The First Men and Ravens

[Brandon Ice-Eyes]

So In ASOIAF, we find out that in the days of the First Men, the ravens would speak due to being skinchanged when the kings and lords needed to communicate instead of parchment being attached to the legs of a raven. Do we ever find out why they stopped, I can understand the south stopping with the Andal invasion but I’m not sure why the north would.

[Loose Bolt]

Most likely maesters replaced whoever trained those ravens and so took over communication networks. Or they somehow got rid of anybody who could compete with them.

Naturally it is kind of odd that kingdoms of First Men accepted 7 worshipping Andals trained in the Old Town as their advisors/healers and gave them almost total control of communication. After all if I happened to be worshipper of Old Gods I would have been somewhat paranoid toward potential spies and even assassins.

[rotting sea cow]

I tend to think that originally the maester order was in charge of preserving the knowledge to fight the Others, including all ravencraft. As with the Night's Watch they have forgotten their original mission and they have lost their original skills.

 

[John Suburbs]

My impression was that it was the children who were relaying the messages by speaking through the ravens. So they were the ones who ended, not the Andals or the First Men. Or perhaps men realized that the children were learning all their secrets so they started writing messages instead, not knowing that the children could see and read the messages just as easily. I think there were a few instances where either Jon or Jeor were writing messages and there was the bird looking over his shoulder.

[Ser Leftwich]

This is one of my favourite topics of conversation. Here is a thread about this topic from, what feels like 1,000 years ago.

 

[Quoth the raven,]

It may be a decrease in the ability of man to skin change and train ravens.  But the old powers are wakening, a time for gods and heroes.  The north and the ravens will end up eating the dead in order to survive.