Samwell Tarly: The Citadel of Oldtown is the
greatest center of learning in the world,
not that it has much competition, really.
Most lords think of books the way they think
of younger sons; useful to have around as
long as they keep to the corners.
Back when House Hightower still ruled Oldtown
as kings, a crippled younger son sought solace
in books and those who wrote them and became
the greatest patron of learning in his day.
Scholars of all sorts flocked to Oldtown to
debate and write and...debate.
After this Prince Peremore's death, his brother
granted land to "Peremore's Pets", as the
wise men were called, though now they're known
as Maesters.
Like the Night's Watch, the Citadel accepts
any boy into its halls, be he a lordling,
peasant, or bastard.
Merit, not birth, determines advancement.
Once a novice proves adept in a field, he
forges a chain link that signifies his skill.
Black iron is for ravenry, gold for sums and
accounts, silver for healing, iron for warfare,
Valyrian steel for the higher mysteries.
Magic, though nobody likes to say the word
in the Citadel or explain how dragons fly
or dead men walk.
Once an acolyte has forged enough links to
make a chain, he becomes a Maester.
Should he continue his studies, he might rise
to Archmaester and be given a ring, rod, and
mask forged from the appropriate metal for
his chosen field.
The wisest or most ambitious of the Archmaesters
might even be called to serve as a Grand Maester
on the small council, responsible for steering
the king and the realm, as well as keeping
the Citadel informed of everything.
The heart of the Citadel is the library, which
contains tomes from all over the world on
every subject imaginable, from the trivial
to the essential to the...restricted.
If the world ended tomorrow, we could rebuild
it with the knowledge contain in these books,
theoretically.
Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
But as every novice learns, the Citadel is
more than a building, more than a library,
more than the Order of Maesters.
It is an idea that we may know the world,
not completely, not in any one man's lifetime,
but piece by piece.
With each generation building upon the knowledge
of their predecessors where they can and preserving
it where they can't.
And unfortunately for us all, forgetting it
when they shouldn't.
