Did Jaime not tell anyone about the wildfire nearly out of pride or did he not realize the potential danger? When Tyrion ordered Wildfire made, didn't some alchemists realize there were stashes ready for use? I know you hate the show but it seems S8 has been build up for the wildfire to be the horrible sacrifice of KL to tie with the defeat of the army of the dead, do you think that could be it as well?
Jaime didnât tell anyone about the wildfire probably out of pride (his whole Kingslayer trauma, itâs complicated), and also because he didnât know about the danger. What the pyromancer Hallyne told Tyrion is apparently not public knowledge, but a trade secret:
âWhy doesnât it seep into the clay as well?ââOh, but it does,â said Hallyne. [âŚ] âAs it ages, the substance grows ever more, hmmmm, fickle, let us say. Any flame will set it afire. Any spark. Too much heat and jars will blaze up of their own accord. It is not wise to let them sit in sunlight, even for a short time. Once the fire begins within, the heat causes the substance to expand violently, and the jars shortly fly to pieces. If other jars should happen to be stored in the same vicinity, those go up as well, and soââÂ
Nobody else mentions these properties of aged wildfire, so we can presume that nobody else knows, certainly not Jaime. So Jaime, focused on removing the danger of Aerysâs plan to blow up Kingâs Landing, killed the pyromancer Rossart, killed Aerys, and a few days later hunted down and killed the other pyromancers who had worked on the wildfire plot (Garigus and Belis), and presumably thought it was safe to leave everything where it was. Jaime thinks wildfire needs to be removed from its jar and catch fire to burn, and he thinks the cache locations of warehouses and cellars are safe, where nobody knows about them â he doesnât know that wildfire seeps into the clay jar itâs stored in over time, he doesnât know that heat or even jostling could set them off and cause an explosive chain reaction.
As for the caches of wildfire pots, yes, certainly the pyromancers Tyrion dealt with knew about some of them. But only some, the ones they had found:
âSo His Grace commanded his alchemists to place caches of wildfire all over Kingâs Landing. Beneath Baelorâs Sept and the hovels of Flea Bottom, under stables and storehouses, at all seven gates, even in the cellars of the Red Keep itself. Everything was done in the utmost secrecy by a handful of master pyromancers. They did not even trust their own acolytes to help.â âASOS, Jaime V
âThere is a vault below this one where we store the older pots. Those from King Aerysâs day. It was his fancy to have the jars made in the shapes of fruits. Very perilous fruits indeed, my lord Hand, and, hmmm, riper now than ever, if you take my meaning. We have sealed them with wax and pumped the lower vault full of water, but even so⌠by rights they ought to have been destroyed, but so many of our masters were murdered during the Sack of Kingâs Landing, the few acolytes who remained were unequal to the task. And much of the stock we made for Aerys was lost. Only last year, two hundred jars were discovered in a storeroom beneath the Great Sept of Baelor. No one could recall how they came there, but Iâm sure I do not need to tell you that the High Septon was beside himself with terror. I myself saw that they were safely moved. I had a cart filled with sand, and sent our most able acolytes. We worked only by nightâŚâ
âWe have been, hmmm, most fortunate, my lord Hand. Another cache of Lord Rossartâs was found, more than three hundred jars. Under the Dragonpit! Some whores have been using the ruins to entertain their patrons, and one of them fell through a patch of rotted floor into a cellar. When he felt the jars, he mistook them for wine. He was so drunk he broke the seal and drank some.ââThere was a prince who tried that once,â said Tyrion dryly. âI havenât seen any dragons rising over the city, so it would seem it didnât work this time either.â The Dragonpit atop the hill of Rhaenys had been abandoned for a century and a half. He supposed it was as good a place as any to store wildfire, and better than most, but it would have been nice if the late Lord Rossart had told someone.
Because Jaime was the only witness, because Jaime killed all the master pyromancers who knew about Aerysâs plan, the remaining acolytes didnât know about much of the stock of wildfire pots or where the caches were. They knew about the thousands of jars stored in the vaults of the Guildhall of the Alchemists, sure, but they had no idea that any of the other caches existed. Two caches of several hundred jars were discovered, in Baelorâs Sept in 298 AC (15 years after Robertâs Rebellion) and under the Dragonpit in 299 AC, and nobody knew that they existed until they were found! Nobody could recall how they got there! There were no records, it was merely luck that let the pyromancers find the ones Tyrion used in the Battle of the Blackwater.
(Notably, the caches of wildfire jars not said to be found include the ones in various storehouses,under Flea Bottom, at the city gates, andin the cellars of the Red Keep. Quite a Chekhovâs gun, yes indeed.)
I doubt that the possible wildfire explosion of Kingâs Landing will be related to the defeat of the Others in the books. Iâm not sure theyâll get that far south because of Danyâs dream of the Trident (though I do expect the dead to rise all over Westeros), and I think that dragonfire and dragonglass and dragonsteel are the Chekhovâs guns GRRM is working with there. Not to mention whateverâs in the heart of winter, beyond the curtain of light at the end of the world. If the show does a wildfire thing again (though after the Blackwater and their sept explosion, wouldnât it be redundant and repetitive?) thatâs probably their thing, because of budget or not wanting to deal with GRRMâs actual Other origins (no Night King in the books among other differences), and in general because they suck at character themes. Weâll just have to see, though.
