Hmm. Well, there are no Arryns left for a woman Cersei's age to marry...she can't exactly marry SweetRobin and produce more children before she gets too old. Littlefinger had to do some hard digging to find Harry the Heir to secure the Vale after young Robert's eventual demise - I don't know if Tywin did that kind of research in terms of marriage alliances, really. I can't remember exactly the timeline of events but I think he's hoping that Roose Bolton will deliver the Vale at some point.
The Greyjoys...although one of Balon's brothers might do, Cersei is a queen and a Lannister; I'm not seeing Tywin send his golden daughter to live a life of reaving and plunder amongst the Iron Islands, control of their lands or no, plus being so close to control of all the gold of Casterly Rock might be a temptation not to be refused by the Ironborn.
The Riverlands, not a chance in hell there.
I guess Tywin's only real option is to get in as tight with Highgarden as possible and lock up absolute control of the Reach. It's huge, it borders CR and the West, and is plum with resources....resources vastly needed by the realm.
I do find it interesting, though, that he didn't try to foist her off on any of the Marcher lords or some house in the Stormlands to shore up strength in those weak spots. The Marcher lords rise for Dorne and the Stormlords pretty much crapped all over Stannis after Renly was killed - and then of course we have the Golden Company landing there in ADWD ready to cap some fools in the name of Aegon VI Targaryen.
So Ser Willem Darry was the Red Keep's master-at-arms
Until one day Prince Rhaegar found something in his scrolls that changed him. No one knows what it might have been, only that the boy suddenly appeared early one morning in the yard as the knights were donning their steel. He walked up to Ser Willem Darry, the master-at-arms, and said, 'I will require sword and armor. It seems I must be a warrior.'"
And Dany and Stannis say that Ser Willem Darry broke her and Viserys out of Dragonstone
She did not remember Dragonstone either. They had run again, just before the Usurper's brother set sail with his new-built fleet. By then only Dragonstone itself, the ancient seat of their House, had remained of the Seven Kingdoms that had once been theirs. It would not remain for long. The garrison had been prepared to sell them to the Usurper, but one night Ser Willem Darry and four loyal men had broken into the nursery and stolen them both, along with her wet nurse, and set sail under cover of darkness for the safety of the Braavosian coast.
I built a fleet at Robert's command, took Dragonstone in his name. Did he take my hand and say, Well done, brother, whatever should I do without you? No, he blamed me for letting Willem Darry steal away Viserys and the babe, as if I could have stopped it.
We don't know exactly how old Darry was, but we know that he was appointed master-at-arms in at least 270
The growing rift between the king and the King's Hand was also apparent in the matter of appointments. Whereas previously His Grace had always heeded his Hand's counsel, bestowing offices, honors, and inheritances as Lord Tywin recommended, after 270 AC he began to disregard the men put forward by his lordship in favor of his own choices. Many westermen found themselves dismissed from the king's service for no better cause than the suspicion that they might be "Hand's men." In their places, King Aerys appointed his own favorites...but the king's favor had become a chancy thing, his mistrust easy to awaken. Even the Hand's own kin were not exempt from royal displeasure. When Lord Tywin wished to name his brother Ser Tygett Lannister as the Red Keep's master-at-arms, King Aerys gave the post to Ser Willem Darry instead.
So max Willem Darry had been master-at-arms for 14 years when he broke out Dany. Again, we're not sure how old he should be, but given that he had not yet been replaced as master-at-arms (AKA he could still do his job), and was capable of performing a breakout, he was probably still in his prime/max 50. But then we get this
She remembered Ser Willem dimly, a great grey bear of a man, half-blind, roaring and bellowing orders from his sickbed.
Dany says that Ser Willem was grey and half-blind which to me reads as an extremely old man, sickness not withstanding which could possibly also indicate that he's older than he should be. Which is weird because
Gentle Ser Willem Darry, who must have loved her after a fashion, had been taken by a wasting sickness when she was very young.
Dany says that this was when she was very young (the app will tell you that Dany was 5, but like always we don't trust the app). AKA only a few years after Willem was still fit enough to be training all the soldiers in the Red Keep, and still fit enough to break into a castle in the middle of the night, steal two children and a wetnurse, and set sail, all without anybody detecting this.
To me there's only two options to reconcile this. Either Willem Darry was one badass old man, or he was poisoned
Your lordship lost a son at the Red Wedding. I lost four upon the Blackwater. And why? Because the Lannisters stole the throne. Go to King’s Landing and look on Tommen with your own eyes, if you doubt me. A blind man could see it. What does Stannis offer you? Vengeance. Vengeance for my sons and yours, for your husbands and your fathers and your brothers. Vengeance for your murdered lord, your murdered king, your butchered princes. Vengeance!
Gentle Ser Willem Darry, who must have loved her after a fashion, had been taken by a wasting sickness when she was very young.
Dany says that this was when she was very young (the app will tell you that Dany was 5, but like always we don't trust the app). AKA only a few years after Willem was still fit enough to be training all the soldiers in the Red Keep, and still fit enough to break into a castle in the middle of the night, steal two children and a wetnurse, and set sail, all without anybody detecting this.
To me there's only two options to reconcile this. Either Willem Darry was one badass old man, or he was poisoned
Answer is right there: "had been taken by a wasting sickness".
As usual with recollections, these two seem to be at odds. Was he gentle? Then how could he do his job as master-at-arms when he would need to be a tough guy. Was he bluff, loud mouth? Then why does she remember him roaring and bellowing orders as would be expected of the master-at-arms of a large and important castle.
That's another good point indeed. While Rodrik, the guy you linked him to as a possible counterpart, was nice, he also still knew how to be firm as befit his rank. He stands up to the Hound for fucks sakes
The master-at-arms put a hand on Robb’s shoulder to quiet him. “Live steel is too dangerous. I will permit you tourney swords, with blunted edges.” Joffrey said nothing, but a man strange to Arya, a tall knight with black hair and burn scars on his face, pushed forward in front of the prince. “This is your prince. Who are you to tell him he may not have an edge on his sword, ser?” “Master-at-arms of Winterfell, Clegane, and you would do well not to forget it.”
So seems like Willem was also probably similar in that he might be nice, but he was likely used to getting his way with people who would be naturally inclined to fight. And if Willem was indeed the master mind trying to keep them alive, I'm sure he was also being quite bullish. Dany and Viserys say they guested with a lot of important people in their youth, and that doesn't exactly happen because someone asks nicely if the Prince of Pentos would like to meet some exiled and disposed royalty. So weird that Dany would remember Willem as both gentle and quite bellowish
Poison would maybe make him act erratically. But it seems to me that he was more of a Rodrick Cassell type. Older, but still agile enough to do what needs doing. Old age could have come on him hard, but again it is suspicious.
At least from the descriptions of the two I'd say that Rodrik was the elder. Dany says that Willem was grey, and Rodrik has white hair. Nothing definitive of course, but doesn't seem really like Willem was naturally approaching the end of his days. And while I'd say that Rodrik is older, no one's saying he still can't do his job. He's still training the men at Winterfell, he's assigned as Catelyn's sole guard, he's assigned as castellan to Winterfell while Robb is off to war, he clears the ironborn from Dagmar Cleftjaw the most feared reaver in the Iron Isles, and he was about to take Winterfell before Ramsay betrayed him. AKA, still very able. So I'd expect Darry, a younger man (if only by a few years), to be of similar capabilities. We're told he was selected over Tygett Lannister, the Jaime of his generation in swordsmanship as master-at-arms. It was to spite Tywin sure, but he still would've been quite good to warrant why you wouldn't take such a prodigy like Tygett. And certainly I wouldn't be expecting a man who was only a few years ago training some of the finest knights in the realm and performing some of the most daring breakouts to be half-blind. How exactly could he do either if he couldn't see?
So to me his turn seems to come out of nowhere.
Your lordship lost a son at the Red Wedding. I lost four upon the Blackwater. And why? Because the Lannisters stole the throne. Go to King’s Landing and look on Tommen with your own eyes, if you doubt me. A blind man could see it. What does Stannis offer you? Vengeance. Vengeance for my sons and yours, for your husbands and your fathers and your brothers. Vengeance for your murdered lord, your murdered king, your butchered princes. Vengeance!
Yeah, while I do think there are plenty of oddities with the Willem Darry story as I have an entire thread of them that I need to repost here, the wasting sickness could certainly explain the appearance. Catelyn talks about the similar ravaging of Hoster's body as he lay dying, too, and remember that Rodrik Cassel is an "old man" while still being Master at Arms of Winterfell
Dany would have no memory of Darry as the hale man who rescued her from Dragonstone - her memories would be limited to the man who was already in advanced stages of sickness.
It COULD be poison, especially given the actions of the servants and their ouster from the house, but it also could...not be.
Answer is right there: "had been taken by a wasting sickness".
Well that in itself is rather suspicious as Dany also remembers that he was still a "great grey bear of a man" while he was sick with his wasting sickness. He seems to have been a big guy, which is not what would be the norm from summon suffering from a wasting sickness. He should be shrinking. Like Hoster Tully did.
Your lordship lost a son at the Red Wedding. I lost four upon the Blackwater. And why? Because the Lannisters stole the throne. Go to King’s Landing and look on Tommen with your own eyes, if you doubt me. A blind man could see it. What does Stannis offer you? Vengeance. Vengeance for my sons and yours, for your husbands and your fathers and your brothers. Vengeance for your murdered lord, your murdered king, your butchered princes. Vengeance!
"Half a year gone, that man could scarcely wake fire from dragonglass. He had some small skill with powders and wildfire, sufficient to entrance a crowd while his cutpurses did their work. He could walk across hot coals and make burning roses bloom in the air, but he could no more aspire to climb the fiery ladder than a common fisherman could hope to catch a kraken in his nets."
Some random weak street magician could light dragonglass. Which is what a glass candle is.
The candle was unpleasantly bright. There was something queer about it. The flame did not flicker, even when Archmaester Marwyn closed the door so hard that papers blew off a nearby table. The light did something strange to colors too. Whites were bright as fresh-fallen snow, yellow shone like gold, reds turned to flame, but the shadows were so black they looked like holes in the world. Sam found himself staring. The candle itself was three feet tall and slender as a sword, ridged and twisted, glittering black. “Is that... ?” “... obsidian,” said the other man in the room, a pale, fleshy, pasty-faced young fellow with round shoulders, soft hands, close-set eyes, and food stains on his robes. “Call it dragonglass.” Archmaester Marwyn glanced at the candle for a moment. “It burns but is not consumed.”
And yet every maester fails to do so
"What are these glass candles?" asked Roone. Armen the Acolyte cleared his throat. "The night before an acolyte says his vows, he must stand a vigil in the vault. No lantern is permitted him, no torch, no lamp, no taper . . . only a candle of obsidian. He must spend the night in darkness, unless he can light that candle. Some will try. The foolish and the stubborn, those who have made a study of these so-called higher mysteries. Often they cut their fingers, for the ridges on the candles are said to be as sharp as razors. Then, with bloody hands, they must wait upon the dawn, brooding on their failure. Wiser men simply go to sleep, or spend their night in prayer, but every year there are always a few who must try." "Yes." Pate had heard the same stories. "But what's the use of a candle that casts no light?" "It is a lesson," Armen said, "the last lesson we must learn before we don our maester's chains. The glass candle is meant to represent truth and learning, rare and beautiful and fragile things. It is made in the shape of a candle to remind us that a maester must cast light wherever he serves, and it is sharp to remind us that knowledge can be dangerous. Wise men may grow arrogant in their wisdom, but a maester must always remain humble. The glass candle reminds us of that as well. Even after he has said his vow and donned his chain and gone forth to serve, a maester will think back on the darkness of his vigil and remember how nothing that he did could make the candle burn . . . for even with knowledge, some things are not possible."
And the glass candles have not burned for 100 years before Urrathon
It is said that the glass candles are burning in the house of Urrathon Night-Walker, that have not burned in a hundred years.
All in all seems weird to me if it's the mark of a weak magician that they can scarcely wake fire from dragonglass, that no one has lit a candle in 100 years in Qarth, and the maesters always fail, even the ones who've studied magic.
Your lordship lost a son at the Red Wedding. I lost four upon the Blackwater. And why? Because the Lannisters stole the throne. Go to King’s Landing and look on Tommen with your own eyes, if you doubt me. A blind man could see it. What does Stannis offer you? Vengeance. Vengeance for my sons and yours, for your husbands and your fathers and your brothers. Vengeance for your murdered lord, your murdered king, your butchered princes. Vengeance!
I just posted this in heresy, but hell, I'm going to support our site too! Came across this in Bran III Clash, during the WF harvest feast. He's not actively warging, but he can still reach out to Summer- not sure if he's started skinchanging yet at this point, or if he's just having wolfdreams still?
It is too hot here, and too noisy, and they are all getting drunk. Bran itched under his grey and white woolens, and suddenly he wished he were anywhere but here. It is cool in the godswood now. Steam is rising off the hot pools, and the red leaves of the weirwood are rustling. The smells are richer than here, and before long the moon will rise and my brother will sing to it.
“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
I just posted this in heresy, but hell, I'm going to support our site too! Came across this in Bran III Clash, during the WF harvest feast. He's not actively warging, but he can still reach out to Summer- not sure if he's started skinchanging yet at this point, or if he's just having wolfdreams still?
It is too hot here, and too noisy, and they are all getting drunk. Bran itched under his grey and white woolens, and suddenly he wished he were anywhere but here. It is cool in the godswood now. Steam is rising off the hot pools, and the red leaves of the weirwood are rustling. The smells are richer than here, and before long the moon will rise and my brother will sing to it.
I remember that section as well and thought it was interesting. To me I think it is not skinchanging yet per se but Bran may be able to sense things (see, smell, hear, feel, taste) through Summer kind of like double vision if that makes sense? He wouldn't be controlling what Summer would be doing but was aware of what was going around Summer at that moment. I think when Bran does open his third eye it allows for Bran to consciously go into Summer, I think in the section from ACOK above is not fully intentional on Bran's part but is due to the connection with Summer. One possible reason why it occurred at this time was because Bran wanted to be somewhere else but maybe not necessarily into Summer.
Catelyn had never wanted this. She had told Robb as much, back in Riverrun. "When last I saw Renly, he was a boy no older than Bran. I do not know him. Send someone else. My place is here with my father, for whatever time he has left."
When do you suppose Cat would have met Renly? Her wedding? Rob & Cersei's wedding? Sounds a little like the GoT quote about Joffrey being a babe last time Ned saw him(?). That was the quote we were talking about, right? About Joffrey's age and the Greyjoy rebellion? It's probably just a small detail, but I get annoyed because it demonstrates how much is going on behind the scenes that we do not know.
ETA: ok, nm... I just read Renly is 21, so if Cat met him about 12-13 yrs ago, it was probably at Robert's wedding. They don't talk about traveling much, but I'd have a hard time believing they wouldn't attend the royal wedding.
“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
Of course, we have to ignore the app which states that Brandon left Catelyn to go meet Rickard's party that was coming down from Winterfell for his wedding and that he heard the news after he'd met Rickard and was travelling with him. But I don't place much faith in the app as it seems to contradict the book a lot and the books actually were written by GRRM.
I hate that detestable thing, as it's not available to those without a phone that can download said technology, and it contradicts the books or adds details that should be in the books in the first place, if they're meant to be known.
From Arya VI Clash, made me wonder if this was a clue about the Wall/Storm's End's magical wards:
It would be better once they got to Harrenhal, the captives told each other, but Arya was not so certain. She remembered Old Nan's stories of the castle built on fear. Harren the Black had mixed human blood in the mortar, Nan used to say, dropping her voice so the children would need to lean close to hear, but Aegon's dragons had roasted Harren and all his sons within their great walls of stone. Arya chewed her lip as she walked along on feet grown hard with callus. It would not be much longer, she told herself; those towers could not be more than a few miles off.
Would tie in with the idea of human sacrifices under the heart trees, right?
“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
From Arya VI Clash, made me wonder if this was a clue about the Wall/Storm's End's magical wards:
It would be better once they got to Harrenhal, the captives told each other, but Arya was not so certain. She remembered Old Nan's stories of the castle built on fear. Harren the Black had mixed human blood in the mortar, Nan used to say, dropping her voice so the children would need to lean close to hear, but Aegon's dragons had roasted Harren and all his sons within their great walls of stone. Arya chewed her lip as she walked along on feet grown hard with callus. It would not be much longer, she told herself; those towers could not be more than a few miles off.
Would tie in with the idea of human sacrifices under the heart trees, right?
Sorry this is going to be a super long post! I think this chapter does give a clue about warding. When I read through the canon and as well as The World Of Ice and Fire I noticed that Aegon the Conquerer landed on the same day that Harren the Black completed Harrenhal. I think that all the blood that was put into the building of Harrenhal somehow brought down the warding that was on Westeros itself that prevented Dragons from coming to the mainland. I also think Harrenhal is cursed and is haunted by ghosts.
A Clash of Kings - Catelyn I
Brynden Blackfish arched a bushy grey eyebrow. "More fool they. My first rule of war, Cat—never give the enemy his wish. Lord Tywin would like to fight on a field of his own choosing. He wants us to march on Harrenhal."
"Harrenhal." Every child of the Trident knew the tales told of Harrenhal, the vast fortress that King Harren the Black had raised beside the waters of Gods Eye three hundred years past, when the Seven Kingdoms had been seven kingdoms, and the riverlands were ruled by the ironmen from the islands. In his pride, Harren had desired the highest hall and tallest towers in all Westeros. Forty years it had taken, rising like a great shadow on the shore of the lake while Harren's armies plundered his neighbors for stone, lumber, gold, and workers. Thousands of captives died in his quarries, chained to his sledges, or laboring on his five colossal towers. Men froze by winter and sweltered in summer. Weirwoods that had stood three thousand years were cut down for beams and rafters. Harren had beggared the riverlands and the Iron Islands alike to ornament his dream. And when at last Harrenhal stood complete, on the very day King Harren took up residence, Aegon the Conqueror had come ashore at King's Landing.
Catelyn could remember hearing Old Nan tell the story to her own children, back at Winterfell. "And King Harren learned that thick walls and high towers are small use against dragons," the tale always ended. "For dragons fly." Harren and all his line had perished in the fires that engulfed his monstrous fortress, and every house that held Harrenhal since had come to misfortune. Strong it might be, but it was a dark place, and cursed.
A Clash of Kings - Arya VI It would be better once they got to Harrenhal, the captives told each other, but Arya was not so certain. She remembered Old Nan's stories of the castle built on fear. Harren the Black had mixed human blood in the mortar, Nan used to say, dropping her voice so the children would need to lean close to hear, but Aegon's dragons had roasted Harren and all his sons within their great walls of stone. Arya chewed her lip as she walked along on feet grown hard with callus. It would not be much longer, she told herself; those towers could not be more than a few miles off.
A Clash of Kings - Arya VII
Harrenhal was vast, much of it far gone in decay. Lady Whent had held the castle as bannerman to House Tully, but she'd used only the lower thirds of two of the five towers, and let the rest go to ruin. Now she was fled, and the small household she'd left could not begin to tend the needs of all the knights, lords, and highborn prisoners Lord Tywin had brought, so the Lannisters must forage for servants as well as for plunder and provender. The talk was that Lord Tywin planned to restore Harrenhal to glory, and make it his new seat once the war was done.
Weese used Arya to run messages, draw water, and fetch food, and sometimes to serve at table in the Barracks Hall above the armory, where the men-at-arms took their meals. But most of her work was cleaning. The ground floor of the Wailing Tower was given over to storerooms and granaries, and two floors above housed part of the garrison, but the upper stories had not been occupied for eighty years. Now Lord Tywin had commanded that they be made fit for habitation again. There were floors to be scrubbed, grime to be washed off windows, broken chairs and rotted beds to be carried off. The topmost story was infested with nests of the huge black bats that House Whent had used for its sigil, and there were rats in the cellars as well . . . and ghosts, some said, the spirits of Harren the Black and his sons.
Arya thought that was stupid. Harren and his sons had died in Kingspyre Tower, that was why it had that name, so why should they cross the yard to haunt her? The Wailing Tower only wailed when the wind blew from the north, and that was just the sound the air made blowing through the cracks in the stones where they had fissured from the heat. If there were ghosts in Harrenhal, they never troubled her. It was the living men she feared, Weese and Ser Gregor Clegane and Lord Tywin Lannister himself, who kept his apartments in Kingspyre Tower, still the tallest and mightiest of all, though lopsided beneath the weight of the slagged stone that made it look like some giant half-melted black candle.
A Storm of Swords - Jaime V
"Nonetheless, he had one. Hoat is more cunning than he appears. No man commands a company such as the Brave Companions for long unless he has some wits about him." Bolton stabbed a chunk of meat with the point of his dagger, put it in his mouth, chewed thoughtfully, swallowed. "Lord Vargo abandoned House Lannister because I offered him Harrenhal, a reward a thousand times greater than any he could hope to have from Lord Tywin. As a stranger to Westeros, he did not know the prize was poisoned."
"The curse of Harren the Black?" mocked Jaime.
The World of Ice and Fire - The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest
A common myth, oft heard amongst the ignorant, claims that Aegon Targaryen had never set foot upon the soil of Westeros until the day he set sail to conquer it, but this cannot be true. Years before that voyage, the Painted Table had been carved and decorated at Lord Aegon's command: a massive slab of wood, some fifty feet long, carved in the shape of Westeros and painted to show all the woods and rivers and towns and castles of the Seven Kingdoms. Plainly, Aegon's interest in Westeros long predated the events that drove him to war. As well, there are reliable reports of Aegon and his sister Visenya visiting the Citadel of Oldtown in their youth, and hawking on the Arbor as guests of Lord Redwyne. He may have visited Lannisport as well; accounts differ. The World of Ice and Fire - The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest
Harren himself had devoted most of his long reign, close on forty years, to building a gigantic castle beside the Gods Eye, but with Harrenhal at last nearing completion, the ironborn were soon free to seek fresh conquests.
No king in Westeros was more feared than Black Harren, whose cruelty had become legendary all through the Seven Kingdoms.
The king himself marched northeast, to the Gods Eye and Harrenhal, the gargantuan fortress that was the pride and obsession of King Harren the Black and which he had completed and occupied on the very day Aegon landed in what would one day become King's Landing.
Yet these were but minor vexations compared to what befell Harren the Black. Though House Hoare had ruled the riverlands for three generations, the men of the Trident had no love for their ironborn overlords. Harren the Black had driven thousands to their deaths in the building of his great castle of Harrenhal, plundering the riverlands for materials and beggaring lords and smallfolk alike with his appetite for gold. So now the riverlands rose against him, led by Lord Edmyn Tully of Riverrun. Summoned to the defense of Harrenhal, Tully declared for House Targaryen instead, raised the dragon banner over his castle, and rode forth with his knights and archers to join his strength to Aegon's. His defiance gave heart to the other riverlords. One by one, the lords of the Trident renounced Harren and declared for Aegon the Dragon. Blackwoods, Mallisters, Vances, Brackens, Pipers, Freys, Strongs...summoning their levies, they descended on Harrenhal.
Suddenly outnumbered, King Harren the Black took refuge in his supposedly impregnable stronghold. The largest castle ever raised in Westeros, Harrenhal boasted five gargantuan towers, an inexhaustible source of fresh water, huge, subterranean vaults well stocked with provisions, and massive walls of black stone higher than any ladder and too thick to be broken by any ram or shattered by a trebuchet. Harren barred his gates and settled down with his remaining sons and supporters to withstand a siege.