Chapter 27: Eddard AKA Small Council, Big Minds & The Renly Gambit

This chapter opens up with the Small Council listening to the plea of the Captain of the City Watch Janos Slynt, who is requesting additional men to address the problem that the influx of people attending the Tourney of the Hand has caused.

Ultimately Ned tells him to hire fifty new men and that he will also loan him twenty men from his house to help keep the king's peace until after the tourney is over.

The council then turns to other matters, but in the course of conversation we learn that Stannis once proposed the banning of brothels. This notion was shot down by the King who asked he he’d like to outlaw eating, shitting and breathing while at it.

Once council business is finished, Ned returns to the Tower of the Hand where he resumes his investigation into the death of Jon Arryn. As requested from Grandmaester Pycelle, Ned now has the book Jon Arryn requested before he died. A large book entitled The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, With Descriptions of Many High Lords and Noble Ladies and Their Children , by Grand Maester Malleon.

His reading is interrupted by Jory who as requested has followed up on the leads provided by Littlefinger. Jory reports that the stable boy who is now part of the city watch only reported that the former Hand of the King was in good physical shape, frequently went riding and often did so with Lord Stannis.

We also learn that Ser Hugh of the Vale refused to discuss anything with Jory as he is not a knight and his arrogance may simply be due to his recent elevation to Knighthood. But Ser Hugh did say he would be willing to talk to the Hand of the King.

The serving girl had nothing but simple common rumors and gossip, but the pot boy who was dismissed and is now working making shoes revealed that Jon Arryn had commissioned a new suit of armor and that Lord Stannis helped him in the design it. In addition the pot boy says the visited a brothel together.

This strikes Ned as very odd behavior as he had learned from the council that Stannis hated brothels. Ned decides to follow up on these leads, unfortunately they didn’t know which brothel they visited so he instructs Jory to start looking into it. A task that Jory solemnly sears he will perform and notes that he will have little problem finding other Stark bannermen to help assist him with.

We also learn that Ned is puzzled as to what could have caused Stannis, a man Ned knows to be nearly fearless to flee back to Dragonstone. Ned is also further perplexed by Renly who showed him a locket with the picture of Margaery Tyrell and wants to know if she looks like Ned’s sister Lyanna.

Ned muses that a young Renly who reminds him of Robert may be falling in love with a young girl that others think resembles a young Lyanna. I’ll post more on this after the chapter summary in a bit called “The Renly Gambit” as it’s really significant part of the story, that Ned completely misses.

Ned decides that he will follow up with the smith that Lord Arryn commissioned the armor from. He arrives at the smithy of Thobo Mott after a quick journey through the marketplace. Thobo makes a good showing of his wars and even notes that Ser Loras Tyrelle the Knight of Flowers buys all his armor from him.

Ned asks about Jon Arryn and Thobo indicates that when Lord Arryn came by he was more interested in his apprentice Gendry than any armor. Ned then asks to see the boy and is taken back into the foundry where he is working.

Gendry tells Ned that the former hand of the king asked about him, if he enjoyed his work, who is mother was and what she looked like. He also says that Stannis looked at him like “I was some raper who done for his daughter.”

Gendry goes on to say that his mother died when he was young, but he recalls she was blonde and worked in an alehouse. This causes Ned to take a really close look at his features.

Ned thanks him for his time and lets him get back to work. On the way out he gets Thobo Mott to reveal that Gendry’s apprentice fee was paid by some lord (Really Varris in disguise) who wore no sigil and paid twice the normal fee. Ned tells Thobo if Gendry ever decides he wishes to become a soldier then he is to send him immediately to him.

The chapter ends with Ned getting back on to his horse and wondering why Jon Arryn and Stannis took an interest in the life of one of Robert’s bastard born children, and why it would have cost him his life.

But as noted prior I’d like to go back to Renly and what his is up to in showing Ned the locket with the picture of Margarey Tyrell.

Essentially he is trying to get rid of Cersei and replace her with Margarey. In doing so Renly is showing his ability to maneuver politically using both the Tyrell’s desire for greater social standing and Roberts lust for young and beautiful women to solve problems.

Unlike his brothers who are great military leaders, Renly’s strengths lay in political maneuvering and being a visionary in the sense of forseeing how things will play out… So without any fuher ado I present to you:

The Renley Gambit

Should proof of the incest between Cersei and Jaime come to light and Robert to be convinced that Tommen, Marcella and Joffrey are not his Renly is predicting that this will plunge the realm into war with the Lannisters.

The Lannisters could easily deny this and claim that Robert is just drunk, lusting after other women, incompetent as ruler, looking for a way to get out of paying back the crowns largest debt holder, etc.

Renly is predicting that the following houses would back the King

Stark, Tully, Baratheon (Obviously), Greyjoys might be forced to aid them as they have Theon as a hostage, and maybe even House Martell of Dorne could join in as they really want to take revenge upon the Lannisters for the actions of the Mountain and Tywin during the Rebellion.

Lysa Arryn might side with the king, or remain neutral in the conflict as would some of the Targaryen loyalists.

This leaves the Lannisters only real potential ally as House Tyrell of Highgarden who fought against Robert in his Rebellion. Both houses have lots of money and could field sellsword armies. Highgarden is kinda like the breadbasket of Westeros, shares borders with the Lannister held lands, so they wouldn’t have to rely on outside trade for supplies. Just as we see in the story they could marry Joffrey and Margaery to seal the alliance.

But Renly’s plan to wed Margaery to Robert would see the Tyrell’s their ambitions to see one of their own become royalty. At the same time it would heal a political rift that was caused during Robert's Rebellion when the Tyrells fought for the Crown and kept Stannis in Storm’s End under siege.

Most importantly Renly’s plan would deny the Lannisters the only potential ally in the realm and would result in the Lannisters being surrounded on all sides by foes. The Tyrells are likely to go for it as either alliance would see Margaery made Queen, the only real difference to them is how difficult of a war they wish to fight.

Siding with the Lannisters would mean a long drawn out war that will drain a lot of resources and more than likely see them having to fight defensively and trying not to be invaded. Siding with Robert would likely mean a quick wedding and a much shorter war as it will boil down to everyone against the Lannisters.

The bottom line is Renly is showing his brilliance in addressing a solution to the issue of succession and is proactively working to get out ahead of it, unlike Stannis and Jon Arryn who are more concerned with finding evidence to support that will plunge the realm into a civil war over succession.

That's it for this chapter, next chapter Cat snaffles Tyrion.

Chapter 26: Jon AKA Every Hero Needs a Sidekick Named Sam

This chapter opens up with Jon helping some of the other recruits to improve their fighting skills in the practice yard. Jon is not only showing leadership skills but also showing he has taken the advice given to him by the blacksmith to heart.

The training is interrupted by the arrival of a new recruit Sam Tarley. Sam is clearly out of shape weighing in at 20 stone which converts to 280 lbs. Sam is given an initial sparring partner of Halder who was raised in a stone quarry and trained to be a stone mason. Needless to say it is a very one sided affair with Sam on the ground yielding and cowering.

Ser Alliser orders Sam up and when he hesitates he has Halder strike him with the flat of the blade. This goes on for a bit until Jon steps forward and defends Sam who at this point is unable to get up.

This prompts Ser Alliser to have Jon square off against three foes. Fortunately Pyp and Grenn decide they will help Jon and even the odds. Jon’s side wins and Alliser calls an end to the days training.

Afterwards Sam thanks Jon and the others but flat out admits he is a coward. Jon tries to be encouraging telling Sam he will do better the next day, but Sam assures Jon he won’t as he never gets better.

After this scene we then get a glimpse as to what life is like at Castle Black and some of the various tasks they assign the new recruits. While doing his chores Jon thinks of the words Tyrion said to him “Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it ,” Jon realizes that there is an unusual sort of honest courage with Sam in admitting he cowardice.

This leads Jon to catch up with him afterwards and to have a chat with him to understand him better. It is here we learn that Sam is the son of Lord Randyll Tarly who defeated Robert’s forces at the battle of Ashford.

Being the oldest son Sam was expected to follow in his father's footsteps but was never able to. His father tried nearly everything he could to get Sam to man up. Over a dozen masters of arms tried and failed to make Sam into a soilder. Randyll even hired warlocks from Qarth who bathed Sam in bulls blood in a ritual attempt to free Sam of his cowardice. Even this didn’t work and when a second son was born Sam was largely ignored in favor of this younger brother.

Eventually while skinning a deer (A reference to Randyll’s victory against the Baratheon forces in the rebellion) Sam is told he will take the black as his father can’t allow the family blade, titles and lands to fall to someone in his view is incapable of bringing honor and glory to the house name.

This notion is reinforced with the threat that should Sam not take the black he will suffer a fatal accident while out hunting.

John then shares a dream that he frequently has. In this dream Jon is looking for family members in an abandoned Winterfell. Specifically he mentions looking for Ned, Arya, Robb and Bran in both the rookery, which is empty as well as the stables, which he finds full of bones.

The bones in the stables foreshadows death for those who have or will ride out for the south. Specifically Ned and Robb who both seem to have gone south seeking justice.

I think the empty rookerie signifies a loss of communication or at the least foreshadow being unable to communicate via conventional methods. Most likely this is for the other two Starks Jon mentions looking for, Bran and Arya.

Lastly Jon mentions feeling compelled to go down into the crypts below Winterfell. He even gets scared and yells out “I don’t belong.” before waking up. Now a lot of people point to this passage as supporting evidence of R+L=J theory. Afterall Lyanna Stark is buried down in the crypts. Personally I think they may be on the right track but they have overlooked the fact that Brandon Stark, Ned’s older brother, is also buried down in the crypts as well.

Jon ends up convincing the other recruits to take it easy on Sam in the training yard and all agree to not go at him with full force with the exception of one recruit. Rast flat out says if he is told to fight Sam he says “I’m going to slice me off a rasher of bacon.”

This prompts a late night visit to Rast while he is sleeping. Jon and some of the other recruits hold his arms and legs while Ghost grabs on to Rast by the neck with his jaws. Jon then reminds Rast that should something happen to Sam the rest know where he sleeps.

The following day the recruits take it easy on Sam and when ordered to attack they only strike him lightly, much to the disgust of Ser Alliser Thorne.

The chapter ends with Sam thanking Jon for helping him out and for being a friend, Jon tells Sam they are not friends, but brothers.

Chapter 23: Daenerys AKA Not a Queen, a Khaleesi

This chapter starts off with Daenerys and Jorah on horseback away from the main Khalasar in the Dothraki Sea, that is essentially a great plains area in central Essos. Jorah also gives Daenerys a quick lesson on the grasses of the sea and even mentions the ghost grass that is somewhat translucent and is killing off other grasses and relates to her that the Dothraki believe that eventually it will cover the world and that will be the end of everything.

Viserys has also decided to go along In spite of assurances from Magister Illyrio that Drogo would honor the arrangement, and wise counsel that he wait in Pentos, Viserys has chosen to travel as he wants to be 100% certain that Drogo lives up to his end of the bargain.

Deciding that she wants to enjoy the beautiful day with a ride Daenerys orders the party to stop and await her return while she goes off for a leisurely ride. Jorah notes that she is starting to sound more mature, like a woman of her station and less like a young girl in the following passages.

“Wait here,” Dany told Ser Jorah. “Tell them all to stay. Tell them I command it.” The knight smiled. Ser Jorah was not a handsome man. He had a neck and shoulders like a bull, and coarse black hair covered his arms and chest so thickly that there was none left for his head. Yet his smiles gave Dany comfort. “You are learning to talk like a queen, Daenerys.” “Not a queen,” said Dany. “A khaleesi. ”

As Daenerys rides we learn that she truly has felt free and like a princess for the first time since she began riding her silver mare. But we also learn that the adjustment from being a royal refugee to being the khaleesi of Drogo hasn’t been an easy transition for her. She was not used to riding and had saddle sores and blisters. In addition he new husband rarely spoke to her and only came to her at night for sex, and often ended up crying herself to sleep. The whole transition has been so difficult that she even had thoughts of suicide.

Yet the very night she was having suicidal thoughts she has another dragon dream. In this dream the dragon breathes fire upon her, she embraces it and lets it wash over her. In this she has somehow drawn a strength that she was lacking prior.

The next day she feels more confident and courageous. Her fears seemed to have been stripped away and even the physical pains she felt from riding seem to have subsided as well. From this point onward life in the Dothraki khalasar seems much easier. She begins taking pleasure in riding, exploring the world as they come to a new area, and even finds some joy in the nights with Drogo.

After a bit she comes to a spot and dismounts wanting to feel the earth under her own feet. Her brother comes upon her and is irate. Viserys is enraged that his younger sister gave an order for him and the rest of the riders to await her to return. He grabs her and is surprised when Daenerys pushes him away as she has never put up any resistance to him in the past.

Fortunately before Viserys can do any harm Jhogo catches him around the neck with a whip and yanks Viserys off his feet. The other riders have followed and thankfully Jorah is there to translate as Daenerys hasn’t learned the language as of yet.

Jhogo is more that willing to kill Viserys for this transgression, and another thinks she should cut off one of his ears to teach him a lesson, but Daenerys tells them she doesn’t want her brother harmed.

As Jhogo jerks his whip free of Viserys he is sent sprawling to the ground Daenerys realizes how truly sad and pathetic her brother really is. It is at this point where we get an interesting power dynamic.

Both Viserys and Daenerys give orders to Jorah. Viserys commands Jorah to hit his sister and kill off the Dothraki who are accompanying him to teach her a lesson. Daenerys orders Jorah to take the horse of Viserys which will not only force Viserys to walk but also humiliate him among the Dothraki as those who do not ride have no honor or pride.

Jorah opts to obey Daenerys which forces Viserys to walk. On the way back Daenerys asks about Jorah swearing an oath to follow Viserys and Jorah tells her that her brother is no true dragon. He also asks of her if she thinks he should sit a throne. She realizes that her brother wouldn’t make a good king but does ask about the common people's hopes for his return as all her life she has been told this is what the people of the Seven Kingdoms really wanted.

Jorah again provides some more insight telling her the following:

“The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends,” Ser Jorah told her. “It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace.” He gave a shrug. “They never are.”

Daenerys thinks it over and comes to the conclusion that Viserys will never be able to take back the Iron Throne even with an army. At the same time we also see that she hopes to take back what she thinks of as home.

When she is back in her tent and bathing she asks her servants/slaves about dragons. Irri and Jhiqui claim the dragons are all dead, killed off long ago by men. However Doreah offers up a different explanation. Doreah had served in a pleasure house in Lys and was told from a trader from Quarth that dragons came from the moon.

According to her once there were two moons, yet one went too close to the Sun and cracked open releasing thousands of dragons. The dragons breathed in and thus they can breathe fire. The tale goes that some day the remaining moon will one day drift close to the sun and once again the dragons will return.

Irri and Jhiqui laugh off the notion of the moon being some sort of egg as they believe the moon is a goddess that is the wife of the sun.

Daenerys invites Doreah to have supper with her and, gets some pointers from her that she learned from her time in the pleasure houses. That night when Drogo returns for the evening, Daenerys takes him out into the open air underneath the sky, and instead of being taken from behind as was the norm for them she rides him.

Shortly after Jhiqui realizes from the swelling of her belly that Daenerys is with child. At this point in the story Daenerys is only fourteen years old.

So this chapter really has a coming of age theme for Daenerys which seems to be triggered by her dragon dream. She seems to thereafter be taking ownership of her position as khaleesi, finding resolve to not be victim to her brothers bullying, and also taking ownership of her sexuality.

At the same time she is also demonstrates her naivety in her reaction to Jorahs opinion of Viserys, so the dragon dream may have given her courage and resolve, but it didn’t impart any sort of insight into the character of others.

This is interesting since Jorah says he dreams of his home but realizes Viserys won’t be able to take back the Seven Kingdoms. So logically the question Daenerys should ask is why the hell is he hanging around and why did he swear his sword to a lost cause.

In admonishing justice to her brother for his transgression against her she does something perhaps more cruel to him than having him beaten or maimed as one of the Dothraki suggests. In making Viserys the laughing stock of the khalasar she essentially ensures that he won’t be welcomed or respected in any capacity that he is normally accustomed to.

Essentially she sends him a message that not only is his life and well being in her hands but any control or influence he once had over her is gone completely and she is willing to see him literally reduced to one of the lowliest creatures in her new domain.

In addition to taking command of her relationship with her brother she also is taking ownership of her relationship with Drogo. In the Dothraki tradition all things of importance are done under the open sky she takes him outside and essentially takes him. Drogo even calls out her name when he reaches climax.  Let's keep in mind that this isn’t being done in some remote location, this is being done in plain sight of all the rest of Drogo’s khalasar.

This sends a clear message that while Drogo may be the leader of the khalasar, she is clearly in control in some areas of their relationship. Further it also sends the message metaphorically that she has in a way tamed Drogo to her will.

Power is an interesting thing. Certainly empowerment is a central theme for Daenerys in this chapter. The one thing we do have to consider though is whether or not this is true power, or is it the illusion of power dependant on status, circumstances or other factors that can change or be taken away.

Another relevant question is to what level can she exert that power? Clearly when it comes to her brother and dealing out punishment for transgressions that level is life and death. Clearly the dothraki who travel with her were more than happy to kill or maim Viserys, but would Jorah have done the same were it just the three of them? dream

What level of power does she truly have without Drogo? As we shall see in future chapters this isn't power that she truly owns herself. It's more akin to being the first lady of the US. Influential and the source of her power really stems from the position held by her spouse.

Lastly this most recent dragon dream also seems to have given Daenerys an interest in the dragon eggs beyond just a simple curiosity or a rare treasure and she starts to have notions there may be more to them than inert lifeless relics.

Consider the following passages:

Dany saw a finger of dusty red light reach out to touch her dragon’s eggs across the tent. For an instant a thousand droplets of scarlet flame swam before her eyes. She blinked, and they were gone. Stone , she told herself. They are only stone, even Illyrio said so, the dragons are all dead . She put her palm against the black egg, fingers spread gently across the curve of the shell. The stone was warm. Almost hot. “The sun,” Dany whispered. “The sun warmed them as they rode.”

Now it's unlikely that the precious dragon eggs are left open. Illyrio presented them to her in a chest, so far more likely they would be kept secure in that chest to prevent one or more of them from accidentally being lost. Could they have been warmed in the box they are kept in? Perhaps but to the point of being nearly hot? This seems unlikely.

Yet when she slept that night, she dreamt the dragon dream again. Viserys was not in it this time. There was only her and the dragon. Its scales were black as night, wet and slick with blood. Her blood, Dany sensed. Its eyes were pools of molten magma, and when it opened its mouth, the flame came roaring out in a hot jet.

OK there are a couple of symbolic things in this dream. First the colors of house Targaryen are black and red, in her dream the black dragon is slick with blood, so we have the black and red theme here. In addition the words of house Targaryen are Fire and Blood, which are also present in this dream. Additionally she also seems to have a notion that something is going on with the dragon eggs beyond them just being valuable decorations.

She touched one, the largest of the three, running her hand lightly over the shell. Black-and-scarlet , she thought, like the dragon in my dream . The stone felt strangely warm beneath her fingers … or was she still dreaming? She pulled her hand back nervously.

While the dream in this chapter may have given her confidence, it hasn't imparted any wisdom or knowledge to her. So her being a bit nerved out by the strange warmth of the eggs maybe her slowly considering terrifying possibilities but not admitting them to herself just as of yet.

Also lets consider the passage regarding her dragon dream prior to her wedding of Drogo:

Her thighs were slick with blood. She closed her eyes and whimpered. As if in answer, there was a hideous ripping sound and the crackling of some great fire. When she looked again, Viserys was gone, great columns of flame rose all around, and in the midst of them was the dragon. It turned its great head slowly. When its molten eyes found hers, she woke, shaking and covered with a fine sheen of sweat.

Now in this first dream we never get a description of the color of the dragon, but the molten eyes do suggest that it's the same dragon in both dreams. If we assume her thighs being slick with blood could be a result of a birthing process, this passage can be a foreshadow of a later chapter in the story after Viserys is gone and she births dragons amidst a great fire.

But that is for a later chapter and another blog post..

One question this does raise though  is did Illyrio know when he gifted the dragon eggs to Daenerys that this would be the result? Was it a gamble on his part, or perhaps just the nice gesture that it appeared to be?

While in a previous post I noted I think Illyrio is making moves on the basis of his faith, a big question is if this was part of it.

For now I'm gonna go with no, he didn't have a notion that this rousing of the hatchlings within the eggs would occur. If he did think it possible would he not have just kept both Targaryens in Pentos and focused on a plan to hatch and tame the dragons there.

The Dothraki are fierce enough and already command a tribute from the lords of Pentos without having dragons. Giving them greater power just seems counter productive to his goals which I will also go over in a future blog post.

Chapter 22: Arya AKA The Southpaw Wolf

.

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.