The FM who slapped Arya

[Mithras]

This man comes for the first time when we see the largest gathering of the FM.

Eleven servants of the Many-Faced God gathered that night beneath the temple, more than she had ever seen together at one time. Only the lordling and the fat fellow arrived by the front door; the rest came by secret ways, through tunnels and hidden passages.

The priests used the language of Braavos, though once for several minutes three spoke heatedly in High Valyrian. The girl understood the words, mostly, but they spoke in soft voices, and she could not always hear. “I know this man,” she did hear a priest with the face of a plague victim say. “I know this man,” the fat fellow echoed, as she was pouring for him. But the handsome man said, “I will give this man the gift, I know him not.” Later the squinter said the same thing, of someone else.

After three hours of wine and words, the priests took their leave … all but the kindly man, the waif, and the one whose face bore the marks of plague. His cheeks were covered with weeping sores, and his hair had fallen out. Blood dripped from one nostril and crusted at the corners of both eyes. “Our brother would have words with you, child,” the kindly man told her. “Sit, if you wish.”

There was such a man in KL, watching the Walk of Shame.

If anything, the jeers and shouts were cruder here. Her walk had not taken her through Flea Bottom, so its denizens had packed onto the lower slopes of Aegon’s High Hill to see the show. The faces leering out at her from behind the shields and spears of the Poor Fellows seemed twisted, monstrous, hideous. Pigs and naked children were everywhere underfoot, crippled beggars and cutpurses swarmed like roaches through the press. She saw men whose teeth had been filed into points, hags with goiters as big as their heads, a whore with a huge striped snake draped about breasts and shoulders, a man whose cheeks and brow were covered with open sores that wept grey pus.

According to the timeline, THE FM meeting is done 12 days after the Walk of Shame. It may be enough time to go from KL to Braavos.

There maybe other candidates as well.

“I’ve told the khal he ought to make for Meereen,” Ser Jorah said. “They’ll pay a better price than he’d get from a slaving caravan. Illyrio writes that they had a plague last year, so the brothels are paying double for healthy young girls, and triple for boys under ten.

“A Braavosi trading galley called at Pentos on her way back from the Jade Sea. The Treasure carried cloves and saffron, jet and jade, scarlet samite, green silk … and the grey death. We slew her oarsmen as they came ashore and burned the ship at anchor, but the rats crept down the oars and paddled to the quay on cold stone feet. The plague took two thousand before it ran its course.”

The first quote is from way back in AGoT and the last one is from ADwD. Note that when Jorah was speaking, the timeline says it was late 298. And Dany arrived in Pentos in early 297. So the plague Illyrio was referring may start in 296 and ran its course in very early 297 before Dany arrives in Pentos. As far as I remember, Dany does not recall any sign of a plague in Pentos. So the FM can be a surviving victim of the plague from Pentos, possibly posing as a beggar there.

There is also some tales of grey plague in Yi Ti but I dont think the FM might have come from there.

There is also a slight possiblity that the FM might have come from Hardhome on that Lyseni ship carrying the wildlings.

And later three Lyseni, sailors off the Goodheart, a storm-wracked galley that had limped into Braavos last night and been seized this morning by the Sealord’s guards.

“I know why the Sealord seized the Goodheart. She was carrying slaves. Hundreds of slaves, women and children, roped together in her hold.”

“I know where the slaves came from. They were wildlings from West-eros, from a place called Hardhome. An old ruined place, accursed.”

“After the big battle where the King-Beyond-the-Wall was killed, the wildlings ran away, and this woods witch said that if they went to Hardhome, ships would come and carry them away to someplace warm. But no ships came, except these two Lyseni pirates, Goodheart and Elephant, that had been driven north by a storm. They dropped anchor off Hardhome to make repairs, and saw the wildlings, but there were thousands and they didn’t have room for all of them, so they said they’d just take the women and the children. The wildlings had nothing to eat, so the men sent out their wives and daughters, but as soon as the ships were out to sea, the Lyseni drove them below and roped them up. They meant to sell them all in Lys. Only then they ran into another storm and the ships were parted. The Goodheart was so damaged her captain had no choice but to put in here, but the Elephant may have made it back to Lys. The Lyseni at Pynto’s think that she’ll return with more ships. The price of slaves is rising, they said, and there are thousands more women and children at Hardhome.”

The Hardhome people are likely to have a plague but the Lyseni only took women and children. Therefore, if this FM came with them, he should have infiltrated into the ship secretly.

The identity and origin of this FM is open to speculation. Now I would like to talk about his strange spech with Arya. But before that, we need to remember what happened recently.

Arya killed Daeron. Then she was blinded. This helped improve her skinchanging abilities. She skinchanged into some cats for the first time and saw the kindly men beat her through cat’s eyes. She did not explain how she saw him.

I think the kindly man wanted another tutor to teach Arya about the order because he feels like he taught her what he could and she needs a better teacher right now. Before that, they want to give her a graduation assignment. Note that killing that man with a poisoned coin must be a straightforward FM way because Jaqen used that on Pate. But they want to see if Arya can figure that out by herself and give the gift in a proper manner (not like a bloody wolf so as to say).

“Who are you?” plague face asked when they were alone. “No one.”

“Not so. You are Arya of House Stark, who bites her lip and cannot tell a lie.”

“I was. I’m not now.”

“Why are you here, liar?”

“To serve. To learn. To change my face.”

“First change your heart. The gift of the Many-Faced God is not a child’s plaything. You would kill for your own purposes, for your own pleasures. Do you deny it?”

She bit her lip. “I—”

He slapped her.

The blow left her cheek stinging, but she knew that she had earned it. “Thank you.” Enough slaps, and she might stop chewing on her lip. Arya did that, not the night wolf. “I do deny it.”

“You lie. I can see the truth in your eyes. You have the eyes of a wolf and a taste for blood.”

Ser Gregor, she could not help but think. Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling. Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, Queen Cersei. If she spoke, she would need to lie, and he would know. She kept silent.

“You were a cat, they tell me. Prowling through the alleys smelling of fish, selling cockles and mussels for coin. A small life, well suited for a small creature such as you. Ask, and it can be restored to you. Push your barrow, cry your cockles, be content. Your heart is too soft to be one of us.”

He means to send me away. “I have no heart. I only have a hole. I’ve killed lots of people. I could kill you if I wanted.”

“Would that taste sweet to you?”

She did not know the right answer. “Maybe.”

“Then you do not belong here. Death holds no sweetness in this house. We are not warriors, nor soldiers, nor swaggering bravos puffed up with pride. We do not kill to serve some lord, to fatten our purses, to stroke our vanity. We never give the gift to please ourselves. Nor do we choose the ones we kill. We are but servants of the God of Many Faces.”

“Valar dohaeris.” All men must serve. “You know the words, but you are too proud to serve. A servant must be humble and obedient.”

“I obey. I can be humbler than anyone.”

That made him chuckle. “You will be the very goddess of humility, I am sure. But can you pay the price?”

“What price?”

“The price is you. The price is all you have and all you ever hope to have. We took your eyes and gave them back. Next we will take your ears, and you will walk in silence. You will give us your legs and crawl. You will be no one’s daughter, no one’s wife, no one’s mother. Your name will be a lie, and the very face you wear will not be your own.”

She almost bit her lip again, but this time she caught herself and stopped. My face is a dark pool, hiding everything, showing nothing. She thought of all the names that she had worn: Arry, Weasel, Squab, Cat of the Canals. She thought of that stupid girl from Winterfell called Arya Horseface. Names did not matter. “I can pay the price. Give me a face.”

“Faces must be earned.”

“Tell me how.”

“Give a certain man a certain gift. Can you do that?”

“What man?”

“No one that you know.”

“I don’t know a lot of people.”

“He is one of them. A stranger. No one you love, no one you hate, no one you have ever known. Will you kill him?”

“Yes.”

“Then on the morrow, you shall be Cat of the Canals again. Wear that face, watch, obey. And we will see if you are truly worthy to serve Him of Many Faces.

He says Arya has wolf eyes and taste for blood and she kills for her own purposes. Did they recognize her as a skinchanger? Is this man a skinchanger too? Could Izembaro this man? Is Arya now supposed to learn from a skinchanger FM which might suits her better?

[Phonzadellika]

Intriguing. I don't think that they are aware that she's a skinchanger...IIRC the kindly man was surpised that she knew that he was the man hitting her with the stick but that was knowledge she was supposed to have deduced normally anyway.

Your post did make me wonder is pus-guy is someone important politically important in Westeros. If this guy was at the Walk and at Pentos then maybe he's got some alternative plans for No one.

[Beige Lunatics]

It's Syrio, obviously. Because wish fulfillment.

[Man of Many Faces]

The Grey plague is different from the regular plague I thought. I thought that the grey plague was what JonCon got and what Shireen was born with. Where as the regular plague is what kills all the people outside of Meereen. Either way, this is very interesting. It is possible that the plague faced FM was in Kings Landing for some sort of mission. What I am really curious about is who they were talking about in this meeting. I feel that they must be some what important to have all of the FM gather together and discuss who will give the gift to them.

[Phonzadellika]

The Grey plague is different from the regular plague I thought. I thought that the grey plague was what JonCon got and what Shireen was born with. Where as the regular plague is what kills all the people outside of Meereen. Either way, this is very interesting. It is possible that the plague faced FM was in Kings Landing for some sort of mission. What I am really curious about is who they were talking about in this meeting. I feel that they must be some what important to have all of the FM gather together and discuss who will give the gift to them.

I rather got the impression that it something more like a daily staff meeting...gotta fill out the TPS reports and what not.

[Lady Fevre Dream]

That was an interesting read. My only question is.........how can we even be sure that Plague Man, for want of a better name, really even has the plague or has even worn this same face over and over, whether in Westeros during Cersei's walk, or anywhere else. I always took Arya's observations of the 'priests' or assassins to come with the caveat that........they could be wearing any face or a different face, each time. The last passage provided in the OP is about Arya being given a different face, and that in itself makes me doubt that Plague Man is wearing his own face, or.....ever had the plague.

[Mithras]

That was an interesting read. My only question is.........how can we even be sure that Plague Man, for want of a better name, really even has the plague or has even worn this same face over and over, whether in Westeros during Cersei's walk, or anywhere else. I always took Arya's observations of the 'priests' or assassins to come with the caveat that........they could be wearing any face or a different face, each time. The last passage provided in the OP is about Arya being given a different face, and that in itself makes me doubt that Plague Man is wearing his own face, or.....ever had the plague.

Good question. Fat fellow and lordling (aka the handsome man) were spotted by Arya before. Since these two used the front door, I think they might be working in Braavos. But the others came through secret passages. I think those faces are their travel faces. I dont think they might want to wear a special face for their internal meeting because they all know faces do not mean shit. So the plague face should have come to Bravoos as he is, assuming he was not from Braavos.

By the way, I think Izembaro is the King of Mummers in Braavos. But still this FM should be important because he appointed a serious task on Arya. If she had screwed, they would surely kick her out.

[Mithras]

“You know the words, but you are too proud to serve. A servant must be humble and obedient.”

“I obey. I can be humbler than anyone.”

That made him chuckle. “You will be the very goddess of humility, I am sure.

:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

[TheBastardofBluegrass]

I rather got the impression that it something more like a daily staff meeting...gotta fill out the TPS reports and what not.

Don't forget to put the cover sheets on the TPS reports!

[Lady Fevre Dream]

Good question. Fat fellow and lordling (aka the handsome man) were spotted by Arya before. Since these two used the front door, I think they might be working in Braavos. But the others came through secret passages. I think those faces are their travel faces. I dont think they might want to wear a special face for their internal meeting because they all know faces do not mean shit. So the plague face should have come to Bravoos as he is, assuming he was not from Braavos.

By the way, I think Izembaro is the King of Mummers in Braavos. But still this FM should be important because he appointed a serious task on Arya. If she had screwed, they would surely kick her out.

I always did think that the two FM that Arya seems familiar with were either using their own faces, or at least.......showing up with the same face on and those faces happen to be the ones that they are using for this stretch of time. I do think they used the front door as they are people (faces) that Arya and even other observers in Braavos are used to seeing come and go from the HoB&W. That would also be a reason the others came via secret passages. The Braavosi honor the FM (and provide service to them a la Arya and the passage for the coin), but I bet if the regular city folk knew of a certain type of heavily attended meeting that was about divvying up the assassinations the FM contracted to perform.....it might make some, if not many, of the Braavosi a little uncomfortable.

I do wonder about the Plague face and Cersei and the walk. It could have been that man, also though, a part of me thinks that as the walk went on.........Cersei just saw the crowd as ugly and awful, she sees most the world as ugly and awful, and iirc, the more she thought she saw all her enemies interspersed in the crowd, the uglier the crowd itself was described to appear?

I'm not sure where Arya will turn up (and look forward to giving it some more thought), but I can't wait to find out. I didn't know much about this King of Mummers information, I'll have to look into that. Alas, a girl must.......get shopping and finish her holiday errands. I just wanted to give you an answer to your post, I appreciated you answering mine. :cheers:

[KOM]

I think various attempts to connect Plague Face as either Varys or Syrio or some other people in and around King's Landing are off the mark. To me it seems entirely too far away. Also, since FM can changes faces fairly often (see Jaqen at end of ACOK), why would they keep the same face between KL and Braavos?

Izembaro seems to be a character that we have not met yet. But given all the mummery business in Braavos, I could see him (her) being mummery-connected.

Plague Face does seem to be some sort of high-up in the FM heirarchy, but, in my reading, he's a cranky old man who likely wants to see for himself if what the Kindly Man has been saying about Arya's progress to the rest of the staff (in other TPS-report type administrative meetings) is really true.

[Whitering]

Maybe it was just like Dead Like Me, a meeting of the Reapers.

The meeting with Arya meanwhile I took to mean that she is, umm, well known the rest of the FM in Braavos right now because she is Lady Stark and doing pretty well in her training. Everything he says indicates that he knows about her problems becoming no one but also knows how incredibly diligent she is; he even makes a joke about it.

To me it just meant that Arya, or maybe all recruits are of more interest and maybe worth more to the FM as a whole than just the few that hang around the Temple.

[Mithras]

It looks like Izembaro is not the Plague Face.