Iron Shell part 3/4. How to get away with murder (Braavosi style)

[Megorova]

The key-clue

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“His Grace is protected day and night by the Kingsguard.”

“Knights, yes. Such as the man who waits for you outside. If indeed he is still waiting. What would you say if I were to tell you that Ser Gyles is already dead?” - F&B.

What the Sealord said to Septon Barth about Gyles Morrigen, was neither a joke nor a red herring; instead thru him GRRM has given to the readers a key piece of information - the real meaning of what the Sealord said is that the Faceless Men had infiltrated Targaryen court and had an unrestricted access to the King and his family. 

As I already wrote in the previous part of the “Iron Shell” - “the dragons/dragonlords ALWAYS were a potential threat to the rest of the world. Thus it makes sense that not only that Sealord, but also his predecessors, took certain steps to counter that potential threat.” In other words - Gyles Morrigen wasn’t the first nor the last member of the Kingsguard who was a Faceless Man.

After discovering that key-clue, that was concealed by GRRM in F&B, I have re-read the information about the Kingsguards (in TWOIAF, F&B, Dunk & Egg novels, and ASOIAF-books), and then I came to conclusion that there was at least one Faceless Man in every set of the Kingsguards, starting from the very first. I will post a complete list of the potential suspects and their victims in the next thread, though for now let’s get back to Ser Gyles.

Going through those chapters that predated Barth’s visit to Braavos (in 57 AC), I came to conclusion that the real Gyles Morrigen was killed and replaced by a Faceless Man as far back as in 51 AC, or maybe even earlier. Then, by reading about all of Gyles’ deeds and activities, I figured out who else amongst his sworn brothers were also the Faceless Men. Additionally I discovered what methods they were using to remove those Targaryens that they had considered as excessive or unwanted.

Two kinds of the fake Kingsguards

Based on all the information that I have read, it appears that amongst those Kingsguards that simultaneously were also the Faceless Men, there were two different kinds.

The first kind is an imposter or a mimic - the Faceless Man who killed the original Kingsguard, then wore on that guy’s face as a mask and took his place in the Kingsguard. Examples: Gyles Morrigen, Owen Bush, Raymund Mallery.

The second kind is a double agent or a mole - those people that for their personal or family reasons joined the Faceless Men Guild, and then were given an assignment to join the Kingsguard. When they had joined the Guild, they pledged their life to the Many-Faced God, so when afterwards they had also gave an oath to the King, to serve to him and to protect him with their lives, their Kingsguard-vows were void. So even though they weren’t wearing any masks or using someone else’s identities, while they were serving in the Kingsguard, they also were a fake Kingsguards. Examples: Ryam Redwyne, maybe Criston Cole (not sure about him), Gerold Hightower.

Magician’s disappearing act

Without explanation, just quotes from F&B. To figure out what they mean, use your own head, though I’ll give you one hint - those Faceless Men weren’t using theirs.

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Not long after the completion of the castle, Queen Ceryse was stricken with a sudden illness and passed away. A rumor went around the court that Her Grace had given offense to the king with a shrewish remark, so he had commanded Ser Owen to remove her tongue. As the tale went, the queen had struggled, Ser Owen’s knife had slipped, and the queen’s throat had been slit. ...

Two of his Kingsguard vanished one night, to go over to Jaehaerys, and Ser Owen Bush was found dead outside a brothel, his member stuffed into his mouth. ...

Five of Maegor’s Seven yet survived. Two of those, Ser Olyver Bracken and Ser Raymund Mallery, had played a part in the late king’s fall by turning their cloaks and going over to Jaehaerys, but the boy king observed rightly that in doing so they had broken their vows to defend the king’s life with their own. “I will have no oathbreakers at my court,” he proclaimed. All five Kingsguard were therefore sentenced to death…but at the urging of Princess Alysanne, it was agreed that they might be spared if they would exchange their white cloaks for black by joining the Night’s Watch. Four of the five accepted this clemency and departed for the Wall; along with Ser Olyver and Ser Raymund, the turncloaks, went Ser Jon Tollett and Ser Symond Crayne. ...

As for Ser Raymund Mallery and the other deserters, the wildlings gave them a cold welcome. Rebels or no, the free folk had no use for crows. Ser Raymund’s head was delivered to Eastwatch half a year later. When asked what had befallen the rest of his men, the wildling chieftan laughed and said, “We ate them.”

Their usual methods

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The Iron Bank will have its due, it is said. Those who borrow from the Braavosi and fail to repay their debts oft have cause to rue such folly, for the Bank has been known to topple lords and princes and has also been rumored to send assassins against those it cannot remove (though this has never been conclusively proved). - TWOIAF, Braavos.

Why wasn’t it ever proved? Because majority of the FM’s targets usually died from what was made to look like an accident or a result of a disease. Thus, in case when offing one of the Targaryens, majority of the FM’s conventional methods of assassination were unusable. Targaryens were (and still are) immune to all diseases, thus it would have been not possible to pose their deaths as a result of a disease.

That’s why the Faceless Men used trickery and mind games, and made Targaryens to question their very nature and the properties of their dragon-blood. They were tricked into believing that they are not as special as they have thought before.

The difference between opinions and facts

This is an opinion:

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those of Valyrian descent were not like other men. Targaryens had purple eyes and hair of gold and silver, they ruled the sky on dragons, the doctrines of the Faith and the prohibitions against incest did not apply to them

And these are facts:

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they did not get sick.

Since Aenar the Exile first staked his claim to Dragonstone, that had been known. Targaryens did not die of pox or the bloody flux, they were not afflicted with redspots or brownleg or the shaking sickness, they would not succumb to wormbone or clotted lung or sourgut or any of the myriad pestilences and contagions that the gods, for reasons of their own, see fit to loose on mortal men and women.

In the span of 174 years, since 114 BC and until 60 AC, none of the Targaryens, Velaryons, or their dragonseed-relatives ever got sick or died from a disease. That is the truth. The meaning behind those facts is that Valyrians are immune to all bacterial and infectious diseases.

And as long as that remained as a well known and undisputable fact, the Faceless Men were unable to freely kill dragonseeds while using their regular methods. Thus they had to create a precedent that would have shattered Targaryens’ belief in their exceptionalism.

Setting a precedent

During the incident at Dragonstone, Rego Draz had figured out that Princess Rhaena’s ladies-in-waiting haven’t died from some mysterious disease that supposedly affected only women. He was the one who had enlightened Targaryens that those women were poisoned.

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Reading over Maester Anselm’s accounts, Lord Rego furrowed his brow and said, “Sickness? This is no sickness. A weasel in the guts, dead in a day…this is the tears of Lys.”

“Poison?” King Jaehaerys said in shock.

“We know more of such things in the Free Cities,” Draz assured him. - F&B.

At that time the Faceless Men were planning to do something big, to solve their dilemma concerning the Targaryens. So they didn’t needed Rego, with his knowledge of how certain things are done in the Free Cities, to butt into their business. Thus Rego had to die.

Rego’s mobbing was orchestrated by the Faceless Men, and afterwards one of them, in the guise of a barefoot girl, got a place at the Red Keep’s kitchens.

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Then she told Her Grace that she wanted to work in the kitchens. “That’s where they keeps the bread.” ...

Atop Aegon’s High Hill, King Jaehaerys ordered the gates of the Red Keep closed and barred, and doubled the watch on the castle walls. He and his queen and their children attended sunset services at the castle sept, repaired to Maegor’s Holdfast for a modest meal, and then retired to bed.

Bread is usually served with every meal, even with the most modest one. Thus that’s what the Barefoot Girl had poisoned. And then Gyles Morrigen, who was present with the Targaryens during their celebratory supper, made sure that the poisoned bread ended up on the correct platter - the one that was served to Princess Daenerys.

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It was the hour of the owl when Queen Alysanne was awoken by her daughter shaking her gently by the arm. “Mother,” Princess Daenerys said, “I’m cold.” ...

A day and a half after she had woken her mother from sleep complaining of feeling cold, the little princess was dead. ...

“How could this happen?” he demanded. “What sin did she commit? Why would the gods take her? How could this happen?” - F&B.

For this mission the Faceless Men had specifically chosen little Daenerys as their target, because she was her parents’ favorite, so her death would have hit them the hardest.

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The king and queen were not the only parents to lose a child to the Shivers; thousands of others, highborn and low, knew the same pain that winter. For Jaehaerys and Alysanne, however, the death of their beloved daughter must have seemed especially cruel, for it struck at the very heart of the Doctrine of Exceptionalism. Princess Daenerys had been Targaryen on both sides, with the blood of Old Valyria running pure through her veins, and those of Valyrian descent were not like other men.

Mission accomplished.

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It was unthinkable that a pureborn princess should die shivering, as if she were some common child.

And yet she had.

No, actually she hadn’t died from the Shivers, she wasn’t even sick. Instead she was poisoned with something that caused symptoms very similar to those that were common for the Shivers.

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Even as they mourned for her and the sweet soul she had been, Jaehaerys and Alysanne must also have been confronting that awful realization. Mayhaps the Targaryens were not so close to gods as they had believed. Mayhaps, in the end, they too were only men.

And that’s how it was done. It was a masterfully executed and convincing performance. And from then on the Faceless Men were free to use whatever methods they wanted to kill Targaryens left and right.

Iron Shell Part 3/4. The End.

Iron Shell part 4/4. The tolls of the House of Black and White

[Megorova]

Joffrey Baratheon was afflicted with the "Targaryen madness". Which shouldn't have been possible. Considering that he wasn't even a dragonseed.

My solution to that contradiction is this:

On 9/25/2021 at 4:41 PM, Megorova said:

Targaryen madness is a myth created by the Faceless Men

...

the Faceless Men were systematically poisoning certain Targaryens with basilisk’s blood and other psychotropic substances.

The Faceless Men, stationed at the Baratheon court, didn't knew that Joffrey wasn't Robert's son. And thus one of them - a Kingsguard Mandon Moore (or some other KG who also was an FM), was occasionally adding basilisk blood into Joffrey's food or drink.

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"Sweetsleep is the gentlest of poisons," the waif told her, as she was grinding some with a mortar and pestle. "A few grains will slow a pounding heart and stop a hand from shaking, and make a man feel calm and strong. A pinch will grant a night of deep and dreamless sleep. Three pinches will produce that sleep that does not end. The taste is very sweet, so it is best used in cakes and pies and honeyed wines. Here, you can smell the sweetness." She let her have a whiff, then sent her up the ladders to find a red glass bottle. "This is a crueler poison, but tasteless and odorless, hence easier to hide. The tears of Lys, men call it. Dissolved in wine or water, it eats at a man's bowels and belly, and kills as a sickness of those parts. Smell." Arya sniffed, and smelled nothing. The waif put the tears to one side and opened a fat stone jar. "This paste is spiced with basilisk blood. It will give cooked flesh a savory smell, but if eaten it produces violent madness, in beasts as well as men. A mouse will attack a lion after a taste of basilisk blood."

Arya chewed her lip. "Would it work on dogs?"

"On any animal with warm blood." The waif slapped her. - AFFC, Cat of the Canals.

~

Hurriedly, Arya ran down the twisting steps, her chores forgotten. She heard the rattle of chains as the portcullis was slowly lowered, its spikes sinking deep into the ground . . . and then another sound, a shriek of pain and fear.

A dozen people got there before her, though none was coming any too close. Arya squirmed between them. Weese was sprawled across the cobbles, his throat a red ruin, eyes gaping sightlessly up at a bank of grey cloud. His ugly spotted dog stood on his chest, lapping at the blood pulsing from his neck, and every so often ripping a mouthful of flesh out of the dead man's face.

Finally someone brought a crossbow and shot the spotted dog dead while she was worrying at one of Weese's ears. - ACOK, Arya VIII.

And where at King's Landing Mandon Moore could have taken that substance from, is this:

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The maester's medicines made an impressive display; dozens of pots sealed with wax, hundreds of stoppered vials, as many milkglass bottles, countless jars of dried herbs, each container neatly labeled in Pycelle's precise hand. An orderly mind, Tyrion reflected, and indeed, once you puzzled out the arrangement, it was easy to see that every potion had its place. And such interesting things. He noted sweetsleep and nightshade, milk of the poppy, the tears of Lys, powdered greycap, wolfsbane and demon's dance, basilisk venom, blindeye, widow's blood . . .

Standing on his toes and straining upward, he managed to pull a small dusty bottle off the high shelf. When he read the label, he smiled and slipped it up his sleeve. - ACOK, Tyrion IV.

Anyone out of the castle's courtiers, servants, guards, maids, or those people that were allowed entry into the Red Keep (for example - the suppliers that provided the court with wine, groceries and other goods), would have been able to get into the maester's chambers and to "borrow" certain medicines from Pycelle's private stores, without him even noticing that something is amiss.

Like Tyrion did.

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Then they brought forth Grand Maester Pycelle, leaning heavily on a twisted cane and shaking as he walked, a few white hairs sprouting from his long chicken's neck. He had grown too frail to stand, so the judges permitted a chair to be brought in for him, and a table as well. On the table were laid a number of small jars. Pycelle was pleased to put a name to each.

"Greycap," he said in a quavery voice, "from the toadstool. Nightshade, sweetsleep, demon's dance. This is blindeye. Widow's blood, this one is called, for the color. A cruel potion. It shuts down a man's bladder and bowels, until he drowns in his own poisons. This wolfsbane, here basilisk venom, and this one the tears of Lys. Yes. I know them all. The Imp Tyrion Lannister stole them from my chambers, when he had me falsely imprisoned." - ASOS, Tyrion IX.

Though Tyrion took only one bottle, and whatever was in it, made him smile.

All those labels, that were noted by Tyrion in ACOK, were also listed by Pycelle in ASOS (minus the milk of the poppy) - sweetsleep, nightshade, the tears of Lys, greycap, wolfsbane, demon's dance, basilisk venom, blindeye, widow's blood. Though it wasn't revealed what label was on the small dusty bottle that Tyrion took, thus whatever he took, isn't on that list (and it's not the milk of the poppy, because its label was noted by Tyrion in ACOK). 

So it appears that Pycelle didn't mentioned whatever was in that other missing bottle, that was actually taken by Tyrion, because it was something... maybe some sort of potency medicine that Pycelle was using for his own needs.

Now the question is - those 9 bottles, that were presented as the evidences on Tyrion's trial, were they:

1. really found in Tyrion's room, to which they were earlier placed either by one of Tywin's people (if Tywin wanted to set up Tyrion more thoroughly), or by a Faceless Man, who also wanted to set him up?

2. just noted by Pycelle, as the substances that were missing from his stores? Though none of the bottles with those substances were actually found in Tyrion's room.

In this second case, it means that someone did took those substances, and it was done not just for the sake of setting up Tyrion. Instead that someone is going to use them later. Basilisk's blood was already used by the Faceless Men on Joffrey. So for what purposes, and on whom, are they (the FM) going to use the other 8 - sweetsleep, nightshade, the tears of Lys, greycap, wolfsbane, demon's dance, blindeye, widow's blood?

And back to Mandon - for his failure in providing the Sealord of Braavos with the information concerning the private affairs of the royal couple, and for not knowing that Queen Cersei's children actually were a non-dragonseed bastards of Jaime Lannister, he was denoted from his post at the Red Keep, and instead was reassigned to some backwater location, to continue from there his service to the Many-Faced God.

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There on the deck of the next ship, across a widening gulf of black water, stood Ser Mandon Moore, a hand extended.

...

And suddenly he lurched to the left, staggering into the rail. Wood split, and Ser Mandon Moore vanished with a shout and a splash. An instant later, the hulls came slamming together again, so hard the deck seemed to jump. Then someone was kneeling over him. "Jaime?" he croaked, almost choking on the blood that filled his mouth. Who else would save him, if not his brother?

"Be still, my lord, you're hurt bad." A boy's voice, that makes no sense, thought Tyrion. It sounded almost like Pod. - ACOK, Tyrion XIV.

So, is Podrick Payne actually a representative of the Iron Bank's HR-department?

Just kidding.