Chapter 22: Arya AKA The Southpaw Wolf

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This chapter opens with Arya at dinner with her family and the house guards. Ned is arriving late and Arya can tell that he has been arguing with the other members of the council. While at dinner word of the tournament to celebrate the appointment of Ned as Hand of the King gets out. While Ned is not too pleased about it Sansa is excited and desperately wants to go. Initially her father doesn’t wish it, but Septa Mordane reminds Ned that as the other members of the court will be present, and as it is being held to honor Ned it would be wrong if the members of his house didn’t attend.

Ned agrees, much to Sansa’s delight, while Arya claims she doesn’t want to go. Sansa takes this opportunity to tell Arya that she won’t be missed if she doesn’t attend. So we see that there have been some bickering and some hard feelings between the two sisters from the events on the road to King’s Landing.

At this point Ned is sick of the two fighting and tells them enough is enough and that he wants them to behave and act like sisters, or else he will change his mind about. Both are quite after that.

Ned leaves and Arya is left feeling quite alone, even though she is among family and friends. Oddly this doesn’t doesn’t bother her. She likes listening to the men chat, tell tales and discussing the upcoming tourney. She also reflects that when they were back home in Winterfell that Ned would invite one of the men to dine with them every night as a way of getting to know them. So her enjoyment of good company really started back at home.

We also see that Arya quite hasn’t come to terms with what happened with Mycah on the road. She seems to be at odds with why nobody did anything about the whole situation and becomes upset. Rather than allowing anyone to see her cry she decides to leave. When Septa Mordane doesn’t excuse her from the table Arya flees to the only place in King’s Landing where she feels safe. Her bedroom.

Once there she closes and bolts the door, and then begins to cry. Arya also takes out her sword that Jon gave her and wishes that she was able to run away. While in her room we learn that not only her sister, Sansa blamed her for what happened, but also Sansa’s friend Jeyne Poole. This entire experience has left her dealing with feelings of guilt, sorrow, anger, frustration, loneliness, betrayal, sadness, and a sense of loss for both her friend Mycah as well as her direwolf Nymeria.

Neither Fat Tom nor Septa Mordane are able to convince Arya to open her door, and after a bit her father Ned knocks. This time she opens up. When her father comes in he notices she has her blade Needle in her hands. When he inspects the blade he realizes it was forged by his own blacksmith back in Winterfell. Arya doesn’t tell Ned who gave him the sword but  when he asks her what she was doing with it she confides in him that she was trying to learn swordplay and asked Mycah to help her learn. This ultimately lead to the incident with Joffrey and Arya admits she feels the  whole thing was her fault. She also tells her dad how much she hates the Lannisters and despises Joffrey and her sister for being a liars.

Ned takes the time here to explain to her that the blame rests squarely with the Hound and Cersei for the death of her friend. He also takes the time to sort out that Sansa has to take Joffrey’s side as they will one day be husband and wife.

Ned also lets Arya know he let her get away with lying about what happened to Nymeria. Arya at first thinks Jory told her father the truth about her direwolf, but Ned does let her know that he puzzled it out on his own and that Jory is a decent guy and kept his word. Here Arya reveals that she had to throw rocks at Nymeria to get her to run off, as she knew her wolf would be put down for what had happened.

Ned also delivers a pretty significant line in the book here:

“It was right,” her father said. “And even the lie was … not without honor.”

Ned then takes the time to explain the situation and that as times are getting tough and since King’s Landing is a far more dangerous place than Winterfell that they have to pull together for each other as a family. Arya promises her father that she will do better and at breakfast the next day seems to have taken her promise and her father's words to heart when she apologizes to Septa Mordane.

Ned allowed Arya to keep her blade Needle, and a few days after their discussion Arya is sent to the Small Hall and is introduced to her dancing master, Syrio Forel.

Syrio throws Arya a practice sword made of wood and Arya drops it. He tells her that tomorrow she will catch it. Syrio then begins to instruct Arya not in formal dancing but in what he calls the Braavos dance, the water dance with an emphasis on swift and sudden movements as opposed to the type of fighting done by the knights of Westeros that has a more of a focus on hacking and slashing.The chapter ends with Arya and Syrio practicing for hours until she is sore and bruised.

So an number of things to review in this chapter, first we will note that Ned can see that in certain circumstances deceptive acts like lying can be considered honorable. This is one of the reasons for support of the R+L=J theory.

In this situation it seems Ned is finding it an honorable act of deception in order to protect an innocent or a loved one. This is one of the themes that seem to constantly follow Ned in the tale, but the question does arise is how far can a deception be taken before it’s no longer honorable?

Another thing that Syrio noted is that Arya is left handed. Syrio even states it will give her an advantage against her opponents. I actually looked around to see if this is true and it turns out it is.

Apparently left handed people for whatever reason seem to enjoy an advantage in sports. Phil Mickelsn, Rafael Nadal and Oscar de la Hoya are all lefties and dominated in their sports. Author Rick Smits of the book “The Puzzle of Left-Handedness” believes that southpaw athletes have an advantage as they are fewer in number and thus right handed athletes are thrown off by them.  Inversely as there are so many more right handed athletes the left handed competitors are just used to facing off against them.

So Arya being left handed may be throwing off the game of an opponent as they are more than likely not used to squaring off against someone who attacks from the other side, while she will not be disadvantaged as she will be used to facing right handed foes.

Aside from the sporting world there are a number of unusual things in regards to left handed people. One is that they may be more prone to negative emotions and this can lead to issues with processing them.. This certainly seems to be the case with Arya in this chapter as she was still struggling with what happened until her father spoke with her and helped her sort it out by assuring her that things weren’t her fault.

Some studies have even suggested that lefties are more talented in spatial awareness, mathematics, while the right handed counterparts seem more talented verbally.

This appears to be true of both Arya and her right handed sister Sansa. Sansa seems to be more courtly in her speech, while Arya is superior to her when it comes to numbers.

From Chapter 7 we have the following passage:

It hurt that the one thing Arya could do better than her sister was ride a horse. Well, that and manage a household. Sansa had never had much of a head for figures. If she did marry Prince Joff, Arya hoped for his sake that he had a good steward.

Finally we have Arya’s new instructor Syrio, who was the First Sword to the Sea Lord of Braavos. Essentially the First Sword is the champion and protector of the Sea Lord in a similar way to how the King’s Guard works for King Robert. Syrio held that title for nine years. Now we don’t know if Syrio failed, quit or if the Sealord he served died of old age.

But that he held the position for nine years is significant. and he should be considered one of the more elite swordsmen alive. His training of Arya is really the start of her character evolution into what she will become.

“The steel must be part of your arm,” the bald man told her. “Can you drop part of your arm? No. Nine years Syrio Forel was first sword to the Sealord of Braavos, he knows these things. Listen to him, boy.”

It was the third time he had called her “boy.” “I’m a girl,” Arya objected. “Boy, girl,” Syrio Forel said. “You are a sword, that is all.”

Ironically it seems that Syrio is trying to instil to Arya that gender is irrelevant when the steel comes out. Boy, girl, man, or woman it doesn’t matter anyone can kill you.

Syrio calling Arya “boy” may have not only a purpose for her training but also a literary purpose as well.

In her training he is trying to get her to forget the gender bias that exists in Westeros and also get her to understand that she is a sword and should focus on her craft. Taunting also can help focus her mind as an upset or angry foe may be prone to making mistakes that can be taken advantage of..

From the literary perspective it may be a subtle clue foreshadowing Arya traveling back North as well as the guards of the castle not recognizing her when she accidentally makes her way out of the Red Keep. But these are thing for future chapters and future blog posts.

Game of Thrones: Chapter 21: Tyrion AKA Dinner and Drinks with the Night's Watch Lord Commander Mormont

This chapter opens with Tyrion dining with Lord Commander Mormont and some of the other members of the Night’s Watch. As the conversation goes on Tyrion amuses the other diners with his wit. The only exception being Ser Alliser Thorne who seems to be without humor. This leads Tyrion to making Alliser the butt of some of his jokes and eventually Alliser leaves angry, much to the amusement of the other members of the Night’s Watch.


We also learn from Ser Jaremy Rykker that after Tywin Lannister took King’s Landing during Robert's Rebellion that those who fought on the side of the Mad King were offered a choice. They could either join the Night’s Watch or be executed. Both he and Ser Alliser opted to take the black.

Oddly enough Tyrion is caught off guard when Maester Aemon says the following:

“Oh, I think that Lord Tyrion is quite a large man,” Maester Aemon said from the far end of the table. He spoke softly, yet the high officers of the Night’s Watch all fell quiet, the better to hear what the ancient had to say. “I think he is a giant come among us, here at the end of the world.”

Is this a bit of foreshadowing for Tyrion and things to come? Perhaps. But as we shall see in later chapters it won’t be the last time that Tyrion is referred to as a giant. In Jon’s first chapter we get the following passage:

“Some woman, no doubt. Most of them are.” He favored Jon with a rueful grin. “Remember this, boy. All dwarfs may be bastards, yet not all bastards need be dwarfs.” And with that he turned and sauntered back into the feast, whistling a tune. When he opened the door, the light from within threw his shadow clear across the yard, and for just a moment Tyrion Lannister stood tall as a king.

So there seems to be some foreshadowing of greatness for Tyrion, not only from Maester Aemon but also with a literal shadow. Lets keep in mind the author likes to hide things in plain sight as well as indulges in little ironies. I suspect Maester Aemon being blind but seeing Tyrion for what his potential truly is may be another fancy that the author enjoyed placing for the readers to either pick up on or as a clue that could be missed..


After dinner Tyrion and Lord Commander Mormont share a drink. As Tyrion is leaving the next day Mormont says that in addition to Tyrion’s own guards three men of the Night’s Watch will see him safely to Winterfell.

When Tyrion asks how he can repay his kindness Mormont asks him to speak to his father, his sister and brother about the needs of the Night’s Watch, and here we get some information on exactly how undermanned the watch really is.

That's a whole lot of wall to keep watch over...

They have less than 1,000 men which break down as follows:

• 600 at Castle Black
• 200 at the Shadow Tower
• Less than 200 at Eastwatch by the Sea 
• One third of them are fighting men. So roughly 333 men at arms.

The Wall itself is 100 Leagues long. This breaks down to about 345 ¼ miles in length. So that is less than one man at arms to man per mile of wall. Given if every member of the watch mans the walls it does give them three men per mile or as Tyrion points out three and a third men per mile.

If they are evenly spaced out, that breaks down to being one man roughly every 1,822 feet, which is slightly more than six football fields away from one another, with only a third of those men being a capable warrior.

We also learn that Benjen Stark went out to find Ser Waymar Royce still hasn't returned. You may recall Weymar from the Prologue.

So we can see that Mormont does consider status and background of his brothers as well as potential further resources as his situation seems to be quite desperate. Clearly he is attempting to balance the potential for political or monetary gain against the wiser decision of putting the more experienced Ranger in command.

This is the sort of thing can be encountered frequently in life. Often someone will be offered a position, a job, given some sort of benefit on the basis of an association. As the saying goes “Sometimes it’s who you know”. This often happens even when another person would be the wiser choice. Or in buying favors in political arenas.

He gives in to the fact Weymar has a rank in status being a knight over giving command to one of the more experienced members of the watch. Now given there is no way Mormont could have predicted what was to happen out on the patrol, but even still he let the desperation of the Night’s Watch situation and the perception of deserved honorific weigh in on his decision to assign a leader for the patrol.


This is not to say that Weymar was inept as a leader. Truly he made some logical deductions as well as was dutiful in seeing his task done.

Consider the following passage from the Prologue:

“Are they dead?” Royce asked softly. “What proof have we?” “Will saw them,” Gared said. “If he says they are dead, that’s proof enough for me.” Will had known they would drag him into the quarrel sooner or later. He wished it had been later rather than sooner. “My mother told me that dead men sing no songs,” he put in. “My wet nurse said the same thing, Will,” Royce replied.

OK so Royce is kind of a dick about it but lets look below the surface. He is being thorough. Further he makes the decision to go and find out just exactly what killed them. After dismissing Gared’s suggestion that the wildlings died of the elements.

“If Gared said it was the cold …” Will began. “Have you drawn any watches this past week, Will?” “Yes, m’lord.” There never was a week when he did not draw a dozen bloody watches. What was the man driving at? “And how did you find the Wall?” “Weeping,” Will said, frowning. He saw it clear enough, now that the lordling had pointed it out. “They couldn’t have froze. Not if the Wall was weeping. It wasn’t cold enough.” Royce nodded.

So Royce is certainly capable, but not experienced. Gren who is going off his experiences and also more than likely trusting a ‘gut feeling’. Now we can rule out Gren being a coward as Mormont spoke highly of him.

“Gared was near as old as I am and longer on the Wall,” he went on, “yet it would seem he forswore himself and fled. I should never have believed it, not of him, but Lord Eddard sent me his head from Winterfell.”

So for Mormont to not put Gared in charge of this with his decades of experience in favor of an unseasoned knight means one of two things. He did it out of sheer desperation in hopes that Weymar’s family would send more men and money, or he severely underestimated what was waiting for them beyond the wall. Perhaps both. But Mormont does state Ser Royce demanded command of his first ranging and Mormont granted it as he didn’t wish to offend Weymar’s father.

Mormont also relates that he has concerns about who his successor will be as Lord Commander, as he doesn’t think any really have the skills nor the ability to lead the watch. He also relates how far the Night’s Watch has fallen and laments that years gone by they would be building the wall higher, and now they are barely managing to keep alive. Tyrion promises that he will take word of the Lord Commander’s concerns and needs to the king, his father and his brother.

In addition to all this we learn that Maester Aemon and the other maesters of the citadel all agree that the days of summer are growing shorter and that the winter will be coming soon to Westeros.

Mormont continues stating that the fisherman near Eastwatch have spotted the white walkers upon the shores, and also relates to Tyrion that Denys Mallister has reported that the wildlings in the mountains are fleeing south past the Shadow Tower from something. Mormont fears that the Long Night is coming and realizes that the watch is not prepared for it.  

Tyrion decides to retire for the evening and once outside instead of going to his chamber he instead decides to take the elevator to the top of the wall to have one last look before heading back to the south on the morrow.

On the way up the elevator he gets a really good look at Castle Black and does see how truly bad off it is. Towers are leaning, courtyards are littered with rubble from fallen walls, and there clearly aren’t enough men to maintain it all.

Once atop the wall Tyrion encounters Jon and Ghost who has been repeatedly given guard duty from Ser Alliser Thorne. Tyrion joins Jon for his walk and learns that Jon has been helping the other recruits. Grenn has improved and is holding his own, and a boy named Pyp even asked for help and we learn that Ser Thorne may not be doing a great job showing the new recruits how to fight as Pyp was never shown the proper way to hold a sword..

Tyrion offers to take a message to Winterfell for Jon. Jon asks Tyrion to help his brother Bran in anyway he can. Tyrion after telling Jon he’s not a maester or healer will do what he can, but isn’t sure what he truly can do. Jon says that the words Tyrion gave Jon were of great help and asks him to give his brother his words. 

Jon then extends his hand and thanks Tyrion as a friend. Tyrion accepts and is genuinely touched by Jon’s sincerity, and the two shake hands.

The chapter ends with the two of them looking out beyond the wall and Jon stating that should his uncle not come back that he and Ghost will go out and bring him back. Tyrion believes Jon means what he says, but as he knows Benjen vanished while looking for Weymar he wonders who will go looking for Jon when he doesn’t return.

There is a bit of irony in direct contrast to the rest of the tale in that the two black sheep of the families are able to become friends, while the others are seemingly getting caught up in power struggles and petty acts of revenge.
This also serves to show how Jon is evolving and is taking up more of a leadership and mentor role with the other recruits of the Nights Watch. This also serves to show that he really does listen to people who have experience and take good advice to heart. These will serve Jon well in the up coming chapters.