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[TWOW Spoilers] March 2014 Chapter Part III


Stubby

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Great chapter. I have no doubt that Arya is supposed to be playing Sansa. Shae was 19 at her death, and no one would have a 11/12 year old unexperienced girl to play a 19 year old woman. Besides, Shae is a commoner. No one would care about her, much less write a play with her in it.



It's extremely sad that Arys, most likely, had to "know" about her sister's fate in this way. Playing her as she is raped and murdered, one day after another. And she doesn't even seem to care. It's also very sad that her first kiss was probably with Raff. Sick!



Theories I subscribe to:


1) Tywin went to Lys to leave Tysha "wherever whores go".


2) The iron key Arya hids in one of her pockets will become important. It has to be linked with those keyholders that seem to be important Bravosi officers ("keyholder Bessaro", and "there are five keyholders").


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I like the idea that perhaps Izembaro, Brusco, and the like are all retired (or current) Faceless Men.

Well, Brusco is definitely a FM associate of some sort, since he was introduced as a fishmonger for whom Arya sold mussels and now we see him being involved with a theater. It seems that he either moves around to shadow Arya or he has his fingers in a lot of pies simultaneously and uses this to place FM candidates in training where they need to be for the next step of their apprenticeship. IMHO, there is little need for Izembaro to be directly connected to FM. Maybe he is knowingly doing them favors, or maybe he just thinks that he does _Brusco_ favors and has no clue about whom he is really helping.

Re: Arya's key, wasn't it mentioned at some point that she has a key to the House of Black and White, which she uses to return for those 3 days a month that she spends there?

It has been mentioned that FM were hired to kill Ser Harys Swyft, but I really don't see who would give up 2/3, or was it 3/4 of all their worldly possessions to get rid of him. He seems ineffectual and inoffensive and despite his current position as an ambassador, just isn't important enough.

Re: Tycho Nestoris - he has no way to inform the Iron Bank about his agreement with Stannis, does he? Ravens do not fly across the sea and thanks to Jon's "brilliant" planning, Tycho doesn't even have a ship to carry him back to Braavos. The same applies to Justin Massey. So, the IB might very well keep Harys in a holding pattern and not refuse him outright at this point.

Finally, Garin has been always called a "prince" and Nymeria a "queen". So, was he her consort? Her cousin? Did he force Nymeria to comply with his martial and ultimately nation-destructive course of action?

P.S:

Theories I subscribe to:

1) Tywin went to Lys to leave Tysha "wherever whores go".

By the time Tyrion was 13, Aerys was long dead and Tywin wasn't a Hand. Tyrion was around 6 when Tywin resigned as Hand.

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On the Rhoynar:



If I'm not completely wrong, then the Rhoynar were a union of city states, with a prince in charge of every single city. Thus Garin was de iure likely not the leader of all the Rhoynar, but nonetheless was backed by many, if not all, the Rhonynish cities when he started his campaign against the Valyrian Freehold.



We also know that the Martells styling themselves 'Princes' is a nod to their Rhoynish ancestors, further hinting that Nymeria only united what was left of the Rhoynar after Garin's defeat, and subsequently became their single prince/queen by default.



I'm not remembering right now, but didn't have Nymeria and Garin different cities on the Rhoyne? Wasn't that mentioned during Tyrion's chapters?



On the Faceless Men:



It has yet to be determined whether the House of Black and White connected to all levels of Braavosi society simply because 'All men must serve' (i.e. because the Faceless Men are a power in Braavos you don't oppose when they want something from you), or whether they infiltrate all levels of society by installing their own agents within in that society (by killing the original people, and wearing their faces).



But I don't think the Faceless Men Arya has met up to this point are more or less the full number of their society.



As to the Iron Bank:



I'm still inclined to believe that the House of Black and White is the major shareholder of the Iron Bank of Braavos, making it very unlikely that the Iron Bank would have to buy the service of the Faceless Men if a client refuses to fulfill his contract. The House of Black and White must obviously be very wealthy, but none of this wealth can be seen anywhere. The best way multiply the money would be to found a bank that always gets its due (and most likely will never go bankrupt). The Iron Bank has a much more sinister reputation than any other bank in the Free Cities, and its size cannot be the reason they always get their due. There must be another reason, the tendency that the clients who refuse to fulfill their contracts tend to die is very telling.


The modus operandi would be:



1. A guy stops to pay. Short period of negotiation/trying to reason with the guy.



2. If that fails, open negotiations with rival to original customer. Try to make deal with him, offer additional loans if debts of the original customer are met by him. At that point they are with Stannis right now.



3. Start deploying Faceless Men to take out the original customer and/or any major obstacle standing in the way of the new client. The sooner he gets what he wants, the lesser loans the Iron Bank would have to extend to him.


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Yes, that's what I was thinking about. The Mercy persona is inspired of people she knew in the innocent past (AGOT Sansa and/or Jayne) while she, Arya, is becoming a Monte Christo figure. Not an exact parallel, but when I read the name Mercedene, the association came spontaneously.

I like the connection between the names of the characters, and Arya's storyline is linked to the concept of revenge.

Do you think that Arya will devise an elaborate revenge plan like Monte Cristo did?

In the fog all cats are grey, Mercy thought. In the fog all men are killers.

- I wonder if anybody else got Jack The Ripper vibes from this? The foggy slums, the luring of the victim, the throat slitting... Arya/No-one is like an inversion.

To be honest, when I read that line, I was reminded of what Tyrion told Sansa on their wedding knight.

abed, when the candles are blown out, I am made no worse than other men.In the dark, I am the Knight of Flowers.

I guess that there isn't a strong connection, but I found the generalisation quite interesting.

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I find the Iron Keys very curious, though I have no certain ideas what they may be about. My initial thought when reading the chapter was something to do with slaves, but now I am more inclined to think toward the Iron Bank (Iron Keys->Iron Bank) Whether this means these people are Bankers/have some allegiance with the bank, I don't know. Arya having one in her pocket to perhaps switch with a real one might be something, though I always was thinking that the Iron Bank was very likely one of the most likely to be able to hire Faceless Men.

I am also wondering if the apparent link between the Sealord of Braavos and Daenerys/Viserys.. and whether the Sealord has a lot to do with the Iron Bank? Perhaps this could mean the Iron Bank itself desiring Daenerys on the Iron Throne? I don't know.

I think with regards to Arya, this Chapter does several things..
- It shows us Arya has learned a lot, with regards to acting and beng disguised/luring the victim.
- It shows us that she is still Arya and still has 'her list'

I think Arya will never truly become 'No One' but she has learned much from the FM and has gained many of their skills. I think also the Alchemist taking Pate's appearance in Oldtown shows us that FM can take the face of anyone they want and are not reliant on the gallery of faces in the HoBaW.. This means to me, if Arya leaves the FM she can still use this ability wherever she goes possibly.

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Danelle,

In the fog all men are killers

in the dark all men are beautiful

I don't think GRRM intended a connection, but it is interesting to put it side by side like that. It also reminds me of the proverb 'you are what you are in the dark' ie. when nobody is looking you show your true nature.

Sinister.

....................

Some more thoughts (once more with quotes)

Except in dreams. [...] There had been blood in it, though, and a full moon overhead, and a tree that watched her as she ran.
- this means that she hears her name in her dreams
- there is a moment when Jon is dreaming he is Ghost and 'Moon' is calling "Snow" until Jon wakes with Mormont's raven on his chest
- and another during his 'black armor, flaming sword' dream “I am the Lord of Winterfell,” Jon screamed. It was Robb before him now, his hair wet with melting snow. Longclaw took his head off. Then a gnarled hand seized Jon roughly by the shoulder. He whirled

... and woke with a raven pecking at his chest. “Snow,” the bird cried. Jon swatted at it. The raven shrieked its displeasure and flapped up to a bedpost to glare down balefully at him through the predawn gloom.

Which is proof that it can be Bran watching Nymeria and calling to her or to Arya, especially since when Summer-Bran took over Varamyr's pack he sensed the warg inside the wolf.

So, I gather we can take it to be 100% canon even if it isn't spelled out.

P.S. Isn't Brynden hella creepy?


As to the Iron Bank:

I'm still inclined to believe that the House of Black and White is the major shareholder of the Iron Bank of Braavos, making it very unlikely that the Iron Bank would have to buy the service of the Faceless Men if a client refuses to fulfill his contract. The House of Black and White must obviously be very wealthy, but none of this wealth can be seen anywhere. The best way multiply the money would be to found a bank that always gets its due (and most likely will never go bankrupt). The Iron Bank has a much more sinister reputation than any other bank in the Free Cities, and its size cannot be the reason they always get their due. There must be another reason, the tendency that the clients who refuse to fulfill their contracts tend to die is very telling.

The modus operandi would be:

1. A guy stops to pay. Short period of negotiation/trying to reason with the guy.

2. If that fails, open negotiations with rival to original customer. Try to make deal with him, offer additional loans if debts of the original customer are met by him. At that point they are with Stannis right now.

3. Start deploying Faceless Men to take out the original customer and/or any major obstacle standing in the way of the new client. The sooner he gets what he wants, the lesser loans the Iron Bank would have to extend to him.

Nice breakdown. Sounds plausible.

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Yes, that's what I was thinking about. The Mercy persona is inspired of people she knew in the innocent past (AGOT Sansa and/or Jayne) while she, Arya, is becoming a Monte Christo figure. Not an exact parallel, but when I read the name Mercedene, the association came spontaneously.

Oh, ok.

On Nymeria, her city was Ny Sar. It's located where the Mother (the Rhoyne) meets the Wild Daughter (Noyne). That made me think of Arya since she is the wild daughter in her family and Tyrion said that the Rhoyne was almost of width with the Trident where Arya and Nymeria the wolf were.

This new river that had joined them was a close twin to the one they had been sailing down, and that one alone had almost matched the Mander or the Trident. "This is Ny Sar, where the Mother gathers in her Wild Daughter, Noyne," said Yandry, "but she will not reach her widest point until she meets her other daughters. At Dagger Lake the Qhoyne comes rushing in, the Darkling Daughter, full of gold and amber....South of there the Mother meets Lhorulu, the Smiling Daughter from the Golden Fields. Where they join once stood Chroyane, the festival city, where the streets were made of water and the houses made of gold. "

Garin I don't think it's exactly said what his city was but I imagine it was Chroyane.

The Sorrows is a stretch of the Rhoyne from south of Dagger Lake to beyond the ruins of Chroyane.[1] It is full of fog and inhabited by stone men afflicted with greyscale.

The fog of the Sorrows is attributed to the fall of Chroyane and Garin's Curse upon the Valyrians.[2]

Chroyane was said to be the most beautiful and richest city on the Rhoyne. Tyrion said its riches tempted the dragons.

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I still think it's futile to lean too much on outside sources as references unless/until the author explicitly says that, "Yes, this outside reference is a source." Because if it's not meant to be read that way, dissecting outside sources as if they have any bearing on this story is basically useless. I've said as much before. There are specific mythological archetypes that can be used broadly. But using specific literature, whether it's Tolkien or White or whoever, always strikes me as probably a mistake to do too much.

D

Preach! I agree 100%

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The keyholders could be powerful officials within the Iron Bank. There are keepers of the keys or keyholders back in the mid-level management of the treasury of the Iron Throne (Tyrion mentions them when he thinks about the sway Littlefinger has over the treasury).



It is kind of strange that GRRM has as of yet not revealed who runs the Iron Bank. And that could indicate that we'll meet the management of the Iron Bank when Arya finally gets a mission outside of Braavos - to take out Stannis' rivals either in Westeros or Essos. 'I want to see a dragon' could indicate that they will send her after Dany. That could build up a lot of tension. No one wants Arya to kill Daenerys, and no one wants Arya to die in an attempt to kill Dany.



More importantly, I don't see the Kindly Man being kind enough to let Arya go back to Westeros. They know that she still hungers for personal revenge.



This could mean that Arya will have a lot of chapters in Braavos throughout TWoW, since I think the Iron Bank will only want to take out Dany after news of her survival/return to Meereen arrives in Braavos. And that should take quite some time... But by then the deal with Stannis and/or Shireen should be known in Braavos, too. A meeting between Shireen, Selyse, Ser Axell, Justin Massey, and Arya could be very interesting. And if they also tell her Jon Snow is dead, she would have no reason whatsoever to want to go to Westeros ever again...


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I'm still waiting for that quote where Syrio mentions he has a playwright brother in AGOT? :dunno:



Mirijam, I wondered about the Brusco's as well, and I think I came to the same conclusion - they are not the same person.



Also, the checking if someone replaced the dagger with a real one reminded me of Brandon Lee - Bruce Lee's son, who was killed by a replaced fake bullet with a real one on the set of a movie.


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I just re reda the chapter and a few things stuck out to me, Arya hears her real name in her dreams and she says a tree watches her in teh dream, could Bran be calling out to Nymeria ?



I do hope so.



I can't help thinking the line where Arya says that is a nice hand and the painter replies the thumb is crooked means something. I just have no idea what.



Key holders are politicains of some sort? Daena tells Arya a story about a former Keyholder (the father) who was so fat that when they called him to the hall of truth to take a vote his barge sank.



The Hall of truth sounds very much like a municipal building to me. and the Key holders are called there to vote. So I'd say it seems they are important in the actual running of the city. maybe its something like they hold the keys to the city. But instead of that being just some empty honour it means they are the decision makers. I need to re read about what the Sealords role is and if he has a kind of singular rule or is a figurehead of a more democratic type syste.



Arya covers her mouth when she giggles, I think BB is right and Arya is modelling Mercy on Jeyne Poole, Doesn't Jeyne cover her mouth when she sniggers at Sansa's teasing of Arya during the needle work class?



She says at the end this will cause trouble for the Sealord and Izembaro. But Harys Swyft was there to treat with the IB, is the IB intrinsically connected to the political leadership of Bravos? are the Sealord & The Keyholders the IB and the parliament all at once?



She dances around the room wehn her and Raff enter he is panting she dances around and lights a tallow candle. She picked up the razor blade she uses on her hair from next to the wash basin. I so want the blade she uses to finish him to be Needle but I think rather it is a stiletto knife. doesn't she carry one as Cat of the Canals too?


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Since we know he has things come full circle-Lommy/Raff Arya needs to go to Pentos and see Illyrio then she recall seeing him say if one Hand can die why not another.

The dragons were no larger than the scrawny cats once seen skulking along the walls of Magister Illyrio's estate in Pentos

"The blind girl understood Braavosi and could speak it passably, she had even lost most of her barbaric accent, but the kindly man was not content. He was insisting that she improve her High Valyrian and learn the tongues of Lys and Pentos too."

Other characters can go to Pentos for the Tattered Prince thing and she can hitch a ride. He also said learn Lyseni and there are other characters there or going there too but I'm not sure if there's time for her to go to both places.

I just re reda the chapter and a few things stuck out to me, Arya hears her real name in her dreams and she says a tree watches her in teh dream, could Bran be calling out to Nymeria ?

I do hope so.

Oooh, I hope so as well. We have twice now before where he calls out for Arya internally. When he thinks she's Lyanna and when he thinks she's Leaf. Maybe he's going to try and do it with his greenseer magic.

I also like the idea of Nymeria being her connection to Bran.

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It seems highly likely these Keyholders are Politicians and the keys are like related to their positions of office or whatever. I think it also seems very likely that the Iron Bank is related heavily to the Rulers of Braavos, like the Government Bank.

Perhaps Arya will have some influence on who it is becomes the next Sealord? It seems likely now that She will have the opportunity in the future to come into contact with other members of her list also.

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I've never been a big believer in the Tysha = Sailor's Wife theory, but if it is true, might there be some foreshadowing significance in Arya 'fixing the dwarf's cock'? If anyone were to reunite Tyrion with Tysha/Sailor's Wife, Arya is the most likely candidate I guess.


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