#a big insight to their thinking and viewpoint. it's no random that they sing praises only to the kings/queens who follow their tone

[thesilverlady]

It's a bit over the top to think that the maesters are behind every thing but what makes you think that?

Mostly due to the maester conspiracy theory which I'm in full support. in case you haven't heard it, let me summarize it a bit.

In asoiaf there are a few characters who express their distrust of the maesters. In A Dance With Dragons, Barbrey Dustin (who is a northern lady) calls the maesters “grey rats” and points out the fact that they hold a great deal of power over the lords they serve.

Maesters write and send all of the letters for their lords and they can very easily manipulate the words for their own ends. Barbrey suggests that the maesters orchestrated the events that led to Robert’s Rebellion and the displacement of the Targaryen dynasty.

The evidence for this is pretty scarce ofc, but it’s true that lords and ladies put blind faith in the maesters and trust them with pretty much everything, and we see that in f&b and before the conquest we're told how important the maesters are how all these kings and households relied on them for everything

Not to mention that the maesters are also directly in charge of the healthcare of their lords and have extensive knowledge of not only medicine, but also poison - which is also one of the reason why there are theories that some princes have been killed by them - like prince Baelon for example (because it was unlikely that Viserys wouldn't be named heir and him being young and trustful would be much more easy to control. Same theory goes for some targaryen women who all seem to die in childbirth - a place only maesters are allowed in. For the dance era there's the theory that Aemma was killed so Alicent could be made queen. Her family is from Oldtown - a place where the faith has the strongest hold and loyalty and these people have been trying to put a queen of their own since Maegor)

The conspiracy isn't rooted just on theories. There are hints in the books. For instance, in at the end of Feast for Crows, Sam Tarly arrives at the Citadel and meets Marwyn the Mage, an archmeaster known for his eccentric behavior and expertise in magic. Marwyn is somewhat of a pariah at the Citadel because of his dabbling in the magical arts, and because he spent years in the mysterious city of Assai.

Who do you think killed all the dragons the last time around? Gallant dragonslayers armed with swords? The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles, much less for dragons.

in f&b, there are maesters who narrate the story and they don't hide how ill they think of the Targaryens, their magical blood or dragons. They prize logic, reason and power above all else. They are distrustful of all things magical and wondrous, which is why it's believed they've been trying to bring down the Targaryens.

After everything that happened with Maegor the Cruel, they realized aggressive stance wouldn't get them anywhere. So they made "peace" with Jaehaerys and tried to stir him with influence - which worked pretty well and kept working for years after.

if you're interested in reading more about the conspiracy I'm going to link a very interesting reddit thread from 2012 that goes into full detail about it 💕

#ask reply #f&b meta #asoiaf meta #maester conspiracy #obviously it's a theory and I know not every fan believes it but I wholeheartedly do because it makes sense in my head and f&b provides #a big insight to their thinking and viewpoint. it's no random that they sing praises only to the kings/queens who follow their tone