SER SHADRICH, HIS ALLIES AND ADVERSARIES.. (Morgarth, Byron, Creighton, Illifer)

[Melifeather]

On 8/7/2016 at 1:38 AM, bemused said:

When he says he's seeking Sansa "for love", that rings more of truth, for me, than "love of gold". As Lady Whent's agent, the love would be familial. If Bloodraven is involved, it could be love of the realm (and perhaps more)... ** If he's Howland Reed, love of the Starks could be a motivator. 

You write very well and have provided lots of supporting text, but the whole time I was trying to figure out what your proposed theory was for why Howland was Shadrich. Will there be a follow up? 

IMO, Shadrich is simply a parallel to Howland and the Knight of the Laughing Tree mystery. Alot of common elements are there. I've added Ser Shadrich to some of Pretty Pig's most excellent work where she compares Howland at the Harrenhal tourney to Arya's Weasel Soup plan that helped the northern captives escape imprisonment from Harrenhal.

I think Ser Shadrich's connection to Harrenhal is slight. Har, get it? "Slight", "mouse"...OK enuf o'dat. Like you've stated (and others have observed before you) a flying mouse is a bat, and the ancient house that held Harrenhal, House Lothston, had a bat for a sigil, and Brienne carried an old Lothston shield...it's a short chain of six degrees of Kevin Bacon.

The entire ASOIAF series is filled with oodles of parallels and surely not every single one of them are intended to disguise a secret identity? IMO the multiple parallels are intended to establish that history, does indeed, repeat itself. It's a major theme of the books and brought to our attention by some of the characters:

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“The dragon is time. It has no beginning and no ending, so all things come round again. .." 

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“Archmaester Rigney once wrote that history is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will perforce happen again.” 

The HBO mummers version added this:

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“Lannister, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell, they’re all just spokes on a wheel. This one’s on top and that one’s on top and on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground. We’re not going to stop the wheel. I’m going to break the wheel.”

History repeats itself and these parallels that you have noted in this essay are intended to establish the existence of a wheel of time. It's actually very important to the current story, because history is now "un-doing" itself. The historical events are repeating, but they are occurring in reverse order, and the final outcomes are different.

I too have compared Howland to Shadrich, (and included Arya) but I see their parallels as evidence that their experiences are the same historical event repeated (at least) three documented times. There could be more characters that are repeating this same sequence of events even though the details are slightly different. 

KEY:  H = Howland , A = Arya, S = Shadrich

 

H:  The castle of Harrenhal is now filled with people who have arrived for the tournement.

A:  The castle of Harrenhal is now mostly empty; the people have departed for battle.

S:  Shadrich has become a symbol representing Harrenhal, because of the reference to a flying mouse, which could be a bat (Lothston, Harrenhal, etc)

 

H:  A guest from a noble northern house, Howland is persuaded to sit at the table with the other guests of high birth.   He mingles with the members of other northern houses.

A:  A captive from a noble northern house, Arya is forced to sleep and dine in the cellar. Arya cannot mingle with members of other northern houses, because they are imprisoned in the dungeons.

S:  Shadrich is with Brienne when they stopped for the knight at the Old Stone Bridge Inn. His meal and stay are paid for by his employer, a merchant, while Brienne pays for herself and the two penniless hedge knights Creighton and Illifer. I guess you could say they are all staying the night with a symbol of Harrenhal.

 

H:   At Harrenhal there is singing and dancing and merriment, sounds of people having fun.

A:   At Harrenhal there is eerie silence and ghostly noises broken by sounds of general work.

S:   There were only six locals sitting at a table at the inn when Shadrich and Brienne’s party arrived. They hear the sounds of a roast spitting and crackling over a fire.

 

H:   Howland does not actively seek aid in getting revenge upon the three squires; instead, his friends the wolf maid and the pup offer to help him (their “father’s man”) challenge the squires by providing materials/assistance.

A:   Arya actively seeks help in fulfilling her plan (setting free her “father’s men”) by going to Hot Pie and Gendry for materials/assistance; they refuse her.

S: Ser Creighton, Ser Illifer the Penniless, and Brienne came upon a merchant who was protected by Ser Shadrich. The merchant produced a crossbow and called, “You will forgive me if I am suspicious, but the times are troubled, and I have only good Ser Shadrich to defend me.

 

H:  A young crannogman, small of stature and naïve to the ways of the big outside world.

A:  A young girl, small of stature and naïve to the ways of the big outside world.

S: A wiry, fox-faced man, cocksure though no more than five foot two.

 

H:   With pledges of support of his new friends, Howland goes to the lake’s edge after the night’s festivities are over, casts his gaze to the Isle of Faces with its grove of weirwoods, and “said a prayer to the old gods of north and Neck .  .  .”

A:   Without pledges of support of her old friends, Arya goes to the godswood of Harrenhal in the dark of night and says a silent prayer in front of the wicked & twisted heart tree.

S:  No mention of a prayer for our Ser Shadrich. You could turn this around and state that Shadrich didn't pray.

 

H:  Howland wishes (we assume, this is indirectly stated in Meera’s retelling) to have vengeance upon those who wronged him, but in a way that he won’t shame himself and his people. He desires to be brave.

A:  Arya wishes to have vengeance on those who wronged her, and to restore pride to herself and her shamed (captured) people. She desires to be brave.

S: Shadrich is unafraid of the three knights (Creighton, Illifer, and Brienne) who he refers to as “old”, “fat”, and “a woman”. He mocks Brienne by noting, “You’re a strapping healthy wench, I’d say.” After Brienne says, “A giant, compared to some.” He laughed. “I am big enough where it counts, wench.” He also explains that while a common mouse will run from blood and battle, a mad mouse seeks them out.

 

H: King Aerys offers ransom for capture of the Knight of the Laughing Tree

A: Arya holds Jaqen’s life ransom until he helps her release the northern captives

S: Shadrich tells Brienne he’s looking for Sansa in order to claim Vary’s “plump bag of gold”.

 

H: Lyanna ends up missing - Rhaegar blamed for her abduction.

A: Arya has gone missing from Kings Landing. She escaped by disguising herself as a boy.

S: Sansa has gone missing. Ser Dontos blamed for her absence. Later, Brienne is the one that’s gone missing - hiding from Shadrich.