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| “ | Not all your enemies are in the Yellow City. Beware men with cold hearts and blue lips. | „ |
| ~ Xaro Xhoan Daxos to Daenerys Targaryen. |
| “ | Then why do men lower their voices when they speak of the warlocks of Qarth? All across the east, their power and wisdom are revered. | „ |
| ~ Daenerys Targaryen. |
The Warlocks of Qarth are supporting antagonists in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and its TV adaptation Game of Thrones.
About the Warlocks[]
| “ | Euron is known to keep wizards and foul sorcerers on that red ship of his. They sent some spell among us, so we could not hear the sea. The captains and the kings were drunk with all this talk of dragons. | „ |
| ~ Aeron Greyjoy |
Warlocks are a type of magic practitioners in the continent of Essos. While they practice various kinds of sorcery, their main specialization is some enigmatic kind of dark arts and they are known to perform curious rituals. The House of the Undying in the city of Qarth is considered to be the center of power of the warlocks and is governed by the chief warlocks known as the Undying Ones. Warlocks are not the only type of sorcerers found in Qarth, as there are many of them in the city, including firemages and the sorceress Quaithe. They can also be found anywhere in Essos, and are also known to be active in Asshai, the esoteric city on the southernmost edge of the Shadow Lands, where all religious and magical disciplines can be practiced with impunity.
It is unknown if the warlocks in Qarth have their own religion, but it's implied they do, as one warlock prisoner is seen muttering in prayer, and the Ironborn Torwold Browntooth includes two Qartheen warlocks when talking about captive priests. The priest Aeron Greyjoy assumes they worship demons. The blue-lipped Euron Greyjoy is rumored to practice black magic and bloodmagic with warlocks.
Appearance[]
The warlocks of Qarth are known to dress in long, beaded robes. They have white and pale skins, which are common physical features of the Qartheen people, whose race is called Qaathi (called milk men by the Dothraki). The Qartheen warlocks are easily recognizable by their pale blue lips, caused by their regular consumation of shade of the evening, in order to "open their minds" and pursuit ever-greater knowledge. The Undying Ones are ancient, immortal, and have long lost their human appearance; their flesh is ripe violet blue while their nails are so blue they are nearly black, and even the whites of their eyes are blue.
House of the Undying[]
| “ | Blood of my blood, this is an evil place, a haunt of ghosts and maegi. See how it drinks the morning sun? Let us go before it drinks us as well | „ |
| ~ Jhogo to Daenerys Targaryen |
| “ | Heed my words, my queen. The House of the Undying Ones was not made for mortal men. If you value your soul, take care and do just as I tell you. | „ |
| ~ Pyat Pree's warning to Daenerys. |
The House of the Undying, or House of the Undying Ones, is a palace where Warlocks study sorcery and is the seat of the Undying Ones, the chief Warlocks of Qarth. The House of the Undying is known colloquially as the Palace of Dust or House of Dust and has a sinister reputation, due to the fact that many enter, but only few come back out again. The building is by now a grey and ancient stone ruin which stands alone, with no other buildings near it.
The House of the Undying is long and low, without towers or windows, described to appear coiled like a stone serpent through a grove of black-barked trees. These trees have the leaves used by the warlocks to produce shade of the evening, the wine of the warlocks. The palace's roof is covered with black tiles, many of them fallen or broken, and the mortar between its stones is dry and crumbling, showing that no reparations and maintenance have been done for a long time. The building does not appear to have any towers. The palace's door is a tall oval mouth set in a wall fashioned in the likeness of a human face. Visitors are allowed to enter to seek audience with the Undying, but before they are allowed access they must drink shade of the evening, so that they may "hear and see the truths" that will be laid before them.
The house's interior is filled with many doors that lead to various chambers and corridors. Upon exploring the building from inside, one can realize the structure is way more complex, with much more space, larger than what it is supposed be looking at it from outside, showing how sorcery alters the size of the House of the Undying. When Daenerys Targaryen enters the building, she ends up spending hours wandering through infinite rooms and staircases in what is a massive and maze-like palace, despite the supposed smaller size of the structure from outside, and she even ends up walking into a tower, despite the house not having any towers. Everything inside the building has been affected or altered by magic, and the warlocks are able to show many different visions, both beautiful and terrible, of events both past and future, as well as things that might happen or could have happened.
Some people, like the Dothraki, believe the House of the Undying to be haunted by ghosts.
During A Clash of Kings the House of Undying is destroyed by Drogon, who also killed the Undying Ones.
Warlocks' Way[]
Warlocks' Way is a street in Qarth, and either all or most of its houses are inhabitated by practitioners of magic. Warlocks have exerted great influence in the history of the city of Qarth, hence why it became its greatest known gathering in the world. Despite decreasing importance, the Warlocks of Qarth are still much feared and respected. The houses on Warlock's Way have no windows.
Shade of the Evening[]
| “ | That's it, priest. Gulp it down. The wine of the warlocks, sweeter than your seawater, with more truth in it than all the gods of earth. | „ |
| ~ Euron Greyjoy |
The shade of the evening is a liquid substance, presumably a magic potion, heavily consumed by the warlocks of Qarth. A constant and extended drink of it causes a person's lips to eventually turn blue. Shade of the evening us called "the wine of warlocks", but is not an alcoholic beverage. It is made from the inky blue leaves that grow on the black-barked trees that can be found in the gardens of the House of the Undying.
The color of shade of the evening is a deep blue, thick and viscous, and flowing like honey. Its smell is considered unappetizing, and when a person drinks it for the first time it also has an unpleasant taste. Characters who had an initial taste of it compared it to ink, spoiled meat, and rotten flesh. However, when the drink is swallowed it tastes like every single thing its drinker has ever tasted in their life and even more.
The Undying Ones of Qarth have drank so much shade of the evening that not only their lips have turned blue, but their entire bodies as well. Some people, especially those who abhor and dread magic, believe the beverage to have corrupted the souls of the Undying Ones.
Known regular consumers of shade of the evening are all the warlocks of Qarth, the Undying Ones, Pyat Pree, and Euron Greyjoy. Characters who drank it only one time are Daenerys Targaryen, upon entering the House of the Undying, and Victarion Greyjoy, who spat it out immediately. Aeron Greyjoy, a priest of the Drowned God, was instead forced by his brother Euron into drinking generous amounts of it twice.
Biography[]
History[]
Though tales and legend, and possibly history, tell how the Qartheen warlocks are mighty and powerful, they have done little in the past century. Similarly to the Alchemists' Guild of the Seven Kingdoms, the warlocks' power and prestige have waned over the years. The House of the Undying, mighty seat of the Warlocks of Qarth, has long since become a neglected ruin of grey stone, neither repaired nor expanded upon, and it now also known as the Palace of Dust. Nevertheless, the warlocks are feared and respected throughout all of Essos and only few people who enter the House of the Undying managed to return. In the TV series, the Qartheen elite view the warlocks as charlatans and they underestimate their magical powers, since they see them as nothing but parlor tricks.
The female protagonist of the erotic book A Caution for Young Girls (which is believed to be the possibly exaggerated autobiography of Lady Coryanne Wylde) allegedly served as the handmaid of a Qartheen warlock during part of her life.
After numerous failed attempts to turn his eldest son Samwell Tarly into a proper warrior and a strong, assertive, and brave man, Lord Randyll Tarly grew desperate enough to resort to sorcery to "cure" his son. He either sent word to or personally visited Qarth to request the services of the House of the Undying, in an effort to "cure" Sam's timidity and cowardice. After presumably paying them, Lord Tarly brought two warlocks to his castle of Horn Hill, where they slaughtered a auroch and made Sam bathe in its hot blood, promising Randyll that this would make Sam become brave. When this failed and Sam remained as craven and timid as ever, Randyll had the warlocks scourged.
Archmaester Marwyn, who is a sorcerer, paranormal scholar, and head of the higher mysteries department in the Citadel, studied with warlocks and shadowbinders. Daenerys Targaryen, who spent her whole childhood in the Free Cities, especially Braavos and Tyrosh, knows what warlocks are and is aware of the dreaded and respected reputation of the Warlocks of Qarth. She has seen people lowering their voices when they speak of the Qartheen warlocks. The merchant prince Xaro Xhoan Daxos of the Thirteen is more dismissive of the magical powers of the "modern" warlocks of Qarth, stating that they are hollow husks compared to their predecessors of the old times, yet he is too afraid to enter the House of the Undying.
A Clash of Kings[]
In Winterfell, Maester Luwin denies the existence of any form of magic, telling Bran Stark that magic does not work, but Bran reminds him there are mages and warlocks in the east. Luwin corrects Bran, telling him that these people simply refer to themselves as mages and warlocks, refusing to believe they do actual magic. The red priestess Melisandre from Asshai in Far East Essos views maesters as arrogant and close-minded with their exclusive reliance on science, stating that there are things that are not taught at the Citadel in Oldtown.
The Warlock Pyat Pree, the merchant prince Xaro Xhoan Daxos, and the Asshai'i Quaithe of the Shadow serve as volunteer representatives of Qarth to accompany the teenage Dothraki Jhogo back to his camp at Vaes Tolorro, a ruined Qaathi city in the Red Waste. Upon reaching the camp, the three envoys greet the former khaleesi Daenerys Targaryen, who shows them her recently born dragons; Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion.
While a Qartheen honor guard escorts Daenerys' small khalasar through the streets of the city of Qarth, on their way to Xaro's palace, Pyat Pree tries to convince Daenerys to come with him and visit the House of the Undying, where he promises good advice and useful knowledge from the Undying Ones.
During Daenerys' early stay in Qarth, Xaro Xhoan Daxos warns her to avoid the warlocks in the city, adding that she must never accept their invitations to the House of the Undying, as few who enters the building come back. However, after spending a long time at Qarth, Daenerys's petition to receive financial support for her campaign to seize the Iron Throne in Westeros has been rejected by the entire Pureborn, the ruling elite class of Qarth. Daenerys concludes that her only available option iis to seek the aid and counsel of Pyat Pree and his fellow warlocks, who are the only ones who are willing to help her. Despite Xaro and Jorah's misgivings and telling her not to go, the latter reminding her the last time she trusted a magic practitioner, Daenerys heads to the palace of the warlocks.
Upon arriving in the outdoors of the House of the Undying with Ser Jorah Mormont, her Dothraki bloodriders, and Drogon, Daenerys is greeted by Pyat Pree, who takes her arm and accompanies to the palace's entrance. However, he insists that she must enter alone, leaving Jorah and the bloodriders to wait outside, but allows her to bring Drogon along. Pyat explains various rules, telling Daenerys that the front way leads in, but not out again. She will find four doors upon entering; the door she just came through and three others. To reach the Undying, she must always take the first door on the right and always take stairs up. She must not enter any room until reaching the audience chamber. When she will be done talking with the Undying and she will be ready to leave, Daenerys must follow the same path as before, which is always take the first door to the right and always go up the stairs. Pyat warns her, "within, you will see many things that disturb you. Visions of loveliness and visions of horror, wonders and terrors. Sights and sounds of days gone by and days to come and days that never were. Dwellers and servitors may speak to you as you go. Answer or ignore them as you choose, but enter no room until you reach the audience chamber."
Before entering, Pyat has Daenerys drink shade of the evening from a slender crystal glass provided by a dwarf servitor. He tells her, "one flute will serve only to unstop your ears and dissolve the caul from off your eyes, so that you may hear and see the truths that will be laid before you." With Drogon on her shoulder, she follows Pyat's directions in the first few oval rooms, where she finds four doors. As soon as she enters deeper into the building, Daenerys immediately realizes she in the presence of sorcery: the palace of the warlocks is full of many dark passages and hallways, filled with seemingly-endless doors. Sounds can be heard from certain closed doors, while the open doors reveal to Daenerys many different visions instead of rooms.
After going through countless passages, Daenerys grows terrified as she reaches a staircase leading downward instead of upward, and as the torches begin to go out, she hears something approaching her, which causes her to head through numerous small rooms until she finds a surprised Pyat Pree, who comments how she is already on her way out and assumes she is already done talking to the Undying. When a confused Daenerys tells him she has been walking inside the palace for hours, yet she did not even find the Undying, Pyat claims she took the wrong way and tells her he will personally take her to them. However, Daenerys realizes he is not taking her to a door on the right, despite the fact that Pyat himself previously told her she must always take only the door on the right, no matter the room. Realizing she is not with the real Pyat Pree, but just a deceitful illusion, Daenerys keeps proceeding alone to the right, ignoring the fake Pyat, whose face crumbles inward, changing to something pale and wormlike as he screeches "no, no, to me, come to me, to meeeeeee."
Going forward, Daenerys finds a long stairwell, despite the fact that the House of the Undying did not seem to have towers at all. Climbing it to the top, she finds doors of ebony and weirwood decorated in interwoven patterns, and upon opening it she finds a great hall with windows of stained glass, revealing sunlight outside. The hall is filled with sweet and pleasant music, and inside are elaborately-dressed and beautiful wizards, both male and female, young-looking and with voices sweeter than song. Some wear sumptuous robes of ermine, ruby velvet, and cloth of gold, while others don elaborate armors studded with gemstones, or tall pointed hats speckled with stars, and the women are dressed in gowns of surpassing loveliness. One of them is dressed in rich robes like a wizard king, another as a warrior wizard in shining emerald armor, one is a handsome young man, and a woman clad in rose and silver is dressed in the Qartheen fashion, her exposed bare breast being "as perfect as a breast could be."
The wizards and witches introduce themselves as the Undying Ones of Qarth, and a smiling wizard king in rich robes invites her to sit with them to share their food "of forever." They claim to have always known that Daenerys would come to them one day since a thousand years ago, and that they were the ones who sent the red comet to show her the way to them. The wizards claiming to be the Undying promise to answer all her questions, offer to share knowledge with her, and even claim to have magic weapons to arm her with. Drogon, however, leaps from Daenerys's shoulder and flies back to the great hall's door, biting at its carved wood. As doubt begins to fill Daenerys's mind, the wizards keep attempting to have her sit with them, adding the offer to teach her the secret speech of dragonkind. Realizing the group are another vision, Daenerys chose to ignore them and pushes the door as Drogon suggested, revealing another hidden door behind, made of old grey wood, splintery and plain. She finally enters the real audience chamber of the Undying Ones, which is gloomy and dark, with a long stone table, and above it there is one human heart, swollen, rotting, and blue with corruption, yet alive and pumping ponderously, each pulse sending out a wash of indigo light. Around the long table are the real Undying Ones, who are no more than blue shadows, and while Daenerys takes the empty chair at the table's foot, they all ignore her and remain silent. She hears many echoes whispering and moaning around her, some male, some female, and one speaking with a child's voice.
Daenerys introduces herself to the Undying Ones and asks for their counsel, while she observes their very ancient appearances, their flesh being ripe violet-blue, their lips and nails bluer and so dark they are almost black. Even their eyes are all blue, sclera included. The group includes an extremely old man, hairless and covered with wrinkles, an ancient Qartheen woman whose gown of pale silk rotted on her body and whose bare withered breast displays a pointed blue nipple, hard as leather. None of the Undying Ones breath, they do not move, and are not even looking at her, instead they all seem to be just old dead corpses left seated along the table for a long time. As she wonders in her mind if the Undying Ones are actually dead, she receives an answer whispering in her mind that they are alive, with many other voices adding that they know, like a ghost chorus, while the Undying seated on the table never move, don't move their lips, and don't breath. When Daenerys asks them about the visions she saw in their building, the voices in her head answer "... the shape of shadows... morrows not yet made... drink from the cup of ice... drink from the cup of fire... mother of dragons... child of three..." The Undying go on saying in singing manner, "three heads has the dragon... mother of dragons... child of storm... three fires must you light... one for life and one for death and one to love... three mounts must you ride... one to bed and one to dread and one to love... three treasons will you know... once for blood and once for gold and once for love..."
The voices of the Undying Ones grow louder, while Daenerys realizes her own heart and breath are slowing, and she struggles to talk. She can no longer speak loudly, instead she can now only whisper and sound almost as faint as the Undying's voices. When she begs them to help her and show her the way, the Undying only repeat her words in mocking whispers, with the mouths of their bodies always never opening. The Undying Ones then distract Daenerys with a number of different visions, both of past and future events, while their physical bodies finally move away from the table, surround Daenerys, and attempt to consume her and drain her life. When her visions are interrupted, Daenerys reacts with horror upon finding the Undying Ones all around her, blue and cold as they touch her body and stroke her with their dry cold hands, while she has lost all her strength, can no longer move, and her heart entirely ceased to beat. As the Undying Ones begin licking, biting, and sucking her, the voices in Daenerys's mind turn into shrieks of pain and all her attackers turn away from her; It turns out, Drogon is tearing apart the Undying's floating dark heart before burning them with his dragonfire. As their old and extremely frail and corpse-looking bodies are consumed by dragonflame, the ancient warlocks keep shrieking as they burn, saying words in old ancient tongues long lost in history. Regaining her strength, Daenerys escapes the blazing chamber, followed by Drogon, fleeing down a serpentine passageway in which the floor seems to writhe slowly, but she finds a door like an open mouth.
After using that door, Daenerys and Drogon find themselves outside the House of the Undying again, where she finds warlock Pyat Pree hopping from one foot to the other whilst speaking gibberish of an unknown tongue. As the House of the Undying is being severely damaged by Drogon's dragonfire, the infuriated Pyat Pree howls curses, draws a knife and dances while hopping on one feet towards Daenerys to attack her only for Drogon to fly at his face and the bloodriders Jhogo and Rakharo immediately subdued the warlock. The House of the Undying then collapses in a great gout of smoke and flame.
Back at Xaro's palace, the Dothraki handmaids Irri and Jhiqui celebrate their khaleesi's apparent victory over the warlocks. As per Dothraki custom, Jhiqui fastens a bell in Daenerys's hair to mark her victory. While Daenerys states that it was no victory, Jhiqui disagrees and insists she had burned the maegi in their house of dust and sent their souls to hell. Nevertheless, Daenerys gives this victory to Drogon, as it was the dragon who killed the Undying Ones and had saved her life. Unfortunately, because of the destruction of the House of the Undying and the death of the Undying Ones, the people of Qarth have been reminded of the dangers posed by dragons and many now want Daenerys to be expelled from their city. While the Qartheen elite no longer gave gifts to Daenerys, everyone has become cold and hostile towards her overtime. The Tourmaline Brotherhood called for her expulsion from the city, while the Ancient Guild of Spicers called for her to be killed. As for the Thirteen, however, thanks to Xaro's word, they are not petitioning to get rid of Daenerys, and while publicly still neutral and not exiling or executing her, the Pureborn would possibly prefer her to leave willingly as soon as possible.
Xaro warns Daenerys that Pyat Pree is gathering the surviving warlocks together to work ill on her, but Daenerys sarcastically reminds Xaro that he was the one who dismissed the power of the warlocks and told her they were like old soldiers, vainly boasting of forgotten deeds and lost prowess. Xaro admits that he did say so, but insists that it was the truth, but now he is concerned that times have changed and admits that magic is largely making a return in the Qartheen lands. Quaithe observed how a performing firemage is now able to conjur great spells, and the Valyrian glass candles (once used by sorcerers to see across mountains, seas and deserts, give men visions and dreams, and communicate with one another half a world apart) are now burning in the house of Urrathon Night-Walker, despite the fact that glass candles have not burned in a hundred years. Ghost grass grows in the Garden of Gehane, phantom tortoises have been seen carrying messages between the windowless houses on Warlock's Way, and all the rats in the city are chewing off their tails. The wife of Mathos Mallarawan, who once mocked a warlock's drab moth-eaten robe, has allegedly gone insane as she now wonders around naked, due to refusing to wear any clothes, as even fresh-washed silks make her feel as though a thousand insects are crawling on her skin. A blind man named Sybassion the Eater of Eyes can now see again, or so his slaves claimed.
Since Daenerys won't marry him and join him to travel to Far East of Essos together, Xaro politely expels Daenerys from his palace, telling that most of the Qartheen elite want her out of their city as soon as possible, meaning she is no longer safe nor welcome there, since the destruction of the House of the Undying and the death of the Undying Ones, caused all of Qarth to become openly hostile towards Daenerys overnight.
While strolling the Port of Qarth, Daenerys sees for sale a potent magical elixir made of virgin's milk and the warlocks' shade of the evening. As Dany is searching for a ship at the Port of Qarth to take her away, a Sorrowful Man, a Qartheen assassin from a guild of of the same name, gifts her with a beautiful box. When Daenerys opens it, she finds inside a jeweled scarab, which then flies out, causing chaos in the docks. It turns out, the jeweled scarab is actually a poisonous manticore. As the venomous creature almost kills her, Arstan Whitebeard (Ser Barristan Selmy in disguise) saves her life by killing it with his stick. While it is presumed that the warlocks are the ones who hired the Sorrowful Man, the identity of the employer has not been revealed so far. Daenerys manages to flee from Qarth when Arstan takes her and her followers to join his crewmates in Captain Groleo's ship, the Balerion, revealing that they were specifically sent to rescue her by Magister Illyrio Mopatis of Pentos to take her back to western Essos.
A Storm of Swords[]
Still intending to take revenge on Daenerys, Pyat Pree, who is assumed to be the employer of the Sorrowful Man, gathers a team of warlocks to pursue her. After learning she took a ship back to Pentos, Pyat's group also take a ship to the Free City. It is implied that Pyat's team never made it to Pentos, as the Silence, the pirate galley of Euron Greyjoy the Crow's Eye, captured a certain galleas out of Qarth, containing a group of warlocks sailing west for personal business. It is also implied that the Qartheen citizen Urrathon Night-Walker is Euron himself, as Urrathon is an Ironborn name, and just after Daenerys left Qarth, he left with his crew at the same time as Pyat's group was sailing as well.
Upon seizing the Qartheen galleas, Euron captured a squad of four warlocks, who told him a "curious tale". When one of the warlocks threatened him, Euron personally killed him and fed his flesh to his three companions, who initially refused to do cannibalism, but after starving long enough they ended up eating it. The surviving warlock prisoners are alledgely coaching Euron in the practice of black magic. The Silence sails to Pentos, the same location where Pyat and Daenerys were headed to, and it is implied that Euron attempted to abduct Daenerys there by possibly intercepting the Balerion. However, after hearing about how the Unsullied are the finest foot soldiers in the world, Daenerys has her captain Groleo change course to the slaver city of Astapor, meaning neither Euron nor the warlocks will find her in Pentos.
Aboard the Balerion Daenerys thinks of various threats she faces and remembers that Pyat had sent a Sorrowful Man after her to avenge the Undying burned by Drogon in their House of Dust, remembering it is said warlocks never forget a wrong.
At night in Astapor, using sorcery to communicate from her residence in Qarth, the sorceress Quaithe insists that Daenerys should head to the east not the west, to the city of Asshai, where Daenerys will supposedly seek the answers she hoped to find in the House of the Undying. There are warlocks in Asshai as well, but they are not affiliated with the ploys of the Warlocks of Qarth.
In Westeros, several days before the Red Wedding, Euron unexpectedly returns to the Iron Islands immediately right after the death of King Balon IX Greyjoy. Among his crew of "mute monsters and mongrels" in the Silence, Euron has brought back with him sorcerers from the east, including warlocks from Qarth.
A Feast for Crows[]
At Oldtown in Westeros, the novice of the Citadel Pate recalls that Archmaester Marwyn had spent eight years in the east, and during that time, among other things, had studied the dark arts with warlocks and shadowbinders.
During the ironborn nobility's preparations for the kingsmoot, Tristifer Botley informs Princess Asha Greyjoy that her uncle Euron Crow's Eye has brought many monsters and wizards back with him from the east. Asha reacts dismissively, stating that her uncle was always fond of "freaks and fools" and that her late father used to fight with him about it. Uninterested, she comments that Euron's wizards can call upon their gods as much as they want, for Aeron Greyjoy the Damphair will call on the Drowned God and drown them.
After Euron wins the kingsmoot and is crowned as Euron III, King of the Isles and the North, the drowned priest Aeron refuses to believe that the event took place the way it was meant to be. He blames Euron's wizards and "foul" sorcerers for his victory, accusing them of having sent some spell among the ironborn kings, captains, and warriors so they could not hear the sea speaking against Euron, who blew his magical eastern "hellhorn" made them drunk with his talk of dragons.
King Euron and his warlocks allegedly gave one blood sacrifice to the Storm God to appease him and favor the ironborn fleets with good wind and safety in the dangerous Sunset Sea. As Euron promises to conquer all the Seven Kingdoms and return the ironborn as a significant power as of old, the assembled ironborn forces and fleet, including the Iron Fleet, strike a surprise attack on the unguarded Reach, whose main armies are campaigning in the Crownlands, Riverlands, and Stormlands whilst their main naval force, the Redwyne fleet, is besieging Dragonstone and Storm's End. While Torwold Browntooth and the Red Oarsman lead twelve longships up the river Mander as baits to draw out the military defenses of the Shield Islands, Euron leads the rest of the navy for the real attack, but instead of sailing along the Reach's coastline, he leads them into the Sunset Sea and attacks the Shields at evening from the west, something that is considered extremely dangerous and daring, as no man has ever sailed so far to the west and came back. Throughout the entire sea journey, the ships have been safe and with wind at their backs, all the way down from the island of Old Wyk. The ironborn warriors whisper to each other that Euron's wizards have much and more to do with all this success and strange luck.
Victarion Greyjoy, the Lord Captain of the Iron Fleet and Euron's brother, comments the success of the taking of the Shields with his best crewmate Nute the Barber and his Essosi thrall, the dusky woman. When Nute calls it a great victory for them, Victarion states that it is the victory of Euron and his wizards and tells the dusky woman that everything went out just as the Crow's Eye said it would. He is convinced that Euron's warlocks saw all the success in their visions and prophesied the fall of the Shield Islands to the ironborn. Quellon Humble confirmed that he has three wizards (the captured Qartheen warlocks) inside the Silence. According to Quellon, these sorcerers were queer and terrible men, yet the Crow's Eye made them his slaves. While Victarion is a bit troubled by the wizards, he reassures himself that his brother Euron still needs him to fight his battles, as "wizards may be well and good, but blood and steel win wars."
Euron gives his brother Victarion a cup of shade of the evening, and the latter take Euron's own cup instead. Noting the beverage is blue, thick and oily, Victarion smells it suspiciously and compares its odor to rotted flesh. When he tries a small amount, he promptly spits it out, calling it foul stuff. Driking deep from the cup he offered to Victarion, Euron tells him that he means to open Victarion's eyes with the shade of the evening, explaining it is the wine of the warlocks. He claims to have taken possession of a cask of shade of the evening from a captured galleas out of Qarth, which was carrying four warlocks, along with some cloves and nutmeg and forty bolts of green silk. One of the warlocks told him a "curious tale", which Euron does not elaborate upon. Euron tells Victarion that he killed one of the warlocks after the latter threatened him and fed his flesh to his three friends, who ate him when they grew hungry enough. Amused, Euron comments how no matter how much they dabble in arcane and dark arts, men are still meat at the end of the day. The remaining three warlocks are reportedly coaching Euron in the dark arts.
A Dance with Dragons[]
In her kingdom of Meereen, Queen Daenerys Targaryen recalls how the Undying of Qarth had told her she would be thrice betrayed. Thinking Mirri Maz Duur had been the first and Ser Jorah Mormont being the second, since he had spied on Daenerys for Varys and King Robert I Baratheon, Dany wonders if the third traitor will be the seneschal Reznak mo Reznak, Skahaz mo Kandaq the Shavepate, Daario Naharis, or even one of the ones she would never suspect: Ser Barristan Selmy, Grey Worm, or her scribe/translator Missandei. While visiting Daenerys in her dreams with sorcery, Quaithe warns her that "the glass candles are burning" and more threats and untrustworthy allies are coming to her, including Kraken and dark flame (Moqorro). She tells Daenerys to remember the Undying of Qarth, beware the "perfumed seneschal", and remember who she is and to recall how the ancient warlocks had called her "child of three", and that they promised her three mounts, three fires, and three treasons. One for blood, one for gold, and one for love.
Daenerys is visited by her old friend Xaro Xhoan Daxos, who has been sent as Qarth's envoy ambassador to treat with her over to discuss the matter of slave trade in Essos. Xaro warns Daenerys that not all her enemies are in Yunkai, the Yellow City, but she must be aware men with cold hearts and blue lips, referring to the Warlocks of Qarth. While Xaro tells her the Undying Ones are all dead, Daenerys learns from him that she had not been gone a fortnight from Qarth when Pyat Pree set out from the city with three of his fellow warlocks to seek her in Pentos, in order to seek revenge on her for the burning of the House of the Undying. More amused than afraid, Daenerys comments how she had done the right choice to change course from Pentos to Astapor after she had left Qarth, although by now all the Free Cities in the west know about her deeds and campaign in Slaver's Bay and that she is Queen of Meereen now. When Xaro warns her that certainly the warlocks will show up at Meereen eventually, Daenerys remains dismissive, comparing it to how she spent fourteen years living in terror of the "assassins" of King Robert Baratheon.
During the sea journey to Meereen to retrieve Queen Daenerys Targaryen for King Euron, the ironmen of the Iron Fleet find a red priest of R'hllor named Moqorro, who survived a terrible shipwreck during a storm. Moqorro, who has literal black skin, darker than coal or jet, claims to be a magic practitioner too. Thinking how Moqorro survived a sea storm instead of drowning, Victarion sees this as a possible sign that the Drowned God might have sent him back from his realm, the sea, alive so that Victarion can keep him as his "pet" wizard, meant as opposition against Euron's own pet wizards, the warlocks, whom Aeron Damphair had seen as tools of the Storm God to destroy the ironborn. Inspired by his brother's captive warlocks, Victarion chooses to take Moqorro as his servant mage, who proves his magical powers and is even knowledgeable of Slaver's Bay and the secrets of dragonkind. Victarion concludes that the red priest is more powerful than all of Euron's three warlocks put together. Thinking how his comrades disapprove of Moqorro, and how his brother Damphair would feel the same, Victarion wonders why he should not keep wizards when Crow's Eye does.
The Winds of Winter[]
On the Sunset Sea aboard the Silence, still carrying on the ongoing invasion of the Reach, King Euron forces his captive brother Aeron Greyjoy to drink the shade of the evening, telling him "the wine of the warlocks, sweeter than your seawater, with more truth in it than all the gods of earth." As Aeron is forced into drinking it, he notes how the substance's taste seems to change with every swallow, first bitter, then sour, and finally sweet. As a result of drinking much of the warlocks' wine at once, that night Aeron has several nightmarish visions as he sleeps; they feel perfectly real instead of dreams.
A short time later, still in the hold of the Silence, Aeron is made to join other captives of Euron, all of them tormented and nearly mentally broken, including two eastern warlocks, one of them missing both his legs. Along with them as captives are three septons, a red priest of R'hllor, and another dying man person who is hardly recognizable as a human, with both hands burned down to the bone and a face that is a "charred and blackened horror" where two blind eyes move sightlessly above the cracked cheeks dripping pus; he perished in agony within a few hours spent in shackles. Aeron describes the two Qartheen warlocks as having flesh as white as mushrooms and purplish-blue lips as if they were bruised, both warlocks so gaunt and starved that only skin and bones remain. One of the two captive warlocks is missing both legs and repeatedly cries a word, "Pree. Pree, Pree!" Aeron assumes that it is the name of the demon he worships and tells himself that the Drowned God protects him and will save him, for the sea deity is stronger than the false gods that the other captives worship, and stronger than the warlocks' black sorceries. Aeron wonders why Euron is collecting priests, but thinks that he would not like the answer.
While the three septons speak incomprehensibly, suggesting that Euron had their tongues removed, the two warlocks can still speak, but are only speaking in the Qartheen tongue. Whenever Aeron prays, the legless warlock makes queer noises, and his fellow captive warlock babbles wildly in his eastern tongue, which Aeron finds ugly-sounding and queer, and whether the two are cursing or pleading he cannot tell. Due to his extended use of the warlocks' shade of the evening, Euron's lips have become so blue that they are almost black. After Euron forces him to drink another generous amount of shade of the evening, Aeron's nigthmarish visions are worse than the last time. The wine of the warlocks shows its powerful effects, due to Aeron's forced heavy consumption, and the latter's nightmare is long with different chapters, three times "waking up" only to find out he is still in the terrible visions.
The two warlocks and the other priest captives are held in a castle, now sacked and brought to ruin by the ironborn, of a small island off the Arbor. When Euron's mute "monsters" came to take the captives out of their prison, the legless warlock only stares down at the black water, his lips moving silently in prayer. Aside for the legless warlock, all of the captives are too weak to walk, so the mutes have to carry the captives themselves to a bleak stone hall filled with a dozen hanging bodies of the castle's entire noble family, all massacred by the ironborn. Upon being taunted by Left-Hand Lucas Codd, one of the warlocks angrily answers in his eastern tongue and Aeron adds his own curse for all Euron's supporters. With malicious cruelty, the ironmen tells how the Crow's Eye has been giving the Drowned God thousands of human sacrifices, and in exchanges they gained many victories against their enemy greenlanders in the Reach, as the ironborn longships have been raiding up the Mander and all along the coast, even the Redwyne Straits, raiding and conquering several settlements and lands of the Arbor. After struggling against unfavorable winds, the Iron Islands' fleets are now preparing to face the arrivals of the Redwyne fleet and the Hightower fleet, both approaching for a sea battle.
Torwold Browntooth delivers all the captive priests, including the two warlocks to Euron, who orders him to bind them all to the prows of any of the ironborn ships, except Aeron who will go to the prow of the Silence, along with the tongueless Falia Flowers. What the Crow's Eye plans to do with them is yet to be known.
Game of Thrones[]
Unlike the novel series, the Warlocks of Qarth are not feared and not taken seriously at all by the city's elite. Despite this, Pyat Pree is a member of the Thirteen, the ruling class of Qarth (while in the books he is not, and the Pureborn are the ruling party of the city), which has also been a tradition for centuries.
After centuries of decline, the magical powers of the warlocks suddenly started to grow stronger and stronger for weeks, after the hatching of Daenerys Targaryen's three dragons in the Dothraki Sea, which was followed with the appearance of a red comet in the sky.
When Daenerys Targaryen and her small Dothraki khalasar reach Qarth, the Thirteen come to meet them outside the city's triple walls, among them Pyat Pree, who is also the representative of the House of the Undying. During Daenerys's stay in merchant prince Xaro Xhoan Daxos's palace in Qarth, Pyat Pree is among the Qartheen nobles and wealthy citizens who attend a party in Xaro's gardens to welcome Daenerys in the city. When Pree introduces himself to Daenerys, he shows her an illusion and multiplication spell, then invites to visit the warlocks in the House of the Undying. Xaro tells her that the warlocks are just trick conjurers who study nonsensical occult arts and drink shade of the evening, while deluding themselves that their tricks are real magic.
Some time later, after Daenerys never comes to visit the House of the Undying willingly, the Warlocks form an alliance with Xaro Xhoan Daxos, through their mediator Pyat Pree, who is also Xaro's colleague, as both of them are part of the Thirteen. Xaro offers to hand over his guest Daenerys and her three dragons Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion to the Warlocks, in exchange for their aid and support to launch a coup against the Qartheen government to make Xaro the King of Qarth. With the aid of the traitor Lysene handmaid Doreah, Xaro has many of Daenerys' Dothraki killed while Daenerys is not present in his home. Pyat takes the dragons to the House of the Undying.
Because the dragons are stronger with the presence of their "mother" Daenerys, the Warlocks want to kidnap Daenerys as well. Xaro uses this and Daenerys denouncing her dragons' abduction to host a meeting with his fellow Thirteen in his own home palace, where the Spice King refuses to conduct any investigation to find out the culprit. Pyat nonchalantly confesses to be the thief and that the dragons are under the custody of his fellow warlocks in the House of the Undying, then he carries on Xaro's coup to murder eleven of the Thirteen (except himself and Xaro) with multiplication sorcery. Afterwards, Daenerys accepts Pyat's invite to the House of the Undying, where she willingly enters to save her dragons.
In the House of the Undying, Pyat Pree seizes Daenerys and holds her in a chamber while he puts chains on her, explaining to her that since her dragons were born, the magic of the warlocks started to become stronger, but it is the strongest while Daenerys is with the dragons. Therefore, the warlocks want to keep both Daenerys and her dragons as their prisoners forever (presumably beyond Daenerys's lifespan through the shade of the evening). The plan is foiled by Daenerys, who has her unattended dragons free her and burn Pree alive to death, then they escape the House of the Undying before leaving Qarth by ship a brief time later.
The warlocks decide to kill Daenerys and send one of their own after her. Many weeks later, a female child warlock locates Daenerys at the slaver city of Astapor in Slaver's Bay. At the city's harbor, she attempts to assassinate Daenerys by playfully giving her a wooden hollow sphere, presenting it as an innocent child's toy. Upon the little girl's invitation, Daenerys opens the sphere, only for the object to be aggressively slapped away by a hooded man. The open sphere reveals a venomous manticore that almost manages to attack her, only for the hooded man (who is Ser Barristan Selmy) to stab the manticore with a dagger, foiling the girl warlock's plan. When the little girl openly admits to be a Qartheen warlock, revealing her blue lips to Daenerys, Barristan attempts to chase her with his dagger. The warlock jumps into the sea, then magically re-appears on the harbor's streets, far enough from Daenerys' group, and walks away. It is never revealed whether the warlock assassin was an actual child witch, is an adult who physically appears as a child, or an adult who took the appearance a little girl through glamor magic.
After the failed assassination attempt, the Warlocks of Qarth make no further effort to go after Daenerys in any form.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The way the warlocks' beverage, shade of the evening, works on a person's palate (first taste is disgusting, second more tolerable, and third begins tasting like all the good things a person ever tasted) is identical to the weirwood paste of the children of the forest. However, the latter also implies to require human flesh as an ingredient.
- Like the singers' paste is made from weirwood trees, the warlocks' "wine" is made from strange trees with blue leaves.
- Two of the three warlocks who were forced to serve Euron Greyjoy have been turned into prisoners to be tortured and tormented. While the warlocks were previously seen serving and aiding Euron (albeit forcibly) aboard the Silence, two of them have been discarded as prisoners. The identity and status of the remaining third warlock is unknown, as he is not among Euron's prisoners and it's implied he might be Pyat Pree.
