Wednesday 29 May 2019

Davos's Thumb

Ser Davos Seaworth is not bitter about the finger joints he lost. He sees it as justice for the crimes he committed as a smuggler and a small price to pay for the position he now occupies at the court of King Stannis. He wears them around his neck in a leather pouch. 

 His luck.

 Cloaked in that darkness, Davos the smuggler had dared the Redwyne cordon and the rocks of Shipbreaker Bay alike. His little ship had a black hull, black sails, black oars, and a hold crammed with onions and salt fish. Little enough, yet it had kept the garrison alive long enough for Eddard Stark to reach Storm’s End and break the siege. Lord Stannis had rewarded Davos with choice lands on Cape Wrath, a small keep, and a knight’s honors… but he had also decreed that he lose a joint of each finger on his left hand, to pay for all his years of smuggling. Davos had submitted, on the condition that Stannis wield the knife himself; he would accept no punishment from lesser hands. The lord had used a butcher ’s cleaver, the better to cut clean and true. A Clash of Kings  Prologue


But was the loss of four finger joints a foreshadowing of what loyalty to Stannis would cost him?

Everything I am, I owe to him. Stannis had raised him to knighthood. He had given him a place of honor at his table, a war galley to sail in place of a smuggler's skiff. Dale and Allard captained galleys as well, Maric was oarmaster on the Fury, Matthos served his father on Black Betha, and the king had taken Devan as a royal squire. One day he would be knighted, and the two little lads as well. Marya was mistress of a small keep on Cape Wrath, with servants who called her m'lady, and Davos could hunt red deer in his own woods. All this he had of Stannis Baratheon, for the price of a few finger joints. It was just, what he did to me. I had flouted the king's laws all my life. He has earned my loyalty. Davos touched the little pouch that hung from the leather thong about his neck. His fingers were his luck, and he needed luck now. As do we all. Lord Stannis most of all. A Clash of Kings Davos I

All of the five sons Davos brings to Stannis' side, fight at the Battle of the Blackwater

Why should I live? he thought as tears blurred his vision. Gods be good, why? My sons are dead, Dale and Allard, Maric and Matthos, perhaps Devan as well. How can a father outlive so many strong young sons? How would I go on? I am a hollow shell, the crab's died, there's nothing left inside. Don't they know that?

Only Devan survives,

Salladhor Saan put a hand on Davos's forearm and gave a squeeze. "No. Of them, no. I am sorry, my friend. They were good men, your Dale and Allard. But this comfort I can give you—your young Devan was among those we took off at the end. The brave boy never once left the king's side, or so they say." A Storm of Swords Davos II

Melisandre keeps Devan at the Wall when Stannis marches south.

Other boys his age had gone south, to serve as squires to the king's knights and ride into battle at their side. Devan's exclusion must have seemed a rebuke, a punishment for some failure on his part, or perhaps for some failure of his father. In truth, he was here because Melisandre had asked for him. The four eldest sons of Davos Seaworth had perished in the battle on the Blackwater, when the king's fleet had been consumed by green fire. Devan was the fifthborn and safer here with her than at the king's side. A Dance with Dragons Melisandre I

She does this because Davos has already lost four sons.

Lord Davos would not thank her for it, no more than the boy himself, but it seemed to her that Seaworth had suffered enough grief. Misguided as he was, his loyalty to Stannis could not be doubted. She had seen that in her flames. A Dance with Dragons Melisandre I

Davos' loyalty to Stannis cost him four of his finger joints,

Old habit made Davos reach for the leather pouch that was no longer there. "I lost it in the river." My luck. A Storm of Swords Davos II

and four of his sons.

Is it true my uncle Stannis cut off your fingers?”
“Only the last joint. I still have fingers, only shorter.”
“Show me.” Davos peeled his glove off. The boy studied his hand carefully. “He did not shorten your thumb?”
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