A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 20

What's that? Only three more days until Game of Thrones debuts on HBO?? Man, well it looks like we'll have to do 14 chapters a day in order to finish this reread in time. Get ready for the longest post in history!

Okay, that was a lie. Still going to stick to one or two posts a day (well, most days). I'm only human! Who else is only human? Tyrion the Imp! And with that god-awful segue, let's get on to the reread.

If you missed the post yesterday, please check it out, and tell me any theories or predictions you have for the rest of the series. As always, spoilers for all published Song of Ice and Fire works, up through Feast for Crows.

TYRION

Summary

Tyrion watched as Chiggen butchered his horse, thinking this is another debt he owes the Starks. Bronn and Chiggen continued cutting up the horse, and Tyrion reminisced how Jaime had given him that horse for his twenty-third name day.
Tyrion thought over the events that led to his capture, how he was about to order dinner, and was suddenly facing a crowd of men with swords drawn. Tyrion was taken aback how quickly the common room had turned against him, and agreed to go with Catelyn to face her charges. Lady Catelyn announced loudly that she meant to take Tyrion to Winterfell. Tyrion saw that out of the fifty or so in the common room, only a dozen had risen to help Catelyn, and in this he was opportunity. He said loudly that his father would pay handsomely anyone who told him what had happened. Tyrion was thinking how clever he was, and how he would be rescued before they ever reached Winterfell, when a hood was thrown over his head. They rode hard, and Tyrion cursed the damned singer that had spoken up in the first place. Eventually the hood was removed from his head, and Tyrion saw they were heading east, not north. He confronted Catelyn, saying she said they were going to Winterfell.

Catelyn Stark favored him with the faintest of smiles. "Often and loudly," she agreed. "No doubt your friends will ride that way when they come after us. I wish them good speed."

Even now, long days later, the memory filled him with a bitter rage. All his life Tyrion had prided himself on his cunning, the only gift the gods had seen fit to give him, and yet this seven-times-damned she-wolf Catelyn Stark had outwitted him at every turn. The knowledge was more galling than the bare fact of his abduction.

After they went further they stopped coving Tyrion with a hood, and after another day they no longer bound his hands, and shortly later they didn't really guard him at all. They were in the heights and there was nowhere for him to run. Where they were the road was little more than a stony track, and the mountains were full of shadowcats and clans that bowed to no law but the sword.

They moved at a fast pace, and Lady Catelyn would not consent to slow down, fearful of Lannisters catching up. She wanted to reach the Eyrie and her sister, Lysa Stark. Tyrion, during this time made very sure to learn the names of everyone in the party, so he could repay them for what has happened, especially the singer Marillion.

Throughout the journey, Tyrion maintained his position that he had nothing to do with the attack on Bran. Catelyn pointed out that the assassin was armed with Tyrion's own dagger. Tyrion counters that it was not his dagger, and only a fool would arm a footpad with his own blade anyway. Catelyn thought about this, and wondered quietly why Petyr would lie to her.

"Why does a bear shit in the woods?" he demanded. "Because it is his nature. Lying comes as easily as breathing to a man like Littlefinger. You out to know that, you of all people."

She took a step toward him, her face tight. "And what does that mean, Lannister?"

Tyrion cocked his head. "Why, every man at court has heard him tell how he took your maidenhead, my lady."

Catelyn looked at Tyrion with coldness on her face, and told Tyrion that Petyr Baelish had loved her, and although it was a tragedy, it was pure and not something to mock. Petyr had wanted her hand. Tyrion quips back that it isn't her hand that Littlefinger talks about. Kurleket, one of the men that came with Catelyn, grabbed Tyrion and threatened to cut his throat. Tyrion asks Catelyn how Littlefinger claims Tyrion came by the dagger. She tells him that Tyrion won the dagger from Littlefinger wagering on the tourney on Prince Joffrey's name day. Tyrion asks if the story is that he won the dagger when Ser Loras defeated his brother Jaime in the joust. Catelyn admits this is the story, troubled by it.

"Riders," someone shouted. Tyrion knew they would need every sword to defend against the clans, and urged Catelyn to arm him and his men. Catelyn agreed and Tyrion, his guard, and his manservant were all given weapons. Ser Rodrik gave Jyck a sword, and Bronn rode up to give Tyrion a double-bladed axe. Bronn rode away to join Chiggen and Ser Rodrik. Tyrion looked around and saw Marillion hiding, and ran over to join the singer. The battle was joined, and a man on a horse rode up ready to attack Tyrion and Marillion. Tyrion swung his axe, killing the charging horse, sending it and rider tumbling to the ground.

Tyrion saw Jyck and Kurleket cut down when he heard a scream, and saw Catelyn's back against the mountainside with three men surrounding her.

Let them have the bitch, Tyrion thought, and welcome to her, yet somehow he was moving. He caught the first man in the back of the knee before they even knew he was there, and the heavy axehead split flesh and bone like rotten wood. Logs that bleed, Tyrion thought inanely as the second man came for him. Tyrion ducked under his sword, lashed out with the axe, the man reeled backward . . . and Catelyn Stark stepped up behind him and opened his throat. The horseman remembered an urgent engagement elsewhere and galloped off suddenly. 

And then the fighting was over. Tyrion looked around and saw dead and dying, surprised he wasn't one of them. He came upon Bronn, who was looting some of the corpses. Bronn asked him if it was his first battle, which it was. Bronn said Tyrion needed a woman now, as there was nothing like having a woman after shedding some blood. Tyrion looked over at Catelyn and said he was willing if she was. This caused all the freeriders to break into laughter. It's a start, Tyrion thought.

The party rode off, wanting to put distance between themselves and the mountain clans. Catelyn allowed Tyrion to keep his dirk and axe. Tyrion thinks how he started this trip with his hands bound and a hood over his head; he is much happier with his current position. He looked around, and saw that Marillion had survived, despite several injuries. Marillion had acquired a beautiful shadowskin cloak from one of the clansmen.

Tyrion rode back up to Catelyn, to continue their earlier discussion. He tells her that there was a serious flaw in Littlefinger's story - Tyrion never bets against his family.

My Thoughts

This was our first real battle in the book, and it was awesome. I cut out a lot of the fighting, but GRRM does a great job of describing the action without being overly verbose. He paints a picture, and you can feel the breathlessness and confusion of the attack.

Some interesting things of note in this chapter. Catelyn completely outsmarts Tyrion here, and Tyrion is widely considered one of, if not the most intelligent people in the series. I know Catelyn gets a lot of grief, not undeserved and I've thrown my share at her, but you really can't argue that she is very intelligent herself. I think her flaw is that she runs too much on emotion. She thinks of an effective way of capturing Tyrion, first by forcing the knights in the bar to declare their support for her before asking them to take Tyrion, and again by throwing off any possible pursuit. What she doesn't think about is whether she should take Tyrion in the first place! Ah, Catelyn, I could ALMOST like you. You're right there, but whenever faced with a big decision you always make the wrong choice!

We also see Tyrion's own cleverness in action here. As he states, he left in custody, bound, and blinded. Now not only is he armed, but he is beginning to use his charisma to win over some of the freeriders. Whatever Catelyn thinks, Tyrion clearly has more charisma than she. And Tyrion doesn't even know just how much getting these men, Bronn in particular, to like him will pay off in the near future.

We also get Catelyn not being very cautious when she tells Tyrion pretty much flat out that Littlefinger told her he did it. Cat trusts Littlefinger, and clearly didn't think what he said through, as we can tell when she has no real response to Tyrion's defenses. Tyrion is intelligent, Cat has to know he's not stupid, so why on earth would he give his knife to a common footpad to commit the murder? And of course he wouldn't bet against his own brother. On a more meta note, we the readers already know what Tyrion is saying is true. Earlier at the Hand's tourney Renly comments when Jaime Lannister loses that if the Imp was there he would have won even more money. Clearly it is common knowledge that Tyrion always bets on Jaime, such a given that Renly knew if Tyrion were there he would have won money off of him.

Which raises a whole new question, because Littlefinger isn't stupid. How easy would it be for Ned or Cat to discover that Littlefinger was lying? I'm pretty sure Renly made the comment about Tyrion betting on Jaime in Ned's hearing, and he completely missed it! Littlefinger isn't stupid, so what the hell was he thinking? Littlefinger admitted to it being his knife, so if Ned discovered that he couldn't have lost it to Tyrion at the tourney, what would Littlefinger have said? It's weird.

We also see a little bit more about Cat's past with Petyr Baelish. It's not clear here whether they actually had sex or not, but Cat clearly has a soft spot for him.

Last thing, does anyone else think that the high pass through the mountains is a weird way to get to the Eyrie? The Vale is one of the seven kingdoms and Arryn is one of the seven great houses, but damn the Vale seems impossible to get to. A long road that takes days (weeks?) to traverse, with little vegetation, and the constant threat of being attacked by violent mountain clans. You can't travel that road unless you are stocked with provisions and are in large enough members to deter or fight off any attacks. Why would anyone do that? I know the Vale has a harbor, so maybe most people travel by sea? I don't really have a point, but the super dangerous high road just never seemed to sit right with me. I certainly wouldn't be visiting the Eyrie on my own.

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And that's it for today! Doesn't look like I was too successful in cutting down on the summary, but it's okay. Tyrion chapters are fun. So what does everyone else think about Catelyn's plan here? Tyrion is a favorite character of many people, and Catelyn is often mentioned as a least favorite, so what do you Tyrion fans think of your guy getting outfoxed by Catelyn Freaking Stark? That's gotta sting.