0:03 The North remembers and Wyman Manderly
0:05 seems to be behind a lot of what's going
0:07 on in the North in A Dance with Dragons.
0:10 But what is his plan? Let's take a look.
0:12 Hi everyone, this is Robert. Welcome to
0:14 In Deep Geek. On this channel, we cover
0:16 A Song of Ice and Fire, The Lord of the
0:18 Rings, The Witcher, and other great
0:21 fantasy books and TV shows. Welcome. In
0:23 the absence of the Starks and with the
0:25 Boltons in the ascendancy, leadership of
0:28 the loyalist north is in something of a
0:30 vacuum as a dance with dragons starts.
0:32 Most of the great houses in the north
0:33 recognize that in the short term at
0:35 least, they need to acknowledge the
0:38 Bolton's new rulership. But most have
0:40 also lost loved ones at the Red Wedding
0:42 or find they have heirs or family
0:44 members prisoners of the Lannisters or
0:46 Freys. They aren't happy and that's
0:49 putting it mildly. They need to play the
0:50 game while winter is coming and the
0:53 North is struggling. B their time until
0:55 they know who is on their side and can
0:56 pull together a true northern alliance
1:00 of Stark loyalists. They need a leader.
1:03 Enter Wyman Manderly. It has to be
1:06 admitted Wyman Manderly is an unlikely
1:08 hero. Friend and foe alike note that he
1:11 is too fat to sit a horse. Instead, on
1:13 long journeys, he is carried in a litter
1:15 with plenty of breaks for meals and
1:17 other refreshments. He doesn't just have
1:20 a double chin. He has four. He moves
1:23 slowly, appears amiable and without firm
1:25 principles. A bit of a walkover
1:28 basically. Imagine Viceris I before the
1:30 start of the Dance of the Dragons. Liked
1:32 by many, but not famed for his iron
1:35 will. That rather portly figure and
1:37 flabby reputation didn't happen
1:40 overnight. Wyman overindulged for years
1:41 during the long piece of Robert
1:44 Baratheon's rule. If we were to defend
1:46 him, we would point out that he was head
1:48 of the only city in the north and
1:50 probably the richest house. White Harbor
1:53 and its citizens thrived under his rule.
1:55 Perhaps he had earned a little bit of
1:57 overeating. Anyway, as far as even his
1:59 loyal citizens were concerned, he was
2:03 Lord Lamprey. To others, Lord Lard or
2:06 even Lord Pig. The thing is, this is all
2:10 a front. Wyman Manderly is very aware of
2:12 his public image and uses it extremely
2:14 effectively to get what he wants as we
2:17 will see later in this video and he does
2:19 have principles is ruthless and brave
2:21 willing to put himself in danger to
2:23 achieve his objectives.
2:25 Taking a step back for a moment, let's
2:27 just acknowledge that House Mandly are
2:29 one of the most loyal houses to House
2:32 Stark in the entire North. Many northern
2:34 houses are only bannerman to the Starks
2:35 because at some point in the past the
2:38 Starks defeated them in battle. They
2:40 used to be kings of their own lands in
2:42 their own right and now have to accept
2:44 their diminished role. Not so the
2:46 Manderlys, who though I'll do their
2:48 whole history in another video, were at
2:51 their lowest eb, kicked from their lands
2:53 in the south when the Starks welcomed
2:54 them, allowed them to keep their own
2:57 culture and worship their own gods, and
2:59 gave them command of what became White
3:02 Harbor. House Manderly grew stronger and
3:04 richer and prouder than ever, and they
3:06 swore eternal loyalty to the Starks.
3:09 When Ned called the banners in Robert's
3:11 Rebellion, the Manderlyes were there.
3:13 When Rob called them again in the main
3:15 story, they were there again. It will be
3:17 a regular occurrence in these videos
3:19 looking at the Northern Alliance that
3:20 houses lost loved ones at the Red
3:23 Wedding. It wasn't just Rob and Cat who
3:25 were killed. Dozens of Northern houses
3:28 lost heirs, soldiers, and loved ones.
3:30 either killed by the Boltons and Freys
3:32 or captured. Yes, these houses we are
3:35 looking at are loyal to the Starks, but
3:37 they also have personal grievances
3:40 against the Boltons and Freys. Wyman had
3:43 two sons and sent both of them to
3:45 support Rob. Wendell was killed at the
3:47 twins and Willis captured by the
3:49 Lannisters in the Battle of the Fors of
3:51 the Trident. It was clear that Wyman's
3:53 priority was to get his remaining son
3:56 back alive and after that get revenge on
3:59 those who had wronged his family. Oh,
4:01 and restore the Starks to power if he
4:03 could. To get Willis back, he had to
4:05 persuade Tywin Lannister that he would
4:07 be loyal to them and the Boltons. He
4:10 starts with the obvious moves, replying
4:11 with an obfasticating letter to
4:13 Stannis's demand for feelalty, publicly
4:15 refusing to entertain Robert Glover's
4:17 attempts to raise forces for the clearly
4:20 stark loyalist Glover remnants, taking
4:22 down any Stark banners over the city.
4:24 Then, when three Freys arrive with
4:27 Wendell's Bones, he welcomes them while
4:29 clearly negotiating with first Tywin,
4:32 then Cersei for the release of Willis.
4:34 His chance to prove his absolute loyalty
4:36 came with the arrival of Davos Seaworth.
4:39 Stannis's Hand of the King in White
4:41 Harbor. That Davos chapter in A Dance
4:43 with Dragons is a wonderful read, and it
4:46 is clear that Wyman puts on a braver
4:48 performance in complimenting his fray
4:51 guests, dismissing Davos's please and
4:53 condemning him to death. Sure enough,
4:56 the next day, a head dipped in tar with
4:58 an onion in its mouth, and a hand with
5:00 shortened fingers appeared on spikes on
5:02 the walls of the city. It was enough for
5:05 Cersei to accept Wyman's loyalty.
5:06 Perhaps it might not have been enough
5:09 for Tywin, but we'll never know. And she
5:11 ordered the release of Willis Manderly,
5:13 who duly arrived back in White Harbor
5:15 sometime later. It seems that particular
5:18 deal cost Wyman Manderly 3,000 golden
5:20 dragons, the marriages of three close
5:22 members of his family to the phrase, and
5:25 a pledge of loyalty to the new rulers.
5:27 But he got back his son and clearly had
5:29 no intention of going through with any
5:32 of the rest of it. which is when we, the
5:34 reader, get to see everything Wyman had
5:36 been doing behind the scenes. We already
5:39 knew from Davos being observant that he
5:41 had been upping the defenses of the city
5:43 and was building ships out of sight.
5:46 Just as an aside, there were hints early
5:48 on that Wyman Manderly had more layers
5:50 than most people credited him with. Bran
5:52 notes in A Clash of Kings that Lord
5:55 Wyman dances gracefully despite his
5:57 size, and also that he looks at him with
5:59 less pity in his eyes than most other
6:03 lords. But now we get this. Davos had
6:05 obviously not been executed, but instead
6:08 held prisoner away from everyone else in
6:10 reasonable comfort. It has to be said.
6:12 Robert Glover had not been refused aid,
6:14 but instead brought into the inner
6:16 circle of confidants. Wyman himself
6:19 picks up the story talking to Davos.
6:21 I did not dare defy King's Landing so
6:24 long as my last living son remained a
6:26 captive. Lord Tywin Lannister wrote me
6:29 himself to say that he had Willis. If I
6:31 would have him freed unharmed, he told
6:34 me, I must repent my treason, yield my
6:36 city, declare my loyalty to the boy king
6:39 on the iron throne and bend my knee to
6:41 Roose Bolton, his warden of the north.
6:44 Should I refuse, Willis would die a
6:46 traitor's death. White Harbor would be
6:48 stormed and sacked, and my people would
6:50 suffer the same fate as the reigns of
6:54 Castmir. I am fat, and many think that
6:57 this makes me weak and foolish. Mayhaps
7:00 Tywin Lannister was one such. I sent him
7:02 back a raven to say that I would bend my
7:05 knee and open my gates after my son was
7:08 returned, but not before. There the
7:10 matter stood when Tywin died. Afterward
7:12 the phrase turned up with Wendell's
7:15 bones to make a piece and seal it with a
7:17 marriage pact, they claimed. But I was
7:19 not about to give them what they wanted
7:22 until I had Willis safe and whole. And
7:24 they were not about to give me Willis
7:27 until I proved my loyalty. Your arrival,
7:29 he says to Davos, gave me the means to
7:31 do that. That was the reason for the
7:33 discourtesy I showed you in the merman's
7:35 court, and for the head and hands
7:38 rotting above the seal gate. Even the
7:40 nature of that meeting between Wyman and
7:42 Davos shows the depths of Wyman's
7:45 deception. I have just come from the
7:48 high table, Lord Wyman went on. I have
7:50 eaten too much as ever, and all White
7:53 Harbor knows my barrels are bad. My
7:55 friends of Frey will not question a
7:58 lengthy visit to the privy, we hope.
8:00 Wyman Manderly is using his own
8:02 well-earned reputation for gluttony and
8:05 long trips to the privy to plot and
8:07 build alliances. A tactic he will
8:09 continue to use when in Winterfell. It
8:11 might not be pleasant to think about,
8:13 but it is next level deceptive, years in
8:16 the making and effective. Wyman Manderly
8:18 is a first rate player of the Game of
8:21 Thrones. Anyway, it emerges that he and
8:24 Robert Glover have been questioning Wex,
8:26 a survivor of the burning of Winterfell,
8:28 who told them that Bran and Rickon
8:30 survived. Bran is who knows where, but
8:34 Rickon is apparently on Skagos. Davos is
8:36 sent to Skagos to collect Rickon so the
8:38 Northern Lords have someone to rally
8:40 behind. In return, he will bend the knee
8:44 to Stannis. This is pure pragmatism from
8:46 Wyman, by the way. There's no indication
8:48 he particularly cares about Stannis or
8:50 his claim, but Stannis currently has a
8:52 large army in the north and is opposed
8:54 to the Boltons and is seemingly keen to
8:56 restore the Starks to Winterfell, the
9:00 enemy of my enemy, etc. Which is when
9:02 things get a bit dark. We leave Davos at
9:04 that point. We'll presumably pick up on
9:06 him early in the Winds of Winter, but
9:08 Wyman Manderly has been entertaining
9:10 three Freys, who brought back the bones
9:12 of his other son, Wendell, but his
9:14 loathing for them is clear. They
9:16 murdered his son and now he is supposed
9:19 to marry his own family to them and has
9:21 to pretend to be loyal and supplicant.
9:25 Just listen to him speak. Foes and false
9:27 friends are all around me, Lord Davos.
9:30 They infest my city like roaches, and at
9:33 night I feel them crawling over me. The
9:35 fat man's fingers coiled into a fist,
9:38 and all his chins trembled. My son
9:40 Wendell came to the twins a guest. He
9:42 ate Lord Walder's bread and salt and
9:45 hung his sword upon the wall to feast
9:48 with friends and they murdered him.
9:51 Murdered, I say. And may the phrase
9:54 choke upon their fables. I drink with
9:56 Jared, jape with Simmon, promise Rhaegar
9:58 the hand of my own beloved
10:00 granddaughter. But never think that
10:02 means I have forgotten. The North
10:05 remembers, Lord Davos. The North
10:07 remembers, and the Mama's far is almost
10:11 done. My son is home.
10:13 Something about the way Lord Wyman said
10:16 that chilled Davos to the bone. Sure
10:18 enough, Wyman soon accepts Roose
10:20 Bolton's summons to attend him at
10:23 Bariton and sets off very slowly. So
10:25 slowly that the three phrase Jared,
10:27 Simmon, and Rhaegar ride on a head on
10:29 horses given to them as a gift by Wyman
10:32 Manderly. It's a subtle point, but
10:34 probably important to Wyman Manderly. We
10:36 all know that giving a gift of bread and
10:38 salt was a sign and promise of
10:40 guestright, protection under your host's
10:43 roof. Giving a gift on leaving was an
10:45 official end to guest right. And those
10:48 three phrase riding their gift horses
10:51 disappeared. It's all a bit suspicious
10:53 and the more switched on phrase
10:55 acknowledge it. This is host Frey
10:58 confronting Wyman about it. Where are my
11:01 kin Manderly? Tell me that your guests
11:03 who brought your son back to you. His
11:06 bones, you mean? Manderly speared a
11:08 chunk of ham with his dagger. The road
11:10 has many dangers, sir. I gave your
11:12 brothers guest gifts when we took our
11:14 leave of White Harbor. We swore we would
11:16 meet again at the wedding. Many and more
11:19 bore witness to our parting. Many and
11:22 more, mocked Anes Frey, or you and yours.
11:24 yours.
11:26 What are you suggesting, Frey? The Lord
11:28 of White Harbor wiped his mouth with his
11:30 sleeve. I do not like your tone, sir.
11:34 No, not one bloody bit. Step out into
11:36 the yard, you sack of sew it, and I'll
11:37 serve you all the bloody bits that you
11:40 can stomach, Sir Hostin said.
11:42 Wyman Manderly ordered the deaths of
11:44 those three phrase, and everyone knows
11:47 it, though no one can prove it. And if
11:49 you're wondering, yes, Roose Bolton is
11:51 very aware that Wyman Mandley is only
11:53 feigning loyalty. Theon thinks that
11:55 Roose won't let Lord Mandley survive the
11:58 battle with Stannis. And Theon, even in
12:00 his current state, is surprisingly
12:03 insightful about these things. My fat
12:05 friend, Lord Wyman, plots betrayal, says
12:08 Roose, and Horsebane. The umbers may
12:10 seem simple, but they are not without a
12:12 certain low cunning. I've said many
12:14 times that the political situation at
12:16 Winterfell, when the Boltons and their
12:18 allies, real and otherwise, turn up, is
12:21 complex. And one aspect of this is that
12:23 whereas many lords arrive who may be
12:25 anti-Bolton and pro Stark, none of them
12:28 can be sure of anyone else's loyalties.
12:30 It's not just Wyman Mandley who has been
12:32 playing games. A later video in this
12:34 series will break down everyone's exact
12:36 loyalties, but it's clear that from the
12:38 start, Wyman Manderly is the main
12:40 convenor of opposition. But first,
12:44 perhaps we get his personal vengeance. I
12:46 said this would get a bit gruesome. And
12:47 at the wedding feast of Ramsay and the
12:50 fake Arya, Wyman Mandley presents Roose
12:52 and Waldder Bolton and the two most
12:54 senior phrase present with a slightly
12:57 odd wedding gift. Three huge pork pies
13:00 to match the three missing phrase. He
13:02 seems delighted with this gift. The best
13:05 pie you have ever tasted, my lords. Wash
13:07 it down with arbor gold and savor every
13:11 bite. I know I shall. He proceeds to eat
13:14 two slices of each pie, which seems
13:15 enough to convince Roose that they
13:18 aren't poisoned, at least. But still, he
13:21 seems very happy. Weirdly so. Barbrey
13:24 Dustin says to Theon that the best pork
13:26 pie we ever tasted, our fat friend would
13:28 have us believe. Have you ever seen a
13:31 fat man so happy he's almost dancing,
13:34 serving it with his own hands? All very
13:37 odd. Then on the way out, a clearly very
13:40 drunk Wyman demands the bard, Abel the
13:43 bard, sing about the rat cook. The rat
13:46 cook is a northern legend of a night's
13:48 watch cook who broke guest right, killed
13:51 a king's son, baked him in a pie, and
13:53 served him to his father. The clear
13:55 implication is that Wyman murdered the
13:57 phrase, and served them to their
13:59 relatives in revenge for the red
14:02 wedding. I said this would get gruesome,
14:04 but then Wyman has to return to the
14:05 serious business of building a
14:07 coalition, which meant meeting people in
14:09 secret, and sometimes building on his
14:12 reputation for long trips to the privy.
14:15 Roger Rizwell notes that he loves his
14:18 stakes and chops and meat pies, though
14:19 crowning the castle by dark would
14:21 require him to leave the table. The only
14:23 time he does that is when he seeks the
14:27 privy for one of his hour-long squats.
14:29 And before you know it, he seems to be
14:32 forming quite a coalition. The cryptic
14:34 snowmen I talked about a few videos ago
14:35 suggests that he has correctly
14:38 identified Hothor Horsebane Umber as a
14:40 fellow Stark loyalist, plus Lord Stout,
14:42 whose house has been eaten out of its
14:44 winter supplies by Ramsay, and maybe
14:46 even Barbrey Dustin, who hates Ramsay
14:49 perhaps even as much as she hated Ned.
14:51 What next? Well, the growing tensions
14:53 between the Freys and the Manderlys has
14:55 led Roose Bolton to send both out to
14:58 confront Stannis. Expect the Manderlys
15:00 to turn on the phrase. That battle won't
15:02 turn out how Roose or most people
15:06 expect. Willis Mandley was last seen a
15:07 broken man on his release from
15:09 Harrenhal, collapsing into a puddle on
15:11 the floor when told he would be going
15:13 home. Hopefully, he will make a
15:15 recovery, but him not going to
15:17 Winterfell means that White Harbor
15:20 remains strongly in Manderly control.
15:23 Wyman Mandley himself feels like a man
15:25 not expecting to live long. Perhaps
15:27 there is some foreshadowing in Devos
15:28 thinking that he looks like half a
15:31 corpse. He has got his son back, exacted
15:33 his revenge on the Freys and Boltons,
15:35 and set everything up for a great
15:37 Northern Alliance to rise up against
15:39 Roose Bolton and in favor of the Stark
15:41 candidate he has ordered found. What
15:44 else does he need? Wyman Madley is one
15:46 of the most underrated players of the
15:48 Game of Thrones. He has spent decades
15:50 building up a public image as a fat,
15:54 cowardly, weak leader. And now, in what
15:56 are surely the last few months of his
15:58 life, he is exploiting that image to the
16:01 maximum, taking bloody revenge where he
16:03 can, saving his family and inheritance,
16:05 and building an alliance that will bring
16:08 the Starks, his lege lords, back into
16:10 power in Winterfell. The North
16:14 remembers. Wyman Manderly remembers.
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