Dywen Tribute - Badassery Included

[Mithras]

The idea of this thread comes from Ned Woods. He is an expert forester. Even the highest ranking officers pay him attention due to his knowledge of the Wolfswood.

“He’s not wrong,” grumbled Ned Woods, one of the scouts from Deepwood. Noseless Ned, he was called; frostbite had claimed the tip of his nose two winters past. Woods knew the wolfwood as well as any man alive. Even the king’s proudest lords had learned to listen when he spoke.

Dywen is as BADASS as Ned Woods when the lands beyond the Wall are concerned. So, I searched his words in the books and very interesting things showed up.

Jon held out a hand to pull Sam back to his feet. The rangers gathered round to offer smiles and congratulations, all but the gnarled old forester Dywen. “Best we be starting back, m’lord,” he said to Bowen Marsh. “Dark’s falling, and there’s something in the smell o’ the night that I mislike.”

And suddenly Ghost was back, stalking softly between two weirwoods. White fur and red eyes, Jon realized, disquieted. Like the trees...

The wolf had something in his jaws. Something black. “What’s he got there?” asked Bowen Marsh, frowning.

“To me, Ghost.” Jon knelt. “Bring it here.”

The direwolf trotted to him. Jon heard Samwell Tarly’s sharp intake of breath.

“Gods be good,” Dywen muttered. “That’s a hand.”

Dywen catches the cold smell of the wights in the air. We will see more of his excellent smell of cold.

Squatting beside the dead man he had named Jafer Flowers, Ser Jaremy grasped his head by the scalp. The hair came out between his fingers, brittle as straw. The knight cursed and shoved at the face with the heel of his hand. A great gash in the side of the corpse’s neck opened like a mouth, crusted with dried blood. Only a few ropes of pale tendon still attached the head to the neck. “This was done with an axe.”

“Aye,” muttered Dywen, the old forester. “Belike the axe that Othor carried, m’lord.”

Jon could feel his breakfast churning in his belly, but he pressed his lips together and made himself look at the second body. Othor had been a big ugly man, and he made a big ugly corpse. No axe was in evidence. Jon remembered Othor; he had been the one bellowing the bawdy song as the rangers rode out. His singing days were done. His flesh was blanched white as milk, everywhere but his hands. His hands were black like Jafer’s. Blossoms of hard cracked blood decorated the mortal wounds that covered him like a rash, breast and groin and throat. Yet his eyes were still open. They stared up at the sky, blue as sapphires.

...

Dywen, the gnarled old forester who liked to boast that he could smell snow coming on, sidled closer to the corpses and took a whiff. “Well, they’re no pansy flowers, but... m’lord has the truth of it. There’s no corpse stink.”

...

Dywen sucked at his wooden teeth. “Might be they didn’t die here. Might be someone brought ‘ern and left ‘ern for us. A warning, as like.” The old forester peered down suspiciously. “And might be I’m a fool, but I don’t know that Othor never had no blue eyes afore.”

Ser Jaremy looked startled. “Neither did Flowers,” he blurted, turning to stare at the dead man.

A silence fell over the wood. For a moment all they heard was Sam’s heavy breathing and the wet sound of Dywen sucking on his teeth. Jon squatted beside Ghost.

“Burn them” someone whispered. One of the rangers; Jon could not have said who. “Yes, burn them,” a second voice urged.

The Old Bear gave a stubborn shake of his head. “Not yet. I want Maester Aemon to have a look at them. We’ll bring them back to the Wall.”

Dywen identifies the wound on Jafer. He realizes the corpses are not rotting. And he correctly guesses that the rangers did not die there but carried (actually they walked themselves) there. No doubt that Jafer was killed first and rised as a wight. When he attacked Othor, he nearly chopped his head but that did not help as we know. The wounds on Othor’s body show that they are caused by the wight hands of Jafer. Another interesting thing is the bolded part that I never paid attention before. Who whispered to burn them? It sounds like it came out of nowhere. Remember the NW does not even know the existence of wights, let alone knowing how to kill them at the time being. Later Mormont’s raven also commanded Jon to burn the wight. Very curious.

“Thorne has the wight’s hand to show them.” A grisly pale thing with black fingers, it was, that twitched and stirred in its jar as if it were still alive.

“Would that we had another hand to send to Renly.”

“Dywen says you can find anything beyond the Wall.”

“Aye, Dywen says. And the last time he went ranging, he says he saw a bear fifteen feet tall.” Mormont snorted. “My sister is said to have taken a bear for her lover. I’d believe that before I’d believe one fifteen feet tall. Though in a world where dead come walking... ah, even so, a man must believe his eyes. I have seen the dead walk. I’ve not seen any giant bears.”

…

“Aye.” Alysane stared at Asha for a moment. “I have a son. He’s only two. My daughter’s nine.”

“You started young.”

“Too young. But better that than wait too late.”

A stab at me, Asha thought, but let it be. “You are wed.”

“No. My children were fathered by a bear.” Alysane smiled. Her teeth were crooked, but there was something ingratiating about that smile. “Mormont women are skinchangers. We turn into bears and find mates in the woods. Everyone knows.”

We know the existence of 15 ft. bears and the rest is mind blowing. Old Bear had no idea what the Mormont women were doing.

Ghost emerged from the undergrowth so suddenly that the garron shied and reared. The white wolf hunted well away from the line of march, but he was not having much better fortune than the foragers Smallwood sent out after game. The woods were as empty as the villages, Dywen had told him one night around the fire. “We’re a large party,” Jon had said. “The game’s probably been frightened away by all the noise we make on the march.”

“Frightened away by something, no doubt,” Dywen said.

The Great Ranging Party is passing through abandoned wildling villages and Dywen correctly guesses that the wildlings were frightened by something and ran.

So long as he [Craster] gives us a hot meal and a chance to dry our clothes, I’ll be happy. Dywen said Craster was a kinslayer, liar, raper, and craven, and hinted that he trafficked with slavers and demons. “And worse,” the old forester would add, clacking his wooden teeth. “There’s a cold smell to that one, there is.”

...

Sam looked dubious. “Dolorous Edd says Craster’s a terrible savage. He marries his daughters and obeys no laws but those he makes himself. And Dywen told Grenn he’s got black blood in his veins. His mother was a wildling woman who lay with a ranger, so he’s a bas-.” Suddenly he realized what he was about to say.

The Great Ranging Party is nearing Craster’s. We have seen enough to call Craster a kinslayer, liar, raper, craven and we know his traffic with the demons (Others of course). BUT WHAT IS HIS DEAL WITH THE SLAVERS? Craster is one of those people that I am not sure about him being 100% human. Dywen catches the cold smell in him. His mother was a wildling woman who lay with a ranger. Old Nan told stories about wildling women laying with Others and birthing hybrid creatures. I am just saying.

Dywen was holding forth, spoon in hand. “I know this wood as well as any man alive, and I tell you, I wouldn’t care to ride through it alone tonight. Can’t you smell it?”

“What is it you smell, Dywen?” asked Grenn.

The forester sucked on his spoon a moment. He had taken out his teeth. His face was leathery and wrinkled, his hands gnarled as old roots. “Seems to me like it smells... well... cold. “

“Your head’s as wooden as your teeth,” Hake told him. “There’s no smell to cold.”

There is, thought Jon, remembering the night in the Lord Commander’s chambers. It smells like death. Suddenly he was not hungry anymore. He gave his stew to Grenn, who looked in need of an extra supper to warm him against the night.

When they first came to the fist, there are tonnes of hints that there is a strong wight/Other presence nearby. Dywen catches the sense of it and for the first time Jon pays attention.

Dywen was holding forth at the cookfire as Chett got his heel of hardbread and a bowl of bean and bacon soup from Hake the cook. “The wood’s too silent,” the old forester was saying. “No frogs near that river, no owls in the dark. I never heard no deader wood than this.”

“Them teeth of yours sound pretty dead,” said Hake.

Dywen clacked his wooden teeth. “No wolves neither. There was, before, but no more. Where’d they go, you figure?”

This speech occurs not long before the wight attack to the fist. The forest is empty because of the incoming wight army. Dywen notices this as always.

“Why can’t I just be Samwell Tarly?” He sat down heavily on a wet log that Grenn had yet to split. “It was the dragonglass that slew it. Not me, the dragonglass.”

He had told them. He had told them all. Some of them didn’t believe him, he knew. Dirk had shown Sam his dirk and said, “I got iron, what do I want with glass?” Black Bernarr and the three Garths made it plain that they doubted his whole story, and Rolley of Sisterton came right out and said, “More like you stabbed some rustling bushes and it turned out to be Small Paul taking a shit, so you came up with a lie.”

But Dywen listened, and Dolorous Edd, and they made Sam and Grenn tell the Lord Commander.

Dywen is the among the few who believes Sam’s story of killing the White Walker.

“We can always hunt if need be,” Wick Whittlestick put in. “There’s still game in the woods.”

“And wildlings, and darker things,” said Marsh. “I would not send out hunters, my lord. I would not.”

No. You would close our gates forever and seal them up with stone and ice. Half of Castle Black agreed with the Lord Steward’s views, he knew. The other half heaped scorn on them. “Seal our gates and plant your fat black arses on the Wall, aye, and the free folk’ll come swarming o’er the Bridge o’ Skulls or through some gate you thought you’d sealed five hundred years ago,” the old forester Dywen had declared loudly over supper, two nights past. “We don’t have the men to watch a hundred leagues o’ Wall. Tormund Giantsbutt and the bloody Weeper knows it too. Ever see a duck frozen in a pond, with his feet in the ice? It works the same for crows.” Most rangers echoed Dywen, whilst the stewards and builders inclined toward Bowen Marsh.

Dywen opposes the idea of sealing the gates with many good reasons. The bolded part may be a foreshadowing sentence but I cant see what it means right now.

When he heard the order, Ser Alliser’s mouth twisted into a semblance of a smile, but his eyes

remained as cold and hard as flint. “So the bastard boy sends me out to die.”

“Die,” cried Mormont’s raven. “Die, die, die.”

You are not helping. Jon swatted the bird away. “The bastard boy is sending you out to range. To find our foes and kill them if need be. You are skilled with a blade. You were master-at-arms, here and at Eastwatch.”

Thorne touched the hilt of his longsword. “Aye. I have squandered a third of my life trying to teach the rudiments of swordplay to churls, muttonheads, and knaves. Small good that will do me in those woods.”

“Dywen will be with you, and another seasoned ranger.”

“We’ll learn you what you need t’ know, ser,” Dywen told Thorne, cackling. “Teach you how t’wipe your highborn arse with leaves, just like a proper ranger.”

Dywen is being just a massive BADASS here as usual.

[Valyrian Spoon]

Huh, for a background character he's pretty astute. Never really noticed Dywen before this.

[Mithras]

Among the likes of Dywen and Ned Woods, Gared should also be mentioned. He was also a great ranger. He even managed to run away from the Others.

Gandalf said that if you have a ranger in your party, you should well listen to him, especially if that ranger is Aragorn.

[The Witch King of Braavos]

Agreed, Dywen is a total badass

[Red Raven]

Huh, for a background character he's pretty astute. Never really noticed Dywen before this.

Neither did I. When the thread popped up my reaction was, "Who's Dywen?"

Thanks for bringing him to my attention, he's definitely one to watch.

[Mithras]

It is also very eye-catching that all the stubborn guys trolling with the ranger's warnings die without any exception.

[Mithras]

Melisandre said all the rangers that Jon sent to find Tormund would die. I hope Dywen's party returns and prove her wrong. Dywen is the leader of the party for the first time. He does not walk into a trap blindly.

[thegloriousedd]

Dywen = bad mother fucker

[sertravisredbeard]

I remembered Dywen because of his wooden teeth, and he's one of the guys that seemed to trust Jon from the beginning. He is pretty badass.

[Lord Spark of House Spark]

I'd never noticed him before either but he surely is a BAMF,

If he comes back at all though, he will be a lot colder than when he left, with far bluer eyes as well.

[Tyrus Martell]

I'm glad someone else is pointing out Dywen's bad-assery. I noticed his awesome tracking skills a lot more my second time reading the series, and I find it quite cool how GRRM has subtly made him one of the most loyal and useful rangers from AGOT to ADWD.

It actually makes him fairly important that he is one of the few characters in the show not blessed with the skills of a warg, a sightseer or a dead wight guardian who is able to accurately sense the 'cold' that comes with the Others and the Wights.

I also took his gradual development and Jon, Sam and Grenn's trusting relationship with him as a sign he would eventually begin to take more leadership among the remaining Night's Watch survivors, especially after the massacre that happens on the Fist of the First Men. My guess was correct when Jon sends him out in ADWD with Thorne.

He's also the only one who takes Sam seriously -- other than Dolorous Ed and Grenn -- when he tells them he killed an other with obsidian, and he isn't blinded by fear, lack of logic and most importantly, lack of faith like many of the other rangers.

I really do hope Dywen survives, as he hasn't returned to the Wall by the end of ADWD. Considering his senses are extremely good, I do think out of the two remaining scouting parties out there, his will make it back.

[Red Raven]

Stonesnake is the other NW BAMF I'd like to know what happened to. He just climbed up and disappeared, never to be seen again.

[Mithras]

Stonesnake is the other NW BAMF I'd like to know what happened to. He just climbed up and disappeared, never to be seen again.

Qhorin's gang was awesome. I hope he can make it to the CB. Although a lot of time passed in between.

[Bushido]

Melisandre said all the rangers that Jon sent to find Tormund would die. I hope Dywen's party returns and prove her wrong. Dywen is the leader of the party for the first time. He does not walk into a trap blindly.

The visions aren't wrong, she just chooses her own meanings to use in connection to the possible outcomes; the skulls she sees are pretty much straightforward; she saw the deaths of the Kings - and chose to manipulate the knowledge.

This particular moment is also interesting : if the rangers indeed die, everything she says in the future will be met with different ears. She uses the outcomes to build her reputation and power.

I think that the rangers, Hardome, the ships - all this will collapse on Jon's shoulders.

But I really hope Dywen is well. :)

[Lummel]

Hmm, actually it is in the text that the rangers as a group do know things that Jon and the non-rangers don't know. Qhorin and his group aren't phased by Jon's tales of mammoths and skinchangers, or that he has a wolf dream. All the rangers, Mormont tells, Jon, know that that Craster gives up his sons to the woods. Its not just Dywen. It is presumably one of the rangers who suggests burning the wight - again Qhorin's party at the pass don't question the need to dispose of the bodies of the wildlings in such a way that they can't come back.

Dywen's assessment on why the Wildling's left the villages isn't exactly spot on either - they were ordered to leave or persuaded to leave by The Mance who was gathering up the wildling peoples as we see to make an attempt on the Wall. Fear naturally is at the root of that, but it wasn't the immediate cause of their action.

Was Alysanne Mormont being serious with Asha Greyjoy or was she pulling her leg? I think given the general attitude to shapechangers south of the Wall I doubt she was being serious, I certain don't think that she intended that she be taken seriously. It's a kind of 'none of your business' answer to my mind. She's playing on the rumours current that this is what Mormont women do. We know from Bran that what he eats while in Summer's skin doesn't nourish Bran's body, so I doubt that the Mormont women can become personally pregnant if they have sex while skinchanged into she bears. The shebear will become pregnant not the Mormont. Although having said that Jorah is meant to be particularly hairy, I wonder if he sleeps through the winter too... ;)

ETA

Dywen has wooden teeth, so surely he must be the George Washington of Westeros!

[Victarion Chainbreaker]

I never realized this was all the same guy! Total badass. :pimp:

[Mithras]

Hmm, actually it is in the text that the rangers as a group do know things that Jon and the non-rangers don't know. Qhorin and his group aren't phased by Jon's tales of mammoths and skinchangers, or that he has a wolf dream. All the rangers, Mormont tells, Jon, know that that Craster gives up his sons to the woods. Its not just Dywen. It is presumably one of the rangers who suggests burning the wight - again Qhorin's party at the pass don't question the need to dispose of the bodies of the wildlings in such a way that they can't come back.

Dywen's assessment on why the Wildling's left the villages isn't exactly spot on either - they were ordered to leave or persuaded to leave by The Mance who was gathering up the wildling peoples as we see to make an attempt on the Wall. Fear naturally is at the root of that, but it wasn't the immediate cause of their action.

Was Alysanne Mormont being serious with Asha Greyjoy or was she pulling her leg? I think given the general attitude to shapechangers south of the Wall I doubt she was being serious, I certain don't think that she intended that she be taken seriously. It's a kind of 'none of your business' answer to my mind. She's playing on the rumours current that this is what Mormont women do. We know from Bran that what he eats while in Summer's skin doesn't nourish Bran's body, so I doubt that the Mormont women can become personally pregnant if they have sex while skinchanged into she bears. The shebear will become pregnant not the Mormont. Although having said that Jorah is meant to be particularly hairy, I wonder if he sleeps through the winter too... ;)

ETA

Dywen has wooden teeth, so surely he must be the George Washington of Westeros!

I agree that Dywen does not know the full meaning of what he said or what he saw. He said the wildlings are frightened by something. Probably Dywen has no idea what it is bu we know what that is. I think GRRM is using Dywen to reveal some truths. Being GRRM's voice is his main function in the series. He is typically a crazy old man telling what is really going on but the stubborn characters do not believe him. That is why whenever Dywen is mentioned, I look for which character stubbornly objects him because the truth seemingly always turns out to be what Dywen said, although Dywen may not know the truth completely.

[Iona]

Melisandre said all the rangers that Jon sent to find Tormund would die. I hope Dywen's party returns and prove her wrong. Dywen is the leader of the party for the first time. He does not walk into a trap blindly.

Aww, you do realize that you just elevated this truly badass dude in the eyes of everyone who hadn't really noticed him before and then went on and pulled the rug from under our feet by reminding us of Melisandre! Now all we can do is hope she's wrong... :D

[Mithras]

The elk stopped suddenly, and the ranger vaulted lightly from his back to land in knee-deep snow. Summer growled at him, his fur bristling. The direwolf did not like the way that Coldhands smelled. Dead meat, dry blood, a faint whiff of rot. And cold. Cold over all.

Dywen's sense of smell is great but not comparable to a direwolf for sure. It is interesting that Summer smells a faint whiff of rot. Does that mean although the weather is deep freeze, the wights rot slowly.

[Red Raven]

Melisandre said all the rangers that Jon sent to find Tormund would die. I hope Dywen's party returns and prove her wrong. Dywen is the leader of the party for the first time. He does not walk into a trap blindly.

Mel had an opinion about onions that Sam subverted quite nicely. May Dywen be the next onion to prove her wrong.