Littlefinger's blade
Littlefinger's blade,[1] also called Littlefinger's knife,[2] the Imp's knife,[3] and Ned's dagger,[4] is a weapon used by a catspaw during an assassination attempt on Bran Stark.[5] The unnamed knife once belonged to Lord Petyr Baelish, who is called Littlefinger.[6]
Contents
Description
Although the dagger is plain, it is finely made of Valyrian steel and has a smooth black dragonbone hilt. Its edge is extremely sharp.[5][7][8][9]
History
It is unknown where Lord Petyr Baelish originally acquired the dagger, or if it had any significance before he owned it. During the tourney on Prince Joffrey's name day in 298 AC, Ser Jaime Lannister faced Ser Loras Tyrell in the lists as the final match. Petyr bet on Jaime to win the joust, wagering his dagger, but lost it to King Robert I Baratheon, who had bet on Loras. Tyrion Lannister bet on the match as well, but he had supported his brother Jaime and also lost his wager.[10][6][11][9]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
A catspaw sets a fire in the Library Tower of Winterfell as a distraction and then tries to assassinate the comatose Bran Stark in the sickroom. Bran's mother, Catelyn, fends off the assassin and the boy's unnamed direwolf kills the catspaw. The blade cuts Catelyn's fingers almost to the bone. Ser Rodrik Cassel discovers the dagger has a blade of Valyrian steel and a dragonbone hilt, which is far too fine a weapon for a common man like the catspaw. At a confidential meeting with Catelyn, Robb Stark, Theon Greyjoy, and Maester Luwin, Rodrik informs Catelyn, who then tells the others that her sister Lysa Arryn had sent a message accusing House Lannister of the death of her husband, Lord Jon Arryn. Catelyn reminds them that Jaime Lannister did not go hunting the day Bran fell from the First Keep, and that she does not believe that Bran truly fell, but that he was pushed after he must have overheard something.[5]
Seeking further proof of the Lannisters' involvement in the attacks on Bran,[5] Catelyn and Ser Rodrik travel to King's Landing with the blood-stained knife to inform Lord Eddard Stark, the Hand of the King to Robert I Baratheon.[6] Rodrik first discusses the dagger with Ser Aron Santagar, the master-at-arms of the Red Keep, through which Lord Varys realizes Catelyn is in the capital. Varys informs Lord Petyr Baelish, who has Catelyn summoned to them. Varys nicks his finger with the knife, and Petyr reveals that he had once owned the blade. Petyr states he lost it to Tyrion Lannister during the tourney on Prince Joffrey's name day, however, when Ser Loras Tyrell defeated Tyrion's brother, Ser Jaime Lannister, in the lists.[6] When Petyr and Catelyn discuss the dagger with Eddard, Petyr tells them that the dagger alone is not enough to prove House Lannister was behind the assassination attempt, and advises Eddard to get rid of the dagger.[7] Eddard keeps the blade when his wife departs the capital.[7]
Tyrion, who is called the Imp, is taken prisoner by Catelyn at the crossroads inn[12] and brought to the Eyrie, where he wins a trial by combat.[13] During his journeys, Tyrion insists to Catelyn[11] and Bronn[14] that he never owned the dagger, and that he would always bet on Jaime during a tourney, never against him.[11]
When King Robert returns mortally wounded from his hunt in the kingswood, Eddard sheaths the Valyrian dagger at his waist.[15] Petyr suggests to Eddard that they should gather support to seize Robert's children as Robert lays dying, to give them control over the kingdom. Eddard reminds Petyr of the men the Lannisters have killed, and shows him the dagger used in the attempt on Bran's life.[15]
After the death of King Robert, his widow, Queen Cersei Lannister, gains the support of Petyr and Janos Slynt and his gold cloaks. When Eddard confronts Cersei in the throne room and is taken captive, Petyr takes the dagger Eddard wears at his hip and shoves it under his chin.[4]
A Clash of Kings
Tyrion Lannister, the acting Hand of the King for Joffrey I Baratheon, desires to confront Petyr Baelish about the dagger.[16] At some point, Petyr waits for Tyrion in his chambers at the Tower of the Hand, where he offers the dagger to Tyrion as a gift. Tyrion declines, and realizes that Petyr is aware of the fact that Tyrion knows of his lie to House Stark.[8]
When Petyr berates Tyrion about being lied to and tells him to leave him out of his deceptions in the future, Tyrion thinks he will only if it is mutual, noticing Littlefinger bearing the dagger sheathed at his hip.[17]
In Riverrun's dungeon, Ser Jaime Lannister admits to having flung Bran Stark from the First Keep of Winterfell but denies Catelyn's accusation he later hired the catspaw to kill Bran. Jaime also insists that Tyrion would never have bet against him during Joffrey's tourney, contradicting Petyr's claim that Tyrion won the dagger from Petyr by betting on Ser Loras Tyrell instead of Jaime. Jaime recalls the dagger changing hands, however, as a drunken King Robert I Baratheon had displayed it at the tourney's feast.[9]
A Storm of Swords
While discussing the new swords (Widow's Wail and Oathkeeper) made by Tobho Mott from Eddard Stark's Valyrian sword, Ice, Lord Tywin Lannister tells his son Tyrion that King Robert had a hundred daggers in his armory, but that the only knife the king ever used was a hunting knife he received in his youth from Lord Jon Arryn.[18]
After receiving Widow's Wail from Tywin as a wedding gift, King Joffrey I claims that he is "no stranger to Valyrian steel".[19] Tyrion later concludes that Joffrey was behind the assassination attempt on Bran Stark, deducing that the then-prince had taken the plain-looking dagger, which Robert had forgotten after winning it from Petyr at the tourney, from the king's baggage train and given it to a lackey at Winterfell.[2]
After Joffrey's death at his royal wedding, Petyr Baelish uses the dagger to cut fruit, while talking to Sansa Stark about truth and lies and hidden plots.[20]
Cersei and Jaime discuss the assassination attempt on Bran. Jaime briefly asks Cersei if she was involved, but she tells him not to be absurd and reminds him that they both hoped Bran would die after his fall. She says that even Robert hoped so, that in private with her and the children, he drunkenly complained that people are too weak to give the gift of mercy to crippled children. Jaime concludes that Joffrey tried to have Bran killed as a misguided attempt to impress Robert.[21] When Jaime frees Tyrion from the Red Keep's dungeon, the brothers agree that Joffrey had been responsible.[22]
Quotes
We found the knife still in the villain's grasp. It seemed to me that it was altogether too fine a weapon for such a man, so I looked at it long and hard. The blade is Valyrian steel, the hilt dragonbone. A weapon like that has no business being in the hands of such as him. Someone gave it to him.[5]
Petyr: Nothing holds an edge like Valyrian steel. Such sweet balance. You want to find the owner, is that the reason for this visit? You have no need of Ser Aron for that, my lady. You should have come to me.
Catelyn: And if I had, what would you have told me?
Petyr: I would have told you that there was only one knife like this at King's Landing. It's mine.[6]
It was not my dagger. How many times must I swear to that? Lady Stark, whatever you may believe of me, I am not a stupid man. Only a fool would arm a common footpad with his own blade.[11]
He wondered which of them had sent the footpad to silence the Stark boy, and whether they had truly conspired at the death of Lord Arryn. If the old Hand had been murdered, it was deftly and subtly done. Men of his age died of sudden illness all the time. In contrast, sending some oaf with a stolen knife after Brandon Stark struck him as unbelievably clumsy.[23]
—thoughts of Tyrion Lannister
The dagger had been Valyrian steel, and Valyrian steel bites deep and sharp.[24]
—thoughts of Catelyn Stark
Cersei: Perhaps Myrcella sent this man with the dagger, do you think so?
Jaime: Not Myrcella. Joffrey.
Cersei: Joffrey had no love for Robb Stark, but the younger boy was nothing to him. He was only a child himself.
Jaime: A child hungry for a pat on the head from that sot you let him believe was his father. Tyrion almost died because of this bloody dagger. If he knew the whole thing was Joffrey's work, that might be why...[21]
Tyrion: Joffrey would have been a worse king than Aerys ever was. He stole his father's dagger and gave it to a footpad to slit the throat of Brandon Stark, did you know that?
Jaime: I ... I thought he might have.[22]
Behind the Scenes
George R.R. Martin stated that A Storm of Swords would resolve the question of who was behind the assassination attempt on Bran Stark.[25]
House of the Dragon alleges that the dagger once belonged to King Aegon I Targaryen, after being brought by Aenar Targaryen from Valyria, and that its blade, when heated by fire, displays Valyrian glyphs that read, "From my blood will come the Prince That Was Promised, and his will be the Song of Ice and Fire".[26] Further, in Game of Thrones, the dagger was used to kill the leader of the White Walkers, and thus destroy all of them.[27] However, the canonicity of these pieces of information is unconfirmed and highly unlikely.
External links
References
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 30, Eddard VII.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 60, Tyrion VIII.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 33, Eddard VIII.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 49, Eddard XIV.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 14, Catelyn III.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 18, Catelyn IV.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 20, Eddard IV.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 17, Tyrion IV.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 55, Catelyn VII.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Petyr Baelish.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 31, Tyrion IV.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 28, Catelyn V.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 40, Catelyn VII.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 42, Tyrion VI.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 47, Eddard XIII.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 3, Tyrion I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 25, Tyrion VI.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 32, Tyrion IV.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 59, Sansa IV.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 68, Sansa VI.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 72, Jaime IX.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 77, Tyrion XI.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 38, Tyrion V.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 22, Catelyn II.
- ↑ So Spake Martin: Re: Congratulations! (April 29, 2000).
- ↑ House of the Dragon, Season 1, Episode 4: "King of the Narrow Sea".
- ↑ Game of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3: "The Long Night".