Valyria is Alive (Spoilers Extended)

The Valyrian Freehold was a 5,000 year old oligarchy built on blood-magic, slavery, and, bioengineering. Their magics, power, and foresight were unrivaled by anyone else and were at their height before the Doom. So I find it odd that a society that could foresee something about Lannister gold couldn't see the Doom or the extinction of their dragons (sans Daenys).

I'd argue the Upper-dragonlords DID foresee it, and even had a bigger picture than Daenys did. So what do people well-versed in prophecy do when they've given a prophecy foretelling their destruction? They'd be smart enough not to run from it, but to embrace it and work within its framework. They saw their home would be destroyed and dragons would be dead in a few centuries. Dragons all dying would ensure the world seeks retribution. So how do they work within that framework?

The Doom absolutely happened, and was akin to multiple magical nuclear bombs going off, but I think the higher-dragonlords used all that death to funnel it into one of, if not the biggest blood-sacrifice on the planet. The complete destruction of their Freehold, the land, the resources, the people, was going to happen regardless. So why not use it to fuel the biggest shimmer spell in existence?

The dragonlords had been gathered in Valyria as was their wont...except for Aenar Targaryen, his children, and his dragons, who had fled to Dragonstone and so escaped the Doom. Some accounts claim that a few others survived, too...for a time. It is said that some Valyrian dragonlords in Tyrosh and Lys were spared, but that in the immediate political upheaval following the Doom, they and their dragons were killed by the citizens of those Free Cities.

As the secret was only known to the upper-dragonlords, the Targaryens fled, only seeing the destruction aspect of the Doom. The others, *gathered* in the epicenter. I can't say how many knew the plan and how many would be unknowingly sacrificed, but it is strange they all gathered for it if they knew destruction was on the horizon.

The fallout throughout the freehold, could be magically enhanced by the Valyrians, entirely their doing, or just standard magical fallout. Either way, it acts as a defensive moat to keep out those who'd learn of their existence. Especially because if anyone knew Valyria remained, they'd plunder it immediately or attack it as revenge for thousands of years of Essosi subjugation as shown in the quoted text .

All to say, the Freehold is the hellscape we know it as, but a pocket of shimmer magic fueled by the Doom has kept the city of Valyria alive, making it essentially asoiaf's isolationist fiery lost city of Atlantis.

Now for the people who ventured in after the Doom.

• Aurion

The histories of Qohor likewise claim that a visiting dragonlord, Aurion, raised forces from the Qohorik colonists and proclaimed himself the first Emperor of Valyria. He flew away on the back of his great dragon, with thirty thousand men following behind afoot, to lay claim to what remained of Valyria and to reestablish the Freehold. But neither Emperor Aurion nor his host were ever seen again.

After the Doom, maps show Valyria is now NOT connected to mainland Essos. Unless Aurion managed to ferry his 30,000 men and equipment on his dragon, they aren't accomplishing anything. Plus, he'd have to take on the dragonlords still ruling the city if he even made it that far. Nothing changes really if the theory is correct or not.

• King Tommen Lannister / Gerion Lannister

The sword Brightroar came into the possession of the Lannister kings in the century before the Doom, and it is said that the weight of gold they paid for it would have been enough to raise an army. But it was lost little more than a century later, when Tommen II carried it with him when he sailed with his great fleet to ruined Valyria, with the intention of plundering the wealth and sorcery he was sure still remained. The fleet never returned, nor Tommen, nor Brightroar.

Again, I'd find it strange if the Valyrians knew about the danger or Lannister gold, but never foresaw the Doom or the extinction of dragons. Regardless, even if Tommen didn't die getting to Valyria, I can guarantee they'd murder or enslave him immediately. This also applies to Gerion, as even if he made it to Valyria and rambled about his lost family's sword, he'd get the same treatment. Nothing really changes.

• Aerea Targaryen

We told the king, as we must surely tell her mother, that Aerea never spoke, but that is a lie. I pray that I shall soon forget some of the things she whispered through her cracked and bleeding lips. I cannot forget how oft she begged for death.

Valyria is accursed, all men agree, and even the boldest sailor steers well clear of its smoking bones … but we would be mistaken to believe that nothing lives there now. The things we found inside Aerea Targaryen live there now, I would submit … along with such other horrors as we cannot even begin to imagine. I have written here at length of how the princess died, but there is something else, something even more frightening, that requires mention:

Balerion had wounds as well. That enormous beast, the Black Dread, the most fearsome dragon ever to soar through the skies of Westeros, returned to King’s Landing with half-healed scars that no man recalled ever having seen before, and a jagged rent down his left side almost nine feet long, a gaping red wound from which his blood still dripped, hot and smoking.

There can be a million things to speculate about poor Aerea. She was gone for an entire year, living in one of the most hostile places on the planet. It seems clear to me that Balerion took care of her, during the journey. Keeping her fed, defended, alive. No way she'd have survived without him even in standard wilderness. If she made it to Valyria and was treated as a guest by kin before attempting to return home through hell, or subjected to experimentation by them and escaped, or just wandered around the fallout of the freehold for the entire time, we just don't know.

Something that strikes me, is it that the only verified creature that we know of that could harm Balerion like that, is another dragon. And it happened both recently, and semi-recently with the two stages of wounds. Of course, it could be also demons, fyreworms, or some other creature. But unless George has stated elsewhere, there isn't an example of a dragon being harmed by any living creatures other than dragons and humans. And Balerion was not just some dragonpit-broken and stunted lizard, whatever hurt him was as terrifying as the Black Dread, and it happened in Valyria. My money is on another dragon.

• Euron Greyjoy

Euron Crow’s Eye stood upon the deck of Silence, clad in a suit of black scale armor like nothing Aeron had ever seen before. Dark as smoke it was, but Euron wore it as easily as if it was the thinnest silk. The scales were edged in red gold, and gleamed and shimmered when they moved. Patterns could be seen within the metal, whorls and glyphs and arcane symbols folded into the steel.

Valyrian steel, the Damphair knew. His armor is Valyrian steel. In all the Seven Kingdoms, no man owned a suit of Valyrian steel. Such things had been known 400 years ago, in the days before the Doom, but even then, they would’ve cost a kingdom.

Euron did not lie. He has been to Valyria. No wonder he was mad.

This is really gets to me. For all the slave labor to be used, the history of piracy, the untold amounts of wealth sitting in the Freehold, few try to capitalize. Fair enough though, as to get this armor, he'd have to journey to Valyria and then start excavating sites, because 400 years of volcanic build up is going to bury everything under multiple feet of compacted debris. So basically like excavating Pompeii, but if Pompeii was currently in hell and everything wants you dead. Seems unlikely, though not impossible.

I think he is one of the few who can venture past the "moat" of the Freehold, and has the magical expertise to see through the shimmer. He's the exact type of person I would expect to parley with the Valyrians, trade with, and convince them he'd keep their status a secret. As the dragonlords dragons are all dead by this point, they've basically become trapped by their own defense. I can see that dragon egg being VERY valuable to them.

All to say, this theory really relies on the dragonlords having reliant foresight, and how Euron got his armor, which don't make sense as the story currently implies. This theory solves those oddities, while not breaking anything else in the current canon. Feel free to poke holes! Any relevant information/lore/quotes from the George? I don't even believe the theory is real, but I wrote this up after seeing that earlier post about Valyrian remnants and dialed it up to 100. It surprisingly didn't fall apart, and I think it's a neat idea. Link to post.