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Episode 38: A GAME OF THRONES, TYRION V: "Out of the Blue and Into the Black" SHOW NOTES!
🕑 Added 2018-11-05 15:01:01 +0000 UTCHello and welcome to the Not A Cast … podcast: the one true chapter-by-chapter podcast going through A Song of Ice and Fire one chapter a week. I’m one of your hosts Jeff better known as BryndenBFish.
And I’m your other host Emmett, better known as PoorQuentyn.
Welcome to our thirty-eighth episode of the Not A Cast entitled: “Out of the Black and Into the Blue: An Analysis of AGOT, Tyrion V,” in which Tyrion escapes a perilous situation with his wit, cunning, and a well-timed roll of the dice. Classic Tyrion shit, in other words. This episode is brought to you by our Small Council: Hand of the King WolfmanZack, Grand Maester Timothy W, Jancy O, Lady Commander of the Night’s Watch, Lords Commander of the Kingsguard Mark N and Hayden J, and Archmaester June, Healer of the Lesser Poxes. Thank you, gentlemen and ladies!
Spoiler warning: All published books - 5 novels, 3 Dunk and Egg novellas, histories, interviews, TWOW sample chapters, as well as Game of Thrones the TV show. Anything and everything!
Question
Archmaester June, Healer of the Lesser Poxes asks:
I have a question...I was mulling over Dany's prophesy regarding betrayals. The third one will be "For love". There's a character who very pointedly does questionable things "for love"...Jamie Lannister. I was trying to turn this about in my mind, to bring these two references together. I don't think he will betray anyone on Cersei's behalf...his arc seems to be very much winding in a different direction. What might be neat though is if he is responsible for Dany's demise...as he was for her father's...for love of...well...the realm....the world...humanity...or something. Thoughts??
Synopsis
Beans. Awful, terrible beans - things that no human should eat, because they are the worst - are on a plate in the hand of Mord, our Azor Ahai figure, or maybe A-zor-a-mord, amirite? No I am not. Mord holds a plate of beans in front of a starving Tyrion. But the dwarf isn’t about to give up on his Lannister pride. He’d prefer a leg of lamb, some peas and onions, bread and wine or beer, thank you.
But Mord only stupidly repeats that it’s beans. And what does Mord look like? He’s 280 pounds with brown rotting teeth, small dark eyes and the left side of his face had a scar where an ax had taken off half his ear and part of his cheek.
Tyrion reaches for the plate, but Mord snatches it away. Is here, he says holding the plate out of Tyrion’s grasp. Tyrion asks Mord if they have to play this damn game every meal time and tries to grab the plate. Mord yanks it away towards the opening of the sky cell. Is here, dwarf man. Tyrion ain’t about to get that close to the edge. He tells Mord he’s not hungry after all. So, Mord lets the plate fall from his hands and into the blue. The beans spill out into the air with some coming back into the cell. This drives Tyrion into a black fury, but because this is a family podcast, I’ll paraphrase what he says next: I am not fond of the status quo; furthermore, this atmosphere of workplace hostility has made me feel unwelcome, Mord. When Mord strikes him for saying that, Tyrion replies more sharply - again, paraphrasing: I am disappointed by your lack of respect and believe that your attitude will lead to an early demise if you don’t seek help for yourself.
Well, this causes Mord to storm away and slam the door to Tyrion’s cell. Only then does Tyrion realize that maybe he has too big of a mouth. He crawls to the corner of the room - as far away from the opening as he can get - and huddles under a thin blanket. He stares out into the empty, blue sky and wishes he he had a heavier cloak or blanket. Furthermore, Tyrion would trade the worst pit at Casterly Rock for this imprisonment.
When he had first been tossed into his cell, Mord had stated that Tyrion would fly sooner or later. And here we get some interesting worldbuilding. The Arryns designed the only jail in Westeros where prisoners could escape. The wall to the outside was open. So, prisoners could leave -- albeit down some hundreds of feet of sheer rock face. Tyrion had gathered enough courage the first day to poke his head down, and he knew that death would await anyone who jumped.
He was a bee in a stone honeycomb, and someone had torn off his wings.
The cell itself was particularly uncomfortable. Cold and prone to screaming winds, it was bad, but it was worse in that the flooring of the cell had been designed to slope. Yikes. And there was the graffiti scrawled on the side of the wall: Gods save me, the blue is calling. Tyrion thinks the writing looks like it was made with blood and wonders what happened to the dude before deciding it was probably better not to know.
If only he had shut his mouth.
Tyrion remembers back to Sweetrobin looking down from his carved weirwood throne in front of the assembled Vale nobility. Hm, fascinating about that throne, huh? More, later. The boy had asked his mother Lysa if Tyrion was a “bad man.” Lysa had said, yes of course he’s a bad man. He murdered Jon Arryn after all. Wait, what? Yeah. That’s Lysa’s story anyhow. Tyrion responds with a Oh, did I kill him too? Which goes over about as well as a vegan protest at an outdoor barbecue in Texas.
Tyrion realizes he needs to shut the fuck up, be submissive and silent, but he’s in an understandable bad mood. Now certainly part of his bad mood was from y’know being taken captive by Catelyn, being attacked on the high road by the clansmen and all the misfortunes he’d suffered since Winterfell. But specifically here, Tyrion cites his embarrassment and shame at having Bronn carry him up the last leg of the trip up to the Eyrie. This humiliation had caused him to continue lashing out at Lysa and Sweetrobin:
It would seem I’ve been a busy little fellow. I wonder where I found the time to do all this slaying and murdering.
Tyrion really should know better -- having spent some time around the Arryns in court, but, again, he’s angry and humiliated. Lysa had told Tyrion to guard his tongue and remember where he is. Everyone in the courtroom would die for her and her son. To which Tyrion had replied that if anything happened to him, his brother Jaime would ensure that everyone in the courtroom died. Again, Tyrion knows it’s stupid, but he keeps saying ugly things.
When Lysa threatens Tyrion with the Moon Door if he keeps threatening her and her son, Tyrion responds, I made no threats. That was a promise. Sweetrobin had jumped up at that, screaming that Tyrion can’t hurt them here in the Vale and then begins having a mini-seizure. Lysa assures the boy that the Eyrie is impregnable, and that Tyrion was trying to frighten them with empty threats -- which Tyrion knows is probably accurate.
Attacking the Eyrie would be a goddamn suicide mission for any knight or soldier attempting it. They’d have to fight uphill the entire way while the defenders would be able to hurl stones and arrows down from above. The Eyrie can’t easily be taken … from the ground. More on that later! But for the moment, Tyrion tries to say that the Eyrie is not impregnable; it’s inconvenient.
Sweetrobin accuses Tyrion of being a liar and he would love to see Tyrion fly. Two Vale guardsmen lift Tyrion off the ground, and Tyrion thinks he’s about to die until Catelyn, who is good, intervenes. She states that Tyrion is her prisoner, and that he is not to be harmed. Lysa is pissed but knows Catelyn is right. But she ain’t going to say those words. So, she walks away -- but not before ordering Ser Vardis Egen to take Tyrion to a sky cell.
I will remember this, Tyrion threatens? Promises? Both. Tyrion attempts to console himself with the knowledge that eventually Lysa and Catelyn will call on him. Besides, they wouldn’t really kill a Lannister of Casterly Rock … would they? And then Tyrion had been in his cell for a long time. Hungry, weak and exhausted, Tyrion figures that he’s not going to last much longer. Eventually the blue will call to him.
But then more wonderings: had word gotten out to his father or to Jaime? What was Cersei thinking about all of this? Where the fuck was everyone? If Cersei was smart, she’d order Robert to try Tyrion himself. And Tyrion would be alright with this. There was no proof he’d done any of this. But he knows Cersei isn’t smart enough for this. She’d see the insult, not the opportunity. And Jaime was worse: he was impetuous and would probably do something rash like attack Ned Stark in the streets of King’s Landing or something.
Oh, and BTW, which one of them sent the footpad to kill Bran Stark? If Jon Arryn was actually murdered, that was quite subtle, but the attempt on Bran’s life was clumsy.
And wasn’t that peculiar, come to think on it.
Perhaps it wasn’t just the Lannisters and Starks playing the game. And now someone was using him as a catspaw. He hated being used.
Tyrion needs to get out of this cell, out of the Eyrie quick, fast and in a hurry. But he can’t really escape. He’d have to use his mouth for good finally. He starts shouting for Mord. After ten minutes of shouting, Mord finally appears with a leather strap in hand. Making noise, Mord says. Tyrion promises him gold which results in Mord striking him with the strap. Mord tells him to be quiet. Tyrion repeats gold and tells Mord that he’s a Lannister of Casterly Rock. There’s so much gold in Casterly Rock. Mord hits him again - this time in the ribs. It sends Tyrion to his knees whimpering.
Tyrion forces himself to look up, says as rich as the Lannisters. That’s what they say, Mord. And then, of course, Mord whacks Tyrion across the face. Tyrion falls and tries to push himself up, but his fingers touch nothing. He’s right where the cell ends at the blue. More to say? Mord asks. Tyrion somehow assures himself that Mord won’t push him over, because Catelyn Stark won’t allow it. He compliments Mord on hitting him so hard, telling him that he could make good use of Mord. The jailer tries to hit him again, but it’s not hard this time. Tyrion promises gold, land, horses, women, golden women.
No gold, Mord says, but Tyrion takes notice that the man is listening now. He tells Mord that they took his purse of gold, but he’s sure they haven’t stolen it. The honorable Catelyn Stark wouldn’t allow outright theft. So, help me Mord-ahai, you’re Tyrion’s only hope. All you have to do is deliver a message. A message?
Tell Lysa Arryn that I wish to confess my crimes.
Mord thinks to hit Tyrion again, but he hesitates, then says that Tyrion means to cheat him. Nah, Tyrion isn’t going to cheat Mord. He’ll put his promise of much gold in writing. Mord hesitates but then finally decides to go get the paper and ink. Tyrion writes his promise, and then sends Mord off to deliver the message.
Later that night, Tyrion is asleep when Ser Vardis Egen wakes him to see Lysa. Tyrion rubs sleep from his eyes, tells Vardis that he may not want to see Lysa. Tyrion remembers Vardis from when he was captain of the guard at King’s Landing: a humorless, square man. He doesn’t give a shit what Tyrion wants. If he refuses, he’ll be carried to Lysa.
Tyrion gets to his feet and asks Mord for his cloak. Mord does that suspicion thing, but Tyrion re-instructs Mord that it’s goddamn cold and please get that shadowskin cloak for me. Thanks. Mord gets the cloak and drapes it around Tyrion’s shoulders, and then they’re off to see Lysa in the high hall.
The high hall is lit by fifty torches and Lysa is in the hall wearing black silk with moon and falcon sewn over her breast and her hair braided across her shoulder. Tyrion bows and looks around the hall. Catelyn Stark, Brynden Tully, Nestor Royce, Ser Albar, Lyn Corbray, Lord Hunter, Lady Waynwood and others are there. He notices Rodrik Cassel and Willis Wode there too. Oh, and Bronn is there too.
Catelyn tells Tyrion that they were told that the dwarf wishes to confess his crimes. Tyrion agrees, and Lysa makes some idiotic comment about the sky cells breaking Tyrion. But Catelyn doesn’t think that Tyrion looks broken. But Lysa tells Tyrion to go on with his confession.
And now to roll the dice, Tyrion thinks. And then at long last, after four and a half chapters, we finally meet the Tyrion Lannister we’ll know for the rest of the books. I’ll quote this in full, because it’s simply … great:
"Where to begin? I am a vile little man, I confess it. My crimes and sins are beyond counting, my lords and ladies. I have lain with whores, not once but hundreds of times. I have wished my own lord father dead, and my sister, our gracious queen, as well." Behind him, someone chuckled. "I have not always treated my servants with kindness. I have gambled. I have even cheated, I blush to admit. I have said many cruel and malicious things about the noble lords and ladies of the court." That drew outright laughter. "Once I—"
Man, I have admit laughing at this yet again on this re-read. This is Tyrion at his most Tyrion-y! But Lysa is not nearly as amused as I am about this. She asks Tyrion what the fuck he’s doing. Why confessing my crimes, my lady. Catelyn steps forward and re-iterates that he’s here under charges of sending someone to murder Bran and for killing Jon Arryn. Tyrion shrugs.
Those crimes I cannot confess, I fear. I know nothing of any murders.
Oh, you will someday Tyrion but not now. Lysa rages about that she won’t be mocked and that she hopes Tyrion has enjoyed his joke, because he’s headed back for a sky cell -- a smaller one. Not so fast.
Is this how justice is done in the Vale? Does honor stop at the Bloody Gate? You accuse me of crimes, I deny them, so you throw me into an open cell to freeze and starve. Where is the king’s justice? Is the Eyrie not part of the Seven Kingdoms? I stand accused, you say. Very well. I demand a trial! Let me speak and let my truth or falsehood be judged openly in the sight of gods and men.
Can you tell I’m really enjoying this? This is peak Tyrion and some good information on how law works in Westeros -- for the nobility. Anyhow, Tyrion knows he can’t be denied a trial, so Lysa obliges him, stating that if he’s found guilty, he’s dead. And since the Vale doesn’t have a headsman … Open the Moon Door.
People get the fuck out of the way of the middle of the room as a weirwood door parts. Guardsman remove the bronze bars. And suddenly there’s a giant hole into the night. Lysa crows about this being the king’s justice as winds whips up from the hole in the floor. Catelyn tries to caution Lysa against this idiocy, But she ain’t listening.
You want a trial, my lord of Lannister. Very well, a trial you shall have. My son will listen to whatever you care to say, and you shall hear his judgment. Then, you may leave … by one door or the other.
Tyrion sees that Lysa is smug and satisfied and wonders how many people Sweetrobin has sent through the moon door. He comes up with a new strategy.
I thank you, my good lady, but I see no need to trouble Lord Robert. The gods know the truth of my innocence. I will have their verdict, not the judgment of men. I demand a trial by combat.
Everyone laughs at Tyrion. But Lysa is caught off-balance. She says that’s his right. A knight comes forward and begs to be Lysa’s champion. Lord Hunter says he should be the champion for Lysa given his love for Jon Arryn. Albar Royce offers his sword too. So does Lyn Corbray. In the end, it’s a dozen men offering their swords. Lysa thanks them all, but she already has someone in mind: Ser Vardis Egen.
Ser Vardis hadn’t been among those clamering to fight Tyrion. It would be shameful to slaughter such a man and call it justice. At least someone besides Catelyn has sense in all this. Tyrion agrees with Vardis all the same. He wants a champion just like Lysa. And who does he want as his champion? Jaime. Well, that’s not going to fly. Tyrion will fight Vardis Egen tomorrow. Tyrion yells over to Marillion (yes, that asshole is here too) that when he writes his song to make sure to write lyrics about how Lysa denied Tyrion his right to a champion and ordered Tyrion to fight all bruised, lame and hobbling.
According to Lysa, she’s denied him nothing. Irritated, she tells Tyrion to find a champion to die for him. So, Tyrion looks around the room, saying he’d rather have a man who’d kill for him. No one moves. Tyrion starts to wonder if it was all a huge error, but then there’s a stirring in the back of the hall.
I’ll stand for the dwarf, Bronn calls out.
And that is AGOT, Tyrion V: really, my favorite Tyrion chapter so far. Tyrion is becoming the Tyrion Lannister we come to know and love throughout the rest of the books -- especially his war of wits against Lysa. And then Bronn saying he’ll stand for the dwarf is fantastic! Your thoughts, Emmett?
Depth
Tyrion hasn’t exactly been one of my favorite POVs so far in AGOT. GRRM always does a good job of getting us inside his head, but he’s been stuck on the fringe of the actual plot, practically a supporting character in Jon and Catelyn’s stories. He hasn’t had the chance to demonstrate much agency, to show us what he’s good at.
That changes with Tyrion V, also easily my favorite chapter of his so far. He’s forced to the very literal edge of a very literal drop, and has to improvise not just to be the wittiest man in the room, but to stay alive. Really, this chapter has everything: suspense, worldbuilding, political machinations, character work for Tyrion and his fatally big mouth, and a moment of fuck-yeah triumph at the very end as it all pays off. The momentum and density of Tyrion’s ACOK chapters (which I love dearly) stem from this one, so let’s dive in!
- The defiant lion
- The main theme in this chapter is how Tyrion uses sarcasm and mockery to deal with a world that judges him on first glance, but can also draw on deeper reserves of manipulation when push comes to shove (semi-literally…)
- That starts in the chapter’s opening lines, with sustenance itself on the line:
- “You want eat?” Mord asked, glowering. He had a plate of boiled beans in one thick, stub-fingered hand.
- Tyrion responds with sarcasm despite his hunger, because that’s the armor he’s developed and because (as with Dad) his pride is on the line:
- Tyrion Lannister was starved, but he refused to let this brute see him cringe. "A leg of lamb would be pleasant," he said, from the heap of soiled straw in the corner of his cell. "Perhaps a dish of peas and onions, some fresh baked bread with butter, and a flagon of mulled wine to wash it down. Or beer, if that's easier. I try not to be overly particular."
- Despite enjoying the sound of his own voice, Tyrion has tired of the ritual aspect to this mockery:
- “Must we play the same fool’s game with every meal?”
- The combination of hunger and pricked pride makes him lose his temper:
- Tyrion felt a pang of rage. "You fucking son of a pox-ridden ass," he spat. "I hope you die of a bloody flux."
For that, Mord gave him a kick, driving a steel-toed boot hard into Tyrion's ribs on the way out. "I take it back!" he gasped as he doubled over on the straw. "I'll kill you myself, I swear it!"
- Tyrion felt a pang of rage. "You fucking son of a pox-ridden ass," he spat. "I hope you die of a bloody flux."
- Tyrion then makes the connection between this scene and the earlier one with the Arryns
- If only he had shut his mouth . . .
- Sweetrobin calls him “small” and Lysa calls him “Imp,” again provoking him to sarcastic mockery (“oh, did I kill him too?”)
- One can only sympathize with Tyrion’s refusal to take this seriously--not only is he innocent, not only did he face danger again and again on the way, but the leadership of the Vale (as we said in Catelyn VI) is such a transparent joke
- But we also see once again that Tyrion is motivated above all by wounded pride:
- That would have been a very good time to have kept his mouth closed and his head bowed. He could see that now; seven hells, he had seen it then. The High Hall of the Arryns was long and austere, with a forbidding coldness to its walls of blue-veined white marble, but the faces around him had been colder by far. The power of Casterly Rock was far away, and there were no friends of the Lannisters in the Vale of Arryn. Submission and silence would have been his best defenses.
But Tyrion's mood had been too foul for sense. To his shame, he had faltered during the last leg of their day-long climb up to the Eyrie, his stunted legs unable to take him any higher. Bronn had carried him the rest of the way, and the humiliation poured oil on the flames of his anger. "It would seem I've been a busy little fellow," he said with bitter sarcasm. "I wonder when I found the time to do all this slaying and murdering."
- That would have been a very good time to have kept his mouth closed and his head bowed. He could see that now; seven hells, he had seen it then. The High Hall of the Arryns was long and austere, with a forbidding coldness to its walls of blue-veined white marble, but the faces around him had been colder by far. The power of Casterly Rock was far away, and there were no friends of the Lannisters in the Vale of Arryn. Submission and silence would have been his best defenses.
- And as with Mord, he falls back on threats he can’t back up:
- "Lady Arryn, should any harm come to me, my brother Jaime will be pleased to see that they do." Even as he spat out the words, Tyrion knew they were folly.
"Can you fly, my lord of Lannister?" Lady Lysa asked. "Does a dwarf have wings? If not, you would be wiser to swallow the next threat that comes to mind."
"I made no threats," Tyrion said. "That was a promise."
- "Lady Arryn, should any harm come to me, my brother Jaime will be pleased to see that they do." Even as he spat out the words, Tyrion knew they were folly.
- Compare this to “that was a threat” to Joffrey’s Kingsguard--delivered with swords to back it up
- The contrast between Ned and Tyrion will become clear in ACOK, when the latter takes over for the former as Hand, but here we see that whether it’s mercy or threats, both are screwed when they go in without swords
- The blue is calling
- And like Ned in his final chapter, Tyrion has been thrown in jail--but in the blue cells, not the black
- It can’t be overstated what an inhumane method of imprisonment this is: exposure, psychological torment, abuse from Mord, and (the detail that made my hair stand up on first read) the floor fucking slopes
- The physical torment ties back into the mockery Tyrion faces for being a dwarf, because he accordingly gets it worse from both the cell and Mord
- The psychological torment, however, ties into how he survives this situation--by keeping control of his faculties and mastering his environment
- First, he runs through his options quite sensibly; Tyrion accurately predicts how his siblings will react to his arrest:
- His sister was not without a certain low cunning, but her pride blinded her. She would see the insult in this, not the opportunity. And Jaime was even worse, rash and headstrong and quick to anger. His brother never untied a knot when he could slash it in two with his sword.
- Obviously we saw Jaime cutting the knot rather than untying it in his confrontation with Ned in Eddard IX, but in the very next chapter (Eddard X), we see Cersei very much the way Tyrion predicts:
- "By what right do you dare lay hands on my blood?" Cersei demanded. "Who do you think you are?"
- The silver--no, golden tongue
- What gives Tyrion such a strong arc in this chapter is the conscious decision he makes to change his approach:
- He would have to get out of here, and soon. His chances of overpowering Mord were small to none, and no one was about to smuggle him a six-hundred-foot-long rope, so he would have to talk himself free. His mouth had gotten him into this cell; it could damn well get him out.
- He makes that decision specifically because he’s done being a pawn:
- Tyrion Lannister hated being used.
- He’s also taking a stand against all the bullshit he’s ever faced for his stature, drawing as on Bran in courage in the face of fear, following his advice to Jon:
- Never show them you’re afraid
- Of course, the one resource he has to draw upon is his wealth as a Lannister:
- “How would you like to be rich?”
- Our sympathy for him increases as Mord hits him, driving him very close to a grisly death
- The pain was so bad he did not remember falling, but when he opened his eyes again he was on the floor of his cell. His ear was ringing, and his mouth was full of blood. He groped for purchase, to push himself up, and his fingers brushed against … nothing. Tyrion snatched his hand back as fast as if it had been scalded, and tried his best to stop breathing. He had fallen right on the edge, inches from the blue.
- But status is what gets him out, with both Mord (literacy and gold) and Lysa (demanding a trial by combat as a lordly defendant)
- It is just so fun to watch Tyrion work--see him getting back his cloak especially
- What gives Tyrion such a strong arc in this chapter is the conscious decision he makes to change his approach:
- Justice in the Vale
- Tyrion steps past snark to loudly and defiantly assert his rights
- A point where we see GRRM graying Tyrion on up IMO!
He was highborn, the son of the most powerful lord in the realm, the brother of the queen. He could not be denied a trial. - Of interest is that we’ve seen Tyrion as friend to bastards, cripples and broken things. Yet here, he has privileges above that of the common man, and he’s not necessarily reflective of the inequality of the Westerosi judicial system!
- Not that I fault him necessarily in the moment where his very survival is on the line!
- But it is a recurring theme in Tyrion’s story that as “modern” as he comes across as points, he’s still wedded to a system which benefits him far and above the common man.
- But that may be changing by ADWD when he talks with Penny on the ship and says:
"You mustn't mock him. Don't you know anything? You can't talk that way to a big person. They can hurt you. Ser Jorah could have tossed you in the sea. The sailors would have laughed to see you drown. You have to be careful around big people. Be jolly and playful with them, keep them smiling, make them laugh, that's what my father always said. Didn't your father ever tell you how to act with big people?"
"My father called them smallfolk," said Tyrion, "and he was not what you'd call a jolly man." He took another sip of watered rum, sloshed it around his mouth, spat it out. "Still, I take your point. I have a deal to learn about being a dwarf. Perhaps you will be good enough to teach me, in between the jousting and the pig-riding."
- A point where we see GRRM graying Tyrion on up IMO!
- It’s that mix of genuine pride and outrage on one hand with cynicism and manipulation on the other that will define so many Tyrion scenes
- But the Moon Door ramps up the aura of icy horror from the sky cells:
- A narrow weirwood door stood between two slender marble pillars, a crescent moon carved in the white wood. Those standing closest edged backward as a pair of guardsmen marched through. One man removed the heavy bronze bars; the second pulled the door inward. Their blue cloaks rose snapping from their shoulders, caught in the sudden gust of wind that came howling through the open door. Beyond was the emptiness of the night sky, speckled with cold uncaring stars.
"Behold the king's justice," Lysa Arryn said. Torch flames fluttered like pennons along the walls, and here and there the odd torch guttered out.
"Lysa, I think this unwise," Catelyn Stark said as the black wind swirled around the hall.
- A narrow weirwood door stood between two slender marble pillars, a crescent moon carved in the white wood. Those standing closest edged backward as a pair of guardsmen marched through. One man removed the heavy bronze bars; the second pulled the door inward. Their blue cloaks rose snapping from their shoulders, caught in the sudden gust of wind that came howling through the open door. Beyond was the emptiness of the night sky, speckled with cold uncaring stars.
- The stakes are effectively ramped up: from being dangled on the edge to being thrown from it
- It’s what Bran faced, but while that traumatic moment broke his relationship with stories and songs, Tyrion is older and jaded, and is able to manipulate them:
- "Singer," Tyrion said, turning to Marillion, "when you make a ballad of this, be certain you tell them how Lady Arryn denied the dwarf the right to a champion, and sent him forth lame and bruised and hobbling to face her finest knight."
- His cynicism about the proceedings is justified by the response to his request for a trial by combat: a bunch of proud fools demanding the “honor”
- Ser Vardis comes the closest to a worthy protest: this is a farce, a “fool’s festival”
- But of course, this folly will claim his life in Catelyn VII
- And Tyrion’s savior is the least pretentious swordsman of them all:
- Then there was a stirring in the rear of the chamber. “I’ll stand for the dwarf,” Bronn called out.
- Tyrion steps past snark to loudly and defiantly assert his rights
Likes/Dislikes
Like: Catelyn’s very much a background character in this chapter, but I like her gradual realization of how thoroughly Lysa has lost control of this situation: first replying to Lysa’s blithe assertion that the sky cells have broken Tyrion by noting that “he does not look broken to me,” then openly calling out that she thinks it “unwise” to threaten Tyrion with the Moon Door.
Dislike: Mord the Turnkey is a one-note character that seems ripped from a lesser novel. I get that he has to be an antagonistic figure for Tyrion in this chapter, but I much prefer the humanity granted to (for example) Davos’ jailers on Dragonstone in ASOS and at White Harbor in ADWD.
Like: I’m enjoying GRRM’s turn towards using sigils more and more in AGOT. As the story expands out, we start getting some truly minor characters and houses showing up in the margins. In this chapter, Tyrion sees some new sigils. Others sported sigils he did not know; broken lance, green viper, burning tower, winged chalice. Those sigils correspond accordingly to: House Wydman (broken lance), House Lynderly of Snakewood (green viper), House Grafton (burning tower) and House Hersy (winged chalice). GRRM has spoken of his love for sigils at ComicCon 2014 when he said: For me, one of the things I loved about the Middle Ages is the heraldry, and there’s a lot of stuff about the heraldry of various houses in my books. I love that. I devote a lot of time to that. I can see George’s love here in this chapter, and I love it too -- especially a winged chalice. Imagine the fear you’d strike into the hearts of your enemies when they see you riding into battle with a winged cup sewn onto your surcoat! (Details from GRRM on House Connington from 2002 here!)
Dislike: Tyrion notes that “Perhaps the direwolf and the lion were not the only beasts in the woods, and if that was true, someone was using him as a catspaw” in this chapter and leaves the impression that he doesn’t know who that person or faction is. But then when you go back and look at Tyrion IV, he already knows that Littlefinger has set him up with the dagger. So, why isn’t he making the connection here? I guess in defense of GRRM, he’s also shrouding that Joffrey sent the footpad, but that’s an actual mystery! It doesn’t make sense that GRRM would obscure Littlefinger as the one who was framing Tyrion given that readers already know that Littlefinger fingered Tyrion as the dagger’s owner all the way back in Catelyn IV, and Tyrion knows that Littlefinger is framing him, because Catelyn already freaking told Tyrion that Littlefinger claimed that Tyrion was the dagger’s owner in Tyrion IV.
Foreshadowing/Groundwork
Of course, this will not be Tyrion’s last trial in ASOIAF, and there’s much in common between this and the one for Joffrey’s murder two books from now. Tyrion is innocent of the crime, there’s a crazy widow insisting he did it, a duel decides his fate, and he just can’t keep his mouth shut.
It’s interesting to note that this the upcoming Trial by Battle where the “gods” decide correctly. In Tyrion’s later trial, Oberyn dies. Beric loses to Sandor in ASOS when Sandor is very much guilty of Mycah’s murder. And in TWOW, I expect Ser Robert Strong to win on behalf of Cersei Lannister who is 100% guilty of the crimes she’s charged with.
Both the Moon Door and the sky cells will return when Sansa becomes our POV in the Vale, as Lysa goes out the former and Marillion, framed for it, is imprisoned and tortured in the latter.
What’s up with all the weirwood in the Eyrie?
The wretched boy had started it, looking down on him from a throne of carved weirwood beneath the moon-and-falcon banners of House Arryn.
A narrow weirwood door stood between two slender marble pillars, a crescent moon carved in the white wood.
There’s been the theory that’s kind of banged around the fringes of the fandom that Sweetrobin’s shaking sickness isn’t so natural and may be evidence that the boy is a failed pupil of Bloodraven. All the weirwood may serve as context clues for this. And maybe we’ll get this confirmed in Bran’s TWOW chapters as BR shows Bran how he’s attempted to test different boys to succeed him as the Last Greenseer. After all, the blue is calling is also basically how Haggon describes skinchangers who went too far (especially with birds).
Theory/Discussion
A long-standing fan-theory is that Tyrion will be one of the three heads of the dragon and ride a dragon. However, a possible wrench was thrown into that theory when Viserion was killed and become a wight-dragon in Game of Thrones, Season 7.
In this chapter though, we get some possible foreshadowing of Tyrion as a dragonrider in the unlikely guise of Lady Lysa Arryn’s mockery and threats of Tyrion as he stands before the nobility of the Vale:
"Can you fly, my lord of Lannister?" Lady Lysa asked. "Does a dwarf have wings? If not, you would be wiser to swallow the next threat that comes to mind."
So, after Season 7, do we think that Tyrion will still be a dragon rider?
Evidence For
- We’ve referenced this before, but in 2007, GRRM made an appearance in the game Second Life as Tyrion Lannister. Afterwards, he recounted his time in the game and wrote:
Well, I made my appearance on Sheep Island a few hours ago, cleverly disguised as Tyrion the Imp for a reading and Q&A session at Bantam’s virtual bookstore. Only this version of Tyrion could fly! Ah, if only the Tyrion in the books could fly, what mischief he will… ah… could… ah, never mind. – GRRM, notablog, Back to My First Life, 5/31/2007 - Tyrion’s intensive knowledge of dragonlore that we see throughout the published books is leading somewhere.
- Refer back to Manu’s Tyrion-Bran-saddle theory
- Perhaps Lysa’s words about Tyrion flying and having wings foreshadows Tyrion riding a dragon to the Vale to exact vengeance on Lysa. Problem is … Lysa will have been long-dead before Tyrion might ever show up on dragonback.
Evidence Against
- GRRM has revealed the ending to ASOIAF and character fates to D&D in 2013. Does that mean that the death of Viserion is something that GRRM revealed to D&D or was that something that was creative license by GoT?
- There’s always a possibility that in that notablog post, GRRM was having fun or may have changed his mind. Recall that the post was made in 2007 and GRRM’s meeting with D&D where he discussed the endgame with them was in 2013. Some things could have changed for George.
So, ultimately where do we stand on Tyrion as a dragon rider?
Conclusion
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