At bedrock, Randyll Tarly is a fundamentalist when it comes to the very specific worldview of the military aristocrat, and everything else subordinates to that. Hence why he would brutally execute a kinslayer, but still threatens to murder his own son because he thinks he’ll be a weak lord.
So Tarly is definitely a follower of the Seven – the Smith is at the bottom, the Warrior on top of him, in obedience to the Father, and the rest handle women’s matters and death – but he’s not particularly pious, because that’s what septons and women are supposed to do while he’s busy chopping people’s heads off.
When he looks at the High Sparrow, he sees an up-jumped commoner who took the title by force from men from the right class, who’s overturned hundreds of years of tradition and royal authority in assuming powers that rightfully belong only the King, and who’s encouraging rebellion and the disruption of the feudal system. So he’d happily cut the man’s head off, make the next High Sparrow absolve him of the sin, wash his hands, and consider himself entirely in the right.
What were Griff and Young Griff up to for the 12 years before Tyrion joins them? Hanging out on the Shy Maid, aimlessly sailing up and down the Rhoyne?
Varys says at one point that “[Young Griff] has lived with fisherfolk, worked with his hands, swum in rivers and mended nets,” so it does seem like Young Griff spent a good deal of time on the Rhoyne living and working as a fisherman while being educated. However, given his language skills, it’s quite likely that he spent a good deal of time working in the coastal trade around Pentos, Tyrosh, Myr, and Lys, although he seems to have avoided Volantis and Slaver’s Bay.
He had a broken leg and no one alive left to be his champion. And it’s pretty clear they were going to let him rot in the cells without trial unless he gave in.
I don’t have a huge amount of evidence for this, but Varys and Illyrio share a bond of trust and partnership that has endured for decades and across oceans, which is pretty rare in ASOIAF.
So one of the things that struck me in Tyrion I of ADWD is this passage that comes immediately after Tyrion meets Illyrio as a “friend of Varys the Spider”:
Beneath his window six cherry trees stood sentinel around a marble pool, their slender branches bare and brown. A naked boy stood on the water, poised to duel with a bravo’s blade in hand. He was lithe and handsome, no older than sixteen, with straight blond hair that brushed his shoulders. So lifelike did he seem that it took the dwarf a long moment to realize he was made of painted marble, though his sword shimmered like true steel.
And then in Tyrion II we get this exchange that gives context to what it represents:
“…even fat old fools like me have friends, and debts of affection to repay.”
“…How is it that the Spider became so dear to you?“
“We were young together, two green boys in Pentos.”
“Varys came from Myr.”
“So he did. I met him not long after he arrived, one step ahead of the slavers. By day he slept in the sewers, by night he prowled the rooftops like a cat. I was near as poor, a bravo in soiled silks, living by my blade. Perhaps you chanced to glimpse the statue by my pool? Pytho Malanon carved that when I was six-and-ten. A lovely thing, though now I weep to see it.”
“Age makes ruins of us all. I am still in mourning for my nose. But Varys …”
“In Myr he was a prince of thieves, until a rival thief informed on him. In Pentos his accent marked him, and once he was known for a eunuch he was despised and beaten. Why he chose me to protect him I may never know, but we came to an arrangement. Varys spied on lesser thieves and took their takings. I offered my help to their victims, promising to recover their valuables for a fee. Soon every man who had suffered a loss knew to come to me, whilst city’s footpads and cutpurses sought out Varys … half to slit his throat, the other half to sell him what they’d stolen. We both grew rich, and richer still when Varys trained his mice.”
I found it interesting that the symbol of Illyrio’s past is a depiction of male beauty – clearly, back in the day, Illyrio was enough of a hottie to inspire sculptors to work pro-bono, since he was only “a bravo in spoiled silks” back then. And Illyrio thinks of Varys’ “dearness” as associated with that youthful beauty, of being youths together.
(credit to Pojypojy)
Now, it’s could all be totally platonic, but it’s not like there isn’t a history of homosocial and homoromantic relationships between young men in Renaissance city-states. And there’s something about the way that Illyrio says “why he chose me to protect him I may never know” that reminds me of people in long-term relationships who talk about not knowing what their partner saw in them in the beginning.
And if we’re going by the usual GRRM metrics of what would the most tragic possible outcome be, imagine this scenario. Varys and Illyrio are lovers, and trust each other implicitly. Indeed, so self-sacrificing is Varys that he elevates Illyrio to wealth and power to the point where Illyrio gets married to the Prince’s cousin, and Varys even overlooks Illyrio’s passion for Sera.
But then Varys executes the greatest scheme in their careers, the one that actually means something to him because of the possibility of producing the perfect prince, and he gives over the royal baby he smuggled out of King’s Landing into the hands of the one person he trusts in the world. And Illyrio, out of love for the other woman, replaces that baby with his own son. What more profound betrayal can you imagine?
– I liked that Jon was genuinely messed up by what had happened to him.
– I liked Melisandre’s change of heart regarding the PWWP, and that Jon is being seen as a God is interesting.
– Jon executing his murderers and then leaving the NW very much answers that question, and sets him up to go lead Sansa’s army.
Oldtown:
– well, Sam’s going on a detour to Horn Hill, as expected. Interesting…
Tower of Joy:
– I was a bit underwhelmed by the staging of the fight itself, as I said on twitter. Ending it before we see Jon is a kind of hilarious tease, tho.
– But Bran’s interactions were interesting…I wonder if we’re building to him going by himself into the past and finding out about Jons’ birth that way.
Vaes Dothrak:
– Eh. Underwhelmed by this whole storyline.
Meereen:
– Loved Varys’ interrogation of the prostitute from last season.
– Tyrion’s scene with Missandei and Grey Worm was a total waste of money.
King’s Landing:
– finally starting to like this storyline, now that I see where things are going. Looks like Cersei and Jaime are planning to use Ser Gregor to assassinate the High Sparrow at either Cersei’s or Margaery’s trial. Definitely see a break between Cersei/Jaime/Qyburn and Kevan and the Tyrell.s
– Parents, tell your kids not to take candy from Qyburns.
Braavos:
– not sure why they didn’t just blend this with the previous scene of Arya getting her ass kicked, but it was good to see Arya learning the lying game, learning to poison by smell, and fight with her ears.
The North:
– No scenes in Winterfell this week. Certainly no scene that slanders the Umbers by suggesting they’d stoop to Shaggydog murder.
I don’t know if Ned would have been a builder Hand like Septon Barth or Ser Osmund Strong, given his focus on the royal debt. And I don’t know if he would have been a particularly legislative Hand.
If Ned had understood his role better, I think he would have been a reformer Hand much in the vein of his forefather Cregan Stark – wiping out corruption at court and then going home.
And I think Robert would have been bored stiff by infrastructure planning, but would have really enjoyed ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
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