A mason,[1] bricklayer,[2] or brickmaker,[2] is a tradesperson who builds with hard masonry materials, including stone, brick, concrete blocks, and tiles
Culture
The order of builders of the Night's Watch, which provides masons, carpenters, miners, and woodsmen to their fellow brothers, is responsible for tending to and maintaining the Wall and its castles, including repairing its keeps and towers, and crushing stone for the roads and footpaths on top of the Wall.[3]
Several noble Houses of Westeros depict masonry in their sigil, such as House Stonehouse,[4] House Kidwell,[5] and House Rhysling.[6]
History
Before the Andals arrived in the Reach, Mern the Mason built a new curtain wall about Highgarden and commanded his lords bannermen to see to their own defenses.[7]
King Maegor I Targaryen took personal charge of the Red Keep's construction in 43 AC, which lasted two years. When the castle was completed in 45 AC, Maegor threw a feast for its builders, carvers, and stonemasons. After three days of feasting, however, Maegor the Cruel had all of the craftsmen killed so that only he would know the Red Keep's secrets.[8][9] When Maegor the Cruel was found dead on the Iron Throne in 48 AC, one theory suggested that a mason familiar with the castle's secret passages had escaped Maegor's massacre and assassinated the king.[9]
Recent Events
A Dance with Dragons
In Meereen, Reznak mo Reznak informs Daenerys Targaryen that the freedmen are carving stone and laying bricks for very low prices, thus stealing work from the craftsmen of the guilds, such as stonemasons and bricklayers, who are also upset that some freedmen are calling themselves journeymen, or even masters, titles that belong by rights only to the craftsmen of the guilds. When this issue is raised, Dany decides that only guild members shall be permitted to use those titles, provided the guilds open their rolls to any freedman who can prove their skills.[10]
Daenerys later receives the news of the siege of Astapor from three escaped Astapori: a bricklayer, a weaver, and a cobbler, who had managed to escape through a tunnel built by the bricklayer and his friends. When Daenerys wonders how Astapor could have fallen if its walls were thick, the bricklayer replies that they were also old and crumbling.[2]
Quotes
I am by trade a brickmaker, as my father and his father were before me. My grandfather built our house up against the city walls. It was an easy thing to work loose a few bricks every night. When I told my friends, they helped me shore up the tunnel so it would not collapse. We all agreed that it might be good to have our own way out.[2]
—Brickmaker to Daenerys Targaryen
References
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Maegor I.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 30, Daenerys V.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 41, Jon V.
- ↑ The Citadel. Heraldry: Houses on the Iron Islands
- ↑ The Citadel. Heraldry: Houses in the Reach
- ↑ The Citadel. Heraldry: Houses in the Reach
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Andals in the Reach.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 18, Catelyn IV.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Maegor I.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 11, Daenerys II.