Chapter 25: Eddard AKA The Motives of Experts

This chapter starts off with Ned discussing the death of Jon Arryn with Grand Maester Pycelle. Pycelle is an elderly man and has been serving as Grand Maester to the King for nearly 40 years. Pycelle states that he thinks Lord Arryn was ill for a time but Pycell just assumed it was the burdens of running the Seven Kingdoms, he also had family issues with his son being sickly and his spouse Lysa being high strung that was troubling the former Hand of the King.

Yet literally a moment later when Ned asks him about Arryn’s final sickness Pycelle says he came to him one day seemingly fit as ever and the next morning he was doubled over in pain too sick to get out of bed. Pycelle claims he dismissed Colemon as he is less experienced and didn’t have as much understanding of treating elderly people as Pycelle.

OK I have absolutely no medical training or experience.. So I googled the phrase “Chill on the Stomach” and I got this as a result:

Together, chills and abdominal pain may be the result of a number of infectious conditions, both bacterial and viral.

Conditions associated with abdominal pain and chills include:

• appendicitis
• bacterial or viral gastroenteritis
• common cold
• infectious mononucleosis
• influenza (flu)
• malaria
• meningitis
• pneumonia
• urinary tract infection

OK so there are a good number of issues that Lord Arryn could have had that lead to his death.. Until you consider the fact that Maesters in Westeros are the equivalent of Physicians in their world, and Grand Maester Pycelle should be one of the most knowledgeable and experienced in the land.

So let's take a look at that list again..

As High As Honor or As Dead As A Doornail

First if Lord Arryn had a appendicitis or a UTI he would have had a LOT of discomfort prior  and wouldn’t have looked as “hale and healthy as ever” the day before.  So we can cross those off the list.

Signs and symptoms for Malaria show up a one to three weeks prior to the infection. So again Jon Arryn wouldn’t have looked healthy the day prior.

With meningitis Lord Arryn would have had headaches, yet Pycelle doesn’t mention any symptoms other than a chill on the stomach, so that's out. Additionally some obvious physical signs rule out some of the others on the list. Pneumonia is a sickness that hits the lungs so again Arryn would have had obvious respiratory issues. Mononucleosis (Better known as Mono) has obvious signs like the swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck for one. Gastroenteritis would be accompanied with vomiting and diarrhea, and would have been gradually building up. So again he would have discomfort prior and more than likely would have sought out the aid of a maester.

This just leaves the common cold and influenza. Now a funny thing about the flu, it has the name influenza due to the fact that people back in the day thought it was influenced by the cold. Considering this chapter opens up with Pycelle rambling about how this is the hottest summer in recent memory, the flu isn’t too likely a suspect. This just leaves the common cold, which wouldn’t be too likely to cause him to be unable to get out of bed, so either it was something Pycelle had never seen before or he is just trying to feed Ned a line of BS..

So why is all this important? Well first, it shows Maester Colemon actually figured out that the Hand of the King was poisoned. According to Pycelle Maester Colemon was using wasting potions and pepper juice trying to purge Lord Aarryn. Pycelle claims that out of concern that Jon Arryn being elderly may have been killed by Colemons treatment dismissed him and took over care for the Hand of the King.

Is this true? Or was Maester Colemon having success and Pycelle intervened to ensure the poison finished off Jon Arryn? Pycelle never mentions the measures he took in Lord Arryn’s treatment beyond that when he thought he was beyond all help he provided milk of the poppy so Jon Arryn wouldn’t suffer in his passing.

Another thing that doesn’t seem to bother Pycelle is that many of those conditions are diseases that if not kept in check could easily turn into epidemics, especially in a word like Westeros where they have yet to invent penicillin or other modern forms of medicine. Malaria thrives in hot environments where there is poor sanitation and lots of people. So a potential breakout should be a big concern for Pycelle, but he doesn’t even mention it. Hell even Lysa kept Robert Arryn away out of fears that the boy might fall ill.

Lastly if Jon Arryn came and visited Pycelle literally the day prior to get a book and something was troubling him, even if he had already addressed the situation with Maester Colemon, it seems likely that he would have gotten a second opinion from Pycelle.

Even King Robert noticed the situation with his Hand, in the Crypts below Winterfell he said to Ned:

Robert:I’ve never seen a man taken sicken so quickly.”

Robert: “The sickness was like a fire in his gut, it burned right through him.”

So if anything this should convince Ned that the warning in the secret message Lysa sent to him was indeed the truth. Jon Arryn was poisoned. It should also lead Ned to at the least suspect that Pycelle is at the least guilty of incompetence and at worst an accomplice in the death of Jon Arryn.

Ned even asks Pycelle if he ever seen something similar and Pycelle feeds Ned a big heaping steaming pile of BS.

Pycelle: “I will tell you this: Every case is different, and every case is alike. Lord Jon’s death was no different than any other.“

When Ned suggests it may have been poison Pycelle seems almost shocked at the suggestion and even throws suspicion at Lord Varys noting that the Spider comes from Lys where poisons are more commonplace. When asked if the Queen was with the King at the time of the death of Lord Arryn Pycell indicates she wasn’t as she was on the road with the family on the way to Casterly Rock.

After the brief discussion Ned asks Pycelle for the book that Lord Arryn wanted and Pycelle says he will  send it to Ned.

The bottom line is that either Pycelle is no longer fit to do his job as he may be getting old and senile, or he put the final nail in the coffin of Jon Arryn by dismissing Maester Colemon and denying proper medical treatment and thus allowing the poison to kill the Hand of the King..

Now on the way back to his chambers Ned comes across Arya who is practicing balancing exercises. Arya asks what will become of Bran and Ned tells her that he won’t ever get to live his dream of becoming a knight but there are a lot of other paths in life that he may take. Arya asks if she will ever be able to do some of the things Ned suggests Bran may do and when Ned tells her that she will become a queen and rule a castle, and her sons will become knights and princes, Arya disagrees and tells her father that is Sansa fate, not her. She then immediately goes back to practicing her balance exercises in her training for being a water dancer.

When he finally gets back to his chambers he is visited by Littlefinger. Unlike Pycelle who seems to be trying to impede or at least deflect Ned’s investigation Littlefinger has found a few leads for Ned to follow.

A pregnant kitchen girl hastily wed to one of Lord Renly’s grooms, a stablehand who joined the City Watch, a potboy discharged from service for theft, and Lord Arryn’s squire.”

This is fortunate as the rest of the Arryn servants returned to the Vale with Lysa. As Ned decides he will send for them Littlefinger points out that he is being watched by servants of both Varys and Queen Cersei.

Littlefinger then asks Ned the following:

“Is there a man in your service that you trust utterly and completely?”

Ned replies with a simple yes and Littlefinger tells him the wiser answer was no. But he suggests Ned sends this person to the leads as Neds movements are being watched.

The chapter ends with the following passage:

“Lord Petyr,” Ned called after him. “I … am grateful for your help. Perhaps I was wrong to distrust you.” Littlefinger fingered his small pointed beard. “You are slow to learn, Lord Eddard. Distrusting me was the wisest thing you’ve done since you climbed down off your horse.”

In truth Ned, without realizing it, has just admitted he wouldn’t expect betrayal to come from anyone in his own house. This is also pretty telling of how easy it is to get in on Neds good side, but this is a plan that Littlefinger seems to do quite often.

Provide some assistance in someway to win favor and then use that social capital and trust he has built up to get some sort of advantage be it to remove himself from suspicion or to put himself in a spot of greater power and influence. I’ll point this out in future chapters as we continue. But for now it’s enough to know that this is all part of how Littlefinger sets up people to be deceived or to position himself to be able to move into a place of greater power and influence.

Chapter 24: Bran

This chapter opens with Bran bitterly watching his little brother Rickon playing in the yard with the direwolves from the window in his room. He is being kept company by Old Nan who has been tasked with being his caregiver.

Prior to his fall Bran used to enjoy Old Nan’s stories but now he is somewhat bitter and lashing out a bit at her. Nan has been at Winterfell for as long as anyone living can recall. What family she had has either been killed in fighting wars or has long since moved away. The only exception being Hodor the simple minded giant of a man, who works in the stables.

In addition to being bitter at the loss of use of his legs, Bran is also dealing with feelings of abandonment. Prior to falling his dreams of riding to the capital with his father and becoming a knight seemed to be coming true. Now not only is that dream an impossibility, but many of the people who he cares about had to march south without him.

His mother, father, sisters, half brother Jon,  Jory, Rodrick, Varyon Poole, Hullen, Harwin, fat Tom along with a good number of house guards are all just gone upon his awakening. In fact the only family remaining to him is his younger brother Rickon and his elder brother Robb. Even Robb seems very much changed as Bran notes in the following passage..

Only Robb and baby Rickon were still here, and Robb was changed. He was Robb the Lord now, or trying to be. He wore a real sword and never smiled. His days were spent drilling the guard and practicing his swordplay, making the yard ring with the sound of steel as Bran watched forlornly from his window. At night he closeted himself with Maester Luwin, talking or going over account books. Sometimes he would ride out with Hallis Mollen and be gone for days at a time, visiting distant holdfasts. Whenever he was away more than a day, Rickon would cry and ask Bran if Robb was ever coming back. Even when he was home at Winterfell, Robb the Lord seemed to have more time for Hallis Mollen and Theon Greyjoy than he ever did for his brothers.

I think this is an important section as it shows the change in Robbs mentality and could also be Robb showing early signs of having insight and making preparations should things come to armed conflict.

At the very least Robb is clearly getting familiar with the various nobles and bannermen of the North as well as potentially strategizing with Maester Luwin. While nothing in the books states this specifically, it seems likely that Robb is at the least taking a good look at the board and where all the pieces are in the North so to be able to react to any moves that are made.

Nan, much to Bran’s annoyance keeps offering to tell Bran stories. We also learn that Old Nan is so old that she may be a bit senile as she apparently confuses everyone she’s known named Brandon over the many years thinking they are all one and the same.

Bran tells Nan that his favorite story isn’t the one of Bran the Builder, as she thought, and he tells her he likes the scary stories. So Old Nan begins to tell Bran of The Others.  and of the Long Night. I’ll break this down further a bit later on in this blog.

But to say the least the reader gets an idea of what the Others are and how long they have been in Westeros, as well as an idea of what the Long Night was and we also get a partial tale of a character whom Old Nan refers to as “the last hero.”, Bran is very interested in the story, but unfortunately it is interrupted by Maester Luwin and Hodor who have come to take Bran to the main hall as Tyrion Lannister and some men of the Night’s Watch have come calling.

Hodor carrie Bran with ease and when they enter Bran can sense the tension, in the room. He notices Robb is wearing armor and also notes that there are a dozen Stark house guardsmen present as well. Bran also notes that Robb has his blade unsheathed resting across his knees. This is a plain and outward display of hostility. Under normal circumstances a guest would never be greeted this way. As Robb suspects the Lannisters tried to kill Bran he is making is anger clear and Tyrion is perceptive enough to realize his hostility is directed towards him.  

Robb extends an offer of hospitality to the men of the NIght’s Watch but not to Tyrion and his retainers. Tyrion points this out, as well as the fact that Robb seems to be lacking the decency that his half brother Jon possesses.

Before anything can escalate things turn to Tyrion’s reason for calling on Winterfell and his business with Bran. Tyrion tries to get some information from him but Robb wanting the Lannister party out curtly tells him that Bran isn’t present to discuss his fall.

Maester Luwin does comment that Bran can’t recall anything regarding the accident.

Tyrion then presents plans for a modified saddle to Maester Luwin that should enable Bran to ride a horse. Something Bran thought he would never be able to do again. Luwin looking over the plans realizes that it should work. After providing some advice on what sort of mount they should use as well as the type of training that may be needed Robb, suspicious of Tyrion’s motives asks why he would help.

Tyrion replies with the following:

“Your brother Jon asked it of me. And I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things.” Tyrion Lannister placed a hand over his heart and grinned.

At that moment the Rikon and the Direwolves enter the hall. The Direwolves all snap at Tyrion, and Bran yells out “No” as the Lannister men begin to draw swords to protect him. Bran, Robb and Rickon call off the wolves who all come to heel at the sides of the Stark brothers.

Fortunately Tyrion isn’t harmed and even Robb seems surprised noting the Direwolves have never acted in such a way before.

Tyrion decides this is a good time to take his leave, but Maester Luwin asks him to wait a moment and quickly confers with Robb. Robb puts away his blade and does offer the hospitality of Winterfell to Tyrion if he wishes it noting the kindness he has done for his brother Bran.

Tyrion wanting none of what he calls Robbs false courtesies and opts to stay at the inn just outside of the walls of Winterfell. But before he and the other Lannister men leave he does mention to Yoren that they will be continuing the journey south come daybreak and he can meet up with them on the road.

Robb then offers the Night’s Watchmen to dine with him that that night. Hodor takes Bran back to his room where he has another dream.

This time he is climbing the broken tower and it goes to a great height. Bran notices the gargoyles who he thought may have once been lions, but were now grotesque and frightening with glowing red watchful eyes.  

He hears them whispering to one another and tells himself that he will be safe if he doesn’t listen. Unfortunately the gargoyles break away from the stone perches and begin climbing towards Bran. Bran panics and awakens repeating the words “I didn’t hear”  noticing a large shadowy figure in his room.

Thankfully it’s Hodor and Bran is safe. Hodor helps him get ready for dinner and they get an update on Jon and how he has been an annoyance to Ser Alliser Thorne.

When Robb asks how his uncle Benjen is the tone of conversation goes grim. But Yoren and the others tell him that Benjen went out to look for Weymar Royce who never returned at the request of Lord Commander Mormont and has not returned. Yoren relates that he thinks Benjen is dead and Robb gets angry at this news insisting his uncle isn’t dead.

One of the brothers comments that nobody knows the lands of the Haunted Forest better than Benjen, which reminds Bran of how the story Old Nan was beginning to tell him ended.

Bran says that the Children of the Forest will help out his uncle.This gets a laugh from Theon and a lecture from Maester Luwin who tells Bran that the Children have been gone for a thousand years and all that remains are the carved faces in the trees. Yoren points out that while Luwin may be right about how things are south of the wall, on the other side things aren’t always so certain.

The chapter ends with Robb tucking Bran into bed and promising him to find him a horse and together they will go on an adventure to the wall to visit Jon Snow. This is a really hard thing for Robb and Bran can hear him sobbing in the darkness, and reaches out to hold his hand.

While this chapter is from the POV of Bran there really is a lot in here about his older brother Robb. While at the beginning Robb seems to be showing some wisdom and foresight in getting things in order and keeping in touch with his bannermen should events lead to war, he also shows an amazing level of foolishness when Tyrion arrived in Winterfell.

His outward and obvious hostility towards a guest should be more than enough to tip off someone as smart and observant as Tyrion. In addition the following exchange is also tipping his hand and showing that House Stark is clearly angry with House Lannister.

The dwarf turned to look at him. “So it is true, the boy lives. I could scarce believe it. You Starks are hard to kill.” “You Lannisters had best remember that,” Robb said, lowering his sword.

This shows Robbs inexperience in dealing with others and politics in general. It is also surprising that Maester Luwin didn’t advise Robb to use a bit of guile with dealing with Tyrion. Clearly he had time to call a dozen men to the audience hall as well as decide to greet them with a drawn blade.

Perhaps Robb would feel it dishonorable to be deceitful, or at the least not direct when dealing with Tyrion. Regardless Robb chose to deal with Tyrion in this way, perhaps to do nothing more than send a message.

It’s also quite possible that Robb’s open hostility towards Tyrion caused the direwolves to come at Tyrion in the way they did. Greywind may have picked up the emotion via an empathic link and thus the others followed his lead. Even Robb was surprised in how they acted and claimed they had never acted as such before.

Regardless this is an example of Robb believing he is doing the right thing and not being able to repair the damage that is done by his actions. This is also a reoccurring theme with Robb as we shall see in future events. Robbs deeds end up defining him and how others come to view him. His words, simply aren’t enough for him to repair any damage that his hasty and ill conceived actions inflict.

One final thought on Old Nan’s tale about the Long Night and the Others. Clearly to some people like Tyrion who laughed at the notion of anything truly supernatural beyond the wall this tale would be nothing more than folklore, a legend with no basis in reality or fact.

In addition the way Nan tells it, it rings of a tale that has grown over the years in the telling. But being that this is the first real mention of the Others since we saw them killing Weymar in the Prologue let's try to separate some of the fact from the exaggerations of the tale and see what clues our author has left for us.

One thing we do get is a time frame. Nan states the Long Night occurs prior to the arrival of the Andals, but it’s after the First Men and the Children of the Forest have finished their conflicts. So sometime after the Pact, but before the arrival of the Andals who brought better weapons.

Now these were the days before the Andals came, and long before the women fled across the narrow sea from the cities of the Rhoyne, and the hundred kingdoms of those times were the kingdoms of the First Men, who had taken those lands from the children of the forest. Yet here and there in the fastness of the woods, the children still lived in their wooden cities and hollow hills, and the faces in the trees kept watch.

So at this point the Children of the Forest apparently still lived throughout some of the lands of Westeros and the Old Gods were the only Gods as the Seven wouldn’t be worshiped in Westeros until at least after the arrival of the Andals.

This also means that the Long Night happened well before the arrival of the Targaryens and the dragons they rode. So we can rule out the Others being defeated by riders instructing their mounts to rein down dragonfire upon them.

Nan also provides a description of the Others as well.

They were cold things, dead things, that hated iron and fire and the touch of the sun, and every creature with hot blood in its veins. They swept over holdfasts and cities and kingdoms, felled heroes and armies by the score, riding pale dead horses, and leading hosts of the slain.

Let's compare this to what Will in the Night's Watch noticed in the Prologue.

He turned his head, glimpsed a white shadow in the darkness. It was cold. Shivering... A shadow emerged from the dark of the wood. It stood in front of Royce. Tall, it was, and gaunt and hard as old bones, with flesh pale as milk. Its armor seemed to change color as it moved; here it was white as new-fallen snow, there black as shadow, everywhere dappled with the deep grey-green of the trees. The patterns ran like moonlight on water with every step it took.

So the description of the Others seems to be accurate; pale, gaunt and cold seems to either radiate from them or at the least accompanies them.

They hunted the maids through the frozen forests, and fed their dead servants on the flesh of human children.

In later chapters we can revisit this when we encounter the character Craster. But the “Dead Servants” certainly rings true as they did animate the corpse of Weymar Royce at the end of the prologue.

Lastly she begins to relate the tale of “The Last Hero”

So as cold and death filled the earth, the last hero determined to seek out the children, in the hopes that their ancient magics could win back what the armies of men had lost. He set out into the dead lands with a sword, a horse, a dog and a dozen companions. For years he searched until he despaired of ever finding the children of the forest in their secret cities. One by one his friends died, and his horse, and finally even his dog, and his sword froze so hard the blade snapped when he tried to use it. And the Others smelled the hot blood in him and came silent on his trail, stalking him with packs of pale white spiders big as hounds--

It’s at this point the tale is interrupted by Hodor and Maester Luwin.

Wait… The Others ride giant Ice Spiders?

Lets hope this is something that got added in as the tale grew in the telling. I mean it makes Brandon the Builder’s plan of making a giant wall out of ice to defend the realms of men a pretty bad one if the Others can just ride giant ice spiders over it.

Now I honestly have no idea if a spider can climb up an ice wall, but considering this is a fantasy story featuring dragons I’m gonna go with maybe. So perhaps they were all killed off after the first Long Night, or perhaps they are simply not able to survive in warmer climates?? Or maybe the Others are going to unleash the ice spider horde in one of the later books.Hard to say either way if they are real, or if they are something that was added in.

The tale of “The Last Hero” seems to foreshadow Brans adventures as we shall see going into future chapters. But for now let's keep in mind who the Last Hero took with him on his journey to find the Children of the Forest.

“He set out into the dead lands with a sword, a horse, a dog and a dozen companions.” It won’t be some time before Bran leaves Winterfell but for now it’s a pretty safe assumption that Summer will be filling in for the Dog the last hero took with him. But for now lets leave this here and pick up on the next chapter.