Jump to content

Robert Arryn's death does not mean the end of House Arryn


Panos Targaryen

Recommended Posts

I've noticed that in many threads where people discuss Houses that are near extinction, they mention House Arryn, due to Robert's sickly health, and the fact that Littlefinger is probably poisoning him using dreamwine. However, didn't LF mention to Sansa that House Arryn has lesser branches in the Vale. If Robert died, then logically the head of oldest branch would become the new Lord of the Vale and the Eyrie, and begin the main Arryn line again. Are members of lesser branches of noble Houses included in its line of succession, or is LF really going to become Lord of the Eyrie? Since Daven Lannister became Warden of the West, I suppose a lesser Arryn cousin could become the new head of the main Arryn line, right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, Harrold Hardyng will be the new lord (and may take the Arryn name, as Petyr calling him 'The Young Falcon' implies). A dose of recent lordly blood, under whatever name, trumps cadet branches from centuries back.

For example, the Stewarts of Appin https://en.wikipedia...tewart_of_Appin are cousins of the Royal Stuarts from the 11th-12th century but were never in line to inherit Scotland (let alone England).

See also the proposed successors of Robb. Some Vale cousins of lordly Starks are considered, as is Jon Snow, but Harrion Karstark, or the Stark cadets in Barrowton, aren't.

EDIT: Denys is a very interesting exception. I get the impression everyone liked him so much he got a free pass and sort of became Jon Arryn's nominated/adopted heir, a bit like Harold Godwinson claimed Edward the Confessor had done for him.

oh and more importantly - I've just checked and he'd married a proper Arryn, he was heir in her right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, Harrold Hardyng will be the new lord (and may take the Arryn name, as Petyr calling him 'The Young Falcon' implies). A dose of recent lordly blood, under whatever name, trumps cadet branches from centuries back.

For example, the Stewarts of Appin https://en.wikipedia...tewart_of_Appin are cousins of the Royal Stuarts from the 11th-12th century but were never in line to inherit Scotland (let alone England).

See also the proposed successors of Robb. Some Vale cousins of lordly Starks are considered, as is Jon Snow, but Harrion Karstark, or the Stark cadets in Barrowton, aren't.

EDIT: Denys is a very interesting exception. I get the impression everyone liked him so much he got a free pass and sort of became Jon Arryn's nominated/adopted heir, a bit like Harold Godwinson claimed Edward the Confessor had done for him.

oh and more importantly - I've just checked and he'd married a proper Arryn, he was heir in her right.

But the Karstarks are a very old branch, and have grown distant from the Starks. What I'm talking about are recent cousins, like the Arryns of Gulltown. They're still called Arryns, so they're not as distant as the Karstarks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They are pretty distant, actually (more like the cadet Starks we've been told exist in Barrowton), and, besides, 'uncouth', because they married lowborn merchants!

A name isn't everything. Ser Denys's wife, for instance - Alys Arryn's daughter - wasn't herself called Arryn but had more blood and claim than he did. She had the blood and he had the 'magic name'. A perfect combination, but a doomed one...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read on Harry the Heir's Wiki that Jon Arryn had a brother and sister, but the brother died. The sister had a whole bunch of children but most of them were girls, and the one who was a boy died. Then one of the girls had a son, Harrold.

So basically Harry is heir because everyone further up the line of succession either died or weren't male (except young Robert of course, who we can assume is not long for this world). Seems there's a bit of Henry Tudor about this kid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Should Robert Arryn die then house Arryn would be extinct in the male line. Harrold Hardyng is descended from the female line of House Arryn. His mother being the youngest daughter of Alys Arryn (Jon Arryns sister).

This. To be honest I doubt Martin would let any of the large houses disappear completely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Arryns of Gulltown are so looked down for their merchant blood on that pretty much anyone, a Royce, a Templeton, whatever, would probably inherit before them.

Then again, it's a very interesting mark of Littlefinger as sign of the times that Lyonel Corbray is now to wed a merchant's daughter with half the Lords Declarant in attendance and no one putting up a fuss. Also, of course, that Anya Waynwood, to settle a few debts, is willing to let her crucially highborn ward marry an apparently bastard born girl.

The Alayne chapters in general are a masterly pastiche of late medieval Europe (Huizinga's 'The Waning of the Middle Ages', Richard II onwards in England), with the burgesses rising and the nobility falling.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...