🧙 Examining the Maester Conspiracy theories | House of the Dragon

Grand Maester Mellos has been doing a pretty bad job so far in House of the Dragon. He's treated two wounds , and they both got infected. Tried to help Queen Aemma give birth, and failed at that. The question for Mellos is he just a clownish terrible healer? Or is he a part of the sinister Maester Conspiracy?

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[sistott]

Hello
Im the guy in the picture
I played the birthing maester who is told to fetch the king
My understanding at the time was that i was sent because the grand maester was busy attending to the queen and a lowly individual such as me would never address the king directly so I gave the news to the hand
We were told that we had to demonstrate absolute deference to the king at all times ie bowing when he enters the room
If the show runner knew of any sub plot i wasn't told....but then again i wouldn't expect to be

[tasha]

To me, it seemed like Otto and Mellos were working together during the conversation about Laena! Mellos lists all the reasons why she's a good political match on paper, and then Otto hits him with a "wow geez I don't envy you, I would HATE to have to marry for duty. I loved my wife sooo much". Mellos had to make the argument so that Otto could very sneakily make the counterargument.

[squidsinspace]

Remember that Otto also was not speaking AGAINST the marriage of King with Velaryon's daughter, but he pretended to be on board with this idea while using words which had to plant some seeds of draught in the King's mind - reverse psychology.

[barbaraludwiczak]

I believe Mellos didn't want Viserys dead, but he also didn't want him to be healthy. It seems to me that he wanted the king to be weak and vulnerable. That was the way to control and manipulate him. And I'm pretty sure that he killed/contributed to Aemma's death, and possibly her earlier miscarriages.
The Citadel doesn't want a strong Targaryen monarch. It is my belief that it was the Citadel/hightowers who convinced the old king Jaehaerys to choose Rhea Royce for Daemon's wife probably because they knew she was barren/lesbian. They didn't want Daemon to have heir.





Spoilers





The same way of thinking likely will appear in couple of next episodes when they will be choosing a husband for Rhaenyra. And yes, I think it was Mellos saying that there is nothing wrong in your spouse being gay: "What of it? I am not fond of fish, but when fish is served, I eat it."

[chafrey]

So I read that maggot scene a little different. It looked to me as if everything mellos and otto said was completely scripted by Otto. Otto knows his king isn’t the smartest guy. Mellos spouting out that it is the kings duty to marry laena and then otto coming in at the end saying “I don’t envy you” when talking about having to marry for duty over marrying for love. I’m pretty sure mellos was coached to say that so that viserys would think marrying alicent was his idea when truly it was all a part of ottos plan. It’s a risk but if ottos knows his king it’s a smart risk. Great video as usual!

[tylerbarrett]

Mellos wants a weak king, not a dead king...

[justincweiner]

There was a scene earlier where the Queen was taking a bath and Viserys say's dragon like heat referring to her bath water not being hot. I believe she had eluded to taking many baths in this manner which could have led to a complicated pregnancy due to the baby not receiving the heat needed for it to go through its normal progressions in the womb and eventually to a successful pregnancy. There's just too many signs pointing to the Hightowers plotting a sinister plan that took several decades in the making as Viserys later brings up Otto's string of luck for him to have been placed in his position.

[Charles-In-Charge]

Mellos seems to be building up a reputation for innocent incompetence, so that once the Hightowers are ready to wipe out the Targaryens Mellos can believably switch to weaponized incompetence.
Emma’s death is the first intentional Mellos kill

[cbob]

I think Marwyn’s line “Who do you think killed all the dragons the last time around? ” is one of GRRM’s dual meaning lines. At face value, gallant dragon slayers didn’t kill the dragons, the maesters did. But he was also talking about Daenerys at that point too, so I think he’s also talking about Targaryens.

[bronzremix]

the one line that made my ears perk was when Alicent said: “You Targaryens do have queer customs.” And I realized that Oldtown is looking to end the Targaryens and the Dragons.

[d.e.]

i think at least in the show it confirmed this theory when the younger maester said to the older maester something like “ive read about something (herbs?) that could help-“ and the older maester melos cuts him off and assures him that the maggots always help the king. im thinking the younger maester doesnt understand the politics of it. i dont think the maester treating the king would be anything less than the best or most knowledgeable so i dont think the older maester is just out of his depth

[lordofcastamere]

I do believe in the grand maester conspiracy in the books. However there is not enough evidence yet in the show to fully support this. But Mellos is at least sus. He and Otto exchange a look very often.

[HorusHeresist]

Tell Viserys, I want him to know it was me. - Grand Maester Mellos

[katieobrien]

I think Mellos is definitely incompetent as a healer. However, I think if the death of Aemma was a political hit by the maesters it would undercut the theme of gender in the show. As merely a queen consort, Aemma's health and life simply was not as important to this patriarchal monarchist system as the production of an heir for the king.

[PUNISHERMANIA]

In the novel, Rhaenyra brings her own maester to tend his wounds and for a time, the king gains his strength. Also, obviously there is a conspiracy made in the citadel to kill all those dragons. What do maesters do? Writing letters, sending them with ravens, tending wounds and they are giving advices to every Lord by having a position in their household, they know everything and everythought, some ravens can fly to one castle, some ravens can fly to many castles because the beasts are smart and can be tought. In the book, Otto have his own chains and he is famous for his preperations and writing letters to all ends for gaining support, offering hands and taking his time before a war to ensure victory. For this reason, he will once again be removed from the position of The Hand and replaced by Ser Criston Cole by Aegon II because of his impatience. But why do Maesters do that ?
Well, they hate magic and they desire to have a world without magic, so that they can easily manipulate people and dragons are magical beasts, the magic comes back to Essos and Westeros with their arrival in GOT. The Targaryen civil war "the dance of the dragons" will eventually end with the deaths of many dragons. All those big ones, Vhagar, Ceraxes, Meraxes, Sunfyre, Syrax and all the others. Only Cannibal, Morning, Silwerwing and Tessarion will survive in the end they are old creatures, after their death no other eggs will hatch.

[chelisue]

Mellos being incompetent wouldn’t necessarily preclude the possibility of a maester conspiracy. It’s possible the citadel sent mellos knowing his bumbling could be responsible for the downfall of the house without looking particularly intentional

[oswinhull]

You are underestimating just how much they fear and hate the Targaryens. You see this in how everyone looks at Daemon specifically. Melos looks scared all the time. He is like Alicent walking on egg shells. Maegor the cruel is still in living memory. They are 100% all in on a conspiracy to undermine and overthrow the Targaryens whether it is explicit or implicit. They are working to kill him until he Corlys/Raenys pressure him to take a new wife. Then all of a sudden they find a bowl of maggots to clean the wound now that they feel they can manipulate him into marrying Alicent. People have known about maggots cleaning wounds for 1000s of years. Any maester worth their salt will know this. Otto is a clever guy. He knows Viserys is insecure. Laena is such the obvious choice you can't not recommend her as the best match. It would be suspicious not to. You can see the anger on Viserys's face as he expects him to recommend Alicent. Instead Otto lets his silence do the talking while he exchanges knowing glances with Melos. Viserys thinks he is doing a power move by choosing Alicent to show everyone how strong he is when he was in fact totally manipulated. At least you caught onto the baby/wife murder.

[monaradu]

I find it interesting that, in the books, it is Mellos who suggests Viserys was behind the Strongs’ murder. That is because, I suspect Otto did it, in fact, to eliminate a rival Hand.

[greenman]

The way Viserys's cuts from the Iron Throne get so infected, so continually, ..one could think that someone might be deliberately placing contaminated matter on the sharp areas of the throne that he will encounter. But surely no one would want to harm anyone else, let alone the king.

[anthonyufert]

Aemma was wed to Viserys at 11 & was bed at 13, that’s probably why her pregnancies were troublesome.