Mace Tyrell, Davos Seaworth and the siege of Storm's End

[vox umbrarum]

This proabaly should be labled as crackpot, because I'm going to make a hell of a lot of assumptions here, but bear with me. I propose that Mace Tyrell was aware of Davos, or someone like Davos, attempting to deliver food to the defenders of Storm's End during the siege. Not that he personally would have given him the task and not that Davos would have been aware of it.

Mace appears to be a rather catious man, who first and foremost wants to see himself and his family in a position of power. So it just occured to me, that Stannis continuing resistance actually put him in a very comfortable position during Robert's Rebellion. He had won a vicory already, though Randyll Tarly was the man behind it. Now he laid siege to Storm's End, the center of Robert's power. Had he been a complete Targaryen loyalist, he should have come to the conclusion that Stannis won't surrender the castle anytime soon and that he would have to storm it, if he wanted to join the fighting further north. He should have after half a year anyway. Had he gone through with this, thousands would have died probably and Stannis and Renly possibly killed. He then would have moved north and won or failed along with his king.

However, that would not have been necessarily wise. The castle is described as one of the strongest of the realm and his success of attacking it nowhere certain. So for as long as he was laying siege to it, Aerys could hardly blame him for not moving north. It was after all, the root of Robert's power. But now, what if the garrison would have finally surrendered? In that case, he would have taken Robert's brother hostage and then joined the rest of the Targaryen army. A good enough prospect, unless he did not truly belive Aerys should or could win. If he joined them now and lost, his house would suffer greatly, as Robert might have even attacked Highgarden itself at some point. On the other hand if he merely continued his siege neither side could have blamed him for anything. To make sure that they will be able to continue their resistance he in turn would have to make sure they did not actaully all die. Imagine Stannis and Renly would have starved inside the castle. I don't believe Robert would have been so forgiving then. In fact I even believe, Robert being the man that is, he might have been more willing to forgive him if they had been taken or slain in battle, rather then starved out.

So here comes his master plan - hire a third party to spread rumours of a golden opportunity for any smuggler skilled enough to slip into Storm's End. Make sure they know how lax his own troops have grown during the siege. Encourage the captains on his ships to go easy on their crews, let them drink all they like and so on. Davos himself notes how this was what helped him move in unseen. What did he stand to lose? Some smugglers he never even knew. If he succeeds the siege continues and Mace keeps his profitable command. This would imply that he knew how dire the situation inside the castle was, what I think that's not impossible.

What do you all think? Sure enough i's impossible to confirm. For what it's worth here is the account of GRRM on the siege of Storm's End.

TL;DR Mayce Tyrell wasn't certain the Targaryens would win the war, so he had smugglers hired to ensure Stannis continued resistance and his own continued siege. That way his house would stay alive in any outcome of the rebellion.

[Dukhasinov]

If he did know about Davos, he probably would not have cared. You have a pretty good idea of the Tyrell position in Robert`s Rebellion. The war essentially came down to the Crownlands, the Reach, and Dorne against the Stormlands, the Vale, the Riverlands, and the North. The Targaryens were not the smart horse to back in that war. Mace did his duty as a Targaryen loyalist, but wanted to keep his options open in case Robert was victorious. Torching Robert`s ancestral home and beheading (or starving to death) Robert`s brother would not put him on very good footing with the rebels if they took King`s Landing.

[BericDondarrion]

So many theories overreach. Davos got through the Tyrell lines because the author made it so. Not every little thing has a hidden meaning or crazy story behind it.

[ChuckPunch]

Davos was possibly able to get in due to poor security on the Tyrell's part, however this was not likely intentional.

Mace was just putting on a show.

[Ralphis Baratheon]

I believe Mace Tyrell is much smarter then people believe him to be. I think Olenna's verbal bashing of him is part of a larger plan to get people to underestimate Mace.

[John Suburbs]

I don't see Mace as a secret smarty-pants, like Manderly. Every time I see him on the page he's saying something ignorant, displaying a total lack of awareness of what's going on.

Paxter Redwyne, on the other hand, from the little we've seen of him, seems a fairly competent bloke. And since he would have been the one watching the seas around Dragonstone, he may very well have calculated that prolonging the siege was better for House Redwyne/Tyrell in the long run.

I also think it's probable that he came up with a cover story about Loras' injuries at Dragonstone, and that the Knight of Flowers will show up hail and hearty shortly.