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.