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Justin Massey


Frey Kings

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Deliver what? The Golden Company? No. Some other bunch of sellswords? I don't think he will. I think the plot has been left there so that Stannis believes he has a force in the South when of course he doesn't. 

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Before going to Braavos, Justin Massey was told to stop off at Castle Black to drop off 'Arya.' This is probably when he finds out that Jon Snow is dead. He will then head off to Braavos, which just happens to be where the real Arya Stark is, and there is no way that is a coincidence. The real Arya will probably overhear that Jon is dead, and I think its safe to say that Jon Snow was her favourite family member, so this news is going to make her absolutely furious. She will probably hitch a ride back to Westeros with Massey to get revenge, and by the time they get back Jon will be alive again. 

Stannis told Massey to recruit sellswords with the money from the Iron Bank, but I don't know what sellswords are left to be honest. The Golden Company are already in Westeros with fAegon, and all the other named sellsword companies are either attacking or defending Meereen. This would be a really interesting opportunity to bring in the Company of the Rose. 

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There is not much in the North at the moment that will validate the time and effort Martin expended in developing Arya’s assassin skills. All the really juicy targets and opportunities are South of the Neck.

Having Roose or Ramsay be the sum total of payoff achieved for Arya’s Faceless Man journey will be a massive anti-climax. Especially as they are close to dead already. She needs to be saved for Cersei, the Freys, Littlefinger, Varys, Illyrio and the like.

Not all of the above, of course, but more than one on that list. And she can’t do that in the North right now.

Her journey has to go through the South first.

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3 hours ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

There is not much in the North at the moment that will validate the time and effort Martin expended in developing Arya’s assassin skills. All the really juicy targets and opportunities are South of the Neck.

Having Roose or Ramsay be the sum total of payoff achieved for Arya’s Faceless Man journey will be a massive anti-climax. Especially as they are close to dead already. She needs to be saved for Cersei, the Freys, Littlefinger, Varys, Illyrio and the like.

Not all of the above, of course, but more than one on that list. And she can’t do that in the North right now.

Her journey has to go through the South first.

I agree that her journey will lead to her killing one of the characters you listed. However, I can see it being Littlefinger in particular. Which means she doesn't have to go south to complete her arc, seeing as I believe Littlefinger will soon go North.

The Frey's downfall will come from a mix of the Brotherhood killing off a significant number of family members at Riverrun and a civil war between Black Walder and Edwyn after Old Walder's death. Cersei will be defeated by Dany and killed by the valonqar (IMO Jaime). I see Varys and Illyrio; if they die; meeting their ends at Dany's hands.

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I do see Jon's death playing into Arya's arc, but I see it going somewhere else. At the moment, Arya's still probably beside herself about if she's ready to give up her Stark identity and might balk about killing certain people for the faceless men. Bran and Rickon are dead to her, but she still has Jon. When she hears of his death, she could think, "Arya has nothing now," and be completely down for dedicating herself to the assassin's. As to who the target would be, I don't know.  My guess is that it could be someone in Slaver's Bay. Dany has a lot of rich enemies. 

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The 'prancing fool' has his own ambitions. Even though his best bet is pocketing Stannis' gold and remaining in Braavos, he can't really do that unless he was travelling all alone. 

What's most likely is that Justin, much like his ancestors during Aegon's Conquest, will betray the Storm King and side with the Dragon. With the recent developments in the Stormlands, and the very likely blundering defeat of Mace the Ace at the hands of JonCon, I imagine the Iron Bank will realise that the side they should be betting for isn't Stannis who is trudging through snow on his last leg, but the so far very successful son of Rhaegar (at least as far as they know) intent on marching on KL and taking the throne.

So, with some persuasion Justin will likely lead the newly acquired sellswords to retake Stonedance for himself and join up with Aegon. Now this scenario requires for the Iron Bank to either: Break the contract (unlikely), or for Stannis to be dead (or at least thought to be dead). Either way I don't see twenty thousand sellswords landing in the north and reinforcing Stannis, mostly because that's what was announced to happen.

Now that's all background warfare/political stuff, the real reason he is there is to progress Arya's plot and deliver her to Westeros, likely to King's Landing, likely to kill Cersei. 

(Off-topic rant: It's not gonna be Tyrion who kills her. It's not gonna be Jaime - to poorly repeat Roberts Rebellion word for word, except this time it's a Mad Queen instead of a King hurr durr. Arya is the valonqar, because god knows she desperately needs to do something in the story. If the Prince that was Promised can be female so can Valonqar.)

This was all a bit off-topic but to answer the OP: Yes he will deliver, more than was asked, and not to the right person.

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22 hours ago, Frey Kings said:

Do you think this ambitious young lad will deliver? 

 

4 hours ago, MostlyMoody said:

What's most likely is that Justin, much like his ancestors during Aegon's Conquest, will betray the Storm King and side with the Dragon. ...

So, with some persuasion Justin will likely lead the newly acquired sellswords to retake Stonedance for himself and join up with Aegon. 

...

This was all a bit off-topic but to answer the OP: Yes he will deliver, more than was asked, and not to the right person.

I agree that Massey will probably betray Stannis. My reason for thinking this is that Justin is a parallel to Theon, and Theon betrayed Robb Stark.

This has a lot of Winds detail, so I will use spoiler tags. 

Spoiler

 

Theon was known as a smiler, and Justin is referred to as "the smiler." There seems to be a juxtaposition of "smiler vs. slayer," incidentally, which makes me think that Theon and Sam Tarly will come into conflict at some point. Justin / smiler comes into conflict with a guy nicknamed Giantslayer (Godry Farring) and a guy named Richard Horpe, who likes killing. Farring's sidekick is Clayton Suggs, who enjoys torturing and sounds a lot like Ramsay or Rorge / Biter. 

When you look at Justin's concern for Asha, his sex life, the idea that he might marry Arya (Jon expresses this fear) and his possible desire to rule the Iron Islands (through marriage to Asha), the parallels to Theon are strengthened. And then there are quotes like this:

Justin: Oh, leave off, Godry. We all know what a big giant sword you have, I'm sure. No need for you to wave it in our faces yet again.
Godry: The only thing waving here is your tongue, Massey.

(Dance, Chap. 17, Jon IV)

That seems like a pretty clear parallel with Theon. 

But Theon seems to be on the upswing of a redemption arc, so there may be a twist in store for Justin, too. Maybe he will deliver for Shireen or somehow honor his commitment to House Baratheon. I have been wondering about Edric Storm lately, whose mother is a Florent. Justin is a Queen's Man, so he might see bending the knee to Edric as a way to honor both House Baratheon and House Florent. Justin may run into Andrew Estermont in Essos and decide to team up. 

 

 

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On 7/11/2018 at 6:42 AM, Makk said:

I think Arya would hear Jon was dead just as a rumour around the docks with or without Massey. I do agree that will bring her back to westeros though. 

I'm not sure about that. There are no ships in Eastwatch, currently, and I don't imagine they get much traffic. It could be a while before news  from the Wall get out. Winterfell itself will probably be inaccessible for some time.

The Manderlys could potentially shut traffic in White Harbor. They keep their newly built fleet hidden, they are looking for Rick on, they killed some Freya and they turned on the Bolton. They might want to keep news from spreading out until they are ready to make their move. 

For that matter Massey will have a very difficult time getting to Braavos at all. I think he will want to keep fArya with him. She is a better marriage prospect than Asha, to begin with and as the latter will be getting involved in a battle, a much surer bet. He will want to get to Braavos though to cash in.

I think Arya will dream about Jon's death, either on her own or through Bran. 

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32 minutes ago, Widow's Watch said:

I wonder when Justin was Robert's squire. I think that might be an important information and could be relevant for when he comes face to face with Arya. He might just recognize her and get clued in on Jeyne Poole being fake. 

 During AGOT, Lancel & Tyrek Lannister were Robert's two squires, not Justin Massey. Ser Justin will never have met the real Arya.

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1 hour ago, Giant Ice Spider said:

 During AGOT, Lancel & Tyrek Lannister were Robert's two squires, not Justin Massey. Ser Justin will never have met the real Arya.

I know that. But Justin Massey was Robert's squire at some point. Stannis told Jon in ADWD (Jon IV).

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"Horpe and Massey aspire to your father's seat. Massey wants the wildling princess too. He once served my brother Robert as squire and acquired his appetite for female flesh."  

Was it during the time he was engaged to Lyanna and at the tourney at Harrenhal? Was he at the Battle of the Bells or on the Trident as his squire? Or was it after he became king?

If Arya and Lyanna are supposed to look alike and he saw Lyanna, then he might recognize Arya just based on her looks and connect the dots to who she really is.

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3 minutes ago, Widow's Watch said:

I know that. But Justin Massey was Robert's squire at some point. Stannis told Jon in ADWD (Jon IV).

Was it during the time he was engaged to Lyanna and at the tourney at Harrenhal? Was he at the Battle of the Bells or on the Trident as his squire? Or was it after he became king?

If Arya and Lyanna are supposed to look alike and he saw Lyanna, then he might recognize Arya just based on her looks and connect the dots to who she really is.

This could just be headcanon but I'm pretty sure he's in his twenties, so it's a stretch for him to have fought in the Rebellion.

How does he know Arya and Lyanna look alike? We know that, but who would tell him? If someone did, would he remember?

I don't think he'll recognise her. If Roose Bolton, a northern lord, couldn't recognise her, why should a southern knight?

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Can you really blame Massey for changing sides?  I mean, he will know of the pink letter and he will hear of Stannis' defeat.  It takes a truly dedicated man to pin his hopes on a greyscale infected girl.  Taking sellswords across the oceans to avenge a fallen Stanis and then install his daughter, who has greyscale, on the throne is not a rational mission.  

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1 minute ago, Giant Ice Spider said:

This could just be headcanon but I'm pretty sure he's in his twenties, so it's a stretch for him to have fought in the Rebellion.

We don't know how old Justin is. His age is never mentioned. So yes, he could be somewhere in his twenties. We have Edric Dayne who was page at the age of seven, raised to squire at the age of ten, was at the battle of the Mummer's Ford and fought alongside Beric at the battle of the burning septry at the age of twelve.

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How does he know Arya and Lyanna look alike? We know that, but who would tell him? If someone did, would he remember?

It's all speculation on my end, that if he was Robert's squire before the rebellion that he might have seen her.

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I don't think he'll recognise her. If Roose Bolton, a northern lord, couldn't recognise her, why should a southern knight?

That always makes me wonder how much Arya is still looking like she did when she left the north.

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