It's also possible that Varys was just guessing/bullshitting. It's a very in-character thing for Sandor to say, and if I remember right actually the last thing anyone currently in King's Landing is known to have heard him say. It's not like Tywin has the means or motive to verify it, and tossing in a detail like that makes Varys look that much more omniscient.JLTucker wrote:Is the owner of the tavern dead, along with his daughter? Maybe they sent word.Ziggy Stardust wrote:At the small council meeting, Varys talks about the Hound killing the people at the tavern (from a couple of episodes ago), and even goes so far as to say, "The phrase 'Fuck the king' was uttered." How the hell does he know that? Everyone in that bar is dead except for Arya and the Hound, who aren't exactly on Varys' speed dial. Are we supposed to just imagine that there was someone in the bathroom the whole time that heard everything? Or does Varys have some sort of supernatural abilities?
Well yes, if Ramsey really is so super-badass that he can do that sort of thing and expect to come out ahead then it’s not irrational, but he doesn’t have those kind of skills in the books and it’s unlikely that he would in the show either. Remember that he grew up a widowed miller wife’s bastard and didn’t have the benefits of a master-at-arms to train him and everything. Even if he’s been practicing since Roose Bolton started letting him hang out at the Dreadfort that’s a whole lot of ground to catch up. Given what we know about the character I think it’s a safer bet that he’s a little crazy and doesn’t truly believe he can die than that he’s secretly one of the most hardcore fighters in Westeros.SCRawl wrote:Your reference shows that maybe that confidence isn't so irrational. He did, after all, survive at least one ill-prepared encounter against better-armed opponents, and he was able to correctly predict the outcome of that "close shave" at the hands of Reek. He is a sadistic sociopath, to be sure, but he does seem to have a good handle on reality.TheHammer wrote:He does have irrational confidence. The whole having a guy who you tortured and mutilated give you a shave with a sharp razor while you relax in a chair illustrated that.
Dunno, but people like that do exist in Westeros (Ser Barristan vs the goldcloaks unarmed and unarmored, Jon Snow ripping apart the other Night’s Watch recruits on the training grounds, Jaime Lannister killing at least two or three guys during his escape after spending months and months in confinement, etc).SCRawl wrote:Do fighters like this exist in real life? I don't know, I'm not any kind of combat expert.
It’s not as rare or amazing as you think it is. I’m able to repeat conversations back word by word or damned close months or years later quite a bit of the time if it’s something funny or memorable, and I don’t have anything resembling a perfect memory. I’m also not a queen dowager who has spent most of her life learning to be charming and witty in court settings while carefully keeping track of everything everyone says. Haven’t had my younger brother threaten (in my mind) to murder my children either.Ziggy Stardust wrote:Anyway, something else bothered me about the trial scene. Though, to be fair, GoT is not the only show that is guilty of this sort of thing. I feel like it is a common trope in TV shows and movies. Cersei, Pycelle, and Varys were all able to perfectly recall (as in, word for word) conversations they had had with Tyrion months before. Granted, it is hinted Varys has essentially a perfect memory, but Pycelle and Cersei? Look, if you asked me to testify about what my roommate said to me three months ago in a particular conversation, I could give you a pretty good summary of what we talked about and what he said. Maybe I'd be able to paraphrase anything particularly memorable, like a colorful metaphor. But there's no way I (or anybody else with normal human memory) would be able to recall word for fucking word every part of that conversation. I know this is silly, but this kind of thing really bothers me in fiction. Nobody has memory that good, especially with respect to conversations they've had. Hell, the screen-writers definitely had to flip back through their pages to get the quotes right. I just wish once in a situation like that the show would have the balls to be honest and have the characters recall the quotes incorrectly or something.
. I believe the phrase "You look just like your mother" springs to mind. 
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