Original subtitles

PYCELLE: Without question, Oldtown is the oldest,

wealthiest and greatest city in Westeros.

QYBURN: Though King's Landing is more populous,

and arguably, more powerful.

PYCELLE: Ah. The city straddles the mouth of the Honeywine River.

And the bounty of the entire Reach flows beneath its great stone bridges.

To ports that are renowned throughout the world.

QYBURN: Thus we needn't speak more of them.

More interesting is the history of the city.

For none can say when it was founded.

Many centuries ago, a few bold maesters sought out the Children of the Forest.

Who claimed that men have lived at the mouth of the Honeywine

since the Dawn Age.

PYCELLE: Nonsense.

Maester Jellicoe proved that the city began as a trading post.

Where ships from Valyria, Old Ghis and the Summer lsles

put in to replenish their provisions and make repairs.

Hence, the most famous feature of the city, the Hightower.

Raised even before the city walls as a beacon through the fog-covered waters.

Originally built of wood and standing a mere 50 feet

above the ancient fortress of its foundation,

it is now thick stone and rises even taller than the Wall.

Those born and raised in Oldtown can tell the time of day by where its shadow falls.

QYBURN: But no maester can tell why.

Even in our oldest records, the island on which it stands is called

Battle lsle.

What battle was fought there?

And when?

As for the ancient fortress that forms the tower's base,

its walls and interiors are all of solid black stone

with no hints of joins.

Or mortar. And no chisel marks of any kind.

We know it predates the tower itself by thousands of years.

But who built it? How?

And against what?

PYCELLE: The maesters who have studied it

declare it to be of Valyrian construction,

akin to Dragonstone and the black walls of Volantis.

As is well-known,

the dragonlords of Valyria could turn stone to liquid with dragonflame

to shape as they wished.

QYBURN: Didn't one archmaester

link the fortress to the vanished mazemakers of Lorath?

And another maester, to the legendary Deep Ones

who inhabited the lron lslands before the ironborn?

(PYCELLE SlGHS)

PYCELLE: Both marginal opinions without common support.

But of more importance than the origin of the tower

is the family to which it gave its name.

House Hightower.

The ancient ruling family of Oldtown.

Known for their prudence and love of peace.

QYBURN: And pieces of gold.

PYCELLE: During the Age of Heroes, when Lymond Hightower

saw the Gardener kings conquering the Reach,

he didn't beat them on the battlefield,

but in the godswood.

He bound his house to theirs by marriage.

And transformed House Hightower from wealthy but relatively minor kings

to the greatest lords of the Reach.

Thanks to Lord Lymond's foresight,

Highgarden has always defended Oldtown.

Allowing the Hightowers to focus on higher pursuits

such as learning and trade.

QYBURN: On that we agree.

When the Andals invaded Westeros,

Lord Dorian Hightower told his wife of 20 years

that wars are bad for trade.

And to make his point, traded her for a young Andal princess.

When Aegon the Conqueror was earning his name,

House Hightower traded its loyalty to the Gardeners

for his confirmation of their rights,

welcoming him with open arms and open gates.

PYCELLE: House Hightower bent the knee to Aegon

to spare the city from his dragons.

(CHUCKLES) l would think such insinuations and insults beneath even you, Qyburn.

Ah, then again, mockery of one's betters is the trade of fools.

QYBURN: l wouldn't know.

Perhaps if l'd studied at the Citadel as long as you, Grand Maester.

PYCELLE: The Citadel is the greatest seat of learning in the known world.

Without it and the maesters it trains,

Westeros would be a land of superstition and ignorance.

QYBURN: Like the ignorance that shrouds the Citadel's own birth?

PYCELLE: Even without records,

we have more than enough reason to believe that the Citadel began

as a court of scholars and priests.

Assembled by a second son of House Hightower.

When he died, his elder brother raised the Citadel

so that wise men would always have a home in Westeros.

And could continue the enquiries and debates

that had given such joy to his younger brother.

QYBURN: His little brother's pets,

as legend has it he called them.

And so, the maesters have remained.

Only their masters have changed.

Now they serve every lord with a castle.

For a fee, of course.

Whilst the Citadel serves its own importance.

(PYCELLE CHUCKLES)

PYCELLE: Every word you speak merely validates your own expulsion

from our ranks.

QYBURN: Knowledge is validation enough.

l assume the world's greatest minds would agree.

And perhaps they would if l had met them.

Oldtown is a city for old men and old beliefs.

But the world is changing.

No matter how high the tower,

the clouds will not hold it up

if the ground shifts beneath it.