Tag: mountain clans

“Timett son of Timett…he may have Arryn blood in him…” Whoa wait what? How did I miss this?

So let’s talk about Timett son of Timett. 

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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). 

Maester Steven, may I please ask why you describe the Mountain Clans at the outskirts of the Vale as “oppressed” as well as dispossessed? (the latter is objectively true, but given that the Clans outright reject any connection with the Vale that doesn’t involve preying on the local peasants one would argue “Marginalised” or “Exiled” is a more accurate term).

Because it’s standard policy for the knights of the Vale to mount punitive expeditions against the Mountain Clans of the Vale:

“Before that, the chronicles tell of countless battles with the savage mountain clans.” (WOIAF)

“The mountain clans were lawless brigands, descending from the heights to rob and kill and melting away like snow whenever the knights rode out from the Vale in search of them.” (AGOT)

“The clans have grown bolder since Lord Jon died,“ Ser Donnel said. He was a stocky youth of twenty years, earnest and homely, with a wide nose and a shock of thick brown hair. “If it were up to me, I would take a hundred men into the mountains, root them out of their fastnesses, and teach them some sharp lessons, but your sister has forbidden it.” (AGOT)

If we do a bit of de-bowlderization, I think it’s fair to conclude that “root them out of their fastnesses” refers to cavalry raids against camps and villages of civilians, and “sharp lessons” refers to massacres. Hence why the mountain clans have to be described as “savage,” “wildlings,” and the like; de-humanization is required in order to rationalize the gap between the ideals of knightly conduct that the knights of the Vale espouse and how they behave at home.