The True Nature of the Citadel is Darker than You Think. Let's talk about the Order of Maesters.

Maesters of the First Men were SLAVES. A deep dive into the history of the Ancient Order of Maesters.

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What was the true nature of the order of Maesters at the time it was established?
In A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones, The order of Maesters is incredibly ancient, and was an establishment of the First Men thousands of years before the arrival of the Andals. In fact, the order is so ancient that its origins are described as mysterious by the history books. But Most credit its founding to the second son of the first Hightower King known as Uthor of the High Tower. The son in question was Prince Peremore the Twisted. Who is described as “A sickly boy, born with a withered arm and twisted back”. It is said that he yearned for knowledge and to quench his thirst he surrounded himself with wise men, priests, healers, wizards, alchemists, and sorcerers known as "Peremore's pets". And When Peremore died, it is said his brother King Urrigon established the Citadel so that they might continue teaching and learning.
In present day Westeros the contemporary maesters are educated men trained at the Citadel of Oldtown who serve as advisors, healers and tutors and have a role within the courts of all of the great lords. Young men from every walk of life come to the Citadel to learn and forge their chain, which is a mark of their order with each link forged in a different metal representing their mastery in a different subject, gold for sums, lead for poisons, black Iron for Ravenry and so on. Once their chain is forged and the Maesters vows are spoken, their chain is donned and is never to be removed.
Cressen's fingers went to the chain about his neck, each link forged from a different metal, each symbolizing his mastery of another branch of learning; the maester's collar, mark of his order.
As you may already be aware, the customs and traditions and symbols of ancient institutions can derive rather arcane origins. And the tradition of Maesters wearing a chain has always been a curious one. Of course we are given an explanation for why they wear chains... In Jon five of A Game of Thrones Jon tells us that "𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞"
Interestingly another term used for the maester’s chain is a "collar" and a collar is the same term used in ASOIAF to describe the neck device worn by slaves as a symbol of their slave status. (3/)
"You do not tell soldiers what to do," Scar said."Soldiers?" Tyrion affected puzzlement. "Slaves, is what I see. You wear a collar round your neck the same as me."The savage backhand blow Scar dealt him knocked him to the ground and broke his lip. "Yezzan's collar. Not yours."A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion XI
The old man was not convinced. "Ah, they found corpses by the hundred. They dragged them inside the pit and burned them, though half was crisp already. Might be they didn't know her, burned and bloody and crushed. Might be they did but decided to say elsewise, to keep you slaves quiet.""Us slaves?" said the brown woman. "You wear a collar too.""Ghazdor's collar," the old man boasted."A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion XI
In a Feast for Crows Aeron Greyjoy makes a similar observation calling Gorold Goodbrother’s maester a chain necked thrall, and thinking to himself that No proper man would choose a life of thralldom, nor forge a chain of servitude to wear about his throat. A Feast for Crows - The Prophet.
So knowing that the Order of Maesters is incredibly ancient, its quite possible this custom could be live as hints or remnants of its mysterious earliest beginnings. lets continue this train of thought and take a closer look at what we already know

Keywords: asoiaf, asoiaf theories, dance with dragons, winds of winter, song of ice and fire, GRRM, TWoW, game of thrones, house of the dragon theories, Maesters, Citadel, Oldtown, House Hightower, history and lore

#ASOIAF #asongoficeandfire #HOTD