Brawl in a tavern in the Riverlands

Brawl in a tavern in the Riverlands
Part of the War of the Five Kings
← Previous	Red Wedding
Next →	Purple Wedding
Event information
Date	301 AC
Place	A tavern, the Riverlands
Outcome	Lannister defeat
Factions
House Stark House Clegane
House Lannister
Leaders
Sandor Clegane
Polliver †
Participants
Arya Stark
Lannister men-at-arms Polliver Lowell
Casualties
None
Polliver Lowell Three Lannister men-at-arms

" Something wrong with your leg, boy?"

―Arya Stark

A brawl in a tavern in the Riverlands was a minor engagement during the War of the Five Kings.

History

Prelude

Arya Stark and the Hound are traveling through the Riverlands on a single horse, heading to the Vale, where the Hound plans to ransom Arya to her aunt.

They arrive at a tavern, noticing that there are five horses outside. Although they are hungry, the Hound points out they are outnumbered, by the number of horses. Just then, two men exit to relieve themselves; Arya recognizes one of them as Polliver, the Lannister man-at-arms who took Arya's sword Needle and killed her friend Lommy at the fight at the holdfast. She also notices that Polliver still has Needle in possession. As soon as Polliver and the other man enter the inn, Arya advances, determined to retrieve Needle and to avenge Lommy's death. The Hound comes after her and stops her at the tavern's door, harshly tells that he does not care what Polliver did, but then someone comes outside and sees them. The Hound decides to go in anyway.

Polliver and four other soldiers, including Lowell, are inside, robbing the innkeeper of his supplies and harassing his daughter. Polliver recognizes the Hound and amiably greets him. He wonders what brings the Hound so far, and the Hound wonders the same of him. Polliver says he is keeping the King's peace, but the Hound finds it needless as the war is over. Polliver tells about Stannis's defeat at the Blackwater and the Red Wedding. Polliver offers the Hound to join them in raping, robbing, and pillaging; they have free rein to do as they wish, since they are wearing the King's colors and no one is standing in his way as the war is over. The Hound's blunt response is "fuck the King". Offended, Polliver teases the Hound about running from the Battle of the Blackwater. Indifferently, the Hound orders a chicken. Polliver asks if he has money for the chicken, to which the Hound asks if Polliver paid for his. Polliver chuckles and says he did not, and offers the Hound a deal: a chicken in exchange for Arya. The Hound calls him a "talker"; he takes Polliver's drink and chugs it down, then demands two chickens. Polliver glances back at his companions seriously, and tells the Hound that he does not understand the situation; the Hound teases him. Polliver says that the Hound lived his life for the king, and asks if he is willing to die for some chickens; the Hound answers, "someone is."

The brawl

The tension finally erupts into a brawl. The Hound turns a table over Polliver, knocking him out of the fight. After moments of brawl between the Hound and Polliver's companions, Polliver reaches for his sword but is stopped by the Hound, who steps on it and punches Polliver. The Hound then proceeds to fight with the other soldiers. Lowell fights back, but the Hound instead parries Lowell's sword into the crotch of another soldier, injuring him. Lowell tackles the Hound to the floor and holds a knife to his throat, but the Hound moves Lowell's hand away from his throat, grabs Lowell's head and repeatedly slams his face into the dagger, killing him.

Arya notices one of the soldiers starts to recover; she smashes a pot over his head, then kills him with his own sword. Polliver recovers and advances on the distracted Hound, but Arya sneaks behind and stabs him in his back, then retrieves her stolen sword as he falls to his knees. Meanwhile, the Hound finishes off the last soldier.

Arya stands over Polliver as he lies on his back and recreates Lommy's death scene, taunting him with the same words Polliver had used prior to killing Lommy: "Something wrong with your leg, boy? Can you walk? I've got to carry you." She then repeats what he said to her when he stole Needle, "Fine little blade; maybe I'll pick my teeth with it." A look of recognition comes over Polliver's face as he finally remembers her and what she is referring to. She slowly thrusts Needle into his throat, avenging Lommy's death, a look of deep fascination and satisfaction rests on her face.

Aftermath

The Hound and Arya leave the inn. The Hound rides his horse, chewing a chicken; Arya rides one of the dead soldiers' horses.

At a meeting of the Small Council, Varys informs that the Hound has slaughtered five Lannister soldiers in the Riverlands.

The Hound and Arya arrive at the Eyrie, but are told about Lysa's death. They encounter Brienne and Pod. The Hound fights Brienne, gets severely injured, and Arya abandons him. Eventually she boards a ship to Braavos, while the Hound's fate remains unknown till much later.

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the brawl is significantly different, nearly of every detail.

Background

Arya and the Hound are at the Riverlands. They find a mare for Arya and initially head to the Eyrie, but villagers warn them that the hill tribes have recently become far more dangerous than before (given fine weapons by Tyrion). The Hound decides to travel to Riverrun instead, hoping the Blackfish will pay for his great-niece.

They arrive at the Inn at the Crossroads. Arya does not wish to enter, but the Hound insists on drinking, and also for inquiring who holds the Ruby Ford. He allows Arya to stay outside with the horses; Arya considers escaping, but eventually enters the inn.

Arya immediately recognizes two Lannister men-at-arms, Polliver and the Tickler; they are accompanied by a squire of House Sarsfield, who has clearly drunk too much. Polliver fondles a girl who sits on his lap. The Hound orders wine and pays the innkeeper. The three men briefly look at Arya, but do not pay her attention and do not make the Hound any offers regarding her. The drunk squire taunts the Hound for fleeing from the Battle of the Blackwater. Polliver pushes the girl away. The Tickler silences the squire. The Hound comments that the Lannister soldiers will not pay for the drinks, and will rob the innkeeper. The innkeeper, the girl, and the rest of the locals sense danger, and leave the room.

The conversation is initially casual, almost friendly: Polliver tells that the Mountain returned to King's Landing; Joffrey is dead, poisoned at his own wedding, killed by Tyrion and his wife; Sansa escaped, and Tyrion is to be executed for the murder; the Brave Companions fled from Harrenhal, and the Mountain easily seized it; the Freys besiege Riverrun; the Brackens surrendered, but the Blackwoods have not; Sansa's sister (actually Jeyne Poole, who was forced by the Lannisters to impersonate Arya) was found and is to be wed to Ramsay Bolton. The last item confuses Arya, since Sansa has no sisters except her; the Hound bursts out laughing.

The Hound asks Polliver whether there are ships in Saltpans. Polliver has no idea; the Tickler suggests the Hound to bid farewell to his brother. The Hound answers: "Bugger that. Bugger him. Bugger you", and the brawl breaks out.

The brawl

The Hound jumps to his feet. Polliver draws his longsword, and the Tickler throws a knife at the Hound, aiming for his throat. The Hound moves, and the knife merely grazes his ribs and gets stuck in the wall. The Hound laughs "I was hoping you'd do something stupid" and draws his sword, knocking aside Polliver's slash. The Tickler joins Polliver, holding a shortsword and a dagger. As the squire fumbles for his sword, Arya throws a cup at his face, momentarily stunning him.

Arya notices that the odds are against the Hound: he drank too much and ate nothing, his moves are slow and clumsy. Polliver presses him methodically backwards, cunningly aiming for the burnt side of his face, while the Tickler slides around the wall to get behind him. Arya throws a second cup at the Tickler, but he easily avoids it and slashes at the Hound's neck. Arya throws the dagger they took from the dying man at the Tickler, but it merely bounces off his hilt. Polliver and the Tickler keep injuring the Hound. Arya grabs a heavy stone flagon, but then the squire recovers and grabs her arm, holding a sword in his right hand. Arya pulls the squire's knife and stabs him in his stomach, the same way she killed the stableboy. The squire releases her arm and collapses. Arya pulls the Tickler's knife from the wall.

Polliver and the Tickler drive the Hound into a corner behind a bench; he weakly leans against the wall, bleeding from his many injuries, seems as he can barely stand, let alone fight. Rather than pressing his advantage, Polliver makes a fatal mistake by giving the Hound a chance to surrender, so they can take him to Harrenhal, but he refuses. Suddenly, the Hound kicks the bench into Polliver's shins; somehow Polliver keeps his feet, but the Hound ducks under his wild slash and thrusts his sword in the middle of Polliver's face, killing him. The Tickler recoils, suddenly looks less confident. As he keeps his eyes on the Hound, Arya sneaks behind him and repeatedly stabs him in the back, sarcastically yelling the questions the Tickler used to ask his victims. Eventually the Hound pulls her away, bleeding profusely, dragging one leg.

The squire tries in vain to stop his bleeding. He begs for mercy, but the Hound tells Arya to finish him off. Arya takes Needle from Polliver's body and kills the squire. The Hound tends his injuries, using the squire's cloak as a bandage. They loot the bodies and leave.

Although Arya has crossed off three more names from her death list, their deaths do not please her, not even Joffrey's. She only feels empty, due to the deaths of her mother and Robb.

Aftermath

The Hound decides to travel to Saltpans, and there to board a ship to the Vale, where he will deliver Arya to Lysa (who is still alive at this point). Soon, however, the Hound collapses, unable to continue. Arya follows his instructions to treat the wounds, but to no avail. He urges Arya to finish him off, reminding her how he killed Mycah and joked about it, then mentions Sansa, commenting he should have taken her or raped and killed her. Arya says "You don't deserve the gift of mercy" and leaves.

Six days later, Arya reaches Saltpans. She boards a ship, using the iron coin given to her by Jaqen H'ghar, heading to Braavos.

The Hound's fate remains unknown by the point the books reached. In A Feast for Crows, Brienne and Pod encounter three of the Brave Companions (Pyg, Shagwell, and Timeon), and they tell that the Hound kidnapped "the Stark girl" (referring to Arya) and killed three of the Mountain's men. Brienne incorrectly thinks the girl in question is Sansa. Later, at the Isle of Quiet, the Elder Brother corrects her mistake, and also tells her the Hound is dead. Despite the Elder Brother's words, there is a fan theory that he spoke figuratively, meaning that "the Hound" was dead, his violent and angry past, and "Sandor" had found his peace helping the refugees at the monastery.

When Jaime arrives at Harrenhal, en route to Riverrun, Rafford (the one who killed Lommy) tells him that the Hound killed Polliver, the Tickler, and the Sarsfield squire at the inn, and that the Hound was accompanied by "some boy, a ragged peasant lad." The Mountain's men did not go after the Hound because they were too afraid of him.

In "Mercy" sample chapter of the sixth upcoming novel, Arya eventually encounters Rafford at Braavos, and pays him back for killing Lommy, in a similar manner as she does to Polliver in the show.