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How did the Tarly's get Heartsbane?


Valens

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They're not that minor. They're amongst Tyrell's strongest bannermen.

And maybe they were even bigger a few hundred years ago?

So one of the Lords Tarly was pretty rich and bought the sword, or maybe he earned it somehow.

Wasn't there an estimate that there are about 260 Valyrian steel swords in Westeros? (I think it's the world book) I'm sure House Tarly belongs to the 260 most important houses, so it's logical.

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"You make Valyrian Swords? I want one, here's my credit rating. It will be finished next year? Alright, I'll be back then." Heard in Valyria, 500 years ago.

 

There are still more than 200 Valyrian steel swords in Westeros. Tarly is defintely part of the top 200 houses, even if they are closer to 200 than to 1, and has been for millennia.

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8 minutes ago, Duncan I Targaryen said:

Horn Hill was quite impressive - makes me wonder what Highgarden looks like if the Tarlys are the no. 2 House in The Reach. 

I mean, Highgarden is supposedly one of the two most beautiful castles in Westeros (the other being the Eyrie)

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30 minutes ago, Duncan I Targaryen said:

Horn Hill was quite impressive - makes me wonder what Highgarden looks like if the Tarlys are the no. 2 House in The Reach. 

show horn hill is way too big; it looks even bigger than winterfell

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Yeah, the Tarlys are not a minor house.  They're responsible for guarding much of the Reach's border with Dorne.

Now, if you want to talk about a house whose ownership of a Valyrian steel sword is hard to explain, try House Mormont.  They went bankrupt paying for Lynesse Hightower's entertainments; I'm not sure how they happened into an item so rare that even the Lannisters only had one.

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The Drumms have a sword they took from reaving, perhaps the Mormonts got their sword in a simmilar fashion.

We don't know what the stature was of House tarly 500 years ago, nowadays they are a pretty important house in a rather rich region so it shouldn't be too surprizing that they are rather wealthy as most large reach houses are. And i think only the Hightowers are bigger in the reach than them.

 

House Tarly might have had petty kings century's ago, in an age where regions like the north or the reach were not unified like they are today, and bought that sword in that capacity

 

Personally i find it more surprizing that Valyrian swords don't change hands more often due to wars. You'd think that the lords would take their Valyrian swords to battle and loose them for their house if they died. Otoh they are also something of a symbol of the institution that is nobillety, it's almost something that gives you more right to rule. That Ned returned Dawn to Starfall was a honourable thing to do but you'd wonder how many GoT characters would do such a thing if they managed to take a Valyrian steel sword from the battlefield.In this respect i wouldn't be surprized if the poorer houses that have a valyrian steel sword wouldn't mention that they took it from another house if so.

.Which is also why i think you might not want to believe every house that claims they had their sword for century's. These swords are an object of prestige and ligitimization imho, sounds logical then that they would want to have that rendered upon their house withought any "foul play" attached. That the Drumms can boast that they took the Valyrian swords they own might be more due to caputring suhc a sword being more acceptable and prestigious for the Ironborn than Andla culture where continuity  and tradition is held more highly.

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4 minutes ago, Waters Gate said:

That Ned returned Dawn to Starfall was a honourable thing to do but you'd wonder how many GoT characters would do such a thing if they managed to take a Valyrian steel sword from the battlefield.

We know Tyrion at least thought about returning Ice to Robb, so it's not a completely outrageous idea to think that valuable swords were returned to their families.  

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1 minute ago, CJ McLannister said:

We know Tyrion at least thought about returning Ice to Robb, so it's not a completely outrageous idea to think that valuable swords were returned to their families.  

And vice versa. Tywin did keep the sword and reforged it into 2 others. Give it another few century's and the Lannisters might never mention the true story of how they got those swords. So you'd expect that the honourable would return it, and the less honourable would make it theirs.

Like this i wouldn't be surprized if a number of swords we considered always part of a family had actually been owned by several family's over the history, but most houses would probably never mention it.

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There are major houses and minor houses-accept it, Tarly's are NOT a MAJOR house! Moving on. <_< Naysayers go on my nerves. And hairsplitters. They might be one of the MAJOR MINOR houses, or important in The Reach anyway, but not in the Westeros-perspective.

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Definitely.  And that applies to swords like Dawn too.  There's plenty of speculation that it hasn't always been held by House Dayne.  

We have a little info on Lady Forlorn passing between the Corbrays and the Royces, though, according to the wiki, that sword is not Valyrian steel anymore.  Whatever that means.

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8 minutes ago, Valens said:

There are major houses and minor houses-accept it, Tarly's are NOT a MAJOR house! Moving on. <_< Naysayers go on my nerves. And hairsplitters. They might be one of the MAJOR MINOR houses, or important in The Reach anyway, but not in the Westeros-perspective.

That assumes that by "major house" you mean "one of the paramount houses", which is not the only possible usage of that term.

7 minutes ago, CJ McLannister said:

We have a little info on Lady Forlorn passing between the Corbrays and the Royces, though, according to the wiki, that sword is not Valyrian steel anymore.  Whatever that means.

In the case of Lady Forlorn (or that earlier Lady Forlorn), King Robar slew one Corbray wielder of the blade, and was then slain by another Corbray (or somebody else) and Lady Forlorn returned to that house as a result.

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1 hour ago, Colonel Green said:

Yeah, the Tarlys are not a minor house.  They're responsible for guarding much of the Reach's border with Dorne.

Now, if you want to talk about a house whose ownership of a Valyrian steel sword is hard to explain, try House Mormont.  They went bankrupt paying for Lynesse Hightower's entertainments; I'm not sure how they happened into an item so rare that even the Lannisters only had one.

The Mormonts are a major house in the North. The are just poor. They are a lot like the Iron Islanders, and probably have as much power as them in terms of available manpower.

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3 minutes ago, Colonel Green said:

That assumes that by "major house" you mean "one of the paramount houses", which is not the only possible usage of that term.

In the case of Lady Forlorn (or that earlier Lady Forlorn), King Robar slew one Corbray wielder of the blade, and was then slain by another Corbray (or somebody else) and Lady Forlorn returned to that house as a result.

There are paramount houses, followed by major houses who serve as their principal banners. After that there are minor lords as well, who probably have oaths of fealty to the major houses. There will be a political structure in place, with a management tree. Executive management, middle management and lower management. So, something like King - Warden - Lord - Minor Lord ("Baron") - Knight. And under all of that you would get the smallfolk.

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6 minutes ago, tugela said:

The Mormonts are a major house in the North. The are just poor. They are a lot like the Iron Islanders, and probably have as much power as them in terms of available manpower.

No way do the Mormonts have anything close to the Iron Islanders' manpower; that would make them virtually a great house in their own right, akin to the Hightowers and Redwynes in terms of numbers.

The Mormonts are a major house in the sense that they control a large, distinct piece of land below only the Starks.  But they are very poor, as a said, which makes their having a ridiculously expensive sword hard to explain.

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27 minutes ago, Valens said:

There are major houses and minor houses-accept it, Tarly's are NOT a MAJOR house! Moving on. <_< Naysayers go on my nerves. And hairsplitters. They might be one of the MAJOR MINOR houses, or important in The Reach anyway, but not in the Westeros-perspective.

 

Correction, there are atleast 4 to 5 loosely defined tiers of houses. There is the royal house controlling the 7 kindoms, then there are the lord Paramounts, then there are the larger Bannermen (Florents, Hightowers, Boltons, manderley's, frey's, Harlaw's, Yronwoods etc), then there are the smaller bannermen or "bannermen of bannermen" like Cassel, Corbray, Beesburry, Clegane, Farwynd etc. and then there are even smaller houses we will likely never hear much about. it's just that the largest and most powerfull of bannermen don't have an title that signify's them from even lower houses like the lord paramounts have.

In between those tiers there can also be a significant difference in wealth. The hightowers for ex. are possibly richer than some lord paramount houses like the Arryns or the Tully's. In regards to buying Valyrian swords i'd think wealth would matter more than millitary strenght too.

Saying it makes no difference is nonsense. The Hightowers for ex. are notably rich and powefull enough that they can practicly rival certain lord paramounts in terms of power. The hightowers are a "minor house" by youre standards that have a Valyrian steel sword too. Franly i'm not in the least bit surprized that the Hightowers have one.

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22 minutes ago, Colonel Green said:

No way do the Mormonts have anything close to the Iron Islanders' manpower; that would make them virtually a great house in their own right, akin to the Hightowers and Redwynes in terms of numbers.

The Mormonts are a major house in the sense that they control a large, distinct piece of land below only the Starks.  But they are very poor, as a said, which makes their having a ridiculously expensive sword hard to explain.

They had it for 500 years as well, just like the Tarlys. They would have got it at the same time, most likely as a gift for swearing loyalty to the king. Presumably at around that time Valyerian steel was being imported to Westeros as a consequence of refugees fleeing the Doom. They would have been selling off their valuables to survive, and that would have included their swords. Most of the swords likely date back to that time, and have been passed down within families since. The swords would have had special value, because after the last of the Doom refugees sold their swords, no more would have appeared on the market, thus accounting for their present day rarity. But there would have been a period when the market would have been flooded with them, and would have been more affordable as a result.

The Mormonts were one of the principal families of the north, and were given Bear Island by the Starks. They would have existed prior to that.

Bear Island is about the same size as the Iron Islands, and likely has a population of similar size. The main difference between the two is that the Iron Islanders made a living by raiding while Bear Islanders made a living by fishing. Both are equally poor due to a lack of resources, but Bear Islanders are more peaceful.

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