Varys and a certain ship (WoW Spoilers)

[liknar]

It's implied that she did so already. The description of the blade she used to stab Raff in the throat fits Needle to a t.

Really to a T, Needle is a sword. Albeit a small one. But too large to conceal in your coat. The replica that is being sold has a 2 foot long blade.

As for Arya, I really don't think she is in trouble for killing Raff. Every time she kills someone she seems to get promoted, regardless of whether she was assigned to kill or whether she took her own initiative. All that matters I think is that it is dispassionate and shows she has learned new skills. In this case, killing Raff, the way she did it, proves she has learned acting skills. The FM will promote her again.

Being blinded was not a promotion it was a punishment. Killing the insurance man was not what got her promoted it was the ability to know her surrounding while being blind that got her promoted the killing was just the Rite of passage.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

Really to a T, Needle is a sword. Albeit a small one. But too large to conceal in your coat. The replica that is being sold has a 2 foot long blade.

Needle was a (short) sword for an eight- or early nine-year old. Currently Arya is twelve and had a growth spurt. She's probably two feet taller than she was when Mikken made it.

Furthermore, Polliver used it as a dirk, strongly indicating that Needle is indeed dagger-sized.

[Hippocras]

Being blind was not a punishment at all. It was a mandatory step in her training, which she was made to do earlier in her training than the KM anticipated, yes, but resulted in her entering the next phase.

[Winnief]

I don't know if Izembaro's the same troupe that Varys played in, but Arya being in a mummer's troupe immediately made me think of Varys, and that Arya was being set up to be Master of Whispers someday herself.

[liknar]

“If you’re looking for Ser, you come too late,” Polliver said. “He was at Harrenhal, but now he’s not. The queen sent for him.” He wore three blades on his belt, Arya saw; a longsword on his left hip, and on his right a dagger and a slimmer blade, too long to be a dirk and too short to be a sword. “King Joffrey’s dead, you know,” he added. “Poisoned at his own wedding feast.”

Needle is not dagger sized. A dirk's blade is 6 to 20 inches nominally about 12in. But too long to be a dirk indicates 20in+ which matches with the 24in the the reproduction is selling for. A man's sword hung at the waist is about 3ft half your height. So a ten year old maybe about 4 ft tall would have a 2 foot long sword.

[liknar]

Being blind was not a punishment at all. It was a mandatory step in her training, which she was made to do earlier in her training than the KM anticipated, yes, but resulted in her entering the next phase.

I agree that it was a mandatory step, but why can't it be both. The timing was punishment, but the punishment was also a leason.

I had a leak in my radiator when i was a teenager, I let it run dry and cracked my engine block. My punishment was that I had to rebuild the engine. Yes my dad was teaching me to work on cars, but the timing of the leason made it a punishment. If my older sister had broken the car it may have been called a lesson. The result would have been the same. I would have learned to rebuild an engine but the reason would have been different. If it had been my sister it would have been to teach me about cars and to spend time with my dad. As it was it was to teach me responsibility and about fixing small problems before they become large problem. The actions would have been the same but the reason why would be different.

If she had not killed the singer the KM would have said you have passed this phase of training. We are going to take away your sight as the next phase, are you sure you want to continue.

As it was they made her blind than said this is how it is tell us if you don't want to be here.

One is a punishment the other is a phase of training. She ends up trained either way.

She missed Cat herself the most of all, even more than she missed her eyes. She had liked being Cat, more than she had ever liked being Salty or Squab or Weasel or Arry. I killed Cat when I killed that singer. The kindly man had told her that they would have taken her eyes from her anyway, to help her to learn to use her other senses, but not for half a year. Blind acolytes were common in the House of Black and White, but few as young as she. The girl was not sorry, though. Dareon had been a deserter from the Night’s Watch; he had deserved to die.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

The taking of her sight was a training thing. How long she had to go without it was the punishment.

[Hippocras]

Has she gone deaf yet? I don't remember. If not I guess that will be next.

[liknar]

IDK I see sight as the primary sense. The other four supplementing it. Hearing and touch are defiantly strong secondary senses. I just don't see the lessons that need to be taught for loss of hearing being useful. Sign language maybe, but even that is better taught to someone who can hear.

Ex is I hear someone yell fire i run to look first than call the fire department, same if I smell smoke. But if I see a fire I call, I don't wait to smell it or go touch it.

[Dragon Roast]

Really because

Sounds mighty like The Gate is his second playhouse venture to me...

Or it could just be that The Gate was located there because it was a low-rent threatre district with one company already doing a decent business--so why not another. This is how theatre districts are built in our world, so why not in Braavos. Proximity does not mean that Izembaro had anything to do with The Ship. As there is much and more that we do not know about Izembaro or his history, this notion of the OP is possible in some part, but it is just a hunch. It could also be completely wrong.

[Mithras]

“I was an orphan boy apprenticed to a traveling folly. Our master owned a fat little cog and we sailed up and down the narrow sea performing in all the Free Cities and from time to time in Oldtown and King’s Landing."

I think Varys was a mummer at the Ship. Note that The Bloody Hand represents the events in KL. Thus, The Ship (Varys and his folly) travelled everywhere through the farces they played.

I don’t think Izembaro should necessarily be involved in this theory. The apprenticeship of Varys might be some 40 years ago.

[Baelor Swyft]

Varys was definitely a mummer, but I don't think he was ever involved with the Faceless Men. Izembaro appears to be a friend to the Faceless Men like other people Arya has stayed with, but he himself is not a faceless man, or does not appear to be so. Besides, Izembaro is one of many, many mummers and there's no specific evidence to suggest Varys had any dealings with him. Izembaro may not even be old enough to have been Varys's master.

[DrunkSister]

“I was an orphan boy apprenticed to a traveling folly. Our master owned a fat little cog and we sailed up and down the narrow sea performing in all the Free Cities and from time to time in Oldtown and King’s Landing."

I think Varys was a mummer at the Ship. Note that The Bloody Hand represents the events in KL. Thus, The Ship (Varys and his folly) travelled everywhere through the farces they played.

I don’t think Izembaro should necessarily be involved in this theory. The apprenticeship of Varys might be some 40 years ago.

Were the mummers that were in the audience from the Ship? In the spoiler tread butterbumps! was asking if we can connect anybody from KL to plotting in Braavos, if this is the same travelling troupe, and the writer and an actor were there for the opening night, then we would have a connection.

And if Forel is a cousin of the one that was killed in KL, Varys would be offering him the opportunity for vengeance.

Because I seriously think that Arya had a task that night, because of how Mercy ends up 'raped and murdered' and Arya thinks this would cause trouble for the envoy and Sealord.

[Veltigar]

I do believe that the mummers ship is the same one that Varys used to be on. It has remained in the docks for 20 years so that's certainly possible. However it is no more than a nod (perhaps Arya will visit it and we'll get some more Brightflame clues but that's it). Varys is certainly not a FM, it would defeat the purpose of the character imo. Varys and LF are both all about the game and about intelligently playng it. If you make either of them a FM or Warlock you lose something important.

As to Arya using Needle. I'm convinced that she used another blade. Not only is Needle to long, as several others already pointed out, but it is also to important to be used that way. Hiding Needle was tremendousley symbolic and so will her reclaiming the blade be. GRRM will not just gloss over the retrieval of it. He'll use it to show that Arya is ready to break with the FM.

[DrunkSister]

I did not mean to say that Varys is FM, I though he could have used his contacts to subtly sabotage KL envoys, and FM have their own agenda.

[setmyheartafire]

Or it could just be that The Gate was located there because it was a low-rent threatre district with one company already doing a decent business--so why not another. This is how theatre districts are built in our world, so why not in Braavos. Proximity does not mean that Izembaro had anything to do with The Ship. As there is much and more that we do not know about Izembaro or his history, this notion of the OP is possible in some part, but it is just a hunch. It could also be completely wrong.

I understand the passage said the Ship was closeby but my point was unrelated to its proximity. Izembaro's remark that the ship had been moored 20 years yet still pulling crowds and finishing the thought with that "the Gate would flourish too" seems to indicate that Izembaro's first location drew crowds and he expects that his second would also. It's not only this but also that Mercy says if she goes down the road of providing "favors" to Izembaro, she will end up on the Ship. Why, if it doesn't belong to Izembaro?

[Dragon Roast]

I understand the passage said the Ship was closeby but my point was unrelated to its proximity. Izembaro's remark that the ship had been moored 20 years yet still pulling crowds and finishing the thought with that "the Gate would flourish too" seems to indicate that Izembaro's first location drew crowds and he expects that his second would also. It's not only this but also that Mercy says if she goes down the road of providing "favors" to Izembaro, she will end up on the Ship. Why, if it doesn't belong to Izembaro?

As hunches go there might be something to it. And yet, you can't make the connection that Izembaro owned The Ship without a lot of speculation and filling in the blanks. It becomes an even bigger stretch to connect Izembaro to Varys. I think the text supports the idea that Izembaro started The Gate as a competitor to The Ship, But who knows as there have been many plot twists I did not see coming.

I look forward to the day that TWOW arrives to provide more clarity--or at the very least, more clues....

[Mrmanakan]

I don't count the Ironborn. First they use a compound word, whereas the others are split. Second they have no concept of investment or of ruling. I think they just chose that name because they thought it sounded good. Sure beats The Clanking Reavers. ;)

Of course I could be wrong. Could be that Balon was really into the Braavosi mutual funds market and built up a healthy portfolio for Asha and Theon to inherit. He could even be an Iron Bank shareholder. Something to tide them over when the raiding is slow. What am I saying? They're more likely to rob the bank than put money in it.

If I remember correctly the iron islands are rich in iron and also have a grayish tint to them thus they get the name "ironborn"

[Lady Blizzardborn]

If I remember correctly the iron islands are rich in iron and also have a grayish tint to them thus they get the name "ironborn"

Thanks for the info. So that explains them. I can see the Iron Throne to a point too. But why would a bank be the Iron Bank? And one in Braavos, no less. Sorry, got off topic there.

[liknar]

Iron bank=iron vault=your money is safe. BTW no text support on that it just makes sense.

It is in bravos because that is where it was started. Maybe also because bravos has no nobles. Nobles thought of wealth in terms of land. Merchants think of wealth in terms of trade and markets. Lending as an institution makes more sense w/o nobles. With nobles they wouldn't want the bank to lend money to peasants, and you run into problems like with the Iron throne were the throne refuses to honor its debts.