Alchemists' Guild
| Alchemists' Guild | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Guild |
| Seat | Guildhall of the Alchemists |
| Region | Westeros |
The Alchemists' Guild,[1] also called the Guild of Alchemists,[2][3] is an old but small order of alchemists with a guildhall in King's Landing. The alchemists of King's Landing are often known as pyromancers because of their focus on wildfire.[4]
Pyromancers can also found in the city of Asshai in Essos,[5] but it is unknown if they are connected with the Alchemists' Guild from Westeros.
Contents
Organization
A full member of the Alchemists' Guild is called a wisdom. There are also apprentices and acolytes to assist them.[4] The order is led by a wisdom known as the grand master.[6]
The guild was powerful in its earlier years, and they once claimed to be able to transmute metals.[4] By the reign of King Robert I Baratheon, however, their abilities and influence have been greatly diminished. Now only a few of the old order remain.[4]
Although they still hint at possessing vast secret stores of knowledge, the pyromancers only demonstrate the skill to create wildfire, which they call the substance. The wildfire is created in the Guildhall of the Alchemists, located on the Street of the Sisters close to Visenya's Hill in King's Landing.[4] The hall is an imposing labyrinth of cold, black stone.[3][4] Great care is taken when producing wildfire. Trained acolytes prepare the product in bare stone cells, and once a jar is ready, it is immediately removed by an apprentice and brought to the vaults.[4]
History
The Alchemists' Guild was once powerful, but they have been supplanted by maesters almost everywhere in recent centuries.[4]
Aegon IV Targaryen
King Aegon IV Targaryen, who dreamed of conquering Dorne, commanded the Guild of Alchemists to build him "dragons". Thus, the dubious alchemists constructed massive devices fitted with pumps that shot jets of wildfire. One of the engines went up in flames in the kingswood and soon all seven burned, taking a quarter of the forest with them and forcing Aegon to abandon his scheme.[7]
Daeron II Targaryen
Because of the Great Spring Sickness, Lord Brynden Rivers, the Hand of the King, had the pyromancers burn the corpses that had been piled in the Dragonpit. A quarter of King's Landing burned in the aftermath.[8]
Aegon V Targaryen
Pyromancers are mentioned in the fragments of Gyldayn's writings which survived the tragedy at Summerhall.[9]
Aerys II Targaryen
The alchemists enjoyed a period of increased influence during the reign of King Aerys II Targaryen, visiting his court more frequently as the king's fascination with wildfire increased.[6] When Aerys tasked them with driving off winter at the start of 282 AC, the wisdoms burned green fires along the Red Keep's walls for a moon's turn.[10]
A few years before his reign ended, the Mad King also began using fire to burn traitors, murderers, and plotters;[6] one such victim was Lord Rickard Stark.[11] Rossart, the grand master of the guild, supervised the executions, and the king rewarded him with the title of Lord and added him to the small council.[6]
During Robert's Rebellion, King Aerys tasked Lord Rossart and two other wisdoms, Garigus and Belis, with creating a vast quantity of wildfire for his plan to destroy King's Landing, should the war be lost. When Lord Qarlton Chelsted, the Hand of the King, opposed Aerys's wildfire plot and renounced his duties in disgust, the Mad King had him burned to death with wildfire and made Rossart as his next and final Hand.[12] This was one of the reasons why Ser Jaime Lannister slew both Lord Rossart and King Aerys during the Sack of King's Landing. Days after the sack, Jaime hunted down Garigus and Belis and killed them as well.[12]
The acolytes who remained at the Guild were inexperienced in destroying the wildfire. Some jars remained in the vaults of the Guild, while others were lost and forgotten.[4]
When Wisdom Hallyne asked why their spells seemed to not be as effective as their scrolls promised, Wisdom Pollitor explained that magic began to leave the known world when the last dragon died.[13]
Recent Events
A Clash of Kings
The alchemists find a cache of two hundred jars of wildfire under the Great Sept of Baelor in 298 AC[4] and then three hundred jars under the Dragonpit in 299 AC.[13]
During the War of the Five Kings, Queen Regent Cersei Lannister commissions ten thousand jars of wildfire for the defenses of King's Landing.[1] Tyrion Lannister, the acting Hand of the King, meets with Wisdom Hallyne in the Guildhall of the Alchemists.[4] Hallyne later reports an unexplained increase in the effectiveness of their spells, noting it has not been as easy since the time of the dragons;[13] unbeknownst to them, Daenerys Targaryen has three living dragons in Qarth.[14]
Tyrion utilizes the alchemists' wildfire during the Battle of the Blackwater.[15]
A Storm of Swords
During the wedding feast of King Joffrey I Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell, four pyromancers entertain by conjuring beasts of living flame which tear at each other with fiery claws.[16]
A Feast for Crows
Lord Hallyne and his Guild of Alchemists are employed by Cersei to burn down the Tower of the Hand.[2]
Quotes
The substance was the pyromancers' own term for wildfire. They called each other wisdom as well, which Tyrion found almost as annoying as their custom of hinting at the vast secret stores of knowledge that they wanted him to think they possessed. Once theirs had been a powerful guild, but in recent centuries the maesters of the Citadel had supplanted the alchemists almost everywhere. Now only a few of the older order remained, and they no longer even pretended to transmute metals ... but they could make wildfire.[4]
—Tyrion Lannister's thoughts
—Tyrion Lannister's thoughts
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 3, Tyrion I.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 12, Cersei III.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Guild of Alchemists.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 20, Tyrion V.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Bones and Beyond: Asshai-by-the-Shadow.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon IV.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Daeron II.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon V.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Fall of the Dragons: The Year of the False Spring.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 55, Catelyn VII.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 37, Jaime V.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 49, Tyrion XI.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 48, Daenerys IV.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 59, Tyrion XIII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 60, Tyrion VIII.
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Organizations in A Song of Ice and Fire. |