Walgrave

Archmaester Walgrave
Walgrave and Pate by Amuelia
Title	Archmaester of ravencraft
Allegiance	The Citadel
Culture	Reach
Born	After 198 AC
Books	The World of Ice & Fire (mentioned) A Feast for Crows (mentioned)

Walgrave is an elderly archmaester of the Citadel who has lost his wits.

Appearance

Walgrave's ring, rod, and mask are made of black iron, showing his expertise in ravencraft.

History

Walgrave is considered by many to have the foremost knowledge in ravencraft, and he wrote a book about the subject called Black Wings, Swift Words. His chambers are located in the west tower of the Ravenry, below the rookery of the white ravens. The birds are Walgrave's pride, and he wants them to eat him when he dies.

Walgrave once taught Maester Yandel how to read. However, he is now an old man and keeps the title archmaester only by courtesy, his wits having left him a long time ago. He often soils his smallclothes, and has been found weeping in the Citadel's Library, unable to remember the way back to his chambers. The novice Pate has been assigned to help him, tending the ravens, fetching Walgrave's meals, cleaning his chambers, and dressing him every morning. Walgrave cannot recall names very well (though he can easily tell one raven from another), and often calls Pate by the name of Cressen. Maester Gormon now judges those seeking a black iron link in Walgrave's place.

There is a strongbox underneath Walgrave's bed, containing a bag of silver stags, a lock of yellow hair tied up in a ribbon, a painted miniature of a woman who resembles Walgrave (even to her mustache), and a lobstered steel knight's gauntlet that supposedly once belonged to a prince. The box also contains Walgrave's archmaester's key, which can open any door in the Citadel. The strongbox's lock was broken by Walgrave after he lost the key that opened it.

Recent Events

A Feast for Crows

A man calling himself an alchemist offers Walgrave's assistant Pate a golden coin in exchange for Walgrave's archmaester's key. Pate considers the offer for two days, as he does not want to be seen as a thief, but on the third day he steals the key and the bag of silver stags. He gives the key to the Alchemist and receives the coin, but after he bites the coin it turns out to be poisoned, and he dies.

Walgrave's name is chosen for the position of Seneschal of the Citadel, but due to his infirmity, Archmaester Theobald offers to perform the duties for him.

When Samwell Tarly arrives at the Citadel, he wishes to see the Seneschal, but Alleras intercepts him in the Seneschal's Court and brings him to the chambers of Archmaester Marwyn, who also lives in the Ravenry. After Marwyn hears Sam's story, he decides to leave for Meereen, but before he goes, he commands "Pate" to find a sleeping cell for Sam in the Ravenry, where he will assist Pate with the ravens. Pate tells Sam there is a room beneath his, with steps that lead right up to Walgrave's chambers.

Theories

• Because Walgrave often calls Pate by the name Cressen, it is probable that he worked with Cressen, now maester at Dragonstone, in the past.

• Maester Walys was the bastard son of a Hightower girl and an archmaester of the Citadel. Because of the personal items in Walgrave's strongbox (i.e., the lock of yellow hair), and the similarity of Walgrave's and Walys's names, some suspect he was the archmaester who fathered Walys.

• The original owner of the prince's gauntlet may be Prince Oberyn Martell, who was a knight when he studied at the Citadel. It may also have belonged to Prince Aegon Targaryen, left behind when visiting his brother Aemon at the Citadel, or perhaps it belonged to Aemon himself. Possibly it could be a very old gauntlet that belonged to Prince Vaegon Targaryen when he came to the Citadel. Or it may have belonged to some other prince, acquired by Walgrave before he came to the Citadel.