This chapter opens up with the Small Council listening to the plea of the Captain of the City Watch Janos Slynt, who is requesting additional men to address the problem that the influx of people attending the Tourney of the Hand has caused.
Ultimately Ned tells him to hire fifty new men and that he will also loan him twenty men from his house to help keep the king's peace until after the tourney is over.
The council then turns to other matters, but in the course of conversation we learn that Stannis once proposed the banning of brothels. This notion was shot down by the King who asked he he’d like to outlaw eating, shitting and breathing while at it.
Once council business is finished, Ned returns to the Tower of the Hand where he resumes his investigation into the death of Jon Arryn. As requested from Grandmaester Pycelle, Ned now has the book Jon Arryn requested before he died. A large book entitled The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, With Descriptions of Many High Lords and Noble Ladies and Their Children , by Grand Maester Malleon.
His reading is interrupted by Jory who as requested has followed up on the leads provided by Littlefinger. Jory reports that the stable boy who is now part of the city watch only reported that the former Hand of the King was in good physical shape, frequently went riding and often did so with Lord Stannis.
We also learn that Ser Hugh of the Vale refused to discuss anything with Jory as he is not a knight and his arrogance may simply be due to his recent elevation to Knighthood. But Ser Hugh did say he would be willing to talk to the Hand of the King.
The serving girl had nothing but simple common rumors and gossip, but the pot boy who was dismissed and is now working making shoes revealed that Jon Arryn had commissioned a new suit of armor and that Lord Stannis helped him in the design it. In addition the pot boy says the visited a brothel together.
This strikes Ned as very odd behavior as he had learned from the council that Stannis hated brothels. Ned decides to follow up on these leads, unfortunately they didn’t know which brothel they visited so he instructs Jory to start looking into it. A task that Jory solemnly sears he will perform and notes that he will have little problem finding other Stark bannermen to help assist him with.
We also learn that Ned is puzzled as to what could have caused Stannis, a man Ned knows to be nearly fearless to flee back to Dragonstone. Ned is also further perplexed by Renly who showed him a locket with the picture of Margaery Tyrell and wants to know if she looks like Ned’s sister Lyanna.
Ned muses that a young Renly who reminds him of Robert may be falling in love with a young girl that others think resembles a young Lyanna. I’ll post more on this after the chapter summary in a bit called “The Renly Gambit” as it’s really significant part of the story, that Ned completely misses.
Ned decides that he will follow up with the smith that Lord Arryn commissioned the armor from. He arrives at the smithy of Thobo Mott after a quick journey through the marketplace. Thobo makes a good showing of his wars and even notes that Ser Loras Tyrelle the Knight of Flowers buys all his armor from him.
Ned asks about Jon Arryn and Thobo indicates that when Lord Arryn came by he was more interested in his apprentice Gendry than any armor. Ned then asks to see the boy and is taken back into the foundry where he is working.
Gendry tells Ned that the former hand of the king asked about him, if he enjoyed his work, who is mother was and what she looked like. He also says that Stannis looked at him like “I was some raper who done for his daughter.”
Gendry goes on to say that his mother died when he was young, but he recalls she was blonde and worked in an alehouse. This causes Ned to take a really close look at his features.
Ned thanks him for his time and lets him get back to work. On the way out he gets Thobo Mott to reveal that Gendry’s apprentice fee was paid by some lord (Really Varris in disguise) who wore no sigil and paid twice the normal fee. Ned tells Thobo if Gendry ever decides he wishes to become a soldier then he is to send him immediately to him.
The chapter ends with Ned getting back on to his horse and wondering why Jon Arryn and Stannis took an interest in the life of one of Robert’s bastard born children, and why it would have cost him his life.
But as noted prior I’d like to go back to Renly and what his is up to in showing Ned the locket with the picture of Margarey Tyrell.
Essentially he is trying to get rid of Cersei and replace her with Margarey. In doing so Renly is showing his ability to maneuver politically using both the Tyrell’s desire for greater social standing and Roberts lust for young and beautiful women to solve problems.
Unlike his brothers who are great military leaders, Renly’s strengths lay in political maneuvering and being a visionary in the sense of forseeing how things will play out… So without any fuher ado I present to you:
The Renley Gambit
Should proof of the incest between Cersei and Jaime come to light and Robert to be convinced that Tommen, Marcella and Joffrey are not his Renly is predicting that this will plunge the realm into war with the Lannisters.
The Lannisters could easily deny this and claim that Robert is just drunk, lusting after other women, incompetent as ruler, looking for a way to get out of paying back the crowns largest debt holder, etc.
Renly is predicting that the following houses would back the King
Stark, Tully, Baratheon (Obviously), Greyjoys might be forced to aid them as they have Theon as a hostage, and maybe even House Martell of Dorne could join in as they really want to take revenge upon the Lannisters for the actions of the Mountain and Tywin during the Rebellion.
Lysa Arryn might side with the king, or remain neutral in the conflict as would some of the Targaryen loyalists.
This leaves the Lannisters only real potential ally as House Tyrell of Highgarden who fought against Robert in his Rebellion. Both houses have lots of money and could field sellsword armies. Highgarden is kinda like the breadbasket of Westeros, shares borders with the Lannister held lands, so they wouldn’t have to rely on outside trade for supplies. Just as we see in the story they could marry Joffrey and Margaery to seal the alliance.
But Renly’s plan to wed Margaery to Robert would see the Tyrell’s their ambitions to see one of their own become royalty. At the same time it would heal a political rift that was caused during Robert's Rebellion when the Tyrells fought for the Crown and kept Stannis in Storm’s End under siege.
Most importantly Renly’s plan would deny the Lannisters the only potential ally in the realm and would result in the Lannisters being surrounded on all sides by foes. The Tyrells are likely to go for it as either alliance would see Margaery made Queen, the only real difference to them is how difficult of a war they wish to fight.
Siding with the Lannisters would mean a long drawn out war that will drain a lot of resources and more than likely see them having to fight defensively and trying not to be invaded. Siding with Robert would likely mean a quick wedding and a much shorter war as it will boil down to everyone against the Lannisters.
The bottom line is Renly is showing his brilliance in addressing a solution to the issue of succession and is proactively working to get out ahead of it, unlike Stannis and Jon Arryn who are more concerned with finding evidence to support that will plunge the realm into a civil war over succession.
That's it for this chapter, next chapter Cat snaffles Tyrion.
