Chapter 13 – Tyrion

Back to Tyrion Lannister. If I’m not mistaken, he elected to stay behind in Winterfell rather than return south with his family and the others. I’m curious why he’s done this, though. Are his motives sincere? He’s simply bored of living at Casterly Rock and wants to see the Wall? Or does he have some sort of scheme in mind for this northern city? I can’t help being suspicious of him, considering his hateful brother and sister. Let’s see . . .

[quote]They had left Winterfell on the same day as the king, amidst all the commotion of the royal departure, riding out to the sound of men shouting and horses snorting, to the rattle of wagons and the groaning of the queen’s huge wheelhouse . . . The kingsroad was just beyond the sprawl of castle and town. There the banners and the wagons and the columns of knights and freeriders turned south, taking the tumult with them, while Tyrion turned north with Benjen Stark and his nephew.[/quote]

Yeah, they’re not wasting any time. I guess Tyrion really does want to see the Wall.

The Wall is a lot farther away then I thought: it’s taken Tyrion and the others five days just to leave the townships of Winterfell and enter the “wolfs-wood” around the Wall, and the landscape is consistently barren, frozen and mountainous. Getting flashbacks to my drive through Canada here.

At the edge of the wolfs-wood they meet up with another small group of people heading for the Wall: a “sinister looking” Night’s Watchman named Yoren, who’s leading two recruits:

[quote]”Rapers,” Yoren said with a cold look at his charges. Tyrion understood. Life on the Wall was said to be hard, but no doubt it was preferable to castration.[/quote]

Ow. Ow. Ow. My involuntary flinching aside, this is interesting. So are many of the Night’s Watchmen would-be criminals who were given the chance to escape their punishments by “donning the black?” Now I’m remembering — from way back in the prologue — that the very first character I read was a poacher-turned-Night’s Watchman. I’ve forgotten his name, but not his crime.  This “servitude to escape retribution” system was probably a real thing, but all I can think of is Davy Jones’ method for acquiring new crewmates from Pirates of the Caribbean.

[quote]Five men, three boys, a direwolf, twenty horses, and a cage of ravens given over to Benjen Stark by Maester Luwin. No doubt they made a curious fellowship for the kingsroad, or any road.[/quote]

Yeah, the “fellowship of the ring” this ain’t. And it’s awesome. Although, Tyrion and Benjen do not hit it off: Benjen shares his brother Eddard’s dislike of all Lannisters, so he’s treating Tyrion pretty badly, and vehemently opposed his traveling with them in the first place. I just want everybody to be friends. Come on. Please? Oh well.

[quote]On the eighteenth night of their journey –[/quote]

Well damn. Just how far away is the Wall? I must have missed something, because I was under the impression Winterfell was like, barely a few miles off of it at the most. Back in the first chapter, Eddard executed the old Night’s Watchman who deserted from the Wall, right? How did he get all the way down to Winterfell? Why did he go down to Winterfell? Or maybe he was captured; I don’t remember. I’m just kind of stunned how this chapter is breezing past 18 days of camping in the woods.

Anyway, Tyrion’s too small to help make camp, so he sits around and reads his books. A passage in one of his books is pretty interesting:

[quote]’Dragonbone is black because of its high iron content,’ the book told him. ‘It is strong as steel, yet lighter and far more flexible, and of course utterly impervious to fire. Dragonbone bows are greatly prized by the Dothraki, and a small wonder. An archer so armed can outrange any wooden bow.'[/quote]

First of all, I love how “videogamey” this is. It’s like, first level characters use wooden bows, then as they level up they find better and better materials and weapons, until they’re strong enough or rich enough to wield special fireproof bows made out of a dragon’s wishbone. Second, that mention of the Dothraki can’t be a throwaway. This information is going to come back later in a Dany-set chapter, isn’t it?

Tyrion’s a total nerd when it comes to dragons, and according to his ruminations I was sort of right about my earlier “dragons are dinosaurs” comparison: there used to be dragons even as recently as a hundred years ago, but they were all extinct by the time Mad King Targaryen was dethroned. Nineteen dragon skulls are preserved in the basement of King’s Landing, ranging in size from “as big as a mastiff’s head” to “you could literally ride a horse between this thing’s jaws.”

Jon Snow interrupts to ask Tyrion why he spends so much of his time reading, and Tyrion’s response (which I have abridged) appears to summarize his entire character:

[quote]”My legs are short and twisted, and I walk with difficulty. I require a special saddle to keep from falling off my horse. A saddle of my own design, you may be interested to know. It was either that or ride a pony. My arms are strong enough, but again, too short. I will never make a swordsman. Had I been born a peasant, they might have left me to die, or sold me to some slaver’s grotesquerie. Alas . . . things are expected of me. My father was the Hand of the King for twenty years. My brother later killed that very same king, as it turns out, but life is full of these little ironies. My sister married the new king and my repulsive nephew will be king after him . . . My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind . . . and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.”[/quote]

I just love it. Succinct and clever. Tyrion goes on to explain what he’s reading about, which changes the topic to dragons. He tells Jon some of his childhood fantasies, how he used to dream about incinerating his family with dragonfire, which naturally upsets Jon. Tyrion then challenges Jon and his perceptions of the Night’s Watch, which really starts riling him up:

[quote]”The night’s Watch is a midden heap for all the misfits of the realm. I’ve seen you looking at Yoren and his boys. Those are your new brothers, Jon Snow, how do you like them? Sullen peasants, debtors, poachers, rapers, thieves, and bastards like you all wind up on the Wall . . .”

“Stop it!” the boy screamed. He took a step forward, his hands coiling into fists, close to tears.[/quote]

🙁

However, even Tyrion realizes he’s being too harsh with Jon, and starts to apologize.

[quote]He never saw the wolf, where it was or how it came at him. One moment he was walking toward Snow and the next he was flat on his back on the hard rocky ground, the book spinning away from him as he fell, the breath going out of him at the sudden impact, his mouth full of dirt and blood and rotting leaves.[/quote]

Crap. Fortunately, he isn’t seriously injured, but part of his back is pulled and he finds he can’t get back to his feet by himself. When he asks Jon for help, the boy initially refuses, still outraged by his words. There’s a strange interplay between them here that I’m not sure how to categorize other than “bonding through cruelty,” which kind of upsets me, but it’s still quite interesting:

[quote]Jon Snow stroked Ghost’s thick white fur, smiling now. “Ask me nicely.”

Tyrion Lannister felt the anger coiling inside him, and crushed it out with a will. It was not the first time in his life he had been humiliated, and it would not be the last. Perhaps he even deserved this. “I should be very grateful for your kind assistance, Jon,” he said mildly.[/quote]

And Jon helps him up and they’re chummy again. Um? I’m not sure what to make of this, but it almost seems like these two — who have each been humiliated their whole lives — build a camaraderie between each other by humiliating each other. Right after this, Jon acknowledges Tyrion’s disdainful opinion of the Night’s Watch and decides he agrees with it.

[quote]Tyrion grinned at him. “That’s good, bastard. Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it.”

“Most men,” the boy said. “But not you.”

“No,” Tyrion admitted, “not me. I seldom even dream of dragons anymore. There are no dragons.”[/quote]

. . . Well, that’s an awfully ominous presumption. I doubt this will be disproved. Nuh-huh. In a fantasy series? Crazy talk.

Summary Time: Tyrion Lannister leaves Winterfell for the Wall, bringing along his henchmen and joining Benjen Stark and Jon Snow. Along the way they meet Yoren, a Night’s Watchman, who’s leading two unsavory new recruits. One night on the road Tyrion and Jon engage in some verbal roughhousing that soon turns physical when Ghost — Jon’s direwolf pup — attacks Tyrion. Jon calls him off and eventually helps Tyrion recover, but only after indulging in a moment of superiority. This awkward moment forges a bond between the two social outcasts, although I’m still scratching my head over why, exactly.

I seem to have relied on quotes from the book a lot more than usual this time around. I’ll try not to make a habit of it, but in this case it was probably because I was so impressed with the dialogue and so flummoxed by the altercation near the end of the chapter. Of course, I still liked the chapter — how could I not, with my two favorite characters in starring roles?

I’m growing more curious to know how Jon will serve as a Night’s Watchman — his conversation with Tyrion has clearly prepared him for the possibility that the job will totally suck. I’m wondering whether he will fit in at all with the other Watchmen.

All in all, a good little chapter that answers some questions I’ve had and appears to set up some future conflicts on the Wall.

See you later and thanks for reading.

PREVIOUS — NEXT

EDIT: See Ian’s illustrations for this chapter here.