Joff was throwing shade at Sansa by saying he knew valyrian steel because Ice was used to kill Ned. Tyrion took it to a different level because he is way too paranoid
When or where has Joffrey seen dragon bone before..? Well isn't there dozens of dragon skulls or skeletons in Joffrey's house.. the Red Keep? If Arya found saw one there then Joffrey probably has don't ya think?
But didn't Robert hide them in the cellar cuz he didn't want anyone to see them? Perhaps Joff saw them but still...even if he did is a dragonbone hilt the same as a dragon skeleton?
Unfortunately I think this is just one of the few mysteries in the books where GRRM had no idea at the time what the resolution was. Obviously Littlefinger being the mastermind behind Jon Arryn's death was a long time in the making, but this I think was just thrown in as a device to get the chain of misunderstandings going that would ultimately lead to the war of the five kings. GRRM wrote it, knowing it was necessary to sew enmity between his characters, and thought, Hmm, I'll solve that later. Joffrey being the answer is a pretty weak explanation and wholly unsatisfying, but GRRM left the reveal so long that by then my interest in the mystery had exhausted itself and I didn't really care about the explanation. Perhaps that was his hope.
George Simmonett I agree. Joffery comes off as stupid, but killing a high-born child of a lord who is an ally to his dad for the sole-reason of “putting down crippled people” is really stupid, even for Joffery.
Bleed Green he did it to please Robert. It’s the entire point to the story that Stannis tells about Joffrey cutting open a pregnant cat and running to proudly show his father just because he was told there were babies in its belly. He wants to please Robert.
@@BeggarsNight If that were true why wait for Robert to leave? That goes directly against wanting to impress Robert. Joff can't really be both trying to impress Robert and yet ensuring Robert wouldn't know about it. Does Joff really come across as the kind of kid who would just do something for their father without wanting praise and reward? That cat story really points to Joff being innocent.
There's already plenty of enmity between the characters. Tyrion already despised Joffrey, Jaime knew he was cruel, Jaime already resented Cersei for letting Joffrey think Robert was his dad. Joffrey trying to kill Bran for Robert accomplishes nothing narratively. Littlefinger being behind the catspaw would mean that he basically ensured the WoFK. And it would cause a rift between him and Sansa.
That makes sense to me. Raymond Chandler was once asked, about The Big Sleep, who killed the guy in the car pulled out of the bay? It's one of the first things that happens in the book and it helps spur the action. Chandler's response: "Absolutely no idea."
lol, the ultimate twist of the show adaptation is all the shitty writing is secretly good writing revealing our POV characters to be unreliable! Bronn was very unreliable when he misremembered Tyene telling him he wants the bad poosy.
I'm not sure about that. Robert had them taken down and stored away as soon as soon as he became king. There is a chance that Joffrey saw them, but it's not a certainty.
Joffrey did say something to Margarey (sp) about showing her the dragon skulls while they were in the Sept of Baelor and he was talking about the past dead kings' ashes. But, alas, that was in the show. I'm not totally sure about the books, although I am rereading them right now. On ASOS right now...
I'd be very surprised if Joff never saw the dragon skulls. Tyrion saw them and he was in the capital a very short time compared to Joff, who spent his whole life there. I can't believe his curiosity was never piqued even once in all that time. I mean, if there's one thing guaranteed to make a kid go looking for something, it's their father hiding it away and telling everyone to forget it exists :D
When Joffrey stayed in Winterfell there wasn't already war between the Lannisters and the Starks. But after he ordered chopping off Ned's head and the Lannisters fought Robb, Joffrey would have bragged with his deed for sure if it was him to send the catspaw. Im pretty sure: this was one of the few things repulsive Joffrey was not guilty.
Preston: I'm working on a catspaw video right now Red Team: well don't spoil it if you have a 7 part series coming Preston: no it'll only be one part This video : see you in part 2
RedTeamReview I think LF would be ideal and make the most sense, but sometimes it is what it is. and this time "it" is that pregnant cat killing Dahmer-esq little bastard Joffery
Great theory, Although one of the things I’d like to point out. 90 silver Stags is not a lot of money. Especially to kill the son of a lord paramount. The Dagger was the payment in my opinion the Catspaw just didn’t care whether it traced the killing back to someone. Used it because it was the best tool he had.
He also probably didn't expect the dagger to be tracible in the first place. That would only happen if he lost the dagger or died, which he probably wasn't expecting. (Though, maybe the cleanness of the wounds could be recognized as Valyrian steel?)
Again there's a problem. If Joffrey really thought it was a plain dagger, it wouldn't be much payment. If he knew it was Valyrian steel, it's way to much considering it's something even the highest lords in Westeros covet. It's not a sword, but any Valyrian steel weapon would essentially be priceless.
I always thought Tyrion's logic was all over the place in that chapter. How he ended up concluding that Joffrey was the mastermind was hilarious . He was stretching his proofs, if they can even be called proofs. Plus Tyrion was seriously drunk Also, why does Joffrey sound like an old man lmao. He's 14
To answer your question, it's probably because Preston is terrible at voices haha. His Taena Merryweather voice is acceptable, though that's about it 👁__👁
You should read Jofferey's comment of "Sharp! I told you.. I am no stranger to valyrian steel." Like the actor in the show talked to Sansa. With a level of sociopathy and self-delusion behind his voice. He is piping himself up by stating his supposed superiority and his target, in this case a sworn knight loyal to him, is not able to say otherwise and in this way serves to reinforce his misperception of himself as a powerful leader It is typical of Jofferey to act as if he has martial knowledge, and he is making his boast of "I told you" because he is being deluded by his possession of power, in this case it is the power of the sword that makes Jofferey act as if he just demonstrated his knowledge. To Jofferey, his power deludes him in to rewriting reality in his mind. This statement is a reflection of that
Agreed. I think it's simply a boast from Joffrey. It's like Donald Trump claiming to be an expert on medicine, insurance, China, and Middle East relations after getting a tweet sized briefing on a subject.
12:00 There is one mistake you make... at this point the wolf wasnt allowed to go into Brans room, all Gregor needed to do was to go into the wolfswood
which is even further proof that it wasn't Joffrey. in preston's video, the only link between Joffrey's line and the attempted murder was the sneaking into Bran's room. Now, there's absolutely no damn link.
Daniel or... arya from the future hired the catspaw in her cat of the canal form. she IS a terminator, she can time travel. And as an agent of the great other she got the word that there's a hit out on bran. she couldn't risk going herself so she sent the catspaw. or better yet, she wore someone else's face and died there that day. yep, that's aryas future. tv show only, of course.
And of course she did. She infamously says "It should have been you Jon." Should have been what Cat? Jon should have been the one to break his legs and go into a coma? That makes NO SENSE. She clearly believes Jon should have been one to die. She believes Bran is dead already. And the Catspaw speaks with Cat almost conversationally like he knew her from before saying "You weren't sup'posed to be here." Like they had agreed that she would leave and he would go give Bran mercy. Edit: Also she got cold feet and in her delirious grief forgets she hired him after falling asleep under a weir wood stump or the moon or a in the bedroom of a incredibly powerful greenseer. And idk Littlefinger helped her with the dagger and finding the man.
Tyrion is a reader and a thinker. However, that does not make him a genius. He thinks he is a genius, like many overly-analytical men in real life, but he makes all manner of error as a result of his own arrogance . . .
Tyrion reminds me of myself. Smart maybe, but not the genius I make myself out to be. Lots of people like to liken themselves Tyrion because they think he's a flawless genius. I think that G.R.R.M.'s writing is deep and can reflect ourselves. Lots of people want to see themselves as outcast geniuses battling against society's conformist nature and think we're elite intellectuals, and a shallow interpretation of Tyrion is just that. But many of us smart people, who rely on that as our main trait or quality aren't as smart as we think we are.
@@bobbydeuce6486 Howland never really stayed out of it. He got his men involved in the war, and sent his children to Winterfell. Howland is a lot more involved, than a ton of lords in the series.
Cole Saunders Well he’s yet to make an appearance I give him marks for. I feel there’s a big difference marching with your men to war rather than sending men.
Dear Preston, You dig deeper into this series than I thought was possible. This is simply the most obvious reason why you're awesome. Your razor sharp logic, ability to source context from other GRRM writings and your confidence in speaking are also on that same pile of reasons that you're great at what you do. Please continue to do what you do because fairly obviously none of the rest of us are quite at your level.
Very good video. Preston is going through each relevant line of text from several angles to work out all probable explanations, even when they seem obvious.
It baffles me how so many people take Joff's guilt at face value based on the flimsy reasoning of Tyrion and Jaime. No catspaw would ever take money to kill the son of the Hand of the King and *not* just run off with the money unless the person hiring him had some hold over him (which we can assume Joff didn't have if it was some hanger-on he only just met). Best case if he goes through with it he's looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life, worst case he doesn't have a rest of his life. It's not like Joff can complain that the man he paid to murder a child ran away with his money, after all, and waiting until a week after their departure gives him the perfect opportunity to disappear. I maintain that it's Mance's doing for the following reasons: We know LF had a lot to gain by the Wot5K hence his Jon Arryn murder plot. Well, Mance had even more to gain by the Northmen being drawn into a war in the South. He was planning to attack Castle Black with 100,000 Wildlings, after all, and we saw that the NW managed to hold him off for a while with a skeleton crew. Mance was on the verge of victory when Stannis arrived it's true, but it had taken too long and if the full might of the North was still within a few days riding distance of the Wall, Mance would have had no chance. He needed to draw their forces off, and what better way to sow discord than to have the new Hand's son killed with the king's own dagger. This also explains waiting so long, he wanted to ensure Ned was well along the road to the South before news reached him, so he couldn't just break away and turtle up in Winterfell. Again, given that he was on the verge of launching a full scale invasion of the North, and that pretty much he alone was holding the Wildlings together, it was incredibly risky bordering on stupid of Mance to go visit Winterfell just to take a look at the King. It's more likely he was there for some reason of great import, and as I mentioned above, what's more important than the invasion? Drawing away the Northern forces - without which there would be no invasion (or at best a slaughter). Mance likely couldn't trust this mission to anyone else as he had the best knowledge of Winterfell (having visited before) and of the Northern ways (since he lived with the NW). He was later also able to blend in as Abel (heh). The catspaw is not a Winterfell man nor one of the king's party, and the assumption is that he was a camp follower, but nobody seems to know and/or miss him. As said in the video, it's unlikely you'd find a man trustworthy enough not to steal your money but with no qualms about murdering the child son of the Hand of the King. It beggar's belief that the objectionable little snot Joffrey could find such a man without half the castle learning what he was up to. Given the man was a complete outsider, it's likely whoever hired him arranged for him to be there, rather than meeting him there. This, along with the man's dedication (he was clearly risking his life after he'd already been paid and was free to leave, even if he didn't expect the wolf attack) leads me to suspect Mance took the man with him. Perhaps he had family North of the Wall, he was risking his life to protect theirs. If not, if the catspaw really was hired from amongst the band of camp followers, Mance was still best placed to do this. His disguise as a bard would allow him to freely mix with anyone in the castle. If we rule out Joffrey as the culprit, then we have the question of how the dagger was taken from the armory. Mance was there at the time and he even brags that he's more than capable of climbing any tower, so it's likely there weren't many places in Winterfell that were off limits to him. Again, he seems the best placed of the suspects to steal or socially engineer the theft of the dagger. George told us we'd learn the secret of who hired the catspaw in ASOS, and many people point to that being the book in which not one but two (arguably even three) POV characters come to the same conclusion as evidence that it was Joffrey, case closed. However, for me it's a bit on the nose, so many characters all blaming Joffrey who then promptly dies without being able to confirm or deny it, leaving a horrible dangling loose end? Well, ASOS is also the book where Mance tells us that he took a bag of silver, bought a horse and visited Winterfell. The catspaw was paid in silver and he'd been bedding down in the stables (likely where Mance's horse was stabled). I think GRRM did tell us who the killer was in ASOS, I just don't think he spelled it out. As for the other usual suspects: Varys and Illyrio don't want war at this point in the story so this would be disastrous for their plans (in fact it's the attempt on Bran's life and Cat's subsequent kidnapping of Tyrion that leads to the Wot5K even more so than the Jon Arryn murder and Cersei's children, the mystery of which was still playing out when the war started). BloodRaven seems to have an interest in Bran that involves him not being dead, so I think we can largely rule him out (unless BR != the Three Eyed Crow, but either way he doesn't have Bran killed at the cave so he likely never wanted him killed). Littlefinger already has a plan in play, a separate plan in the same castle at the same time just seems like overkill and the two may even end up having an adverse effect (i.e. Ned decides to stay in the North to protect his family, etc).I guess it might have been a play by Roose that we don't yet understand, but I'm not sure what the aim would be - he benefited greatly from the war but he couldn't have envisioned that beforehand because, again, too many variables.
great theory . but how in the hell would mance know that killing bran would start the war of the 5 kings . the only people who knew about the stark lannister beef was the maestar luwin , ned , lysa , littlefinger and catelyn . imo its littlefinger . him sending that letter then finding out brans been crippled . he probably immediately send someone to kill him so the starks would become more suspicious of the lannisters
but the problem w that is the assasin was willing to kill catelyn . lf would ensure the assasin knew not to do anything to cat . but maybe he didnt think cat would be there so he didnt give the assasin any exact instructions on cat
Around 13:48 you make a leap. In that line of work it is very likely what he had on him was "Up Front" money. With the majority of the payday coming after the certainty of a particular Lordling's death. Haven't finished the video yet but wanted to comment while it was on my mind. Keep up the good work! Personally I feel like G.R.R.M. owes you some money for keeping us interested and adding depth (some obviously artificial) that a lot of us missed on a first read through of the series. After going through them at least five times each myself (With the exception of a aGoT only twice) I have a lot of respect for many of your overarching theories.
I just got back home from a trip to Vietnam, and I got to watch not only this, but the most recent Prepping For Winter (Arianne I, Pt. 2) nearly back to back. Keep up the great videos, Preston!
Cat grabs the dagger itself with her hands and her fingers doesnt come right off. The dagger is described incorrectly and the properties of the dagger are incorrect wich sums it up to two possibilities: 1 The dagger was never valyrian steel to begin with and all that, that implies or 2 GRRM didnt have the proper foresight when he wrote this part of the story, as it was the first book in the series and it was simply meant to be a clear indication of guilt, making the plot shift into gear to begin with. I personally believe the second alternative although your argument about cats, dogs and wolfs is very convincing that he wanted to muddle the affair. It is possible that GRRM simply tried to hide his own error by making intentional errors and create a mystery. Either way, enjoyable video Preston! I do like it when you poke at the details with a passion.
Hankshaw i need to reread the scene, but it could be that the cats paw wasn't trying to cut through Caitlyn. cat was trying to wrestle the knife from him (and grabbed he pointed end) but the cats paw didn't go and lunge at Cat, so he was probably confused and was in the defensive, so he didn't get a proper slice on Cats fingers. Also they have a skilled Maester, so perhaps the fingers WOULD have fallen off if untreated, and the healer saved them
Scorr McLean Cat does grab the blade itself trying to gain control of it. Now if we for arguments sake say that the cats paw was so shocked that he didnt even move, the point is that she is trying to get control of the blade itself by doing so. Grabbing valyrian steel, as it is described in the books, would not end well. I presume neither of us have actually tried to wrestle a shashimi knife out of someones hands by grabbing the sharp end of the blade but I would assume we have cut ourselfs on a knife before. The damage in her case would have most likely cut to the bone quite easily.
Grabbing a thing won't cut things off. Sliding your hand on it will. There is a common sword technique called halfswording where you grab your own sword blade for better control ans strength to punch through armor. It's reasonable to assume she grabbed the blade and didn't move it around.
Douglas Paulson That is very true. Daggers and swords arent the same in this case however. If just solid pressure would not cut, then you would not be able to push through a carrot with a knife. A very improper way of handling vegetables but totally possible. Cat does grab the dagger very firmly and her fingers bleed quite severly. My argument is in the same fashion as the comparison with the sword and the dagger, valyrian steel as described is supposed to be extremely sharp.
You would assume that GRRM wouldn't incorrectly quote his own work by mistake, but he's done it before. He once referred to Geoffrey's sword as "Lion's Paw" instead of "Lion's Tooth". Preston just reads waaaaaay too much into these kinds of things.
Just because he was thoughtful enough to wait for the king to leave doesn’t mean it wasn’t a stupid plan. Besides that point I agree that some of Tyrion’s deductions were a little off. Love your videos. I’ve been crushing through your playlists at work. And can’t stop watching them even after I get home. Keep it up! 😁
I enjoy these videos because they are different than other channels with common theories, but sometimes a chair is just a chair. Preston falls into a habit of thinking that just because a scene wasn't mentioned in the book, then it never happened in the story. The books are huge, I give you that, but that doesn't mean that every single thing in the world is in them. Joff could have seen dragonbone anytime throughout his whole life. likewise, valeryian steal. You have to remember that 99.99% of events that took place in ASOIAF happen off screen, or rather, happen in scenes we never get to read.
Summer wasn't in Bran's room at that time. "The wolf was howling outside his window [...] when the window is closed Bran gets weaker, but his heart strengthens again when it is open." -Tyrion (AGoT C9)
Very nice. I went from, "Here comes the tinfoil!" to "Whoa, those are some interesting points!" Definitely did your homework on Tyrion's misinformation.
The real question is: who would like to blame the real owner of the dagger? The catspaw said: you are not supposed to be here" to Catelyn, so my guess is that he was told Bran was going to be alone, he would kill him and scape, but if you want to blame the dagger's owner the assassin need to be caught, so my guess is that there was someone who would catch him after the murder, SO who was in the near area after the attempt? sorry bad english
11:47 I believe at this point Summer was still residing outside of Bran's room. The only reason Summer shows up to save Bran is because the door to the tower was left open and forgotten during the fire
Chad Summerchild trust me at this point my celtics and bruins are dissapointing enough where this video just made my week....besides Chris Sale being an absolute. beast
I know this is an older video but I want to point out that the Hound wouldn’t have needed to sneak into Bran’s room to kill Summer. Until the cat’s paw was sent, the Wolf wasn’t allowed to stay in the room. Thus why it was howling.
As far as Joffery saying he thought dragon bone was too plain, he could very likely be familiar with it's appearance and possibly even its physical properties as it was everywhere in the Red Keep in the form of dragon skeletons and skulls, not only is it brought up time and again with regard to the the Targaryen throne room, there are still relatively intact specimens stored in the Red Keep. .
Joff certainly saw Valyrian steel first hand when it cut through Ned's head with just a sigh. Perhaps Joff had also seen the dragonbone of the dragon skulls, even though Robert had them moved from the throne room.
Preston, should we make anything of the fact that this dagger has shown up in HotD, and - if Aemond keeps it on his person - it might end up on the Isle of Faces?
The Order of the Greenhand made a good point about this in a video they uploaded today coincidentally. They said that in the book Catelyn refers to the Catspaw as "The man" as if she was waiting for him. And the name Catspaw does ring some bells...
Eva Panou it is really interesting attacker thought Bran will be alone because we know Catelyn never left his room so Robb got angry with her for not caring about baby Rickon. Maybe catspaw was for Catelyn and it was Catelyn that should be somewhere else?
Honestly, you could make an argument for anyone but I personally think it was Renly. He had no love for the Starks and had an obvious motive- the downfall of Cersei and the Lannisters. He's one of the people at Winterfell who had the could afford to spend 99 silver stags to kill someone. He wants a trail to come back after a Stark investigation so he can help implicate the Queen and get Robert and Margaery married. And it just makes sense. He hired someone with the full intention of killing a Stark so Ned would blame it on the Lannisters and try to get Robert to hate them even more. He then could get Margaery, a woman he had been trying to get Robert's favor for, to swoop in and marry him when Cersei gets kicked out. All he needed was a dead Stark. Catelyn works just as well because it would destroy Ned and make him want to solve the murder. Hence why the catspaw didn't turn and run when he got caught. And Renly is quite ambitious even though he acts very carefree and laid back like with the peach scene. He is trying to get his boyfriend's sister married to the King, he tries to take over the city before Robert is even dead, and then he runs to crown himself and uniting 2 of the 7 Kingdoms to gain legitimacy. He may be a nice guy, but damn he's working his ass off to get what he wants. Other than this, I have no real evidence, but I feel like a lot of this could stand on its own. Any thoughts?
manband20 interesting thought but I feel renly's actions later on in the story contradict this. If he was so motivated to remove the lannisters from power why would he flee KL when he had the men and the opportunity to help remove cersei and put ned on the throne? Sure ned turns his offer down but surely if Renly went to all the trouble and risk to try and kill bran to sow discord between Robert/Starks and the Lannisters he simply wouldn't just leave just because Ned didn't agree with it. Sure he has another chance to amass his forces and take another shot (untill stannis decides to have him killed) but if he was so bothered about removing them he would have taken the opportunity and stayed to support ned. Also I know that ASOIAF includes many characters with hidden agendas but I feel Renly was too nice a man to murder a child for his ambitions.
JONESANDDUDDING Well his motivation to put Bed on the throne involved Ned wanting to commit a coup and get Cersei out of the city to isolate her from the kids. Ned refused and Renly then decided that his only other option was to run and call his banners to declare himself King. He knew Cersei knew he was gunning for her and he knew if he stayed, he'd be next to die. Why stay and die when you can run? Ned simply was too honorable to arrest Cersei and take custody of the children. Renly realized this and he had to get out. I mean he only had 100 men vs. all of the Goldcloaks.
It seems pretty clear that Tommen is the one who tried to have Bran killed. The "motive" discussed by Cersei and Jaime actually fits much better when applied to their sensitive younger son--who could have seen killing Bran as "merciful," would have wanted his father's approval, and would have no idea what the implications of his actions would be. (Incidentally, he is the only child not mentioned in Jaime and Cersei's discussion--I think this a sort of clue by way of negation.) The devastating war of the five kings was started by a five year old wanting his drunken aloof dad's approval...Freud would have much to say...
Been waiting for this. I've never bought that Joffrey sent the catspaw. We all know it was Littlefinger, right? I don't know how Preston's going to explain it, but I don't have any doubt that's his theory. Why use a valyrian steel dagger when any old thing would have sufficed? Because the dagger was INTENDED to be followed, and who else but Littlefinger would be behind that?
When are you going to bring up the bag of silver the catspaw had and the fact that Mance rayder is the only man who had silver on him when he snuck into winterfell as a bard in game of thrones ?
oh my you just resolved the mistery! Now I ahve to be provided with how did Mance got a valyrian steel dagger and I'm sold. It makes perfect sense Mance being the one behind all of this, he needed the Starks fighting somewhere else
It would be pretty easy for Mance to slip into Roberts wheel house and grab the dagger also he meet Dalla on his way back to the wall and we here about a Dalla at dragon stone which makes me think he went to dragon stone after
....what? No. Preston’s hyper-literal reading is rubbing off on all of you. Just because a character doesn’t explicitly say they have money doesn’t mean they don’t. That’s ridiculous. Especially among nobility. Mance has no motive.
@@BeggarsNight Well it is constantly brought up that every time a king-beyond has made it past the wall the current Lord/King of Winterfell beat them back. Not saying Mance did do it, but he definitely does have a motive for wanting the Starks to be as weak as possible.
Summer wasn’t in brans room when he was wailing all night, he was outside which was why he was so noisy. So the logistics wouldn’t be exactly the same for the hound to kill bran.
Given that there's a whole hall full of dragon skulls in the castle he grew up in, I think it's pretty reasonable to assume Joffrey has seen dragonbone before. Doesn't he even comment on the skulls at some point?
maybe someone from house Reed foresaw the war to come and thought that killing bran could ultimately prevent the others from taking down the wall, and they failed. so instead they send jojen and mira to help guide him to the 3eyed raven instead of the night king
I'm sure Littlefinger sent the cat's paw. Not sure how, but it just smells like his work. Even him confessing that the blade was originally his is a genius way of covering his tracks while everyone goes on a wild goose chase.
I think in many of your theories you're giving GRRM too much credit for his ability to make everything consistent and not self-contradictory. It is hard work and people make mistakes when writing fiction. Martin might've never thought this deep about it. The main reason to take Tyrion's theory at face value is because Marting told us to. Misdirecting readers in the books is one thing. Straight up giving misinformation to readers when answering questions at conventions is completely different.
Joffrey did send the catspaw. He heard various people saying it would be mercy to put the boy out of his misery, and joked about killing Summer with the Hound. This all put it in his mind subliminally to kill Bran. Most importantly, Tyrion slapped Joffrey for not visiting the Starks and offering his condolences. The "flaw" in Tyrion's logic is that he doesn't realize that it was his own action that triggered Joffrey to kill Bran.
The catspaw is a faceless man. He literally says, "No one is suppose to be here". No one is who a faceless man is. Faceless man are not the flawless hitmen people think. They can make mistakes. His mistake was nit know Bran was warged into Summer.
I'm only starting, and I will continue listening, but I think GRRM did solve this as he said - it just wasn't the obvious explanation. It was Littlefinger who sent the dagger, just like he sent the letter through Lysa.
For a Valyrian dagger maybe a dragonbone dagger would have been more fitting, though I guess an iron dagger is perfectly ironic being the weakest dagger in Skyrim x)
ay i love ur commentary and you're smart and you actually back up your arguments unlike a huge % of other ASOIAF channels. but you have some of the worst impressions i've ever heard. don't ever stop doing them they're hilarious
I don't think The Hound would have had to sneak into Bran's room to kill Summer. Summer wasn't allowed in Bran's room until after he saved Bran from the assassin, IIRC. Summer was probably in a kennel or the Godswood.
The person that sent the Pink Letter also sent the Catspaw who is also the same person that is delaying Winds of Wind release for soooooooooo long :)(:
I could see littlefinger motive wise but how could he hire someone being a continent away and so quickly? I don't think littlefinger has a jetpack in the book!
Joff was throwing shade at Sansa by saying he knew valyrian steel because Ice was used to kill Ned. Tyrion took it to a different level because he is way too paranoid
And drunk, and angry because Joffrey destroyed one of four copies of a very rare book that Tyrion gifted to him
Good theory. But Joffrey gave no acknowledgement of Sansa in the scene.
Mm
Mummi
@@sagebias2251Not according to the POV character. A bitter, paranoid, and drunk POV character.
"An incredibly honest and incredibly dedicated child murderer."
- Jacobs, Preston
Tough to find!
In George RR Martin's early story, there's a cat that turns into a man. Therefore, Ser Pounce did it.
Classic Harry potter
Ser Pounce is Azor Ahai
Is this true???
@@Christopherjazzcat Azor Ahai / Valonqar confirmed!!
'oh boy, here I go killing again"
Wubba lubba dub dub
"His satanic majesty UHUHUHUH"
Who smeld it
@@christiancristof491 ldlrgi
@@christiancristof491 is no you euiy MLB’s.
I love how elaborate these intros are getting.
lol
yeah I love the high quality animations
They're so tacky and lazy, but in the best way.
When or where has Joffrey seen dragon bone before..? Well isn't there dozens of dragon skulls or skeletons in Joffrey's house.. the Red Keep? If Arya found saw one there then Joffrey probably has don't ya think?
Shaunn Snow I came here to say the same.
exactly what I was thinking . I love your videos preston but you do like to forget certain parts at your convenience lol
Shaunn Snow Arya found them in a forgotten area of the keep. Robbert had them all removed from the common areas
you douchebags, it's not dragon's bones, it's awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Dragonbone
But didn't Robert hide them in the cellar cuz he didn't want anyone to see them? Perhaps Joff saw them but still...even if he did is a dragonbone hilt the same as a dragon skeleton?
"There is such a thing as strangling" - Preston Jacobs, Consultant at Westeros Political Solutions Inc.
Time traveling Bran hired the Cat's paw after he saw the devastation from the battle for the dawn.
Unfortunately I think this is just one of the few mysteries in the books where GRRM had no idea at the time what the resolution was. Obviously Littlefinger being the mastermind behind Jon Arryn's death was a long time in the making, but this I think was just thrown in as a device to get the chain of misunderstandings going that would ultimately lead to the war of the five kings. GRRM wrote it, knowing it was necessary to sew enmity between his characters, and thought, Hmm, I'll solve that later. Joffrey being the answer is a pretty weak explanation and wholly unsatisfying, but GRRM left the reveal so long that by then my interest in the mystery had exhausted itself and I didn't really care about the explanation. Perhaps that was his hope.
George Simmonett I agree. Joffery comes off as stupid, but killing a high-born child of a lord who is an ally to his dad for the sole-reason of “putting down crippled people” is really stupid, even for Joffery.
Bleed Green he did it to please Robert. It’s the entire point to the story that Stannis tells about Joffrey cutting open a pregnant cat and running to proudly show his father just because he was told there were babies in its belly. He wants to please Robert.
@@BeggarsNight If that were true why wait for Robert to leave? That goes directly against wanting to impress Robert. Joff can't really be both trying to impress Robert and yet ensuring Robert wouldn't know about it. Does Joff really come across as the kind of kid who would just do something for their father without wanting praise and reward? That cat story really points to Joff being innocent.
There's already plenty of enmity between the characters. Tyrion already despised Joffrey, Jaime knew he was cruel, Jaime already resented Cersei for letting Joffrey think Robert was his dad. Joffrey trying to kill Bran for Robert accomplishes nothing narratively.
Littlefinger being behind the catspaw would mean that he basically ensured the WoFK. And it would cause a rift between him and Sansa.
That makes sense to me. Raymond Chandler was once asked, about The Big Sleep, who killed the guy in the car pulled out of the bay? It's one of the first things that happens in the book and it helps spur the action. Chandler's response: "Absolutely no idea."
Tyrion doesn't remember what really happened in Winterfell, so does that mean that him talking shit to Theon in season six was secretly brilliant?
Written by the same people who wrote dialogue for the Sand Snakes.
We just can't see the 'real' meaning of it :D
I came to find a comment like this one, if there wasn't one I would had made it. Fucking D&D surprise me everyday
lol, the ultimate twist of the show adaptation is all the shitty writing is secretly good writing revealing our POV characters to be unreliable!
Bronn was very unreliable when he misremembered Tyene telling him he wants the bad poosy.
Joffrey also has lived in the Red Keep all his life and probably seen the skulls at least once.
I was thinking that. Arya finds them quick enough in the books and in the show doesn't Joffrey offer to show Margaery them.
I'm not sure about that. Robert had them taken down and stored away as soon as soon as he became king. There is a chance that Joffrey saw them, but it's not a certainty.
Colt Stovik I was thinking the same thing, only saw your response after making my own
Joffrey did say something to Margarey (sp) about showing her the dragon skulls while they were in the Sept of Baelor and he was talking about the past dead kings' ashes. But, alas, that was in the show. I'm not totally sure about the books, although I am rereading them right now. On ASOS right now...
I'd be very surprised if Joff never saw the dragon skulls. Tyrion saw them and he was in the capital a very short time compared to Joff, who spent his whole life there. I can't believe his curiosity was never piqued even once in all that time. I mean, if there's one thing guaranteed to make a kid go looking for something, it's their father hiding it away and telling everyone to forget it exists :D
When Joffrey stayed in Winterfell there wasn't already war between the Lannisters and the Starks. But after he ordered chopping off Ned's head and the Lannisters fought Robb, Joffrey would have bragged with his deed for sure if it was him to send the catspaw. Im pretty sure: this was one of the few things repulsive Joffrey was not guilty.
Preston: I'm working on a catspaw video right now
Red Team: well don't spoil it if you have a 7 part series coming
Preston: no it'll only be one part
This video : see you in part 2
LMAO!!!!
RedTeamReview lmao! im holding out hope for the deepest dorne.
Sweet Cindy I love Prestons enthusiasm but PART 2 I think this one's a reach Joff had it done...the end
@Darrell Spyker it was Baelish
RedTeamReview I think LF would be ideal and make the most sense, but sometimes it is what it is. and this time "it" is that pregnant cat killing Dahmer-esq little bastard Joffery
Great theory, Although one of the things I’d like to point out. 90 silver Stags is not a lot of money. Especially to kill the son of a lord paramount. The Dagger was the payment in my opinion the Catspaw just didn’t care whether it traced the killing back to someone. Used it because it was the best tool he had.
He also probably didn't expect the dagger to be tracible in the first place. That would only happen if he lost the dagger or died, which he probably wasn't expecting. (Though, maybe the cleanness of the wounds could be recognized as Valyrian steel?)
Again there's a problem. If Joffrey really thought it was a plain dagger, it wouldn't be much payment. If he knew it was Valyrian steel, it's way to much considering it's something even the highest lords in Westeros covet. It's not a sword, but any Valyrian steel weapon would essentially be priceless.
I always thought Tyrion's logic was all over the place in that chapter. How he ended up concluding that Joffrey was the mastermind was hilarious . He was stretching his proofs, if they can even be called proofs. Plus Tyrion was seriously drunk
Also, why does Joffrey sound like an old man lmao. He's 14
To answer your question, it's probably because Preston is terrible at voices haha. His Taena Merryweather voice is acceptable, though that's about it 👁__👁
You should read Jofferey's comment of
"Sharp! I told you.. I am no stranger to valyrian steel."
Like the actor in the show talked to Sansa. With a level of sociopathy and self-delusion behind his voice.
He is piping himself up by stating his supposed superiority and his target, in this case a sworn knight loyal to him, is not able to say otherwise and in this way serves to reinforce his misperception of himself as a powerful leader
It is typical of Jofferey to act as if he has martial knowledge, and he is making his boast of "I told you" because he is being deluded by his possession of power, in this case it is the power of the sword that makes Jofferey act as if he just demonstrated his knowledge. To Jofferey, his power deludes him in to rewriting reality in his mind.
This statement is a reflection of that
Agreed. I think it's simply a boast from Joffrey.
It's like Donald Trump claiming to be an expert on medicine, insurance, China, and Middle East relations after getting a tweet sized briefing on a subject.
12:00
There is one mistake you make... at this point the wolf wasnt allowed to go into Brans room, all Gregor needed to do was to go into the wolfswood
*Sandor
which is even further proof that it wasn't Joffrey. in preston's video, the only link between Joffrey's line and the attempted murder was the sneaking into Bran's room. Now, there's absolutely no damn link.
Catspaw
Cats paw
Cat's paw
CAT'S
There is all the evidence I need. Catelyn hired the killer = CONFIRMED.
Daniel or... arya from the future hired the catspaw in her cat of the canal form. she IS a terminator, she can time travel. And as an agent of the great other she got the word that there's a hit out on bran. she couldn't risk going herself so she sent the catspaw. or better yet, she wore someone else's face and died there that day. yep, that's aryas future. tv show only, of course.
Catlyn is, of course, an agent of Varys.
Varys agents are known to be at the Inn at the Crossing and we see Cat there as well. Confirmed.
And of course she did. She infamously says "It should have been you Jon." Should have been what Cat? Jon should have been the one to break his legs and go into a coma? That makes NO SENSE. She clearly believes Jon should have been one to die. She believes Bran is dead already. And the Catspaw speaks with Cat almost conversationally like he knew her from before saying "You weren't sup'posed to be here." Like they had agreed that she would leave and he would go give Bran mercy.
Edit: Also she got cold feet and in her delirious grief forgets she hired him after falling asleep under a weir wood stump or the moon or a in the bedroom of a incredibly powerful greenseer. And idk Littlefinger helped her with the dagger and finding the man.
That's a lot of assumptions, your theory doesn't hold any water.
Tyrion is a reader and a thinker. However, that does not make him a genius. He thinks he is a genius, like many overly-analytical men in real life, but he makes all manner of error as a result of his own arrogance . . .
Tyrion reminds me of myself. Smart maybe, but not the genius I make myself out to be. Lots of people like to liken themselves Tyrion because they think he's a flawless genius. I think that G.R.R.M.'s writing is deep and can reflect ourselves. Lots of people want to see themselves as outcast geniuses battling against society's conformist nature and think we're elite intellectuals, and a shallow interpretation of Tyrion is just that. But many of us smart people, who rely on that as our main trait or quality aren't as smart as we think we are.
@@dirrdevil Who would you say is the most intelligent.....my money is on Roose
Vinayak Sidharth - Howland Reed for staying out of all this nonsense. Too many boys becoming kings in my opinion.
@@bobbydeuce6486 Howland never really stayed out of it. He got his men involved in the war, and sent his children to Winterfell. Howland is a lot more involved, than a ton of lords in the series.
Cole Saunders
Well he’s yet to make an appearance I give him marks for. I feel there’s a big difference marching with your men to war rather than sending men.
Dear Preston,
You dig deeper into this series than I thought was possible. This is simply the most obvious reason why you're awesome. Your razor sharp logic, ability to source context from other GRRM writings and your confidence in speaking are also on that same pile of reasons that you're great at what you do.
Please continue to do what you do because fairly obviously none of the rest of us are quite at your level.
Very good video. Preston is going through each relevant line of text from several angles to work out all probable explanations, even when they seem obvious.
It baffles me how so many people take Joff's guilt at face value based on the flimsy reasoning of Tyrion and Jaime. No catspaw would ever take money to kill the son of the Hand of the King and *not* just run off with the money unless the person hiring him had some hold over him (which we can assume Joff didn't have if it was some hanger-on he only just met). Best case if he goes through with it he's looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life, worst case he doesn't have a rest of his life. It's not like Joff can complain that the man he paid to murder a child ran away with his money, after all, and waiting until a week after their departure gives him the perfect opportunity to disappear.
I maintain that it's Mance's doing for the following reasons:
We know LF had a lot to gain by the Wot5K hence his Jon Arryn murder plot. Well, Mance had even more to gain by the Northmen being drawn into a war in the South. He was planning to attack Castle Black with 100,000 Wildlings, after all, and we saw that the NW managed to hold him off for a while with a skeleton crew. Mance was on the verge of victory when Stannis arrived it's true, but it had taken too long and if the full might of the North was still within a few days riding distance of the Wall, Mance would have had no chance. He needed to draw their forces off, and what better way to sow discord than to have the new Hand's son killed with the king's own dagger. This also explains waiting so long, he wanted to ensure Ned was well along the road to the South before news reached him, so he couldn't just break away and turtle up in Winterfell.
Again, given that he was on the verge of launching a full scale invasion of the North, and that pretty much he alone was holding the Wildlings together, it was incredibly risky bordering on stupid of Mance to go visit Winterfell just to take a look at the King. It's more likely he was there for some reason of great import, and as I mentioned above, what's more important than the invasion? Drawing away the Northern forces - without which there would be no invasion (or at best a slaughter). Mance likely couldn't trust this mission to anyone else as he had the best knowledge of Winterfell (having visited before) and of the Northern ways (since he lived with the NW). He was later also able to blend in as Abel (heh).
The catspaw is not a Winterfell man nor one of the king's party, and the assumption is that he was a camp follower, but nobody seems to know and/or miss him. As said in the video, it's unlikely you'd find a man trustworthy enough not to steal your money but with no qualms about murdering the child son of the Hand of the King. It beggar's belief that the objectionable little snot Joffrey could find such a man without half the castle learning what he was up to. Given the man was a complete outsider, it's likely whoever hired him arranged for him to be there, rather than meeting him there. This, along with the man's dedication (he was clearly risking his life after he'd already been paid and was free to leave, even if he didn't expect the wolf attack) leads me to suspect Mance took the man with him. Perhaps he had family North of the Wall, he was risking his life to protect theirs. If not, if the catspaw really was hired from amongst the band of camp followers, Mance was still best placed to do this. His disguise as a bard would allow him to freely mix with anyone in the castle.
If we rule out Joffrey as the culprit, then we have the question of how the dagger was taken from the armory. Mance was there at the time and he even brags that he's more than capable of climbing any tower, so it's likely there weren't many places in Winterfell that were off limits to him. Again, he seems the best placed of the suspects to steal or socially engineer the theft of the dagger.
George told us we'd learn the secret of who hired the catspaw in ASOS, and many people point to that being the book in which not one but two (arguably even three) POV characters come to the same conclusion as evidence that it was Joffrey, case closed. However, for me it's a bit on the nose, so many characters all blaming Joffrey who then promptly dies without being able to confirm or deny it, leaving a horrible dangling loose end? Well, ASOS is also the book where Mance tells us that he took a bag of silver, bought a horse and visited Winterfell. The catspaw was paid in silver and he'd been bedding down in the stables (likely where Mance's horse was stabled). I think GRRM did tell us who the killer was in ASOS, I just don't think he spelled it out.
As for the other usual suspects: Varys and Illyrio don't want war at this point in the story so this would be disastrous for their plans (in fact it's the attempt on Bran's life and Cat's subsequent kidnapping of Tyrion that leads to the Wot5K even more so than the Jon Arryn murder and Cersei's children, the mystery of which was still playing out when the war started). BloodRaven seems to have an interest in Bran that involves him not being dead, so I think we can largely rule him out (unless BR != the Three Eyed Crow, but either way he doesn't have Bran killed at the cave so he likely never wanted him killed). Littlefinger already has a plan in play, a separate plan in the same castle at the same time just seems like overkill and the two may even end up having an adverse effect (i.e. Ned decides to stay in the North to protect his family, etc).I guess it might have been a play by Roose that we don't yet understand, but I'm not sure what the aim would be - he benefited greatly from the war but he couldn't have envisioned that beforehand because, again, too many variables.
great theory . but how in the hell would mance know that killing bran would start the war of the 5 kings . the only people who knew about the stark lannister beef was the maestar luwin , ned , lysa , littlefinger and catelyn . imo its littlefinger . him sending that letter then finding out brans been crippled . he probably immediately send someone to kill him so the starks would become more suspicious of the lannisters
but the problem w that is the assasin was willing to kill catelyn . lf would ensure the assasin knew not to do anything to cat . but maybe he didnt think cat would be there so he didnt give the assasin any exact instructions on cat
Around 13:48 you make a leap. In that line of work it is very likely what he had on him was "Up Front" money. With the majority of the payday coming after the certainty of a particular Lordling's death.
Haven't finished the video yet but wanted to comment while it was on my mind. Keep up the good work! Personally I feel like G.R.R.M. owes you some money for keeping us interested and adding depth (some obviously artificial) that a lot of us missed on a first read through of the series. After going through them at least five times each myself (With the exception of a aGoT only twice) I have a lot of respect for many of your overarching theories.
I just got back home from a trip to Vietnam, and I got to watch not only this, but the most recent Prepping For Winter (Arianne I, Pt. 2) nearly back to back. Keep up the great videos, Preston!
The murder mystery series is a fantastic addition to your already stellar content Preston. Keep up the good work!
Brilliant. As always, PJ delivering the best original GOT content on the net
And here I was watching an older Preston video when a brand spanking new one is ready right now!
Brendon Parker don't you love when that happens?
Feels good huh?
Cat grabs the dagger itself with her hands and her fingers doesnt come right off. The dagger is described incorrectly and the properties of the dagger are incorrect wich sums it up to two possibilities: 1 The dagger was never valyrian steel to begin with and all that, that implies or 2 GRRM didnt have the proper foresight when he wrote this part of the story, as it was the first book in the series and it was simply meant to be a clear indication of guilt, making the plot shift into gear to begin with.
I personally believe the second alternative although your argument about cats, dogs and wolfs is very convincing that he wanted to muddle the affair. It is possible that GRRM simply tried to hide his own error by making intentional errors and create a mystery. Either way, enjoyable video Preston! I do like it when you poke at the details with a passion.
Hankshaw great point; valyrian steel has near lightsaber sharpness throughout most of the series
Hankshaw i need to reread the scene, but it could be that the cats paw wasn't trying to cut through Caitlyn. cat was trying to wrestle the knife from him (and grabbed he pointed end) but the cats paw didn't go and lunge at Cat, so he was probably confused and was in the defensive, so he didn't get a proper slice on Cats fingers.
Also they have a skilled Maester, so perhaps the fingers WOULD have fallen off if untreated, and the healer saved them
Scorr McLean Cat does grab the blade itself trying to gain control of it. Now if we for arguments sake say that the cats paw was so shocked that he didnt even move, the point is that she is trying to get control of the blade itself by doing so. Grabbing valyrian steel, as it is described in the books, would not end well. I presume neither of us have actually tried to wrestle a shashimi knife out of someones hands by grabbing the sharp end of the blade but I would assume we have cut ourselfs on a knife before. The damage in her case would have most likely cut to the bone quite easily.
Grabbing a thing won't cut things off. Sliding your hand on it will. There is a common sword technique called halfswording where you grab your own sword blade for better control ans strength to punch through armor. It's reasonable to assume she grabbed the blade and didn't move it around.
Douglas Paulson That is very true. Daggers and swords arent the same in this case however. If just solid pressure would not cut, then you would not be able to push through a carrot with a knife. A very improper way of handling vegetables but totally possible. Cat does grab the dagger very firmly and her fingers bleed quite severly. My argument is in the same fashion as the comparison with the sword and the dagger, valyrian steel as described is supposed to be extremely sharp.
You would assume that GRRM wouldn't incorrectly quote his own work by mistake, but he's done it before. He once referred to Geoffrey's sword as "Lion's Paw" instead of "Lion's Tooth". Preston just reads waaaaaay too much into these kinds of things.
oh yeah I totally believed you when you said that the bran assassin video was only going to be 1 video long.
What a way to start my day, thankyou Preston.
20 minute Preston video? My day just got better. Thank you Preston. You are the man!
Ha! Nice use of historical tapestries about the war of the roses as relevant imagery for the background of the narrative. That was sneakily brilliant.
Good Lord, how I was waiting for this.
Just because he was thoughtful enough to wait for the king to leave doesn’t mean it wasn’t a stupid plan. Besides that point I agree that some of Tyrion’s deductions were a little off. Love your videos. I’ve been crushing through your playlists at work. And can’t stop watching them even after I get home. Keep it up! 😁
Well, at least we now know where the dagger originally came from...
I've been sat here all fucking night waiting for you to upload something. YESSSSSSSS
I enjoy these videos because they are different than other channels with common theories, but sometimes a chair is just a chair. Preston falls into a habit of thinking that just because a scene wasn't mentioned in the book, then it never happened in the story. The books are huge, I give you that, but that doesn't mean that every single thing in the world is in them. Joff could have seen dragonbone anytime throughout his whole life. likewise, valeryian steal. You have to remember that 99.99% of events that took place in ASOIAF happen off screen, or rather, happen in scenes we never get to read.
its always a good day when a new preston jacobs video is available
This sounds like the title of a book that Bill O'Reilly would "write" about Bran after his ascent to the Iron Throne.
Summer wasn't in Bran's room at that time.
"The wolf was howling outside his window [...] when the window is closed Bran gets weaker, but his heart strengthens again when it is open."
-Tyrion (AGoT C9)
George is good at letting us take 1 step forward and 1 step back then making you question if you ever took that first step in the first place
The best intro you've ever done by far is the Frey Civil War series the Watchmen callback is fucking amazing
You should do some series about aegon, lemore and joncon
Very nice. I went from, "Here comes the tinfoil!" to "Whoa, those are some interesting points!"
Definitely did your homework on Tyrion's misinformation.
The real question is: who would like to blame the real owner of the dagger? The catspaw said: you are not supposed to be here" to Catelyn, so my guess is that he was told Bran was going to be alone, he would kill him and scape, but if you want to blame the dagger's owner the assassin need to be caught, so my guess is that there was someone who would catch him after the murder, SO who was in the near area after the attempt? sorry bad english
Hm, interesting!
You are mastering the art of shitty intros.
production values
Hells yeah
it wasnt a shitty intro, except that it was 40 seconds long...not necessary
I love it. lol
IT'S FUCKIN HORRIBLE
11:47 I believe at this point Summer was still residing outside of Bran's room. The only reason Summer shows up to save Bran is because the door to the tower was left open and forgotten during the fire
Hockey playoffs will have to wait Preston has a new video
Queen in the North.
Chad Summerchild bro, everything is awesome??
The Fourth Captain none so awesome bro
Chad Summerchild trust me at this point my celtics and bruins are dissapointing enough where this video just made my week....besides Chris Sale being an absolute. beast
Bruh, this is what intermission is for.
loving the new format for these videos keep it up
This video makes me scared if I make sense on a daily basis in my thoughts or not.
I know this is an older video but I want to point out that the Hound wouldn’t have needed to sneak into Bran’s room to kill Summer. Until the cat’s paw was sent, the Wolf wasn’t allowed to stay in the room. Thus why it was howling.
As far as Joffery saying he thought dragon bone was too plain, he could very likely be familiar with it's appearance and possibly even its physical properties as it was everywhere in the Red Keep in the form of dragon skeletons and skulls, not only is it brought up time and again with regard to the the Targaryen throne room, there are still relatively intact specimens stored in the Red Keep. .
Joff certainly saw Valyrian steel first hand when it cut through Ned's head with just a sigh. Perhaps Joff had also seen the dragonbone of the dragon skulls, even though Robert had them moved from the throne room.
Preston, should we make anything of the fact that this dagger has shown up in HotD, and - if Aemond keeps it on his person - it might end up on the Isle of Faces?
The Order of the Greenhand made a good point about this in a video they uploaded today coincidentally. They said that in the book Catelyn refers to the Catspaw as "The man" as if she was waiting for him. And the name Catspaw does ring some bells...
Eva Panou it is really interesting attacker thought Bran will be alone because we know Catelyn never left his room so Robb got angry with her for not caring about baby Rickon. Maybe catspaw was for Catelyn and it was Catelyn that should be somewhere else?
I was wondering why there wasn't a video on this topic already. I've been looking forward to this.
Joff has definitely seen Dragonbone before, there are immense dragon skulls buried beneath the red keep, where he lives.
It still supports his theory even more though.
The hint is right there. Catspaw - the hand of the cat. The assassin was sent by Balerion.
Honestly, you could make an argument for anyone but I personally think it was Renly.
He had no love for the Starks and had an obvious motive- the downfall of Cersei and the Lannisters. He's one of the people at Winterfell who had the could afford to spend 99 silver stags to kill someone. He wants a trail to come back after a Stark investigation so he can help implicate the Queen and get Robert and Margaery married.
And it just makes sense. He hired someone with the full intention of killing a Stark so Ned would blame it on the Lannisters and try to get Robert to hate them even more. He then could get Margaery, a woman he had been trying to get Robert's favor for, to swoop in and marry him when Cersei gets kicked out. All he needed was a dead Stark. Catelyn works just as well because it would destroy Ned and make him want to solve the murder. Hence why the catspaw didn't turn and run when he got caught.
And Renly is quite ambitious even though he acts very carefree and laid back like with the peach scene. He is trying to get his boyfriend's sister married to the King, he tries to take over the city before Robert is even dead, and then he runs to crown himself and uniting 2 of the 7 Kingdoms to gain legitimacy. He may be a nice guy, but damn he's working his ass off to get what he wants.
Other than this, I have no real evidence, but I feel like a lot of this could stand on its own. Any thoughts?
manband20 interesting thought but I feel renly's actions later on in the story contradict this. If he was so motivated to remove the lannisters from power why would he flee KL when he had the men and the opportunity to help remove cersei and put ned on the throne? Sure ned turns his offer down but surely if Renly went to all the trouble and risk to try and kill bran to sow discord between Robert/Starks and the Lannisters he simply wouldn't just leave just because Ned didn't agree with it.
Sure he has another chance to amass his forces and take another shot (untill stannis decides to have him killed) but if he was so bothered about removing them he would have taken the opportunity and stayed to support ned.
Also I know that ASOIAF includes many characters with hidden agendas but I feel Renly was too nice a man to murder a child for his ambitions.
JONESANDDUDDING Well his motivation to put Bed on the throne involved Ned wanting to commit a coup and get Cersei out of the city to isolate her from the kids. Ned refused and Renly then decided that his only other option was to run and call his banners to declare himself King.
He knew Cersei knew he was gunning for her and he knew if he stayed, he'd be next to die. Why stay and die when you can run?
Ned simply was too honorable to arrest Cersei and take custody of the children. Renly realized this and he had to get out. I mean he only had 100 men vs. all of the Goldcloaks.
manband20 Except that Renly was never at Winterfell.
manband20 interesting !!
Ognjen Garić I don't get how people don't get to verify this things before writing that much, we have an amazing wiki to prevent this things
It seems pretty clear that Tommen is the one who tried to have Bran killed. The "motive" discussed by Cersei and Jaime actually fits much better when applied to their sensitive younger son--who could have seen killing Bran as "merciful," would have wanted his father's approval, and would have no idea what the implications of his actions would be. (Incidentally, he is the only child not mentioned in Jaime and Cersei's discussion--I think this a sort of clue by way of negation.)
The devastating war of the five kings was started by a five year old wanting his drunken aloof dad's approval...Freud would have much to say...
Oddly enough, this makes more sense than anything else
Also Bran kept whooping his ass in their play sword fights. But I doubt it Tommen. Highly.
So weird. I love the depth he goes into but every time he says “this makes no sense” or “this cannot be” I always disagree 100%
Been waiting for this. I've never bought that Joffrey sent the catspaw. We all know it was Littlefinger, right? I don't know how Preston's going to explain it, but I don't have any doubt that's his theory. Why use a valyrian steel dagger when any old thing would have sufficed? Because the dagger was INTENDED to be followed, and who else but Littlefinger would be behind that?
When are you going to bring up the bag of silver the catspaw had and the fact that Mance rayder is the only man who had silver on him when he snuck into winterfell as a bard in game of thrones ?
I'm sure he wasn't the only one but the only makes mention
oh my you just resolved the mistery! Now I ahve to be provided with how did Mance got a valyrian steel dagger and I'm sold. It makes perfect sense Mance being the one behind all of this, he needed the Starks fighting somewhere else
It would be pretty easy for Mance to slip into Roberts wheel house and grab the dagger also he meet Dalla on his way back to the wall and we here about a Dalla at dragon stone which makes me think he went to dragon stone after
....what? No. Preston’s hyper-literal reading is rubbing off on all of you. Just because a character doesn’t explicitly say they have money doesn’t mean they don’t. That’s ridiculous. Especially among nobility.
Mance has no motive.
@@BeggarsNight Well it is constantly brought up that every time a king-beyond has made it past the wall the current Lord/King of Winterfell beat them back. Not saying Mance did do it, but he definitely does have a motive for wanting the Starks to be as weak as possible.
Summer wasn’t in brans room when he was wailing all night, he was outside which was why he was so noisy. So the logistics wouldn’t be exactly the same for the hound to kill bran.
Holy fkng shit, Preston back at it again providing excellent videos.
I always find cat's paw a funny phrase. It generally mean criminal for sale, which suggest everything a cat's paw does is criminal...
If Ice was shown to him in King's Landing, he could have been a stranger to valyrian steel at the time that he handed the dagger to the catspaw
Amazing insights, as always!
Very good points Preston! But wtf, that Joffrey's voice! LOL!!!
if First 48 hires Preston a lot of muthafuckas are going to jail
When in doubt, blame Littlefinger
Given that there's a whole hall full of dragon skulls in the castle he grew up in, I think it's pretty reasonable to assume Joffrey has seen dragonbone before. Doesn't he even comment on the skulls at some point?
maybe someone from house Reed foresaw the war to come and thought that killing bran could ultimately prevent the others from taking down the wall, and they failed. so instead they send jojen and mira to help guide him to the 3eyed raven instead of the night king
Been waiting for this since the TheRedTeam video
I'm sure Littlefinger sent the cat's paw. Not sure how, but it just smells like his work. Even him confessing that the blade was originally his is a genius way of covering his tracks while everyone goes on a wild goose chase.
The true killer is you Preston.
You're killing it with these murder videos.
Love the clear Bill O'Reilly copyright violation! You live on the edge, my man.
So you ARE making it a 10 part series :P I remeber someone saying it would be just one episode. Not complaining though
At last! A new video. No time for sleep, its only 00.45! :D
Nils Engman my thoughts exactly .. but hey preston lives in germany so he uploads at this time on purpose coz its best timing in the US
HKSATWOC DUH he does? how'd you know that??
The Fourth Captain he said it in a video once .. i belive it was the i meet GRRM video but not sure
HKSATWOC DUH I must have missed that. I thought he was in the states
The Fourth Captain was wrong he said it in the update channel under attack again .. he talks about how the show aires there at 3am coz timediffeeence
I think in many of your theories you're giving GRRM too much credit for his ability to make everything consistent and not self-contradictory. It is hard work and people make mistakes when writing fiction. Martin might've never thought this deep about it.
The main reason to take Tyrion's theory at face value is because Marting told us to. Misdirecting readers in the books is one thing. Straight up giving misinformation to readers when answering questions at conventions is completely different.
This is why I love you more than most in the whole world Preston! Never let this go!
I think Tyrion was hungover at the wedding breakfast and doesn't remember things properly
There are dragon bones in the Red Keep.
Joffrey did send the catspaw. He heard various people saying it would be mercy to put the boy out of his misery, and joked about killing Summer with the Hound. This all put it in his mind subliminally to kill Bran. Most importantly, Tyrion slapped Joffrey for not visiting the Starks and offering his condolences. The "flaw" in Tyrion's logic is that he doesn't realize that it was his own action that triggered Joffrey to kill Bran.
an other murder mystery with an hilarious intro
Preston Jacobs is Hercule Poirot of ASoIaF :D
The catspaw is a faceless man. He literally says, "No one is suppose to be here". No one is who a faceless man is. Faceless man are not the flawless hitmen people think. They can make mistakes. His mistake was nit know Bran was warged into Summer.
Big reach
I'm only starting, and I will continue listening, but I think GRRM did solve this as he said - it just wasn't the obvious explanation. It was Littlefinger who sent the dagger, just like he sent the letter through Lysa.
Great video, one of my favs
For a Valyrian dagger maybe a dragonbone dagger would have been more fitting, though I guess an iron dagger is perfectly ironic being the weakest dagger in Skyrim x)
Summary video of a summary video of a rehashed topic, to be followed by a summary.
ay i love ur commentary and you're smart and you actually back up your arguments unlike a huge % of other ASOIAF channels. but you have some of the worst impressions i've ever heard. don't ever stop doing them they're hilarious
I wonder if the catspaw was an agent of someone in opposition to Bloodraven, given that Bran would end up in Bloodraven's service.
I don't think The Hound would have had to sneak into Bran's room to kill Summer. Summer wasn't allowed in Bran's room until after he saved Bran from the assassin, IIRC. Summer was probably in a kennel or the Godswood.
The person that sent the Pink Letter also sent the Catspaw who is also the same person that is delaying Winds of Wind release for soooooooooo long :)(:
Awesome analysis Preston, bout time we started in on this topic.
Btw it's "poxy".
I was just thinking about this on the toilet earlier. 10/10 for mind reading.
I know this intro is parodying something... but what??
Fnidner remember those old ass pc Games? there you go.
when he first started doing this intros I thought he was parodying the beginning of Deadpool, now I'm not so sure
I could see littlefinger motive wise but how could he hire someone being a continent away and so quickly? I don't think littlefinger has a jetpack in the book!
Trought an intermediare