Chapter 19: chapter 19 : Let us drink and mourn our fathers
Torrhen: Should I continue?!
Jon:...Go ahead...
Torrhen: I am sincerely sorry for your loss Jon…
Jon: Just...Go ahead...
Torrhin: Following the death of his father, Robb took up the bannermen of House Stark and marched south to wage war against the Lannisters. His mother had joined him and they went to negotiate with Walder Frey for a right of passage for the twins in exchange for a marriage between Robb and one of the Frey girls. Your brother subsequently had a series of victories and even managed to capture the Kingslayer.
Jon: Poor him, one of that old rat's daughters. Although she can be pretty. He's doing pretty well at war apparently.
Torrhen: Renly Baratheon proclaimed himself Robert's heir and took part of his house's forces to claim the crown and he was off to a good start especially with his alliance with House Tyrell through a marriage between him and Lady Margaery.
Jon: And Stannis?
Torrhin: Stannis had also gathered the rest of his forces to claim his succession to the throne, he is said to be assisted by a red priestess and to burn people alive. While Robb trusted Theon, he sent this guy to convince his father Balon to join the ironborn army with them but Theon betrayed him and allied himself with his family to storm the North. He dared to try to storm Winterfell with 20 men and it was a massacre. As incredible as it may seem, the two Young Lords Bran and Rickon defended their castle with arms in hand. Bran could walk (thanks to the nanites) and move better than ever in addition to being a prodigy in swordsmanship and Rickon killed 7 ironborn with his bow not to mention their enormous direwolves. The worthy children of a fighter like Lord Stark.
Jon: I left them some presents before leaving, I taught them a few things…
Torrhin: It proved useful for them. They had managed to capture Theon who they locked up while waiting for Robb to return. Yara, Theon's sister, had tried to invade Deepwood Mott and recover her brother but the Glovers, the Forresters and the Glenmores repelled them cleanly while ensuring the protection of Winterfell.
Jon: They followed my instructions.
Torrhen: Jon, Bran executed him. He executed Theon for his treachery. As temporary Lord of Winterfell, Bran had judged and condemned him but the law dictates that it is the one who pronounces the sentence who executes the condemned.
Jon: In times of crisis like these, boys are forced to become men. Bran was certainly angry that Theon would do such a thing right after Lord Stark's death.
Torrhen: In the meantime, Tyrion had been made hand of the king and had even made some changes to the court like Janos Slynt, the commander of the watch whom he condemned to the Wall.
Jon: What is his job here?
Torrhen: This man was an incompetent through and through, he died during a mutiny.
Jon: Was there a mutiny?
Torrhen: Yes, at Shadow Tower. The mutineers were led by a former cutthroat from the capital, Karl Tanner, but the rebellion did not last long and was put down severely by the captain in charge of the fort.
Jon: Edmund?
Torrhen: Yes and his severity was even greater against the former criminals after that, it was said that Karl was very strong but he was killed very quickly by Edmond and in a single blow. The honorary volunteers (all mutants) killed the mutineers without much harm.
Jon: Go on...
Torrhen: Thanks to the Bolton forces led by Ramsay Snow, the bastard of Roose, as well as an alliance with your brothers, the ironborn were definitively driven out of the North and at the same time Arya was able to return to Winterfell. She had to meet her mother and Robb who ordered her to return to the North still under the protection of Jory.
Jon: Good man.
Torrhen: Robb proudly led the war against the Lannisters for over two years where Renly was mysteriously killed and Stannis defeated at the Nera. In the meantime, Jaime Lannister who was your brother's prisoner had attempted an escape and killed my older brother Harrion in his escape. He was the last of my brothers alive. Harald accompanied my father to the war in my place, but he died saving Robb in battle.
Jon: I am sincerely sorry about your brothers Torrhen.
Torrhen:...They did their duty . Jaime Lannister had been caught and while my father demanded justice for my brother, Robb refused to listen to him and exchanged Jaime for Sansa at the capital. Was this little idiot worth my brothers' sacrifices ? Of all those men who fell in the war ?
Jon: Far from it.
Torrhen: Because tensions were rising, Catelyn Tully had Jaime Lannister secretly released and delivered to King's Landing in exchange for Sansa under someone's escort. A woman named Brienne of Tarth. My father was angry just like the other bannermen and for this infamous betrayal, Robb just had his mother watched in her chambers. She betrayed the North and that was the punishment for her even though she basically had nothing to do there.
Jon:...
Torrhen: Due to the death of Renly, Tywin who had been made hand of the king after Tyrion was injured during the Battle of the blackwatter forged an alliance with the Tyrells to marry Lady Margaery to King Joffrey, thus excluding Sansa from the marriage then that she was being tormented by Joffrey and the Queen. He also began an alliance with the Vale by sending Petyr Baelish there to seduce the widow Arryn, marry her and thus rally the armies of the Vale to the Lannisters.
Jon: The old lion is formidable.
Torrhen: Much more than we thought. He decided to marry Sansa to Tyrion as a pure strategy.
Jon: (frowns) Why? The North and Stark gold?
Torrhen: Exactly, if Robb died then the only two males left were going to be Bran and Rickon. The two boys had been undergoing assassination attempts in Winterfell for a while and no longer safe at home, they disappeared with Arya while a large fire caused by another assassination ravaged Winterfell, they were declared dead with the violence of the flames. Sansa had finally been married to Tyrion.
Jon:…
Torrhen: Robb had also gotten married in the meantime.
Jon: To the Frey girl?
Torrhen: No, to a pretty foreigner who served as a caregiver after battles.
Jon: Didn't that idiot and his mother give their words to Walder Frey?!!
Torrhen: Robb broke his word. He went to war and willingly turned away from his goal for romance, he spat on the sacrifices of all those dead men when his only sacrifice would have been to marry old Frey's daughter. Men had even named him King in the North at the beginning when he still had a brain.
Jon: He doesn't deserve that title.
Torrhen: One day, to take justice, my father killed two young Lannister prisoners and Robb...Robb executed him. He killed my father and beheaded him! He killed my father for killing prisoners but just had his mother locked up when she betrayed the entire north by releasing the kingslayer.
Jon: Torrhen…
Torrhen: He and his mother tried to repair the mistake done to Walder Frey by marrying Walder's daughter to Edmur Tully, Catelyn's brother. Old Frey agreed but it was an illusion. During the wedding, he had all the guests killed including Robb, his pregnant wife, his mother and even their bannermen outside. This event was called "The Red Wedding".
Jon: ROBB IS DEAD ?! Walder Frey killed people at a wedding ?!
Torrhen: Aren't you sad for them?
Jon: Not after everything you just told me, mother and son were idiots who took people to their deaths without considering their sacrifices for their own personal satisfaction. Torrhen, I am sad for Lord Stark, I am very sad for your father and your brothers but not for them. Walder did such a thing for this simple affront?
Torrhin: No. At some point, Jaime was captured by the Boltons who made a deal with the Lannisters to seize the North and the Freys participated in this plot. Tywin wants the North and the Boltons will be his help with their vassals, the Freys and part of the Lannister forces. In King's Landing, there was movement because Tyrion had disappeared the day before his wedding to Sansa. According to our informants, he fled there with his lover, a prostitute named Shae.
Jon: Tyrion listened to one of my pieces of advice but it's not important. Why is all this necessary? Why all this Lannister force heading north?
Torrhen: The resistance. Young Starks Arya, Bran and Rickon have made their sorting after the fire of Winterfell and are supported by House Forestier, Glenmore, House Mormont and House Glover. Tywin had declared House Stark traitors to the crown and wanted to remove them from their status by force in the name of the king, Lannister and Tyrell forces are on their way to the North. Roose legitimized his bastard became Ramsay Bolton and gave him the mission to kill the rest of the Stark children and then subdue the rest of the houses. In their madness, Bolton soldiers attacked some of our recruiters
Jon: When was that?
Torrhen: It was a week ago, Roose was extremely angry and sent a crow with a letter of apology which we didn't respond to. Our men had suffered no damage And they had killed almost all those soldiers but it remained a provocation.
Jon: Don't these idiots know I'm legitimized as Stark? I'm older than Bran and Rickon so I'm more of a threat than them.
Torrhen: Jon, everyone has thought you were dead for years, you were declared missing as you requested. Apart from us, you haven't given any news to anyone and the last news they had of you was your departure for beyond the wall three years ago.
Jon: That's perfect. There is nothing left ?
Torrhen: King Joffrey is dead, poisoned during his marriage to Lady Margaery who is now engaged to King Tommen Baratheon and Sansa has been missing since the same day Joffrey died just like the spider, Lord Varys. It may be that he was the one who organized her departure when Baelish was a little too interested in her.
Jon: What a great deal. Thank you my friend for all this information. Were our informants paid?
Torrhen: Well.
Jon: That's good, I'll do something for you too. You are the last heir of Rickard Karstark. I have an idea of the plans to come. We have a lot to do now but I would like to know one thing.
Torrhen: I'm listening.
Jon: My uncle Benjen did nothing when Lord Stark died and other events followed ?
Torrhen: He almost took his horse to join Robb during his war but he refrained from doing so. Only, he had sent several of his men to watch over the children at Winterfell. He came to apologize to me when he learned what Robb did to my father, I didn't know what to say to him because his losses were just as great.
Jon: Um I understand. You can go, I need to be alone for a while because I have tears to cry.
Torrhen: I can stay if you want, you are like my own brother and our fathers were relatives. (takes a jug of wine) Let's drink and mourn our fathers, Jon. Your apple liqueur will do the trick perfectly.
Jon looked at him for a moment before slowly nodding as tears began to fall from his eyes. They drank, cried, laughed even while crying before Jon told him about some of his adventures on the other side of the wall.
Torrhen was telling the truth, Jon was like his brother and there was no way he would leave him alone in this pain.
[ The entities ]
Eternity: Okay, Torrhen is definitely one of my favorite characters.
Death: A bro like that or nothing. He waited for Jon despite everything the Karstarks suffered because of Robb.
Reality: We improved Jon but many tragedies could not be changed or avoided.
Eternity: I think it's better. Arya returned home instead of her inconsistent power-up arc in the Faceless. It was stupid, this girl had become a Shonen character in such a universe.
Death: Totally agree. Bran is walking again and along with Rickon, they are going to be very useful to their house now that they are fearsome mutants. The mystery is if Bran will become the three-eyed raven again and if he will have this stupid personality like in the series.
Reality: We will see, we are going to enter unknown territory. The Lannister and Tyrell armies are on the march to take the North and support the Boltons. Jon will definitely slaughter them.
Eternity: Sansa's location also remains unknown.
Death: Who cares?!
Others :...
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