So let’s talk about Timett son of Timett.
The Burned Men are a particularly fearsome mountain clan from the Vale, who broke off from the Painted Dogs to worship a fire-witch (almost certainly the fugitive Nettles with her dragon Steepstealer). The Burned Men are known for their fearlessness demonstrated in their coming-of-age ceremony where they burn off a body-part, a ceremony deriving from the practice of sending young men as tribute to the fire-witch who would have to prove themselves by daring the flames of Sheepstealer. And the Burned Men once carried off the daughter of Alys Arryn (Jon Arryn’s sister)…
Timett became a red hand (war chief) of the Burned Men from a very early age by burning out one of his eyes at the coming-of-age ceremony, which scared the hell out of the normally unflappable Burned Men. Timett fought for Tyrion at the Green Fork and Blackwater with some distinction, and then returned to the Vale with the spoils of war:
“The Burned Men are fearless since Timett One-Eye came back from the war. And half a year ago, Gunthor son of Gurn led the Stone Crows down on a village not eight miles from here. They took every woman and every scrap of grain, and killed half the men. They have steel now, good swords and mail hauberks, and they watch the high road—the Stone Crows, the Milk Snakes, the Sons of the Mist, all of them. Might be you’d take a few with you, but in the end they’d kill you and make off with your daughter.“
So now you have the mountain clans armed and armored equivalent to knights, with experience in fighting knights in open battle, and Timett leads the toughest of their clan.
My speculation is that, once the Knights of the Vale go north to pursue Sansa’s claim to Winterfell, Timett will seize the Eyrie. And in a bit of dramatic irony, it’ll turn out that he’s actually the rightful heir, as his claim outranks that of Harry the Heir (who descends from the youngest of Alys Arryn’s daughters).
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