Impbread Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Im sure that this question has been asked before but i havent seen a thread on it lately. “Who paid the boy’s apprentice fee?” he asked lightly. Mott looked fretful. “You saw the boy. Such a strong boy. Those hands of his, those hands were made for hammers. He had such promise, I took him on without a fee.” “The truth now,” Ned urged. “The streets are full of strong boys. The day you take on an apprentice without a fee will be the day the Wall comes down. Who paid for him?” “A lord,” the master said reluctantly. “He gave no name, and wore no sigil on his coat. He paid in gold, twice the customary sum, and said he was paying once for the boy, and once for my silence.” “Describe him.” “He was stout, round of shoulder, not so tall as you. Brown beard, but there was a bit of red in it, I’ll swear. He wore a rich cloak, that I do remember, heavy purple velvet worked with silver threads, but the hood shadowed his face and I never did see him clear.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masha Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Was there a full description of Jon Arryn? I always assumed that it was Jon Arryn, Varys, LF or one of Jon's underlings who taking care of Robert's bastards. I doubt it was Robert himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makk Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Wasn't Jon Arryn only aware of Gendry after he became an apprentice? He went and asked all sorts of questions etc at the forge. My guess is Varys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BricksAndSparrows Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Round shouldered... always thought it was Varys. He was shorter than Ned. We know for a certain than, it wasn;t Robert. It is interesting to think about though. If it is Varys, than the little hint about his brown and (maybe) reddish beard and purple/silver digs would be meaningless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sensenmenn Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 5 minutes ago, BricksAndSparrows said: Round shouldered... always thought it was Varys. He was shorter than Ned. We know for a certain than, it wasn;t Robert. It is interesting to think about though. If it is Varys, than the little hint about his brown and (maybe) reddish beard and purple/silver digs would be meaningless. Based on that description he sounds like a bravosi banker and mots shop has the same doors as the house of black and white and is possibly the host of faceless men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgrav Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Wasn't it Varys who arranged for him to go with Yoren? that would be my first guess. The beard and hood are part of the disguise he wears on several occasions. edit: it seems a bit pointless to analyze the garb, knowing it's meant to mislead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BricksAndSparrows Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 8 minutes ago, Sensenmenn said: Based on that description he sounds like a bravosi banker and mots shop has the same doors as the house of black and white and is possibly the host of faceless men. Damn it...why did you have to do this to me? I'll be chewing on this for weeks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balerion's Whiskers Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Varys is my choice as well. He was a master at disguise and often added a beard or hair of some sort...mummer's training. Jon Arryn was never described, but Harry the Heir was and it was said that he had the classic Arryn look...tall, slender and blond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgrav Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 3 minutes ago, BricksAndSparrows said: Damn it...why did you have to do this to me? I'll be chewing on this for weeks... I don't know, this seems like it would open a ridiculous and unnecessary can of worms. If Iron Bank and Faceless meddling are alleged, I can't imagine Gendry would be alive still. Varys seems much more the type to leave the royal bastard alive but hidden, even if only to keep that card in the deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BricksAndSparrows Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 6 minutes ago, cgrav said: I don't know, this seems like it would open a ridiculous and unnecessary can of worms. If Iron Bank and Faceless meddling are alleged, I can't imagine Gendry would be alive still. Varys seems much more the type to leave the royal bastard alive but hidden, even if only to keep that card in the deck. Yeah. In general I'm suspicious of massive conspiracies, but at the same time, those faceless men from the meetings....it's like they are just lined up waiting to appear somewhere... I guess the description of the guy who came to pay Tobo Mott, could just be misdirection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgrav Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 I think a motive is missing from the FM equation. I don't see why they would be involved. Varys has more or less said he's trying to keep things predictable and stable until it's time to act on his Targ restoration plan. Gendry is just around in case Varys needs him for an unforeseen circumstance. It's also possible that Gendry was planted in such a conspicuous manner specifically so he would be "discovered" by Arryn and precipitate the destabilizing events in GoT. In which case I'd say it was Littlefinger's doing, though disguises really don't seem like his style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impbread Posted August 22, 2016 Author Share Posted August 22, 2016 My first thought was littlefinger and the mad mouse but his description didnt fit. Then thought of beric because of the red hair and the black and purple cloak but he was no motive that we know of. Varys in disguise is all ive got. 1 hour ago, cgrav said: Wasn't it Varys who arranged for him to go with Yoren? that would be my first guess. The beard and hood are part of the disguise he wears on several occasions. edit: it seems a bit pointless to analyze the garb, knowing it's meant to mislead. I always thought that Ned wanted him to take the black. The letter that he wrote in the dungeon had something to do with it (in my opinion). He already sent one royal bastard to the wall (jon). I think that Varys read the letter as he said he would and decided that it would be a good place for him to stay safe. At that point he still thought that Ned was going there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgrav Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 The setting for that letter makes it seems way more important than pertaining to a character who ultimately just disappears from the story (so far). Ned requested to write the letter before knowing that Varys would read it, so he must have intended to write something that was not intended only for Varys. The big suspicion is, of course, that he wanted to write something about RLJ. If we accept that Varys placed Gendry in Mott's shop to protect him, then I think we're fairly safe concluding that he could have sent Gendry north without Ned's instructions. On the literary level, Ned's POV is so short and packed with clues that I don't think such a mysterious situation would be "wasted"one a minor plot advancement, which could very easily have been achieved by another character (and in my opinion was). We already know that someone is pulling strings for Gendry, so I don't think we gain any real insight to the plot or characters if we discover that Ned helped him escape. Helping Gendry out of pure compassion is certainly within Ned's character, but we already know that, and getting re-confirmation of that later on doesn't change how we perceive Ned. To the contrary, it does add to Varys's character by demonstrating how thorough and complex his political influence is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Net-Viper X Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 I always thought it was Varys keeping the boy close to be used as evidence about Cersei's bastards when the time came. It could have even been Varys that dropped the hint that sent jon Arryn to the smith to see Gendry in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bent branch Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 I'll join my voice to those saying Varys. Gendry was not the only one of Robert's bastards that Varys took an interest in. He was also the one responsible for sending Edric gifts "from Robert" on special occasions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1000th Lord Commander Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 I've always assumed Varys. It would be like him to keep track of Robert's bastards in case he needed another card to play. And I think something gets said about him being the one to send Gendry off to the Night's Watch when Ceresi starts hunting all the bastards down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shouldve Taken The Black Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 It was Varys.. Mystery over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scootaloo Stark Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 I'm pretty sure that I read in an SSM or something that it's Varys, comfirmed. Now I only gotta find it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Melnibonean Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 It was Varys. Varys kept tabs on Robert's bastards to parade them, or at least point them out to the lords around the realm, when he was ready to initiate a crisis of succession that would benefit Aegon's arrival in Westeros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Melnibonean Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 On 8/22/2016 at 9:14 PM, Net-Viper X said: I always thought it was Varys keeping the boy close to be used as evidence about Cersei's bastards when the time came. It could have even been Varys that dropped the hint that sent jon Arryn to the smith to see Gendry in the first place. Varys was not ready yet, as we learn when Arya overhears him talking with Illyrio. Besides, we learn that Stannis who got Jon Arryn to investigate. But I suspect Petyr was the one who dropped the hint to Stannis, and set the whole thing in motion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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