A Thread for Small Questions XVII

[YoungGriff the Conqueror]

Is it ever confirmed who sent the assassin with the dagger to kill Bran after his fall? Or did I just miss it?

[Dragonfish]

Is it ever confirmed who sent the assassin with the dagger to kill Bran after his fall? Or did I just miss it?

Yes. It was Joffrey. Tyrion and Jaime both comes to that conclusion in ASOS, which I take as confirmation from GRRM, given that he stated the third book would resolve the question of the attempted assassination on Bran.

[Dragonfish]

Is there a link for this to see the context and date?

The SSM is from July 27, 2008:

Will we see Asshai?

Only in flasback and memory, if at all.

[Rune Targaryen]

The SSM is from July 27, 2008:

Thanks, I wouldnt find it.

[Gingerly Grumkin]

Is it ever confirmed who sent the assassin with the dagger to kill Bran after his fall? Or did I just miss it?

Yes. It was Joffrey. Tyrion and Jaime both comes to that conclusion in ASOS, which I take as confirmation from GRRM, given that he stated the third book would resolve the question of the attempted assassination on Bran.

I wouldn't say that's 100% conformation. Joffrey did look guilty, foolish, and mayhaps slightly embarrassed, but he always looks like that. Remember that Bran beat the hell out of Tommen in Winterfell. Tommen did say he doesn't want Bran to die, but all Lannisters are liars

[lojzelote]

Okay, I would like to ask about something what I´ve realized some time ago and it has troubled me since.

Shaggydog.

There are several explanations for Jon´s Ghost being an albino. What about Shaggy though? His colouring isn´t (for the lack of better words) "unnatural" or "anomalous" as Ghost´s is, but he´s still got black fur and green eyes, while his siblings (excluding Ghost) have grey fur and yellow eyes. He´s still different. I think it´s odd. Why not to give them all the same colouring?

Is there something what sets Rickon apart from Robb, Sansa, Arya and Bran?

Or am I reading too much into it?

[Valkyrja]

I'm not sure of the significance (if any) of Shaggydog's coat or eye-colour, but perhaps it just shows that Rickon may become quite a 'dark' character later on? Or maybe the green-eyes signify Shaggy and Rickon's 'wildness'......I've always thought that both of them will be difficult to 'tame' later on....

Or perhaps we are supposed to associate Shaggydog with a big black wolf like Fenrir from Norse Mythology, or a big black dog like the Black Shuck, the Barghest from folklore of the British Isles.

From what I understand, in real life, the colour black in wolves was not naturally occuring, but rather resulted from inter-breeding with wild dogs......however I could be mistaken, and obviously that might not be the case in GRRM's world.

[Dragonfish]

I wouldn't say that's 100% conformation. Joffrey did look guilty, foolish, and mayhaps slightly embarrassed, but he always looks like that. Remember that Bran beat the hell out of Tommen in Winterfell. Tommen did say he doesn't want Bran to die, but all Lannisters are liars

I don't know how to respond to this except by repeating what I wrote in the post you quoted: George said the third book would resolve the question of who sent the assassin after Bran. The only thing in the third book that qualifies as a "resolution" to the issue are Tyrion and Jaime's conclusions that it was Joffrey. What else could George have possibly been referring to?

[Gingerly Grumkin]

I don't know how to respond to this except by repeating what I wrote in the post you quoted: George said the third book would resolve the question of who sent the assassin after Bran. The only thing in the third book that qualifies as a "resolution" to the issue are Tyrion and Jaime's conclusions that it was Joffrey. What else could George have possibly been referring to?

For sure I was joking. However I did hear that GRRM said Essos is not a major theme in ASOIAF which is (for lack of a respectful word) wrong

[Lyonel B]

Why exactly did Lysa agree to lie about the Lannisters murdering Jon Arryn? The obvious answer is that Littlefinger's pimp hand was so strong she would do absolutely anything he asked. However I'm not sure I would be completely satisfied with that. Surely Lysa would have to at least question his motivation from provoking a conflict between the Lannisters and Starks?

[Howlin' Howland Reed]

Why exactly did Lysa agree to lie about the Lannisters murdering Jon Arryn? The obvious answer is that Littlefinger's pimp hand was so strong she would do absolutely anything he asked. However I'm not sure I would be completely satisfied with that. Surely Lysa would have to at least question his motivation from provoking a conflict between the Lannisters and Starks?

Your obvious answer is close enough, I'd say. Lysa seems to be all about three things.

• Lysa loved her Sweetrobin. She may not have thought the implications of blaming the Lannisters through, and liked the idea of the attention being turned elsewhere. (I also believe there's something about Sweetrobin being considered for becoming a ward of Tywin's, which should have fueled her anger towards the Lannisters, but I cannot remember any details --- might have been an idea on the forum?)
  
• Lysa loved Petyr Baelish. She may not have thought him capable of doing something to hurt her in the long run.
  
• Lysa was crazy.
  

ETA: Is the part about Robert Arryn becoming a ward mentioned during the scene where Lysa spills her guts to Sansa, and subsequently gets pushed out the moon door? Why can't I remember?

[GreenDream]

Your obvious answer is close enough, I'd say. Lysa seems to be all about three things.

• Lysa loved her Sweetrobin. She may not have thought the implications of blaming the Lannisters through, and liked the idea of the attention being turned elsewhere. (I also believe there's something about Sweetrobin being considered for becoming a ward of Tywin's, which should have fueled her anger towards the Lannisters, but I cannot remember any details --- might have been an idea on the forum?)
  
• Lysa loved Petyr Baelish. She may not have thought him capable of doing something to hurt her in the long run.
  
• Lysa was crazy.
  

ETA: Is the part about Robert Arryn becoming a ward mentioned during the scene where Lysa spills her guts to Sansa, and subsequently gets pushed out the moon door? Why can't I remember?

There were conflicting stories about WHERE Robert Arryn was supposed to be a ward. King Robert said it was Casterly Rock, that he had already ok'd it with Tywin. (Robert and Eddard had a discussion towards the beginning of aGoT about this) Later Eddard learns that Jon Arryn had arranged for Robert Arryn to be Stannis' ward.

[GreenDream]

Okay, I would like to ask about something what I´ve realized some time ago and it has troubled me since.

Shaggydog.

There are several explanations for Jon´s Ghost being an albino. What about Shaggy though? His colouring isn´t (for the lack of better words) "unnatural" or "anomalous" as Ghost´s is, but he´s still got black fur and green eyes, while his siblings (excluding Ghost) have grey fur and yellow eyes. He´s still different. I think it´s odd. Why not to give them all the same colouring?

Is there something what sets Rickon apart from Robb, Sansa, Arya and Bran?

Or am I reading too much into it?

I'm not sure of the significance (if any) of Shaggydog's coat or eye-colour, but perhaps it just shows that Rickon may become quite a 'dark' character later on? Or maybe the green-eyes signify Shaggy and Rickon's 'wildness'......I've always thought that both of them will be difficult to 'tame' later on....

I agree with this, that Shaggydog and Rickon are quite wild. The kid lost both his parents at 3 years old along with most of his household, and brothers and sisters. No one has raised him or helped him grow. It definately will be interesting when GRRM gets back to this character (I'm guessing in the Winds of Winter) I like to think that Osha showed quite a bit of wisdom when it came to many things, so hopefully she has helped Rickon/Shaggydog grow.

[bloodymime]

I'm not sure of the significance (if any) of Shaggydog's coat or eye-colour, but perhaps it just shows that Rickon may become quite a 'dark' character later on? Or maybe the green-eyes signify Shaggy and Rickon's 'wildness'......I've always thought that both of them will be difficult to 'tame' later on....

Or perhaps we are supposed to associate Shaggydog with a big black wolf like Fenrir from Norse Mythology, or a big black dog like the Black Shuck, the Barghest from folklore of the British Isles.

From what I understand, in real life, the colour black in wolves was not naturally occuring, but rather resulted from inter-breeding with wild dogs......however I could be mistaken, and obviously that might not be the case in GRRM's world.

I read that about black wolves as well but it's not something Martin would have known back when he first wrote GoT. That's a fairly new discovery of a couple of years? Around there.

[Valkyrja]

I read that about black wolves as well but it's not something Martin would have known back when he first wrote GoT. That's a fairly new discovery of a couple of years? Around there.

Yeah, I wasn't suggesting that he was trying to tell us that Shaggy was actually part dog or something, hehe. I just thought it was an interesting tidbit.

I do think that Shaggydog will probably be one of the most vicious of the Direwolves, and Rickon will be very wild.

[Rune Targaryen]

There were conflicting stories about WHERE Robert Arryn was supposed to be a ward. King Robert said it was Casterly Rock, that he had already ok'd it with Tywin. (Robert and Eddard had a discussion towards the beginning of aGoT about this) Later Eddard learns that Jon Arryn had arranged for Robert Arryn to be Stannis' ward.

They weren't conflicting. Jon Arryn arranged to Stannis foster Sweetrobin, that's how littlefinger convinced Lisa to kill him.

After Jon died Robert arrange with Tywin (Cersei was behind this) and lisa fled to keep her boy, probably following the advice of littefinger.

She was crazy enough to believe that she would protect her sister sending that letter.

[GreenDream]

They weren't conflicting. Jon Arryn arranged to Stannis foster Sweetrobin, that's how littlefinger convinced Lisa to kill him.

After Jon died Robert arrange with Tywin (Cersei was behind this) and lisa fled to keep her boy, probably following the advice of littefinger.

She was crazy enough to believe that she would protect her sister sending that letter.

I just meant that there were conflicting stories in the book about where Robert Arryn was supposed to have been warded. According to who Eddard and Catelyn asked, different people had different answers. The rest of your comment is the same thing that I said when you get to the bare bones of it: King Robert arranged for him to be a ward of Tywin at Casterly Rock, then later it is revealed that Jon Arryn himself had arranged for Robert Arryn to be Stanis' ward at Dragonstone.

[Lyonel B]

Another small question; why was Robert Baratheon so convinced that 40,000 Dothraki could not be beaten in open battle? Surely a royal army could field far superior numbers?

I understand that they feared the possibility that former Targaryen loyalists could defect, but aside from that it is specifically mentioned on a number of occasions that meeting the Dothraki in open battle was suicide. This doesn't really make sense to me, along with Robert's attitude towards the entire thing. Robert was sad, bored and idle, and it would be more in keeping with his character to relish a genuine challenge to his rule as opposed to fearing it.

[rmholt]

I'm not sure of the significance (if any) of Shaggydog's coat or eye-colour, but perhaps it just shows that Rickon may become quite a 'dark' character later on? Or maybe the green-eyes signify Shaggy and Rickon's 'wildness'......I've always thought that both of them will be difficult to 'tame' later on....

Or perhaps we are supposed to associate Shaggydog with a big black wolf like Fenrir from Norse Mythology, or a big black dog like the Black Shuck, the Barghest from folklore of the British Isles.

From what I understand, in real life, the colour black in wolves was not naturally occuring, but rather resulted from inter-breeding with wild dogs......however I could be mistaken, and obviously that might not be the case in GRRM's world.

Wolves lost black but recovered it breeding with domestic dogs. This is relatively new scientific discovery.

Rickon is angry and untamed like Shaggy.

[Rune Targaryen]

Another small question; why was Robert Baratheon so convinced that 40,000 Dothraki could not be beaten in open battle? Surely a royal army could field far superior numbers?

I understand that they feared the possibility that former Targaryen loyalists could defect, but aside from that it is specifically mentioned on a number of occasions that meeting the Dothraki in open battle was suicide. This doesn't really make sense to me, along with Robert's attitude towards the entire thing. Robert was sad, bored and idle, and it would be more in keeping with his character to relish a genuine challenge to his rule as opposed to fearing it.

Robert itself said that there are soome that still call him usurper, so it's not the 40000 screamers he fears, but the 40000 + the unhappy Lords.