Game of Thrones: Chapter 20: Eddard AKA Small Council but Big Players

This chapter opens with Ned just arriving at the Red Keep in King’s Landing. Before he is even off his horse he is told that Grand Maester Pycelle has called a meeting of the Small Council and they are requesting Ned’s presence. He orders his steward Vayon Poole to see his family get settled in while he goes and attends to this unknown urgent business of the council.

Upon his entering the council chamber Ned sees most all of the members of the council present. They are as follows.

The Master of Coin Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish

Grand Maester Pycelle

The Master of Ships Stannis Baratheon (Robert’s younger brother)

The Master of Laws Renly Baratheon (Robert’s youngest brother)

The Master of Whisperers Varys “The Spider”

Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Barristan Selmy

While we know Barristan is riding with the King through the city we learn that the King’s brother Stannis had left King’s Landing after Robert left to head north to Winterfell to his castle on Dragonstone.

We also learn that Robert doesn't really tend to the running of the realm and leaves the day to day matters in the hands of the council as those things bore him. He does on occasion give the council an order and they see the matter taken care of. On this day he has instructed the council to set up a grand tournament to celebrate Ned’s appointment to the office of Hand of the King.

I mean how could you NOT trust these guys???

Littlefinger estimates the cost of the tournament will be 100,000 gold and when Pycelle asks if the treasury can afford it Littlefinger reminds Pycelle that he knows damn well the treasury is empty and that he will have to borrow the money for the tournament.

It is here where we learn the Crown is in debt to the tune of 6,000,000 gold. Half of which is owned to Tywin Lannister the Queen's father.  

Littlefinger further relates that the crown not only owes the Lannisters but also Lord Tyrell of Highgarden, the Iron Bank of Braavos, some Tyroshi trade cartels, and even the Faith of the Seven are owed money.

Ned is shocked at this news, especially since the Targaryen’s left the treasury in good standing, and the former Hand of the King would most likely have helped Robert with the finances.

Ned: “Aerys Targaryen left a treasury flowing with gold. How could you let this happen?”

Ned: “I will not believe that Jon Arryn allowed Robert to beggar the realm,”

Ned resolves to discuss the matter with Robert, but the council is going to go ahead with the King’s orders. They break as Ned says he is feeling weary from the road and needs to rest and freshen up.

As Ned is leaving going towards the Tower of the Hand Littlefinger gets to him and tells him he is going the wrong way. Baelish leads him through the castle and eventually to a door that opens up outside among the cliffs. Littlefinger tells him that his wife is waiting for him and Ned follows, but he is growing suspicious.

After a quick climb down the cliff they ride horses and come to a brothel where Littlefinger tells Ned his wife is inside. This is the last straw for Ned, he slams Littlefinger against the wall and pulls his dagger on him.

Does the Hand of the King need to choke a bitch??

Fortunately for Littlefinger Ser Rodrik Cassel calls out and Ned recognizes him without his beard. Cassel explains that Littlefinger is being truthful with Ned. Shortly after Ned and Catelyn are reunited and she explains the events that lead her to come to King’s Landing.

Cat tells Ned that Littlefinger has offered to assist them in uncovering what is going on at King’s Landing. When concerns about what Varys may or may not know arise, Littlefinger assures them that he can take care of the Spider but Ned should focus on the Lannisters.

While Ned doesn’t like nor trust Littlefinger he realizes he may need to work with him in order to accomplish his goal of seeing justice done.

Littlefinger leaves the two and reminds Ned that they don’t have long before they need to get back to the Red Keep as if they take too long they will be missed.

Realizing the situation is far worse than he initially thought and that Robert may not be the same man he once knew, and that any accusations that get made would constitute treason and plunge the realm into war, Ned instructs his wife to return home and have Helman Tallhart and Galbart Glover send a total of 200 archers to Moat Cailin. He also wants Lord Manderly of White Harbor to get prepared for war as well. In addition he wants a close eye kept on his ward Theon Greyjoy, as he could use him as leverage to get the Ironborn to fight for his side. If it comes to going to war over the death of Jon Arryn, Ned wants the North to be ready.

While Ned hopes it doesn’t come to war he reminds his wife that should he be successful in uncovering who killed Jon Arryn then he will need to take his findings to the King and hope that Robert is still the man he once knew and not too far gone into the man he is now.

And here the chapter ends.

So a lot of information in this chapter, let’s start with the King’s Small Council, and some of the basics, then we can get into some of the manipulations that are subtly going on here.

First is Grand Maester Pycelle who called the meeting.

Pycelle has been Grand Maester for about 40 years when Ned arrived in King’s Landing. It was Pycelle who convinced the Mad King to open the gates to Tywin Lannister claiming that the Lannisters were there to help. This is contrary to what Varys advised. As it turns out Varys was right and the Lannister men sacked the city, Jaime Lannister killed the mad king and the Mountain that Rides killed the wife and children of Rhaegar Targaryen.

So was it just bad advice from Pycelle or did he know what Tywin planned on doing once the gates were open? At this point it’s difficult to say, and Ned certainly has no way of knowing for sure.

Maesters take oaths and essentially are in service to the realm and it’s lords. They are sort of a mix of scholars, scientists, postmasters and healers. Given that Jon Arryn fell ill and died on his watch, Grand Maester Pycelle should have some valuable information for Ned as to the cause of death, which as we shall see Ned will discuss with him in a later chapter. .  

But he does have an interesting exchange with Littlefinger..

Grand Maester Pycelle looked to Littlefinger and asked, “Will the treasury bear the expense?” “What treasury is that?” Littlefinger replied with a twist of his mouth. “Spare me the foolishness, Maester. You know as well as I that the treasury has been empty for years. I shall have to borrow the money. No doubt the Lannisters will be accommodating. We owe Lord Tywin some three million dragons at present, what matter another hundred thousand?”

Now lets assume Grand Maester Pycelle isn’t suffering from alzheimer's or dementia, why would he bring up the financial woes of the kingdom?

Maybe he is trying to make the new Hand of the King aware of the situation right away. After all he did call the meeting and opted to pose the question he already knew the answer to. Alternately he could be trying to simply make Littlefinger look bad literally on Ned’s first day. Perhaps he wants to make Ned fully aware of how little Robert actually cares about the running of his kingdom in a roundabout way.

But most likely he is trying to gage the new Hand of the King’s reaction to this news. This makes sense as he easily could have known the Royal party was approaching the city and wanted to see how Ned acted under pressure or when exhausted from travel. Not only did Renly ride ahead as revealed by his presence at the meeting, but Varys certainly also knew when they would be arriving.

In fact the first thing Varys did when Ned walked in was to offer condolences on the unfortunate happenings between Arya, Joffrey and the end result with Lady and how this has had an effect on the traveling party since.

So in my book I think Pycelle is testing the waters and getting an idea on how Ned will react when under pressure, even if it’s from a long travel and little time to prepare for something important. This gives him an idea of how quickly Ned thinks on his feet as well as a notion of his temperament.

Now lets for a moment turn our attention away from Pycelle and to the reply that Littlefinger gives when Ned stated his disbelief in how ruinous the kingdom's finances are.

Ned was aghast. “Aerys Targaryen left a treasury flowing with gold. How could you let this happen?” Littlefinger gave a shrug. “The master of coin finds the money. The king and the Hand spend it.”

Ok now this sort of thing isn’t unprecedented. How many celebrities and athletes have made fortunes only to see them all vanish on them due to living extravagant lives they couldn’t afford, or they owed unpaid taxes to the IRS and ended up going bankrupt?

After all they think they got a decent guy taking care of it for them so they feel that the financial issues are in fully capable hands, and if any really serious issues come up they will take care of them later.

But here is the kicker.. Littlefinger is supposed to be a sort of financial genius. Littlefinger ran the customs for Jon Arryn at Gulltown and increased the incomes tenfold. He’s like the Westeros version of Warren Buffett. So where did all this gold go?

It’s suggested that Robert has spent it. Even his brother Renly supports this idea.

“My royal brother loves tournaments and feasts,” Renly Baratheon said, “and he loathes what he calls ‘counting coppers.’ ”

OK for a moment let's entertain this notion. The Tournament of the Hand is described as a “Great Tournament” so lets assume with such great prizes on the line word will travel throughout the kingdom and knights will come from all over to compete in it. We can even use Littlefinger’s estimation of 100,000 for the costs. Well 6 million gold will get you 60 tournaments. But those are grand tournaments.

Robert has been ruling Westeros for roughly 15 years. That averages out to roughly 400,000 gold borrowed per year. This also isn’t counting the “overflowing” treasury that was seized from the Targaryens. Now we have no way of knowing exactly how much money was in the treasury when Robert came to power. But lets just for arguments sake say it lasted him three years. That means in the last 12 years he has borrowed on average 500,000 per year, and it only gets worse if the Targaryen wealth lasted longer than three years.  

So that comes out to roughly 4-5 great tournaments per year? Maybe a few more or less depending on circumstances. But the notion that all of these were “Great Tournaments” seems off as Ned seems to be completely unawares of the extravagant lifestyle that Robert has been living.

In truth were they all great tournaments you would think that competitors from all of the Seven Kingdoms would have received notice and arrived. Further one would assume that Robert would send word to his best friend Ned and invite him to attend at least some of the tournaments.

I bet they looked like this!

But Ned seems totally oblivious to the fact that these tourneys have even occurred. Let's assume while Robert has had feasts and tourneys they haven’t all been Great Tourneys as Ned has never gotten an invite at Winterfell. So lets assume he’s had one every six months at half the cost. So 100,000 per year for tourney expenses. That still is only 1.2 million out of the 6+ million they are in debt. So where the hell did the rest of the money go?

Is this what Pycelle was trying to clue Ned into when he asked Littlefinger about the treasury bearing the expenses?

Littlefingers reply is pretty craptacular when you really think about it. To put this into modern terms it’s like having a 401k retirement plan for a bunch of years, the checking on it one day and the plan manager just says “Shit happens” when you find out the plan you have been paying into doesn't have any money in it.

Perhaps Littlefinger has been skimming off the top and cooking the books and the only one to catch on has been Grand Maester Pycelle. This makes a lot of sense as the other members of the council may not be as good with numbers as Pycelle. There will be more on this issue with Littlefinger as we progress,  but for now keep it in mind.

To be fair to Littlefinger, if the crown had to go into debt he could pick worse people than Tywin Lannister to owe. Tywin at one point tried to arrange a marriage between Cersei and Rhaegar, which didn't happen, but did manage to wed her to the man who became king anyway. So in a lot of aspects Tywin may even forgive the debt as he most likely sees his family coming into power through his daughter and grandchildren.

But until such time it seems to make sense that the level of debt is a way of keeping  Robert from taking direct action against him. Also it serves to keep his daughter, son in law and later on his grandchildren in line as it’s generally not a good idea to piss off the people you owe money to.

OK enough on Littlefinger and Pycelle, let’s take a look at the King’s youngest brother. Renly is described in this chapter as wearing really nice and expensive clothing, and generally seems to be quite likeable and charismatic. Renly also has a good sense of humor, aside from laughing at Joffrey when on the King’s Road he learned Arya disarmed him, when Littlefinger says that he spends more money than the ladies in the court on clothing Renly replies with:

“There are worse crimes,” Renly said with a laugh. “The way you dress, for one.”

So we get a sense that Renly is not only a bit of a joker, but in many ways like his older brother Robert. Ned even notes that sometimes he looks the very image of his brother. But lets get a bit more info on Renly as he, like all the members of the council are big players in the game.

One passage that stuck out in my mind was Renly’s reply when Littlefinger mentioned they would need fools for the feast that would accompany the tournament.

Renley: “Fools we have in plenty.”

Clearly he doesn’t think too highly of some of the people in King’s Landing. Weather he is directly referring to anyone on the council or people at court isn’t exactly clear, but it does echo the words his older brother Robert said to Ned beneath in the Crypts of Winterfell

Robert: “I am surrounded by flatterers and fools.”

In addition the Renly's explanation that Robert doesn't like tending to matters of finance and state also echo Robert’s words to Ned in the Crypts.

Robert: “I swear to you, sitting a throne is a thousand times harder than winning one. Laws are a tedious business and counting coppers is worse.”

So there is a sense of like mindedness or at least a good level of understanding between the two brothers. Renly’s spending money on lavish clothing also mirrors Robert’s expensive lifestyle. This is all  in stark contrast to Stannis who is described as humorless,  serious and not really extravagant at all. Another thing is that both Robert and Renly are quite likeable again a trait that Stannis doesn’t seem to possess. This similarity between Renly and Robert may also explain quite a bit about the current situation and relationship between the brothers.

Lets take a look this for a moment.  

Renly grew up at the family home of Storm's End, and was only six years old during Robert’s Rebellion. Being only a boy he didn't partake in any of the fighting, but spent the war under siege with his older brother Stannis. Currently Renly is the Lord of Storm’s End which was upsetting to Stannis as he felt as the older brother it should have been his by rights.

Now we can see a reoccuring theme going on here of Stannis, in spite of his capability being passed over for things he rightfully is deserving of.

So Stannis is the younger brother of King Robert, and also the master of his navy. Back in my review of Chapter 12 we noted that Robert picked Jaime Lannister to be the Warden of the East instead of Stannis. Perhaps the debt the crown's debts to Tywin factored into this. But the fact is that the holding of Storm’s End and his victories at sea during the Greyjoy Uprising surely made him worthy of the honor.

Yet Robert again seems to have opted to not pick his more than capable brother in favor of someone else.

From Ned’s recommendation it’s pretty clear that he thinks Stannis is a decent and worthy man who is loyal to his brother. Stannis certainly has proven it on a couple of occasions. But beyond stating he has simply left none of the council members give any reason for his departure nor go into any details on it. You would think Stannis and Robert's youngest brother Renly would have at least given a reason as to why. Ned also doesn't think to ask why either..

Perhaps he knows something that caused him to fear for his life. Perhaps he was angry that Robert passed him over for the position of Hand of the King. It’s hard to say exactly. More than likely it is a combination of things. We will get into a bit more into the motivations of Stannis as time goes on, but for now lets just consider Stannis to be sitting on the sidelines and not actively having an effect on the events in and around King’s Landing.

But clearly Robert has been playing favorites with his brothers and Stannis is clearly not the favorite, even though he may be the most capable.

But enough of the council for now, lets get away from them and take a look at the events after the meeting between Littlefinger, Ned and Cat.

Littlefinger really seems to be sowing the seeds of discontent towards the Lannisters with Ned. He points out that Tyrion never would have acted alone, and that the King most likely turned a blind eye to things that seemed to be unpleasant. This brings to Ned’s mind the recent reactions of Robert on the King's Road regarding Sansa’s direwolf, and also his reaction to seeing the dead Targaryen children at the hands of the Lannister men during the Rebellion the dead butcher's boy, as well as the discussion he and Robert had regarding Daenerys Targaryen's wedding to Drogo where Robert entertained the idea of sending an assassin. All these things are adding up and weighing on Ned's mind. Not to mention the danger that he will be in should he be able to find evidence and present his findings to the King.

Will Robert take action based off the evidence, or will he turn a blind eye and not take kindly to Ned’s accusations?

Now for a moment lets take a second to appreciate the brilliance of Littlefinger. Essentially he just got called incompetent in front of the rest of the Small Council, was somewhat sarcastic towards Ned, nearly got himself killed, and yet by the end of the chapter he has not only managed to get himself an alliance with the new Hand of the King, but has convinced Ned to focus his attentions on the Lannisters as well.

Littlefinger has done this through a bit of social validation. In spite of the fact that Ned neither trusts nor even likes Littlefinger he does respect the opinion of his wife. It’s a very subtle form of manipulation and preys upon doubts to be proven wrong.

Initially Ned is mistrustful as his older brother had issues with Petyr Baelish. Further Littlefinger seems to not only be arrogant but also sarcastic. In the end it all gets explained away by Baelish as a sort of act that he puts on to keep people at court on their toes.

Lets take a look at the following passage:

Catelyn went to him and took his hands in her own. “I will not forget the help you gave me, Petyr. When your men came for me, I did not know whether they were taking me to a friend or an enemy. I have found you more than a friend. I have found a brother I’d thought lost.” Petyr Baelish smiled. “I am desperately sentimental, sweet lady. Best not tell anyone. I have spent years convincing the court that I am wicked and cruel, and I should hate to see all that hard work go for naught.”

Catelyn's history and the time they spent growing up together at Riverrun as well as how Petyr has treated her since her arrival has won her over. This more than anything else is a factor that leads Ned into at the least working with Littlefinger. The validation his wife provides helps to put to rest some of the more serious concerns he may have about working with a man he clearly doesn't trust nor like.

Unfortunately this also causes Ned to not really investigate the finances and the issue that Grand Maester Pycelle brought up continues to be ignored. So it looks like Littlefinger is not only clever with financial capital but social capital as well.

Lets keep in mind he did use his connections with Lysa Tully to get him the customs job at Gulltown. Thanks to Roberts spending habit it more than likely was a no brainer for Jon Arryn to realize he needed someone who could create a lot of revenue like Baelish to help keep the kingdom from going bankrupt.

But unfortunately as we saw in Chapter 18 Review Catelyn isn't exactly the best judge of characters and often misses things. But this is enough for Ned to accept Baelish as an ally, at least for now.

Game of Thrones: Chapter 19: Jon AKA Not Just a Bastard, but also kind of a Dick

This chapter is really our first look at life for Jon Snow as a new recruit to the NIght’s Watch. It opens with Jon training in the practice yard against a fellow new recruit Grenn. It’s pretty clear that Jon is far superior to Grenn as he strikes him cleanly a few times and ends up disarming him with a hit to his wrist.

Overseeing the training of the new recruits is Ser Alliser Thorne, the master at arms of Castle Black. Alliser takes a hard approach to training. He is verbally abusive giving nicknames to the trainees and insulting them when they fail.

Ser Alliser Thorne: “The bastard hamstrung you, opened your empty skull, and cut off your hand. Or would have if these blades had an edge. It’s fortunate for you the watch needs stable boys as well as rangers.”

Grenn has been given the nickname the Aurochs and Jon has been given the name Lord Snow, which much to his dismay has caught on with the other recruits. Jon is also being trained with about twenty other recruits, but hasn’t made friends with any of them as of yet. After the practice he finds himself walking back to the armory alone. Some of the other recruits are Jeren, Todder AKA Toad, Daeron, Pyp, and Halder. Jon has defeated them all in the yard and figured out their weaknesses in spite of most of them being two to three years older than he is.

As Jon is removing his armor back in the armory he notices how cold it really is at the Wall and briefly laments how nice it was back at Winterfell. This is only a minor passage but worth noting since it was also part of Bran’s dream sequence in his previous chapter, just as he had visions of the circumstances of his sisters, mother and father were all experiencing at the time. This is noteworthy as a few passages later Jon has a brief vision or an image in his mind of his uncle Benjen lying dead in the snow.

He thinks back to just three days after he arrived and noted his uncle Benjen didn’t pay him mind and is more focused on his duties as the First Ranger. Benjen even explained to Jon that at the Wall you have to earn everything, and since Jon is just a new recruit he’s not all that important at this point. Benjen even says he is nothing but a boy until he proves himself to be a man of the Night’s Watch, and further lets him know that family ties will not buy him any favors.

Jon even recalls one day he saw Benjen off at dawn before he went out ranging beyond the wall. Benjen reminded Jon that he has to prove himself he does tell Jon they will talk when he gets back.

Needless to say nether the Wall nor the Night’s Watch is what Jon expected and he is also feeling a bit homesick, missing his half sisters and brothers.

As Jon is musing over his new life his pondering is interrupted by Grenn, Toad and two others who are unhappy in how badly they have been getting beaten by Jon in the practice yard. A fight starts, where Jon seems to be giving as good as he is taking even though he is outnumbered four to one. Before any real harm can be done the fight gets broken up by Donal Noye the one armed blacksmith.

Donal dismisses the others to receive attention and to return to their quarters but instructs Jon to remain behind. He sits Jon down and explains a few things to him that Jon really hasn’t considered.

First he tells Jon to get over being disappointed.  He signed up and it’s too late to go back now. Noye also talks to Jon about his attitude. He tells him he is acting like he is better than everyone else and that he is not only bullying the boys in the yard but he is humiliating them as well and that is nothing for him to be proud of.

Jon is taken aback by the notion that he’s a bully. In his view he is easily superior and he does admit internally that besting people older than he is a source of pride. He also keeps in mind that he is younger than the other recruits he defeats in practice.

Noye points out to Jon that those he beats are scared of him, and most likely never held a weapon before arriving at the wall, unlike Jon who was trained by the master at arms Ser Rodrik Cassel. That realization does seem to bring Jon down to earth a bit.

We also learn a bit about Donal Noye. He was a blacksmith who forged Robert Baratheon’s great war hammer, and lost his arm during the siege of Storm's End during the rebellion. Donal then came to the wall in his thirties as his life as he knew it was over.

This is a sort of juxtapose with Jon as Donal is someone who has lived life, fought in wars, and really had a chance before coming to the wall to start a new life as a member of the Night’s Watch. Jon by comparison never did those things. He was raised and trained in Winterfell  and then went to the Wall without any other life experiences to speak of prior.

This is also something that Jon’s uncle Benjen warned him about and even tried to convince Jon to live life a bit before deciding to commit to the Night’s Watch. Jon has a bit of angst and some regrets that he never thought he would have when he was back at Winterfell.

As much as Jon doesn’t like the notion that the other recruits are now his brothers Donal reminds him that his commitment is for life and that Jon better be careful or else the other recruits might try to kill him in his sleep.

Essentially Donal’s advice is that regardless of how Jon may think or feel about the other members of the watch, he has to live with them and get along. Should he keep going down the road he seems to be set on he will find a lot more enemies than friends. Noye sends Jon off to go and think on his situation.

While looking up at the wall Tyrion strikes up a conversation with Jon. Tyrion asks if Jon wants to know what is on the other side and while he does wish to know what is beyond the wall Jon pretends he doesn’t as he has learned it’s not a good idea to let others know what your desires are. Unfortunately we are never given a good reason as to why.

Perhaps it’s due to being a new recruit and he fears Ser Alliser will use whatever he learns in training against him. He could also be a bit paranoid at being manipulated by the other members on the wall who might use such information for their own ends. Regardless Jon keeps quiet his true desire to go ranging beyond the wall.

Tyrion notices that Jon doesn’t like the nickname he has been given of Lord Snow and offers the following advice:

Tyrion: “Would you rather be  called the Imp? Let them see that their words can cut you, and you’ll never be free of the mockery. If they want to give you a name, take it, make it your own. Then they can’t hurt you with it anymore.”

The two go for a walk to the common hall and on the way they discuss that Ghost is being kept in separate stables from the horses and also the notable conditions of disrepair the castle has fallen into.

Castle Black apparently used to house 5,000 fighting men along with the mounts and servants. But now it’s home to roughly 500 men and they can’t keep up the repairs. We learn that there are nineteen castles/strongholds along the wall but only three of them are manned. Eastwatch by the sea, the Shadow Tower by the mountains and Castle Black in the middle. All the others are deserted.

That's a lot of empty castles!

Tyrion also mentions that Benjen has been gone too long and Jon recalls his vision of his uncle lying dead in the snow. We also learn that Benjen went out to find Ser Waymar Royce who was killed off in the Prologue by the Others.

When they sit down in the common hall they get mutton stew, but before they can eat Ser Alliser Thorne tells Jon that Lord Commander Mormont wishes to see him. Jon initially assumes it’s bad news about his uncle, but after Tyrion threatens Alliser he does reveal that the Lord Commander has news from Winterfell concerning Jon’s brother.

Assuming the worst Jon runs off to Lord Jeor Mormont. Mormont gives Jon the letter and he learns that Bran has awoken and will live. Jon is so delighted by this news that he runs back to the common hall and shares the news with Tyrion.

Jon at this point even apologizes to Grenn for the wound he inflicted and offers to help him get better.

Alliser Thorne decides to get a barb in by suggesting that Jon will have a harder time teaching Grenn to fight than he would teaching a wolf to juggle. Jon taking Tyrion's advice makes a joke of the situation and accepts the challenge claiming he would like to see his direwolf Ghost learn how to juggle.  

This gets a laugh from Tyrion, the trainees and even the cooks. Ser Alliser however is not amused at being made the butt of Jon's joke and tells him he has made a very grievous error.

This is the start of Jon’s evolution and also starts to bring in elements of him becoming into a leader. As we saw in prior chapters Jon is perceptive when it comes to others. He noticed the fear that had terrorized Gared the deserter in Brans first chapter, and also noted it wasn’t fear of punishment that Ned was about to deliver. Further he also noticed the sullen mood of both Ned and Queen Cersei at the dinner in Winterfell. Lastly he has also been able to break down individual tactics and fighting styles of his fellow recruits, suggesting a keen eye to detail that he has been able to meet with application of tactics.

By making a joke at Ser Alliser Thorne’s expense while offering to help his fellow recruits get better Jon is unifying people who all are dealing with the same problem.

Another thing that we shall see is that Jon seems to be taking to heart good advice provided to him by those around him that he trusts. He replied to Ser Alliser “Lord Snow” remark with a joke of his own, taking Tyrions advice, and is offering to help the other recruits to become better and face the challenges taking to heart the advice of Donal Noye.  

This also shows another quality of a good leader. The ability to think and adapt quickly. Thinking on one's feet is vital in a battle and being able to make quick adjustments on the fly can mean the difference between life and death.

One final thing I’d like to mention here is the “vision” that Jon has of his uncle Benjen lying dead in the snow. It’s interesting that Jon gets this vision and not Bran who until now has certainly had the most vivid dreams and visions with some sustenance.

But here is the question that I hope to  answer as things move forward. Are these “visions” prophecy or are they merely relating things that are happening or happened recently?

If it’s prophecy then one has to ask if it’s set in stone, or if it’s a prediction that may or may not come to pass depending on the actions of the person receiving the vision. .

Most all of Bran’s coma dream vision was of things that were happening at that point in time. Rob training, the maester practicing astronomy, Hodor moving an anvil, his mom traveling on a boat, his sister's troubles on the way to King's Landing, etc.

In fact very little of it seemed to actually be prophetic in nature and a lot of it were more like updates on current events. So we have to wonder about the nature of Jon’s vision. Is it a premonition or is it just a flash of insight of things that have occurred?

For now lets consider this, the visions that Bran received up to this point regarding his family members and people who he knows well have been pretty accurate. So we have no reason to believe that the vision Jon has of his uncle Benjen is any less accurate.

Visions, prophecy, dreams, premonitions and the significance and meanings behind them are all recurring themes through out the books and a topic we will visit time and again.

Now I fully realize that you can never be fully certain a character is dead in A Song of Ice and Fire unless it's confirmed on page and even then it's not 100% certain. But it's a pretty good bet that Benjen Stark has somehow met his end somewhere beyond the wall.

Game of Thrones: Chapter 18: Catelyn AKA Along Came a Spider

This chapter opens up with Catelyn and Ser Rodrik approaching King’s Landing upon the boat the Storm Dancer. Ser Rodrik has been sea sick for  good part of the voyage. Ser Rodrik has recently shaved off his beard as it was unclean from all the times he was sick.

The Red Keep of Kings Landing with the Sept of Baylor in the background

Inspite of the winds being against them they were able to make it to the capital in good time thanks to the oars men who work the ship and it’s Tyroshi Captain Moreo Tumitis. Catelyn feeling thankful and generous decides to reward the effort by giving each crew member a silver stag.

They believe that they can find out who owned the dagger the assassin that attempted to kill Bran was given while he was in a coma by bringing it to Ser Aron Santagar the king’s Master at Arms. However Catelyn and Ser Rodrik will face a new set of problems upon arrival and begin to discuss how to handle the situation.

First they realize that Catelyn could be recognized the moment she sets foot on land. One of the members of the King’s Small Council, Petyr Baelish and more commonly known as Littlefinger was raised as a ward at her father's house in Riverrun as a boy. We also learn that Littlefinger had a crush on Catelyn back then and even challenged Ned's older brother Brandon to a duel for her. He lost and thanks to Cat had his life spared and walked away with only a scar.

To resolve the problem it is agreed that Ser Rodrik will go to the keep, find Ser Santagar and bring him to a place where Catelyn can show him the dagger in private. Rodrik thinks this will work as it’s been over 40 years since he has had a clean shave.

They get the name of an inn on Eel Alley that Moreo says would suit their needs. Catelyn then pays Moro the second half owed for the trip and additionally otps to pay each of the oarsmen herself. They check in and Ser Rodrik is quickly off to the keep to fetch Ser Aron. He suggests that Catelyn avoid the common room and get some rest which she does.

She is awoken by the city guards knocking on her door. She is informed that they are there to escort her and they present her a ribbon with a seal of a mockingbird upon it. The sigil of Littlefinger.

At first she’s a bit confused as how Littlefinger could have known she was in King's Landing but ends up assuming the Moreo sold her out. She is brought to the Red Keep and taken to a tower where Littlefinger is waiting. He is happy to see her and shows some concern about her hand.

Catelyn is somewhat curt and gets right to the point wanting to know how Littlefinger knew she had arrived. Petyr tells her that Lord Varys the master of secrets informed him. He explains that the Spider has a lot of informants in the city he refers to as his “little birds” and that he was undoubtedly informed by one of them. Littlefinger says Varys knows things that happen, he even knows about things before they happen.

“Lord Varys knows everything… except why you are here.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Why are you here?”

Catelyn tries to BS Littlefinger saying she missed her husband and daughters but Petyr easily sees through her little deception. He quickly figures that something had happened that forced her to leave Winterfell. He offers to help her, but before he can get any further Varys arrives.

Lord Varys offers some pleasantries as well as offers her some help not only with her hand that was cut but also in getting a healer from across the sea to take a look at Bran. Catelyn assures the Spider that both situations are well in hand.

Varys asks to see the dagger she brought with her, but Catelyn asks about Ser Rodrik. Varys assures her that nothing has been done to Ser Rodrik and that he and Ser Aron are at the inn they checked into drinking and awaiting her return.

Littlefinger claims to be at a loss not knowing what dagger they are talking about nor whom Ser Rodrik Cassel is. Varys quickly explains and finally Catelyn produces the weapon.

Varys looks at the dagger and cuts himself. Littlefinger then warns him about Valyrian steel blades and then tosses the weapon in the air and across the room to leave it sticking in a door. He then tells them that the dagger belonged to him, until he lost in in a wager.

He explained that when Jaime Lannister and Loras Tyrell rode against one another on Joffrey’s name day tournament he lost it to Tyrion Lannister when Loras unhorsed him. This is the end of the chapter.  

Now while some of the chapter was Catelyn arriving and we did get a bit of back history on King’s Landing. But more importantly we see that she was pretty stupid about the whole situation. In addition this may also reflect Catelyn being a poor judge of character and quite possibly really out of her element.  

Lets take a look at her mistakes..

Her first mistake is that she is traveling and using her own name. From her departure of Winterfell she intended to not alert the Lannisters to her arrival in King's Landing. Her hope was to catch a boat and make it before the royals arrived via the King’s Road. This part of her plan actually worked. She did make it before the King and her husband Ned arrived. But she didn’t think to use an assumed name.

The Tyroshi Captain of the Storm Dancer even refers to her by name.

Moreo: “You are far too generous lady Stark, the  honor of carrying a great lady like yourself is all the reward they need.”

So when she booked passage she made it known who she was. Considering the other two lady Starks are already traveling with the king and queen, when they show up in King’s Landing and are told the Lady Stark is awaiting them it’s not a logic test they should fail.

So it begs the question of why didn’t she just give another name to travel under? She easily could have lied and said she was from another minor house, or a wealthy merchant or any other number of plausible lies.

So it’s essentially common knowledge on the Storm Dancer who the passengers are. Further she suspects Moreo and other Tyroshi are all greedy opportunists. When the guards knock on her door she eventually guesses the Moreo sold her out. This brings me to her next mistake.

She made sure to pay each and every crewman of the boat a silver stag herself. Catelyn more than likely misjudged Moreo who she asked for advice on a local inn to check into. Moreo did recommend a place that didn’t even ask for her name upon her renting the room. So it seems unlikely that he sold her out. After all he has been sailing for over thirty years and most likely he knows the value of keeping the confidentiality of his clients. He even suggests to Catelyn that he hold on to the bonus money she intends to pay out to his crew until after they depart.

Moreo: “Though perhaps I should hold it for them until we return to Tyrosh. For the sake of their wives and children. If you give them the silver here, my lady, they will dice it away or spend it all for a night’s pleasure.”

So basically Moreo tells Catelyn that his crew is gonna go out drinking, gambling and whoring in the city. Like any good Captain Moreo knows his crew and if she pays them then when they hit the pubs and brothels more than likely they will be laughing and someone will say something along the line of “Drinks are on the Lady Stark tonight!”.

As we learn later in the chapter, Varys has spies throughout the city so more than likely his network picked up on this and Moreo may not have sold out Catelyn as she suspected.

Last but not least she didn’t pick up on Littlefinger lying to her and trying to pry information from her.

Littlefinger: “Lord Varys knows everything… except why you are here.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Why are you here?”

Yet when Varys shows up he not only knows why she is in King’s Landing, he knows about the injuries to her and her son Bran, and that she has the dagger she came to get answers about on her person.

This is all made the worse by the fact that she knows Littlefinger to be a very clever man. So she should have been able to pick up on his deception, but she completely misses this…

Lastly there is also the sigil of Littlefinger, the Mockingbird. A male Mockingbird mimics the songs of other birds in order to woo a mate. And who was the woman Littlefinger tried to win as a boy? Catelyn Tully. As we read in this chapter that didn’t work out so well for him, but as we shall see in regards to Petyr Baelish, a short term setback is a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.

They can learn dozens of different songs and that Varys often refers to his network of spies as his “little birds” makes a nice jape on the part of Littlefinger.

These are two of the big background players in the Game of Thrones and each is working to their own ends. Introducing them together in this chapter makes a nice juxtapose of styles. First you have Varys whom everyone knows is in the business of secrets and then you have Littlefinger who is often making his business a secret. Often I have heard people refer to them as two opponents in a game of chess. While a nice analogy I think a better comparison would be players in the game of Risk. Both are keeping an eye on the others moves but not necessarily taking direct action against or in support of the other.

In many ways Littlefinger is somewhat making a mockery of Varys by keeping his motives secret. Like the mockingbird he may be providing false information to Varys's birds and thus disguising his true motives. It's almost as if Littlefinger is laughing in the face of Varys secretly showing that even though the King's Master of Secrets has a network of spies and informants he can't puzzle out Littlefinger's true motives. Perhaps if he could Varys would have Littlefinger killed off.

One final note about Littlefinger and his sigil is that it’s vastly clever of him to have picked the  mockingbird. As we learned from his failed attempt to win Catelyn in a duel, Littlefinger at some point had to come to the conclusion that he wasn’t going to be able to compete against not only the Starks but all other nobles by playing by their rules.

In a world where social mobility is limited not only by prowess with arms but also by virtue of one's birth, people who are quite capable are limited by this system. Going back to the board game analogy, while Littlefinger is a player, the game is rigged against him due to his status at the beginning. The only way for him to move upward is to remove some pieces and players from the game. Thus creating opportunity for otherwise impossible social mobility.

I’ll get more into both Varys and Littlefinger in a future post when I do a recap of the major players in the game.