The feather is mightier than the sword

“Dark wings, dark words”: Popular myths state that ravens and their messages are the harbingers of death. This generalization does the animals some injustice. But hidden in the superstition is an ounce of truth. The fact that only the nobility can afford the cost of raven delivery (not to mention reading and writing) means that the majority of communication by raven is political by nature. And the politics in Westeros are notoriously bloody. In times of war, news services are incredibly sensitive. The knowledge of weaknesses and adversary’s tactics can be mightier than an entire army.

Fast or (relatively) safe

Those needing to communicate over long distances in the Seven Kingdoms need to choose between speed and security. Those who trust their messages to messengers need to be patient, because a journey from Winterfell to King’s Landing can last months depending on weather conditions and confrontations (the exception proves the rule). Using a raven can reduce the travel time for a message by a few days– but they are easy prey for well-trained archers and trappers. This is enough to bring both animal and data privacy activists up in arms. In Westeros, the privacy of the mail is only as strong as the messenger’s armor.

The validity of a term like “privacy of mail” is something that is already heavily discussed by experts. This is due to the fact that in nearly all of the fortresses, communication is the responsibility of the local “Maester”. And these, in turn, are all members of a secret fraternity from Oldtown, who like to present themselves as independent scholars and who have been serving as teachers and consultants in all of the largest courts for hundreds of years.

What's in a name?

The truth is that the Maester training and the agenda behind the fraternity is as cloaked in secrecy as the identity of the “scholars” themselves. As they begin their training in the citadel in Oldtown, each pledge must renounce their family name. This makes it nearly impossible to determine which Maester belonged to which house – meaning that hardly anybody knows if old Maester Aemon from Castle Black is actually Aemon Targaryen, the brother of the deceased King Aegon V.

If you received this message via raven, you should ask yourself just how authentic the content is.