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.

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.