A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 16

It is time for another entry in the reread. Looks like it is another one chapter post today, but one is better than none, right? Today we follow Ned as he does some investigating around King's Landing.

Spoilers for all published Song of Ice and Fire material, so watch out.

EDDARD

Summary

The Commander of the City Watch, Janos Slynt, was addressing the king's council, complaining that so many new people had come to King's Landing for the tourney that his men couldn't keep the peace. After some discussion, Ned tells Slynt to hire more men, and tells Littlefinger to find the money to pay for it. Ned also offers some of his own men to aid the watch until the tourney was over. Ned once again despairs of the tourney, annoyed that everyone refers to it as the Hand's tourney. The rest of the council tells Ned that the tourney is good for the realm, it engages the smallfolk and puts coins in many pockets, including whorehouses. Lord Renly brought up the time his elder brother, Stannis, had attempted to outlaw brothels. The king had been incredulous. Ned did not laugh with the rest of the council, and wondered when Stannis would return and resume his seat on the council. Ned then decided he had enough for the day, and dismissed the council.

Once Ned returned to his apartments, he looked at the book that Grand Maester Pycelle had sent to him. It was entitled "The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, With Descriptions of Many High Lords and Noble Ladies and Their Children." Jory Cassel entered Ned's room, and told him about his discussion with Jon Arryn's former stableboy. Nothing was learned, and the boy was the last of Lord Arryn's retinue left in King's Landing. Ser Hugh, Lord Arryn's former squire, would not speak with Jory and would only talk to the Hand himself. The serving girl had said that Lord Arryn was reading more than was good for him.

The potboy, now cordwainer, had never exchanged so much as a word with Lord Jon, but he was full of oddments of kitchen gossip: the lord had been quarreling with the king, the lord only picked at his food, the lord was sending his boy to be fostered at Dragonstone, the lord had taken a great interest in the breeding of hunting hounds, the lord had visited a master armorer to commission a new suit of plate . . . . The king's own brother had gone with him to help choose the design, the potboy said. Not, not Lord Renly, the other one, Lord Stannis.

The boy said Lord Jon often went riding with Stannis. Ned thought this odd, as he remembered Lord Jon had been cordial, but never friendly, and Stannis had fled to Dragonstone when the king marched north. Ned asked where Lord Jon and Stannis went riding, and the boy had said to a brothel.

Ned donned his Stark clothing, and went to visit the armorer, and commanded Jory to find the brothel Lord Jon had visited with Stannis. As Ned and his men rode through King's Landing, a knight and his retinue entered the city in preparation for the Hand's tourney. It was Lord Beric, and his sigil was a night sky slashed with purple lightning. Once Ned reached the armorer, he questioned Tobho Mott, the proprietor, about Lord Jon's order. Mott confirmed that Jon and Stannis had called upon him, and admitted they had come to see "the boy." Ned then asked to see the boy himself.

Gendry was a lad about Robb's age, He had thick, shaggy hair, as black as ink, and was heavily muscled from long days working in the forge. Gendry showed Ned a helmet he had made, adorned with two bull horns. Ned was impressed with the workmanship. Ned asked what Stannis and the former Hand had talked to the boy about, and he said they asked general questions, including questions about his mother. He didn't remember her much, but he remembered she had yellow hair.

Ned asked Mott who had paid the boy's apprentice fee. Mott tried to give excuses, but finally he told Ned that it was a lord who gave no name and wore no sigil, but paid in gold and twice the customary rate. Ned asked Mott to describe him.

"He was stout, round of shoulder, not so tall as you. Brown beard, but there was a bit of red in it, I'll swear. He wore a rich cloak, that I do remember, heavy purple velvet worked with silver threads, but the hood shadowed his face . . . ."

 As Ned left the armorer, he wondered what Jon Arryn wanted with the king's bastard, and why it cost him his life.

My Thoughts

Ned actually learned a lot in his investigations, he just hadn't connected the dots yet. Jon was clearly on the track of the true lineage of Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen. He had the book, he had the history of dog breeding, and he had seen at least three of Robert's bastards. If Jon Arryn hadn't had the dots connected before he died, he had to have been just about there. And apparently Stannis was with him every step of the way. Stannis is such a huge character, I had forgotten how long it took for us to actually meet him. I don't think we seem him in this book at all actually.

We also get out first mention that Jon intended to have his son fostered at Dragonstone, not at Casterly Rock as the king had said. This will be repeated a few times, and we also had the knowledge that Lysa was very upset even before Jon Arryn died. Who knows, if Littlefinger hadn't pointed Ned's attention at the Lannisters, maybe Ned would have sussed out Lysa as the true killer. There are way too many "what ifs" in this series though, so I can't go crazy thinking about them.

So who was the incognito lord that paid for Gendry's apprenticeship? I don't recognize the description from anywhere. Varys is our resident master of disguise, but I'm not sure what his motivations for placing Gendry well would be. Unless Robert had just ordered him to do it.

I think that was it for this chapter, it was mostly just investigation and subtle clues at the larger picture (which won't come into focus really for two more books). There was one more passage I'm curious about that I didn't mention in the summary, but I'll quote here:

Ned was not sure what to make of Renly, with all his friendly ways and easy smiles. A few days past, he had taken Ned aside to show him an exquisite rose gold locket. Inside was a miniature painted in the vivid Myrish style, of a lovely young girl with doe's eyes and a cascade of soft brown hair. Renly had seemed anxious to know if the girl reminded him of anyone, and when Ned had no answer but a shrug, he had seemed disappointed. The maid was Loras Tyrell's sister Margaery, he'd confessed, but there were those who said she looked like Lyanna. "No," Ned had told him, bemused. Could it be that Lord Renly, who looked so like a young Robert, had conceived a passion for a girl he fancied to be a young Lyanna? That struck him as more than passing queer.

So what the hell was that passage all about? GRRM isn't the type to just have a toss-away passage that has no repercussions or applications elsewhere. That, and we know that Margaery isn't the Tyrell that Renly was interested in. So what was it? Was he carrying around a locket of Margaery because she looked like her brother? And if so, why ask Ned about it? Lyanna was known to be beautiful, but is she the standard by which all beauty is measured? Was Renly just sucking up to the Hand, and doing it poorly? Was Renly just overcompensating? To be honest, I haven't been able to come up with an explanation I like. If anyone has any idea what that scene was about, please let me know in the comments!

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And that's it for today. Next post, Catelyn makes a citizen's arrest that has no real serious repercussions at all.