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Let's begin by the description of Jaqen
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He was the youngest of the three, slender, fine-featured, always smiling. His hair was red on one side and white on the other, all matted and filthy from cage and travel [...]
The name Jaqen H'ghar doesn't sound like any name we have seen in the Free Cities. I don't think we have met any other Lorathi, though. The language of Lorath seems to be similar to the language of Braavos, since Arya says
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Something about the way he talked reminded her of Syrio; it was the same, yet different too.
And later, Jaqen tells Arya,
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“As well ask what good is life, what good is death? If the day comes when you would find me again, give that coin to any man from Braavos, and say these words to him—valar morghulis.”
So Jaqen is familiar with Braavos. Of course, he is suspected to be a Servant of the God with Many Faces. If so, he has stayed in the house of Black and White. The House of Black and White is set besides two proeminent buildings of Braavos, which are next to each other (Arya, AFfC).
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That is the Temple of the Moonsingers.”
It was one of those that Arya had spied from the lagoon, a mighty mass of snow-white marble topped by a huge silvered dome whose milk glass windows showed all the phases of the moon. A pair of marble maidens flanked its gates, tall as the Sealords, supporting a crescent-shaped lintel.
Beyond it stood another temple, a red stone edifice as stern as any fortress. Atop its great square tower a fire blazed in an iron brazier twenty feet across, whilst smaller fires flanked its brazen doors. “The red priests love their fires,” Yorko told her. “The Lord of Light is their god, red R’hllor.”
It was one of those that Arya had spied from the lagoon, a mighty mass of snow-white marble topped by a huge silvered dome whose milk glass windows showed all the phases of the moon. A pair of marble maidens flanked its gates, tall as the Sealords, supporting a crescent-shaped lintel.
Beyond it stood another temple, a red stone edifice as stern as any fortress. Atop its great square tower a fire blazed in an iron brazier twenty feet across, whilst smaller fires flanked its brazen doors. “The red priests love their fires,” Yorko told her. “The Lord of Light is their god, red R’hllor.”
So the colours of Jaqen's hair refer to the two great temples of Braavos, who are the immediate neighbours of the House of Black and White. Here are two religious allusions by Jaqen.
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The Red God has his due, sweet girl, and only death may pay for life.
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Three lives were snatched from a god. Three lives must be repaid. The gods are not mocked.”
On first reading, I thought that Jaqen was a devotee of R'hllor. On second reading, I realized that Jaqen mentions the Red God only because the death of Biter, Rorge and Jaqen was to occur by fire. Hence there is not proof that Jaqen is specifically a follower of the Red religion. I believe he fits well with the Braavosi multireligious tradition. That seems confirmed by his oath:
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“By all the gods of sea and air, and even him of fire, I swear it.” He placed a hand in the mouth of the weirwood. “By the seven new gods and the old gods beyond count, I swear it.”
The oath has two parts. First there is a fire component, and then a weirwood component. And we know that weirwood are related to the colour white. All this is compatible with hair colour again. However, we never saw another characer with red and white hair. The various Tyroshis with dyed hair we see have other styles.
Note: About this theory, I should thank Lummel for having , perhaps inadvertently, put me on track about the red/white symmetry, and especially Elaena Targaryen for her thread Howl at the Moon, which contains more speculations, including some personal suggestions on the red/white symmetry.
The Golden Tooth
Here is the description of Jaqen's second appearance.
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His cheeks grew fuller, his eyes closer; his nose hooked, a scar appeared on his right cheek where no scar had been before. And when he shook his head, his long straight hair, half red and half white, dissolved away to reveal a cap of tight black curls.
He grinned, revealing a shiny gold tooth.
Everybody seems to assume this coincides with the Alchemist at the Citadel.
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He was just a man, and his face was just a face. A young man’s face, ordinary, with full cheeks and the shadow of a beard. A scar showed faintly on his right cheek. He had a hooked nose, anda mat of dense black hair that curled tightly around his ears.
I agree, but that is not the end of the story. Here is a description of a character scattered throughout ASoS and ADwD:
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His beard was cut into three prongs and dyed blue, the same color as his eyes and the curly hair that fell to his collar. His pointed mustachios were painted gold. His clothes were all shades of yellow; a foam of Myrish lace the color of butter spilled from his collar and cuffs, his doublet was sewn with brass medallions in the shape of dandelions, and ornamental goldwork crawled up his high leather boots to his thighs. Gloves of soft yellow suede were tucked into a belt of gilded rings, and his fingernails were enameled blue.
[...]
[our man] was fair where [some unnamed knight] was swarthy; lithe where the knight was brawny; graced with flowing locks where the other was balding, yet smooth-skinned where [the knight] was hairy. And her knight dressed plainly while this other made a peacock look drab, though he had thrown a heavy black cloak over his bright yellow finery for this visit. He carried a heavy canvas sack slung over one shoulder.
[...]
His hands were large and strong, and there was something in his hard blue eyes and great curving nose that suggested the fierceness of some splendid bird of prey.
[...]
A golden tooth gleamed in his mouth when he smiled.
[...]
tracing his scars and making him tell her how he’d come by every one.
[...]
[our man] was fair where [some unnamed knight] was swarthy; lithe where the knight was brawny; graced with flowing locks where the other was balding, yet smooth-skinned where [the knight] was hairy. And her knight dressed plainly while this other made a peacock look drab, though he had thrown a heavy black cloak over his bright yellow finery for this visit. He carried a heavy canvas sack slung over one shoulder.
[...]
His hands were large and strong, and there was something in his hard blue eyes and great curving nose that suggested the fierceness of some splendid bird of prey.
[...]
A golden tooth gleamed in his mouth when he smiled.
[...]
tracing his scars and making him tell her how he’d come by every one.
No specifically facial scar is ever mentioned. But the man wears a beard. Dyed hair prevent any discrepancy with hair colour.
The face of Daario Naharis coincides with Jaqen's second face. I hardly believe it hasn't been brought up before on these boards.
Now there are a number of problems. I don't necessarily say that Jaqen is Daario, especially since the Faceless men have a funny business with faces. But it's clear to me that all three faces are the same. I can imagine that Jaqen is the Alchemist. I can imagine that Jaqen is Daario. Both possiblities are equally likely, in my view. But it's not easy to imagine that the Alchemist is Daario, mainly because Daario was in Meereen before and after the Oldtown episode.
Here is what Jaqen told Arya when he departed:
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“If you would learn, you must come with me.”
Arya grew hesitant. “Where?”
“Far and away, across the narrow sea.”
Arya grew hesitant. “Where?”
“Far and away, across the narrow sea.”
So Jaqen did not go to the Citadel immediately apparently.
I would propose that Jaqen made three journeys 1) Jaqen went to Meereen as Daario, 2) then came to Oldtown as the Alchemist, and 3) returned to Meereen as Daario. A study of the timeline is in order. (I am aware it is a bit convoluted and I feel uneasy about it. I am completely open to another suggestion.)
Jaqen leaves Harrenhal near the middle of ACoK, Daario appears in ASoS at Yunkai. So there is no problem with the first journey he can even have spent time in the Free Cities to take orders, recruit Stormcrows etc
Daario is then with Dany until Meereen is conquered. Then Daario is sent for a long mission to the land of the Lamb men, I would suggest that he used that time to make a round trip to Meereen. I am aware that it is a long journey, and that we don't know how much time Daario is supposed to have spent with the Lamb men.
The journey 2) is allowed by the timeline. Indeed in the prologue of AFfC, tales of dragons in Meereen have reached Oldtown. So Daario could have travelled with these rumours. When the Alchemist is in Oldtown, Tywin is still not dead. It's not unreasonable to suppose that Tyrion and the Alchemist left Westeros at the same time. Daario came back to Meereen, after his third journey, he return of Daario happened exactly ninety days before Dany's marriage, and Tyrion arrived shortly before the marriage. But Tyrion has taken the long trip along the Rhoyne on the pole boat. A comparison with Quentyn's trip leads to a similar conclusion (Quentyn left earlier, and arrived earlier than Tyrion but he lingered in Volantis and in Astapor). There is enough time between the Fall of Meereen and the return of Daario to make the round trip to Oldtown. However, we don't know when Daario left in Meereen.
Moreover that raises another question. The mission with the Lamb Men seems to have been accomplished. If Daario was not with the Stormcrows then, he must have insured iron loyalty from his men so that no talk about his absence would transpire. When Daario reports to Dany what happened, he is rather evasive, (I should perhaps say that he is hyperbolic, which is his way of being evasive).
Note that Daario did not return at the same time than his men:
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“He raced ahead of all his men to see her face the sooner, only to be left languishing whilst she ate lamb and figs with some dried-up old woman.”
I find no common point between Jaqen, Daario and the Alchemist in their personnality, their way of speaking etc. They might be different persons entirely, i.e. "no one". The question is whether all three "no ones" are really the same "no one".
For those who fear for Dany's life, they might be reassured by the following dialog, after Daario reports having captured Quentyn's party among the Windblown:
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The Frog has a gift for you.”
“The Frog?” she said, giggling. “And who is he?”
He shrugged. “Some Dornish boy. He squires for the big knight they call Greenguts. I told him he could give his gift to me and I’d deliver it, but he wouldn’t have it.”
“Oh, a clever frog. ‘Give the gift to me.’ ” She threw the other pillow at him. “Would I have ever seen it?”
Daario stroked his gilded mustachio. “Would I steal from my sweet queen? If it were a gift worthy of you, I would have put it into your soft hands myself.”
“As a token of your love?”
“As to that I will not say, but I told him that he could give it to you. You would not make a liar of Daario Naharis?”
“The Frog?” she said, giggling. “And who is he?”
He shrugged. “Some Dornish boy. He squires for the big knight they call Greenguts. I told him he could give his gift to me and I’d deliver it, but he wouldn’t have it.”
“Oh, a clever frog. ‘Give the gift to me.’ ” She threw the other pillow at him. “Would I have ever seen it?”
Daario stroked his gilded mustachio. “Would I steal from my sweet queen? If it were a gift worthy of you, I would have put it into your soft hands myself.”
“As a token of your love?”
“As to that I will not say, but I told him that he could give it to you. You would not make a liar of Daario Naharis?”
Final note: If Daario is an agent put at the head of the Stormcrows, his employer is likely to be the same power that employs the Stormcrows.
Death in Harrenhal
I owe a third theory. Like Arya did with the three deaths, I am going to cheat a bit on the third one and offer only fragments of various theories. I had several ideas in mind, none of them completely satisfying. (I had a definite intention for a third theory, perhaps that will come during the thread.)
Jaqen killed two men for Arya. First Chiswyck
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“One of the Mountain’s men fell off a wallwalk last night and broke his fool neck,”
Little to note, besides that it recalls the first murder in Winterfell. Then Weese
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Weese was sprawled across the cobbles, his throat a red ruin, eyes gaping sightlessly up at a bank of grey cloud. His ugly spotted dog stood on his chest, lapping at the blood pulsing from his neck, and every so often ripping a mouthful of flesh out of the dead man’s face.
[...]
Arya lifted her gaze from the dead man and his dead dog. Jaqen H’ghar was leaning up against the side of the Wailing Tower. When he saw her looking, he lifted a hand to his face and laid two fingers casually against his cheek.
It seems that Jaqen has warged the dog to kill Weese. Nowhere it is said that skinchanging is part of the repertoire of Faceless Men. Is it possible that Jaqen has sensed that Arya is herself a warg, and that is the reason why he selected her to become a faceless man?
While I am at it: is Arya supposed to be a new recruit or a replacement for Jaqen?
Here is an interesting scene in Harrenhal (ACoK, Arya):
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She found Jaqen soaking in a tub, steam rising around him as a serving girl sluiced hot water over his head. His long hair, red on one side and white on the other, fell down across his shoulders, wet and heavy.
She then whispered the name of the next victim. Jaqen declares loudly (and a serving girl is within hearing range):
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Jaqen H’ghar closed his eyes again, floating languid, half-asleep. “Tell his lordship a man shall attend him at his leisure.”
"His lordship" can only refer to Tywin Lannister. Lord Tywin would not allow anybody in his service to speak of him in this way. So it means that Jaqen felt safe from Tywin. Note also that Jaqen has the privilege to have a serving girl and the bathhouse for himself. The questions arises of whether Jaqen had any contact with Tywin. I even ask the question: could Jaqen have been employed by Tywin?
Obviously, there is lot to understand about the logic of the change of faces. Here is perhaps a bit dialog useful to understand. The Kindly Man to Arya (ADwD)
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“Mummers change their faces with artifice,” the kindly man was saying, “and sorcerers use glamors, weaving light and shadow and desire to make illusions that trick the eye. These arts you shall learn, but what we do here goes deeper. Wise men can see through artifice, and glamors dissolve before sharp eyes, but the face you are about to don will be as true and solid as that face you were born with.
It seems to me that Jaqen used the mummer trick in Harrenhal.
Jaqen recognized immediately a lord in Robett Glover, when the name is pronounced. Surprising knowledge of northern nobility.
I notice that both Qyburn and Jaqen have been to the following places: The black cells in King's Landing, Harrenhal and the Citadel. They were at Harrenhal at the same time. Did Qyburn learn something about the black cells, and did Jaqen learn something about the Citadel? Did Qyburn hire the Alchemist to retrieve the key at the Citadel? Did Qyburn insist with Cersei on having access to the black cells because Jaqen told him something?
Where did the iron coin that Jaqen gave Arya come from? I assume Jaqen was put in the black cells without anything of his own. He could have found the coin in the black cells perhaps or in Harrenhal. Was he given the coin by somebody in Harrenhal? Qyburn? Tywin?
I have more questions (I have refrained to mention the obvious questions) and ideas. But that will be enough to get the thread started.
Edited by Bran Vras, 11 April 2012 - 07:58 PM.
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