Who built Oldtown and why?

 Potential Spoilers Below

I have been saying for some time now that The Game of Thrones (TGOT) seems to be modeled after The Wheel of Time (TWOT).  Here I lay out the case that Oldtown was based upon Tar Valon and Hightower and the Citadel were based upon the White Tower.  I will show you an example from TWOT followed by an example from TGOT and you make the call.  I will also build a case as to who built Hightower.  I have said that themes pretty much follow the same lines of thought and then abruptly they take a 180 degree turn to differentiate it so as not to violate copyright infringement.

Oldtown where the Citadel and Hightower can be found.
Though it isn't shown Oldtown has numerous bridges.

Tar Valon where sits the White Tower

“It was not as if even Accepted were allowed outside the Tower grounds every day, after all, and Tar Valon was the largest city, the grandest city, in the known world. In the whole world, surely. The island was nearly ten miles long, and except for public parks and private gardens—and the Ogier Grove, of course—the city covered every square foot of it.”

“No history of the Reach is complete without a look at Oldtown, that most grand and ancient of cities, still the richest, largest, and most beautiful in all Westeros, even if King’s Landing has eclipsed it as most populous.

King's Landing 

“Construction on what was to become the central city of Aes Sedai power, Tar Valon, placed on the island of the same name, did not begin until 98 AB. At that time, Ogier, who had taken up stonemasonry after the Breaking, had become the finest of all at the craft. The Aes Sedai may have recognized the brilliance of the largely organic forms the Ogier created, probably because of the Ogier’s natural affinity for growing things, for they gave the Ogier masons free rein on many of the buildings. Even in modern times many of these structures still stand as a tribute to their art. It took 104 years of uninterrupted construction to build Tar Valon, until 202 AB. It is believed to be the first major city built after the Breaking. At the least, it was the first among those surviving today.

Ogier

“The White Tower rose from the center of the city, a thick bone-white shaft climbing almost a hundred spans into the sky and visible for miles. It was the first thing anyone approaching the city saw, long before they could make out the city itself. The heart of Aes Sedai power, that alone was sufficient to mark Tar Valon apart, but other, smaller towers rose throughout the city.

Hightown could also be seen for miles.

“Oldtown was built in stone, and all its streets were cobbled, down to the meanest alley. The city was never more beautiful than at break of day. West of the Honeywine, the Guildhalls lined the bank like a row of palaces. Upriver, the domes and towers of the Citadel rose on both sides of the river, connected by stone bridges crowded with halls and houses. Downstream, below the black marble walls and arched windows of the Starry Sept, the manses of the pious clustered like children gathered round the feet of an old dowager.

And beyond, where the Honeywine widened into Whispering Sound, rose the Hightower, its beacon fires bright against the dawn. From where it stood atop the bluffs of Battle Island, its shadow cut the city like a sword. Those born and raised in Oldtown could tell the time of day by where that shadow fell. Some claimed a man could see all the way to the Wall from the top. Perhaps that was why Lord Leyton had not made the descent in more than a decade, preferring to rule his city from the clouds.”

I couldn’t find it when I put this together but I remember somewhere in the 15 book series TWOT that people born in Tar Valon could also tell the time of day by how the shadow of the White Tower fell upon the city.  When I find it I will add it to the comment for this article.

“By 98 AB the name “the White Tower” had been in use for some time for the planned central structure, perhaps as long as thirty years, though the Tower itself would not be finished for another hundred years. In that year (98 AB), Elisane Tishar is shown as the Amyrlin Seat, the first to bear that title, one she apparently had held for several years at this point. A Hall of the Tower had been chosen, but a council of seven was recorded as “closely advising the Amyrlin Seat.” These women were Mitsora Caal, Karelia Fanway, Azille Narof, Saraline Amerano, Dumera Alman, Salindi Casolan, and Kiam Lopiang. ”

How old is Oldtown, truly? Many a maester has pondered that question, but we simply do not know. The origins of the city are lost in the mists of time and clouded by legend. Some ignorant septons claim that the Seven themselves laid out its boundaries, other men that dragons once roosted on the Battle Isle until the first Hightower put an end to them. Many smallfolk believe the Hightower itself simply appeared one day. The full and true history of the founding of Oldtown will likely never be known.” 

“Even more enigmatic to scholars and historians is the great square fortress of black stone that dominates that isle. For most of recorded history, this monumental edifice has served as the foundation and lowest level of the Hightower, yet we know for a certainty that it predates the upper levels of the tower by thousands of years.

Who built it? When? Why? Most maesters accept the common wisdom that declares it to be of Valyrian construction, for its massive walls and labyrinthine interiors are all of solid rock, with no hint of joins or mortar, no chisel marks of any kind, a type of construction that is seen elsewhere, most notably in the dragonroads of the Freehold of Valyria, and the Black Walls that protect the heart of Old Volantis. The dragonlords of Valryia, as is well-known, possessed the art of turning stone to liquid with dragonflame, shaping it as they would, then fusing it harder than iron, steel, or granite.

“If indeed this first fortress is Valyrian, it suggests that the dragonlords came to Westeros thousands of years before they carved out their outpost on Dragonstone, long before the coming of the Andals, or even the First Men. If so, did they come seeking trade? Were they slavers, mayhaps seeking after giants? Did they seek to learn the magic of the children of the forest, with their greenseers and their weirwoods? Or was there some darker purpose?”

Stannis sitting on a chair within Dragonstone

Children of the Forest

“The fused black stone of which it is made suggests Valyria, but the plain, unadorned style of architecture does not, for the dragonlords loved little more than twisting stone into strange, fanciful, and ornate shapes. Within, the narrow, twisting, windowless passages strike many as being tunnels rather than halls; it is very easy to get lost amongst their turnings. Mayhaps this is no more than a defensive measure designed to confound attackers, but it too is singularly un-Valyrian. The labyrinthine nature of its interior architecture has led Archmaester Quillion to suggest that the fortress might have been the work of the mazemakers, a mysterious people who left remnants of their vanished civilization upon Lorath in the Shivering Sea. The notion is intriguing but raises more questions than it answers.”

“An even more fanciful possibility was put forth a century ago by Maester Theron. Born a bastard on the Iron Islands, Theron noted a certain likeness between the black stone of the ancient fortress and that of the Seastone Chair, the high seat of House Greyjoy of Pyke, whose origins are similarly ancient and mysterious. Theron’s rather inchoate manuscript Strange Stone postulates that both fortress and seat might be the work of a queer, misshapen race of half men sired by creatures of the salt seas upon human women. These Deep Ones, as he names them, are the seed from which our legends of merlings have grown, he argues, whilst their terrible fathers are the truth behind the Drowned God of the ironborn.”

The mazemakers were a race of men who lived in antiquity. The mazemakers constructed vast mazes consisting of blocks of carved stone which have been found among the islands of Lorath as well as one in mainland Essos south of Lorath. Most of Lorassyon consists of an underground maze. The purpose of the mazes is unknown as the mazemakers left no written records. Large bones which have been found indicate they were massively built and larger than men, which has led some to suggest the mazemakers were born of the unions of human men and female giants.

Archmaester Quillion suggests that the labrynthine foundation of the Hightower is connected with the Lorathi mazemakers.

The legends of the Lorathi state the mazemakers were destroyed by creatures of the sea, such as merlings, selkies, or walrus-men. It is unknown if the mazemakers were connected with the Pattern or their vanquishers were connected with the Deep Ones.

“By the first century AB, letters reliably attributed to Aes Sedai already speak of “forgotten Talents” and “lost abilities,” and bemoan the “vast knowledge of the Power that is gone and may be centuries in the rediscovery.” If any Aes Sedai had survived the entire span, or even Aes Sedai who had been raised in the early years of the Breaking, there would have been few or no lost abilities and no need to “rediscover” them.”

To me this by itself sums up with Sam will do while at the Citadel.  He will rediscover things that have been lost.  Among them will be the secret of the Horn of Winter which he still carries and should be known to those who are paying attention.  Indeed in TWOT the Horn of Valere which made its way to the White Tower played what I believe will be a similar role in TGOT.

Sam looking astonished at all the books within the Citadel

The Horn of Winter

The Horn of Valere

Where the White Tower was built after the Breaking of the World, ending the Age of Legends.  I believe that Hightower was built after a similar event ending the Age of Heroes.  The name Battle Isle I believe comes from the idea that it was most likely the location from which the strategy for war was conducted during that “world changing” event.

  

Comments encouraged.  Love to hear the ideas of others.  Most believe that since I present my ideas as “fact like” I’m not open to change my viewpoints which is far from the truth.  I simply look at the information presented and go from there.  If you can shine a light on another way of thinking that opens the door to debate.