Making Madness II: Duskendale

[Knight and Dayne]

Hey everybody, thanks for sticking with me. For those of you just joining us, I'm trying to unpack some of the events directly prior to Robert's Rebellion. Overall, I'm arguing that Aerys II Targaryan's decent into madness was engineered by outside forces.

Part I argued (1) That Aerys started out pretty sane, (2) That his Love for Joanna Lannister, Fears surrounding his dead and stillborn children, and Jealousy of Tywin Lannister defined his pre-Duskendale mental state, and (3) That each of these mental triggers was manipulated by others. I further suggest that Pycelle was responsible for the death of Aerys and Rhaella's 7 children between Rhaegar and Viserys in conjunction with a Maester conspiracy to undermine Targaryan rule. I also suggest that the whispers and rumors that drove a wedge between Tywin and Aerys constituted a psychologically precise assault on Aerys.

Today, I'll be taking you to Duskendale. I had originally intended to go a bit further, but I found this to be a topic worth dwelling on, and I will certainly be following up soon with some thoughts on the character of Aerys' madness.

Thanks to my readers and commenters, especially Hear me Meow! for editorial support, Chinoiserie, Lord Varys, Lady Blizzardborn, and bent branch for commentary, and Lucifer means Lightbringer, Durran Durrandon, and Mithras for inspiring me to get on the boards in the first place.

The Defiance of Duskendale Doesn't Make Sense

Darklyns+Targaryans=BFFs

Let's start with some history. Pre-Conquest, Darklyns were petty kings in the crownlands. Their borders waxed and waned, but they were certainly no storm kings. Aegon the Conqueror defeats them, the Darklyns bend the knee, and, for almost the full duration of Targaryan rule, House Darklyn are loyal allies to the Dragons.

Fun fact: more Knights of the Kingsguard come from House Darklyn than any other source, including a founding member and the youngest ever before Jamie. This shows a great deal of loyalty, but it also shows something more important: Targaryan rule was great for the Darklyns. They earned much more prestige and influence as leal subjects than they ever did as petty kings.* While Tywin thinks Kingsguard appointments are beneath great houses like the Lannisters, they're a huge honor for smaller houses like the Darklyns.

So why rock the boat? The seeds of the defiance are planted when Tywin Lannister refuses Denys Darklyn's request for a new charter for Duskendale that would give it increased autonomy from the crown. Darklyn withholds taxes from the crown, Aerys comes to settle the matter, gets kidnapped, and we end up with a siege. If you're like me, the whole sequence of events seems fishy. Let's unpack.

Loving the Little People

There's an interesting back-and-forth that requires a bit more history. Aerys's grandfather Aegon V loved the smallfolk, and angered a lot of high lords by giving them rights. Aegon's primary motivation for the whole Summerhall fiasco seems to be his conviction that, with dragons, he'd finally be able to enforce those reforms and bring enlightened constitutional democracy to Westeros (joking about that last part). As Aerys' hand, Tywin axes Aegon's reforms, earning respect from the chaffed lords.

It's easy to miss one fact about the defiance: Duskendale is a town, not a castle. It's populated by smallfolk, not lords. The new charter Denys requests would thus give rights to smallfolk, so it's not a huge leap to connect it to the reforms Aegon gave and Tywin took away. Aegon's experience showed that lords are supposed to hate it when their smallfolk get rights - why is Denys different? Well, we know Duskendale is full of Darkes, Darkwoods, and Dargoods, all relations of the Darklyns, and we know the Darklyns aren't the highest of lords. It's reasonable to assume that, he'd be more concerned about his brother D's than his own authority as a minor lord. In AFfC 8, we hear lots of Duskendale's citizens remembering Denys fondly. So Denys asking for a charter looks like an earnest request.

Hear me Meow! pointed me to a really excellent SoS reference:**

“A little bloody gratitude would make a nice start.”

Lord Tywin stared at him, unblinking. “Mummers and monkeys require applause. So did Aerys, for that matter. You did as you were commanded, and I am sure it was to the best of your ability. No one denies the part you played.”(SoS 4)

Tywin remembers Aerys as craving recognition and contrasts this with simply fulfilling one's duty. I don't see Aerys as having an Aegon-style drive to empower the little people, but it's not much of a stretch to claim that empowering the smallfolk would earn him some cheering crowds, and it's clear that Tywin bears the brunt of the responsibility for keeping the smallfolk down. Add Viserys' conviction that the smallfolk "...cry out for their king" (GoT 3), and you have a reasonable basis for believing Aerys would be inclined to grant Denys' request. There's recent Targaryan precedent for it, it fits within the terms of the growing Aerys-Tywin rivalry, and it gets Aerys in good with the adoring masses.

For more on Targaryans and smallfolk, I can't recommend this short series enough.

Let's count the bad decisions:

1. After Tywin refuses him, Denys withholds taxes from the crown before inviting Aerys to talk it through. If your whole strategy is to get Aerys to overrule Tywin, this is the stupidest move possible. Everyone knows Aerys is generous with submissive subjects, and everyone knows Aerys does the opposite of what Tywin wants as a matter of principle. Denys should be looking for carrots, not sticks.

2. Aerys shows up personally, with only one kingsguard. Tywin tells Aerys not to accept the invitation, and maybe Aerys accepts anyway because he wants to prove Tywin wrong. That doesn't explain why he'd visit a defiant lord with a woefully inadequate security staff. We also know Aerys' paranoia was growing at this point due to his protectiveness of baby Viserys. The only reasonable explanation is Aerys was misled about the severity of the situation.

3. Denys kidnaps the king. This is where we go from stupid to suicidal. A minor lord can't expect to threaten regicide and survive without some serious outside support. Not to mention, the whole "get my smallfolk a new charter so they'll love me more" episode that started the mess goes out the window when you abduct, torture, and threaten to murder the one person likely to help you out. In other words, the Defiance of Duskendale did nothing to advance Denys Darklyn's stated goals.

Admiral Ackbar, can you tell everyone what I'm building up to?

Pointing Fingers

Tywin

Aerys certainly blames Tywin. Tywin lays siege to Duskendale, and it's a full 6 months before Aerys escapes. Tywin can't even claim credit for the rescue - Barristan Selmy's absurd heroics are what save the king. Tywin has every reason to want Aerys out of the way, and most post facto accounts of the incident paint Tywin as doing his duty, and little more.

Ultimately, I think the counter-arguments here are too strong. Tywin wisely councils Aerys against treating with Denys Darklyn.*** When Denys threatens to kill the king if Tywin storms the town, Tywin bides his time. We know Tywin is decisive, intelligent, and ruthless. During the Rayne-Tarbeck rebellion, he refused to be cowed by Lady Tarbeck's Lannister hostages, and he chose swift vengeance over drawn-out conflict. By my reckoning, Duskendale is the only time Tywin ever stayed his hand on the battlefield to protect a hostage. Long story short, he's playing against character.

You could also argue that there's no way Tywin could escape blame if he stormed Duskendale and Denys made good on his threat to kill Aerys, especially in Rhaegar's eyes, which constrained his options. To this, all I can say is "fair enough." There's no answer to what-if's. My interpretation remains that Tywin could find a way to escape blame. He's clever, and the situation didn't lend itself to a clear resolution.

Whatever their inspiration, the events show that Tywin took the safe course most likely to keep Aerys alive. I'd also like to note quickly that Barristan's heroics are the exact opposite of safe. GRRM loves to defile his true knights, and Barristan was reckless in his actions, and regretful later.

If you're keeping score, that leaves us with a blameless Tywin and a bittersweet Barristan. Luckily, we've got more fingers to point.

Serala

Unnamed Maester at the Dunfort, you have honors:

’Tis Lady Serala that they blame, his Myrish wife. The Lace Serpent, she is called. If Lord Darklyn had only wed a Staunton or a Stokeworth... well, you know how smallfolk will go on. The Lace Serpent filled her husband’s ear with Myrish poison, they say, until Lord Denys rose against his king and took him captive. (AFfC 8)

While I have been known to make some some pretty serious accusations against the maesters, this guy seems to have the right of it. After the defiance, Serala is singled out for some pretty gruesome torture before getting burned alive. The rest of the Darklyns and Hollards get decapitated, so this probably means something. Again, the smallfolk loved Denys, but they hated his foreign wife. Xenophobia's not a good explanation, given that Duskendale is a port town. But, if Serala used her husband's legitimate desire to help the smallfolk as bait to get the king in town, then turned it into a kidnapping plot that ensured the smallfolk wouldn't get their charter, it stands to reason that the smallfolk would be miffed.

Let's unpack that. The Darklyns are historically loyal Targaryan supporters, not especially powerful, and have a stake in a recent political issue that happens to drive a wedge between King and Hand. We're a lot closer to explaining bad decision #2. Aerys doesn't feel threatened by the Darklyns, doesn't sense an ulterior motive, and really wants to show Tywin he can get stuff done.

Bad decisions #1 and #3 get a half-explanation when the above maester mentions "Myrish poison" in Denys' ears, and later

...her female parts, with which it was said she enslaved her lord. (AFfC 8)

"Foreign wife manipulates kind lord into stupid decision" is a common enough story, and the facts support it. We do have to ask why though - if Serala's the mastermind, what's her game? As mentioned above, she can't expect to survive the defiance, and the end result is just a much crazier king. In other words, she's a sacrifice.

Anatomy of an Evisceration

We know so little about Serala that we can only speculate about why she played the role she did. We can, however, get some tidbits from her extremely graphic death.**** Her tongue gets removed, her female parts ripped out, and finally she gets roasted. Each of these specific tortures echoes are larger story.

Aerys' first notable maiming was Ilyn Payne's de-tonguing. Everyone's favorite headsman lost it for saying Tywin ran the kingdom. That's a clear nod to the jealousy component of the pre-existing seeds of madness I argued for last time. Aerys inflicting this specific punishment on Serala suggests she was guilty of a similar infraction, though we have no real basis for determining what she might have said. I feel most confident claiming it corresponds to Aerys' feelings of humiliation, being a proud king at the mercy of a minor lord and his wife.

I've gone back and forth on the question of whether or not Serala sexually tortured Aerys. An involuntary hysterectomy suggests something along those lines, but I can't fathom why she'd bother without backsliding into crackpot territory. We do, however, know that Aerys recently got pious, stopped whoring, and vowed to only sleep with his wife. This follows the death of Jaehaerys and some related beheadings, and it was also preceded by the death of Joanna Lannister. I've not put a neat and tidy bow on this bit, but it does seem like the components are there. If Sarela raped, sexually tortured, tempted, taunted, or even just had sex with Aerys, that would trigger the (tainted) love seed of madness, and the corresponding torture signals Aerys' feelings of impotence.

Sarela also has the distinct honor of being Aerys' first human flambe on record. Now, we all know Targaryan's have had a thing about fire forever, but this one's interesting because Aerys formerly preferred decapitation, but afterwards loved roasting. The rest of the defiant Darklyns got the ax, but Sarela got the torch. If we're fingering her as the ringleader, that makes sense. That fire is a Targaryan tradition gives us a pretty convenient psychological angle. As Aerys must have feared for his life as he'd feared for the lives of his children, he regained control with the tool of his ancestors. Fire protects and empowers Targaryans. Aerys says as much later when he's killing Rickard Stark: "Fire was the champion of House Targaryan" (ACoK 55).

Some Momentary Conclusions

To put a few pieces together, I've argued that the events of the Defiance at Duskendale require a more thorough account than we're given in the texts, that the situation specifically targeted Aerys, and that Aerys' pre-existing anxieties were all specifically targeted.

I'll be following up with a breakdown of the mad king's madness. Stay tuned.

*The Darklyns were also important supporters of the Blacks during the Dance, but I'm not gonna try to crack that egg just yet.

**A+J=T folks: I see a lot of psychological transference in this quote and others. I don't see it as proof that Tyrion isn't Tywin's son, but it's a really rich character drama that spans generation, and that alone makes it worth looking into.

*** You could claim that's a double bluff, a la Cersi forbidding Robert from entering the melee at the Hand's tourney, but that seems a bit over-complicated to me.

****I'm far from the first to start picking at this detail, but I forgot where it came from. Probably Preston Jacobs.

[cocoalover1956]

I disagree about Selara being the ringleader. We see plenty of xenophobia in King's Landing, and that's also a port town. Assuming she did plot this, what motive would she have? How could she have convinced Denys to betray a family that's been a boon to his house and a king who would have granted his request?

Though I do like your reasoning for why Aerys turned to fire as his preferred execution method.

[Knight and Dayne]

That's the bit where I expect the most pushback - I'm really sympathetic to the notion that Serala is a scapegoat. There's just not enough information available to really flesh out her methods and motives, so we have to work backwards. Denys did inexplicably "betray a family that's been a boon to his house and a king who would have granted his request." Sarela was singled out for gruesome torture while everyone else was merely executed. Sudden, vicious misogyny is a plausible explanation for some of that, but it's incomplete and inconsistent with Aerys' previous patterns of behavior. Those two points, moreso than the rumors of the smallfolk, lead me to believe she had some significant role.

I do point out that regardless of motives, once the defiance began, Serala's chances of surviving the affair take a nosedive. If she was the mastermind, it was to accomplish something she felt was worth dying for. I think the more likely explanation is that Duskendale was a setup for her as much as it was for Aerys. I just can't quite identify the true mastermind. Ideas?

[Equilibrium]

Varys, to bring back Blackfyres, it's only possible solution.

He claims he was born in Lys but he lived in Myr and was prince of thieves there.

He was probably already powerful in Pentos when Aerys was king, so he found out about his mental health and decided to stroke the flames, he knew Serala and either had something to promise her or some leverage over her, maybe he even sent her there. After he ingrained himself to the Aerys and the court, Aerys called him when he was already very paranoid and probably after Duskendale.

[Knight and Dayne]

I've got quite a bit to say about Varys. It's pretty clear his arrival shortly after Duskendale is non-trivial, and the fact that Aerys trusted him where he didn't trust others has to be significant. On the other hand, Varys counseled against letting Tywin into KL during the rebellion. He's clearly got an agenda that predates the books, but it's hard to imagine that he was the only significant schemer post Duskendale...

[Equilibrium]

There certainly were other schemers, several conspiracies with prefix "Grand" and name of the House or institution as a suffix were at play, but Varys still had most direct means, motive and benefit, it is a fact, I really can't see anyone else doing such a play from what we currently know.

We will see, I am looking forward to your further analysis, you are certain to uncover more hints.

[Ser Daegon]

I've been folowing your two posts now, and I really like what you've put together so far. I find Aerys to be very tragic, and the fact that we're only getting bits of the puzzling past here and there makes the entire circumstances leading up to aGoT much more interesting.

I might say that after reading the Worldbook, I almost got the sense that Aerys' growing suspicion of treason everywhere he looked, including Rheagar, had something to do with Summerhall. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he had something to do with the death of Aegon V, and the fire that consumed the castle. It didn't seem to be in Aegon's character to attempt to hatch dragons, and that his bringing people to Summerhall was to "hatch" a future dragon kong, Rhaegar.

Might be crackpot, but if Aerys caused the death of his own grandfather and King, he may grow to project his own earlier ambitions and sins upon his son.

[Knight and Dayne]

Thanks! A lot of the reason I've started poking around with Aerys is that I love it when the paranoid character turns out to be at least a little bit justified.

It might be a bit crackpot to say Aerys had a hand in Summerhall; that's a possibility I hadn't really considered. I do disagree slightly about Aegon though. That quote about how he believed dragons would give him the strength to enforce all his progressive reforms really struck a chord with me. It's in tune with the greater tragedy of the Targaryan kings. Aegon was the best of them, but even he couldn't escape fire and blood.

[Gibzit]

Targaryen rule was really bad for the Darklyns, every since KL was founded they started declining, sure they earned prestige but can prestige fill your coffers and keep your castle running?

[Knight and Dayne]

Mind fleshing that out a bit? It's a pretty big objection to my argument, and I think I've made a decent case to the contrary. At their height, the Darklyns' territory was smaller than the Crownlands, and by the time of the conquest, they'd been conquered and re-conquered many times by Durrandons and others. Targaryan rule is when Darklyns start getting high appointments and Duskendale prospers.

[aryagonnakill#2]

^There is a specific quote I think from TWOIAF that I just saw that is very logical in nature, Duskendale was a port town on Blackwater Bay and so as Kings landing Grew Duskendale lost trade because of it. This is similar to how Spicetown was never rebuilt after the sack because all the trade simply went to Kings landing. Under Aerys, Tywin also increased Tariffs at other ports and decreased them in KL, resulting in an even great loss of trade surely.

[Gibzit]

Mind fleshing that out a bit? It's a pretty big objection to my argument, and I think I've made a decent case to the contrary. At their height, the Darklyns' territory was smaller than the Crownlands, and by the time of the conquest, they'd been conquered and re-conquered many times by Durrandons and others. Targaryan rule is when Darklyns start getting high appointments and Duskendale prospers.

Before the conquest, Duskendale was the biggest city on Blackwater bay, if you wanted to trade in that region, you go to them.

After the conquest, there are 0 reasons to go to Duskendale for Blackwater trade since KL has a bigger population and therefore you would sell a lot more.

This caused Duskendale to become the shithole we see in AFFC, its quite logical that Lord Denys would wan't to stop this from happening.

The Highest honours that they got was being members of the kingsguard, no small council position at all, where are the benefits of having a house member of kingsguard except prestige?

[Knight and Dayne]

Gotcha. Makes a lot more sense now. Definitely something I should have addressed in the OP, for the reasons y'all raised as well as the fact that it gives us another reason why getting a new charter was really important to Denys and the citizens of Duskendale.

My point is that the prestige of House Darklyn grew a lot under Targaryan rule, and that made an impact - even in AFfC, the townsfolk seem quite proud of their 7 swords. The Defiance is way out of character, and guaranteed that it wouldn't get the economic reforms it needed. Again, in that situation, you want carrots, not sticks.

[Ser Daegon]

Thanks! A lot of the reason I've started poking around with Aerys is that I love it when the paranoid character turns out to be at least a little bit justified.

It might be a bit crackpot to say Aerys had a hand in Summerhall; that's a possibility I hadn't really considered. I do disagree slightly about Aegon though. That quote about how he believed dragons would give him the strength to enforce all his progressive reforms really struck a chord with me. It's in tune with the greater tragedy of the Targaryan kings. Aegon was the best of them, but even he couldn't escape fire and blood.

I always kind of took his comments about using dragons to enforce his reforms as a kind of jest, like "they sure wouldn't argue with me if I had some fire breathing dragons." It just seems odd that he supposedly attempted to hatch dragon eggs when he grew up with a mad brother who killed himself drinking wildfire, and another that was plagued with dreams. Reading about him in the Dunk and Egg stories makes him seem quite grounded and sensible.

The worldbook made me feel like we're supposed to believe that the tragedy at Summerhall was an attempt to bring back dragons, like we're being mislead about it.

[Ser Daegon]

Doesn't change anything about your assessment of Aerys' developing madness throughout his reign, at any rate.

[Knight and Dayne]

I always kind of took his comments about using dragons to enforce his reforms as a kind of jest, like "they sure wouldn't argue with me if I had some fire breathing dragons." It just seems odd that he supposedly attempted to hatch dragon eggs when he grew up with a mad brother who killed himself drinking wildfire, and another that was plagued with dreams. Reading about him in the Dunk and Egg stories makes him seem quite grounded and sensible.

The worldbook made me feel like we're supposed to believe that the tragedy at Summerhall was an attempt to bring back dragons, like we're being mislead about it.

Hadn't thought of it that way, but it makes sense. Aegon eschewed dynastic incest and married for love, which resulted in all of his children abandoning their arranged betrothals to do the same. In particular, even though he was opposed to incest, he let Jaehaerys II and Princess Shaera follow their hearts and wed. That brings us to Aerys and Rhaella, who were forced to marry to fulfill a prophesy even though they didn't love each other. Aegon opposed that pairing because it was incestuous and loveless, suggesting he really didn't care about the prophesy, but ultimately couldn't prevent it.

To me that echoes your point: Aegon wasn't a normal dragon/incest/fire/prophesy obsessed Targaryan, so it's odd that he presided over Summerhall. You can probably safely view that as either a desperate change of heart or a setup, and I don't have a good basis for determining which.

[Ser Daegon]

Aegon's heir became Jaehaerys after his first born son abdicated his right to the throne, and so Aerys was elevated to being in direct line to the throne. However, Aegon was still relatively young, in his mid fifties, healthy and not likely to die anytime soon, and Jaehaerys as well was young... Aerys, by all likeliness, would not sit the throne for a very long time, and if he did, he would not sit it long unless his predecessors were to die untimely deaths. Which they did.

Summerhall was where Aegon gathered his family to supposedly hatch a dragon, but that hatching can be interpreted as the birthing of Aerys' first child, Rhaegar, whom Jaehaerys believed would be fulfilling the prophesy that tPwwP would be born of his children's line. If there was a celebration or ceremony at Summerhall, it seems more likely to me that it was to hail the birth of Rhaegar, not hatching literal dragons. It is only afterwards that smallfolk and lords alike heard of the tragic burning at Summerhall and must have thought "oh, those crazy Targaryens are at it again, trying to bring back dragons." Meanwhile, who survived Summerhall but Aerys, his sisterwife and newborn son, and Jaehaerys? Only three short years later Jaehaerys took to bed and died from a sudden shortness of breath, Aerys sat the Iron Throne, and Tywin Lannister is named Hand of the King, and it all begins to spiral downhill from there.

[Knight and Dayne]

I know it was a Targaryan shindig, but the quantities of wildfire present are a bit inexplicable if it's just for lil' Rhaegar. If Aerys is a kinslaying monster at this point, he's done a remarkably good job of concealing his crazy. "Aerys caused Summerhall" requires us to assign him a degree of ruthlessness, competence, and allegiance to Targaryian prophesy that I find pretty uncharacteristic. To put it another way, what we see at Summerhall is a lot of what Aerys devolves into, not what he was at the time.

[Ser Daegon]

I don't think that Aerys causing the Tragedy of Summerhall out of ambition necessarily could have been from insanity, but if somehow true it could have weighed on him through the years and added to his growing suspicion and madness. I think that he would have done it to gain the throne more quickly, rather than anything to do with prophesy. His father was into prophesy, but Aerys was more of a big dreamer. It's established that in his yourh, Aerys was quite competent and had much promise to be a great king. As I said, though, it's a borderline crackpot theory.

As far as Duskendale goes, I believe that Serala gave Denys Darklyn the idea of the charter, as it was something they do in the free cities. As far as that goes, she likely was the one urging Lord Denys to murder Aerys. I have a feeling that Lord Darklyn found himself way over his head, and when he learned that Aerys was coming to take his head, he acted out of rashness, even panic, and staged a trap. I hadn't thought of the possibility that Serala may have tortured Aerys, but I do think it's more likely that she openly urged Denys to murder him, which would make Aerys flip.

Very interesting, indeed