TWoW, Barristan II

Background

While we have many of the available TWoW preview chapters in full, we unfortunately only have fan summaries of TWoW, Barristan II. In this post I thought it would be fun to discuss the events of the chapter, as it (along with Tyrion II get pretty far into the Battle of Ice).

If interested: Timeline of Chapters for the Opening TWoW Battles

Note: Since TWoW, Barristan I was made available in the paperback, I am going to assume that you have read the chapter. Here is the wiki summary of the chapter if you would like a refresher.

Note II: This sample chapter is at least 13 years old and could definitely have been revised or changed.

Major Events

Please remember this is a fan summary and not GRRM's prose:

• Barristan Leads the Charge

With Barristan leading the charge, he takes up an extremely dangerous role. It should be noted that if Barristan falls, the command goes to the Widower (of the Stormcrows):

His gut feels twisted from nervousness as he rides through the gates. He knows that the feeling will go away when time slows down in the chaos of battle. Dany’s horse is easily outpacing the lads and the rest of the cavalry; Barristan is pleased because he intends to outrun the Widower and strike the first blow. The Yunkai’i are totally unprepared and Barristan closes in on the Harridan, the largest of the trebuchets. The stormcrows take up the cry, “Daario!” and “Stormcrows, fly!” Barristan thinks that he will never again doubt the valor of sellswords.

There are only thirty yards between the horse and the Yunkai’i legions by the time any defense is mounted. The air fills with arrows. A squire for the stormcrows is killed, and a bolt pierces Barristan’s shield. There are three horn blasts and the pitfighters emerge from the gate behind them.

• Presence of the Pit Fighters

The presence of the pit fighters (who are not loyal to Dany but to Hizdahr) should be noted. I have read great theories they could try and kill Barristan:

Barristan glances back to see the pitfighters. There are about two hundred of them, but they make enough noise for two thousand. One woman stands out, wearing nothing but greaves, sandals, a chainmail skirt, and a python. Barristan is a bit shocked and, watching her breasts bouncing around, thinks that this day is sure to be her last. The pitfighters are mostly shouting “Loraq!” and “Hizdar!” but some do call out “Danaerys!” Larraq is hit in the chest with an arrow, bringing Barristan’s attention forward, but the squire keeps the banners held high and shakes it off.

If interested: Blood in the Arena: The Gladiators/Fighting Pits of ASOIAF

• The Slave Legions/Little Pigeon

Barristan makes the smart move in the heat of the moment and pivots towards attacking the Slave Legions:

Barristan has reached the Harridan, but a Ghiscari legion six thousand strong has lined up to protect the huge trebuchet. They are six ranks deep -- the first rank kneels and holds their spears pointing out and up, the second rank stands and holds their spears out at waist height, and and the third rank holds the spears out on their shoulders. The rest have small throwing spears and are ready to step forward when their comrades fall.

Barristan knows that a maester’s chain is only as strong as his weakest link, and identifies the companies of the Yunkish lords as the weakest of his immediate foes, certainly weaker than the slave legions. In particular, Barristan targets the Little Pigeon and his herons. The slaves chosen to be herons were freakishly tall before they were put on stilts, and wear pink scales and feathers and steel beaks. But Barristan sees that they will be blind because of the dawn rising over the city, and like to break ranks easily, so Barristan turns away from the legion guarding the trebuchet at the last minute and heads for the herons.

I am so excited to read about the newly knighted Red Lamb killing the Little Pigeon:

He cuts the head off of one of the herons and his lads join the fray. Dany’s horse knocks a heron into three others and they all fall over. In a moment, the herons are scattering and running away, led by the Little Pigeon himself. Unfortunately for the Little Pigeon, he trips over the fringes of his bird armor and gets caught by the Red Lamb. The Little Pigeon begs for mercy, saying that he will fetch a large ransom. The Red Lamb just says “I came for blood, not gold” and knocks in the Little Pigeon’s head with his mace, splattering blood all over Barristan and Dany’s silver horse.

If interested: The Slaver Alliance Nicknames

• Unsullied/Sellswords

As the Slavers fail to launch a counter attack, Barristan thinks about the different treacherous sellsword companies:

The unsullied begin marching through the gates, and Barristan sees that the Yunkai’i have missed their chance to effectively launch a counterattack. As he watches more of the slave legions get slaughtered, mostly those who were chained together and could not retreat, he wonders where the sellsword companies like the treacherous Second Sons have gone. The unsullied finish lining up outside the gates, implacable even when one of their own number falls with a crossbow bolt to the neck.

• Arrival of the Ironborn

We then see the Ironborn arrive and basically Redgrass Field the Slavers:

Tumco draws Barristan’s attention to the bay, asking “Why are there so many ships?” Barristan remembers that yesterday there were twenty, but now there are thrice that many. His heart sinks when he reasons that the ships from Volantis must have arrived, but then sees that some of the ships are crashing together.

He asks Tumco, whose young eyes can see more clearly, to identify the banners. Tumco says “Squids, big squids. Like in the Basilisk Isles, where sometimes they drag whole ships down.” Barristan replies, “Where I’m from, we call them krakens.”

Realizing that the Greyjoys have arrived, his first thought is “Has Balon joined with Joffrey, or the Starks?” But he realizes that he’s heard that Balon is dead, and wonders if this has something to do with the Balon’s son, the boy who was a ward of the Starks. He sees that ironmen are coming ashore, fighting the Yunkish, and says, surprised, “They are on our side!” The sellswords did not come to meet his charge because they were already preoccupied with the ironborn!

Barristan is almost gleeful. “It’s like Baelor Breakspear and Prince Maekar, the hammer and the anvil. We have them! We have them!”

If interested: Revisiting the Victarion Fragment

Final Thoughts

• Post Reading GRRM Thoughts

GRRM mentions that these are Victarion's men (that we read about in TWoW Victarion I and Tyrion II):

[GRRM pointed out that these were, of course, Victarion's men and made a comment about Tyrion currently being quite miserable.]

and he also mentioned that this chapter is called Ser Barristan:

When asked if he felt guilty killing his characters, he said yes, but that stories with perfectly safe heroes are dishonest because death is a part of life.

I asked whether he would comment on his choice to call these chapters “Ser Barristan” instead of continuing with the titles from ADWD, and he replied that he has “a method to his madness” for promoting characters with descriptors to named characters but that he didn’t want to say more.

• Tyrion II

Tyrion II which also takes place during the Battle of Fire, gives us a bit of context that we are missing here. We find out that the sellswords that Barristan worries about and then thinks are engaging the Ironborn have had groups come back over to Team Dany in the Windblown (who Barristan bribed with Pentos) and the Second Sons.

• Barristan's Lads

I don't think there is a group of characters that I want to survive the Battle of Fire more than the young group of squires that Barristan has been training.

If interested: Ser Barristan's Lads

• Barristan as a POV

Barristan was only added as a POV in order for GRRM to solve the "Meereenese Knot". There are also plenty of other POVs in the area (Victarion/Tyrion) and at some point Dany. It is very possible that Barristan is either no longer a POV at some point or dies.

If interested: Death of a POV: There is always another POV Character Around

• Other Incomplete TWoW Chapters

While we have 8 chapters (Alayne, Mercy, The Forsaken, Barristan I, Tyrion II, Theon, Arianne I/II) we have numerous other chapters that we only have partials/bullet points or fragments. A couple posts if you are interested: TWoW Victarion I: An Extremely Small Known but Potentially Forgotten Detail & Revisiting the Asha Fragment,

• Unmentioned Dragons

When you look at the other TWOW Battle of Fire chapters, the fan who summarized this reading seemed to hit most of the other things going on from the Victarion/Tyrion/first Barristan chapters the biggest thing missing is the dragons flying overhead as the horn is about to be blown.

TLDR: A post on the supposed events of TWoW, Barristan II. While subject to change, we should get a glimpse of the middle of the Battle of Fire but unfortunately we only have fan summary of the reading.