In A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones, Tyrion Lannister encounters the mountain clansmen
of the Vale , “savage” warriors who live as “bandits and outlaws” in the Mountains
of the Moon . The clansman threaten to kill Tyrion at first , but he convinces them to
fight for him instead, promising gold , arms, and the Vale itself . So the clansmen fight
for the Lannisters at the Green Fork and in the Kingswood , they serve as guards for Tyrion
in King’s Landing , there’s some funny banter about feeding manhoods to goats , but
by the start of Storm they go their separate ways – some stay in the Kingswood, others
go home to the Vale . So the clansmen play only a minor role in the story so far, but
there are actually some really cool theories about them, one of which concerns Timett son
of Timett, a chief of the Burned Men. The Burned Men are one of the clans that the
clansmen are divided into, along with the Stone Crows, the Black Ears, and the Moon
Brothers . But the Burned Men stand apart from the others , they’re feared by the
other clans – because they have this custom of burning away parts of their own bodies
to “prove their courage”, as a sort of a coming-of-age manhood ritual. Most men burn
off a nipple, or a finger, or an ear, but Timett put out his own left eye, and his fellows
were so impressed that they made him their chief . We don’t learn much about Timett
as a person, apart from his ability to rip out a man’s throat barehanded , but some
fans believe that he may be the rightful heir to the Vale – potentially the ruler of one
of the Seven Kingdoms. So the Lord of the Vale is currently Robert
– or Robin – Arryn , and he’s not expected to live much longer , because he’s “weak
and sickly” , and because he’s being fed dangerously high amounts of a drug called
sweetsleep under the orders of Littlefinger . And Robert doesn’t have any children or
siblings, so “when he dies”, Lordship of the Vale will be inherited by someone in
his extended family. In Feast, Littlefinger explains that since most of the Arryns are
dead, or joined the Faith, the heir to the Vale after Robert is Harrold Hardyng – Robert’s
father’s sister’s daughter’s son. Littlefinger plans to marry Sansa to Harrold in order to
win power over both the Vale and the North – though in the show Sansa is married to
Ramsay Bolton, which is kind of a crazier plan. Anyway Harrold, or Harry, is believed
to be the heir to the Vale – but Littlefinger mentions that one of Harry’s mother’s
older sisters was “carried … off” by the Burned Men . If that unnamed Waynwood
happened to have a legitimate child with one of the Burned Men, that child would be heir
to the Vale ahead of Harry. Fans speculate that Timett – the only named Burned Man
in the story – is that child, the rightful Lord of the Vale after Robert.
Admittedly, we’re not given any evidence that this Waynwood woman ever had a son with
the Burned Men. But it’s certainly plausible, and it could make a lot of narrative sense
for the mountain clans to take control of the Vale. Because Tyrion promises the Vale
to the clansmen , and we are all told that “A Lannister always pays his debts” . And
Tyrion is currently working with Daenerys Targaryen, who intends to, eventually, invade
Westeros. Many fans believe that the Vale could be an important location in Daenerys’
invasion because of its huge mountaintop castle, the Eyrie, which is considered “impregnable”
– unless you have dragons – Daenerys could fly right up there on Drogon . So if Daenerys
does invade the Vale, it would make a lot of sense to use Tyrion’s relationship with
the mountain clans to help take it – in fact, Tyrion has already mentioned a plan
to use the clans against the Vale . Also, we’re told that the clansmen, especially
Timett and the Burned Men, have become bolder and more powerful since returning from King’s
Landing , so there’s little doubt they’d be keen for an attack. So the pieces are all
here for Tyrion to use the clansmen against the Vale, which could set the stage for Timett
to claim his rightful place as ruler of the Vale.
Of course, there are still big problems with the idea. Firstly, Timett wouldn’t be considered
a legitimate heir unless his father – also called Timett – and the Weynwood woman were
married – and we don’t know if the clansmen even practice marriage. It’s possible for
a king or queen to legitimise Timett, though technically an already-legitimate son like
Harry would still come first, so Harry might have to die for Timett to legitimately be
the heir. Even if all that happens, it’s very hard to imagine the Lords of the Vale
accepting a “savage” clansman as their ruler – it could maybe be forced on them
whether they like it or not, but it’s hard to see that working out in the long run. Finally,
we don’t know if anyone in Westeros knows about Timett’s possible parentage. And if
they did, how could they prove it? Maybe Timett’s mother is still alive, living among the mountain
clansmen – perhaps she could attest to Timett’s parentage.
The bottom line is that it’s totally possible that Timett son of Timett, or maybe some other
unnamed Burned Man, is a descendent of the Arryns. Whether he’ll ever be recognised
as a legitimate heir to the Vale is less likely, so maybe this’ll remain a little easter
egg for the readers. Either way, it does seem likely that Tyrion will use the clansmen against
the Vale, and Timett will presumably be a part of that. So at the very least, we’ll
probably get to see our favourite Burned Man feeding manhoods to goats before the story
is done. Thanks for watching. If you’d like to read
some further discussion of this theory, there are links in the description to some relevant
Reddit and Westeros.org threads. This video was made possible with the support of Patrons
on Patreon, including Karin Granström, Alexander Deltrus, kingslayerJamie, Jason Gray Jr, A
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