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Mace-Tyrell-Small-council

Mace Tyrell served on the Small Council as Master of Ships during the reign of King Tommen.

DAVOSINFOBOXBELLS

Davos Seaworth is the current Master of Ships to King Brandon of House Stark.

Oberyn Martell: "So, does this mean I am a 'Master' of something now? Coins, ships?"
Mace Tyrell: "Lord Tywin and I already determined that I shall be the Master of Ships - long before you."
— Mace fails to understand that Oberyn didn't care what specific Small Council seat he was granted.[src]

Master of Ships[1] is an important position in the government of the Six Kingdoms. The holder is a member of the monarch's Small Council, the inner cabinet of the realm. The Master of Ships is charged with commanding the royal fleet and is a member of the Small Council in King's Landing. Duties of the master of ships include arranging for the building and maintenance of warships, obtaining crews for the warships, and commanding naval operations.

History[]

House of the Dragon: Season 1[]

Lord Corlys Velaryon is Master of Ships by the ninth year of King Viserys I Targaryen's reign.[2] However, the position is left vacant when Lord Corlys leaves King's Landing and Driftmark to fight in the War for the Stepstones when he is furious that the king rejected his offer to marry his daughter, Laena.[3] Ser Tyland Lannister is appointed Master of Ships in his place.[4][5]

House of the Dragon: Season 2[]

The office of Master of Ships is left vacant when Tyland replaces Lyman Beesbury as Master of Coin. The Green Council considers Lord Dalton Greyjoy for the position, in hopes he will help break the Velaryon fleet's blockade of the Gullet in return.[6]

Game of Thrones: Season 1[]

Prior to the War of the Five Kings, the position is held by Stannis Baratheon, under the monarchy of his brother King Robert. After Robert's death, Stannis rebels against the Iron Throne and the position remains vacant for some time afterwards.

Game of Thrones: Season 4[]

After the Purple Wedding, Tywin awards the position to Mace Tyrell, the Lord of the Reach. This is revealed in a Small Council meeting, when Mace tells Oberyn Martell that he and Tywin have already determined that he will be the Master of Ships.[7]

Game of Thrones: Season 6[]

After Mace is killed alongside his children and many others,[8] the post of the Master of Ships becomes vacant again.

Game of Thrones: Season 8[]

After Bran Stark becomes king, he names Davos to the position.[9]

In the books[]

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the bulk of the naval forces of the Seven Kingdoms are composed of the royal fleet, the Redwyne fleet, and the Iron Fleet. The royal fleet is anchored at Dragonstone, positioned to defend King's Landing and Blackwater Bay . The large fleet of House Redwyne is used primarily to defend their home ports on the Arbor, a large island off the southwest coast of the Reach. The Iron Fleet, composing the navy of the Iron Islands, isn't usually thought of as at the authority of the Iron Throne. If anything, the royal fleets are often used to keep the Iron Fleet in check when ironborn captains ignore the ban on commerce raiding that the Targaryen kings imposed when they took power. House Lannister also commanded a large fleet anchored at Lannisport, but it was destroyed in the Greyjoy Rebellion. The Lannisters subsequently rebuilt their local fleet, though it is kept on a purely defensive posture around Lannisport during the War of the Five Kings, due to the nearby threat of the ironborn.

One of Stannis's few advantages at the opening of the War of the Five Kings is that while he - initially - has the smallest land army out of all factions in the war, as the former Master of Ships, a disproportionately large fraction of the royal fleet sides with him. George R.R. Martin confirmed in the Blu-ray commentary for "Blackwater" that while it is not outright stated in dialogue in the TV series, Stannis's position as Master of Ships during his brother Robert's reign is why he has the allegiance of most of the royal fleet.

At the beginning of the series, Stannis is the Master of Ships. In the third novel the office is given to Mace Tyrell.

In the fourth novel, Cersei renames the office "grand admiral". She removes Mace Tyrell and his bannermen from the council, and names Aurane Waters, a bastard member of House Velaryon, to the seat (not so much in view of his skills, but because he reminds her of Rhaegar Targaryen). Following Cersei's downfall, Aurane flees the capital with the new dromonds she had commissioned, setting himself up as a pirate lord preying on the shipping lanes around the Stepstones.

After Kevan takes over, he appoints Lord Paxter Redwyne as the lord admiral and Master of Ships - a suitable appointment, in view of Lord Paxter's experience as a commander of naval forces. Paxter is promptly despatched to deal with the Ironborn terrorizing the coast of the Reach ever since Euron Greyjoy's coronation as King of the Iron Islands (Cersei having allowed his raids to go unchecked largely to spite the Tyrells resulting in the Ironborn being in a position to threaten both Oldtown and the Arbor).

During the Dance of Dragons, the Greens offered the position of Master of Ships to Lord Dalton Greyjoy as a bribe for his allegiance, though on the proviso Dalton use his fleet to break the Velaryon fleet's blockade of the Gullet. Dalton rejected the offer (as he had no interest in either the title nor risking his fleet battling a naval commander as skilled as Corlys), and instead took the Blacks' counteroffer asking that he merely attack Rhaenyra's enemies, which would allow him to enrich himself plundering the lands loyal to Houses Lannister and Hightower.

References[]

External links[]


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