What is Qyburn up to? ASOIAF Theory 

What a sweet old doctor he's probably healing the sick and helping children.

I really like the idea of Qyburn using these prisoners as dialysis machines to filter Ser Gregor's blood, until the filters become too poisoned.

Qyburn is definitely GRRM's take on Dr. Frankenstein. He's a charismatic scientist/doctor who creates an 8 foot tall undead monster with unspecified medical techniques out of corpse(s). On the surface he seems like a good man but underneath he is a bigger monster than his creation. In the original novel, Dr. Frankenstein crafts his monster's body parts with materials he gets in "the dissecting room and slaughter-house." Cersei is handing over people for Qyburn to experiment on. Mary Shelly was also similarly vague on how Dr. Frankenstein specifically brought the creature to life. I also don't know why you are hesitant to say that Qyburn is using magic to create an undead monster. Qyburn names Marwyn as the only one in the Citadel who liked his ideas. The fact that Qyburn even brings up Marwyn implies magic is involved in his experiments. I cannot think of a character who brings up Marwyn non-negatively that *isn't* an incredibly sketchy magic user. I do not think that Qyburn is working for any big players or has any grand goals but rather he's exactly what he seems to be. He's a mad scientist/necromancer who wants to perform his horrible unethical experiments. Qyburn will work for anybody who will allow him to perform them and Cersei is the only one foolish enough to do so. Think about how the Citadel tolerates Marwyn and even made him archmaester, awarding him with a mask made of Valyrian steel, but banished Qyburn. Marwyn is up there with Euron and Bloodraven as the sketchiest characters in the story. Yet somehow Qyburn's crimes must have been at least perceived as worse than anything Marwyn has done.

I would argue that swapping out body parts and blood from living but unwilling hosts to keep the Mountain alive is still some Dr. Frankenstein-esque behavior

It is often noted that the dwarves killed in the hunt for Tyrion have large heads, so i think one of those was the skull sent to Dorne

"You know him, you love him, I dont know how the phuck to pronounce his name!" Hahahaha. Perfect opening line. In my head canon Qwhyburn is an agent of Doran, just like PJ's wonky Deeper Dorn theory. I've also heard that Robb's head might be on The Mountain's body, thus the "Ser Robert Strong" moniker. Either way, the dude is scary. What he did to the Blue Bard, and that lady that Bronn evicted, is scary AF man. I like this theory.

I suspect the head he sent to Dorne was one of the big dwarf heads Cersei got as a present. And he told Doran ahead of time.

Tbh, I think he indeed started to delve into necromancy along with medicine. Maesters try very hard to convince everyone that magic isn't real in general (think glass candles), but it is indeed pretty real. We have various stories about necromancers like Dagon Drumm and Morgon Banefort, Mel said that the Others are practicing necromancy pretty much and Thoros too does the same thing and he never answered the "Can you bring him back without a head?". Bran's vision also hints at Gregor not having a head or if he has, he doesn't have control of his body at all (head empty) similar to the wights. There were shadows all around them. One Shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them loomed a Giant in armor made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood. - A Game of Thrones - Bran III I think that Gregor is very much dead, the "no head" doesn't sound that crazy either, tbh. Qyburn's whole character looks like the magical equivalents of doctors from WWII to me. They were doing some crazy experiments for the sake of science and I mean really messed up stuff, pair that with magic and you have some crazy things.

I think this is main idea of Qyburn being like the Roman surgeon Valan, just way advanced for his time in modern medical ideas is less tin foil and more on the likely side. He was the only known maester in the main story who actually studied the human body to the degree needed to get an idea of how it all works. Where the tin foil can come in is the "how." For instance I like to think he has tubing and a pump ready made by nature of the COTF. My tinny guess is that he uses weirwood roots for the tubing and a piece of a weirwood stump as the pump. yeah I know cover me in Tin Foil and call me Mr. Reynolds, but I like it.

I'm proud to be the probably first in history to create fanart that gets fanart made of it! Nah but seriously, it's really cool that you're getting more fan appreciation like this. :)

The tickler???😂😂😂😂😂 How scary can he be?

Let's go! Evil doctor grandpa. I like the Preston theory that the Brave Companions is the mercenary group Oberyn started in Essos. And that they are secretly working for Doran Martell. It's nuts but I like thinking that Qybern is in league with the Dornish. I don't belive it. But it's fun.

Thanks again friend.

we did do a "head transplant" on a couple of monkeys. (just kept them un attached except for the main veins and arteries to keep the heads blood flowing. except we switched the bodies.) i think one woke up and ate some ice. they both died the same day if i remember correctly. idk if you'd call that a success but its official human lore.

Qyburn. He's doing it for science.

hey thanks for the shoutout ! great video, great channel and a great sigil, was my pleasure to make my take on the blazon !

Soul-bound to a Glass -Candle

I could’ve sworn Circe sent the head of the previous high septon to drone.The one who was implied to of gotten his office with some bribery on Tyrion. Though I admit it has been a while.

(NOTE: Following is from the POV of a Pharmaceutical Science STUDENT at Uni, so do take some of what I say with salt, pepper, and a third, suckling, greasy thing served on a tray of steel with an underside of boiled leather) I'm personally more of the neckless-multiheaded necro goop monstrosity that's the friendly best boy Robert Strong :), but i do enjoy the initial idea you propose of a magicless alternative. My only issue is that it would basically consist of transfusion and organ transfers, which well... Will just kill him faster than the poison. The main reason why Organ/Blood donation isn't so great typically is because of rejection, and since he's getting his donations from Stokeworths to þucking Tyroshi dwarf-head sellers, I really don't see him coming across anything that wouldn't just kill lead to pus and blood a week later. Also, even if he somehow got a complete miracle, and it turned out that the puppeteers where an ideal enough... how about immunosuppression? Like, literally outside of 1:1 same cell donations, people who've had organ donations need immunosuppressions to help prevent as much as possible rejections, even with generally ideal matches. OK, but I hear you say that through the miracle of Sure, Why Not, Quyburn can produce immunosuppressants, what's the issue now? HE LIVES IN THE MIDDLE AGES 😭😭😭 IN ASOIAF 😭😭😭 DAENERYS NEARLY DIES OF POOPING TO DEATH, ROBERT STRONG WOULD BE ÞUCKED😭😭😭 (Also, no of this explains why he isn't seen eating, drinking, or pooping, from sources that have no reason to lie about this) TL;DR, I do agree that Robert Strong is probably not as purely magical as most make it out... but also, clearly *something* more is going on than just your stock standard "Gave him a plaster and a kiss and he got better and when :)"

Yo man idk if u remember me but keep ip the amazing work. Always love the vids

Absolutely headless. So much more creepy.

Another mystery about Qyburn is where his allegiences lie. Is he just self-serving in the pursuit of knowledge and thus attaches himself to Cercei for the power and means to carry out his research? Or is he a plant of someone or some cause? Preston Jacobs' theory about him being part of the Dornish plan seems like a stretch to me, but at the least Qyburn is in the perfect position to manipulate Cercei and certain events in King's Landing.

Jo sounds neat.👍

What is often overlooked is the fact that George RR Martin has read a lot of works by H.P Lovecraft. I propose this: Qyburn isn't just based on Victor Frankenstein, but rather on Herbert West: Reanimator. Why? Well, for one in the original books Victor Frankenstein isn't a mad doctor, he isn't even a doctor at all but a student who was afraid of his creation. The madness and SCIENCE were movie inventions. Herbert West however, was all about science and research, ready to abandon all morals and good sense in the name of progress. Oh, and minor detail: in the novel Reanimator, Dr. Herbert West practices medicine in the town called Bolton. Funny coincidence that, eh?

Arya asked Thoros if he could bring back someone without a head in the cave

One thing that makes me highly doubt he's just doing normal medical intervention is the purpose of mr. "Strong". He clearly is experimented on so that he can be used again as indomitable fighter, and this will be straight up impossible if he's a living person constantly under strain of recent poisoning and a string of operations on top. He will be weakened, with multiple operation wounds mid healing, and definitely feeling very far from good. It could be an interesting turn if he actually gets into combat and is immediately dismantled by his opponent, but I doubt JRRM is building up to this. So my money is currently on undead Mountain.

Gods you're so good. That Tywin funeral scene is so good. Cersie chapters in Feast is so good. Pure intrigue. Could you imagine the event of the lifetime that is the release of Winds? I want you in the mix when the book drops. Could you please do a series dramatizing the books 📚 🙏 🤔

Do Quyburn and Marwyn know eachother? I don’t remember anything in the book about that. But a mad scientist disgraced Maester and a crazy Wizard Maester must have at least heard of eachother if not had a few beers together at some point.

Algormancy!

What is he up to 🤔

Do we know why Qyburn lost his chain? I'm wondering if it's because he managed to light a glass candle. Binding Gregor to a glass candle to stop him dying would be in keeping with the in-world lore on the undead.

theory: Qyburn is the age that the last Tarbeck or Rayne would be. Is there a possibility that house Tarbeck or Rayne had a single son who would be slightly younger than Tywin but learning at the Citadel when they were all killed? While there is little evidence of this in the narrative, the Rayne's of Castimere is a) a main theme in the story and B) has no furtherance at all. Could it be possible that it was Qyburn who was slowly poisoning Tywin? The last son of a dead house exacting revenge is a common trope in ASoIF. I know some will point to the fact that he healed Jamie and didn't kill him, but killing Jamie right off wouldn't have allowed him to play the long con and get into the service of the Lannisters, allowing him a shot at Tywin. Qyburn - Tywin even the names are similar. Could Qyburn be the last scion of house Rayne or Tarbeck and cause the final fall of house Lannister?

I will say people overlook how evil Euron and Kal Drogo are not to mention the the others the nights king the bloodstone emperor. The ghiskari the valyrians are. But i digress

WtF made Qyburn even think it was possible to do WHATEVER it is he did to get Robert Strong back online and running? He couldn't do shite like that BEFORE? So what changed? Who did he learn that new bit of rez-magic information from? Well-he learned HOW to do WHATEVER he did to Robert Strong AT Harrenhall. Prolly the name Strong is also a clue to this. Roose burns a book when Arya walks in on him at one point. THAT book was ALSO read by Qyburn. There is a sort of change here-Qyburn goes on his own, Roose flips sides. THAT book is what gave Qyburn the knowledge he needed to be able to make Robert Strong happen. It means Roose has that same knowledge as well. O-whispering disembodied heads are loosley covered in Brienne's chapter heh

Odd its girls organs or blood for a giant warrior.

lol probably a Frey, tell me random internet guy, where were you at the time of the red wedding? TELL ME

Interesting and well thought out, but I respectfully disagree. I think the most likely explanation is that he’s using a combination of magic and medical knowledge. ASOIAF is still a fantasy story and magic is a real force in this world. Using a hellish combo of magic and science makes the most sense for explaining how Qyburn was able to raise the mountain. Perhaps some of the prisoners were used as blood/organ donors and others were magical sacrifices - only death can pay for life.

Sorry I must come to defend this good old guy. He has done nothing wrong. The gray sheeps are afraid of his desire for sience. We have done the same things as he did in your world to get knowledge. It is a shame that you compare him to evil guys such as Remsei.

lol you do kinda hate a lot of my favorite theories