Catelyn oyó el gemido del caballero cuando el mercenario levantó la espada con ambas manos y la clavó con todo su peso bajo el brazo, atravesando las costillas de Ser Vardis Egen, que se estremeció y quedó quieto.
El silencio se apoderó de todo el Nido de Águilas. Bronn se arrancó el medio yelmo y lo dejó caer sobre la hierba. Tenía el labio partido y sangrante, resultado del golpe con el escudo, y su cabello, negro como el carbón, estaba empapado de sudor. Escupió un diente roto.
—¿Ha terminado, madre? —preguntó el señor del Nido de Águilas.
Catelyn deseaba decirle que no, que aquello acababa de empezar.
—Sí —dijo Lysa, sombría, con voz tan fría y muerta como el capitán de su guardia.
—¿Ahora puedo hacer volar al hombrecillo?
—A este hombrecillo, no —dijo Tyrion Lannister poniéndose en pie al otro lado del jardín—. Este hombrecillo se va en la cesta de los nabos, muchas gracias.
The Arryns are descended from the Kings of Mountain and Vale, one of the oldest and purest lines of Andal nobility. Their sigil is the moon-and-falcon, white, upon a sky blue field. The Arryn words are As High as Honor.
[JON ARRYN], Lord of the Eyrie, Defender of the Vale, Warden of the East, Hand of the King, recently deceased,
His first wife, [LADY JEYNE, of House Royce], died in childbed, her daughter stillborn,
His second wife, [LADY ROWENA, of House Arryn], his cousin, died of a winter chill, childless,
His third wife and widow, LADY LYSA, of House Tully,
Their son:
ROBERT ARRYN, a sickly boy of six years, now Lord of the Eyrie and Defender of the Vale,
Their retainers and household:
MAESTER COLEMON, counselor, healer, and tutor,
SER VARDIS EGEN, captain of the guard,
SER BRYNDEN TULLY, called the Blackfish, Knight of the Gate and uncle to the Lady Lysa,
LORD NESTOR ROYCE, High Steward of the Vale,
SER ALBAR ROYCE, his son,
MYA STONE, a bastard girl in his service,
LORD EON HUNTER, suitor to Lady Lysa,
SER LYN CORBRAY, suitor to Lady Lysa,
MYCHEL REDFORT, his squire,
LADY ANYA WAYNWOOD, a widow,
SER MORTON WAYNWOOD, her son, suitor to Lady Lysa,
SER DONNEL WAYNWOOD, her son,
MORD, a brutal gaoler,
The principal houses sworn to the Eyrie are Royce, Baelish, Egen, Waynwood, Hunter, Redfort, Corbray, Belmore, Melcolm, and Hersy.
Seeing as how Sansa's prayers often come true , it could be Harrold dies in the tourney after being kicked off his horse or maybe he dies bravely like Waymar Royce, another arrogant Vale lordling when he journeys North to battle the Others ?
I vote a later death.
Harry dying doesn't upset Littlefinger's plans all that much. He remains Lord Protector. Sweetrobin is much more important to him. Sansa stands to lose much more of her immediate gain in that case, but Littlefinger could still “reveal” her as Sweetrobin’s betrothed and do the same thing as with Harry, essentially.
So the shock isn’t Harry dying. (IF he does.) It’s the how.
Also, Sansa’s prayers do tend to come true, but with a delay and a twist.
Horsefaced and homely, Alayne thought.
Harry, though...
My Harry. My lord, my lover, my betrothed. (...)
She smiled just for him, and said a silent prayer to the Maiden. Please, he doesn't need to love me, just make him like me, just a little, that would be enough for now. (...)
No tears, she prayed. Please, please, I must not cry. "As you wish, ser. And now if you will excuse me, Littlefinger's bastard must find her lord father and let him know that you have come, so we can begin the tourney on the morrow." And may your horse stumble, Harry the Heir, so you fall on your stupid head in your first tilt. (TWOW, Alayne)
We already guess what the twist on Handsome Harry’s contrast to his horsefaced cousin will be, as well as Sansa’s prayer to the Maiden to be liked, if she cannot be loved “for now”. The language is ardent. That’s promising.
Not so much the second part. I doubt Harry will suddenly break the pattern and fulfill Sansa’s prayer to the letter on the dot by actually being damaged in the tourney by accident.
We know he is no experienced warrior. His knighthood was won in a pre-arranged melee and there has been no fighting for the Vale knights. His “first tilt” is just as easily his first experience with actual battle. GRRM takes care via Brienne to show us just how excruciating it is on a mental level.
“When I was a squire young as you, I had a friend who was strong and quick and agile, a champion in the yard. We all knew that one day he would be a splendid knight. Then war came to the Stepstones. I saw my friend drive his foeman to his knees and knock the axe from his hand, but when he might have finished he held back for half a heartbeat. In battle half a heartbeat is a lifetime. The man slipped out his dirk and found a chink in my friend's armor. His strength, his speed, his valor, all his hard-won skill . . . it was worth less than a mummer's fart, because he flinched from killing. Remember that, girl." (AFFC, Brienne IV)
Considering that Littlefinger’s entire plan hinges on Harry being a willing tool to reconquer the North for her, a physically dangerous endeavor, it would actually be rather horrific for Sansa if Harry ended up dying in battle, perhaps even nobly, after she wishes him ill.
It would mirror the death of Ser Hugh in his fancy new moon-and-falcon armor in the Hand’s Tourney, only escalated to actual warfare. Arrogant, knighted too soon, little experience...
That boy today, his second joust, oh, that was a pretty bit of business. You saw that, did you? Fool boy, he had no business riding in this company. No money, no squire, no one to help him with that armor. That gorget wasn't fastened proper. You think Gregor didn't notice that? You think Ser Gregor's lance rode up by chance, do you? Pretty little talking girl, you believe that, you're empty-headed as a bird for true. Gregor's lance goes where Gregor wants it to go. (AGOT, Sansa II)
A chink in the armor is also the downfall of the similarly moon-and-falcon attired Ser Vardis Egen by the hand of dirty pragmatist Bronn.
Bronn was on him in a heartbeat, kicking what was left of his shattered rondel aside to expose the weak spot between arm and breastplate. Ser Vardis was lying on his side, pinned beneath the broken torso of the weeping woman. Catelyn heard the knight groan as the sellsword lifted his blade with both hands and drove it down and in with all his weight behind it, under the arm and through the ribs. Ser Vardis Egen shuddered and lay still. (AGOT, Catelyn VI)
Vardis died senselessly for Lysa, and Tyrion is released to go and befriend the mountain clans.
What are Harry’s arms?
The arms of Hardyng and Waynwood were displayed in the first and third quarters, respectively, but in the second and fourth quarters he bore the moon-and-falcon of House Arryn, sky blue and cream. (TWOW, Alayne)
Uh oh.
There is impending violence with the mountain clans, more than likely, which is one way for it to happen, or he could actually survive long enough to fight and die in the North when Sansa calls the knights for help. Either way, he will die for Sansa and it will be his blood on her hands, to a certain degree. I bet he will even die half a hero.
The man may not be a virtuous paragon of chivalry, but he is no monster and he is a father of soon enough two children and he has done nothing to Sansa to warrant a terrible punishment. She is the one who is induced to make use of him. If little Alys Stone became an orphan because Harry defended her interests, Sansa would regret her petty wish, and likely reconsider her approach to the lives of men who fight in her name.
The twist might be the bitter lesson for Sansa: tourneys are games, but there are no toy knights, only men of flesh and blood.
What was the first thing Sansa said about Harry?
She did not want to look stupid, though, so all she said was, "I pray he proves a worthy knight." (AFFC, Alayne II)
—Gnomo —dijo Lysa con tono gélido—, vigilad qué decís con esa lengua burlona, y cuando os dirijáis a mi hijo hacedlo con cortesía, u os aseguro que os daré motivos para lamentarlo. Recordad dónde estáis. Esto es el Nido de Águilas, los que os rodean son caballeros del Valle, hombres de verdad que querían a Jon Arryn. Todos y cada uno de ellos morirían por mí.
—Lady Arryn, si me sucede algo malo mi hermano Jaime estará encantado de encargarse de ese tema. —No había terminado de pronunciar aquellas palabras cuando se dio cuenta de que estaba cometiendo una locura.
—¿Sabéis volar, mi señor de Lannister? —preguntó Lysa—. ¿Acaso los enanos tienen alas? Si no es así, lo más sensato será que os traguéis la próxima amenaza que se os ocurra.
—No era una amenaza —replicó Tyrion—, sino una promesa.
