The Testimony of Mushroom, sometimes abbreviated as simply Mushroom's Testimony, is an account by the court jester Mushroom of his life, including the years he spent at court during the reigns of Viserys I Targaryen, Aegon II Targaryen, Rhaenyra Targaryen, and Aegon III Targaryen.
History
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As Mushroom was the court fool and a dwarf, people believed him to be a lackwit. This caused the highborns to speak freely around him. Mushroom's testimony was written down by an unknown writer. The account is filled with Mushroom's tales of plots, murders, trysts, and debaucheries, amongst other things. The stories are in the most explicit detail.[1]
Septon Eustace wrote an account, The Reign of King Viserys, covering many of the same events that are described in Mushroom's account, and while often the two disagree on how events occurred, at times they do agree.[1]
Copies of The Testimony of Mushroom were burned on orders of King Baelor I Targaryen, but a few copies escaped Baelor's flames and survived for Archmaester Gyldayn to reference in his own history.[2]
Contents
[edit]The Testimony of Mushroom consists of multiple volumes. While much of the text is devoted to his time in service to the Targaryen dynasty, the later volumes discuss Mushroom's life after leaving King Aegon III's service. The contents of these volumes include his days in White Harbor, a visit to the court of the Sealord of Braavos, a voyage to the Port of Ibben, and Mushroom's years spent among the mummers of the Lisping Lady.[3]
Gyldayn considers Mushroom's account frequently unreliable,[3] filled primarily with ribald stories and gossip about alleged stabbings, poisonings, betrayals, seductions, and debaucheries.[2] Yet, he also believes Mushroom spoke some truths that no other chronicler dared speak[3] and addressed the more salacious details with delight, in contrast to the hushed and condemnatory tone of Eustace. Though Mushroom often disagrees with not just Eustace but the court records and the writings of Runciter and the Grand Maesters who succeeded him, Gyldayn believes both Mushroom's and Eustace's accounts offer many answers to questions that might otherwise seem puzzling. Later accounts confirm enough of their stories to suggest they contain at least some truth, although Gyldayn asserts the matter of what to believe falls to each student to decide.[2]
Quotes
[edit]—the response of Eustace to one of Mushroom's claims, presumably about the death of Viserys I Targaryen
References
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Viserys I.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon - A Question of Succession.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Fire & Blood, The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency.
- ↑ So Spake Martin: Chicon 7 Reading (September 2, 2012)