#mantarys

the aerea valyrian worms one sounds super interesting 👀

​Thanks for the reply! Yes, I think it's pretty interesting too. :) It's a long theory-meta about Aerea Targaryen and Balerion's unfortunate adventure in Valyria as hinted to in F&B, and what I think the burning "worms with faces" and "snakes with hands" that infested her are. (spoilers: magically mutated descendants of post-Doom Valyrians and dragons, there's more details than that, but that's basically the thing.) It relates to my blood of the dragon theory, goes into the example of the horrific Valyrian colony of Gogossos, and deals with some speculation about future events where I think Dany and her united khalasar of khalasars will travel the demon roads back to the Free Cities and pass the last remaining Valyrian city, Mantarys, said to be inhabited by monsters. (I have some mental images of a sort of Mad Max thing happening there, don't know if it actually will happen but it would be awesome.)

Warning, Spoilers Ahead...

The dragonlords of Valyria were nearly wiped out in the Doom. Aenar Targaryan, thanks to forewarning from his daughter, Daeyns the Dreamer, had taken his children and dragons and fled to Dragonstone before the Doom.  Other dragonlords weren’t as fortunate.

Let’s be honest, the only one who liked the Valyrians were their fellow Valyrians. The Doom caused the destruction of their power base, and the death of their military and most of their dragons. Huge targets were painted on the back of the surviving Valyrians.

The citizens of Tyrosh and Lys killed the dragonlords that were in their cities. Dragonlords in other areas suffered the same fate.

The histories of Qohor claimed Aurion, a visiting dragonlord, raised forces from the Qohorik colonists and proclaimed himself the first Emperor of Valyria. Aurion led a 30,000 strong host to Valyria but neither he or his host were heard from afterwards.

Volantis, founded by Valyrians, decided to be the new Valyria and attempt to conquer the Free Cities. Volantis had initial success – gaining control of Lys, Myr, and the southern reaches of the Rhoyne.  The party stopped when Pentos and Tyrosh allied to battle Volantis. Myrs and Lys rebelled.  The Sealord of Braavos sent a hundred ships to aid Lys. Argilac the Arrogant, a Westerosi Storm King, led a host into the Disputed Lands and defeated a Volantene host attempting to retake Myr.

The struggles in the Disputed Lands led to the formation of the Free Companies – bands of sellswords who fight for whomever pays them.

Pentos and Tyrosh approached a young Aegon (not yet a conqueror) Targaryan to join their alliance against Volantis. And he agreed. Apparently, he didn’t have any residual loyalty towards his fellow Valyrians. Aegon met with the Prince of Pentos and the magisters of the Free City. Aegon flew Balerion the Black Dread to Lys and burned a fleet that was preparing to invade the city.

Volantis’s luck contunied to worsen. The fire galleys of Qohor and Norvos destroyed most of the Volantine fleet on the Rhoyne. In the east, the Dothraki sensed Volantine weakness like a shark senses blood in the water. The Dothraki swarmed out of the Dothraki, leaving nothing but ruin and devastation in their wake.

Volantis itself underwent a power struggle. The Tigers – the faction who favored expansion and conquest – lost power to the elephants – a faction of tradesmen and merchant who favored peace. The elephants sued for peace and the wars were over.

Aegon Targaryen lost interest when peace ensued and returned to Dragonstone.

Aegon dropping Essos like a child bored with a toy intrigues me. His family had control of the few dragons left in the world. Essos was weakened by the wars. For someone who goes down in history as the Conqueror, Essos is easy pickings. So why did he take the “bored now, going home” option?

Valyria remains a ruin to this day. The Fourteen Flames have turned into a Smoking Sea. The road that joins Volantis to Slaver’s Bay is known as the “demon road” and is avoided by sensible travelers.

Men who enter the Smoking Sea do not return. Volantis sent a fleet the claim the peninsula during the Century of Blood only for the fleet to vanish.

Rumors state men still live in the ruins of Valyria and its neighboring cities of Oros and Tyria. Most don’t believe the rumors and insist the Doom still infects Valyria.

A few cities on the outskirts of Valyria remain inhabited. In Mantarys, men are said to be born twisted and monstrous. Tolos, home of the finest slingers in the world, and Elyria are less sinister but have ties to the Ghiscari cities on Slaver’s Bay.

Based on a few minutes of research, it takes anywhere from two hundred to a thousand years for land to recover from a volcanic eruption. A single eruption. Now imagine the devastation of fourteen simultaneous volcanic eruptions. It’s been a little over three hundred years since the Doom and the land hasn’t even begun the recovery process. Add in fire wyrms and bad magical juju released in the eruptions and Valyria may never recover from the Doom.

and all I could think was, “If I had a nickel for every asoiaf character with 2 heads...”

They won’t be much of a factor. Elyria and Tolos are just cities that didn’t burn down in the Doom and joined the coalition against Dany. They’ll fade out from the story same time the Essosi anti-Dany coalition does.

Mantarys is pretty much Innsmouth.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

Hiya! It’s certainly possible–as you say it’s in the area, the “demon road” has been namedropped a bunch, and Dany has to meet Marwyn somewhere. Then again, Asshai’s a cool eldritch city that’s been namedropped a bunch but we’re not going there, Dany could just as easily encounter the Mage in Vaes Dothrak, and I don’t think Dany’s going back to Meereen, so she could plausibly proceed straight from the Dothraki Sea to Volantis, as Tyrion foreshadows for us in ADWD: 

Yeah, this is a hard one, as there’s no way Arya’s staying where she is, but events in Westeros don’t seem to be lining up to give her any particular position.