Given the nature of magic in ASOIAF, how horrifying was Valyria pre doom?

[Alyn Oakenfist]

So magic in this world is very dangerous, but also very costly with blood seeming to be the ultimate currency (no doubt a metaphor for power and war). So given how much magical stuff the valyrians were up to, and given the fact that their blood to this day has magical powers, how much horrifying stuff did they do? Was the Doom actually an improvement?

[Frey family reunion]

19 minutes ago, Alyn Oakenfist said:

So magic in this world is very dangerous, but also very costly with blood seeming to be the ultimate currency (no doubt a metaphor for power and war). So given how much magical stuff the valyrians were up to, and given the fact that their blood to this day has magical powers, how much horrifying stuff did they do? Was the Doom actually an improvement?

The Doom may have been payment for a great expenditure of magic.

[Aldarion]

Think about Atlantis, or pre-Fall Numenor.

[Curled Finger]

There are some who believe it was precisely the over magicking of the mines that produced the Doom.  What with all the Blood Mages and baby Faceless Men running around killing folks there was more demand than supply for whatever the hell it was the Valyrians wanted.  

I don't know that the Doom was improvement for Valyria, but perhaps it was for the world at large.  Those Valyrians were up to some very nasty practices across Essos and that's only what we know.  Magic should be a freer sort of thing, available to persons who don't believe themselves to be gods maybe.   

That said, some 200 or so years prior to the Doom there was an event at Hardhome which could be anything.   I sorta think it was a precursor to the Doom.  Perhaps the tunnels and underground world connects things such as volcanoes.  We've got nothing happening in Westeros that we know of, that would cause such an event.  Unless, of course, it was just a geological anomaly.   

[Damon_Tor]

1 hour ago, Alyn Oakenfist said:

So magic in this world is very dangerous, but also very costly with blood seeming to be the ultimate currency (no doubt a metaphor for power and war). So given how much magical stuff the valyrians were up to, and given the fact that their blood to this day has magical powers, how much horrifying stuff did they do? Was the Doom actually an improvement?

Part of the problem here is that we have no idea how much of the magic we've "seen" in ASoIaF is actually real. So it's difficult to judge what's even possible. Their roads were built by magic, we hear... but do we know that? Valyrian Steel is in a similar grey area.

I'm not saying that there is no magic, because there pretty clearly is. I'm just saying the line between magic and charlatanism is really unclear, and I think that's a deliberate choice made by the author.

[Lord Lannister]

Well despite romantic lens that people seem to look through concerning Valyria there's ever indication it was an evil empire of the highest order based on slavery, subjugation and dark forms of magic. They weren't nice people. In most cases that we've seen magic used in the novels, there's some sort of cost associated with it. So it's not unreasonable to say they overused magic and paid the price for it.

[CamiloRP]

1 hour ago, Damon_Tor said:

Part of the problem here is that we have no idea how much of the magic we've "seen" in ASoIaF is actually real. So it's difficult to judge what's even possible. Their roads were built by magic, we hear... but do we know that? Valyrian Steel is in a similar grey area.

I'm not saying that there is no magic, because there pretty clearly is. I'm just saying the line between magic and charlatanism is really unclear, and I think that's a deliberate choice made by the author.

Yeah, to me most of the Valiryan "magic" was just greater knowledge, like valiryan steel or the fused black stone, they are just great techniques for working minerals.

That being said I think the blood price of Valirya might have been paid by their slaves or such, being a commentary on how powerful nations and people are powerful because they oppress non powerful nations and people.