Hand's tourney

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Tourney for the Hand, by Tim Truman © Fantasy Flight Games

The Hand's tourney[1][2][3] is a tourney held in King's Landing to celebrate the naming of Eddard Stark as Hand of the King to Robert I Baratheon.

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A Game of Thrones

After the passing of Lord Jon Arryn, King Robert I Baratheon names his childhood friend, Lord Eddard Stark, as the new Hand of the King.[4] To celebrate the occasion, Robert orders his small council to arrange a tourney in Eddard's honor.[5] Lord Stark has no interest in the tourney, however, and considers it an extravagance which the Seven Kingdoms cannot afford.[5][6][1] Eddard's younger daughter, Arya Stark, is disinterested as well, but his elder daughter, Sansa, is eager to attend.[6]

Knights, freeriders, men-at-arms, craftsmen, merchants, whores, and thieves from through the realm come to the capital for the competition and surrounding festivities.[1] Possibly a dozen troupes of mummers come to King's Landing to entertain as well.[7] To help keep the king's peace, Eddard has twenty of his household guards temporarily join the City Watch of King's Landing.[1]

Jeyne Poole, by Ekaterina Burmak © Fantasy Flight Games

The surrounding roads and inns become busy as well. While returning to the north from King's Landing, Lady Catelyn Stark sees knights, freeriders, singers, heavy wagons laden with foodstuffs, traders, craftsmen, and whores traveling south to the capital. Marillion hopes to make his fortune at the tourney, but he joins Catelyn's party when she arrests Tyrion Lannister at the inn at the crossroads.[8] Lady Lysa Arryn forbids her knights from fighting in the tourney.[3]

The competition is held at the tourney grounds west of King's Landing, by the city's King's Gate.[9] A hundred pavilions are raised by the Blackwater Rush, and thousands of smallfolk come to watch.[2]

The tournament consists of a joust, melee and archery contest. The prizes are forty thousand gold dragons for the winner of the joust, twenty thousand dragons for the runner-up of the joust, twenty thousand dragons to the winner of the melee, and ten thousand dragons to the winner of the archery contest. Eddard disapproves of the high winnings commanded by King Robert.[5]

On the first day of competition, the jousting continues all day and into the dusk. Sansa Stark watches the tilts with her friend, Jeyne Poole,[2] but Arya practices with Syrio Forel instead of attending the tourney.[10]. When Ser Gregor Clegane kills Ser Hugh of the Vale, Septa Mordane has to guide the upset Jeyne away from the tourney.[2] Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, tosses a white rose to a maiden in the crowd after each of his victories. After defeating Ser Robar Royce, Loras gives Sansa a red rose.[2] When Renly Baratheon is unhorsed by Sandor Clegane, one of the golden tines of his antlered helm breaks off, and he graciously offers it to the victor. However, Sandor tosses the bit of gold into the crowd, who begin to fight for it, until Renly walks out among them to restore the peace.[2]

When there are only four men left in the lists—Gregor Clegane and his brother Sandor, Jaime Lannister, and Loras—Robert decrees that the final three matches will be held the next morning before the melee. Robert holds a riverside feast that night, with six huge aurochs served as the main course. Singers perform before the royal pavilion, a juggler spins burning clubs, and Moon Boy walks about on stilts. Robert drunkenly argues with Queen Cersei Lannister about participating in the upcoming melee. Prince Joffrey Baratheon has Sandor escort Sansa back to the Red Keep.[2]

Gregor Clegane fighting his brother Sandor, by Cristi Balanescu © Fantasy Flight Games

The next morning, Eddard and Ser Barristan Selmy convince Robert not to participate in the melee, explaining that the other competitors would let him win to avoid the possibility of harming the king.[10] Sandor defeats Jaime in the first match of the day. After Loras unhorses Gregor in the second match, the enraged Mountain tries to kill the Knight of Flowers. Sandor intervenes and saves Loras's life, and Robert calls a halt to the fighting. Loras concedes to Sandor in gratitude. Lord Petyr Baelish believes that Loras intentionally rode a mare in heat in order to disturb Gregor's stallion.[10]

Anguy, a commoner from the Dornish Marches, is victorious in the archery competition. Lord Stark sends Alyn to offer Anguy a position in the Hand's guard, but the champion declines.[10] Thoros of Myr wins the melee, which involves forty riders fighting for three hours.[10] During the feast the second night, a troupe of singers performs "The Dance of the Dragons".[10] When Eddard returns to his chambers in the Tower of the Hand, Lord Varys informs him that House Lannister had intended for King Robert to be killed in the chaotic melee.[10]

A Clash of Kings

Now a prisoner at the Red Keep during the War of the Five Kings, Sansa remembers the tourney as having been one of the happiest moments of her life.[11]

A Storm of Swords

Anguy, now a member of the brotherhood without banners, reveals he squandered his winnings at Chataya's brothel, enjoying lavish excesses with Jayde, Alayaya, and Dancy.[12] Lord Edric Dayne tells Arya that he had wanted to introduce himself to her late father, Lord Eddard, during the Hand's tourney, but did not know what he would say.[13] Lord Beric Dondarrion, the leader of the brotherhood, confiscates Sandor Clegane's gold and gives it to Greenbeard and the Mad Huntsman to buy provisions. Beric gives the Hound a promissory note, but Sandor considers it worthless.[12][14]

A Feast for Crows

Disguised as "Alayne Stone" at the Eyrie, Sansa worries she will be recognized by Lord Yohn Royce, who had previously seen the girl first at Winterfell and then during the Hand's tourney. Lord Baelish, however, doubts that Yohn would remember her.[15]

Joust

The Hand's tourney as depicted in Game of Thrones
Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, by Smirtouille © Fantasy Flight Games

Semi-Finals

Loras Tyrell defeats Gregor Clegane, by Amok ©

Final

  • House Clegane.svg House Tyrell.svg Sandor Clegane is supposed to face Ser Loras Tyrell in the final tilt, but Loras, in gratitude to the Hound for saving his life from his brother Gregor, yields the match.[2]

Archery

Mêlée

Thoros of Myr in the melee, by Jason Engle © Fantasy Flight Games
  • Fiery Heart.svg Thoros of Myr wins the mêlée after a brutal three-hour fight against nearly forty other competitors. His sword, lit with wildfire, tends to frighten the mounts of the other competitors.[10]

Other Participants

Other Attendees

Sansa Stark by Linda Tso © Fantasy Flight Games

Quotes

Tommen Baratheon, Robert I Baratheon, and Cersei Lannister, from Game of Thrones

Jory: The talk in the yard is we shall have a tourney, my lord. They say that knights will come from all over the realm to joust and feast in honor of your appointment as Hand of the King.
Eddard: Do they also say this is the last thing in the world I would have wished?[6]

—Jory Cassel and Eddard Stark

As if the expense and trouble were not irksome enough, all and sundry insisted on salting Ned's wound by calling it "the Hand's tourney," as if he were the cause of it. And Robert honestly seemed to think he should feel honored![1]

—thoughts of Eddard Stark

Pycelle: The realm prospers from such events, my lord. They bring the great the chance of glory, and the lowly a respite from their woes.
Petyr: And put coins in many a pocket. Every inn in the city is full, and the whores are walking bowlegged and jingling with each step.[1]

—Pycelle and Petyr Baelish

Guardsman: Here to fight in the Hand's tourney, my lord?
Beric: Here to win the Hand's tourney.[1]

—Guardsman and Beric Dondarrion

The Hand's tourney means rich lords with fat purses.[8]

—Marillion to Catelyn Stark
Sansa Stark and Petyr Baelish, from Game of Thrones

The splendor of it all took Sansa's breath away; the shining armor, the great chargers caparisoned in silver and gold, the shouts of the crowd, the banners snapping in the wind ... and the knights themselves, the knights most of all.[2]

—thoughts of Sansa Stark

King Robert had staged it in her father's honor. High lords and fabled champions had come from all over the realm to compete, and the whole city had turned out to watch. She remembered the splendor of it: the field of pavilions along the river with a knight's shield hung before each door, the long rows of silken pennants waving in the wind, the gleam of sunlight on bright steel and gilded spurs. The days had rung to the sounds of trumpets and pounding hooves, and the nights had been full of feasts and song. Those had been the most magical days of her life, but they seemed a memory from another age now.[11]

—thoughts of Sansa Stark

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 27, Eddard VI.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 29, Sansa II.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 34, Catelyn VI.
  4. ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 4, Eddard I.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 20, Eddard IV.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 22, Arya II.
  7. ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 32, Arya III.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 28, Catelyn V.
  9. ↑ The Lands of Ice and Fire, King's Landing.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 30, Eddard VII.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 2, Sansa I.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 39, Arya VII.
  13. ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 43, Arya VIII.
  14. ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 47, Arya IX.
  15. ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 23, Alayne I.
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