Citadel

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© Fantasy Flight Games

The Citadel is a complex of buildings in Oldtown that serves as headquarters to the order of the maesters.

About

The Citadel is where the maesters convene, study, and train new members, and it is also the residence of the archmaesters. House Hightower played an integral role in the foundation of the Citadel and continue to be strong patrons of learning.[1] The Citadel is funded by taxes from Oldtown and payments from lords for the service of maesters.[2]

Layout

See also: Images of the Citadel

The Citadel lies on the Honeywine, where its towers and domes are connected with arching stone bridges. Houses and stalls sit on the bridges.[3] The gates are flanked by a pair of tall green sphinxes with the bodies of lions, the wings of eagles and the tails of serpents. One has the face of a man, the other a woman.[4]

Scribe's Hearth

Just inside the gates of the Citadel lies the Scribe's Hearth. Here, the citizens of Oldtown come to hire scribes, usually acolytes, to write and read letters for them. The scribes wait in open stalls for their custom. Other stalls situated at the Scribe's Hearth include those where books are bought and sold. Others offer maps.[4]

Weeping Dock

From this dock one can get a boat for a short voyage to the Bloody Isle.[4]

Seneschal's Court

Outside the Seneschal's Court lies where acolytes and novices are punished for minor crimes, such as petty thievery. Inside the doors is a hall with a stone floor and high, arched windows. At the far end of the hall there is a raised dais where a gatekeeper greets all those who wish to make an appointment to see the Seneschal.[4]

Isle of Ravens

The Isle of Ravens is linked to the eastern bank of the Honeywine by a weathered wooden drawbridge. On the island is located the Ravenry, the oldest building of the Citadel. In the Age of Heroes it was supposedly a stronghold of a pirate lord who picked off ships as they came downriver. The walls of the Ravenry are covered in moss and vines and within its yard sits a weirwood tree on which the ravens like to perch. The white raven rookery is located in the west tower.[4]

Recent Events

The Citadel gates are flanked by a pair of tall green sphinxes. © Fantasy Flight Games

A Feast for Crows

Lord Commander Jon Snow sends Samwell Tarly to the Citadel to study and become a maester.[5][4]

Quotes

The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles, much less for dragons.[4]

Marwyn


The healers of the Citadel are the best in the Seven Kingdoms.[6]

Samwell Tarly


There are so many books at the Citadel that no man can hope to read them all.[7]

Jon Snow

References and Notes