A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who makes copies of manuscripts.
Culture
Captives taken by Ironborn during their raids become thralls bound to their captors in service, with those who could read, write, and do sums serving their masters as scribes, stewards, and tutors.[1]
The Good Masters of Astapor are rivals of one another when dealing in scribes, bed slaves, fieldhands, craftsmen, and tutors.[2]
Acolytes of the Citadel of maesters practice their craft by training letters at the Scribe's Hearth,[3] where Oldtowners may come to have their letters read and wills written by scribes.[4]
In the three remaining cities of the now defunct Patrimony of Hyrkoon, ninety-nine of every hundred boys are gelded when they reach the age of manhood and live out their lives as eunuchs, serving their cities as scribes, priests, scholars, servants, cooks, farmers, and craftsmen.[5]
History
Antiquity
According to tales told by the priestly scribes of Yin, the Lion of Night fathered a son on the Maiden-Made-of-Light, the so-called God-on-Earth, who ruled the Great Empire of the Dawn for ten thousand years, before ascending to the heavens.[6]
Meryn Peake, known as Meryn the Scribe, was a Lord of Starpike, and an illustrious and legendary ancestor of House Peake.[7]
Lomas Longstrider was a famous scribe who traveled the known world and wrote two famous books, Wonders and Wonders Made by Man, in which he cataloged sixteen sights he considered wonders.[8]
Targaryen Era
After being gelded and sent to walk barefoot from King's Landing to Oldtown with his manhood hung around his neck, septon Bernard spent the rest of his life as a scribe copying holy books at the Starry Sept, under a vow of silence.[9]
Coryanne Wylde's alleged biography is a scandalous book called A Caution for Young Girls.[10]
Scribes were among the retinue that accompanied Lord Manfryd Mooton on his diplomatic mission to the Free City of Braavos to treat with the Sealord.[7]
The Testimony of Mushroom, an account covering several events of the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, was written by an unknown scribe. Norren, a maester in service to Lord Manfryd Mooton of Maidenpool during the Dance, recorded the time Prince Daemon Targaryen and his alleged paramour, the dragonseed Nettles, spent at Maidenpool as guests of Lord Manfryd Mooton.[11]
Grand Maester Kaeth wrote the well-regarded work Lives of Four Kings, a detailed history of the reigns of Daeron I, Baelor I, Aegon IV, and Daeron II.[12] Daeron I wrote The Conquest of Dorne about his achievement,[13] but the King exaggerated the numbers of his foes to make his conquest seem greater.[14]
Missandei has a noticeable gift, easily learning languages, so the Good Masters chose to train her as a scribe and translator.[15]
Recent Events
A Storm of Swords
When Daenerys Targaryen comes to inspect the Unsullied in Astapor, Missandei is a slave translator and scribe for Kraznys mo Nakloz.[16] Dany later frees her and tells her she may leave her service, but Missandei wishes to stay.[2]
A Feast for Crows
Samwell Tarly stops at Scribe's Hearth after arriving at the Citadel and looks at a map for the fastest way to the Seneschal's Court.[4]
A Dance with Dragons
Daenerys thinks that Mollono Yos Dob looks more like a scribe than a warrior, with a heavy paunch and inky hands.[17]
At the Apex of the Great Pyramid, Missandei occupies herself with reading piles of scrolls and books.[18]
Quotes
Just beyond stood Scribe's Hearth, where Oldtowners came in search of acolytes to write their wills and read their letters. Half a dozen bored scribes sat in open stalls, waiting for some custom. At other stalls books were being bought and sold.[4]
—thoughts of Samwell Tarly
References
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Iron Islands.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 27, Daenerys III.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Preface.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 45, Samwell V.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Bones and Beyond.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Bones and Beyond: Yi Ti.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Fire & Blood, Under the Regents - War and Peace and Cattle Shows.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 8, Tyrion III.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, A Surfeit of Rulers.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 59, Sansa IV.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 54, Davos V.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 40, Princess In The Tower.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 11, Daenerys II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 23, Daenerys II.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 16, Daenerys III.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 67, The Kingbreaker.