[Music]
the game of Thrones a cat's paw with a
Valyrian steel dagger is sent to kill a
comatose bran cat and summer stopped the
cat's paw but it's this very conflict
that sparks the great Stark Lannister
Feud cat ends up kidnapping Tyrion
thinking the dagger was his and when a
peace deal is presented to Ned by
Littlefinger he refuses citing the
attempted murder of bran the War of the
five kings erupts and a game of Thrones
ends with the reader likely convinced
that Cersei and Jaime sent the Kasbah to
hide their incest after all both Jaime
and Cersei even said the boy's death
would be a mercy at the end of a Clash
of Kings though the story is turned on
its head
Jaime quite convincingly denies he did
it even after admitting that he tried to
kill bran by tossing him from a window
and Cersei keeps nothing from him he
claims the War of the five kings was in
fact based on a misunderstanding and
that dagger it turns out it was Robert's
but who sent the catspaw if not Jaime
and Cersei and why on earth would they
have Robert's dagger and sell a book
later in a Storm of Swords we are
presented with a solution by Tyrion and
Jaime Joffrey sent the catspaw Tyrion
theorizes and later Jamie gives the
motive
Joffrey wanted to impress his dad who
drunkenly said that we as a society
should kill crippled children as a mercy
the mystery is supposedly solved and
George our Martin did say when a storm
of swords was released I will tell you
that a Storm of Swords will resolve the
question of bran and the dagger and also
that of Jon Aaron's killer some other
questions will not be resolved and
hopefully I will give you a few new
puzzles to worry at but did George
really resolve the question of Brandon
the dagger completely or is it just what
he wants us to believe well let's see if
the explanation makes any sense at all
so Tyrians deduction of Joffrey as the
master planner begins when Joffrey is
presented with various wedding gifts in
a Storm of Swords after being presented
with the new Valyrian steel sword
widow's wail Joffrey and the captain of
the City Guard Adam our brand have this
exchange have a carrier grace Valyrian
steel is perilously sharp I remember
Joffrey brought widow's wail down in a
savage two-handed slice on
to the book that Tyrion had given him
the heavy leather cover parted at a
stroke sharp I told you I'm no stranger
to Valyrian steel
now this boast is a bit odd first of all
Joffrey says I told you though it's not
clear when Joffrey and Marber and first
talked about Valyrian steel or is
Joffrey saying I told you because he
first said I remember a moment before
the larger and more important question
though is where exactly would Joffrey
come into contact with Valyrian steel
well it seems quite possible that Robert
would have shown him some at some point
or maybe Aaron Santa gar the
master-at-arms showed Joffrey a blade
during training at some point or maybe
Ilyn Payne might have let him examine
ice or maybe Ned show two mice at
Winterfell there are quite a few
possibilities and there are hundreds of
Valyrian blades in Westeros it wouldn't
be unreasonable for Joffrey to have seen
Valyrian steel before or is Joffrey
talking about the dagger then again
Joffrey seems quite amused of the
sharpness of widow's wail as if he was a
novice with Valyrian steel so it's not
unreasonable to think that Joffrey has
no experience with it then again
Joffrey's amusement may simply be
because it's the first time he has seen
Valyrian steel in a sword that he could
wield all in all it's rather difficult
to determine if Joffrey is a stranger to
Valyrian steel or not still this boast
seems to trigger something in Tyrion and
Tyrion asks his nephew if he wants a
matching dagger one with a dragon bone
hilt job gave him a sharp look you yes a
dagger to match my sword good he nodded
a gold hilt with rubies in it dragon
bone is too plain
now Joffrey's pauses and stumbles could
be read as an indication that Joffrey
does in fact know if the dagger after
all he does seem taken off-guard then
again Joffrey was probably expecting an
insult from an obviously enraged Tyrion
and then weirdly didn't receive one he
had purposely chopped up Tyrians book
likely to make Tyrion angry and Tyrion
is visibly upset and yet Tyrion weirdly
asks him if he wants a nice dagger it
seems somewhat reasonable that Joffrey
would stumble with his language then
again again Joffrey mentions that dragon
bone is too plain
when has Joffrey seen Dragon bone again
I suppose it's possible that Robert or
Aaron Santa Garth showed him some or it
could be possible that Joffrey is no
stranger to dragon bone because of the
dagger I do wonder if dragon bone is
generally considered plain I suppose
that's a matter of opinion but Tyrion
thinks dragon bone looks like black
diamond that doesn't seem plain on the
other hand Littlefinger certainly
believes dragon bone to be plain and
granted perhaps the dagger looked plain
relative to all the jewel encrusted
daggers that Robert owned still if one
thinks dragon bone is plain it implies
that one can recognize dragon bone so
why would one select a dagger with a
dragon bone hilt or was Joffrey lying
about his knowledge of Dragon bone as
well the entire scenario is rather
confused and ambiguous at the end of the
day we leave this breakfast with no
additional information to go on we still
have no idea if Joffrey is a stranger to
Valyrian steel or not or if is a
stranger to dragon bone or not or
whether he knew about the dagger or not
the only thing we do know is that Tyrion
is now highly suspicious of Joffrey's
guilt he even asked Sansa just quarreled
with your brother robb at Winterfell
tell me was there ill feeling between
bran and his grace as well Sansa has
confused and says they essentially
didn't interact still we can plainly see
Tyrians logic Joffrey claimed he knew
Valyrian steel and thus Tyrion asked
about the Valyrian steel dagger he was
taking Joffrey at his word he believed
Joffrey new Valyrian steel after all if
Tyrion believed the opposite that
Joffrey didn't know Valyrian steel there
would be no use in asking about the
dagger later we get inside Tyrians head
as he gets drunk and riddles things out
the best he can but in Tyrians
drunkenness he doesn't really have a
sound logical argument
Tyrion Stu's thinking about Joffrey's
words words that as we discussed don't
really tell if anything I am no stranger
to Valyrian steel the boy had boasted
the septons Roy's going on about how the
father above judges us all if the father
would be so good as to topple over and
crushed just like a dung beetle I might
even believe it again drunk Tyrion seems
to believe that Joffrey has
incriminating himself with that lon
he is no stranger to Valyrian steel
because he knew of the dagger but
there's no real merit to Tyrians beliefs
again it's entirely possible that
Joffrey has encountered Valyrian steel
from a number of other sources and it's
entirely possible Joffrey was lying and
hasn't encountered it at all he ought to
have seen it long ago Jaime would never
send another man to do his killing and
Cersei was too cunning to use a knife
that could be traced back to her but
Joff
arrogant vicious stupid little wretch
that he was so at this point it's
Tyrians belief that Joffrey in his
arrogance viciousness and stupidity
would in fact use a Valyrian dagger with
a dragon bone hilt that could be traced
back to him next Tyrion begins to think
back to the events surrounding the
attempted murder he remembered a cold
morning when he'd climbed down the steep
exterior steps from winterfell's library
to find Prince Joffrey jesting with the
hound about killing wolves send a dog to
kill a wolf he said now this is our
biggest piece of evidence that her
author is purposely showing Tyrion as
unreliable in his deduction
Joffrey never said send a dog to kill a
wolf and our author would know this fact
when writing the scene in a Storm of
Swords he would most certainly have the
scene from a game of Thrones open in
front of him as a reference what Joffrey
said was send a dog to kill a dog or
author put this error in intentionally
likely to draw us back to the scene from
a game of Thrones so let's just do that
and go back the boy is a long time dying
I wish you would be quicker about it
Tyrion glanced down and saw the Hound
standing with young Joffrey as Squires
swarmed around them at least he dies
quietly the prince replied it's the wolf
that makes the noise I could scarce
sleep last night
Clegane cast a long shadow across the
hard-packed earth as his squire lowered
the black helm over his head I could
silence the creature if it please you he
said through his open visor his boy
placed a longsword in his hand he tested
the weight of it slicing at the cold
morning air behind him the yard rang to
the clang ER of Steel on steel the
notion seemed to delight the Prince so
the dog to kill a dog he
blamed Winterfell is so infested with
wolves the Starks would never miss one
Tyrion hopped off the last step onto the
yard I beg to differ nephew he said the
Starks can count past six
unlike some princes I might name so it's
important to note that in no way was
Joffrey expressing any desire to kill
bran bran was dying quietly and it seems
Brent's suffering was of no concern to
Joffrey summer was the one keeping
Joffrey up at night Joffrey wanted
summer dead
not bran Joffrey's amusement comes from
the Hound being his dog and summer being
brand dog a dog killing a dog sending a
cat's paw to kill bran doesn't fit the
metaphor at all bran isn't a dog a cat's
paw isn't a dog at best maybe you can
get to a cat killing a wolf in fact this
scene if anything is evidence against
Joffrey and an implication of the Hound
the Hound is the one who is concerned
with bran suffering and would be looking
to Mercy kill him Joffrey is utterly
unconcerned with bran and thinks he's
dying anyway
not to mention Joffrey is bragging about
all of this in front of a group of
Squires would Joffrey be so brazen as to
attempt an attack after bragging to
everyone about it well obviously Tyrion
thinks so arrogant vicious and stupid
still it's pretty clear that tyrion is
misremembering pretty badly
Geoffrey never wanted to kill bran and
now we have two quotes that tyrion is
using to implicate Joffrey I am no
stranger to Valyrian steel and send a
dog to kill a wolf both of which have no
merit at all
even that misremembered line sent a dog
to kill a wolf still involves a dog and
a dog wasn't sent so how exactly is the
line send a dog to kill a dog or even
send a dog to kill a wolf an admission
of anything it isn't no one said send a
cat to kill a wolf and even curing
himself starts setting these quotes and
logic aside because they don't make
sense yet he still maintains his belief
that Joffrey is guilty even Joffrey was
not so foolish as to command Sandor
Clegane to slay a son of Eddard Stark
however the Hound would have gone to
Cersei now if Tyrion had remembered the
scene correctly he would have
remember that the hound specifically
offered his Cohen destined killing
services to Joffrey
granted it was for killing summer but
the logistics would have been identical
he would have still had to speak in two
brands room to kill the wolf in fact
it's a bit striking that the Hound first
expresses concern about brand dying too
slowly and then offers to sneak into
brands room to do a hit job I actually
questioned whether the Hound would have
gone to Cersei had Joffrey asked him
regardless Tyrians memory of Winterfell
is completely and utterly lost in its
implication of Joffrey Joffrey mused
about using Clegane to kill summer yet
Tyrion uses it as proof of a cat's ball
being used to kill bran both the method
and target are incorrect it's like using
the line I'm going to fly to Chicago as
evidence that you drove to New York
frankly it's ridiculous instead the boy
found its cat's paw among the unsavory
lot of Free Riders merchants and camp
followers who attach themselves to the
Kings party as they made their way north
some proxy lack wit willing to risk his
life for a Prince's favor and a little
coin Tyrion wondered whose idea it had
been to wait until Robert left
Winterfell before opening brand's throat
shops most like no doubt he thought it
was the height of cunning next tyrion
imagines that instead of using the hound
who volunteered his service Joffrey
instead was smart enough to use a cat's
paw among the camp followers and then
Geoff was cunning enough to have the man
wait until well after Roberts departure
as a point of fact to the attempted
murder is eight days after the departure
now earlier Tyrion had argued that
Joffrey was arrogant vicious and stupid
in his attempt involving a dagger that
could be traced to him and he assumes he
talked about his plans in front of a
group of Squires
but now we see Tyrion assuming cunning
and caution and Joffrey supposed plan
he's smart and cautious enough to not
use the Hound and have the killer wait
over a week before the strike but
somehow he's arrogant and stupid enough
to use a dagger that can be traced to
him and talk about it in front of
Squires is Joffrey arrogant vicious and
stupid or not of course I will say
there's a bunch of glaring weaknesses to
the supposed plan the cat's paw is
already paid so what exactly is stopping
him from not committing murder and just
I do have to say that the cat's paw is
unusually dedicated he patiently lives
in stables for over a week rather than
just running off then one night he sets
the Winterfell library on fire as a
distraction then gets up to brands room
to find Katalin then again rather than
just running off he decides to murder
cat too he was ordered to mercy kill a
comatose boy not murder the lady of
Winterfell somehow Joffrey a 13 year old
boy was able to hire an incredibly
honest and incredibly dedicated child
murderer the blade Jeff chose was nice
and plain no gold work new jewels in the
hilt no silver inlay on the blade King
Robert's never wore it had likely
forgotten he owned it yet the Valyrian
steel was deadly sharp sharp enough to
slice through skin flesh and muscle in
one quick stroke now one thing that is
absolutely baffling is why on earth
Joffrey needed to provide a cat's ball
with a dagger our daggers and knives
hard to come by in Westeros let's say
knives are hard to come by
wouldn't a pitchfork from the stables
work just as well in killing bran or you
know a rock or one's hands there is this
thing called strangling it's not like a
comatose boy is going to be fighting
back providing a dagger is simply
gratuitous in fact it's so gratuitous
that it makes it look like someone
wanted things to be traced back anyway
Tyrion tries to tell us that the blade
was nice and plain and granted this is
Littlefinger's opinion as well but at
the same time the blade still is
Valyrian steel which is usually
described as striking Valyrian steel is
described as dark rippled and beautiful
is that really plain and dragon bone
looks like onyx or black diamonds yes
the dagger may not be as showy as the
other ones in Robert's collection but at
the same time Sir Roderick specifically
said that this dagger wouldn't go
unnoticed
additionally dragon bone and Valyrian
steel are described as light with
Geoffrey not notice the uniqueness of
this blade incidentally the bit about
Robert forgetting he had this blade is
likely incorrect Jamie specifically
tells a story about Robert rubbing in
the fact that he won this blade at
attorney betting against the Kingslayer
not to mention would anyone really
forget owning a Valyrian steel dagger
I am no stranger to Valyrian steel but
he had been hadn't he else he would have
never been so foolish as the pick little
fingers knife and now Tyrion sets aside
his original reason for suspecting
Joffrey in the first place again
Tyrion only suspected Joffrey because
Joffrey boasted that he knew Valyrian
steel
he then thinks Joffrey is arrogant
vicious and stupid enough to use a
dagger that can be traced back to him
and then he recalls that Joffrey had
mused about sending a dog to kill a wolf
but as we discussed
none of these reasons make any sense
Geoffrey never said sent a dog to kill a
wolf he said send a dog to kill a dog as
in the Hound going to kill summer not a
cat's paw killing bran and apparently
Joffrey isn't stupid because he was
clever enough to not use the Hound and
to wait eight days and apparently he's
now not arrogant enough to use a dagger
that could be traced back to him as
Tyrion is now claiming that Joffrey
didn't know the dagger was special and
now finally the very thing that caused
Tyrians initial suspicion has been set
aside because it doesn't fit
Tyrion now thinks Joffrey doesn't know
Valyrian steel which means any pauses
that Joffrey made during breakfast would
be innocuous which means there was
absolutely no reason to suspect him
Kyrian's logic is simply bankrupt it
relies on Joffrey to know Valyrian steel
to be acting funny during breakfast but
to not know Valyrian steel in order to
choose bodega it relies on faking a
connection from wanting Clegane to kill
summer to a cat's paw killing bran it
relies on Joffrey being cunning enough
to not ask the Hound and waiting a week
but stupid enough to not recognize
Valyrian steel or dragon bone in look or
weight and it relies on him being stupid
enough to think that he needs to provide
a dagger to a cat's paw and in the end
Tyrion doesn't even have a motive the
why of it eluded him
simple cruelty perhaps his nephew had
that in abundance so Tyrion sticks with
viciousness and it's hard to argue that
Joffrey isn't vicious but that's kind of
the very problem isn't it
this wasn't viciousness this was
actually quite the opposite it was mercy
perhaps misguided mercy but mercy
nonetheless Joffrey had no concern for
brand precisely because he was vicious
he didn't care about brand
suffering Joffrey was perfectly content
as long as brand died quietly this is in
stark opposition to say the Hound who's
able to sympathize and wanted mercy for
bran it was all Tyrion could do not to
retch up all the wine he drunk piss in
his breeches or both he squirmed
uncomfortably he ought to have held his
tongue at breakfast the boy knows I know
now my big mouth will be the death of me
I swear it and we finally end Tyrians
production with an illogical coda Tyrion
thinks that Joffrey now knows that he
knows and how exactly if the boy was a
stranger to Valyrian steel and thought
he used a regular dagger then how would
Tyrion mentioning a Valyrian steel
dagger let Joffrey know anything again
this doesn't make any sense
so despite Tyrion having almost
comically bad logic filled with
contradictions and incorrect memories he
is somehow not the only person to come
to the conclusion that Joffrey did it
Jaime does as well with a little help
from Cersei and we will talk about their
deduction next time we will see you guys
in part 2
you