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Preserved Valyrian head


Falcon2909

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TLDR at the bottom

The maesters of the citadel have the dead body of a lemur from the forests of Qohor. 

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A preserved example of a lemur from the Forest of Qohor can be found stuffed and mounted in the Citadel, though so many hands have patted it for luck in their examinations that its fur has long since fallen out.
-TWOIAF

The maesters and acolytes in the citadel are fond of the lemur's silver skin and they touch it for luck in their examinations. 

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The Forest of Qohor also yields up furs and pelts of all kinds, many rare and fine and highly prized, as well as silver, tin, and amber. The vast forest has never been fully explored, according to the maps and scrolls at the Citadel, and it likely conceals many mysteries and wonders at its heart. Like many northerly forests, it contains elk and deer in great numbers, along with wolves, tree cats, boars of truly monstrous size, spotted bears, and even a species of lemur—a creature known from the Summer Isles and Sothoryos, but otherwise rarely seen farther north. These lemurs are said to have silver-white fur and purple eyes, and are sometimes called Little Valyrians.

-TWOIAF

So these lemurs not only have silver fur, but also have purple eyes - just like the Valyrians.  They must truly look very unique and beautiful, and otherworldly.

Now, the Citadel has also had maesters of Valyrian origin- Maester Aemon of the Night's Watch (who had joined the Night's Watch & died) and a certain Grand Maester called Vaegon Targaryen (who lived more than 200 years ago) .

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The seventh child of King Jaehaerys I and Queen Alysanne, Vaegon was given to the Citadel at a young age. He would go on to become archmaester, holding the ring and rod and mask of yellow gold.

-Wiki

Vaegon being a Targaryen, and as you know all Targaryens are of the blood of Old Valyria, like all Valyrians he looks otherworldly and has purple/indigo/violet eyes. His eye and hair colour match the descriptions of a Lemur from Qohor. So in the citadel he must have been a very splendid sight. He has 'magical' dragon blood (being a Valyrian) and beautiful purple eyes and silver hair. They would be fawning over him and would even consider him godlike.

Thus when he died, I believe his body wasn't buried in the ground or burnt. But instead, his body was preserved. 

His dead body was probably experimented upon by the maesters to gain a deeper understanding of Valyrian blood and body.

Along with his body, I also think that his head was preserved (containing his silver hair) and is resting upon some archmaester's wall where he gives the hair a good old rub for good luck. 

TLDR; Archmaester Vaegon's head is preserved in the citadel and his hair is patted for luck. 

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1 hour ago, Falcon2909 said:

Thus when he died, I believe his body wasn't buried in the ground or burnt. But instead, his body was preserved. 

His dead body was probably experimented upon by the maesters to gain a deeper understanding of Valyrian blood and body.

Along with his body, I also think that his head was preserved (containing his silver hair) and is resting upon some archmaester's wall where he gives the hair a good old rub for good luck. 

TLDR; Archmaester Vaegon's head is preserved in the citadel and his hair is patted for luck. 

Amusing asspull. Gave me a chuckle :)

 

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This would fit with the Clarence Crabb legend about the Whispers, where the severed heads of the opponents of Ser Clarence would talk after their deaths.

The rubbing of the lemur for luck would fit with the legend among sailors that it is lucky to rub a dwarf's head.

Based on what's before us in the books, I would say that the lemur with the hair rubbed off is the Citadel equivalent of the sailors rubbing the dwarfs' heads. I don't see a clear connection to Archmaester Vaegon but I could be persuaded if more evidence is available.

I would like to see more discussion of The Whispers, though, and what the story of the talking heads implies about the severed heads we see throughout the books. Gared, Ned, Ser Gregor. Is each severed head "whispering" something to us?

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1 hour ago, Seams said:

This would fit with the Clarence Crabb legend about the Whispers, where the severed heads of the opponents of Ser Clarence would talk after their deaths.

The rubbing of the lemur for luck would fit with the legend among sailors that it is lucky to rub a dwarf's head.

I agree. Good point in showing the sailor equivalent. 

 

1 hour ago, Seams said:

I would like to see more discussion of The Whispers, though, and what the story of the talking heads implies about the severed heads we see throughout the books. Gared, Ned, Ser Gregor. Is each severed head "whispering" something to us?

Whispers are a dangerous thing in this world. Another set of dangerous whispers with bad reactions are the whispers into Mad King Aerys' ear that adds to his instability, which has a trickle down effect into the rest of Westeros. 

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On 9/24/2017 at 11:10 AM, The Fattest Leech said:

Whispers are a dangerous thing in this world. Another set of dangerous whispers with bad reactions are the whispers into Mad King Aerys' ear that adds to his instability, which has a trickle down effect into the rest of Westeros. 

If there is still interest in the topic of the OP, I apologize for following this tangent.

If this thread is evolving in a new direction, however, I would note that Catelyn seems to "hear" the message of the Whispering Wood, which is not heard by Robb and his bannermen who are all loud and who won't listen to her. In her last POV in AGoT, she tries to persuade the group that they should quit while they are ahead and go back to the north. So those whispers seem to be about peace - I guess whispering can be dangerous in some circumstances, and the voice of reason in other circumstances.

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4 minutes ago, Seams said:

If there is still interest in the topic of the OP, I apologize for following this tangent.

If this thread is evolving in a new direction, however, I would note that Catelyn seems to "hear" the message of the Whispering Wood, which is not heard by Robb and his bannermen who are all loud and who won't listen to her. In her last POV in AGoT, she tries to persuade the group that they should quit while they are ahead and go back to the north. So those whispers seem to be about peace - I guess whispering can be dangerous in some circumstances, and the voice of reason in other circumstances.

Hmmm. That is interesting; the difference in whispers. I had forgotten the Catelyn part. Maybe this is going off if this thread topic, but it's worth noting a difference. 

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In the Elric of Melnibone books by Michael Moorcock, there is a scene where Elric and his entourage encounter a race of primitive, anthropomorphic bird creatures that bear an eerie resemblance to his own people.   He speculates that these may have been the ancient progenitors of his race.

I have noted several nods to Elric (and other great fantasy stories) in GRRMs writing.  I'm not at all saying that this is a deliberate parallel, but reading OP made me laugh when I thought "Valyrians evolved from Lemurs!"

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