Lords Above and Below the Mountain: Tywin Lannister and Jon Arryn as parallels and mirrors

[Lord of Oldstones]

Just now, SaffronLady said:

One does live IN a mountain (Tywin), and the other ON a mountain (JA).

So do every King/Lord Lannister and Arryn for three thousand years.

Many of western lords have castle a top mountain mine and have saftey shafts under it and many a Dornish marcher lords have mountain top keeps. 

[SaffronLady]

48 minutes ago, Lord of Oldstones said:

So do every King/Lord Lannister and Arryn for three thousand years.

Many of western lords have castle a top mountain mine and have saftey shafts under it and many a Dornish marcher lords have mountain top keeps. 

Well yes, but still these men are likely to parallel each other to some extent, at least more than other pairs of western lords and lords in the Vale.

[Tradecraft]

19 hours ago, SaffronLady said:

One does live IN a mountain (Tywin), and the other ON a mountain (JA).

@Craving Peaches mentioned their silver and gold imagery. Arryn is silver and Lannister is gold. 

 

 

 

[Springwatch]

Looks like Petyr is the heir to Arryn - I thought he had 'high' imagery, and there's loads!

'the effortless manner of a high lord', says Sansa.

'Petyr's so clever, he'll rise high, he will, he will', says Lysa.

'I knew he'd rise high', says Catelyn.

'Littlefinger's rise had been arrow-swift', says Tyrion.

 

[Alester Florent]

On 7/24/2023 at 3:36 PM, Tradecraft said:

I agree with you it's not 1:1. 

 

However, the parallels might shock you. 

-Ned and Theon both become "Lord of Winterfell" when a "Bran" and "Rick" are executed. 

-Ned and Theon both have a strong willed sister

-Ned and Theon both grew up in alien environments (Arryn is Andal, Stark is First men). 

-Ned and Theon both came home from being a ward bearing proposals for an alliance

-Ned and Theon both have a best friend Rob, whom they both went to war together. 

-Theon and Ned both rescue a "stark girl" from a tower (along side 7 people). 

 

 

Where we go from here is interesting. Questions abound. 

 

-Was Ned warmly received when he returned home? Theon wasn't. Theon was viewed with suspicion. Was Ned Treated the same way? Theon's sister tricked him into thinking she was someone else, testing his character. Was Ned tested by Lyanna?

This is interesting, but while the positions are the same, the moves are different.

- Theon kills "Bran and Rick" himself to usurp the title while Ned has no part in it, and assumes the title unwillingly.

- Ned and Lyanna have a close relationship; Theon and Asha have a rivalry. Ned risks life and limb to attempt to "save" Lyanna; Asha makes an attempt to save Theon from himself but abandons him when he doesn't listen.

- The alliance between Stark and Arryn is accepted wholeheartedly (the Starks seem to be the only STAB lords not to face internal dissent when they go to war, admittedly probably because the crimes against them are the most egregious); the alliance between Stark and Greyjoy is rejected and turned on its head.

- Theon betrays Robb; Ned is loyal to Robert to the end

- Ned's rescue is frontal and overt; Theon's is secret. Ned is (we surmise) "rescuing" Lyanna from a relationship she was happy in; Theon is rescuing Jeyne from an abusive one. Theon gets his "Stark girl" out alive, although she isn't real. Ned loses his in the attempt.

We also have their relationship with their ward-fathers, of course. Ned viewed Jon as a second father but with affection. Theon respects Ned but also resents him. Theon suffers an identity crisis, thinking of himself as part-Stark; Ned is happy in the Eyrie but is a Stark to the core. Ned goes to his grave effectively upholding Jon's legacy; Theon undoes Ned's legacy, and after his own "death" regrets this.

They are also quite different in character, of course. Ned is quiet, reserved, assured, equitable. Theon is brash, arrogant, blustering, arbitrary.

They are almost opposites.