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[TWoIaF spoilers] Who are the Rat, the Hawk, and the Pig?


Lord Varys

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Who are those mysterious rebels/outlaws who drive Aelora Targaryen mad sometime after Aelor's death in 217 AC, and later cause the death of Prince Daeron the Gay in 251 AC.



Are they even one and the same or do some guys later use the same name as has already been confirmed with the Vulture King?



My first association were Dunk's old buddies from Flea Bottom, first mentioned in TMK: Ferret, Rafe, and Pudding. Dunk hints at the fact that the usual Flea Bottom urchin is a nasty piece of work, and it would not surprise me if GRRM intended to give us Ferret, Rafe, and Pudding as foils for Dunk's biography. Just Ser Glendon Ball may be on a different level - I'd not be surprised if he eventually gravitated back to the Blackfyre cause, fighting at Haegon's side during the Third Rebellion, because the nobles in Westeros did not accept him.



They have the advantage of being about as old as Dunk, which would enable them to be still around in 251 AC. Whatever they do to Aelora could be their first attempt in 'big level crime' - if that's the case, then this masked ball clearly could also be part of a Dunk & Egg story - and I guess if they and Dunk and Egg eventually have a sort of history this could explain why they aim at killing Daeron and Jeremy in 251 AC.



Ser Bennis most likely has nothing to do with them - or at least not with the incarnation of 251 AC - as he would then be too old, I assume.



Hay anyone ever thought about them?


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Going by sigils, I'd say hedge knights.
Rat? Lots of Flea Bottom or city like connotations, so gives creedence to Dunk's pals. After hearing about Dunk's fame they want to be invovled to so I think that works.

Hawk? Blackmont, Fowler, Estren, even Arryn (Alys Arryn was their mother).
I doubt this is a nobility thing. Fowler are one of the most powerful Dorne lords, but not enough to fight the Targs.

Pig? Hogg or Crakehall? In history Crakehalls have been friends to the Targaryens (sheltering Aegon and Rhaena in the Faith Militiant era) so once again I doubt it is anything to do with nobility.

So Dunk's friends, jealous over his fame.

But still, rat could represent city smallfolk, pig country smallfolk, and hawk traveling smallfolk, like mummers and hedgeknights. Singers would be present at a ball no doubt and often frequent castles, so there is that.

We shall see.

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I guess it is possible that they were the same guys in both occasions. It seems that history named them, not the men themselves, and why would history name two groups of three men exactly the same?



But were they Dunk's friends? We can't rule it out exactly, because we know very little about them.


Ferret was good at climbing walls, Rafe was a fast runner. About Pudding, we know nothing, though the name might suggest he liked eating?


In that case, I'd say that Ferret is Rat, (rats can climb walls), Rafe the Hawk (running fast and flying fast can be "equal" in the sense of hunting, I suppose) and Pudding the Pig, for his love for food (if that is indeed why he was named Pudding).



Dunk was born in the early 190ties, and as Aelora died in between 217AC and 221AC, the boys, assuming they were roughly the same age as Dunk, would have been around 30 during that event.. Enough time to become a hedge knight, or, perhaps more likely, a gold cloak in KL, which would gain them access to the castle on occasion.



An attack on a royal Princess would effectively end the employment with the Gold Cloaks, so this could be the start of their "rogue hedge knight" period then, I guess..


In 251AC, they would be around 60 years old. That an army was needed to stop the Rat, Hawk and Pig would suggest that the three men had garthered quite a number of followers.. Who would these be? Would noblemen follow three men who had grown up in the streets of Flea Bottom? I doubt it. Would smallfolk support these three men? Aegon V campaigned a lot for the smallfolk, and was very much loved by them. I suppose there are always people who disagree with the rule of a king generally loved, but still... The only thing that might have been it, is that Aegon, who had to give in to the wishes of the high lords more and more, the further along his reign he came, pissed off a part of the smallfolk at some point, and those men then became the followers of the Rat, Hawk and Pig.


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A Vulture King sort of situation maybe? Sellswords perhaps, although they sound poor. Bastards of noble family may have supplied them. Victims of first night (which is defintely not abolished). If it was a winter or drought then enraged farmers. Victims of the Great Spring Sickness from Oldtown who slew their own lord for killing the afflicted who could still be angry. Blackfyre pretenders. Probably Peakes or Florents. Maybe Yronwoods.
There is an entire army of angry people. House such as Rhysling or Parren that were at the Ashford Tourney but are now extinct.
Heaps of possibilites.

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Known enemies of Dunk & Egg up to this point should include:



- Ser Steffon Fossoway - this guy is just an ass



- Bennis of the Brown Shield (no Ser there, this guy does not deserve it)



- possibly some of the (surviving) Blackfyre loyalists from TMK (or their family members), although nothing personal happened in there (or rather, it would be difficult to pin anything on Dunk & Egg)



- characters like Uthor Underleaf, Kyle the Cat, or other neutral acquaintances are sort of blank



My guess would be that the Rat, the Hawk, and the Pig were part of a larger anti-Aegon V movement in the battle that killed Prince Daeron, or rather, were utilized in such a capacity by Egg's highborn enemies and adversaries.


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Steffon Fossoway was a Targ sycophant. He would probs not be rebelling against them. Although slighted by his cousins rise in power, most certainly. And he would have power. (Tbh Fossoways seem harmless, but have had quite a few disreputable members) (which makes Daeron's comment about Aerion should have been a Fossoway funnier).


Bennis is on the run for sure so I think he is out.



Lothsons maybe? They were done for in Maekers reign, but surely there was still some abounds.


There is plenty of Blackfyre lords from TMK, so yeah there is definitely that.


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Egg's enemies seem to be of two groups:



1. Individual people that grew to dislike him and Dunk during their years of travel (Ser Steffon clearly could be counted in this group, at least by extension, as he joined Aerion's side).



2. Various and unspecified Lords who felt (correctly) threatened by Egg's (attempted) reforms. Those enemies could include pretty much every Lord, as nearly every Lord would go to great lengths to defend his rights, privileges, and the very foundation of his power.


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I do not doubt that this is why history named the men who attacked Aelora as was done :)

Agreed. Though it would also provide an easy explanation for how it might be different individuals on the second occasion, yet nevertheless given the same names by historians. Perhaps the Rat, Hawk and Pig of 251, inspired by the events of 217, took up the "disguises" or personae of the first trio, rather in the manner that the Hound's helm is passing from person to person.

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We don't know exactly when that masked ball took place. Definitely after 217 AC, as that was the year of Aelor's death, and possibly still during the reign of Aerys I, although that has yet to be proven.


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Agreed. Though it would also provide an easy explanation for how it might be different individuals on the second occasion, yet nevertheless given the same names by historians. Perhaps the Rat, Hawk and Pig of 251, inspired by the events of 217, took up the "disguises" or personae of the first trio, rather in the manner that the Hound's helm is passing from person to person.

I agree. It's likely that both trios had the same aims (anti-Targ, anti-Egg?....)

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If they aren't anything new, than I think Dunk's friends are the best option. It would make for interesting stuff from a writer PoV. GRRM would be able to contrast Dunk's career with the exploit of his criminal buddies who didn't have the good fortune to be picked up by a hedge knight.


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I find it very difficult to imagine that "armies", plural, would be sent after three thugs who were, at best, hedge knights.



It seems likelier to suppose that these are lords of some kind.


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If they aren't anything new, than I think Dunk's friends are the best option. It would make for interesting stuff from a writer PoV. GRRM would be able to contrast Dunk's career with the exploit of his criminal buddies who didn't have the good fortune to be picked up by a hedge knight.

Dunk inadvertently caused a ton of bad shit just by coming around, aka Breakspear. Maybe it would have been better for everyone if he had never met Egg.

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Dunk inadvertently caused a ton of bad shit just by coming around, aka Breakspear. Maybe it would have been better for everyone if he had never met Egg.

If Dunk hadn't met Egg, Rhaelle would have died at Summerhal. Dead Rhaelle means no Rhaegar and no Rhaegar means no Jon. And no Dany as well. Which means that our two best hopes for the role of tPtwP wouldn't be around, which means that the entirety of Westeros would be destroyed. I think Baelor Breakspear would have been a brilliant King, the best really, but in the end his sacrifice was needed.

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