Davos' motivation?

[Greywater-Watch]

56 minutes ago, Red Man Racey said:

Davos was a smuggler. Smugglers smuggle. They take stuff they're not supposed to to places that aren't supposed to have it. And then they get paid for it. Since the people in the place they aren't supposed to take it aren't supposed to have it, they're willing to pay a lot for it.

Davos may have an intact moral compass, but that doesn't mean that he always did (but I'll admit he probably did). Nor does it mean that he doesn't know a profitable business opportunity when he sees one. And what's wrong with killing two birds with one stone? You get your good deed in for the day by feeding starving people while filling your pocket with some coin so you don't become one of those starving people yourself.

 

I can live with your analysis. I just pointed out the integrity side Davos shows in terms of humanity to counter all comments which give him pure business motivation. It is a mixture. You are right to point out that his business is smuggling.

[Red Man Racey]

3 minutes ago, Greywater-Watch said:

I can live with your analysis. I just pointed out the integrity side Davos shows in terms of humanity to counter all comments which give him pure business motivation. It is a mixture. You are right to point out that his business is smuggling.

I'll admit, I really just wanted to use the sentence "Smugglers smuggle." LOL

[Lord Kyan of House Bear]

So if we go with the majority and say he's motivated purely by selling his goods for the highest price regardless of risk to himself.

I then find it perculiar that Stannis then keeps him so close for him to become his most loyal and trusted man.

yeah I can see why he pays an inflated price and is grateful for the onions but to bring him into his inner circle when the man was only interested in financial gain seems strange. What's to stop him betraying him for the next highest offer next time.

especially as Stannis always seems very suspicious and very aware of someone worth!

[Clegane'sPup]

Smugglers smuggle. Great use of words. The topic is probably not gonna to amount to a pile of onions in later books but it does bring out some interesting information.

Had Davos been smuggling contraband into SE via the passage in the cliff on a regular basis? Was this water passage common knowledge among smugglers and other Westerosi?

The seaward side of Storm's End perched upon a pale white cliff, the chalky stone sloping up steeply to half again the height of the massive curtain wall. A mouth yawned in the cliff, and it was that Davos steered for, as he had sixteen years before.

I mean, would there have been any need for Davos or anyone to smuggle contraband into SE during the peace before Robert’s Rebellion? If I had me a fortress with an entrance only available at high tide it would be for clandestine activity.

Davos snuck past the blockade in a tiny boat with a black sail whose sails had cracked and snapped with every shift of wind, until he'd pulled them down and gone on with muffled oars.

Evidently Davos was privy to some information from someone, else he wouldn’t know about the water passage. The passage was navigable only during high tide, and was never less than treacherous, but his smuggler's skills had not deserted him. Is the water passage into SE common knowledge and if it was what could anyone possibly have been smuggling into or from the Baratheon brothers during peace time?

The last time, torches had burned all along the tunnel, and the eyes of starving men had peered down through the murder holes in the ceiling. The portcullis was somewhere ahead, he knew.

When Davos smuggled his onions into SE did he look up at the men manning the murder holes and shout,” Oy, don’t shoot me I bring you onions, I knew ye to be starvin’ cuz you be under siege. I bought onions to feed you.” When Davos reached the portcullis did he say to the man manning the portcullis, “You there, open this portcullis that reaches all the way to the bottom and whose bars are too closely spaced for even a child to squeeze through and pay me my money for the onions I risked my life to bring you!”

Okay, Davos smuggled the onions because money was gonna exchange hands. Win win. Most likely I’m not going to read any more of Davos’ smuggling activities until Martin reveals something about why Manderly needs a smuggler to fetch Rickon.

Any ideas why Martin would put such detail into the underbelly of SE, or was it merely filler so that Mel could birth her Stannis shadow with a burst of light in the darkness or was it just a description of Davos’ smuggling smugglers skills.

My yammering as referenced in the CoK Davos II chapter . Seriously though, I do wonder if this water passage that Davos used to bring in the onions could have something to do with JonCon’s statement of taking SE by guile.

 

2 hours ago, Lord Kyan of House Bear said:

So if we go with the majority and say he's motivated purely by selling his goods for the highest price regardless of risk to himself.

I then find it perculiar that Stannis then keeps him so close for him to become his most loyal and trusted man.

yeah I can see why he pays an inflated price and is grateful for the onions but to bring him into his inner circle when the man was only interested in financial gain seems strange. What's to stop him betraying him for the next highest offer next time.

especially as Stannis always seems very suspicious and very aware of someone worth!

We as in who? You got a mouse in your pocket? Deciding someones motivation is subjective, and revealing especially when it pertains to fictional characters.