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Jenna, Destroyer of Worlds posting in Shameless Love for Oberyn Martell
User: [info]do_me_oberyn (posted by [info]jesatria)
Date: 2008-06-09 01:12
Subject: Oberyn, The "Dark Arts", & Magic
Security: Public
Tags:magic, oberyn, poison, the dark arts

 When we first meet Oberyn, we learn that he supposedly learned "dark arts" in the Free Cities. Later on, we get a glimpse of what these "dark arts" involve: Oberyn is able to magically thicken manticore venom which normally kills when it reaches the heart in order to draw out Gregor's suffering. There is also the chance that he may have studied magic in his time at the Citadel & that one of his 6 links may be Valyrian steel. I think there's a pretty good chance that he encountered Marwyn while he was there.

What I'm curious about is this. If the dark arts Oberyn studied are a form of magic, and it seems like they are, was he actually able to use them? Or was he only able to thicken the venom because of the resurgence of magic? He certainly seemed to know what he was doing and that it would work in that particular instance.

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Zoe Iona
User: [info]zoeiona
Date: 2008-06-09 13:11 (UTC)
Subject: (no subject)

Maesters were gaining their Valyrian steel links all the time while magic was, effectively, inactive. Gaining the link therefore suggests academic study of the practice of magic, as Luwin says to Bran in AGOT, and explicitly not study of active magic.

"Dark arts" could be anything from improved poisoning to cartomancy. I personally think it's unlikely that magic would have worked in the Free Cities during a period in which it didn't work in Westeros, so if he did study more magic while he was over there, I think it would have been the theory only.

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you might as well live
User: [info]violaswamp
Date: 2008-06-09 21:25 (UTC)
Subject: (no subject)

I'm quite sure Oberyn studied theoretical but not practical magic in the Free Cities, as [info]zoeiona said. However, this does not preclude him making attempts to turn theory into practice. IMO, he succeeded in doing this some time before he fought Gregor, so that's how he knew the poison would have its intended effect.

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