Game Of Thrones: 10 Lesser Known Fan Theories (That Might Actually Be True)
6. Faceless Men And Maester Conspiracies
Conspiracies are everywhere when it comes to looking at Game of Thrones theories. The biggest is the Grand Northern Conspiracy, which speculates the Northern Lords are plotting against the Boltons to make Jon King in the North (something that played out in a bit of a different manner on the show). There's also Southron Ambitions, which posits that numerous noble houses were conspiring against the Mad King, before the events that kickstarted Robert's Rebellion happened.
Somewhat lesser known, yet equally as captivating, are the conspiracy theories surrounding the Maesters and the Faceless Men.
The Grand Maester Conspiracy goes that for centuries the Citadel has been working to eradicate magic from the world. They are men of science and order, and magic throws all of that into chaos and goes against the natural way of things. This theory actually comes directly from the text, rather than evidence being pieced together: it's the notion of Archmaester Marwyn, aka Marwyn the Mage, that Maesters drove dragons from the world, and conspired to send Maester Aemon - a Targaryen - to the Wall, rather than raising him to Archmaester (although Aemon chose to go, as far as we know). The given reason for dragons dying is that they were locked up, but we've seen Daenerys' dragons grow despite this, so there may have been some foul play in how they were erased from existence.
It's further believed (and this ties into Southron Ambitions) that Lord Rickard Stark was being manipulated by his own Maester, Walys, into uniting the other major houses against Aerys II, as part of a wider Maester plot to remove the Targaryens from power. The reason being, of course, the Targaryens' close link to dragons and thus magic.
The notion of destroying dragons also plays out in the Faceless Men conspiracy. Are they just assassins-for-hire, or do they have a bigger plot?
The Faceless Men are said to have originated in the mines of Valyria (before the Doom), where they mercy-killed slaves who could no longer stand the horrid conditions they were forced to work in, before moving on to their masters and eventually becoming the 'death cult' we now know them as. And if they want to give the gift of death to everyone - which is the farthest possible extrapolation of their system - then the best way to do that is with the Others/White Walkers: a death cult allied with a group who can control the dead.
The other possible reading of this is their motivation is to remove dragons from the world, because of their role in the slavery of Valyria. This is why Jaqen H'ghar (in the books) is seemingly at the Citadel, to research dragon lore and how to destroy them.