so Aegon I could legitimise his rule, the Hightowers did not fight against him in the Field of Fire. Practically all of the Lords Paramount he named, with the exception of the Tyrells, were the most powerful lords of the region (at the time).


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@belladeuil:



My point is that even if the Hightowers had collaborated, he could not name them overlords precisely because they were too powerful.



Aegon's pattern is clear: the kings that surrender are allowed to keep their seat, but for the other regions Aegon never chooses the next powerful hous to replace them. Instead, he he chooses the underdog: the Tullys in the Riverands, his bastard brother in the Stormlands, and the Tyrells in the Reach.

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@The Hairy Bear: The Tullys were the most powerful lord of the Riverlands at the time of Aegon's Conquest and the Baratheons were the most powerful Stormlord. They were not underdogs; they were the next powerful house. Therefore, your point that Aegon I could not choose the Hightowers as Overlords because they were the most powerful lords of the Reach is moot.


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@The Hairy Bear: The Tullys were the most powerful lord of the Riverlands at the time of Aegon's Conquest and the Baratheons were the most powerful Stormlord. They were not underdogs; they were the next powerful house. Therefore, your point that Aegon I could not choose the Hightowers as Overlords because they were the most powerful lords of the Reach is moot.

The Baratheons didn't exist as a House before Orys was given the Stormlands. They were no more powerful in the Stormlands than House Lannister is powerful in the North via Tyrion's marriage with Sansa. Orys would have had to work very, very hard to win over the trust and loyalty of his new vassal houses.

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@Til: House Baratheon received the lands of House Durrandon and so became the most powerful house in the Stormlands. Orys Baratheon was a proven warrior who held the castle of Storm's End and ruled it as its lord, not a dwarf who had never step foot in Winterfell as its lord. And Orys Baratheon won some loyalty for his house by marrying the daughter of the last Storm King.


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The Tullys were underdogs in the sense that they had no royal blood, whereas other Riverlords did. That ensured that the Tullys had to stay loyal to the Targaryens to stay in power. And they were, of course, rewarded because they defected to Aegon I.



It is exactly the same with the Tyrells. Aegon granted Highgarden to them because he had to install somebody there at once, and they had offered no resistance. And he knew they could only keep it as long as he backed them.



By then Aegon did not know that the Hightowers would offer no resistance to him, so he could not really give the whole Reach to them after he arrived there, even if he wanted to.



Perhaps he would have done that if the Hightowers had declared for him prior to the Field of Fire. But they did not.


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Well, only after over 250 years of loyal service. By that time the Tullys were more or less accepted as the overlords of the Trident. The Tyrells, too, I guess, as the Florents aren't really that powerful. The fact that the Peakes are effectively history should have helped Tyrell power a great deal...


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I do hope Samwell Tarly will go to the Hightower during his time in Oldtown. It would be nice if he also communicates with various Hightowers in some depth, or at least observe them, for House Hightower to no longer be such a mystery.

I doubt he would skimp an opportunity to go to the Hightower.

It is like the Oldtown thing to do. Plus, his aunty is there.

Yeah its happening.

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I didn't read the comments, and may this sounds foolish, but came into my mind:



The Hightower's origins is a mystery. The mazemakers sailed to the now known Oldtown. The mazemakers are like the ancestors of maesters, they were very clever people and they recorded everything they knew into one hugh book. Then to protect the book, they built the Hightower which is a maze itself inside, and a member of the mazemakers or a leader-like if they had one, moved to the tower with the book and his descendants became the protectors of it known as house Hightower.


In the current story Lord Leyton Hightower got the wisdom, he reached the end of the maze where he found the book and studies it for more than 10 years. Since everything they knew is written in the book there are things like how you can hatch/tame/kill dragons, work with oily stone etc. but only a few people know about it.



Euron (or some another mofo) is one of them, so he hired a Faceless Man to kill Lord Leyton and/or steal the book (if a Faceless Man can do that). Thus a Faceless Man arrived to Oldtown disquised himself as an alchemist (previously known as Jaqen H'ghar), got the key to a room from Pate, killed Pate and took his face and will head to the room. Only the archmaesters are allowed to go that room, so the Faceless Man used Pate to get the key from Walgrave, and he hopes that there are some kind of floor map or something which helps him to get into the Hightower and find Leyton with the book. Also this is why maester Aemon could never be an archmaester, coz he would go to the room or the Hightower and find things.



Also the Faceless Man is a higher-up amongst the other ones, this is why he could make a deal with Arya or kill Pate in order to complete his mission.


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I like the story and station of the Hightowers as much as the next guy, but I'm tiring of this "House ____ will play a big role in the upcoming book" narrative based on the World Book content. At this point, we have at least the Hightowers, Royces, Daynes, and Blackwoods all of a sudden expected to somehow play integral roles in the endgame. I just tend to think there's a forest/trees problem here. Are all of those houses interesting? Certainly. Will they play a relatively more prominent role in the next two books? Likely. But will their contribution be much more than what could already discerned in regards to their respective importance before the release of the World Book? Doubtful. I'm as enthusiastic about the added details in world-building that has resulted from the accounts of these houses - particularly the Blackwoods - but I think this needs to be put into perspective.

I totally agree but I wouldn't entirely put it past Martin to not to get sidetracked (I do hope he won't). I am fine with the Higtowers, Royces and Blackwoods playing an important background political role, e.g. by supporting a certain IT contestant and thus affecting the outcome of the game of thrones but IMHO it would be a bad move to make them too prominent by introducing them as the new key players and making their members the new central characters. It didn't work with Dorne or the IB and those were Houses that the readers were way more familiar with and had a chance to make an emotional attachment (via Oberyn and Theon/Asha) prior to their introduction.

The Daynes are different and are almost certainly going to play a part, maybe not as much in the future events as shedding a light on some of the events surrounding the rebellion and Jon's birth. Arthur and Ashara were some of the central figures in the pre-series events and have been "recruiting characters" ever since the beginning of the story. That said, even the Daynes will still be nothing more than supporting characters and I don't think they are entirely crucial for the story to come.

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I disagree. While people all guessed that Dorne and the Iron Isles would come into play, no one expected Aegon.

The Hightowers have always existed as a force, even before the worldbook, especially in tPatQ and tRP.

The Daynes have little but Arthur and Ashara Dayne are two pillars of the backstory, and Arya meeting with Nedrick is not a coincidence.

Royces just seem to be getting started, but the Vale is only just coming into play itself. And have been a presence since the first book (Waymar).

Blackwoods have always been presented as the good guys and kinda a big deal. They've been heavily involved in both the Siege of Riverrun and the Red Wedding, and no one can dispute the significance of those events.

These are bigs book, so there is plenty of room for more houses. The first few books revolved around the large houses, and more large hosues in the second book. In the third secondary houses such as Frey and Bolton came into play, as with the Florents. Tarth/Tarly/Connington are also a presence, due to their POV characters.

Reading the Worldbook and side novellas shouldn't be a prerequisite for understanding the main storyline. Just because the Higtowers and other Houses were an important political force in the past 300 years, doesn't mean that they have to be so again in the short-few-years-window that the current events represent.

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Reading the Worldbook and side novellas shouldn't be a prerequisite for understanding the main storyline. Just because the Higtowers and other Houses were an important political force in the past 300 years, doesn't mean that they have to be so again in the short-few-years-window that the current events represent.

I agree, the World book is written so it can completely be ignored and still enjoy the series.

As for side novellas, do you not find it suspicious that it was written about the event which revolved aeound the Hightowers?

Even before those events they have had relevance. The Martells talk about them, and they pop up in many SSM's (side materials), and the fact that they get a family tree without even having appeared speaks volumes. The Starks old maester, Walys was a Hightower bastard and Gerold Hightower was of the Kingsguard. Alerie Hightower is married to Mace Tyrell etc.

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@John Doe: Being nearly extinct and losing their hold over the Riverlands had nothing to do with the Targaryens. It was the folly of accepting Robb Stark as King of the Trident. A significant portion of the Riverlords supported the Targaryens over their liege lord. Those Riverlords have lost land, power and influence. The Riverlords who supported the Tullys have grown in strength. If the Targaryens were still around, there was no way the Riverlords would have accepted the half Tully Robb Stark as their king.


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The Mazemakers were mentioned a lot in The World of Ice and Fire and I wouldn't doubt that house Hightower decend from them, they are different from the common Andal, First Men and even the Rhoynars, them and house Dayne too, many of them have purple eyes and silver/golden hair, but still, they are said to not be Valyrians. That's really odd.


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House Hightower just gets weirder the more I think about it. And after that part that suggests some Valyrian tragedy in Oldtown, I'm beginning to believe that the Hightowers had something to do with the death of dragons on Westeros.


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