0:02 What is going on with Barbrey Dustin in
0:05 A Song of Ice and Fire? Whose side is
0:08 she on and what really motivates her?
0:10 Let's take a look. Hi everyone, this is
0:12 Robert. Welcome to Indeep Geek. On this
0:14 channel, we cover A Song of Ice and
0:15 Fire, The Lord of the Rings, and other
0:18 great fantasy books and TV shows like
0:21 The Witcher. Welcome. The character of
0:23 Barbrey Dustin is one of the most
0:25 intriguing in A Song of Ice and Fire.
0:28 She has opinions and a history and quite
0:30 rarely for a northern lord or lady
0:32 clearly despises the memory of Ned
0:34 Stark. But there are clearly layers
0:37 there that we often don't peel back. She
0:39 isn't just a Starkhating Bolton
0:41 supporter. There's a lot more going on
0:44 there than meets the eye. So let's start
0:46 with her history. She was born Barbrey
0:49 Rizwell. The Rizwells aren't as
0:50 prominent in the story as some other
0:52 northern houses, but they are a
0:54 significant house nonetheless to the
0:56 extent that Lord Rodrik Rizwell thought
0:58 to marry his eldest daughter Barbrey to
1:01 a Stark. There's nothing wrong with
1:03 aiming high, but we know of at least one
1:04 Rizwell, who had previously married a
1:07 Stark, so it's a reasonable possibility.
1:10 This hope was only fanned by Brandon
1:12 Stark, that's Ned's brother, who was
1:14 then the heir to Winterfell, growing
1:16 close to Barbrey. He was being fostered
1:18 down in nearby Baritton at the time and
1:21 often rode with his friends in the reals
1:23 Rizwell country. They became lovers, the
1:25 two of them. She fell deeply in love
1:27 with him. We don't hear his side of
1:30 things. And then this.
1:32 The day I learned that Brandon was to
1:34 marry Catelyn Tully, though there was
1:37 nothing sweet about that pain. He never
1:39 wanted her. I promise you that. He told
1:42 me so on our last night together. But
1:44 Rickard Stark had great ambitions, too.
1:47 Southron ambitions that would not be
1:49 served by having his heir marry the
1:51 daughter of one of his own vassels.
1:54 Afterward, my father nursed some hope of
1:56 wedding me to Brandon's brother, Eddard,
1:59 but Catelyn Tully got that one as well.
2:02 I was left with young Lord Dustin until
2:05 Ned Stark took him from me. So, she fell
2:07 in love with Brandon. Then he got
2:09 promised to another. Then her father
2:11 hoped to marry her to Ned. Then that
2:13 didn't happen because Ned married
2:15 Catelyn Tully again for political
2:17 reasons. So she was instead married to
2:20 William Dustin. As far as we can tell,
2:23 that was a positive, albeit short,
2:25 relationship. She may not have married
2:27 the man she loved or gained her father
2:29 quite the political match he wanted, but
2:31 perhaps she could have grown to love her
2:33 husband. We'll never know. Within half a
2:35 year, though, he had gone to war with
2:38 Ned Stark against her pleading, and he
2:40 then died at the Tower of Joy. He was
2:42 one of Ned's six companions there along
2:44 with Mark Rizwell. Incidentally, we're
2:46 not told exactly who he was, but his
2:48 name suggests a relation of Lady
2:51 Barbrey, so she probably lost two people
2:54 there. Barbrey Dustin again picks up the
2:57 story, telling Theon that Ned Stark
2:59 returned the horse to me on his way back
3:01 home to Winterfell. He told me that my
3:03 lord had died an honorable death, that
3:05 his body had been laid to rest beneath
3:07 the Red Mountains of Dawn. He brought
3:10 his sister's bones back north, though,
3:13 and there she rests. But I promise you,
3:15 Lord Eddard's bones will never rest
3:18 beside hers. I mean to feed them to my dogs.
3:19 dogs.
3:23 Theon did not understand. His his bones.
3:26 Her lips twisted. It was an ugly smile,
3:29 a smile that reminded him of Ramsay's.
3:32 Catelyn Tully dispatched Lord Eddard's
3:34 bones north before the Red Wedding, but
3:36 your iron uncle seized Mo Kalin and
3:38 closed the way. I've been watching ever
3:41 since. Should those bones ever emerge
3:43 from the swamps, they will get no
3:45 further than Bariton. She threw one last
3:48 lingering look at the likeness of Eddard
3:51 Stark. We are done here.
3:53 I did a whole other video about where
3:55 those bones might be, but her hatred of
3:58 Ned Stark is clear to see. And that is
4:00 where some fans analysis of her
4:02 character ends. She comes across as
4:05 rather bitter and holding grudges
4:07 against Ned Stark even after his death
4:09 against the maesters, or the gay sheep
4:10 as she calls them, for apparently
4:12 encouraging Rickard Stark's Southron
4:14 ambitions, thereby preventing her from
4:17 marrying Brandon. She always wears
4:19 black, seemingly in mourning for the man
4:22 or men she lost. Her words are cutting.
4:24 Her smile is described as ugly and
4:26 feral. George R. Martin has leaned
4:29 heavily into making us see her as a not
4:31 particularly sympathetic character,
4:33 which has led many to assume that when
4:35 she appears in the story as having bent
4:38 the knee to Roose Bolton, she and House
4:40 Dustin, which she now leads, must be one
4:42 of the few unambiguously anti-Stark and
4:45 probolton people in the north. She hates
4:48 the memory of Ned Stark, so why not?
4:50 Well, I want to suggest to you that
4:52 there are plenty more layers going on
4:54 here than that. Which isn't to say that
4:56 she isn't sincere in hating Ned Stark
4:58 even after his death. She definitely
5:01 seems to be sincere, and she may even be
5:03 a bit justified in that. It's clear that
5:05 Ned not only didn't bring her husband's
5:07 bones back north with him, while
5:09 obviously bringing his own sisters, but
5:11 also clearly refused to tell her even
5:13 where they were buried, so Barbrey
5:14 Dustin could go and bring them back
5:17 herself. And House Dustin were not just
5:19 a normal house in that regard. We think
5:21 of the Starks as being connected to
5:23 their dead, but House Dustin are, if
5:26 anything, even more so. Their home is
5:28 called Barotton because it is in the
5:30 middle of the Barrow Lands where the
5:32 ancient dead of the north are buried.
5:34 Their hall is literally built on top of
5:36 the great barrerow where the first king
5:38 of the first men is supposed to be
5:40 buried. They take burying their dead seriously.
5:42 seriously.
5:44 Ned had his reasons for not bringing
5:46 back those bones, but because he refused
5:48 to explain them, it wasn't just a
5:50 hurtful thing to do to Barbrey Dustin.
5:52 It was an insult to House Dustin as a
5:55 whole. But all that said, her hatred of
5:58 the Starks is more nuanced than it might
6:00 appear. Witness this conversation with
6:04 Theon. He speaks first. My lady, why do
6:06 you hate the Starks?
6:09 He studied him. For the same reason you
6:13 love them. Why do you love the Starks?
6:16 I Theon put a gloved hand against the
6:20 pillar. I wanted to be one of them and
6:22 never could. We have more in common than
6:25 you know, my lord.
6:27 She wanted to be a Stark and clearly
6:30 doesn't hate all Starks. When she sees
6:32 the statue of her old lover, Brandon,
6:34 she takes off her glove and touches his
6:36 knee, then starts reminiscing about the
6:39 things he said and their time together.
6:41 So, she doesn't think that all Starks
6:44 are necessarily bad. One definitely not.
6:46 And her passing reference to Lyanna was
6:48 also quite kindly. And to add another
6:50 level to this, even if she is disposed
6:52 against the Starks, there is someone
6:54 else that she does appear to hate quite
6:57 a lot. Ramsay Bolton. Again, this is a
6:59 grudge from her past, though again it
7:02 seems quite justified. Barbara Dustin
7:05 was close to her nephew, Demeric. He was
7:07 her page in Bariton for 4 years. And if
7:09 you're wondering where you've heard that
7:11 name Demeric before, he was also the
7:14 firstborn and only son of Barbber's
7:17 sister Bethany and Roose Bolton, the
7:20 heir to House Bolton. Demeric, always
7:22 having wanted a brother, visited his
7:25 bastard half-brother, Ramsay, then died
7:28 in mysterious circumstances. Almost no
7:30 one doubts that Ramsay killed him.
7:33 Barbrey Dustin certainly thinks so. We
7:35 know that she holds a grudge, so we can
7:37 expect her to still hate him and want
7:39 revenge. And sure enough, when the
7:41 Boltons arrive at Bariton, she makes a
7:43 point of refusing to let Ramsay enter
7:46 her great hall. Make no mistake, that
7:48 was a huge political move. The Ramsies
7:50 had just taken control of the North by
7:52 taking part in a massacre of their
7:54 northern allies. Ramsay was clearly
7:57 livid at the snub, and she still refused
7:59 to let him in. It would be enough to
8:01 make any new warden of the North
8:03 question her loyalty, which Roose Bolton
8:06 actually does, though he concludes that
8:09 she is still on his side. He says this
8:13 to Ramsay. Lady Barbrey is a woman who
8:15 knows how to nurse a grievance. Be
8:17 grateful for that. Bariton is staunch
8:20 for Bolton, largely because she still
8:21 holds Ned Stark to blame for her
8:25 husband's death. Staunchch? Ramsay
8:28 seethed. All she does is spit on me. The
8:30 day will come when I'll set her precious
8:32 wooden town a fire. Let her spit on
8:35 that. See if it puts out the flames.
8:37 Roose made a face as if the ale he was
8:39 sipping had suddenly gone sour. We
8:42 appear strong for the moment. Yes, we
8:44 have powerful friends in the Lannisters
8:46 and the Freys and the grudging support
8:48 of much of the North. But what do you
8:49 imagine is going to happen when one of
8:52 Ned Stark's sons turns up? How many of
8:54 our grudging friends do you imagine we'd
8:57 retain if the truth were known? Only
8:59 Lady Barbrey, whom you would turn into a
9:03 pair of boots, inferior boots.
9:05 So Ramsay clearly hates her back. And
9:07 Roose thinks she is loyal to him, not
9:09 out of any affection for him or the
9:11 Boltons, but despite that. and because
9:14 of her hatred of Ned on balance that she
9:16 hates the dead ex Lord of the Starks
9:18 more than the still alive heir to the
9:22 Boltons perhaps. But then what happens
9:24 if Ramsay kills Roose and takes over
9:26 which there are more than a few
9:28 indications he may be thinking about.
9:30 Does she still support the Boltons? It
9:32 seems unlikely. One thing that certainly
9:34 seems to be the case is that she is
9:37 protective of Jane Pool, the fake Arya
9:40 whom Ramsay marries. She insists on
9:42 keeping Jane under her protection on
9:43 route to Winterfell and until the
9:45 wedding itself. And she may even have
9:48 guessed that the fake Arya is fake.
9:50 Theon thinks that she may have done.
9:52 It's probably worth another video.
9:53 There's evidence a few of the other
9:55 Northerners aren't convinced she really
9:58 is Arya or that all the Starks are dead.
10:00 And we can add to all of that the fact
10:02 that Barbrey Dustin also clearly hates
10:04 the phrase for what they did at the Red
10:06 Wedding. There were Baritan soldiers
10:09 there, too. If you've seen my video
10:10 about the snowman in Winterfell, you'll
10:12 know that I think there's a chance that
10:14 her being made into a snowman or
10:16 snowwoman may reveal she is secretly on
10:20 the Stark loyalist side. That said, she
10:21 has been trying to calm tensions between
10:23 the Manderly and Freys in Winterfell and
10:25 mentions casually that fake Arya's
10:28 crying was harming our cause by
10:29 potentially turning the Northerners more
10:32 against the Boltons. All of which means
10:34 that Barbrey Dustin's loyalties are not
10:36 as rapidly anti-S Stark as they are
10:39 sometimes made out to be, but also not
10:41 obviously against the Bolton regime,
10:43 just Ramsay.
10:46 Finally, I would draw your attention to
10:48 two other curious things. First, her
10:50 strange behavior in the Winterfell
10:52 crypts. She demands that Theon take her
10:54 down there, which is quite an effort,
10:56 taking half an hour to dig away the snow
10:58 over the entrance. She does the two
11:00 things we might expect her to do. gaze
11:02 upon the likeness of Brandon Stark and
11:04 note where Ned's statue and grave were,
11:06 presumably to ensure his bones hadn't
11:08 somehow evaded her and made their way
11:11 there. But she also very obviously notes
11:13 the three missing swords, calling
11:16 attention to them. Why does that matter?
11:17 Because Wyman Mandley at least knows
11:19 that Bran and Rickon survived, having
11:21 hidden in the crypts. And although we
11:23 don't know everything that Wex, his
11:25 witness, revealed, it seems reasonable
11:26 that he might have discovered that Bran
11:28 and Co took those three swords from the
11:31 crypts, which would then be a key bit of
11:32 evidence if you want to persuade someone
11:34 else in Winterfell that you were telling
11:36 the truth about Bran and Rickon
11:38 surviving. Might Barbrey Dustin have
11:40 been in those crypts, at least partly,
11:42 to see whether the swords really were
11:45 gone? It's possible. Theon, who is
11:48 deceptively observant in these chapters,
11:49 certainly wonders whether she might have
11:51 told other people about the missing
11:53 swords, as if that's the most important
11:55 thing they found down there. He seems
11:57 aware of the implications and thinks she
12:00 might be, too. The second curious thing
12:02 is an observation that her actions and
12:04 motivations align surprisingly closely
12:07 with Mance Raiders. Remember, Mance is
12:09 in Winterfell, disguised as Abel the
12:12 Bard with six spear wives. She takes an
12:14 active interest in the well-being of
12:17 fake Arya. They are there to rescue her.
12:19 She gets Theon to take her to the
12:22 crypts. They try to do the same. She
12:23 proactively tries to calm tensions in
12:26 Winterfell. So does he. I'm not
12:27 suggesting that they are working
12:30 together, but their interests do seem to
12:33 align. And if she does realize that fake
12:35 Arya isn't actually Arya, she might see
12:37 her as yet another victim of the Starks
12:40 and the Boltons and worthy of her help.
12:43 a plague on both their houses. So, where
12:46 does all this leave us? Well, we started
12:48 by noting that Barbrey Dustin is a
12:50 multi-layered character, so we shouldn't
12:52 expect her to fit into easy pigeon holes
12:55 as a Stark or a Bolton loyalist. She
12:57 definitely does hate the Starks, though
13:00 not all Starks, mostly just Ned. There's
13:02 no indication that she bears any of the
13:04 younger family any particular ill will.
13:06 And she also really doesn't love the
13:09 Boltons. Roose for his role in the Red
13:10 Wedding and the phrase for the same
13:12 reason and Ramsay for killing her
13:15 nephew. At the moment, she seems to
13:17 still on balance be publicly supportive
13:20 of the Boltons. But if things change, I
13:23 do not doubt that she will fall in line
13:25 while still trying to ensure that Ned's
13:27 bones don't make it back. But what do
13:29 you think? What do you think Barbrey
13:31 Dustin is up to? Let me know in the
13:33 comments below. If you'd like to see
13:35 more A Song of Ice and Fire videos,
13:37 please click on the link on the left of
13:38 your screen. Or if you'd like to support
13:40 this channel, thank you. There's a link
13:42 to my Patreon page on the right of your
13:44 screen. Now, that's all for this time.
13:46 Thanks for watching. I'll see you again soon.
