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Becoming No One: Rereading Arya III


Lyanna Stark

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fantasmas, when siblings or children get into physical brawls, I don't think it's a simple matter of only the “aggressor should be punished”. Yes, punish them for the beating but don’t just stop there. Parents/adults do have to investigate the root of the problem and dish out fair punishments. If only the aggressor gets punished, without ever looking into why the altercation happened in the first place, then it guarantees built up resentment and a bitter sibling relationship for life.

Great post--no "like" button so this will have to do.

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Reference in between Chapters:

Between her last chapter and this one there is one mention of her in a different POV from Jon's chapter.

Jon's looking at stars that are known to him, a particular one to be important to "The Smith" but to the wildlings they call it "The Thief"

Ygritte and him get into an argument about whether Jon had stole her or meant to steal her etc. and he thinks:

"Jon had never met someone so stubborn except maybe for his little sister Arya"

Jon is comparing Ygritte's stubbornness to Arya's but that is not what is interesting. The star in question going from being known to be important to "The Smith" to being also known as "The Thief"

This could foreshadow the fact that Gendry, the Smith is going to also be associated as a thief.

More six and seven references:

Last chapter I began to notice how much six was used almost as much as seven in relation to life and death.

This chapter we have:

Robert given credit for killing six men in the battle of the bells.

The "Westernmen" killing six of the Huntsman's dogs.

and one of the songs is called "Six maidens in a pool"

~~~~~~~~~~~

This chapter again shows Arya the harsh realities of war. Life/death and love/hate, the grayness of soldiers treating the smallfolk badly. She does her best to deal with those things as they come along but here though it's plain to see that some things cannot be rushed. No matter how much knowledge she claims to know about "inns, with girls" she's not ready for that quite yet.

I don't find it strange that Gendry is the one that protects her in this situation, he's got the most knowledge about how she's still a child. The last chapter he playfully fought with her and then in this chapter Arya affirms that she's sort of clueless in her understanding of what a brothel is. He takes a protective role here for the first time that we've seen, which she doesn't even understand. Perhaps he's even putting her safety in-front of his own desires or at least he teases as much, when he says he's going to go with Bella.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally the religion deal. She mentions that "the gods" heard her prayers at the end of the chapter. We'll see how that turns out in the next few ones I suppose. Can't wait.

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I agree it's a warning, but I was thinking more about the aphorism "the end justifies the means".

In a place where justice is mostly a do it yourself thing, it's very difficult to distinguish it from vengeance. Huntsman's cause has started off as righteous. But, contrary to the famous Macciavelli saying, the means, more often than not, have the power to alter or even define the cause.

Looking at the mirror and see if they are becoming the enemy could be a way to end the vicious circle. Not many can do it though as people don't often question themselves. Thoros in Brienne's chapter is one of the few exceptions.

Maybe Arya's "see with your eyes" ability can help her out of this cycle.

This might be a thing to keep in mind, when we get to Braavos and Aryas training. I, too, for a long time did see it mainly as "Nija school", where she gets the means for her revenge.

But The more I reread, the more I come to think that it really is about coming to tearms with death and violence. My idea is, that for Arya the lessons of the Kindly Man will become an escape from revenge and the cycle, the Huntsman, the BwB or most of all, her mother are in. Let's look out for this, once we get there.

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More six and seven references:

Last chapter I began to notice how much six was used almost as much as seven in relation to life and death.

This chapter we have:

Robert given credit for killing six men in the battle of the bells.

The "Westernmen" killing six of the Huntsman's dogs.

and one of the songs is called "Six maidens in a pool.

It seems that like the Seven, the six have form, but the seventh is "the Stranger" or death.

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It seems that like the Seven, the six have form, but the seventh is "the Stranger" or death.

Well, with all those refferences with number 6, Arya could be the number 7 - as you pointed out - death, or `the Stranger`. I don`t know why but I believe it brings some sort of harmony.

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Well, with all those refferences with number 6, Arya could be the number 7 - as you pointed out - death, or `the Stranger`. I don`t know why but I believe it brings some sort of harmony.

Probably because the number seven is a prime number.

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Probably because the number seven is a prime number.

Not in general, then in Arya personally. It seems to me that several characters have this very Godly role and what`s happening around them is a manifestation of other Godly faces. For instance, Arya is the stranger so other aspects of the Seven represent her surroundings, people she met, things that happened. Same with Sansa and Mother motif. Everything is there in Sansa`s life, but mother. So Arya represents this link to death, not only literally, then also metaphorically and philosophically. Valar morghulis has become Arya`s song.

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To get a comment in before we move onto the next chapter...

If I remember correctly, this is the first time that Arya attends a gift of mercy "ceremony", becoming accustomed to the idea that there are things worse than death. Although she hates the caged men and feels like hurting them, she can't stand to leave them suffering. This is something to hold for later, when she refuses to give the gift to the Hound.

I agree, and I find the scene with Arya and the crow cages very interesting, for a number of reasons. It's often cited on the board as proof that Arya has not lost her compassionate nature by this point in Storm, and although I certainly don't think that Arya is devoid of compassion, I think that this scene is much more nuanced than a simple act of kindness. Firstly, it seems that it is very significant to Arya that these aren't just any suffering men, but they are Stark men - she sees the crow cages, but does not seem to react, and it's only a few lines of dialogue later that she becomes 'cold' because she realises that they are 'wolves'. When she is afraid of the men, because of their disgusting appearance, she again thinks 'Wolves... Like me. Was this her pack?' and this seems to be the motivation for giving them water. Arya's sympathy doesn't, therefore, seem to be generalised, but is specifically extended to those she considers her 'pack', unlike some of Sansa's kindnesses, for example. Secondly, the theme of justice seems to be in play here: Arya makes a point of asking 'Whose men were you?' and 'What did they do?' before offered mercy, as if this is a mini-trial, which also adds weight to the first point. This is interesting, as it seems that her time with the legally-orientated (if not actually legal!) BwB is already having an impact on her.

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Not in general, then in Arya personally.

I have no idea what you mean by "not in general." The number seven is a prime number. It is a symbol of perfect order, a completed cycle. Seven represents the union of the number three and the number four; the union of trinity and quaternity. The triangle plus the square. It's the western musical scale: do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti. It's a balancing point, not only in the new gods, but also within the work as a whole.

Throughout this reread, one of the main themes has been Arya's association with death, in Martin's world, the Stranger. Within this chapter and the previous one, the number six has been noted by other readers. One example in the last chapter in addition to the above that I referenced in my previous post is the "great grey knight" who fought Ser Maynard. Ser Maynard took six wounds befor the knight killed him.

Death is Arya's companion. She has been its instrument as well as a witness to it over and over again.

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...Arya's sympathy doesn't, therefore, seem to be generalised, but is specifically extended to those she considers her 'pack', unlike some of Sansa's kindnesses, for example. Secondly, the theme of justice seems to be in play here: Arya makes a point of asking 'Whose men were you?' and 'What did they do?' before offered mercy, as if this is a mini-trial, which also adds weight to the first point. This is interesting, as it seems that her time with the legally-orientated (if not actually legal!) BwB is already having an impact on her.

hmm what you say reminds me of The Ned too, speaking to the condemned man before killing him.

...The number seven is a prime number. It is a symbol of perfect order, a completed cycle. Seven represents the union of the number three and the number four; the union of trinity and quaternity. The triangle plus the square... It's a balancing point, not only in the new gods, but also within the work as a whole...

hmm. Can I ask you to keep that thought and bring it along to any other rereads you get involved in too Blisscraft? It's potentially quite central, seven kingdoms, seven books of ASOIAF, seven gods (can't think of any other significant ASOIAF sevens at the moment). Sevens are a bit awkward because they stick out so much, patterns of three in a story can slip under the eyes much more easily. It certainly, as ideas go, has a big feel to it. :)

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hmm. Can I ask you to keep that thought and bring it along to any other rereads you get involved in too Blisscraft? It's potentially quite central, seven kingdoms, seven books of ASOIAF, seven gods (can't think of any other significant ASOIAF sevens at the moment). Sevens are a bit awkward because they stick out so much, patterns of three in a story can slip under the eyes much more easily. It certainly, as ideas go, has a big feel to it. :)

I am happy to oblige, Lummel.

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Arya VI

Summary

The chapter starts with Arya being taken by one of the Brotherhood without Banners, Harwin, to a cave in a hollow hill, along with Gendry, who’s herded in by Lem. Once there, both are unhooded, and she can observe the cave’s characteristics:

A huge firepit had been dug in the center of the earthen floor, and its flames rose swirling and crackling toward the smoke-stained ceiling. The walls were equal parts stone and soil, with huge white roots twisting through them like a thousand slow pale snakes. People were emerging from between those roots as she watched; edging out from the shadows for a look at the captives, stepping from the mouths of pitch-black tunnels, popping out of crannies and crevices on all sides. In one place on the far side of the fire, the roots formed a kind of stairway up to a hollow in the earth where a man sat almost lost in the tangle of weirwood.

Gendry is curious to know where they are, and is told that it is:

“An old place, deep and secret. A refuge where neither wolves nor lions come prowling.”

She then observes that the cave is enormous, housing men, women and children, who’re emerging from the tunnels to watch the newcomers. The first man she appears to recognise there is Thoros of Myr, the red priest whose appearance has radically changed from the one Arya remembers. He shows a desire to speak to her, but the arrival of the Mad Hunstman with an interesting captive prevents their conversation.

They had bound his wrists with hempen rope, strung a noose around his neck, and pulled a sack down over his head, but even so there was danger in the man.

Ironically, Sandor Clegane had been captured whilst sleeping off a drunk under a willow by the Huntsman’s hounds. Arya notes his defiance and that the flames cast over his burns make it look even more terrible than he did in the light of day. She listens with attention to the conversation between him and Thoros. This line is especially relevant considering what she will note later ahead:

“You did. In mêlées, you’d curse my flaming sword, though thrice I overthrew you with it.”

Thoros stresses that he’s a changed man now, humbler, and takes the faith in R’hllor more seriously than he did before, and also takes more seriously the threat of certain forces he has seen in his flames. The Hound, however, isn’t impressed by this holy talk, and remarks that he keeps some dubious company for someone who claims to be holier now, and throws a comment implying the outlaws’ are cowards, which impels them to put forward how much of a nuisance they’ve been for Vargo Hoat, the Mountain and Bolton. He’s doubtful, because they look more like farmers and peasants than soldiers, and in response they say that some in fact had been that, before the war. Then a speaker Arya doesn’t recognise, descends from his seat amongst the weirwood roots to talk to the Hound:

“When we left King’s Landing we were men of Winterfell and men of Darry and men of Blackhaven, Mallery men and Wylde men. We were knights and squires and men-at-arms, lords and commoners, bound together only by our purpose.” … “Six score of us set out to bring the king’s justice to your brother.”

Arya notes that the redheaded stranger is a “scarecrow of a man,” armoured in a dinted iron breastplate with a ragged black cloak, that he is missing one eye, some of his hair above one of his ears, and has a blackish ring round his neck. He claims that, despite the losses they’ve had since, they go on fighting for Robert and the realm. He’s dead, the Hound reminds them.

“The king is dead,” the scarecrow knight admitted, “but we are still king’s men, though the royal banner we bore was lost at the Mummer’s Ford when your brother’s butchers fell upon us.” He touched his breast with a fist. “Robert is slain, but his realm remains. And we defend her.”

Clegane gives a mocking reply to this, revealing to an incredulous Arya who this man is:

Beric Dondarrion had been handsome; Sansa’s friend Jeyne had fallen in love with him. Even Jeyne Poole was not so blind as to think this man was fair.

Due to her memories of his former appearance and Jeyne Poole’s interest in him, she is at first doubtful of his identity, and has to see the sigil on his chest to be certain he’s really who he’s taken for. The talk between the outlaws and their captive continues then, with the Hound calling them “brave companions” at one point, which prompts Lem to unsheathe his longsword and threaten him. The hound remains unimpressed and continues challenging the men to a fight, if only they’d untie him. Thoros has to intervene in the verbal sparring, declaring both for his benefit and the other men’s that they’re brothers sworn to the realm, to their god and to each other, and Tom o’ Sevens chimes in to add a lyrical “Knights of the Hollow Hill.” Only in the Hound’s mouth could have the word knight been turned into the worst insult possible, and Dondarrion has to defend his fellow outlaws, telling them that indeed they are an unsung fellowship of knights. The Hound wants not to hear any more of this; and asks to be released or be killed, whatever they choose, as long as they spare him what he sees as their self-righteous bleating.

“You will die soon enough, dog,” promised Thoros, “but it shan’t be murder, only justice.”

So the trial of the Hound begins, and he alone defends himself from each accusation:

Charges No. 1 and 2, the Mad Huntsman:

“At Sherrer and the Mummer’s Ford, girls of six and seven years were raped, and babes still on the breast were cut in two while their mothers watched.”

Defence of the Hound:

“I was not at Sherrer, nor the Mummer’s Ford,” the Hound told him. “Lay your dead children at some other door.”

No. 3, 4 and 5, Thoros:

“Do you deny that House Clegane was built upon dead children? I saw them lay Prince Aegon and Princess Rhaenys before the Iron Throne. By rights your arms should bear two bloody infants in place of those ugly dogs.”

Defence of the Hound:

“Do you take me for my brother? Is being born Clegane a crime?”

No. 6, Thoros:

“Murder is a crime”

Defence of the Hound:

“Who did I murder?”

No. 7 and 8, Harwin:

“Lord Lothar Mallery and Ser Gladden Wylde.”

No. 9 and 10, Jack-Be-Lucky:

“My brothers Lister and Lennocks.”

No. 11 and 12, an old woman:

“Goodman Beck and Mudge the miller’s son, from Donnelwood.”

Charge No. 13, Greenbeard:

“Merriman’s widow, who loved so sweet.”

No. 14 and 15, Anonymous person:

“Them septons at Sludgy Pond.”

No. 16, 17, 18 and 19, Second anonymous person:

“Ser Andrey Charlton. His squire Lucas Roote. Every man, woman, and child in Fieldstone and Mousedown Mill.”

No. 20, third anonymous:

“Lord and Lady Deddings, that was so rich.”

Twenty two additional charges of murder, Tom Sevenstrings:

“Alyn of Winterfell, Joth Quickbow, Little Matt and his sister Randa, Anvil Ryn. Ser Ormond. Ser Dudley. Pate of Mory, Pate of Lancewood, Old Pate, and Pate of Shermer’s Grove. Blind Wyl the Whittler. Goodwife Maerie. Maerie the Whore. Becca the Baker. Ser Raymun Darry, Lord Darry, young Lord Darry. The Bastard of Bracken. Fletcher Will. Harsley. Goodwife Nolla—”

Defence of the Hound:

“Enough.” .... “You’re making noise. These names mean nothing. Who were they?”

No. 43, Beric Dondarrion:

“People great and small, young and old. Good people and bad people, who died on the points of Lannister spears or saw their bellies opened by Lannister swords.”

Defence of the Hound:

“It wasn’t my sword in their bellies. Any man who says it was is a bloody liar.”

No. 44, Thoros:

“You serve the Lannisters of Casterly Rock,” said Thoros.

Defence of the Hound:

“Once. Me and thousands more. Is each of us guilty of the crimes of the others?” ... “Might be you are knights after all. You lie like knights, maybe you murder like knights.”

Dondarrion:

“Say what you mean, Clegane.”

Conclusion of the Hound:

“A knight’s a sword with a horse. The rest, the vows and the sacred oils and the lady’s favors, they’re silk ribbons tied round the sword. Maybe the sword’s prettier with ribbons hanging off it, but it will kill you just as dead. Well, bugger your ribbons, and shove your swords up your arses. I’m the same as you. The only difference is, I don’t lie about what I am. So kill me, but don’t call me a murderer while you stand there telling each other that your shit don’t stink. You hear me?”

Just when it looks they have no solid case against him, Arya steps forward with her own accusation:

Charge No. 45, Arya:

“You are a murderer!” she screamed. “You killed Mycah, don’t say you never did. You murdered him!”

That appears to have given him pause, because instead of replying to the accusation, the Hound demands to know from the boy accuser the identity of the victim. Arya first says that she’s no boy, and identifies the victim as Mycah the butcher’s boy, the Hound as the murderer, narrates how the killing was done and from whom she learnt the details of his death: Jory Cassel. Then, the accused recognises her as Sansa’s “little sister,” and asks her if she know she’s thought of as dead, but Arya throws back at him that he is the dead one. Dondarrion then proceeds with the trial, having accepted Arya’s accusation as valid, and the Hound doesn’t deny the charge, but adds why he did it:

“I was Joffrey’s sworn shield. The butcher’s boy attacked a prince of the blood.”

And Arya gets incensed, yelling at him and admitting she was the one who’d committed the act for which Mycah was killed:

“That’s a lie!” Arya squirmed in Harwin’s grip. “It was me. I hit Joffrey and threw Lion’s Paw in the river. Mycah just ran away, like I told him.”

The lightning lord in charge of this trial then asks the Hound if he witnessed the incident, and Clegane’s answer is:

“I heard it from the royal lips. It’s not my place to question princes.” Clegane jerked his hands toward Arya. “This one’s own sister told the same tale when she stood before your precious Robert.”

To which Arya replies that:

“Sansa’s just a liar,” Arya said, furious at her sister all over again. “It wasn’t like she said. It wasn’t.”

Thoros and Beric conference between them, and then Dondarrion makes his decision known:

Dondarrion’s Sentence:

“You stand accused of murder, but no one here knows the truth or falsehood of the charge, so it is not for us to judge you. Only the Lord of Light may do that now. I sentence you to trial by battle.”
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So in the end he’s judged by this charge alone, apparently, as none of the others are mentioned, and much to Arya’s dismay, he’s sentenced to ordeal by battle. The Hound, as Arya had feared, just laughs at this, aware of his own ability with a sword. She hopes against the inevitable outcome when she learns his opponent will be Dondarrion himself, who, as the tales go, cannot be killed. Clegane asks for a sword and armour once he’s untied:

“Your sword you shall have,” declared Lord Beric, “but your innocence must be your armor.”

Clegane’s mouth twitched. “My innocence against your breastplate, is that the way of it?”

“Ned, help me remove my breastplate.”

Without his armour, Beric’s wounds are made visible: he’s so thin his ribs were outlined beneath his skin, he’s a crater on his his breast and a matching scar upon his back through which a lance had gone. Arya hopes his opponent has seen it and is scared. Once Beric is with nothing on but his sword and shield, the Hound is given back his sword and shield as well, not before he’s warned that he’ll be shot down by the archers at the first sign of trickery. He’s anxious to start the fight, but the others have to pray to R’hllor first.

“Light your flame among us, R’hllor,” said the red priest. “Show us the truth or falseness of this man. Strike him down if he is guilty, and give strength to his sword if he is true. Lord of Light, give us wisdom.”

The Hound makes a quip about the cave being dark too, but him being the only terror there, and expresses his confidence in his victory. When they’re about to start the duel, however, Dondarrion’s sword catches fire. His worst nightmare, yet he’ll go on with the fight nevertheless, cursing the Lightning Lord and the red priest, and throwing a threat at Thoros’ face as well. Meanwhile, Arya prays that he be killed, and once the duel begins, she’s is cheering Dondarrion all the time alongside the others. By the description of the fight, Dondarrion takes advantage of the fire and the Hound shows repeatedly that he’s fighting both the man and the element:

The flaming sword leapt up to meet the cold one,
long streamers of fire trailing in its wake like the ribbons the Hound had spoken of
.

Each move Lord Beric made fanned them and made them burn the brighter, until it seemed as though
the lightning lord stood within a cage of fire
.

Clegane caught one blow high on his shield, and a painted dog lost a head. He countercut, and Dondarrion interposed his own shield and launched a fiery backslash. The outlaw brotherhood shouted on their leader. “He’s yours!” Arya heard, and “At him! At him! At him!” The Hound parried a cut at his head,
grimacing as the heat of the flames beat against his face. He grunted and cursed and reeled away.

The swords clashed and sprang apart and clashed again, splinters flew from the lightning shield while
swirling flames kissed the dogs once, and twice, and thrice.
The Hound moved to his right, but Dondarrion blocked him with a quick sidestep and
drove him back the other way... toward the sullen red blaze of the firepit.
Clegane gave ground until he felt the heat at his back.
A quick glance over his shoulder showed him what was behind him, and almost cost him his head
when Lord Beric attacked anew.

The Hound’s lank dark hair was plastered to his brow in a sheen of sweat.
Wine sweat,
Arya thought, remembering that he’d been taken drunk
. She thought
she could see the beginnings of fear wake in his eyes
.
He’s going to lose,
she told herself, exulting, as Lord Beric’s flaming sword whirled and slashed. In one wild flurry, the lightning lord took back all the ground the Hound had gained,
sending Clegane staggering to the very edge of the firepit once more.

“Bloody bastard!” the Hound screamed as he felt the fire licking against the back of his thighs.
He charged, swinging the heavy sword harder and harder, trying to smash the smaller man down with brute force, to break blade or shield or arm.
But the flames of Dondarrion’s parries snapped at his eyes,
and
when the Hound jerked away from them, his foot went out from under him and he staggered to one knee
. At once Lord
Beric closed, his downcut screaming through the air trailing pennons of fire. Panting from exertion, Clegane jerked his shield up over his head just in time
, and the cave rang with the loud crack of splintering oak.

“His shield is afire,
” Gendry said in a hushed voice. Arya saw it in the same instant.
The flames had spread across the chipped yellow paint, and the three black dogs were engulfed.

Not until Lord Beric retreated a pace did the Hound seem to realize that the fire that roared so near his face was his own shield, burning
. With
a shout of revulsion,
he hacked down savagely on the broken oak, completing its destruction. The shield shattered, one piece of it spinning away, still afire, while the other clung stubbornly to his forearm. His efforts to free himself only fanned the flames.
His sleeve caught, and now his whole left arm was ablaze.

It appears as if Lord Beric has won by this point, but when he’s about to deliver the killing blow to his opponent, the Hound leaps up, sword in both hands, and brings it crashing down with all his strength, breaking Dondarrion’s flaming sword in two, and cleaving him from shoulder to breastbone.

Arya stand still, watching Dondarrion die and questioning the god’s judgment for not letting Beric win, as she considers the Hound guilty. She hears the whimper he makes when trying to rise:

“Please,” Sandor Clegane rasped, cradling his arm. “I’m burned. Help me. Someone. Help me.” He was crying. “Please.”

Arya looked at him in astonishment.
He’s crying like a little baby,
she thought.

Thoros orders one of the women to take care of his burns, and asks some of the men to carry the dead one into one of the dark tunnels to bring him back to life for the last time. But some of the presents show a disposition to overlook the outcome of the trial; the Mad Huntsman, for example, suggests that they put him back in a crow cage, and Arya agrees. But Harwin reminds them that R’hllor has judged him innocent, and is about to explain Thoros’ teaching, but Arya doesn’t even want to hear it and yanks Greenbeard’s dagger, and goes to the Hound to kill him, but stops in shock at seeing his burns:

There was a strip of pink where the leather strap had clung, but above and below the flesh was cracked and red and bleeding from elbow to wrist. When his eyes met hers, his mouth twitched. “You want me dead that bad? Then do it, wolf girl. Shove it in. It’s cleaner than fire.” Clegane tried to stand, but as he moved a piece of burned flesh sloughed right off his arm, and his knees went out from under him.

Arya realises that he now has two bad burns: on his arm and his face, and feels the dagger heavy in her hand. Then, as if to steel herself, she reminds herself of who he is and that he deserved to burn in a fiery hell for what he’s done:

“You killed Mycah,” she said once more, daring him to deny it. “Tell them. You did. You did.”

The Hound doesn’t deny it. He admits this act, and adds two things more:

“I did.” His whole face twisted. “I rode him down and cut him in half, and laughed. I watched them beat your sister bloody too, watched them cut your father’s head off.”

Despite her violent resistance, Lem takes the dagger away from her, and she then resorts to shouting angrily at the Hound to “go to hell.” The newly resurrected Beric Dondarrion is the one to answer her:

“He has,” said a voice scarce stronger than a whisper.
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Analysis

Symbolism/Parallels

Caves, caves

The first thing that strikes a lady is the sensation of familiarity stemming from the description of the surroundings. From the second passage onwards, it begins to dawn on a lady that that cave has notable similarities with the cave where another direwolf pup ended up. Let’s move forward to Brandon Stark’s encounter with Bloodraven, and compare:

ASOS Arya VI:

The walls were equal parts stone and soil, with huge white roots twisting through them like a thousand slow pale snakes.

ADWD Bran II:

T
he roots were everywhere, twisting through earth and stone, closing off some passages and holding up the roofs of others.
All the color is gone,
Bran realized suddenly. The world was black soil and white wood.

The way the shadows shifted made it seem as if the walls were moving too. Bran saw great white snakes slithering in and out of the earth around him, and his heart thumped in fear. […] But when the girl child stopped to let them catch her, the torchlight steadied, and Bran realized that the snakes were only white roots like the one he’d hit his head on. “It’s weirwood roots,” he said.

Arya VI:

In one place on the far side of the fire, the roots formed a kind of stairway up to a hollow in the earth where a man sat almost lost in the tangle of weirwood.

Bran II:

Before them a pale lord in ebon finery sat dreaming in a tangled nest of roots, a woven weirwood throne that embraced his withered limbs as a mother does a child.

Also, in ADWD Bran III, Jojen Reed says in all seriousness to Brandon something about his new “home” that sounds similar to what Sandor Clegane tells Beric in mockery about his “realm,” both referring to these caves:

Earth and water, soil and stone, oaks and elms and willows,
they were here before us all and will still remain when we are gone.”

Rocks and trees and rivers,
that’s what your realm is made of,” the Hound was saying.

There’s a remarkable amount of Old Gods imagery in this scene despite the presence of R’hllor’s fire magic and Beric’s resurrection, with the weirwood roots twisting through the walls like white snakes and forming a sort of throne in which both Beric and Bloodraven were sitting when both Stark children saw them for the first time, not to mention that Beric has only one eye, just like Bloodraven’s has one single red eye, both lost due to wounds, and both are wearing black, though the Marcher lord’s isn’t completely in black as the other is, not to mention that both are described as corpses, and in both scenes rotting is observed.

Coincidentally, when Brandon meets the first child of the forest, Leaf, he thinks of his sister many times:

Bran thought it was his sister Arya
… madly, for he knew his little sister was a thousand leagues away, or dead.

And the Arya thin
g stood over them, clutching her torch.

That was not Arya’s voice
, nor any child’s. It was a woman’s voice, high and sweet, with a strange music in it like none that he had ever heard and a sadness that he thought might break his heart.

It was a girl, but smaller than Arya,
her skin dappled like a doe’s beneath a cloak of leaves.

And another parallel is that in both caves there are tunnels where people have taken refuge from external dangers, places where no human lions nor wolves, and no non-human direwolves nor wights enter; that’s been also historically true in the real world, because caves and grottoes were traditional places of hiding and protection from enemies. When Arya enters the cave, she notices them first watching her warily and then they come out of their holes, something that Bran also notices as soon as he enters the cave and feels on him the bright eyes of the children living in the tunnels of Bloodraven’s cave. Also, Leaf tells Bran that the giants call them “squirrel people,” and Arya is called “an angry squirrel.”

All this imagery points to the possibility that this cave might have been in the past a home for greenseers like the other beyond the Wall is currently, and this, for believers in the theory that Bloodraven is watching over all the Stark children, could mean he witnessed this trial through the weirwood net, and now possibly Bran does know, too. The hypothesis of the cave as a former holy place is perfectly plausible from an historical non-canon perspective as well, because since the dawn of civilisation, caves (and then sacred groves) were the places where all religious rites were carried out and holy men and prophets isolated themselves to be more in contact with their gods; long before humanity thought of building temples, which in the religion of the Old Gods don’t exist. On a more symbolical interpretation, caves are traditionally metaphors for descent into the Underworld since long before the Greeks conceived the Hero Journey concept, and are therefore a symbol of transformation, a secret cavity in which a person is shut up in order to be incubated and renewed, which applies to the Hound in this case, who was curiously caught under a willow and left to die under a willow, a tree that is also a traditional symbol of rebirth and transformation.

The Hound’s Trial

Accusations by the dozen

This chapter’s main theme is the Hound’s trial, which begins as soon as he’s brought before the BwB’s leaders. It’s Thoros who first informs him that he wasn’t captured to be murdered but to be judged and sentenced. The accusations begin to fall fast upon his head from then on, starting with the Mad Huntsman and finishing with Arya. As noted above, in the Summary, those were numerous:

  • One charge of mass rape of young girls and one charge of mass infanticide at two different towns.
  • Two charges of genocide for the extermination of the entire population of two towns.
  • Two charges of murder for the deaths of a royal Prince Heir and a royal princess, and an accusation of slaughtering children as a means of social climbing.
  • One accusation of unspecified murder.
  • Five charges of murdering noblemen for the deaths of Lord Mallery, Lord Darry and Young Lord Darry, and Lord and Lady Deddings.
  • Six charges of murder for the deaths of five knights and one squire.
  • One charge of massacring an indeterminate number of septons, and one implied charge of sacrilege due to their status (it’s not mentioned if this incident included desecration of a sept, which is also possible).
  • Twenty two charges of murder for the deaths of Alyn of Winterfell, Joth Quickbow, Lister, Lennocks, Goodman Beck, Mudge, Mrs. Merriman, Little Matt, little Randa, Anvil Ryn, four men called Pate, Blind Wyl, two women called Maerie, Becca the Baker, the Bastard of Bracken, Fletcher Will, Harsley, and Nolla.
  • Accusations of complicity in war crimes by virtue of his service to the Lannisters, his liege lords.
  • One charge of child murder for the death of Mycah.

As they accumulate, one notices that the trial is questionable to begin with, as the accusations are plainly absurd, even if the crimes are real and horrendous, because they are heaping them on an innocent’s head. Take for example the first one Thoros leveled against the Hound, the murders of Aegon and Rhaenys, and that House Clegane was built on the corpses of children. The red priest loses the last shred of credibility he may have had here, as he’s laying the murders at the feet of someone he knows very well had nothing to do with that. Someone should have kindly reminded Thoros that Robert Baratheon condoned that infanticide and pardoned the Lannisters and their henchmen for these and other crimes committed during the Sack of King’s Landing, and he’s the king whose men they claim to be and in whose name they claim to be protecting the realm. It appears that what drives them here isn’t plain justice as much as a desire to get at the Lannisters, because for all they claim to have bloodied them, the Mummers and the Boltons in defence of the smallfolk, they have never caught any of their big fishes; no Goat, no Gregor, no Roose for them. But now they do have an important captive, at least in terms of reputation as he’s no say in this messy war, and then they take advantage of this to level at him all their grievances because, after all, he’s Joffrey’s former shield, the Queen’s former dog, the most notorious bannerman of Tywin Lannister they’ve caught, and above all the Mountain’s brother. An innocent Clegane is still a Clegane in their eyes. How good would it be for morale and propaganda to have the Hound judged and executed for the crimes of his brother and other men serving the same overlord? The problem, however, is that this procedure looks more like revenge than justice. And there’s also the question of the “anonymous” voices listing crimes, which in a trial of this sort wasn’t allowed: all accusers must identify themselves and the victim clearly so the accused can admit or deny the accusation, which is part of the reason why Arya is asked to identify herself when she accuses him of murdering Mycah.

Dondarrion seems to understand that they have nothing solid to condemn him for, so when Arya intervenes and shouts her own accusation, he readily accepts it, and interrogates the Hound, and sentences him to ordeal by combat.

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And a knight is…?

As per Sandor Clegane, the definition of knight is “a sword with a horse, and the rest, the vows and the sacred oils and the lady’s favors, are silk ribbons tied round the sword."

And technically he’s correct, a knight was nothing but a warrior on horseback, raised from age seven to be a soldier and master all the weapons of his trade, receiving his spurs, sword and first destrier when he was anointed, and then he would go on to serve his lord, doing his bidding, good and bad, following only his own rules and those of his liege as law. The “ribbons” came with the courtly love tradition in the 12th century, as the noble élite’s attempt at defining itself (a social ideal) and developed later the purpose of refining knightly behaviour (a moral target), which as in any group of armed men had its saints and sinners on all ranks from the lord down to the greenest page, and imposed a code of chivalry on these men to guide their conduct, with rules that varied from country to country, but the three basic ones of protecting the defenceless, serving and obeying their superiors, and living honourably were constant in all local codes. All anointed knights were expected to follow these three basic rules, but what had begun as social ideal and moral compass was transformed by chivalric literature, that disseminated the image of the spotless knight much like the Westerosi chivalric songs and ended up being nothing but a “mode of conduct expressed through literary conventions. A dead horse,” as medieval experts Joan Ferrante and George Economou state. Because in reality behaviour depended on each man’s own nature and morality and that of his lord rather than the condition of knight in itself and the rules they were to follow as it was supposed to be; there were the Briennes and the Gregors, the Steelshanks and the Davoses, and all shades in between.

It’s interesting to note in view of the Hound’s words that, in the real world, a knight’s horse and sword were his most important possessions. Knights would give their warhorses a name, and often trained them themselves to respond to their verbal and physical commands, to trample the bodies of fallen enemies in battle and to bite and kick on command, and because of that some were pickier than Stranger around other people. As for the sword, it was the embodiment of his status, and a broken sword would be used to point to a knight that no longer adhered to their codes, because when he had violated an important rule, then his sword would be broken in two by his liege or his colleagues. It’s noteworthy that Sandor broke Beric’s sword, which had “ribbons” of flame, with his final blow.

Arya vs. the Hound on Mycah

When Dondarrion interrogates the Hound about Mycah, he and Arya give mutually contradictory versions. Now, this begs some questions. First, we know from an eyewitness that Clegane wasn’t present in the Hall, he’d already been sent to kill Mycah, so he cannot know what Sansa could or couldn’t have said then. Who told him that Joffrey had been attacked by Mycah and that Sansa had said the same in the presence of Robert? “The royal lips” and “it’s not my place to question princes” are the answers to the puzzle: Joffrey told his version to his mother, and Sandor was there to hear it, then Cersei ordered him to kill Mycah, and he went to hunt him, so he had no way of knowing what Sansa supposedly said until he returned. That he heard that skewed version of the event at the Hall from Joffrey at his return sounds plausible as well. Neither Sandor nor Arya knew that Sansa had told Eddard the truth before she was called to tell her version; but Arya was in the Hall and knows that when Sansa was beginning to speak, she didn’t say a word beyond “I don’t remember” before Arya called her a liar and beat her up, and here she doesn’t deny that Sansa didn’t “tell the same tale” as Joffrey before Robert but instead calls her a liar again and denies that the incident had been like she said, when we know that Sansa didn’t say that in the presence of the king. Unless she’s mixing her memories of that incident with those of the fight both girls had much later over this issue in King’s Landing, which is possible, because Arya also misremembers the name of Joffrey’s sword here. Nymeria’s biting of Joffrey’s arm is absent from this chapter.

By fire and sword

From the beginning of the trial, fair play isn’t so clear cut, as there are some aspects that look questionable:

First, a fully armoured Dondarrion tells the Hound that he will have a sword but no breastplate, which wasn’t lawful, as the rules of trials by combat demanded that both combatants should be armoured in mail, boiled leather cuirass or metallic breastplate if the weapon was of steel, be it sword, mace or lance. Dondarrion seems to have had the intention of fighting an unarmoured Hound whilst armoured himself, because only after Clegane points this to him does he ask his squire to help him take off his armour. Only if the weapon wasn’t of steel, like clubs, was the absence of protection permitted by law. One combatant could be more heavily armoured than the other, like Ser Vardis in relation to Bronn or Gregor in relation to Oberyn, as the type of protection was left to individual choice, but denying a combatant protection for his body was trickery and illegal.

Second, amongst the promises each combatant had to make at the start of the combat was that they hadn’t concealed charms on their bodies or resorted to sorcery to gain an advantage over the adversary. In other words, not resort to trickery. Thoros himself warns Clegane that he will be shot down with arrows if the attempts at trickery. Whilst R’hllor worshippers can argue that fire is their god’s champion and therefore they can use it legitimately, it’s also true that fire gives Beric an unfair advantage over his opponents, not only over a man traumatised by this element as the Hound, as he is said to give all captives a trial. In the fight, a normal opponent has to concentrate both on his strikes and on not getting so close as for his clothes to catch fire, but for Sandor the challenge is triple: fighting, not catching fire and keeping his fear of fire in check so it doesn’t overwhelm him, all whilst suffering from a hangover.

And third, Beric is conscious of this, he’s heard Thoros’ flaming sword would drive the Hound back in fear during melées, so he knows it’s an unfair advantage for him. He confirms that he does know what fire does to the Hound by deliberately taking advantage of this: he moves the sword around him to create a sort of fire wall to avoid the Hound from approaching him, he strikes more than once at his head knowing that the fire will make him reel away, and continuously pushes him toward the firepit, almost pushing him into the flames at one point, and finally burns his arm.

One has to wonder if there were more men not guilty of the crimes they were accused of that lost to Beric due only to his advantageous use of fire and were therefore deemed guilty as sin. And these are only some observations that stand out, readers more knowledgeable about law and justice are encouraged to elaborate on other noteworthy ones.

Now, a wee bit of symbolism and parallelisms for spice:

Three dogs, three flames, three wounds, three rebirths, three sins

House Clegane’s sigil are three black dogs, which are painted on the Hound’s shield, and this generation were three children as well, though only two are alive at this time. During the fight with Beric, one of his blows cuts a dog’s head, which could foreshadow the fate of Gregor, who died after a trial by battle, was supposedly beheaded and his head sent to Dorne. Speaking of that other trial, there are some parallelisms between Sandor vs. Beric and Gregor vs. Oberyn: a. Both Cleganes fought as accused (Gregor was officially the champion of the accuser, but fought as accused himself too), b. none of them remembers the victims at first, and both ask Arya and Oberyn who Mycah and Elia were; c. one of the charges against Sandor is the same one Prince Oberyn is trying to get Gregor to confess, the murder of Aegon and Rhaenys, d. their opponents used tricks on them: one fire and the other poison; e. this pretty interesting thing about a dog’s head:

In the trial of Canis Minor:

Clegane caught one blow high on his shield, and
a painted dog lost a head.

Later, at the trial of Canis Major:

Gregor’s big wooden shield took its share of hits as well,
until a dog’s head peeped out from under the star
, and elsewhere the raw oak showed through.

So, if in Sandor’s shield the beheaded dog symbolises Gregor’s fate, then in Gregor’s shield the dog that reveals its head from under the star of the Seven could allude to Sandor’s fate, who’s now recuperating in anonymity “under the star” in a monastery of the faith of the Seven, and could emerge again. And the parallels continue: e. both Cleganes are wounded first in an upper extremity whilst lifting up their shields, Sandor on his left arm and Gregor under his left armpit; f. Beric and Oberyn are killed precisely when they’re seemingly winning and about to finish off Sandor and Gregor, who react unexpectedly at the last minute with speed and brutal force to win the trials.

Also during the fight, the flames from the Lightning Lord’s sword kiss the three dogs on his shield thrice and then engulf all three dogs, burning them and crawling up to set his arm ablaze, possible allusions to the triple rebirth imagery in the younger brother’s arc, two of which include fire (this trial and, it could be argued, the Blackwater, in which he also braved fire thrice). The usual mythological figure that is brought up when this sigil is mentioned is Cerberus and all interpretations are the same, alluding to his function as guardian of the Underworld or something related to death. But there’s a symbolism of the three-headed dog that Milady has never seen mentioned anywhere: the fact that the three-headed dog had one unwavering quality which Clegane also has: his loyalty, and because of that he was rewarded by Hades, who released him from the Underworld into the world of the living, transformed into a human that would be called Naberius, who curiously spoke with a raspy and grating voice. The Hound is released from the cave after winning his trial, having gotten the second wound by fire in his life, but he’s to go on living wandering aimlessly for a while and then with Arya, as if Beric had sentenced him to live to do penance, and after his third rebirth scenery under a willow, dying from his third wound (in which if the Elder Brother used cauterisation, fire was also involved but this time used to give life, not harm it), he finally leaves behind his Hound persona and continues his existence as only a man. As a curious side note, Gregor’s wounds at Oberyn’s hands were the third time in a row that he was wounded, because he’d been wounded twice in the riverlands before he went to the trial, and he died not exactly metaphorically.

And then we come to the three things Sandor admits in regret when Arya confronts him after he’s won: an active bad action —killing Mycah—which he will talk about thrice and in this chapter it’s only the first time, and two inactions—Ned’s beheading and Sansa’s beatings, inactions that he will also talk about again.

Revenge

When the Mad Huntsman suggests that they overlook the outcome of their own trial done according to their own rules and take him back to a crow cage, she agrees, repeating that he killed that boy. At this point, doing this would be just unmistakable murder for vengeance, as there’s not even any pretence of lawfulness once the trial is over. But revenge is never so easy or so fulfilling as one imagines in dreams and prayers once one has a real and clear opportunity to exact it; and that’s what she finds out as soon as she sees the burns on his shield arm, and she cannot do it, he’s wounded and that in a way “shields” him from an immediate stabbing. This passage takes us back to Bran I in AGOT, in which their father is explaining to him the Stark way of taking a man’s life: “… the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words.” Arya is doing this here, she’s holding the dagger, she considers him guilty, is looking him in the eye and challenges him to say again what he’s done, which should be his final words in case he were stabbed to death. But the dagger feels heavy on her hand, “And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die” her father had added, and she cannot go on with her intention, and this is just the first time, as there will be another even clearer opportunity later. She loses the dagger to Lem, and ends up shouting at the Hound in frustrated rage.

Eddard had also said that when justice fell on a Stark, a Stark should “take no pleasure in the task.” In this chapter only, there are four references that indicate that Arya is struggling with this part and failing, first when she wonders if the Hound is scared of Beric because she wanted him to be scared before he died, as Mycah, then when she sees fear in his eyes at Beric’s burning sword so close to his face and is exultant because she thinks he’s going to lose now, then when she thinks he deserved to burn in a fiery hell, after watching his horrible new burns and realising how it was for his face too, and finally at the end when she wishes him to go to hell twice. In the former two, the judging and sentencing didn’t fall on her shoulders directly, but she’s the one who gave them the grounds to judge him; in the latter two, she’s taking the task upon herself alone.

And let’s finish with a little foreshadowing…

“Lest you think to cut your way free of here,
or seize some child for a hostage...
Anguy, Dennet, Kyle, feather him at the first sign of treachery.”

And that’s a nod to precisely what Clegane would do, kidnap Arya after the outlaws refused to give his coin back to him.

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