Feast for crows who is the alchemist

Pate takes his payment and flees, but shortly afterward collapses. With Tywin gone, Queen Cersei is the undisputed power behind the throne. Cersei names Harys Swift as Hand and creates a Small Council filled with sycophants and those loyal to her. Related summaries: books by George R.

Martin A Clash of Kings. Perhaps George R. Martin has also given us some clues about who else might be involved. Apart from insulting everyone, Leo also gives us his opinion about dragons, which is surprisingly accurate. He makes no secret of where he has been getting his opinions from. The Mage is inclined to believe them.

Old powers waken. Shadows stir. An age of wonder and terror will soon be upon us, an age for gods and heroes. Archmaester Marwyn is very interested in dragons, to say it mildly. He has managed to light a glass candle, and used it to confirm that Daenerys Targaryen has hatched three dragon eggs. In his view, there is a new age coming where dragons have an important part to play, and the Citadel is closing their eyes to it.

Marwyn is the Archmaester of the Higher Mysteries, which gives him a mask, ring and rod made of Valyrian steel. Similar to how Valyrian steel is special among the metals, Marwyn is special too. Men spoke of seeing him down in the undercity, in rat pits and black brothels, consorting with mummers, singers, sellswords, even beggars.

Some even whispered that once he had killed a man with his fists. He practices sorcery and generally hangs around with queer people. This signifies that I have studied what the Citadel calls the higher mysteries—magic, for want of a better word.

A fascinating pursuit, but of small use, which is why so few maesters trouble themselves with it. Only one of the archmaesters was on his side.

Qyburn spread his hands. Well, Marwyn did, but he was the only one. The grey sheep, Marwyn calls them. Leo yawned. But is there anything more concrete to connect him with whatever Jaqen is doing in Oldtown? Artwork by Nicole Cardiff.

What we can say right now is that Jaqen and Marwyn are probably both after this book. Artwork by Caffeine. If Marwyn and Jaqen are working together to acquire the iron key, then the Prologue might contain more subtle clues about this. Martin is good at hiding clues in plain sight. Some passages suddenly start making sense on a re-read, because we have a few more specific ideas in mind. It would have been easier if Arya had been a bastard, like their half brother Jon.

She even looked like Jon, with the long face and brown hair of the Starks, and nothing of their lady mother in her face or her coloring. You remind me of her sometimes. You even look like her. But the second time around, passages like this start to jump out and start making more sense. So if we assume that Marwyn and Jaqen are working together to acquire the iron key, then we can safely conclude that he would want the meeting between Jaqen and Pate to go down without complications.

Remember, Pate was supposed to meet with the Jaqen at the Quill and Tankard , but he came across a bunch of his friends instead and joined them. On the morrow, at the turn of the moon, a year from this day, it will come. A man does not fly like a bird, but one foot moves and then another and one day a man is there, and a king dies. The Mage is not a man who believes in wasting time.

But the passage continues to reveal much more about his modus operandi:. Alleras smiled. Ours was no chance encounter, Sam. The Mage sent me to snatch you up before you spoke to Theobald. He knew that you were coming. Alleras reveals that Marwyn spies on Oldtown through his glass candle, which we know he had already lit at the time of the Prologue, and that he has at least once interfered in the events by sending out one of his pawns.

Armen frowned. My lord. Mollos says five hundred thousand. What are three days, I ask you? Leo is diverting attention from the question. Leo has red wine spots on his clothes, but he later describes himself as an Arbor Gold man not once, but twice. This honestly might mean nothing, but in the last chapter of A Feast for Crows , a pretty funny possibility reveals itself. I know the prophecy. Marywn smiled a ghastly smile, the juice of the sourleaf running red between his teeth.

Gallant dragonslayers armed with swords? If Leo himself prefers white wine, then perhaps the red spots on his clothes might indicate that he had very recently been hanging around with someone who chews sourleaf. And has a habit of spitting indoors. Whether the red spots are the collateral damage from standing too close to Marwyn is not necessary for the theory itself to work. To make it short, Leo acts like he wants to win the asshole of the day award.

A soft, sly voice called out from behind him. Leo patted his hand. I would not try for my golden link just yet if I were you. The Dornish will fuck anything with a hole between its legs. Meaning no offense. You may be brown as a nut, but at least you bathe. Unlike our spotted pig boy. Yes, Leo is begging the others to buy him a cup of Arbor Gold.

The tiles turned against me at the Checkered Hazard, and I wasted my last stag on supper. Suckling pig in plum sauce, stuffed with chestnuts and white truffles. A man must eat.

What did you lads have? He sounded none too pleased about it. Those who mean to forge a silver link would do well not to miss his talk. The Sphinx reached for his bowcase. But hold on! The alchemist might still be coming, and Pate meant to be here if he did. Either way, Pate stays, and we get to see what Leo does after being alone with him. One day I suppose I must find out. Leo needed no reply. You ought to thank me. Let it go, Pate told himself.

He says these things just to wound me. He just tells him to go away. Go away. Pate leaves the Quill and Tankard , alone, and is soon approached by the Alchemist. We already know how that went. All of that led to Jaqen catching Pate on the way home to take the key. There are more things to be considered, since Jaqen shows up again in the story after his meeting with Pate. Artwork by Juan Carlos Barquet. In this essay we explored the role of the Alchemist by taking a closer look at the Prologue of A Feast for Crows.

There are plain hints that connect the iron key he took with Blood and Fire , a legendary book about dragons, which is supposedly hidden in the locked vaults beneath the Citadel. This supported the idea that Marwyn and Jaqen are working towards a common goal in the Prologue, getting the iron key. We stayed close to the text, double checked our evidence, and stuck to the simplest assumptions when drawing our conclusions. Are Jaqen and Marwyn on the same side, or do they merely have a temporary alliance?

Who contacted whom, and for what reason? What we came up with is a simple, but incomplete explanation for a mystery. The idea fits the themes of the story and has some textual evidence to back it up.

But people can disagree with the conclusions, and someone might have already come up with a better interpretation. This might not sound as exciting as unraveling a crazy conspiracy involving several factions who are secretly working together to pull the strings behind every major historic event….

Sam gets a room in close proximity to the white ravens, and bunks up with a creepy boy. How are those two going to get along? Are the talking ravens going to bother Sam as much as they bothered Pate? How does all of this tie in with the nature of prophecy, and a mysterious riddle about a Sphinx? Special thanks to JoeMagician for his feedback, and to BryndenBFish for providing help at every step of the way, especially editing, but also for not being annoyed by flood of progress updates during the past three weeks!

Very well done! But your evidence makes perfect sense in that regard. I look forward to your next installment. Thanks for sharing! But if you established a firm Alchemist — Marwyn connection, I missed it. Better methodology is to let the evidence drive the conclusion, not go on a quest that could just provide confirmation bias.

The theory is supposed to be simple and consistent with the evidence, not proven to be true. I agree! He clashes with Leo Tyrell over her, and even contemplates killing him, but decides against it, as his father is the Commander of the City Watch of Oldtown, and his cousin is Mace Tyrell. He is lured away shortly afterwards by the Alchemist, who gives him the gold dragon he desires. Pate bites the gold coin then collapses and dies. He is told that he will never understand what is happening.

His last thought is of Rosey. Recent blog posts Forum. Explore Wikis Community Central.