This is a listing of members of the Alchemists' Guild who appear in A Song of Ice and Fire.
For the main character index, see here
The Alchemists' Guild
- "The substance flows through my veins, and lives in the heart of every pyromancer. We respect its power."—Wisdom Hallyne
The Alchemists' Guild, also referred to as the Guild of Alchemists is an old order of pyromancers. The guild was once powerful, though in the recent centuries, the Maesters rose in prominence and pyromancers saw their influence dwindle. The pyromancers still claim to posses vast secret stores of knowledge. They are led by a Grand Master.
- Ancient Tradition: Pretty old. Their actual origins are unknown.
- Crippling Overspecialization: The main reason why they were supplanted by the maesters of the Citadel. While maesters are trained in various fields of science and politics, the only skill publicly displayed by the alchemists is their ability to create wildfire.
- Greek Fire: Their wildfire is essentially this, and is very much Made of Explodium.
- Impartial Purpose-Driven Faction: They are so "impartial" they are actually amoral if not evil, its leaders burning people alive on Aerys's orders and then going along with his genocidal plan to burn King's Landing and its people.
- Insistent Terminology: They refer to wildfire as "the substance" since they're skilled in controlling and extinguishing it, making it not very "wild" to them.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Their so-called "abilities". The production of wildfire, however, is somewhat magical, as the pyromancers' reports in an increase in the effectiveness in production coincides with the rebirth of dragons. Above the cells where acolytes prepare wildfire are rooms filled with sand, which they boast have been laid with "spells" so the quenching sand falls to smother the flames (and the careless acolyte) should any fire appear.
- Non-Indicative Name: They are uninvolved with the stereotypical alchemical pursuits of creating gold from base metals and/or searching for the elixir of life. Notably, one character calling himself The Alchemist does speak of the former, but he's a Faceless Man and not an actual member of the Guild.
- The Order: Grand-sounding titles, a rigid hierarchy, silly robes, jargon nobody else gets (let alone cares about) and rituals sometimes even they don't understand the full reasons for... Bingo!
- Order Reborn: During the days of the Mad King they became prominent once again, due to Aerys' obsession with fire.
- The Remnant: In recent centuries they were supplanted by the Maesters. They enjoyed a brief resurgence during the reign of Mad King Aerys, a noted Pyromaniac, but afterward they have fallen low once again.
- Secret Art: The production of wildfire is their closest guarded secret.
- Secret Weapon: During Robert's Rebellion they produced vast amounts of wildfire for the Mad King and hid it in secret caches throughout King's Landing in order to destroy the city should the rebels win the war. Jaime killed the Mad King and his pyromancers before the wildfire caches could be ignited.
open/close all folders
Wisdom Hallyne
Wisdom/Lord Hallyne
The head of the Alchemists' Guild, responsible for overseeing the creation of wildfire. He's a third generation pyromancer.
- Court Mage: Specifically a pyromancer.
- In Name Only: He is given the title of Lord following the Battle of the Blackwater due to his efforts to create so much wildfire for the battle, but gets no lands or castle or income along with the title.
- Locked Out of the Loop: He never learned of Aerys' Wildfire Plot to burn King's Landing because he was only an acolyte at the time of Robert's Rebellion.
- Mr. Exposition: Explains to Tyrion (and the reader) how wildfire works, the history of the Alchemists Guild, and the fact that making wildfire has become easier lately. That last bit makes Hallyne wonder if the dragons have returned, due to once hearing that the more dragons there were in the world, the easier it would be to create wildfire.
- Pyromaniac: Downplayed, but he's rather obsessed about creating wildfire.
- The Remnant: Although he stops short of treasonous speech, he is very open about missing the Guild's "glory days" under the maniacal King Aerys.
- Verbal Tic: He puts, hmmmms, in between his sentences like this, hmmmm.
Wisdom Rossart
Grand Master/Wisdom/Lord Rossart
The Grand Master of the Alchemist's Guild during the latter years of the Mad King's reign and a member of his court. The Mad King even made him a member of the Small Council and later the Hand of the King.
- Court Mage: To the Mad King.
- The Dragon: After burning Qarlton Chelsted alive for refusing to go along with the Wildfire Plot, Rossart was made Hand of the King by the Mad King.
- Kill It with Fire: He burned Rickard Stark in his armor.
- Only One Name: Due to being lowborn.
- Posthumous Character: He was killed by Jaime Lannister along with the Mad King to prevent the destruction of King's Landing.
- Pyromaniac: As his master.
- Torture Technician: Aerys basically used him (and others in the order) as this. Both for physical, psychological and even social torture-terrorism.
- Undying Loyalty: To the Mad King.
Wisdoms Garigus & Belis
Wisdoms Garigus & Belis
Wisdoms of the Alchemist's Guild under the reign of the Mad King.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Garigus wept for mercy when Jaime found him.
- Buy Them Off: Belis tried to bribe Jaime with gold in exchange for his life.
- Court Mage: To the Mad King.
- Only One Name: Probably because of being lowborn.
- Posthumous Character: They were killed by Jaime Lannister days after killing Aerys and Rossart to make sure they didn't carry out Aerys' orders of destroying the city and its inhabitants with wildfire.
- Pyromaniac: As their master.
- Torture Technician: What they effectively were, despite their profound-sounding title.
- Undying Loyalty: To the Mad King.
