#conceit and conciliation

[laurasimonsdaughter]

When Mr. Charles Bingley rode into Hertfordshire to acquaint himself with Netherfield Park it was on a purely accidental recommendation. The solicitor who took it upon himself to advocate for Netherfield could certainly not be blamed for seeing a very desirable tenant in him. Bingley was at that time not yet two years of age, and unmarried, but he had the sort of good-humoured and generous character that must recommend him to almost anybody. The same could not be said for his closest friend…

Conceit and Conciliation is a full, canon compliant retelling of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”, told from the perspectives of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Charles Bingley.

It was written with a lot of love and a lot of help from my sister, and you can download it right now for free (ePub, Mobi or PDF) on my website laurasimons.com!

[mysunfreckle]

One of the funnest Pride and Prejudice POV switches to write so far

From:

When all of the house that was open to general inspection had been seen, they returned down stairs; and, taking leave of the housekeeper, were consigned over to the gardener, who met them at the hall door. As they walked across the lawn towards the river, Elizabeth turned back to look again; her uncle and aunt stopped also; and while the former was conjecturing as to the date of the building, the owner of it himself suddenly came forward from the road which led behind it to the stables.

To:

He rode directly to the stables, where he was welcomed with surprise and immediate inquiries as to whether any assistance was called for. Darcy assured them none was needed and handed off his horse, making his way down the road and towards the house unattended. His mind was fully occupied by his wish for a change of clothes and some refreshment, and his intention to summon his steward as soon as these had been obtained, so that he might have the remainder of the day to prepare for tomorrow. These were tranquil thoughts however; very different from the discomforts of travel, for they were familiar and sure of immediate remedy. Due to this pleasant and practical preoccupation Darcy was at that moment not aware of any person other than himself. That is, until he rounded the corner of Pemberley House and, standing upon the lawn and gazing up at the building, he beheld Miss Elizabeth Bennet.

Poor guy <3

[pessimisticpigeonsworld]

Why do Dany antis think Dany gave herself her titles? Like the amount of times people rant about how she must be "so conceited" to have all those titles, like do they not know how titles work in ASOIAF? This is rhetorical of course, I know the answer, hatred of her character and that shit show. So, since D&D chose not to explain to them in simple terms how titles come to be and how Dany earned hers, I will (don't worry, I'll use small words since they so clearly struggle with media literacy).

So how do titles work in ASOIAF? Simple, their awarded by others. If someone gives themself a title it's not acknowledged by others, simple Medieval European rules. We see examples in Aegon the Conqueror, Maegor the Cruel Jaehaerys the Conciliator, Rhaenyra the Realm's Delight/Black Queen, Aegon the Usurper, Aegon the Unlucky, Baelor the Blessed, Daeron the Young Dragon, Aegon the Unworthy, Aemon the Dragonknight, Daeron the Good, Aegon the Unlikely, and Aerys the Mad King. Yes, I decided to do all Targaryen examples, because why not use Dany's family.

Each of these titles were given because of the attributes or accomplishments of their owners. Aegon I conquered the Seven Kingdoms, Maegor usurped and killed his family members (and much more), Jaehaerys stabilized the kingdom, Rhaenyra was greatly loved by the realm as a child and her faction were called the Blacks after her clothing. I could explain everyone on the list, but that would take forever and we have a lot to get to. However, I believe I have made my point about titles, they are given, sometimes posthumously, by those around them because of what that person has done or what they're like.

Dany's titles are no different, she earned them and/or was given them by those around her. These titles are: Stormborn, Princess of Dragonstone, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, and Breaker of Shackles/Chains. I'm going to go in order and say how she got these titles, since apparently that needs explaining. I'll even go into Queen of the Seven Kingdoms (etc) and Queen of Meereen, in case someone wants to bring that up.

Stormborn was given to her by her mother, Queen Rhaella, upon Dany's birth, same for Princess of Dragonstone actually. Dany was born on the night of a terrible storm that destroyed what was left of the Targaryen fleet. She was also born after her family had been almost wiped out and Westeros was in the middle of massive civil upheaval. Hence, Stormborn. Now, Rhaella and Viserys both believed he and Dany were the rightful heirs to the throne after Aerys and Rhaegar's deaths, so Viserys was crowned king of the Seven Kingdoms and Dany was made his heir until he had children. The heir to the throne was traditionally given the title of prince/princess of Dragonstone, so that's why Dany was given it.

Fast forward thirteen (or sixteen in the show) years and Dany is married off to Khal Drogo, this marriage makes her a Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea. And since the position of Khaleesi is a bit of a lifetime thing, since after the Khal's death they join the Dosh Khaleen. Therefore, Dany will carry the title of Khaleesi for the rest of her life. She also became the leader of her own Khalasar, making the female equivalent of Khal an appropriate title.

But before she gained her Khalasar, she earned the titles Unburnt and Mother of Dragons on the same occasion. This was, of course, when she woke her dragons from stone. Dany walked into the fire of Drogo's pyre and was unscathed (except for her hair in the book). Because of that her people called her the Unburnt and told others. As for Mother of Dragons, Jorah and her Khalasar call her this first, then it spreads to Qarth, Astapor, and eventually Westeros. As for where it came from, well, she literally hatched three dragons that nursed from her (book).

Next up, the Breaker of Shackles/Chains. This is a title Dany earned after the events of Astapor, where she freed the Unsullied and helped lead a city-wide slave revolt. More specifically this name came from her order to the Unsullied, "Strike the chains off every slave you see," After the events in Astapor, the Unsullied and other slaves named her the Breaker of Shackles/Chains. This name spread across Slaver's Bay, to the rest of Essos and Westeros. Dany makes this name into an official title as a warning to the slavers, she is coming to free the people they enslaved. In Meereen, it's used as a reminder of the new order she was instituting, one that wasn't built on the backs of slaves. In Westeros it's a sign of her achievements and shows her intentions, to help the downtrodden and oppressed, even though the show decided to throw that out the window to "subvert expectations".

Now, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, etc, and Queen of Meereen are the only titles that it could be argued she gave herself. However, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms is her inheritance, at least she was taught it was (if you want to argue about new dynasties and such). She was Viserys' heir, so, when he died, his titles and responsibilities were passed to here. This means that technically the title was given to her lol, but she did choose to pursue it. After all, she was raised by Viserys to believe it was not only her birthright but also her duty to retake Westeros for first Rhaego, then herself. We see this line and thinking time and again in her chapters,

"If I were not the blood of the dragon...this could be my home." (AGOT) This is said about staying in the Dothraki Sea, and the same quote comes up in Meereen. Dany wants a simple life, the house with the red door, but she rejects it because she believes it's her duty to take the IT, her responsibility to her family.

A similar sense of duty is what drives Dany to take Meereen and rule it. At this point Yunkai has fallen back into slavery and Astapor is falling apart, so Dany learns from her previous choices and chooses to stay in Meereen to try to ensure the slaves she freed there don't fall back into slavery. Now the show really fucked up her storyline in Meereen, by removing the threats of Yunkai, Qarth, and Volantis as well as greatly reducing the actions of the Harpy and just straight up trying to make Hizdahr a "good guy". But both in the show and the books, Dany takes Meereen because of the rapant injustice of slavery, why is that so hated by certain parts of the fandom? Well the answer to that is because hatred of Dany is so deep in some people that they will demonize everything she does, even the things that are objectively right. This mentality causes them to be willfully blind to her titles and their significance.

Dany's titles were made to set her apart from her ancestors and contemporaries. The show damaged this by neglecting to actually show how titles work and by not giving any new ones to people who deserve them (Jon Snow for example). But either way, her titles show how Dany has done more in her sixteen years of life (about 20-22) than almost anyone else has done in their 40+. Her titles are signs of how respected and loved she is by her people, they are reasons her enemies should fear her, and they demonstrate how inspiring her character is, no matter how the shit show ruined her.

[collapsedsquid]

Taken in the aggregate, the literary output is desired to meet the tastes of that large body of people who are in the habit of buying freely. The successful magazine writers are those who follow the taste of the class to whom they speak, in any aberration (fad, mannerism, or misapprehension) and in any shortcoming of insight or force which may beset that class. They must also conform to the fancies and prejudices of this class as regards the ideals - artistic, moral, religious, or social - for which they speak. The class to which the successful periodicals turn, and which gives tone to periodical literature, is that great body of people who are in moderately easy circumstances. Culturally this means the respectable middle class (largely the dependent business class) of various shades of conservatism, affectation, and snobbery.

On the whole, the literature provided in this way and to this end seems to run on a line of slightly more pronounced conservatism and affectation than the average sentiment of the readers appealed to. This is true for the following reason. Readers who are less conservative and less patient of affectations, snobbery, and illiberality than the average are in the position of doubters and dissentients. They are less confident in their convictions of what is right and good in all matters, and are also not unwilling to make condescending allowances for those who are less "advanced," and who must be humored since they know no better; whereas those who rest undoubting in the more conservative views and a more intolerant affectation of gentility are readier, because more naive, in their rejection of whatever does not fully conform to their habits of thought.

So it comes about that the periodical literature is, on the whole, somewhat more scrupulously devout in tone, somewhat more given to laud and dilate upon the traffic of the upper leisure class and to carry on the discussion in the terms and tone imputed to that class, somewhat more prone to speak deprecatingly of the vulgar innovations of modern culture, than the average of the readers to whom it is addressed. The trend of its teaching, therefore, is, on the whole, conservative and conciliatory. It is also under the necessity of adapting itself to a moderately low average of intelligence and information; since on this head, again, it is those who possess intelligence and information that are readiest to make allowances; they are, indeed, mildly flattered to do so, besides being the only ones who can. It is a prime requisite to conciliate a large body of readers. This latter characteristic is particularly evident in the didactic portion of the periodical literature.

This didactic literature, running on discussions of a quasi-artistic and quasi-scientific character, is, by force of the business exigencies of the case, de signed to favor the sensibilities of the weaker among its readers by adroitly suggesting that the readers are already possessed of the substance of what purports to be taught and need only be fortified with certain general results. There follows a great spread of quasi-technical terms and fanciful conceits. The sophisticated animal stories and the half-mythical narratives of industrial processes which now have the vogue illustrate the results achieved in this direction. 

Love that we have John Steward Daily Show-level cultural criticism from 1904

[baeddel]

the specular rhetoric. one of the ways that readers of Laozi argue for an implicit disagreement with Confucius is the different family members they chose to metaphorize with. Confucius and his followers always bring us back to the father, his paternal and authoritative personality and his responsibilities towards his household. Laozi rather draws our attention to the mother, the female sexual and reproductive anatomy. but don’t be too hasty about that—don’t imagine Laozi as a second wave Dianic pagan, or prepare to hear a sermon about how women built civilization with care and conciliation. Laozi's metaphorical woman has a different sort of femaleness, ‘the dark female.’ he is interested in her body, not what it means, but what it feels like, looks like. its depths. the labia which open and close, contract and spasm; the vagina which is dark and empty; the hollow womb. a cis woman’s body is an empty body. dark, wet space. so cavernously deep. what it looks like, but also what it produces. discharge, urine, blood, and sometimes even human beings. isn’t it just like a bellows? Laozi says. even though it is empty it is not vacuous; pump it and more and more comes out.

but it’s not a book on female anatomy, it’s a metaphor. it’s difficult to put into words what is accomplished by this change in the metaphorical language. but it’s very common to see this technique and you should pay attention to it. Wayne A. Rebhorn makes the case that Machiavelli (Machiavelli’s the Prince and the Epic Tradition, 2010) reframes the discussion of statecraft from traditional organic metaphors—a state is born, grows, and ultimately dies—which make the Prince a sort of steward, a gardener or shepherd of the state, though leaving that state ultimately in the inflexible hands of nature, to one of architecture and masonry—the Prince lays the foundations of the state, therefore having the architectonic and governing powers of the craftsman. lots of people bring up Marx’s use of supernatural metpahors—specters, hauntings, vampires, the weight of dead generations, even the fetish. many modern philosophers use a metaphorical language full of references to mathematics, physics and computer science, which many people find self-aggrandizing. for myself i like the trap’s autoerotic cant; the harlequinade of disguises, ruses, conceits and bluffs, its ambiguities and indiscernabilities. the anasyrma. the body which surprises, alarms, excites and arouses (quite explicit here).

[maxksx]

There is no metaphorical level to this (as Mikkel suggests in an email). It couldn’t be further from being a rhetorical conceit, a provocative but ultimately substitutable – and deferrable in its substitutability – literary gesture, and this is precisely where its horror lies. In terms of the problem at stake, a resistance to metaphor equates to a refusal to be held to ransom by the suffering of another and the guilt that gesture entails. There is no substitutability, no debt, and no metaphor. This is because there is no real divide between the intensive and the abstract. Their fusion is flush with reality production in its most abyssal, magmatic dynamism. The transcendental aspect of the process pulls abstraction and intensity together, and it is this level that houses the real darkness – the nature of the empirical component darkness produces is linked to it via a break (since the transcendental is generative of it) and concealment is coincident with production … a duplicity hard-coded into the verb ‘to skin’. Reality is cold. Being forced to think it from a starting point that may be otherwise – necessarily is otherwise – is the whole of the crisis. But the crisis is a test. What does it mean to think this thought? To really think it – to be struck by it? It induces madness. Of course it does. That’s the point. It generates non-metaphorical blind spots in representational assimilation, traumatic punctures exploited by an icy transcendental updraught, the sounding of a bell, Cyclonopedia’s infamous plot holes, events – like the one that occurred on the corner of Guangxi Lu. That was the empirical sputtering out on the edge of something else. All modern voyages begin here: in the rift that yawns between what is, what happened and what is yet to come. To paper it over too quickly with an unconsidered act of rote conciliation would have been nothing more than simple social deception. Vapid symmetry. The death of the virtual. Even flight can be a trap. Nothing is kinder and more brutal than immobility. Under its spell the ground rises up, signalling in the xenopoetic rhythms that beat beneath all objects, beneath epistemology, beneath conceptuality – beneath the skin. To liberate what is singular, one becomes impersonal. If that is coldness, then it is the kind that protects empathy, affirms inhumanism, and holds the portal open for real metamorphosis, even if in the end – swapping our identities for the form of time – it will cost us all the names we have, in writing under them, already agreed to lose.

[thedarkivist]

I’m just saying that you can very slightly modify big parts of Pride and Prejudice and it reads like proper, honest-to-goodness wrightworth. Case in point:

“In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” 

Phoenix’ astonishment was beyond expression. He stared, coloured, doubted, and was silent. This Edgeworth considered sufficient encouragement; and the avowal of all that he felt, and had long felt for him, immediately followed. He spoke well; but there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed; and he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride. His sense of Phoenix’ inferiority—of its being a degradation—of the professional obstacles which had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit.

In spite of Wright’s deeply-rooted dislike, he could not be insensible to the compliment of such a man's affection, and though his intentions did not vary for an instant, he was at first sorry for the pain his suitor was to receive; till, roused to resentment by his subsequent language, he lost all compassion in anger. He tried, however, to compose himself to answer him with patience, when he should have done. The prosecutor concluded with representing to him the strength of that attachment which, in spite of all his endeavours, he had found impossible to conquer; and with expressing his hope that it would now be rewarded by the acceptance of his hand. As he said this, Phoenix could easily see that he had no doubt of a favourable answer. He spoke of apprehension and anxiety, but his countenance expressed real security. 

Such a circumstance could only exasperate farther, and, when he ceased, the colour rose into Phoenix’ cheeks, and he said:“In such cases as this, it is, I believe, the established mode to express a sense of obligation for the sentiments avowed, however unequally they may be returned. It is natural that obligation should be felt, and if I could feel gratitude, I would now thank you. But I cannot—I have never desired your good opinion, and you have certainly bestowed it most unwillingly. I am sorry to have occasioned pain to anyone. It has been most unconsciously done, however, and I hope will be of short duration. The feelings which, you tell me, have long prevented the acknowledgment of your regard, can have little difficulty in overcoming it after this explanation.”

Edgeworth, who was leaning against the mantelpiece with his eyes fixed on Phoenix’ face, seemed to catch his words with no less resentment than surprise. His complexion became pale with anger, and the disturbance of his mind was visible in every feature. He was struggling for the appearance of composure, and would not open his lips till he believed himself to have attained it. The pause was to Phoenix’ feelings dreadful. At length, with a voice of forced calmness, he said: “And this is all the reply which I am to have the honour of expecting! I might, perhaps, wish to be informed why, with so little endeavour at civility, I am thus rejected. But it is of small importance.”

“I might as well inquire,” replied Wright, “why with so evident a desire of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character? Was not this some excuse for incivility, if I was uncivil? But I have other provocations. You know I have. Had not my feelings decided against you—had they been indifferent, or had they even been favourable, do you think that any consideration would tempt me to accept the man who has been the means of ruining, perhaps for ever, the happiness of miss Fey’s most beloved sister?”

As he pronounced these words, Mr. Edgeworth changed colour; but the emotion was short, and he listened without attempting to interrupt while Phoenix continued: “I have every reason in the world to think ill of you. No motive can excuse the unjust and ungenerous part you acted there. You dare not, you cannot deny, that you have been the principal, if not the only means of imposing the death sentence on miss Fey—of exposing her to the caprice and the instability of the world, causing her misery of the acutest kind.” He paused, and saw with no slight indignation that Edgeworth was listening with an air which proved him wholly unmoved by any feeling of remorse. He even looked at him with a smile of affected incredulity. “Can you deny that you have done it?” Phoenix repeated. 

With assumed tranquillity Miles then replied: “I have no wish of denying that I did everything in my power to prove miss Maya Fey’s guilt. Towards her I have been kinder than towards myself.”

Phoenix disdained the appearance of noticing this civil reflection, but its meaning did not escape, nor was it likely to conciliate him. “But it is not merely this affair,” he continued, “on which my dislike is founded. Long before it had taken place my opinion of you was decided. Your character was unfolded many months ago, when the news of your tampering with the evidence became common knowledge. On this subject, what can you have to say? In what imaginary act of justice can you here defend yourself? or under what misrepresentation can you here impose upon others?” 

“You take an eager interest in the concerns of the prosecutor’s office,” said Edgeworth, in a less tranquil tone, and with a heightened colour. 

“Who that knows of this injustice can help but feel interest?” 

“Injustice!” repeated Edgeworth contemptuously; “yes, great injustice has been committed, indeed.” 

“And of your infliction,” cried Phoenix with energy. “You have reduced the court system to its present state. You have withheld the advantages which you must know to have been designed for it. You have deprived the world of that justice we are due to protect. You have done all this! and yet you can treat the mention of this misfortune with contempt and ridicule.” 

“And this,” cried Miles, as he walked with quick steps across the room, “is your opinion of me! This is the estimation in which you hold me! I thank you for explaining it so fully. My faults, according to this calculation, are heavy indeed! But perhaps,” added he, stopping in his walk, and turning towards Phoenix, “these offenses might have been overlooked, had not your pride been hurt by my honest confession of the scruples that had long prevented my forming any serious design. These bitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I, with greater policy, concealed my struggles, and flattered you into the belief of my being impelled by unqualified, unalloyed inclination; by reason, by reflection, by everything. But disguise of every sort is my abhorrence. Nor am I ashamed of the feelings I related. They were natural and just. Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your professionalism?—to congratulate myself on the hope of relations, whose condition in life is so decidedly beneath my own?” 

Phoenix felt himself growing more angry every moment; yet he tried to the utmost to speak with composure when he said: “You are mistaken, Mr. Edgeworth, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner.” 

He saw Miles start at this, but he said nothing, and Wright continued: “You could not have made the offer of your hand in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it.” Again his astonishment was obvious; and he looked at Phoenix with an expression of mingled incredulity and mortification. Wright went on:“From the very beginning—from the first moment, I may almost say—of my re-acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.” 

“You have said quite enough, sir. I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and have now only to be ashamed of what my own have been. Forgive me for having taken up so much of your time, and accept my best wishes for your health and happiness.”

[trinuviel]

The lost wisdom of Septon Barth - clues to the magical mysteries in “A Song of Ice and Fire”?

I recently acquired The World of Ice and Fire, the companion book to George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy series. The book was written in collaboration with Elio Garcia Jr. and Linda Antonsson - superfans and founders of the fansite westeros.org. It was written because there are a lot of aspects of the world-building that there just isn’t space for in the novels but it is a bit unclear whether the impetus to write it came from GRRM himself or from his two co-authors. 

The central conceit of this book is that its narrative is framed as though it is written by a maester from the Citadel. He is even given a name: Maester Yandel, who writes this history of Westeros and the world during the reign of Robert Baratheon. Due to this conceit, the text ought to be read with a critical eye because the narrative voice may not present the entire truth since it is heavily biased against magic:

The higher mysteries, the arts of magic, were and are beyond the boundaries of our mortal ability to examine. (TWoIaF, Ancient History: The Dawn Age)

This bias against magic appears to be the consensus at the Citadel at the time the novels take place:

“The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles, much less for dragons.” (Maester Marwyn to Samwell Tarly, AFfC, Samwell V)

Keeping that in mind, many of the statements about all things magical become suspect in this book, and we often see that the things this fictitious maester dismisses as myths and superstitions turn out to be very real in the novels - such as the existence of Others, the abilities of the Children of the Forest, etc.

When I was perusing the book, my interest was caught by some information that was separated from the main text in little sidebars because this lay-out draws attention on the visual level. Futhermore, all of these sidebars are written by GRRM himself whereas Elio Garcia Jr. and Linda Antonsson are responsible for the main text! A number of these sidebars pertain to the writings of Septon Barth, of which only fragments are left. It was the fragmentary nature of Septon Barth’s work that specifically piqued my interest because, according to GRRM, the spoilery aspects of the companion book will be avoided by having the source text blocked out in one way or another, such as the example of Archmaester Gyldain’s account of the tragedy of Summerhall is made almost unreadable due to inkblotting. So there are Doylist reasons for my interest in the fragments of Septon Barth’s scholarly work. Furthermore, his work is mentioned several times in the novels as well, both by Maester Aemon and by Tyrion Lannister. 

I think that Barth’s work may contain some major clues for the magical aspects of the story that plays out in GRRM’s epic fantasy series.

This meta deals with what we know about Septon Barth and his scholarly work in order to formulate some theories that are so speculative that they border on tinfoil. However, I hope you will join me on this tinfoily adventure - it is going to be a very long one, but, I hope, an entertaining one.

Who was Septon Barth?

Barth was a man with a brilliant mind, a genius with political acumen and esoteric interests. He was the son of a blacksmith and he became a septon. He was appointed to oversee the libraries in the Red Keep and it was there that he was befriended by Jaehaerys I Targaryen (also called the Conciliator and the Wise), one of the few truly great and benevolent Targaryen kings.

Yet if Alysanne was Jaehaerys's great love, his greatest friend was Septon Barth. No man of humble birth ever rose so high as the plainspoken but brilliant septon. (TWoIaF, The Targaryen Kings: Jaehaerys I)

Jaehaerys I recognized Barth’s intellectual worth and named him his Hand. He was not the first septon to be Hand but he was the first common born man to hold the position.

POLITICAL CAREER

Septon Barth was perhaps one of the most brilliant and effective Hands in the history of Westeros and the success of Jaeherys I’s reign can to a large degree be attributed to Barth.

“Septon Barth, the blacksmith's son the Old King plucked from the Red Keep's library, who gave the realm forty years of peace and plenty." (Maester Pylos to Davos Seaworth, ASoS, Davos V)

It was during Barth’s tenure as Hand that steps were made to unify Westeros both in terms of jurisprudence but also in terms of the physical infrastructure. The Kingsroad was the work of Barth and Jaehaerys I.

With Barth's aid and advice, King Jaehaerys did more to reform the realm than any other king who lived before or after. [...] Jaehaerys created the first unified code, so that from the North to the Dornish Marches, the realm shared a single rule of law. Great works to improve King's Landing were also implemented —drains and sewers and wells [...] Furthermore, the Conciliator began the construction of the great network of roads that would one day join King's Landing to the Reach, the stormlands, the westerlands, the riverlands, and even the North—understanding that to knit together the realm it must be easier to travel among its regions. The kingsroad was the greatest of these roads, reaching hundreds of leagues to Castle Black and the Wall. (TWoIaF, The Targaryen Kings: Jaehaerys I)

Barth was also instrumental in the reconciliation between the Crown and the Faith of the Seven, after the state of war that existed between the two institutions under Jaehaerys’ predecessor Maegor I Targaryen.

REPUTATION

Barth had a well-earned reputation as a capable and shrewd politician - but he was also a scholar with an interest in magic. The latter was used by his enemies to tarnish his reputation as they said he was “more sorcerer than septon” (ADwD, Tyrion IV). Almost 60 years after his death, Barth’s writings were deemed heretical and ordered destroyed by the septon king Baelor I Targaryen.

HIS LOST WRITINGS

It is not known how many books Barth wrote but his most important and famous work is his treatise on magical creatures: Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns: Their Unnatural History. Only fragments remain of this treatise since Baelor I ordered all books by Barth destroyed. Tyrion remembers having read a fragment of The Unnatural History (ADwD, Tyrion IV).

(Art from MonsterHunter3)

However, A Feast of Crows offers a tantalizing hint that an copy of Barth’s magnum opus still exists!

He [Maester Aemon] asked Sam to read for him from a book by Septon Barth, whose writings had been burned during the reign of Baelor the Blessed. (AFfC, Samwell IV)

Maester Aemon had previously mentioned Barth’s notion that dragons have no fix gender, hinting that he has indeed read the Unnatural History. It is not clear whether the book that Sam reads from is Barth’s Unnatural History - but considering that it is this particular book that is mentioned more than once in the story, I think there’s a good chance that a copy of Barth’s treatise on dragons survived in the library at the Wall. It is now in the possession of Samwell Tarly, like a Checkov’s Gun waiting to off - and I suspect that its secrets will be revealed in future novels.

CONTROVERSIAL THEORIES

Barth’s theories are controversial among Westerosi scholars. Firstly, because the study of magic is discouraged at The Citadel and secondly, because only fragments remain of his work. The latter means that whatever evidence he presented in favour of his theories remain unknown. So what do we know about his theories?

On the Children of the Forest and ravens:

Though considered disreputable in this, our present day, a fragment of Septon Barth's Unnatural History has proved a source of controversy in the halls of the Citadel. Claiming to have consulted with texts said to be preserved at Castle Black, Septon Barth put forth that the children of the forest could speak with ravens and could make them repeat their words.  (TWoIaF, Ancient History: The Dawn Age)

According to Barth, this higher mystery was taught to the First Men by the children so that ravens could spread messages at a great distance. It was passed, in degraded form, down to the maesters today, who no longer know how to speak to the birds. It is true that our order understands the speech of ravens...but this means the basic purposes of their cawing and rasping, their signs of fear and anger, and the means by which they display their readiness to mate or their lack of health. 

Ravens are amongst the cleverest of birds, but they are no wiser than infant children, and considerably less capable of true speech, whatever Septon Barth might have believed. A few maesters, devoted to the link of Valyrian steel, have argued that Barth was correct, but not a one has been able to prove his claims regarding speech between men and ravens. (TWoIaF, Ancient History: The Dawn Age)

This particular story comes up in A Dance with Dragons when Bran wargs a raven under the tutelage of the Three-Eyed Crow. Bran discovers that there’s a remnant of a person inside the raven:

"Someone else was in the raven," he told Lord Brynden, once he had returned to his own skin. "Some girl. I felt her." "A woman, of those who sing the song of earth," his teacher said. "Long dead, yet a part of her remains, just as a part of you would remain in Summer if your boy's flesh were to die upon the morrow. A shadow on the soul. She will not harm you." 

"Do all the birds have singers in them?" "All," Lord Brynden said. "It was the singers who taught the First Men to send messages by raven … but in those days, the birds would speak the words. The trees remember, but men forget, and so now they write the messages on parchment and tie them round the feet of birds who have never shared their skin."Old Nan had told him the same story once. (ADwD, Bran III)

It is unclear whether the Three-Eyed Crow tells Bran the entire truth about the ravens and the Children of the Forest but he might very well be right and the maesters wrong.

On the seasons:

Besides the Unnatural History, Barth apparently also wrote a treatise on the prolonged seasons in Westeros.

Though the Citadel has long sought to learn the manner by which it may predict the length and change of seasons, all efforts have been confounded. Septon Barth appeared to argue, in a fragmentary treatise, that the inconstancy of the seasons was a matter of magical art rather than trustworthy knowledge. Maester Nicol's The Measure of the Days—otherwise a laudable work containing much of use—seems influenced by this argument. Based upon his work on the movement of stars in the firmament, Nicol argues unconvincingly that the seasons might once have been of a regular length, determined solely by the way in which the globe faces the sun in its heavenly course. The notion behind it seems true enough—that the lengthening and shortening of days, if more regular, would have led to more regular seasons—but he could find no evidence that such was ever the case, beyond the most ancient of tales. (TWoIaF, Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria)

I must admit that I find this particular piece of information extremely interesting since GRRM has said that there are magic reasons for the inconstant seasons. That indicates that Barth was right when he argued that magic is to blame for this seasonal imbalance. This raises some very interesting questions as to what exactly caused this effect on the climate. It also hints that the seasons may return to a natural and regular pattern at the end of the story - and that the threat of the Others is part of this unnatural seasonal imbalance.

On the Doom of Valyria:

Barth also had his theories on the Doom of Valyria:

To this day, no one knows what caused the Doom. Most say that it was a natural cataclysm—a catastrophic explosion caused by the eruption of all Fourteen Flames together. Some septons, less wise, claim that the Valyrians brought the disaster on themselves for their promiscuous belief in a hundred gods and more, and in their godlessness they delved too deep and unleashed the fires of the Seven hells on the Freehold. A handful of maesters, influenced by fragments of the work of Septon Barth, hold that Valyria had used spells to tame the Fourteen Flames for thousands of years, that their ceaseless hunger for slaves and wealth was as much to sustain these spells as to expand their power, and that when at last those spells faltered, the cataclysm became inevitable. (TWoIaF, Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria)

This theory is not that far-fetched since the mages of Valyria was both powerful and skilled - and their magic was rooted in both fire and blood. Furthermore, GRRM has said that the future novels will reveal more about the Doom of Valyria.

On dragons:

Both Tyrion Lannister and Maester Aemon consider Barth one of the authorities on dragons. So what is known about his knowledge about dragons? One of his conclusions seems quite be just a bit of common sense:

The eyes were where a dragon was most vulnerable. The eyes, and the brain behind them. Not the underbelly, as certain old tales would have it. The scales there were just as tough as those along a dragon's back and flanks. And not down the gullet either. That was madness. These would-be dragonslayers might as well try to quench a fire with a spear thrust. "Death comes out of the dragon's mouth," Septon Barth had written in his Unnatural History, "but death does not go in that way." (ADwD, Tyrion XI)

Another theory is much more intriguing since he posits that dragons are intersex, just like some species of amphibians in the real world that can change their sex according to circumstance:

Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years. (Maester Aemon to Samwell Tarly, AFfC, Samwell IV)

The consensus at the Citadel is that this belief is wrong and that Barth was simply using the fluidity of draconic gender as an esoteric metaphor:

The belief that dragons could change sex at need is erroneous, according to Maester Anson's Truth, rooted in a misunderstanding of the esoteric metaphor that Barth preferred when discussing the higher mysteries. (TWoIaF, The North: Winterfell)

However, no one can actually disprove that the dragons can change their sex! In the past people only determined whether a dragon was female or not if a dragon was observed to produce eggs. Dragons that were not observed to do this was thought to be male. Neither does it appear that any recordings exists of how exactly dragons mate. Do they have mating flights? Or do they reproduce in another manner? 

(Dragons in flight. Art by Tomasz Jedruszek)

On the origins of dragons:

His most controversial theory relates to the origins of dragons. The origins of the dragons in the ancient world are mysterious. There are a number of different legends pertaining to where these magical creatures come from.

The Valyrians claimed that the dragons originated in the 14 Flames, the volcanoes of the Valyrian peninsula.

In Qarth, myths state that the dragons came from a second moon in the sky after it was scalded by the sun and cracked open.

Stories from Asshai claims that the dragons came from the Shadow Lands, a mysterious area in the far east. These tales claim that an impossibly ancient people were the first to tame the dragons, that they brought them to Valyria and taught the Valyrians their (magical) arts before they disappeared from history.

In the WoIaF, Maester Yandel deems the Valyrian tale the one most likely to be true:

Yet if men in the Shadow had tamed dragons first, why did they not conquer as the Valyrians did? It seems likelier that the Valyrian tale is the truest. But there were dragons in Westeros, once, long before the Targaryens came, as our own legends and histories tell us. If dragons did first spring from the Fourteen Flames, they must have been spread across much of the known world before they were tamed. And, in fact, there is evidence for this, as dragon bones have been found as far north as Ib, and even in the jungles of Sothoryos. But the Valyrians harnessed and subjugated them as no one else could.  (TWoIaF, Ancient History: The Rise of Valyria)

Septon Barth, however, has a very different theory - one that seems so outrageous that it appears quite improbable:

In Septon Barth's Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns, he speculated that the bloodmages of Valyria used wyvern stock to create dragons. Though the bloodmages were alleged to have experimented mightily with their unnatural arts, this claim is considered far-fetched by most maesters, among them Maester Vanyon's Against the Unnatural contains certain proofs of dragons having existed in Westeros even in the earliest of days, before Valyria rose to be a power. (TWoIaF, Beyond the Free Cities: Sothoryos)

The Citadel categorically denies this theory and a book by Maester Vanyon is said to provide proof that dragons existed before the rise of Valyria - though this proof is not presented anywhere in the text. 

Could this theory be true? Could the dragons of Valyria be created by magic? I do think that you can make a Watsonian based argument for Barth’s theory about the origin of dragons.

Barth claims that dragons were created from wyverns. They hail from the southern continent Sothorys.

Most terrible of all are the wyverns, those tyrants of the southern skies, with their great leathery wings, cruel beaks, and insatiable hunger. Close kin to dragons, wyverns cannot breathe fire, but they exceed their cousins in ferocity and are a match for them in all other respects save size. (TWoIaF, Beyond the Free Cities: Sothoryos) 

The wyverns are winged creatures that cannot breathe fire within the universe that GRRM has created. In our world, the wyvern is a wholly mythological beast that has been used in heraldry for centuries (x). In heraldry, wyverns are different from dragons in that they have two legs whereas dragons have four legs. 

(Wyvern. Art by AlaskanKaren)

However, GRRM insists that his dragons has the same basic morphology as the heraldic wyverns since he thinks this is more “realistic” (x). 

Arguments for Barth’s theory on the dragonic origins:

If Barth is correct and the Valyrian dragons were created from wyvern stock, then where did their fiery breath come from? The answer may lie with a creature native to the volcanoes of the Valyrian peninsula: the firewyrm. They are wingless creatures that breathe fire and they can grow to immense sizes. It is believed that they lived in the volcanoes even before the dragons arose in Valyria.

(A firewyrm. Art by Kevin Catalan)

In terms of morphology and extraordinary breath, it is quite possible that the Valyrian dragons could have been created from a magically assisted cross-breeding of wyverns with firewyrms. This would also conform with the Valyrian stories that the dragons sprang forth from the 14 Flames. 

The next question is this: Did the mages of Valyria have the skill and power to do this? The people of Old Valyria were said to be exceptionally strong in magic and the bloodmages of the Freehold experimented with cross-breeding human slave-women with animals in the slave city of Gogossos, creating twisted half-human offspring.

"What feeds a dragon’s fire?” Marwyn seated himself upon a stool. “All Valyrian sorcery was rooted in blood or fire…” (AFfC, Samwell V)

Then there’s the phrase: DRAGONS ARE FIRE MADE FLESH. This could just be a poetic way to express that dragons are creatures of intense heat, a way to say that they are fire incarnate. However, dragons are tied to magic on an intrinsic level - after the last dragons died, magic dwindled in the world and magical spells became less effective. Though other fantastical creatures exist in the world of ASoIaF, none of them seem to be intrinsically magical like the Valyrian dragons. 

Arguments against Barth’s theory of the draconic origins:

The greatest argument against Barth’s theory is a Doylist one - and it comes straight from the horse’s mouth. When asked about whether there were dragons in Westeros before the Targaryen conquest, GRRM said: “There were dragons all over, once” (x). This seems a pretty irrefutable piece of evidence and certain Westerosi myths seem to support this, such as the tale of Ser Serwyn of the Mirror Shield who slew the dragon Urrax during the time of the First Men. I cannot deny this - but I do wish to present a counter-argument.

It is possible that GRRM’s statement may be coyly misleading. Only three kinds legendary dragons are known in the history of Westeros: Ice dragons, the dragon Urrax and the seadragon Nakka. Both seadragons and icedragons are different species of dragons from the Valyrian ones. If different types of dragons once existed, then it is still possible that the Valyrian dragons are different - and their intrinsic magical nature do form an argument for them being unnatural creatures on some level. Furthermore, GRRM has also said that there’s “a lot of stuff about Others and about dragons maybe isn’t completely understood by the people of the present“ (x).

THE VALYRIAN AFFINITY FOR DRAGONS - A THEORY

Another unexplained mystery relating to the dragons concerns the strange affinity that the Dragonlords of the Freehold had for their dragons. In this section I want to present a highly speculative theory about this mysterious affinity.

Who were the Dragonlords? They were the ruling families of the Freehold of Valyria, a noble class of dragonriders with pale skin, silver-gold hair, purple eyes and a striking, almost inhumane beauty.

(Dragonlords from the Valyrian Freehold. Art by Magali Villeneuve)

The tales the Valyrians to of themselves claimed they were descended from dragons and kin to the ones they now controlled. (TWoIaF, Ancient History: The Rise of Valyria)

This claim of kinship with their dragons is an interesting one, especially in light of the gruesome experiments that the Valyrian bloodmages conducted with humans and animals. Could there be some truth to these tales? Are they more than empty justifications for racial superiority? Why did the Dragonlords practice sibling incest when they all had Valyrian blood and those unwordly looks? 

The affinity between the Dragonlords and their draconic mounts have never been explained. There are stories that they controlled their dragons with sorcerous horns made of dragon horns or with binding spells.

The dragonlords of old Valyria had controlled their mounts with binding spells and sorcerous horns. Daenerys made do with a word and a whip. (ADwD, Daenerys X)

The Targaryens used neither magic horns nor binding spells to control their dragons and no one can explain why a dragon chooses to bond with a specific rider. 

Who can know the mind of such a beast? We do know this: Vhagar roared, lurched to her feet, shook violently … then snapped her chains, and flew. And the boy prince Aemond Targaryen became a dragonrider, circling twice around the towers of High Tide before coming down again. (The Rogue Prince)

The common factor seems to be Valyrian blood. There’s a phrase that is repeated again and again times in Daenerys’ chapters: “The Blood of the Dragon”. It appears 38 times in the books, which is a lot. Mostly, it used by Daenerys herself when she tries to give herself courage, when she tries to harden her heart or when she pull rank on other people. For her, it is a psychological coping mechanism and for her it signifies her royal as well as her Valyrian heritage. However, there are hints that the blood of the dragon (the blood of the Valyrian dragonlords) may be a factor when it comes to interacting with dragons. The sellsword Brown Ben Plumm (whom Tyrion suspects to be a descendant of Aegon IV) claims he has a drop of Targaryen blood - and Dany’s dragons like him:

But as Brown Ben was leaving, Viserion spread his pale white wings and flapped lazily at his head. One of the wings buffeted the sellsword in his face. The white dragon landed awkwardly with one foot on the man's head and one on his shoulder, shrieked, and flew off again. "He likes you, Ben," said Dany."And well he might." Brown Ben laughed. "I have me a drop of the dragon blood myself, you know." (ADwD, Daenerys V)

What if “Blood of the Dragon” is also to be understood in a very literal sense? As in that the Targaryens are biologically related to their dragons in a weird (and possibly magical) way? This is not a new theory. It has been debated on westeros.org since 2014 (x). In this thread on westeros.org, it is debated whether incest was not just an odd cultural practice with racist undertones but a sort of bio-magical necessity for the Valyrian dragonlords. The Targaryens didn’t practice incest out dire need because they were the only dragonlords who survived the Doom. Incest was a common practice among the Dragonlords of Valyria when they were at the height of their power (TWoIaF, The Conquest). This begs the question of why the practice of incest was so entrenched, especially since all the dragonlords were of “pure” Valyrian blood in the first place. If their blood was purely Valyrian then why the need for incest? Could it be that specific draconic blood lines were magically tied to specific family blood lines? If this theory is correct, then it is quite possible that the reasons for the Valyrian incest were eventually forgotten and survived as an odd cultural practice and that the underlying reason for keeping the blood “pure” were replaced by a toxic idea of racial purity that elevated the Targaryens above the rules of gods and men in their own minds:

The dragon kings had wed brother to sister, but they were the blood of old Valyria where such practices had been common, and like their dragons the Targaryens answered to neither gods nor men. (ACoK, Catelyn IV) 

If the Valyrian bloodmages created the dragons of the Freehold, did they use human stock as well? Or did they mix existing dragons with Valyrian blood in a manner akin to the experiments at Gogossos but with a different outcome?

GRRM states that the Valyrian dragons are intelligent but without speech. It is unclear whether they are sentient but their intelligence could be a link to a possible blood kinship with humans. Such a blood kinship could also provide an explanation for the fact that unions with Targaryens sometimes produced babies with dragon-like deformities such as scales, tails and vestigial wings. 

(Rhaego. Art by Morgainelefee)

At least three babies among a number of malformed stillbirths have been documented to exhibit dragon-like deformities: a child of Maegor I Targaryen and Elinor Costayne, a daughter (Visenya) of Rhaenyra Targaryen and her uncle Daemon Targaryen as well as Rhaego, the son of Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo. The Targaryen blood line is littered with stillborn and deformed babies but it is unclear how many of the stillbirths were deformed and how often the deformities where dragon-like in appearance.

I do think that there are enough hints in GRRM’s work to believe that the dragons are unnatural creatures, either created by blood magic and/or bonded to specific Valyrian bloodlines through blood magic. 

The bloodmages of Valyria were exceptionally powerful and blood magic is one of the most powerful (and sinister) types of magic in this universe. I do no think that this theory is not beyond the realm of possibility.

THE QUESTION OF THE OTHERS

The dragons are not the only creatures that are possibly made from unnatural magic in the world of Westeros. It is time to turn our focus to their icy counterparts : The Others (or the White Walkers as they are called in the show).

(The Others. Art by John Picacio)

According to legend the Others come from the Lands of Always Winter and they first appeared with the Long Night, a period of terrible darkness and cold that affected the known world 8.000 years before Aegon’s Conquest. it is unclear whether the Others just appear with the Long Night or whether they bring the Long Night. They are sentient creatures since they have a language. It sounds “like the cracking of ice on a winter lake” and their voices are “sharp as icicles” (AGoT, Prologue). They also create things from ice, like their swords (x).

The Others are the magical counterpart to the dragons; as the dragons are fire incarnate (Fire made Flesh), so are the Others ice incarnate (Ice Made Flesh). Though it is never stated explicitly “their essential nature is revealed when they die. In the books, they melt whereas they shatter into shards of ice on the show. Thus, they are implicitly described as Ice made Flesh”. I’ve written about this here. In that sense there’s a strange symmetry when it comes to the dragons and the Others as magical creatures.

The origins of the Others is shrouded in mystery. They could be a possible third race among the original inhabitants of Westeros in the Dawn Age:

A possibility arises for a third race to have inhabited the Seven Kingdoms in the Dawn Age, but it is so speculative that it need only be dealt with briefly. Among the ironborn, it is said that the first of the First Men to come to the Iron Isles found the famous Seastone Chair on Old Wyk, but that the isles were uninhabited. If true, the nature and origins of the chair's makers are a mystery. (TWoIaF, Ancient History: The Dawn Age)

I find this improbable since the main argument for a third race is the mysterious origin of the Seastone Chair on the Iron Islands. The Seastone Chair is carved from an oily black stone and the Others make things from ice that they manipulate in some magical manner. GRRM says that “The Others can do things with ice that we can't imagine and make substances of it.” Melisandre believes that the Others are the the “cold children” of the Great Other, the eternal enemy of her god R’hllor (ASoS, Samwell V).

In the show, the Others (called the White Walkers to avoid confusion) were created by the Children of the Forest as a weapon against the First Men - but this was an act of hubris as their weapon turned against them.  

They created their icy weapons from a human man who was turned into this, The Night King:

This transformed man is the leader of the White Walkers on the show. 

The synopsis for "Oathkeeper" on the HBO Viewer's Guide originally listed this specific character as the Night's King, a legendary figure that has been mentioned a few times in the novels, though this was later removed. It is unknown whether this was due to an error in identification or the fact that this would be a major spoiler. (x)

I wonder whether the show has spoiled a major plot point of the books with the revelation that the Night King was created by the CotF through some kind of magic and/or ritual. I think there’s a very strong Doylist reason for thinking this. The origin of the Others/WWs constitutes a HUGE plot point and since Game of Thrones is an adaptation of GRRM’s work and the showrunners know the bones of the story (and its endgame), I find it very plausible that the Others were in fact created by the CotF through some strange, unnatural magic. Furthermore, GRRM himself has said that a possible relationship between the Others and the CotF is a topic that will be developed in future books.

It is unlikely that the first Other in the books will be the same as in the show. In the books, the Night’s King lived long after the Long Night.

The gathering gloom put Bran in mind of another of Old Nan's stories, the tale of Night's King. He had been the thirteenth man to lead the Night's Watch, she said; a warrior who knew no fear. "And that was the fault in him," she would add, "for all men must know fear." A woman was his downfall; a woman glimpsed from atop the Wall, with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars. Fearing nothing, he chased her and caught her and loved her, though her skin was cold as ice, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well. (ASoS, Bran IV)

The woman, this Corpse Queen who tempted and changed the 13th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch is described in a way that sounds a lot like the Others: with eyes like blue stars and cold, white skin. Could the Corpse Queen be the first Other? I think that this is quite possible. Incidentally, I find it interesting that R’hllorism as a faith that thinks in absolute opposites, never mention one specific opposing pair: male/female. They posit R’hllor, the Lord of Light against the Great Other, The Soul of Ice. Yet they conceive of both “gods” as male. If we follow this kind of binary thinking where everything is seen as part of an eternal dualism to its logical conclusion, then it is not so far fetched to think that the Great Other may be female in nature.

The show also revealed another interesting piece of information. The Night King creates more of his kind by transforming Craster’s incestous sons.

The books also hint at this; that Craster’s sons are turned into Others, the cold ones. After Craster has been killed, Gilly and some of the older wives beg Sam to take Gilly and her son away. Gilly says:

“If you don’t take him, they will.” “They?” said Sam, and the raven cocked its black head and echoed, “They. They. They.” “The boy’s brothers, “ said the old woman on the left. “Craster’s sons. The white cold’s rising out there crow. I can feel it in my bones. These poor old bones don’t lie. They’ll be here soon, the sons.” (ASoS, Samwell II)

The Others appear when it is extremely cold though it is unclear whether they actually bring the extreme cold. This passage certainly strongly indicates that the boy children that Craster sacrifices to his “cold gods” are made into Others - and that could indicate that the first Other once was human as well.

MY THEORY

All of this is, of course, highly speculative - and now I’ll continue to speculate in order to formulate a theory that brings all of these elements together. It is a theory that rests on the assumption that both the dragons and the Others are unnatural creatures, made through magical means. The bloodmagic of the Valyrians and the green magic of the Children of the Forest. They have meddled magically with the natural order of things and I think that it is possible that this meddling is somewho related to the strange, inconstant seasons.

We don’t know what caused the Long Night in the first place and it is quite possible that the Long Night itself has something to do with the inconstant pattern of seasonal change. However, if the CotF created the Others as a weapon against the First Men, then it probably happended centuries before the Long Night as the Pact that sealed the peace between the CotF and the First Men occurred before the Long Night - and the Others were eventually driven back through an alliance between the First Men and the Children of the Forest. Perhaps the Long Night simply strengtened the magical power of the Others.

Interestingly, Valyria rose as a centre of power after the Long Night and it is possible that the existence of the dragons somehow acted as a power that curbed the cold. In the novella The Hedge Knight, it is stated that “the summers have been shorter since the last dragon died, and the winters longer and crueler.” There seems to be a connection between the dragons and summer as there is a connection between the Others and extreme cold (winter). I don’t think it is a coincidence that the Others hail from a place called the Lands of Always Winter and the dragons possibly originated in an area of Essos called the Lands of the Long Summer.

There’s an interesting symmetry when it comes to the dragons and the Others:

They are Fire made Flesh and Ice Made Flesh respectively.

Both are possibly of magical origins. 

They are both possibly unnatural creatures.

They are both connected to incestuous practices in different ways.

The dragons and the Others are two sides of the same magical coin - and that coin represents an unnatural imbalance in the world. If the dragons and the Others are magical creations, then they are unnatural creatures and it is possible that they are tied to the imbalance of the natural seasons, an imbalance that GRRM has revealed has a magical cause.

I believe that GRRM’s story has to end with the destruction of both the dragons and the Others - and that the magical imbalance that influences the natural world will be undone. 

The Battle for the Dawn that marked the ending of the Long Night didn’t defeat the Others. They just retreated back to the Lands of Always Winter and humankind created a number of defenses (the Wall and the NW) against them in co-operation with the Children of the Forest. 

I do think that the War for the Dawn will end with a definitive victory for humankind - GRRM is not a nihilist (x). Neither do I think that this war will end with a conflict held in abeyance for another 8.000 years. That isn’t really narratively satisfying and though GRRM deconstructs common fantasy tropes, it is worth keeping in mind that deconstruction does NOT equal destruction. This is why I tend to agree with @thewesterwoman who argues that GRRM’s deconstruction of fantasy tropes will be followed by a work of reconstruction:

Martin isn’t writing in order to utterly disprove the foundations of all fantasy stories - he’s a realist, not a nihilist. What he’s doing, instead, is showing his readers ‘how the sausage gets made.’ He has taken the most classic tropes of high fantasy and demonstrated how they would really play out in a world where logic and consequences apply. (x)  

This is why I believe that The Song of Ice and Fire will end with a definitive victory for humankind - and that victory may very well include a restoration of the natural balance of the world, a balance that has been disrupted by severe magical meddling on the part of the Children of the Forest and the people of Valyria.

[brawlcloud]

She could not think of Noora’s leaving Olso without remembering that her cousin was to go with her; but Colonel Mari had made it clear that she had no intentions at all, and agreeable as she was, she did not mean to be unhappy about her.

While settling this point, she was suddenly roused by the sound of the door-bell, and her spirits were a little fluttered by the idea of its being Colonel Mari herself, who had once before called late in the evening, and might now come to inquire particularly after her. But this idea was soon banished, and her spirits were very differently affected, when, to her utter amazement, she saw Noora walk into the room. In an hurried manner she immediately began an inquiry after her health, imputing her visit to a wish of hearing that she were better. She answered her with cold civility. She sat down for a few moments, and then getting up, walked about the room. Sana was surprised, but said not a word. After a silence of several minutes, she came towards her in an agitated manner, and thus began:

“In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

Sana’s astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured, doubted, and was silent. This she considered sufficient encouragement; and the avowal of all that she felt, and had long felt for her, immediately followed. She spoke well; but there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed; and she was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride. Her sense of her inferiority—of its being a degradation—of the family obstacles which had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence she was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend her suit.

In spite of her deeply-rooted dislike, she could not be insensible to the compliment of such a woman’s affection, and though her intentions did not vary for an instant, she was at first sorry for the pain she was to receive; till, roused to resentment by her subsequent language, she lost all compassion in anger. She tried, however, to compose herself to answer her with patience, when she should have done. She concluded with representing to her the strength of that attachment which, in spite of all her endeavours, she had found impossible to conquer; and with expressing her hope that it would now be rewarded by her acceptance of her hand. As she said this, she could easily see that she had no doubt of a favourable answer. She spoke of apprehension and anxiety, but her countenance expressed real security. Such a circumstance could only exasperate farther, and, when she ceased, the colour rose into her cheeks, and she said:

“In such cases as this, it is, I believe, the established mode to express a sense of obligation for the sentiments avowed, however unequally they may be returned. It is natural that obligation should be felt, and if I could feel gratitude, I would now thank you. But I cannot—I have never desired your good opinion, and you have certainly bestowed it most unwillingly. I am sorry to have occasioned pain to anyone. It has been most unconsciously done, however, and I hope will be of short duration. The feelings which, you tell me, have long prevented the acknowledgment of your regard, can have little difficulty in overcoming it after this explanation.”

Noora, who was leaning against the mantelpiece with her eyes fixed on her face, seemed to catch her words with no less resentment than surprise. Her complexion became pale with anger, and the disturbance of her mind was visible in every feature. She was struggling for the appearance of composure, and would not open her lips till she believed herself to have attained it. The pause was to Sana’s feelings dreadful. At length, with a voice of forced calmness, she said:

“And this is all the reply which I am to have the honour of expecting! I might, perhaps, wish to be informed why, with so little endeavour at civility, I am thus rejected. But it is of small importance.”

“I might as well inquire,” replied Sana, “why with so evident a desire of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character? Was not this some excuse for incivility, if I was uncivil? But I have other provocations. You know I have. Had not my feelings decided against you—had they been indifferent, or had they even been favourable, do you think that any consideration would tempt me to accept the woman who has been the means of ruining, perhaps for ever, the happiness of a most beloved sister?”

As she pronounced these words, Noora changed colour; but the emotion was short, and she listened without attempting to interrupt her while she continued:

“I have every reason in the world to think ill of you. No motive can excuse the unjust and ungenerous part you acted there. You dare not, you cannot deny, that you have been the principal, if not the only means of dividing them from each other—of exposing one to the censure of the world for caprice and instability, and the other to its derision for disappointed hopes, and involving them both in misery of the acutest kind.”

She paused, and saw with no slight indignation that she was listening with an air which proved her wholly unmoved by any feeling of remorse. She even looked at her with a smile of affected incredulity.

“Can you deny that you have done it?” she repeated.

With assumed tranquillity she then replied: “I have no wish of denying that I did everything in my power to separate my friend from Chris, or that I rejoice in my success. Towards her I have been kinder than towards myself.”

Sana disdained the appearance of noticing this civil reflection, but its meaning did not escape, nor was it likely to conciliate her.

“But it is not merely this affair,” she continued, “on which my dislike is founded. Long before it had taken place my opinion of you was decided. Your character was unfolded in the recital which I received many months ago from Sara. On this subject, what can you have to say? In what imaginary act of friendship can you here defend yourself? or under what misrepresentation can you here impose upon others?”

“You take an eager interest in that gentleman’s concerns,” said Noora, in a less tranquil tone, and with a heightened colour.

“Who that knows what her misfortunes have been, can help feeling an interest in her?”

“Her misfortunes!” repeated Noora contemptuously; “yes, her misfortunes have been great indeed.”

“And of your infliction,” cried Sana with energy. “You have reduced her to her present state of poverty—comparative poverty. You have withheld the advantages which you must know to have been designed for her. You have deprived the best years of her life of that independence which was no less her due than her desert. You have done all this! and yet you can treat the mention of her misfortune with contempt and ridicule.”

“And this,” cried Noora, as she walked with quick steps across the room, “is your opinion of me! This is the estimation in which you hold me! I thank you for explaining it so fully. My faults, according to this calculation, are heavy indeed! But perhaps,” added she, stopping in her walk, and turning towards her, “these offenses might have been overlooked, had not your pride been hurt by my honest confession of the scruples that had long prevented my forming any serious design. These bitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I, with greater policy, concealed my struggles, and flattered you into the belief of my being impelled by unqualified, unalloyed inclination; by reason, by reflection, by everything. But disguise of every sort is my abhorrence. Nor am I ashamed of the feelings I related. They were natural and just. Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections?—to congratulate myself on the hope of relations, whose condition in life is so decidedly beneath my own?”

Sana felt herself growing more angry every moment; yet she tried to the utmost to speak with composure when she said:

“You are mistaken, Noora, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner.”

She saw her start at this, but she said nothing, and she continued:

“You could not have made the offer of your hand in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it.”

Again her astonishment was obvious; and she looked at her with an expression of mingled incredulity and mortification. She went on:

“From the very beginning—from the first moment, I may almost say—of my acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last woman in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.”

“You have said quite enough, madam. I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and have now only to be ashamed of what my own have been. Forgive me for having taken up so much of your time, and accept my best wishes for your health and happiness.”

And with these words she hastily left the room, and Sana heard her the next moment open the front door and quit the house.

The tumult of her mind, was now painfully great. She knew not how to support herself, and from actual weakness sat down and cried for half-an-hour. Her astonishment, as she reflected on what had passed, was increased by every review of it. That she should receive an offer of marriage from Noora! That she should have been in love with her for so many months! So much in love as to wish to marry her in spite of all the objections which had made her prevent her friend’s marrying her sister, and which must appear at least with equal force in her own case—was almost incredible! It was gratifying to have inspired unconsciously so strong an affection. But her pride, her abominable pride—her shameless avowal of what she had done with respect to Chris—her unpardonable assurance in acknowledging, though she could not justify it, and the unfeeling manner in which she had mentioned Sara, her cruelty towards whom she had not attempted to deny, soon overcame the pity which the consideration of her attachment had for a moment excited.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Hello, I'm having a BBC Pride and Prejudice watch party soon with a bunch of my girl friends and just wanted you to know that a) I reread C&C for the occasion and b) I have been recommending it to all my friends as well :)

I read the story incrementally as it was coming out—and enjoyed every chapter!—but binging it was another joy entirely. It reads so nicely: the characters are fleshed out, the scenes you imagined fit right into the narrative's pacing. I simply love everything about Conceit and Conciliation and wanted to tell you so.

THANK YOU! <3

How absolutely lovely of you to come and tell me and thank you for recommending my retelling to your friends!!

It was loads of fun to write, but also so much work to get right, and I'm really happy that it has found its audience <3<3<3

[mysunfreckle]

listen, to be overcome with hopes and desires may be a redundant cliché for you, but not for Fitzwilliam Darcy

[apex-clown]

An Old Acquaintance

The Broken Chain, Sunspire Port... "This is extortion." Captain Vraxzl protested.

A goblin entrepeneur complaining of unfair and predatory business practices? Fal drank deep of the irony, savoured it like... Well, Perhaps not fine wine, but certainly better than this mediocre tavern fare. Metaphorically speaking.

Vraxzl was, Fal supposed, an old acquaintance -- 'old' being the operative term. And for a given value of 'acquaintance', of course. Their history was rife with backstabbing, but always with a certain professional courtesy, never twisting the knife. Just business.

Now, though...

He studied the wizened creature, perused the leathery contours of his face in the futile hope some trick of the light, the play of lamp and shadow, would yield an echo of the charlatan memory insisted sat before him. The years -- Light, the decades -- had not been kind. To face or fortune. He was hard-pressed to remember a more rigorously abused hat.

"On the contrary -- this is a glowing opportunity." It wasn't precisely a lie, but the truth therein was largely supplementary to his scheme. The remaining shred was little more than an offhand token of respect -- Vraxzl was one of the old guard, another unearthed fossil from Fal's past. An incidental one, true, but... Seeing him like this, withering away into obscurity, wasn't easy.

Most pirates assumed they'd be retiring on a bed of pure gold, on an exotic island named after themselves, tended to by a small nation of concubines. Most pirates met ignominious ends before the age of forty or otherwise found safer lines of work. Those who didn't, but nevertheless lacked the guile and tenacity to push past the crushing weight of mediocrity, tended to resemble Vraxzl.

Too poor to retire, too stubborn to die... Bolstered by poverty's decaying momentum, Galx and his timeworn enterprise lurched desperately onward, limping after a prize that would accomplish one or the other. Glory or death -- at this point, Fal suspected, the wiry old knuckle didn't particularly care which.

"Yeah. Glowin'. Lemme get this right. You poach half my crew--"

"'Poach' is a strong word." Fal wryly interjected, but Vraxzl wasn't to be deterred -- not when his rant was gathering momentum.

"--you poach half my crew," the goblin made a list of Fal's conceit on splayed digits, "try to hustle me into selling my ship -- my gold=damned livelihood -- for some purpose you ain't carin' to divulge... In exchange for what? Renouncin' my captaincy and hoppin' aboard that sinking mausoleum you call a boat?"

"I'll admit you're not really seeing her at her best."

"'Her best?'" Vraxzl  snorted incredulity through his hoary edifice of a nose. "She ain't even seaworthy! roll her out of port, you ain't gonna be terrorisin' anyone that don't live at the bottom of the ocean."

"Really?“ Fal gestured in that languorous way of his, as if vapidly swatting an unwanted statement out of the air, “I conveyed her all the way here from sunny Gilneas with nary a detour to Neptulon's briny depths. Once she's all patched up...” He let the sentence trail off, punctuated with a shrug of nonchalant insinuation. Elaboration wasn’t really necessary.

"Okay.” Vraxzl expelled the word in a wary breath. He leaned forward to better countenance the elf, mistrust and conciliation balanced precariously upon his furrowed brow. “let's assume -- 'cuz we're such good ol' pals, right? -- let's assume you ain't feedin' me a line. That we've established some basic trust an' respect. So. Tell me. What am I gettin' out of this deal?"

"Lo and behold." Fal produced a sealed scroll from somewhere in the depths of his coat. He was, he suspected, pathologically incapable of doing so without at least a little theatrical flourish. "Have a gander.” As he waited for Vraxzl’s flinty eyes to navigate, by fits and starts, the spidery thicket of small print and jargon unfurled before them, he reclined satisfactorially and helped himself to the dregs of his wine. “What you’re getting, Vrax, is a guarantee.” Something of an unnecessarily clarification, given that all the pertinent information was there on parchment... But talking over his reading might harry his concentration -- and thus appreciation of certain choicier details. “Full, unequivocal ownership of the next ship of consequence to drift haplessly in range of my guns. In essence, I'll be obliged to net a bigger prize for you and your sterling crew."

He'd divulged his scheme to Zarlii, the ship's treasurer, the previous night. She'd nodded, calculated, and promptly produced a corresponding document with an alacrity that was almost alarming. Her mastery of (and patience for) crooked legalese far outstripped his own.

It wasn’t a deal he’d usually be prepared to make -- certainly not up-front and off the cuff like this. But the clock was ticking, and each stroke furthered a grudging desperation. Coming to Sunspire, depositing the ship upon her shores, had been a gamble. If, in the Meridian’s sorry state, the binding wards were to deteriorate any further... If they were to collapse entirely... I’d be posed a number of inconveniently pointed questions, at the very least.

"And just what do you go classin' as a 'ship of consequence'?" Vraxzl grumbled.

"Just about anything with more clout than your Jaded Cuttlefish. A rather comprehensive list, I fancy. Consider it an... investment. Trading up."

"Hah. So good of yer to be thinkin' of my poor, ailin' business, but y'know what? I'm doin' just fine, Fal."

"Peachy, no doubt. But you could be doing better. Cannier fish in the waters these days, as I'm sure you've noticed; frequently nibbling, but seldom deigning to bite. And when they do, they almost invariably turn out to be sharks. I can scarce imagine the desperate lengths one little brig must go through to feed her crew."

"Still..." Vraxzl visibly deflated; shoulders leaden under the weight of rhetoric. Nevertheless, those beady eyes glimmered like black gems -- and Fal knew then that he had him; that he'd stoked the fires of the goblin's imagination. Greed always won in the end. “Risky proposition. Whole lot for me to take on faith.”

"What's reward without a little seasoning of risk?” Fal shrugged. “Simply the nature of investiture, I'm afraid." “I ain’t convinced, mind you.” said Vrazxl, convinced. “First, we talk collateral. And then we have a chat -- and this ain’t negotiable -- about  what in the hells you’re wantin’ the Cuttlefish for.”

“Well...” The rest was just a matter of haggling. @sunspireport, @roscoerackham, @witchbetweenworlds, @scylenara,

[mysunfreckle]

Me, trying to write Bingley's proposal to Jane for Conceit and Conciliation: I'll read Edward's proposal to Elinor in Sense and Sensibility as inspriation, it will at least give me a benchmark for how emotional and expressive they can get

Jane Austen, writing Sense and Sensibility: "...in what manner he expressed himself, and how he was received, need not be particularly told."

Miss Austen, I beg of you

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Hello! I was reading through your Conceit and Conciliation pdf and noticed an error on the title page. It says that it's "A retelling of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey." Just wanted to make you aware :) I love your work <3

Oops! I used the title page for Fullerton Parsonage as a template and clearly did not pay close enough attention :P

Thank you for letting me know! It's fixed now, along with a few typo's. The updated files and be found on my website:

[mysunfreckle]

Conciet & conciliation is so good!!! You're very talented & should b proud of ur hard work!!

Oh!! I was so chuffed having this in my inbox that I completely forgot to post it!

Thank you so much! When I'm not needlessly overthinking my regency voice it's very fun to write ^^