r/asoiaf•
LChris24

A great little piece of writing in the series (imo) comes from D&E... (Spoilers Extended)

EXTENDED

The below passage where GRRM is writing about the bastards of Aegon IV in Dunk & Egg, might be some of the best layered writing in the series. In the Mystery Knight, the hedge knight known as Maynard Plumm states to Egg that he is "distantly" related to Lord Viserys Plumm:

I am Ser Kyle, the Cat of Misty Moor. Under yonder chestnut sits Ser Glendon, ah, Ball. And here you have the good Ser Maynard Plumm."

Egg's ears pricked up at that name. "Plumm… are you kin to Lord Viserys Plumm, ser?"

"Distantly," confessed Ser Maynard, a tall, thin, stoop-shouldered man with long straight flaxen hair, "though I doubt that His Lordship would admit to it. One might say that he is of the sweet Plumms, whilst I am of the sour." Plumm's cloak was as purple as name, though frayed about the edges and badly dyed. A moonstone brooch big as a hen's egg fastened it at the shoulder. Elsewise he wore dun-colored roughspun and stained brown leather. -The Mystery Knight

which doesn't seem like anything at until the reader realizes that Maynard Plumm is likely Bloodraven in glamour, and then on each subsequent read (some readers might pick up sooner than others) you come across something new with regards to the above line.

Read #1 (Ambiguous)

  • The reader meets Maynard Plumm the hedge knight for the first time. You think it is possible he is related to Viserys Plumm, but also realize that hedge knights lie.

Read #2 (Lie)

  • You realize that Maynard Plumm is actually Bloodraven in a glamour and therefore assume that Bloodraven is just lying.

Read #3 (Truth)

  • You realize that Viserys Plumm's mother is Elaena Targaryen and therefore Bloodraven isn't lying when he says he is distantly related to Viserys.

Read #4 (GOAT)

  • Viserys Plumm was likely fathered by Aegon IV (since Ossifer Plumm was probably dead) when Elaena got pregnant, so in truth not only are Viserys/Bloodraven related they are half brothers (in addition to whatever weird cousin relative they have through elaena)

As Bloodraven/Maynard says:

Aegon the Unworthy had bedded half the maidens in the realm and fathered bastards on the lot of them, supposedly. Worse, the old king had legitimized them all upon his deathbed; the baseborn ones born of tavern wenches, whores, and shepherd girls, and the Great Bastards whose mothers had been highborn. "We'd all be bastard sons of old King Aegon if half these tales were true."

"And who's to say we're not?" Ser Maynard quipped. -The Mystery Knight

TLDR: GRRMs layered writing about the relationship between Bloodraven and Viserys Plumm in the Mystery Knight is amazing.

Posted Mar 29, 2022, 1:13 PM UTC

8523
Loading comments…