AGOT Reread- Tyrion

[The Adequate Jon]

I've seen the reference to the three stooges in Mohor, Lharys, and Kurleket pointed out before, but I never noticed the descriptions of these characters. Each one looks like the corresponding stooge. Mohor has a helmet that looks like a bowl on top of his head. Lharys has wild tufts of hair coming out under his helmet, and Kurleket is big and fat and bald.

I wonder why Cat doesn't give Tyrion the benefit of the doubt after he saves her life. I wonder how the story would be different if Tyrion had let Cat die. Would Robb still be alive? Would war have been avoided?

[Spring Bass]

It's difficult to say. Had Cat been killed, I think one of two things would have happened:

1)The people with Cat go back down, and ransom Tyrion; or

2)They cut Tyrion's throat and leave him there to make a run for it out of the High Road.

[Maester Yobjascz]

Tyrion V

Tyrion is in a cell being taunted and tormented by his jailor, Mord. One end of his cell is open to the sky, and Mord says that he will jump to his death eventually. Tyrion thinks back to how he got into this predicament. It began during his audience with Lord Robert and Lady Lysa. Lysa accused him of murdering Jon, causing him to become very annoyed and very sarcastic. Robert almost had him killed before Catelyn reminded Lysa that Tyrion is her prisoner and not to be harmed. Ser Vardis took him to a cell instead, where he is routinely mistreated by Mord. He wonders whether Jaime and Cersei really did conspire to kill Jon,1 and wonders why the attack on Bran was so clumsy, finding that odd.2 He thinks that someone may be trying to start a feud between Stark and Lannister.3 He decides that he will die if confined in the cell much longer and decides he must get out. He calls for Mord and promises him gold in exchange for aid. Mord is reluctant at first and starts beating him, but finally consents to take Tyrion's message to Lysa that Tyrion is ready to confess his crimes.

That night, Ser Vardis comes for Tyrion and brings him before the Lady Lysa. All the powerful houses of the Vale are represented in the High Hall. The attendees include Ser Brynden, Lord Nestor, Ser Albar Royce, Ser Lyn Corbray, Lord Eon Hunter, Lady Anya Waynwood and her sons.4 Others present bear sigils he does not recognize such as a broken lance,5 a green viper,6 a burning tower,7 and a winged chalice.8 Ser Rodrik, Ser Willis, Marillion, and Bronn are also there. As Tyrion enters, Bronn looks pointedly at him with hand on pommel. Tyrion steps forward and begins confessing his crimes, that he lays with whores, gambles, mocks, etc. Catelyn accuses him again of plotting to kill Bran, and he denies it. Lysa is about to send him back to his cell, but he demands a trial. Lysa says Lord Robert will hear his case, but Tyrion demands trial by combat. Lysa appoints Ser Vardis as her champion and Tyrion names Jaime, but Lysa will only allow him to choose someone who is present. Bronn stands up and volunteers.

[Barba]

Tyrion VI

Introduced: Gunthor (son of Gurn, warrior of the Stone Crows);

Shagga (son of Dolf, warrior of the Stone Crows).

Tyrion and Bronn are alone trying to make their way to civilization, but they must make it through the Mountains of the Moon alive. Tyrion promises Bronn great reward for helping him, and we learn Tyrion kept his word and paid Mord the gold he had promised. Tyrion tells Bronn the story of a girl he and his brother Jaime rescued, who Tyrion later married. When his father found out, it was revealed the girl was a prostitute his brother bought him for a birthday gift, and Lord Tywin had his men rape her, humiliating Tyrion. When Bronn tells him that he would have killed any man who did that to him, Tyrion tells him he may get the chance to do just that to Tywin Lannister. A Lannister always pays his debts. That night, they are surrounded by Stone Crows, a clan from the Mountains of the Moon. When Tyrion offers his weapons and armor, Gunthor asks him if he would pay them with their own coin. The clansmen would take what they wanted from their corpses. But Tyrion once again talks himself out of certain death by offering them thousands of weapons if they help him reach his father, and promises them aid in conquering the Vale of Arryn.

[The Adequate Jon]

Tyrion (VII)

Introduced: Chella (daughter of Cheyk, warrior woman of the Black Ears);

Conn* (warrior of the Stone Crows);

Ulf* (warrior of the Moon Brothers);

Timett (son of Timett, red hand of the Burned Men);

Ser Flement Brax (knight sworn to Casterly Rock, younger brother and heir of Lord Tytos Brax);

Lord Tywin Lannister* (Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West, Shield of Lannisport, father of Ser Jaime, Cersei and Tyrion, once Hand of King Aerys, later Hand of King Joffrey);

Ser Kevan Lannister (brother of Lord Tywin, father of Lancel, later master of laws under Kings Joffrey and Tommen, then departs to help Lancel restore Castle Darry).

Tyrion and his warriors from the clans of the Mountains of the Moon come across his father’s army, and Tyrion is escorted to his father’s pavilion. Lord Tywin tells Tyrion that Ser Edmure Tully was captured by Jaime’s army besieging Riverrun. Tywin also lets on that Lord Beric Dondarrion is still harassing his foraging parties. When an outrider informs Lord Tywin that Robb’s army is approaching, he convinces Tyrion’s clansmen that they will be repaid for helping in the coming battle.

[The Adequate Jon]

We get our first look at Tywin in this chapter. I'm always struck by how aloof Tywin is toward Tyrion. "Oh, I see you've survived being captured and travelling through the Mountains of the Moon. That's nice. You're brother Jaime is doing many heroic deeds near Riverrun. Too bad you aren't like him."

Timeline:

This chapter is way out of sequence. Roose Bolton's army (containing Freys) is approaching Tywin's army. We've just had Cat's chapter at Moat Cailin. Robb's army has to travel through the Neck to the Twins and meet with Walder Frey. Then Roose's army needs to travel from the Twins to near the Crossroads. I have this chapter taking place almost a month after the previous chapter.

[Maester Yobjascz]

We also see that, despite how he treats his children, Tywin can be *very* diplomatic, and we see where Tyrion got his skill at reading people. Tywin's interactions with the mountain clansmen are very deft. "Even my men fear the Northmen"...

[The Adequate Jon]

Tyrion (VIII)

Introduced: Lord Leo Lefford* (bannerman to House Lannister, commander of Lord Tywin's baggage train);

Shae* (a whore, Tyrion’s "lady");

Podrick Payne (Pod, Tyrion’s squire, later "squire" to Brienne; after his father died, was raised by his father's cousin who mistreated him; saved from being hung for stealing by Ser Kevan);

Ser Addam Marbrand (knight sworn to House Lannister, leads Lord Tywin’s outriders, later Commander of the City Watch of King's Landing).

Lord Tywin tells Tyrion at dinner that he will serve under Ser Gregor’s command in the vanguard of the army. Tyrion is less than pleased and leaves the table. He returns to his camp and finds the whore Shae who Bronn found for him at his request. After Tyrion goes to bed with her, he speaks to Bronn and learns the sellsword took her from a knight. Later, Tyrion is awakened by war horns, and is saddled up to take position on the left flank of the van, a position that is sure to suffer large losses. Tyrion’s clansmen try to hold the river, and the battle ends with Lord Roose Bolton’s host fleeing. Tyrion’s arm is injured, and many of his clansmen died, including Conn and Ulf. After the battle, Tyrion learns that his father intentionally put him in the van. As they are talking, Ser Addam Marbrand arrives battered and informs them that they captured Lord Cerwyn, Ser Wylis Manderly, Harrion Karstark and 4 Freys. Lord Hornwood is dead. But he has bad news as well, that Robb Stark led all his horse to Riverrun in an unexpected feint.

[The Adequate Jon]

We don't get very many details of the overall battle from Tyrion's perspective. Tyrion kills one man and captures another. Do we ever find out who he captured?

Shae says that the knight that Bronn took her from was small. Is it possible that he was the Mad Mouse? Just something that occurred to me as I was reading.

Timeline:

This chapter starts at least one day after Tyrion VII. Tyrion says that "one time" he had Pod show him his tongue to prove he had one. That phrase doesn't really make sense if he's only known Pod for one day, so this is probably 2 or 3 days after Tyrion VII.

[Korax]

Roose's battle plans are interesting. I know several people have suggested that he deliberately puts the Stark troops in the front line where they will suffer the heaviest casualties and this may indicate he's already planning to betray Robb. I think this is quite plausible, though it doesn't necessarily mean he's actually planning a betrayal at this point - so long as he doesn't make it too blatant, it'll always advantage him to let other lords' men take the brunt of the battle. Another point though is his decision to march through the night. From what I can make out he seems to do this forced march to take the Lannisters by surprise, but then once he gets near he stops, allowing them to get ready before he actually attacks. This seems to make no sense - why tire out his troops but then take no advantage of the surprise? We don't really know enough to make definite conclusions - maybe the Lannister camp was too well defended to attack (though surely outriders would have told him that), maybe he had found the ideal position for his own troops - but it could be another suggestion that he was aiming to sabotage Robb from the start.

[The Adequate Jon]

Tyrion thinks that Tywin was too good a battle commander to be taken by surprise. He had enough outriders that he had plenty of warning to assemble all of his men before Roose got there.

[Korax]

That's true. I think that passage emphasises my point, though. Roose was experienced enough to know that Tywin wouldn't be caught out like that, so the forced march seems pointless. There's also a larger question of why he chose to give battle in the first place - you'd think he'd have done better to harass and delay Tywin as much as possible rather than getting into a full-scale battle he was likely to lose. Ironically, Roose seems to behave in pretty much exactly the way that Catelyn feared the Greatjon would he if was given command.

[The Adequate Jon]

Tyrion (IX)

Introduced: Ser Harys Swyft (knight sworn to Casterly Rock, father of Ser Kevan Lannister’s wife Dorna, later named Hand of King Tommen by Cersei).

Lord Tywin and his bannermen have just learned that Ser Jaime has been captured. Tyrion listens as the messenger informs them that Lord Brax was killed and all of Jaime’s host run off or slaughtered, with a Tyroshi sellsword Jaime employed going over to the Starks after the battle. Most of the bannerman are appalled by what happened, and frightened, stating that they must sue for peace. At that, Tyrion shatters his wine cup against a wall telling them there is their peace, lost when his nephew hacked off Eddard Stark’s head. Without Eddard alive, they could not bargain for Ser Jaime in a trade of hostages. Finally, Lord Tywin speaks, saying "they have my son!" and tells his bannermen to leave him, all but Tyrion and Ser Kevan. Tywin agrees with Tyrion that without Eddard they cannot sue for peace with Robb, which would have given them enough time to deal with Renly and Stannis.

Lord Tywin tells them that Varys has heard that Renly has wed Lord Mace Tyrell’s daughter Margaery, and is soon to march upon King’s Landing with all the might of Highgarden and Storm’s End. Lord Tywin tells them his daughter has commanded him to march to King’s Landing and defend the city. Tywin has no such plans. He also tells them of Varys’ tidings that Stannis is building a fleet, hiring sellswords and has employed a shadowbinder from Asshai. Lord Tywin plans to march on Harrenhal and begin burning the Riverlands again. He informs Tyrion that he is sending him to King’s Landing to act as Hand of the King, and clean up the mess Cersei and her fool council created. He rants about the raising of Janos Slynt to lord and granting him Harrenhal, and that the fool will never set foot in the great castle. He is also enraged about the dishonoring of Ser Barristan Selmy, and tells Tyrion that he must control the boy if Cersei cannot. When Tyrion asks his father why he is sending him, Tywin replies "you are my son". Tyrion knows that his father now has given up Jaime for dead, and hates him for it. Lord Tywin leaves off by warning Tyrion not to take his whore to court with him.

[The Adequate Jon]

Ser Harys Swift is introduced and is portrayed exactly how he is in AFFC (cowardly, whiny, ignorant), except he's not coughing yet. ETA: Rosby is the one who is always coughing.

This is one of the few times that Tyrion doesn't antogonize Tywin very much. Tyrion is angered, but holds his tongue.

The Lannisters look like they're in a desparate situation right now: Renly to the south, Stannis to the east, Robb to the north, and Ned dead, so they can't even try to negotiate peace. Everything eventually has to fall right into place for them to win the war.

[Watermelons1122]

I'm just catching up to you guys with the re-read...phew...anyway, are we going to keep going w/ ACOK re-read as well? I havent seen anything on the boards and was just curious. It looks like this reread kind of lost steam, so I hope we keep going.

[Timface]

Whoops, wrong thread. What a great way to start...

[C.T. Phipps]

Or was this simply Tyrion mouthing off and getting himself into trouble?

Actually, I was thinking Tyrion was telling Jon what he was getting into. There was no reason for Jon to join the Nightwatch and take the oaths without knowing that they were a bunch of murderers and rapists. Tyrion probably thought Jon would realize that there's no honor in the profession and go home.

[wathombe]

I'm just starting my first re-read now, having read the series for the first time Nov-Jan.

The scene in Tyrion I between Joff and Tyrion in the training yard is much more interesting having read ASoS:

SPOILER: ASoS

Although we're led to believe that Joff sent the assassin to kill Bran (I can't lay my finger on the chapter reference at the moment), we're not really sure why by the time that revelation rolls around in ASoS. Could it simply be because Joff was peeved about Tyrion making him pay his respects to Eddard and Catelyn after Bran fell?

[The Adequate Jon]

Actually, we're led to believe that Joffrey overheard Robert say that Bran would be better off dead. Supposedly, Joff sends the assassin to get Robert's approval because Robert pretty much ignores Joff.

[wathombe]

Ah. I remember that comment from Robert, but don't remember Joff being there (or seeing him react to it). I'll skim back a bit. Thanks!