Glass Candles: Characters Who Have/Could Have Them

Background/Meta

In this post I thought it would be fun to discuss the different characters who have glass candles in the ASOIAF universe.

From u/gsteff's visit to Cushing and u/zionus' find of the AFFC outline we can really see that GRRM was struggling with how to use the glass candles in the story. While they seemingly could originally grant the user immortality and were the original goal of the Faceless Men at the Citadel, they seem to have been somewhat whittled down to just a way for the owner to look/communicate far away in real time.

The Lesson at the Citadel

From the AFFC, Prologue we get the background on what the glass candles at the Citadel are currently used for:

"What are these glass candles?" asked Roone.

Armen the Acolyte cleared his throat. "The night before an acolyte says his vows, he must stand a vigil in the vault. No lantern is permitted him, no torch, no lamp, no taper . . . only a candle of obsidian. He must spend the night in darkness, unless he can light that candle. Some will try. The foolish and the stubborn, those who have made a study of these so-called higher mysteries. Often they cut their fingers, for the ridges on the candles are said to be as sharp as razors. Then, with bloody hands, they must wait upon the dawn, brooding on their failure. Wiser men simply go to sleep, or spend their night in prayer, but every year there are always a few who must try."

...

“Yes.” Pate had heard the same stories. “But what’s the use of a candle that casts no light?”

“It is a lesson,” Armen said, “the last lesson we must learn before we don our maester’s chains. The glass candle is meant to represent truth and learning, rare and beautiful and fragile things. It is made in the shape of a candle to remind us that a maester must cast light wherever he serves, and it is sharp to remind us that knowledge can be dangerous. Wise men may grow arrogant in their wisdom, but a maester must always remain humble. The glass candle reminds us of that as well. Even after he has said his vow and donned his chain and gone forth to serve, a maester will think back on the darkness of his vigil and remember how nothing that he did could make the candle burn … for even with knowledge, some things are not possible.” -AFFC, Prologue

Confirmed Character Mentions

In this section I thought I would stick to just confirmed events in the books:

Urrathon Nightwalker

While in Qarth, it is implied that Dany's dragons are somehow powering up the magic in the world and we get our first mention of glass candles in the series:

Xaro looked troubled. "And so it was, then. But now? I am less certain. It is said that the glass candles are burning in the house of Urrathon Night-Walker, that have not burned in a hundred years. -ACOK, Daenerys V

The Citadel/Marwyn

We also know that four candles were brought to Oldtown:

Pate knew about the glass candles, though he had never seen one burn. They were the worst-kept secret of the Citadel. It was said that they had been brought to Oldtown from Valyria a thousand years before the Doom. He had heard there were four; one was green and three were black, and all were tall and twisted. -AFFC, Prologue

and that Lazo Leo Tyrell claims in the AFFC Prologue that there is one burning in Marwyn's chambers:

Armen looked down his nose at Lazy Leo. He had the perfect nose for it, long and thin and pointed. "Archmaester Marwyn believes in many curious things," he said, "but he has no more proof of dragons than Mollander. Just more sailors' stories."

"You're wrong," said Leo. "There is a glass candle burning in the Mage's chambers."

A hush fell over the torchlit terrace. Armen sighed and shook his head. Mollander began to laugh. The Sphinx studied Leo with his big black eyes. Roone looked lost. -AFFC, Prologue

and while the group does not necessarily believe him at first:

Lazy Leo burst out laughing. “Not possible for you, you mean. I saw the candle burning with my own eyes.”

“You saw some candle burning, I don’t doubt,” said Armen. “A candle of black wax, perhaps.”

the reader also know that similar to Urrathon Nightwalker above, its possible the return of dragons has allowed the glass candles to be lit:

“I know what I saw. The light was queer and bright, much brighter than any beeswax or tallow candle. It cast strange shadows and the flame never flickered, not even when a draft blew through the open door behind me.”

Armen crossed his arms. “Obsidian does not burn.”

“Dragonglass,” Pate said. “The smallfolk call it dragonglass.” Somehow that seemed important.

“They do,” mused Alleras, the Sphinx, “and if there are dragons in the world again …”

but once Sam arrives at Oldtown at meets Marwyn later in AFFC, we find out that that candle was indeed lit (as well as get a major info dump on GRRM's plan for the candles):

"What feeds the flame?" asked Sam.

"What feeds a dragon's fire?" Marwyn seated himself upon a stool. "All Valyrian sorcery was rooted in blood or fire. The sorcerers of the Freehold could see across mountains, seas, and deserts with one of these glass candles. They could enter a man's dreams and give him visions, and speak to one another half a world apart, seated before their candles. Do you think that might be useful, Slayer?"

"We would have no more need of ravens." -AFFC, Samwell V

and that the Citadel, note the "Lesson" above) wants these candles to not be burning:

If I tell you, they may need to kill you too." Marywn smiled a ghastly smile, the juice of the sourleaf running red between his teeth. "Who do you think killed all the dragons the last time around? Gallant dragonslayers armed with swords?" He spat. "The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles, much less for dragons. Ask yourself why Aemon Targaryen was allowed to waste his life upon the Wall, when by rights he should have been raised to archmaester. His blood was why. He could not be trusted. No more than I can."

and it is revealed how they knew Sam was coming:

"How?"

Alleras nodded at the glass candle.

Sam stared at the strange pale flame for a moment, then blinked and looked away. Outside the window it was growing dark.

Quaithe

Going back to Qarth again we meet Quaithe originally/physically, but later on she visits Dany at first aboard Balerion (ship):

Someone was in the cabin with her.

“Irri? Jhiqui? Where are you?” Her handmaids did not respond. It was too black to see, but she could hear them breathing. “Jorah, is that you?”

“They sleep,” a woman said. “They all sleep.” The voice was very close. “Even dragons must sleep.”

She is standing over me. “Who’s there?” Dany peered into the darkness. She thought she could see a shadow, the faintest outline of a shape. “What do you want of me?”

“Remember. To go north, you must journey south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward you must go back, and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow.” -ASOS, Daenerys VIII

and then later again (with a real time warning) in ADWD:

A woman stood under the persimmon tree, clad in a hooded robe that brushed the grass. Beneath the hood, her face seemed hard and shiny. She is wearing a mask, Dany knew, a wooden mask finished in dark red lacquer. “Quaithe? Am I dreaming?” She pinched her ear and winced at the pain. “I dreamt of you on Balerion, when first we came to Astapor.”

“You did not dream. Then or now.”

“What are you doing here? How did you get past my guards?”

“I came another way. Your guards never saw me.”

“If I call out, they will kill you.”

“They will swear to you that I am not here.”

“Are you here?”

"No. Hear me, Daenerys Targaryen. The glass candles are burning. Soon comes the pale mare, and after her the others. Kraken and dark flame, lion and griffin, the sun's son and the mummer's dragon. Trust none of them. Remember the Undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal." -ADWD, Daenerys III

Note: This vision was also changed from when GRRM originally had Euron/Victarion going to Meereen as "Kraken and Crow".

Speculation

In the above section I tried (as much as possible) to stick to things that were solely canon, but using the above combined with other quotes, etc. allows for some speculation as to just who else might have/had a glass candle.

Euron Greyjoy

Euron Greyjoy = Urrathon Nighwalker.

The details lineup perfectly, from Euron's banishment from the Iron Islands, to the name "Urrathon" to Euron capturing the warlocks coming from Qarth after Daenerys.

Leyton Hightower

Euron's potential upcoming opponent in a battle of the mystical minds, Lord Leyton has been missing from the public eye for over a decade. While there are some potential less magical reasons as to why, it is very possible that the guy in charge of the city that has glass candles and claims the title "Defender of the Citadel" might possess one as well.

I get into it further in the linked posts in this section, but my thoughts behind Leyton having a glass candle can be summed up in these quotes (basically since he got a working glass candle, he doesn't want to come down to real life anymore: Spend too much time amongst the clouds and you never want to come back down)

Other beasts were best left alone, the hunter had declared. Cats were vain and cruel, always ready to turn on you. Elk and deer were prey; wear their skins too long, and even the bravest man became a coward. Bears, boars, badgers, weasels … Haggon did not hold with such. "Some skins you never want to wear, boy. You won't like what you'd become." Birds were the worst, to hear him tell it. "Men were not meant to leave the earth. Spend too much time in the clouds and you never want to come back down again. I know skinchangers who've tried hawks, owls, ravens. Even in their own skins, they sit moony, staring up at the bloody blue." -ADWD, Prologue

While Leyton is almost certainly not a warg, the language is similar:

Men were not meant to leave the earth. Spend too much time in the clouds and you never want to come back down again.

and:

Lord Leyton had not made the descent in more than a decade, preferring to rule his city from the clouds

and:

"All Valyrian sorcery was rooted in blood or fire. The sorcerers of the Freehold could see across mountains, seas, and deserts with one of these glass candles. They could enter a man's dreams and give him visions, and speak to one another half a world apart, seated before their candles.

If interested: The Man in the High Castle

The Mad Maid

Leyton's eldest daughter is Malora aka the Mad Maid. They are mentioned to be consulting spells as they prepare for Euron's attack:

"To be sure. Lord Leyton's locked atop his tower with the Mad Maid, consulting books of spells. Might be he'll raise an army from the deeps. Or not. Baelor's building galleys, Gunthor has charge of the harbor, Garth is training new recruits, and Humfrey's gone to Lys to hire sellsails. If he can winkle a proper fleet out of his whore of a sister, we can start paying back the ironmen with some of their own coin. Till then, the best we can do is guard the sound and wait for the bitch queen in King's Landing to let Lord Paxter off his leash."

I would assume that if Leyton is using one, than Malora has access as well (unless she is elsewhere).

If interested: The Black Tide & Towers by the Sea: The Hightower Defenses

Further Thoughts

• Patchface's dream/prophecy

This sounds eerily similar to a glass candle:

"Under the sea, smoke rises in bubbles, and flames burn green and blue and black," Patchface sang somewhere.

A Clash of Kings - Davos I

• Maester Aemon's Dream

Glass candles are seemingly mentioned along with unhatched eggs (Summerhall?) in a quote that is given to Sam before they get to Oldtown:

That had been one of his last good days. After that the old man spent more time sleeping than awake, curled up beneath a pile of furs in the captain's cabin. Sometimes he would mutter in his sleep. When he woke he'd call for Sam, insisting that he had to tell him something, but oft as not he would have forgotten what he meant to say by the time that Sam arrived. Even when he did recall, his talk was all a jumble. He spoke of dreams and never named the dreamer, of a glass candle that could not be lit and eggs that would not hatch. He said the sphinx was the riddle, not the riddler, whatever that meant. He asked Sam to read for him from a book by Septon Barth, whose writings had been burned during the reign of Baelor the Blessed. Once he woke up weeping. "The dragon must have three heads," he wailed, "but I am too old and frail to be one of them. I should be with her, showing her the way, but my body has betrayed me." -AFFC, Samwell IV

• The Sphinx

Going back to the AFFC, Prologue (while also looking at Maester Aemon's quote above) let's look at Alleras/Sarellas quote:

The Sphinx reached for his bowcase. "It's bed for me as well. I expect I'll dream of dragons and glass candles."

"All of you?" Leo shrugged. "Well, Rosey will remain. Perhaps I'll wake our little sweetmeat and make a woman of her."

TLDR: A post about who has/had glass candles (Urrathon Nightwalker, The Citadel/Marwyn, Quaithe) and who could have one (Leyton Hightower, Euron Greyjoy) as well as some other speculation.