Valyria: A True Conundrum
By: Acolyte Jon Cerwyn
The tale of Valyria is one mixed with awe, fear, and not an insignificant amount of disbelief in Westeros. Aegon's Conquest taught us that the might of dragons was to be feared, and that even the largest of castles were of no defense.
For a long time, Westeros stood isolated – fractured into many different kingdoms that either had nothing to do with one another or fought against each other. During this period, in the years which Valyria ascended, Westerosi, both First Men and Andals, had their own worries and wanted little to do with slavers and the Andals wanted little to do with those who had driven them from their original homeland. However, as Valyria expanded and became more and more formidable – rapidly claiming Essos – and over the next two millennia conquered most of their enemies.
However, this is where the conundrum starts. In 326BC, the Valyrian Freehold annexes a small island in Westeros – Dragonstone. Many of the Houses on the eastern coast of Westeros feared this might herald the beginning of war against the Freehold, and this event sparked a small period of warfare in Westeros as small succession crises inflamed into large messes as claimants fought over who could best protect the land against the slavers from the east.
This period, commonly referred to as The Time of Heirs, took place over a twenty-year period and as the fighting died down, the Houses and Kingdoms began to grow their strength for the coming battle. Many kingdoms in this period mandated that all blacksmiths have at least two apprentices – a curious law that remained in place for 150 years in many places. And so, the men of Westeros stood armed and waiting for the coming slavers – ready to bleed for their land and families.
But the attack never came. For the next 212 years, until the Doom, the Freehold never again turned its eyes to the west. As the years marched on, the vigilance of our forefathers waned, and their focus turned inward. What trade there was with the Freehold before this had dried up during the Time of Heirs and was to never truly restart on any significant scale. And as the Lords and Kings of Westeros looked to their neighbors, thoughts of the Valyrians faded into memory.
The edges on the memories of the fear of the might of Valyria softened over time but was never forgotten. Dragonstone was never reclaimed by the Westerosi and remained an island in control of the Freehold. It wasn't until shortly before the Doom that the Targaryens returned their and conquered some nearby land for their vassals whom they convinced to flee from Valyria alongside them.
This leads to the conundrum: if Valyria was so powerful, then why did they not conquer Westeros? If the mighty House Targaryen managed to do so with three dragons, then how could the Freehold, with thousands of dragons, not do the same?
Unfortunately, most Valyrian records were kept in Valyria itself with shockingly little kept elsewhere. Mundane records, like tax collection, was kept in their respective cities which does offer some insight into the workings of the Freehold, but most works on history or philosophy or medicine was kept strictly in Valyria itself.
Curiously, this also seems to apply to the dragons and their riders as well. Certainly, they would leave the city to conquer their next objective, but they would always return in short order. The Valyrians preferred to station their armies in conquered locations or in their colonies, rather than dragons.
Instead of a system similar to Westeros, where they may have granted a dragonrider land in return to holding and protecting that land, they preferred to use troops instead. Their colonies eventually turned into self-ruling cities, and conquered territory turned over to Archons. These Archons tended to be provisionally elected by the lords freeholders (all families whom had multiple dragonriders), and never dragonriders themselves. The Archons tended to be, as far as some records indicate, closely related to some of the ruling families and would call at least one House a patron family.
This leads me to my first piece in solving this conundrum: the Valyrians held their city to be above all else. Anything else was a step down and an insult to the family to have any member live elsewhere. Whether this be motivated by religion, culture, or some other societal influence is unknown, but something made the Valyrians keep themselves tucked away in their city. Indeed, Valyrians were a very insular society that adopted little from other cultures.
Indeed, one of the few instances of cultural adoption, is the most famous, for Valyrians were not originally slavers. Records indicate that after meeting the Old Empire of Ghis and defeating them, the Valyrians adopted the practice of slavery. Curiously, the Valyrians ignored one of the strongest aspects of Ghis – and one that gave the Valyrians so much trouble – which was their military strength, formation, and tactics. The Valyrians ignored these, which further indicates that their society was an extremely insular one.
Now, we know that the Valyrian Freehold was a republic of sorts, but one that only accepted the voice of native Valyrians. From this, we can gather that politics was an extremely important aspect of their life, which also would contribute to the desire to not stray far from their city. If leaving the city meant leaving the halls of power, and the opportunities for the gaining of wealth and opportunity outside the city was limited, why would anyone bother to leave?
There are also stories and rumors that the Valyrians greatly enjoyed bloodsports – especially with dragons involved. I posit the idea that participating in these events was a way to rise in the social ladder and that missing these matches would have negative effects on those that were away from the city.
We also know that in the later period of the Valyrian Freehold that the way they waged war changed. Instead of large battles with numerous dragons, such as the Rhoynish Wars, certain families were instead given charge of the war and were solely responsible for its conduct and supplying the dragons. What is not known, is why any family would take up such a burden. If the family gained neither land nor wealth (at least in the scale relevant to a lord freeholder of Valyria), then why would any family go to war?
From stories, I believe we can find the answers. I believe that the successful conduct of a war gave much honor and acclaim to the victors and endeared them to the peasant population of Valyria. Indeed, one of the famous stories in Essos still told of Valyria is of House Dalyon and their most famous war. Additionally, it is also possible that while the dragonriders would not gain the land, they may have been able to install Archons for a period of time, which may have created wealth for them indirectly and secured their base of power among the lower classes.
This evolution is ultimately why I believe the Valyrian Freehold never conquered Westeros. Septon Barth claims that Valyrian priests may have prophesied the Doom of Man should they ever go beyond the Narrow Sea, but I find this claim is without merit.
What we do know, is that this evolution of military doctrine continued to see new lands brought under control – if slower than before. However, and it is unclear when, this tactic's effectiveness began to wane. Wars were slower, less victorious, and the losses more horrendous.
I believe, that as more and more of Essos came under their control, families began to fight for control over the armies. We have no indication that any civil wars took place in Valyria, so I posit a more subtle, a more insidious practice began instead.
As families saw less and less land that they could use to bolster their position, they instead sought to make war more costly to those in control of the campaigns. Likely as not, it started simply with giving less manpower to the conquering armies or perhaps less supplies. Weakening the efforts of the commanders, but ultimately not influencing the outcome.
As time continued, and there was less land to conquer, the families became more desperate. More direct actions were taken to weaken and harm the families who commanded the armies. Tales of the stupidity of certain non-dragonrider sub-commanders indicates that these decisions may have been made on purpose.
Bloodsports may have increased in frequency, allowing less dragons to go forth with the armies as more dragons were killed and more dragons needed to remain behind to fight in the arena to maintain a family's position.
We know from the Targaryens that dragons were not harmed from venturing away from Valyria for extended periods of time, so little else explains why the Valyrians did not conquer Westeros.
Valyrians were an insular people who eschewed trade with outside power, and looked down on the cultures of their neighbors, and their doom may have ultimately been from the Doom, but their fall was all of their own making.
Reviewer's Notes: Acolyte, this is an interesting tale you weave but your leaps in logic are too great and untethered from facts. When you first brought the idea of this to project to me, I thought you would head in a different, though no less ambitious direction, and I am disappointed to see this work be your final submission. As it stands, your application to become a Maester is denied. Your intelligence, that I know you have, does not shine in this work. I suggest you try again.