Valyrian Sacrifice

A handful of maesters, influenced by fragments of the work of Septon Barth, hold that Valyria had used spells to tame the Fourteen Flames for thousands of years, that their ceaseless hunger for slaves and wealth was as much to sustain these spells as to expand their power, and that when at last those spells faltered, the cataclysm became inevitable.

Of these, some argue that it was the curse of Garin the Great at last coming to fruition. Others speak of the priests of R’hllor calling down the fire of their god in queer rituals. Some, wedding the fanciful notion of Valyrian magic to the reality of the ambitious great houses of Valyria, have argued that it was the constant whirl of conflict and deception amongst the great houses that might have led to the assassinations of too many of the reputed mages who renewed and maintained the rituals that banked the fires of the Fourteen Flames.

Do you think that like the Night’s King made sacrifices to the Others, the Valyrians made sacrifices to beings (maybe fire versions of the Others) in Fourteen Flames in exchange for learning sorcery?

If the FM whacked the mages, then the shortage of sacrifices could have pissed those beings off enough to cause the Doom.

I don’t think that’s quite how it worked. The Valyrians were not the kind of people to sacrifice to a metaphysical entity; as the WOIAF puts it:

“Some scholars have suggested that the dragonlords regarded all faiths as equally false, believing themselves to be more powerful than any god or goddess. They looked upon priests and temples as relics of a more primitive time, though useful for placating “slaves, savages, and the poor” with promises of a better life to come.

The Valyrian practice of human sacrifice was squarely focused on blood magic (as Marwyn puts it “All Valyrian sorcery was rooted in blood or fire.”) rather than religious ritual.

Any idea where the Valyrian Dragonlords odd powers come from, as well as their unique physical ethnic features? I’ve read some thing implying or speculating that they might actually be partially Dragons in a physical literal sense either through what I imagine would be challenging inter-species copulations or some bizarre black magic? Thoughts on this?

I’ve talked about this here, but I might as well lay out the evidence:

Sheltered there, amidst the great volcanic mountains known as the Fourteen Flames, were the Valyrians, who learned to tame dragons and make them the most fearsome weapon of war that the world ever saw. The tales the Valyrians told of themselves claimed they were descended from dragons and were kin to the ones they now controlled…

The great beauty of the Valyrians—with their hair of palest silver or gold and eyes in shades of purple not found amongst any other peoples of the world—is well-known, and often held up as proof that the Valyrians are not entirely of the same blood as other men. Yet there are maesters who point out that, by careful breeding of animals, one can achieve a desirable result, and that populations in isolation can often show quite remarkable variations from what might be regarded as common. This may be a likelier answer to the mystery of the Valyrian origins although it does not explain the affinity with dragons that those with the blood of Valyria clearly had. (WOIAF)

“T///in the deep mines beneath the Fourteen Flames that lit the Freehold’s nights of old. Most mines are dank and chilly places, cut from cold dead stone, but the Fourteen Flames were living mountains with veins of molten rock and hearts of fire. So the mines of old Valyria were always hot, and they grew hotter as the shafts were driven deeper, ever deeper. The slaves toiled in an oven. The rocks around them were too hot to touch. The air stank of brimstone and would sear their lungs as they breathed it. The soles of their feet would burn and blister, even through the thickest sandals. Sometimes, when they broke through a wall in search of gold, they would find steam instead, or boiling water, or molten rock. Certain shafts were cut so low that the slaves could not stand upright, but had to crawl or bend. And there were wyrms in that red darkness too…Firewyrms. Some say they are akin to dragons, for wyrms breathe fire too. Instead of soaring through the sky, they bore through stone and soil. If the old tales can be believed, there were wyrms amongst the Fourteen Flames even before the dragons came. The young ones are no larger than that skinny arm of yours, but they can grow to monstrous size and have no love for men.” (AFFC)

“In Septon Barth’s Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns , he speculated that the bloodmages of Valyria used wyvern stock to create dragons. Though the bloodmages were alleged to have experimented mightily with their unnatural arts, this claim is considered far-fetched by most maesters, among them Maester Vanyon’s Against the Unnatural contains certain proofs of dragons having existed in Westeros even in the earliest of days, before Valyria rose to be a power.” (WOIAF)

So the theory is that Valyrian sorcerors knew fire magic and blood magic, and created dragons by unnaturally crossbreeding firewyrms and wyverns together, and then learned to form bonds with dragons by unnaturally crossbreeding dragons and Valyrians together.

Could you help me understand why so many people think Drogo was Dany’s Nissa Nissa? She smothers him with a pillow in Dany IX, and in Dany X there is not a single mention of signs of “life” in his body – she’s preparing his truly-dead corpse. When she’s talking with MMD about blood magic, Dany says it’s HER life she wants as payment, and she hates MMD. The eggs then hatch as MMD is dying. Drogo’s body was… there. So where’s Nissa Nissa? Could it be that part of the legend is wrong?

I would not draw a direct line between what happens between Dany VIII and Dany X and the Nissa Nissa story, necessarily. GRRM describes it as a miracle, a sui generis event.

Because there’s a lot going on:

Dany agrees to a blood magic ritual to heal Drogo, and Mirri Maz Duur tells her that “only a death can pay for life.”
Dany is taken into the tent where the “shadows whirled,” which Mirri Maz Duur warns her about, saying that “once I begin to sing, no one must enter this tent. My song will wake powers old and dark. The dead will dance here this night. No living man must look on them.“
Dany’s child is slain by magic. While this could be due to the accidential exposure of Dany to whatever the hell was in that tent, Mirri Maz Duur takes credit and claims that Rhaego’s life was the cost for Drogo’s resurrection: “no, that was a lie you told yourself. You knew the price.” Then again, Mirri Maz Duur has been lying to Dany all along specifically to prevent the prophecy of the Stallion Who Mounts the World from coming to pass and to take revenge against Khal Drogo for enslaving her people.
Dany conducts a blood magic ritual based on whatever clues she’s gotten from MMD and from some unconscious urging. (Notably, when Dany awakes from her birthing bed, she’s already crawling towards her dragon eggs, with the words of “waking the dragon” ringing in her ears)
This ritual should not have worked on its own. As MMD says, although possibly trying to save her own life, “by itself, the blood is nothing. You do not have the words to make a spell, nor the wisdom to find them…loose me from these bonds and I will help you.”
This ritual definiitely involves the sacrifice of Mirri Maz Duur: ““it is not your screams I want, only your life. I remember what you told me. Only death can pay for life.”
This ritual also involves the ritual burning of Khal Drogo’s body and the three dragon eggs with him: “She climbed the pyre herself to place the eggs around her sun-and-stars. The black beside his heart, under his arm. The green beside his head, his braid coiled around it. The cream-and-gold down between his legs.” Note that Drogon’s egg came from Drogo’s heart.
This ritual also definitely involves a great heat as well: “she was the blood of the dragon, and the fire was in her. She had sensed the truth of it long ago…but the brazier and not been hot enough.” Remember, the sorceries of Old Valyia were “which were woven of blood and fire” (perhaps the words of House Targaryen are a secret riddle as to the source of their power?).
Finally, Dany also walks into the fire, bringing with her the blood of the dragon, the blood of Old Valyria.

Which elements of the ritual were necessary? Which were not? It’s hard to say when you’re talking about something that’s deliberately non-standard, and when the author is deliberately not systematizing magic in order to keep it magical.

What we can say is that this bears little resemblance to Nissa Nissa. Dany didn’t give a damn about Mirri Maz Duur, Drogo was already dead, whether the eggs were alive is difficult to say since they come from Asshai and that place’s relationship with life and death is borked. But certainly MMD didn’t sacrifice herself voluntarily, and it’s hard to say whether Drogo and the eggs count.

However…Dany might be considered a willing sacrifice.