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In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, ravens in Westeros are depicted as identical in appearance to real-life ravens, but objectively somewhat "smarter".
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In the booksÄozens of ravens are released at Winterfell to call in the bannermen, in " The Pointy End". The rare white raven which Pycelle presented to the small council in Season 2 had to be brought in all the way from Austria. Live ravens are used in most shots in which the animals appear in cages, though more complex shots of them flying around often need to use CGI ravens. Grand Maester Pycelle presents a white raven to the small council. This happened in 299 AC, when Summer turned into Autumn, and then again in 303 AC, when winter had officially come. Said to be even cleverer than their dark-feathered cousins, the Conclave of archmaesters dispatches these birds from the the Citadel in Oldtown only when they agree that the often years-longs seasons of Westeros have officially turned. While most messenger-ravens are the standard black-feathered variety, there is also a much rarer species which bears white plumage. Ravens can fly great distances at speed, and through complex training methods, the maesters are able to send messages from almost any castle in the realm to any other.Īlthough most messages brought by ravens are standard and innocuous, the birds have also been linked to ominous tidings, giving rise to the phrase "Dark wings, dark words". Compared to other birds, ravens are uncommonly intelligent, and are used by the maesters to send messages between the castles and cities of the Seven Kingdoms.