Citadel

The Citadel is the great center of learning in the Seven Kingdoms, a sprawling complex of towers, vaults, and libraries in the city of Oldtown. It is the institution that trains and ordains the maesters who serve as healers, tutors, and counselors to lords and ladies across the realm. The Citadel's authority derives from its accumulated knowledge, its mastery of ravenry, and the symbolic chains its graduates wear, each link forged from a different metal to signify mastery of a particular discipline—from medicine and astronomy to history and law. Its archmaesters, each wearing a mask and ring of a specific metal, preside over the order and are the final arbiters of scholarly truth in Westeros.

Training and the Maester's Chain

The path to becoming a maester is long and arduous. Candidates, often younger sons of noble houses or gifted commoners, travel to Oldtown and enter the Citadel as acolytes. They study under the archmaesters, learning the secrets of ravenry, healing, and the histories of the Seven Kingdoms. The culmination of their training is the forging of a maester's chain, a necklace of interlocking links, each made of a different metal. A new link is added each time an acolyte passes an examination in a given subject. The chain is a visible testament to a maester's breadth of knowledge. Samwell Tarly, a brother of the Night's Watch, is sent to the Citadel by Lord Commander Jon Snow specifically to forge his own chain and become a maester, a task he dreads but is commanded to undertake. The Citadel's methods are not for the faint of heart; Sam is warned that he will be required to cut up corpses as part of his medical training.

Repository of Knowledge and History

The Citadel's vast libraries are the greatest in the known world, containing countless scrolls, books, and records that span millennia. It is here that the most ancient histories of Westeros are preserved, including accounts of the Age of Heroes, the Long Night, and the coming of the Andals. The archmaesters, however, often question the accuracy of these old histories, noting that they were written thousands of years after the events they describe and are full of contradictions and legendary embellishments. When Jon Snow seeks knowledge about the Others, Samwell Tarly delves into the Citadel's archives, finding references to dragonglass, the vulnerability of the Others to obsidian, and the legend of the last hero who wielded a blade of "dragonsteel" against them. The Citadel's records are thus a crucial, if imperfect, resource in the fight against the supernatural threat from the North.

Political Influence and Neutrality

While the Citadel is ostensibly a neutral institution dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, its maesters wield considerable political influence. Every great lord has a maester, and these advisors are privy to their masters' secrets and councils. This proximity to power has led to suspicion and resentment. Lady Barbrey Dustin, for instance, expresses a deep distrust of the maesters, accusing them of being subtle manipulators who use their access to the sick and vulnerable to gain influence and ultimately rule their lords. She claims that the maesters, by using only one name, conceal their true origins and loyalties. The Citadel's political role is further highlighted by the fact that its Grand Maester sits on the king's small council in King's Landing, a position that makes the institution a direct participant in the realm's governance, despite its claims of scholarly detachment. The death of Grand Maester Pycelle at the hands of Varys underscores the dangerous intersection of knowledge and power that the Citadel inhabits.