Magic and Gods in Game of Thrones (Lets stick to books cause there's more info)

Cafe Society
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So I’m rereading Thieves World…a world where the Gods are very real. Sorcerers are very real (though there arn’t any court magicians like Melisandre kind of is) They DO have priests they would consult. And seers are real.

So I’m wondering, in a world (Game of Thrones) where magic is very real. Sorcerers are real. Wargs and greenseers are real. Demons proooobablyyyy are. But if I recall…while there is probably some power behind the veil…Martin hasn’t expressly shown ‘Gods’ of Game of Thrones to be what the people say they are. For instance Melisandre worships R’Llohr. And the Southerners worship the Seven. We have no proof they are what we’ve been told.

I digress…I’m wondering why in a world where all this is true, were there EVER court magicians or reliable seers in the West?

I know that since the dragons died out magic seems to have gone with them and with their resurrection, magic seems to have followed. And that the ‘science cabal’ has done what THEY can to stamp out magic. And i know how dangerous putting too much faith in a radical like Melisandre is…but in a world where there is so much political intrigue, even the crappiest of seers would give someone a possible edge.

So my question is were there ever court magicians in the West or the magic/ seer equiv of Maesters?

Side questions:

  1. Even IRL we have fakes and tarot readers and such, so i would think in a shitworld like Game of Thrones, such people would be sought out and could make an illicit living, but we never see people like that in the books do we? Seers living in the slums of Kings Landing being sought out by the desperate?

  2. Enh…I was going to ask how the hell Melisandre showed up and instantly converted everyone and ultimately burns a small girl alive (I believe this will happen in the books too) while everyone watches and only after do a large number slip away in the night. But I think its just a comment by Martin on fanaticism and cults and standing by doing nothing.

Edit: The more I look into this the more answers I find myself. In GoT there’s a few magic catastrophes to dissuade people (Probably engineered by the Science Cabal and Maesters)…But I’ve written an essay already so I’ll post this anyway if anyone wants to comment with adjoining stuff.

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The Alchemists’ Guild used to be quite important, but has been eclipsed by the Maesters. That’s the closest I can think of. But they weren’t seers.