Randyll Tarly
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 Randyll Tarly - by Sardag © | ||||
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| Titles | ||||
| Allegiance | House Tarly | |||
| Culture | Marcher | |||
| Born | Horn Hill[1] | |||
| Spouse | Lady Melessa Florent | |||
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| Books |
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| Played by | James Faulkner | |||
| TV series |
Game of Thrones: Season 6 | 7 | |||
Randyll Tarly is Lord of Horn Hill and head of House Tarly. He is married to Lady Melessa Florent, and is the father of the POV character Samwell Tarly. Randyll wields the Tarly ancestral blade Heartsbane, a Valyrian steel greatsword, in battle.
In the television adaptation Game of Thrones, Randyll is portrayed by James Faulkner.
Contents
Appearance and Character
- See also: Images of Randyll Tarly
Randyll is a lean and balding man with a short, bristly grey beard.[2][3]
Hard, narrow-minded, and shrewd,[1][4] Randyll is blunt of speech.[2] He is misogynistic and a harsh disciplinarian,[5] and he believes in putting idle men to work.[5] Lord Tarly is not well liked in Oldtown.[6] Randyll follows the Faith of the Seven.[7]
A careful tactician[8] always in the van of his liege, Lord Mace Tyrell,[9] Randyll is considered an able soldier by Stannis Baratheon[10] and the finest soldier in the Seven Kingdoms by Ser Kevan Lannister.[11] Lord Tarly prizes courage and martial ability, which causes him to despise his elder son, Samwell, because of his cowardice and softness, and strongly favor his younger son, Dickon, who is much more fierce and robust.[12]
In the field Randyll wears mail and boiled leather with a breastplate of grey steel.[5] He carries the ancestral Valyrian steel sword Heartsbane across his back in a jeweled scabbard.[3] Ser Hyle Hunt is one of his household knights[13] and captains.[5]
History
Randyll married Lady Melessa Florent, the eldest daughter of Alester Florent, Lord of Brightwater Keep.[14] Their first-born child, Samwell, was born in 283 AC.[15] They would later have three daughters, born within three years time, and a second son, Dickon.[12]
As one of Lord Mace Tyrell's bannermen, Randyll fought in Robert's Rebellion on the side of House Targaryen. He defeated Lord Robert Baratheon's forces at the Battle of Ashford,[10] cutting down Lord Cafferen with Heartsbane during the battle.[16][10]
Randyll insisted that young Sam attend him while holding court in the audience chamber at Horn Hill, and he brought Sam to Highgarden during a visit to see Mace.[7] A martinet, Randyll became disappointed in his gentle, timid firstborn son and made several harsh attempts to engage him in manly, martial pursuits, but all to no effect.[12] A dozen masters-at-arms failed to toughen Sam. Attempts such as dressing him in his mother's clothes, forcing him to sleep in chainmail, and even being bathed in aurochs blood by two warlocks of Qarth failed to raise his valor. Samwell even wept to see a chicken slaughtered.[12] When Lord Tarly threw Sam into Horn Hill's fishpond to teach him to swim, Ser Hyle Hunt had to rescue the boy.[17]
Randyll forbade Sam from sleeping in the same bed as his sisters,[18] and he reprimanded Sam and his mother when he heard them singing "The Song of the Seven" to the infant Dickon.[18] Randyll began to ignore Samwell, leaving him to his own devices and paying more attention to Dickon after his second son was born.[12]
When Sam was no more than ten, Lord Tarly brought his heir with him to the Arbor, where Samwell was mocked endlessly by Horas and Hobber Redwyne as well as by the fool of House Redwyne. Randyll had planned to leave his son at the Arbor as Lord Paxter Redwyne's page and squire, but he instead brought Samwell back to Horn Hill with him.[17] Randyll forbade Sam from traveling to Oldtown to study at the Citadel, horrified at the notion of a member of House Tarly wearing a maester's chain. To discourage the boy, Randyll had Sam chained and manacled to a wall for three days.[17]
When Samwell turned fifteen, three men-at-arms escorted him to his father in a nearby forest. While skinning a deer, Randyll offered his eldest son the choice of either joining the Night's Watch, thereby nullifying his claim to Horn Hill and allowing Dickon to become Randyll's lawful heir, or dying in a supposed accident while hunting the following day. Sam agreed to leave for the Wall.[12]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Randyll has men escort his eldest son, Samwell Tarly, to Castle Black. Sam tells his new friend, Jon Snow, how Randyll gave him the choice between joining the Night's Watch and death, shortly after his arrival at the Wall.[12]
A Clash of Kings
When Renly Baratheon calls his banners, Randyll joins with House Tyrell in supporting Renly.[2] While encamped by Highgarden, Randyll is told by his son and heir, Dickon, of a cruel game that several knights are playing on Brienne of Tarth. Randyll summons Brienne and tells her that some of the men laid wagers on the first to claim her maidenhead. He then tersely advises her that women have no place on the battlefield.[5]
Lord Tarly is hosting Renly at Horn Hill when they receive Stannis Baratheon's letter claiming that the late King Robert I Baratheon's children are bastards.[19] Randyll accompanies Renly's army to Bitterbridge, and he meets Catelyn Stark when she arrives during the melee at Bitterbridge.[2]
After the parley with Stannis beneath the walls of Storm's End, Lord Tarly counsels attacking Stannis to make sure he gains no strength while Renly is away.[19] Randyll and Lord Mathis Rowan discuss tactics for the upcoming battle. Before it can take place, however, Renly is assassinated.[8]
Randyll continues to follow the Tyrells in forsaking Stannis's cause.[20] He captures Renly's stores and puts a great many men to death, mainly those sworn to House Florent, his wife's family, in fighting at Bitterbridge.[21]
Randyll is sent out with Lord Rowan to find Lord Tywin Lannister and bring him to Tumbler's Falls where Lord Mace Tyrell is waiting with a huge host and a fleet of barges.[22] Once again following the lead of his liege lord, Lord Tarly joins with the Lannisters and fights against Stannis, commanding the center at the Battle of the Blackwater.[23] Randyll is honored in the throne room after the battle.[3]
A Storm of Swords
The small council of King Joffrey awards lesser tracts of land to Lord Tarly, Lady Arwyn Oakheart, and Lord Leyton Hightower as rewards for the Blackwater.[24]
Randyll destroys a northern force attacking the town of Duskendale, resulting in the capture of Harrion Karstark and Robett Glover and the death of Helman Tallhart.[25] Afterwards, he takes the town of Maidenpool with Lord Renfred Rykker, locks Lord William Mooton of Maidenpool in a tower, and secures the kingsroad.[26][27][28]
At Castle Black, Samwell suggests to Jon that Gilly and her son could be sent to live with his family at Horn Hill under the false belief that the baby was fathered by him. Sam thinks Randyll might be secretly proud of his son fathering a bastard with the wildling girl, but Jon is skeptical of the idea.[29]
A Feast for Crows
Gilly accompanies Samwell when he departs the Wall for Oldtown to study at the Citadel. Though he is nervous about possibly seeing his father, Sam hopes Gilly can become a serving maid at Horn Hill.[17]
Randyll and Lord Mathis Rowan are suggested by Ser Kevan Lannister as good candidates to replace his late brother, Lord Tywin Lannister, as Hand of the King. Queen Regent Cersei Lannister refuses to name a Tyrell bannerman as Hand, however, failing to understand that such a move would actually weaken the Tyrells by placing one of their most powerful bannermen in a position of authority higher than Lord Mace.[11]
Randyll begins rebuilding Maidenpool, and he beheads outlaws with Heartsbane.[5] His son Dickon is to marry Eleanor Mooton, the daughter of the pardoned Lord William.[5]
Brienne encounters Lord Tarly again while he is dispensing harsh justice in the fishmarket of Maidenpool. He decides that a thief whole stole from an abandoned sept should have seven fingers removed from his hand, and he orders the lashing of a baker unable to pay a heavy fine of fifty stags for mixing sawdust in his flour. A whore accused of giving the pox to four Tarly soldiers is to be imprisoned and having her private parts washed with lye. Randyll orders an archer from the Mooton garrison, accused of cheating at dice, to have the little finger of one his hands removed and a nail driven through his other hand. Randyll admonishes Brienne for having let Renly Baratheon die and for her non-traditional behavior, but he allows her to leave after reading her letter from King Tommen I Baratheon.[5]
Randyll sends Ser Hyle Hunt, one of his captains, to follow an unknowing Brienne in her search for Sansa Stark, and to bring Sansa back to Maidenpool if Brienne is successful.[30] Brienne kills Pyg, Timeon, and Shagwell, former Brave Companions, at the Whispers, and Hyle helps her bury Dick Crabb.[30]
When Brienne returns to Maidenpool, Hyle brings the outlaws' heads with them so they can be displayed on the walls. Lord Randyll in incredulous when Hyle tells him about Brienne killing the outlaws, and he attributes her victory to her Valyrian steel sword, Oathkeeper. He complains that he has executed many outlaws, but cannot find their leaders. Randyll is dismissive of Brienne's missions and forbids her from returning to Maidenpool while he is there.[31]
The Elder Brother of the Quiet Isle tells Brienne that Lord Tarly is hunting outlaws from Maidenpool.[32] When Brienne is held captive by the brotherhood without banners, Jack-Be-Lucky says that Lord Tarly has hanged a score of his comrades.[13] Once word of the imprisonment of Margaery Tyrell reaches Randyll, he marches his army to King's Landing.[33]
A Dance with Dragons
Dickon has married Eleanor.[34] Randyll recounts that when some of the Mountain's men began committing crimes in Maidenpool, he had to hang a murderer and geld a rapist.[4]
Randyll's army reaches King's Landing before his liege lord, Mace Tyrell. The Faith releases Margaery and her cousins into his custody after Lord Tarly swears a holy oath to return them for trial. To try and undo the damage Cersei did to the Tyrell and Lannister alliance, Ser Kevan Lannister, now the Lord Regent, makes Randyll the new justiciar on King Tommen I Baratheon's small council and restores the title of master of laws.[35] Randyll makes a list of knights who could replace the late Ser Arys Oakheart on the Kingsguard,[35] but Ser Robert Strong is chosen instead.[36]
When news of the taking of Griffin's Roost and the landing of the Golden Company arrive at the capital, Randyll expresses doubts about the identity of Lord Jon Connington as well as that of his Targaryen pretender, dismissing Aegon as a "feigned boy". He is also dismissive of the sparrows who have overtaken the Faith. Kevan thinks that Randyll is more dangerous than Mace Tyrell, the new Hand of the King.[4]
Quotes by Randyll
You are almost a man grown now, and my heir. You have given me no cause to disown you, but neither will I allow you to inherit the land and title that should be Dickon's. Heartsbane must go to a man strong enough to wield her, and you are not worthy to touch her hilt. So I have decided that you shall this day announce that you wish to take the black. You will forsake all claim to your brother's inheritance and start north before evenfall.[12]
—Randyll to Samwell Tarly
Randyll: No disrespect to you, Lady Stark, but it would have been more seemly had Lord Robb come to pay homage to the king himself, rather than hiding behind his mother's skirts.
Catelyn: King Robb is warring, my lord, not playing at tourney.
Renly: Go softly, Lord Randyll, I fear you're overmatched.[2]
—Randyll, Catelyn Stark, and Renly Baratheon
I say that Stannis is a danger to you, leave him unblooded and he will only grow stronger, while your own power is diminished by battle. The Lannisters will not be beaten in a day. By the time you are done with them, Lord Stannis may be as strong as you ... or stronger.[19]
—Randyll to Renly Baratheon
It takes more than a pretty cloak to charge a shield wall. I was leading Mace Tyrell's van when you were still sucking on your mother's teat, Guyard.[19]
—Randyll to Guyard Morrigen
—Randyll to Melessa Florent
No son of House Tarly will ever wear a chain. The men of Horn Hill do not bow and scrape to petty lords.[37]
—Randyll to Samwell Tarly
Brienne: I came to fight. To be a knight.
Randyll: The gods made men to fight, and women to bear children. A woman's war is in the birthing bed.[5]—Brienne Tarth and Randyll
—Randyll to Kevan Lannister
Quotes about Randyll
He wondered what his father would say if he could see him now. I killed one of the Others, my lord, he imagined saying. I stabbed him with an obsidian dagger, and my Sworn Brothers call me Sam the Slayer now. But even in his fancies, Lord Randyll only scowled, disbelieving.[18]
—thoughts of Samwell Tarly
Stannis: Your father is an able soldier. He defeated my brother once, at Ashford. Mace Tyrell has been pleased to claim the honors for that victory, but Lord Randyll had decided matters before Tyrell ever found the battlefield. He slew Lord Cafferen with that great Valyrian sword of his and sent his head to Aerys. You are not the sort of son I would expect such a man to have.
Samwell: I ... I am not the sort of son he wanted, sire.[10]
The sight of blood might make Sam faint, but he knew how wars were won. His own father had seen to that.[37]
—thoughts of Samwell Tarly
Dunstan: Lord Tarly bears the greatsword Heartsbane, forged of Valyrian steel, and he is always in Lord Tyrell's van.
Victarion: Let him come. I will take his sword for mine own, as your own forebear took Red Rain.[9]
Tarly is the real danger. A narrow man, but iron-willed and shrewd, and as good a soldier as the Reach could boast.[4]
—Kevan Lannister's thoughts
Family
| Randyll | Melessa Florent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samwell | Talla | Two daughters | Dickon | Eleanor Mooton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Randyll Tarly.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 22, Catelyn II.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 65, Sansa VIII.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 A Dance with Dragons, Epilogue.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 14, Brienne III.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 45, Samwell V.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 48, Jon VI.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 33, Catelyn IV.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 29, The Reaver.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 78, Samwell V.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 7, Cersei II.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 26, Jon IV.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 42, Brienne VIII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Appendix.
- ↑ See the Samwell Tarly calculation.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 36, Davos IV.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 15, Samwell II.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 46, Samwell III.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 31, Catelyn III.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 36, Tyrion VIII.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 44, Tyrion X.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 14, Catelyn II.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 62, Sansa VII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 19, Tyrion III.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 4, Tyrion I.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 60, Tyrion VIII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 74, Arya XIII.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 9, Brienne II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 75, Samwell IV.
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 20, Brienne IV.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 25, Brienne V.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 31, Brienne VI.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 43, Cersei X.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Appendix.
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 54, Cersei I.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 65, Cersei II.
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 5, Samwell I.
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- House Tarly
- 3rd century AC births
- Characters from the Reach
- Lords of Horn Hill
- Masters of laws
- Members of Joffrey I Baratheon's court
- Members of Tommen I Baratheon's court
- Nobles
- Justiciars
- Royalists of Robert's Rebellion
- Supporters of Renly Baratheon in the War of the Five Kings
- Supporters of Joffrey Baratheon in the War of the Five Kings
- Supporters of Tommen Baratheon in the War of the Five Kings
- Veterans of Robert's Rebellion
- Wielders of Heartsbane