Is it me or is the High Tower and the Citadel giving off Orthnac vibes?
There stood a tower of marvelous shape. It was fashioned by the builders of old, who smoothed the Ring of Isengard, and yet it seemed a thing not made by the craft of Men, but riven from the bones of the earth in the ancient torment of the hills. A peak and isle of rock it was, black and gleaming hard: four mighty piers of many-sided stone were welded into one, but near the summit they opened into gaping horns, their pinnacles sharp as the points of spears, keen-edged as knives. Between them was a narrow space, and there upon a floor of polished stone, written with strange signs, a man might stand five hundred feet above the plain. This was Orthanc, the citadel of Saruman, the name of which had (by design or chance) a twofold meaning; for in the Elvish speech orthanc signifies Mount Fang, but in the language of the Mark of old the Cunning Mind.
-The Fellowship of the Ring, The Road to Isengard
Impossibly high tower made from nigh-indestructible black stone? Doesn't seem it was built by humans?
Even more enigmatic to scholars and historians is the great square fortress of black stone that dominates that isle . . . for its massive walls and labyrinthine , interiors are all of solid rock, with not hint of joints or mortar, no chisel marks of any kind, a type of construction that is seen elsewhere . . . The dragonlords of Valyria, as is well-known, possessed the art of turning stone to liquid with dragonflame, shaping it as they would, then fusing it harder than iron, steel or granite.
-WOIAF, The Reach, Oldtown
The original keep of the High Tower stands on "an isle of rock" with four sides of fused black stone with a tower hundreds of feet high. Not to even mention that the maesters' HQ is literally named "the Citadel." Note, it's not something like "Library of Oldtown" or some other name the emphasizes that it is a place of learning, but a military installation within a city akin to Isengard's name itself meaning "enclosure of iron."
"Who do you think killed all the dragons the last time around? Gallant dragonslayers armed with swords?" He spat. "The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles, much less for dragons. Ask yourself why Aemon Targaryen was allowed to waste his life upon the Wall, when by rights he should have been raised to archmaester. His blood was why. He could not be trusted. No more than I can."
-AFFC, Samwell V
That was in the dawn of days, when our sun was rising. Now it sinks, and this is our long dwindling. The giants are almost gone as well, they who were our bane and our brothers. The great lions of the western hills have been slain, the unicorns are all but gone, the mammoths down to a few hundred. The direwolves will outlast us all, but their time will come as well. In the world that men have made, there is no room for them, or us."
-ADWD, Bran III
“A new Power is rising…We may join with that Power. It would be wise, Gandalf. There is hope that way…As the Power grows, its proved friends will also grow; and the Wise, such as you and I, may with patience come at last to direct its courses, to control it. We can bide our time…deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order. All the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish…There need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only in our means.”
-The Fellowship of the Rings, The Council of Elrond
Once allied with Sauron, Saruman turned the resources of Isengard towards waging war against the free peoples of Middle Earth and even the trees themselves. He industrialized Isengard, and turned to breeding Uruk-hai and waged war on Rohan. The Citadel's mission implied by Marwyn is to eliminate magic. The maesters are very much the prime proponents of science in Westeros, and are actively working to eliminate magic. Could it have had something to do with the Hightowers (starting with Dorian) quickly allying with the Andal invaders and accepting the Faith represented by making Oldtown the center of the Faith? That war on magic includes not just the dragons, but by extension, the Children of the Forest, greenseers and possibly giants, whom the Andals following the Seven fought against. In other words, is the Citadel is continuing a mission that started long ago? Especially since "wizards, alchemists and sorcerers" were among the original learned men of the Citadel.
"If I were queen, the first thing I would do would be to kill all those grey rats. They scurry everywhere, living on the leavings of the lords, chittering to one another, whispering in the ears of their masters. But who are the masters and who are the servants, truly? Every great lord has his maester, every lesser lord aspires to one. If you do not have a maester, it is taken to mean that you are of little consequence. The grey rats read and write our letters, even for such lords as cannot read themselves, and who can say for a certainty that they are not twisting the words for their own ends? What good are they, I ask you?"
"They heal," said Theon. It seemed to be expected of him.
"They heal, yes. I never said they were not subtle. They tend to us when we are sick and injured, or distraught over the illness of a parent or a child. Whenever we are weakest and most vulnerable, there they are. Sometimes they heal us, and we are duly grateful. When they fail, they console us in our grief, and we are grateful for that as well. Out of gratitude we give them a place beneath our roof and make them privy to all our shames and secrets, a part of every council. And before too long, the ruler has become the ruled.
"That was how it was with Lord Rickard Stark. Maester Walys was his grey rat's name. And isn't it clever how the maesters go by only one name, even those who had two when they first arrived at the Citadel? That way we cannot know who they truly are or where they come from … but if you are dogged enough, you can still find out. Before he forged his chain, Maester Walys had been known as Walys Flowers. Flowers, Hill, Rivers, Snow … we give such names to baseborn children to mark them for what they are, but they are always quick to shed them. Walys Flowers had a Hightower girl for a mother … and an archmaester of the Citadel for a father, it was rumored. The grey rats are not as chaste as they would have us believe. Oldtown maesters are the worst of all. Once he forged his chain, his secret father and his friends wasted no time dispatching him to Winterfell to fill Lord Rickard's ears with poisoned words as sweet as honey. The Tully marriage was his notion, never doubt it, he—"
-ADWD, The Prince of Winterfell
Lady Dustin's description of maesters with Maester Walys "pouring poison" in Lord Rickard's ears and working towards their own agenda brings to mind Gandalf's description of his royal advisor Grima Wormtongue.
"And ever Wormtongue’s whispering was in your ears, poisoning your thought, chilling your heart, weakening your limbs, while others watched and could do nothing, for your will was in his keeping."
-Two Towers, The King of the Golden Hall
The villainous advisor to Theoden intentionally gave him bad counsel on behalf of Orthanc's agenda as well as subtle poisons given as apparent remedies for old age. Her words effectively describe maesters as an army of sleeper Grima Wormtongues. They are often top advisors to their lords and constantly in communication with one another and the Citadel, and she suggests that the Citadel has its own agenda.
The sorcerers of the Freehold could see across mountains, seas, and deserts with one of these glass candles. They could enter a man's dreams and give him visions, and speak to one another half a world apart, seated before their candles. Do you think that might be useful, Slayer?"
-AFFC, Samwell V
Magic dark stone used to see far off places and communicate in far off distances brought from a long-dead advanced magical empire that fell to a cataclysm?
Now it appears that, as the rock of Orthanc has withstood the storms of time, so there the palantír of that tower has remained. But alone it could do nothing but see small images of things far off and days remote. Very useful, no doubt, that was to Saruman; yet it seems that he was not content. Further and further abroad he gazed, until he cast his gaze upon Barad-dûr. Then he was caught!
-The Two Towers, The Palantir
It's clear Martin is pulling out of his little hat of Tolkien references for this one. And of course, no Orthnac would be complete without a Saruman.
"You're wrong," said Leo. "There is a glass candle burning in the Mage's chambers."
-AFFC, Prologue
"He could not be trusted. No more than I can."
"What will you do?" asked Alleras, the Sphinx.
"Get myself to Slaver's Bay, in Aemon's place. The swan ship that delivered Slayer should serve my needs well enough. The grey sheep will send their man on a galley, I don't doubt. With fair winds I should reach her first."
-AFFC, Samwell V
Saruman studied the One Ring, expermineted with the palantir and he became enamored with the One Ring as a result and got the attention of Sauron. He went rogue and betrayed the White Council and his fellow wizards, openly declaring for their enemy of Mordor. At the Citadel we have Marwyn the Mage, whose field is the study of the higher mysteries, and he has been using the glass candle lately. Perhaps, he managed to communicate with a certain magical figure with one red eye?
Saruman hoped to supplant Sauron, and even forged his own ring in emulation and wanted to take the One Ring for himself. Marwyn is going to Daenerys, the Citadel's secret enemy and she will undoubtedly need a Grand Maester for her small council. His fellow Archmaesters will undoubtedly hurls cries of treachery at him, and accuse him of wanting to usurp the Grand Maester chosen by them and by extension, their traditions.
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