Coin Well Spent

When a man of the Night's Watch stands before the Black Gate he is asked a question,

The door opened its eyes.
They were white too, and blind. “Who are you?” the door asked, and the well whispered, “Whowho-who-who-who-who-who.”
“I am the sword in the darkness,” Samwell Tarly said. “I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers. I am the shield that guards the realms of men.”
“Then pass,” the door said.


"Who are you?" The Black Gate asks when a man of the Night's Watch wishes to pass beyond the wall.

 At the House of Black and White, Arya is often asked the same question,

"Who are you?"  plague face asked when they were alone.
"No one."

The answer to this question may be different for A servant of the Many Faced God and A brother of the Night's Watch but in essence they are the same.


When Jon Snow asks to serve in the Night's Watch, he is told that he doesn't know the cost,

"I forget nothing," Jon boasted. The wine was making him bold. He tried to sit very straight, to make himself seem taller. "I want to serve in the Night's Watch, Uncle."
He had thought on it long and hard, lying abed at night while his brothers slept around him. Robb would someday inherit Winterfell, would command great armies as the Warden of the North. Bran and Rickon would be Robb's bannermen and rule holdfasts in his name. His sisters Arya and Sansa would marry the heirs of other great houses and go south as mistress of castles of their own. But what place could a bastard hope to earn?
“You don’t know what you’re asking, Jon. The Night’s Watch is a sworn brotherhood. We have no families. None of us will ever father sons. Our wife is duty. Our mistress is honor.”
“A bastard can have honor too,” Jon said. “I am ready to swear your oath.”
“You are a boy of fourteen,” Benjen said. “Not a man, not yet. Until you have known a woman, you cannot understand what you would be giving up.”
“I don’t care about that!” Jon said hotly.
“You might, if you knew what it meant,” Benjen said. “If you knew what the oath would cost
you, you might be less eager to pay the price, son.” AGOT Jon I

When Arya wishes to serve in the House of Black and White she is told of the price,

“Valar dohaeris.” All men must serve.
“You know the words, but you are too proud to serve. A servant must be humble and
obedient.”
“I obey. I can be humbler than anyone.”
That made him chuckle. “You will be the very goddess of humility, I am sure. But can
you pay the price?”  ADWD The Ugly Little Girl


The price of service in both the Night's Watch and the House of Black and White are very similar.

To serve, both orders require giving up everything you once were.

"At evenfall, as the sun sets and we face the gathering night, you shall take your vows. From that moment, you will be a Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch. Your crimes will be washed away, your debts forgiven. So too you must wash away your former loyalties, put aside your grudges, forget old wrongs and old loves alike. Here you begin anew. A Game of Thrones - Jon VI


and become no one,

“You need to rid yourself of all this,” he said of her treasures.
Arya felt stricken. “They’re mine.”
“And who are you?”
“No one.”
He picked up her silver fork. “This belongs to Arya of House Stark. All these things belong to her. There is no place for them here. There is no place for her. Hers is too proud a name, and we have no room for pride. We are servants here.” AFFC Arya II



Everything you hoped to achieve in life is given up in service to the order you serve,

. "They will garb your brother Robb in silks, satins, and velvets of a hundred different colors, while you live and die in black ringmail. He will wed some beautiful princess and father sons on her. You'll have no wife, nor will you ever hold a child of your own blood in your arms. Robb will rule, you will serve. Men will call you a crow. Him they'll call Your Grace. Singers will praise every little thing he does, while your greatest deeds all go unsung. Tell me that none of this troubles you, Jon . . . and I'll name you a liar, and know I have the truth of it." ACOK Jon I


All the potential of your life is theirs,

The waif showed ten fingers. Then ten again, and yet again. Then six. Her face remained as smooth as still water. She can't be six-and-thirty, Arya thought. She's a little girl. "You're lying," she said. The waif shook her head and showed her once again: ten and ten and ten and six. She said the words for six-and-thirty, and made Arya say them too.
The next day she told the kindly man what the waif had claimed. "She did not lie," the priest said, chuckling. "The one you call waif is a woman grown who has spent her life serving Him of Many Faces. She gave Him all she was, all she ever might have been, all the lives that were within her."  AFFC Arya II


Jon says he can pay that price,

Jon drew himself up, taut as a bowstring. "And if it did trouble me, what might I do, bastard as I am?"
"What will you do?" Mormont asked. "Bastard as you are?"
"Be troubled," said Jon, "and keep my vows." ACOK Jon I

and so does Arya,

“What price?”
“The price is you. The price is all you have and all you ever hope to have. We took your
eyes and gave them back. Next we will take your ears, and you will walk in silence. You
will give us your legs and crawl. You will be no one’s daughter, no one’s wife, no one’s
mother. Your name will be a lie, and the very face you wear will not be your own.”
She almost bit her lip again, but this time she caught herself and stopped. My face is a
dark pool, hiding everything, showing nothing. She thought of all the names that she had worn: Arry, Weasel, Squab, Cat of the Canals. She thought of that stupid girl from Winterfell
called Arya Horseface. Names did not matter. “I can pay the price. Give me a face.” ADWD The Ugly Little Girl




Jon wants to become a Ranger,

Three days after their arrival, Jon had heard that Benjen Stark was to lead a half-dozen men on a ranging into the haunted forest. That night he sought out his uncle in the great timbered common hall and pleaded to go with him. Benjen refused him curtly. "This is not Winterfell," he told him as he cut his meat with fork and dagger. "On the Wall, a man gets only what he earns. You're no ranger, Jon, only a green boy with the smell of summer still on you." A Game of Thrones - Jon III


Arya wants a face,


She almost bit her lip again, but this time she caught herself and stopped. My face is a dark pool, hiding everything, showing nothing. She thought of all the names that she had worn: Arry, Weasel, Squab, Cat of the Canals. She thought of that stupid girl from Winterfell called Arya Horseface. Names did not matter. "I can pay the price. Give me a face."
"Faces must be earned." ADWD The Ugly Little Girl


Both have to be earned


Jon and Arya are pledged to their Orders.  Both of them SAY they are faithful servants, but...

"... It's like Mance said. Deeds is truer than words." ASOS Jon II


The "Deeds" in which both Jon and Arya prove the truth of their words are very similar. If you look closely.

Both start with a gathering,

Jon's begins on the Fist of the First men with the arrival of Qhorin Halfhand and the men from the Shadow Tower in A Clash of Kings Jon V


At the ringwall, he found the guards sliding spikes from the half-frozen earth to make an opening. It was not long until the first of the brothers from the Shadow Tower began wending their way up the slope. All in leather and fur they were, with here and there a bit of steel or bronze; heavy beards covered hard lean faces, and made them look as shaggy as their garrons. Jon was surprised to see some of them were riding two to a horse. When he looked more closely, it was plain that many of them were wounded. There has been trouble on the way.
Jon knew Qhorin Halfhand the instant he saw him, though they had never met. The big ranger was half a legend in the Watch; a man of slow words and swift action, tall and straight as a spear, long-limbed and solemn. Unlike his men, he was clean-shaven. His hair fell from beneath his helm in a heavy braid touched with hoarfrost, and the blacks he wore were so faded they might have been greys. Only thumb and forefinger remained on the hand that held the reins; the other fingers had been sheared off catching a wildling's axe that would otherwise have split his skull. It was told that he had thrust his maimed fist into the face of the axeman so the blood spurted into his eyes, and slew him while he was blind. Since that day, the wildlings beyond the Wall had known no foe more implacable.

Arya's begins in the temple beneath the House of Black and White in A Dance With Dragons The Ugly Little Girl,

Eleven servants of the Many-Faced God gathered that night beneath the temple, more than she had ever seen together at one time. Only the lordling and the fat fellow arrived by the front door; the rest came by secret ways, through tunnels and hidden passages. They wore their robes of black and white, but as they took their seats each man pulled his cowl down to show the face he had chosen to wear that day.

Both are serving as stewards/cupbearers at these meetings and both hear what is being discussed.

Jon,

“Best talk of this inside. Jon will fetch you a horn of ale. Or would you prefer hot spiced
wine?”
“Boiled water will suffice. An egg and a bite of bacon.”
“As you wish.” Mormont lifted the flap of the tent and Qhorin Halfhand stooped and stepped
through.

Arya,

One of the other acolytes stood across the room with a flagon of dark red wine. She had
the water.

They both have a little trouble hearing some of the conversation

A noisy raven and quiet tones hinder Jon,

Restless, Jon squatted by the fire and poked at it with a stick. He could hear the Old Bear ’s
voice inside the tent, punctuated by the raven’s squawks and Qhorin Halfhand’s quieter tones, but he could not make out the words. Alfyn Crowkiller dead, that’s good . He was one of the bloodiest of the wildling raiders, taking his name from the black brothers he’d slain. So why does Qhorin sound so grave, after such a victory?

 Arya is hindered by soft voices,

The priests used the language of Braavos, though once for several minutes three spoke
heatedly in High Valyrian. The girl understood the words, mostly, but they spoke in soft
voices, and she could not always hear. “I know this man,” she did hear a priest with the
face of a plague victim say. “I know this man,” the fat fellow echoed, as she was pouring
for him. But the handsome man said, “I will give this man the gift, I know him not.” Later
the squinter said the same thing, of someone else.


When agreement has been reached, Jon is asked to serve,


“Belike we shall all die, then. Our dying will buy time for our brothers on the Wall. Time to
garrison the empty castles and freeze shut the gates, time to summon lords and kings to their aid, time to hone their axes and repair their catapults. Our lives will be coin well spent.”
“Die,” the raven muttered, pacing along Mormont’s shoulders. “Die, die, die, die.” The old Bear sat slumped and silent, as if the burden of speech had grown too heavy for him to bear. But at last he said, “May the gods forgive me. Choose your men.”
Qhorin Halfhand turned his head. His eyes met Jon’s, and held them for a long moment. “Very well. I choose Jon Snow.”

and so is Arya,

“Our brother would have words with you, child,” the kindly man told her. “Sit, if you wish.” She seated herself in a weirwood chair with a face of ebony. Bloody sores held no terror for her. She had been too long in the House of Black and White to be afraid of a false face.
“Valar dohaeris.” All men must serve.
“You know the words, but you are too proud to serve. A servant must be humble and
obedient.”
“I obey. I can be humbler than anyone.”
That made him chuckle. “You will be the very goddess of humility, I am sure. But can
you pay the price?”
“What price?”
“The price is you. The price is all you have and all you ever hope to have. We took your
eyes and gave them back. Next we will take your ears, and you will walk in silence. You
will give us your legs and crawl. You will be no one’s daughter, no one’s wife, no one’s
mother. Your name will be a lie, and the very face you wear will not be your own.”
She almost bit her lip again, but this time she caught herself and stopped. My face is a
dark pool, hiding everything, showing nothing. She thought of all the names that she had worn: Arry, Weasel, Squab, Cat of the Canals. She thought of that stupid girl from Winterfell
called Arya Horseface. Names did not matter. “I can pay the price. Give me a face.”
“Faces must be earned.”
“Tell me how.”
“Give a certain man a certain gift. Can you do that?”


Jon agrees,

Mormont blinked. “He is hardly more than a boy. And my steward besides. Not even a ranger.” “Tollett can care for you as well, my lord.” Qhorin lifted his maimed, two-fingered hand. “The old gods are still strong beyond the Wall. The gods of the First Men… and the Starks.”
Mormont looked at Jon. “What is your will in this?”
“To go,” he said at once.
The old man smiled sadly. “I thought it might be.”

so does Arya

“What man?”
“No one that you know.”
“I don’t know a lot of people.”
“He is one of them. A stranger. No one you love, no one you hate, no one you have ever
known. Will you kill him?”
“Yes.”


The following morning both set out to serve their Orders,


Jon sets out with Qhorin to find out what Mance is up to,

Dawn had broken when Jon stepped from the tent beside Qhorin Halfhand. The wind swirled around them, stirring their black cloaks and sending a scatter of red cinders flying from the fire.
“We ride at noon,” the ranger told him. “Best find that wolf of yours.”

Arya returns to Brusco to begin watching the Man at the soup shop,

 “Then on the morrow, you shall be Cat of the Canals again. Wear that face, watch,
obey. And we will see if you are truly worthy to serve Him of Many Faces.”
So the next day she returned to Brusco and his daughters in the house on the canal.
Brusco’s eyes widened when he saw her, and Brea gave a little gasp. “Valar morghulis,” Cat
said, by way of greeting. “Valar dohaeris,” Brusco replied.


In A Clash of Kings Jon VIII, when only Jon and Qhorin are left and are being pursued by the wildlings, it looks like the end.

The flames were burning low by then, the warmth fading. “The fire will soon go out,” Qhorin
said, “but if the Wall should ever fall, all the fires will go out.”
There was nothing Jon could say to that. He nodded.
“We may escape them yet,” the ranger said. “Or not.”

Jon is willing to die. He may be scared but he is willing to die for the Night's Watch,


“I’m not afraid to die.” It was only half a lie.
“It may not be so easy as that, Jon.”

But that isn't what is required of him.


He did not understand. “What do you mean?”
“If we are taken, you must yield.”


Arya is willing to kill anyone to get to the man in the soup shop,

“The guards go with him even when he slips out to make water,” she said, “but he
doesn’t go when they do. The tall one is the quicker. I’ll wait till he is making water, walk
into the soup shop, and stab the old man through the eye.”
“And the other guard?”
“He’s slow and stupid. I can kill him too.”

but that isn't what is required of her.

“Are you some butcher of the battlefield, hacking down every man who stands in your
way?”
“No.”



When Qhorin tells Jon what he must do Jon realizes that this is the price that must be payed to be a man of the Night's Watch. This is what the oath he has sworn means.

“Yield?” He blinked in disbelief. The wildlings did not make captives of the men they called
the crows. They killed them, except for…“They only spare oathbreakers. Those who join them,
like Mance Rayder.”
“And you.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Never. I won’t.”
“You will. I command it of you.”
“Command it? But…”
“Our honor means no more than our lives, so long as the realm is safe. Are you a man of the
Night’s Watch?”
“Yes, but—”
“There is no but, Jon Snow. You are, or you are not.”
Jon sat up straight. “I am.”


Arya also realises what it means to serve the God of Many Faces.


“I would hope not. You are a servant of the Many-Faced God, and we who serve Him of
Many Faces give his gift only to those who have been marked and chosen.”
She understood. Kill him. Kill only him.


To serve, both Jon and Arya will have to become someone they are not. Jon will have to yield and turn his cloak


“Then hear me. If we are taken, you will go over to them, as the wildling girl you captured
once urged you. They may demand that you cut your cloak to ribbons, that you swear them an oath on your father ’s grave, that you curse your brothers and your Lord Commander. You must not balk, whatever is asked of you. Do as they bid you… but in your heart, remember who and what you are. Ride with them, eat with them, fight with them, for as long as it takes. And watch.”
“For what?” Jon asked.
“Would that I knew,” said Qhorin. “Your wolf saw their diggings in the valley of the
Milkwater. What did they seek, in such a bleak and distant place? Did they find it? That is what you must learn, before you return to Lord Mormont and your brothers. That is the duty I lay on you, Jon Snow.”
“I’ll do as you say,” Jon said reluctantly, “but… you will tell them, won’t you? The Old Bear, at least? You’ll tell him that I never broke my oath.”

Arya will have to become the Ugly Little Girl,

“Him of Many Faces will be pleased.” The kindly man rose. “Cat of the Canals is known
to many. If she is seen to have done this deed, it might bring down trouble on Brusco and
his daughters. It is time you had another face.”


The "journey" to these new identities for The Crow Come Over and  The Ugly Little Girl are very similar....
....if you look closely


Jon travels through the mountain....

The farther in they went, the closer the cliffs pressed to either side. They followed the moonlit ribbon of stream back toward its source. Icicles bearded its stony banks, but Jon could still hear the sound of rushing water beneath the thin hard crust.
A great jumble of fallen rock blocked their way partway up, where a section of the cliff face
had fallen, but the surefooted little garrons were able to pick their way through. Beyond, the walls pinched in sharply, and the stream led them to the foot of a tall twisting waterfall.

....Arya travels to the lower levels beneath the House of Black and White,

With every step the air seemed to grow a little colder. When her count reached thirty she knew that they were under even the canals. Three-and-thirty four-and-thirty. How deep were they going to go?
She had reached fifty-four when the steps finally ended at another iron door. This one was unlocked. The kindly man pushed it open and stepped through. She followed, with the waif on her heels. Their footsteps echoed through the darkness. The kindly man lifted his lantern and flicked its shutters wide open. Light washed over the walls around them.
A thousand faces were gazing down on her.


When Arya dons her new face, blood flows down her own face in a "red curtain",

The cut was quick, the blade sharp. By rights the metal should have been cold against her flesh, but it felt warm instead. She could feel the blood washing down her face, a rippling red curtain falling across her brow and cheeks and chin, and she understood why the priest had made her close her eyes.


John also passes through a "curtain",

“Quickly now,” the Halfhand commanded. The big man on the small horse rode over the iceslick stones, right into the curtain of water, and vanished. When he did not reappear, Jon put his heels into his horse and went after.
His garron did his best to shy away. The falling water slapped at them with frozen fists, and the shock of the cold seemed to stop Jon’s breath. Then he was through; drenched and shivering, but through.

The experience of this "curtain" causes Jon to shiver and lose his breath.

Arya has a similar experience,

When it reached her lips the taste was salt and copper. She licked at it and shivered....

....She could feel her heart fluttering beneath her breast, and for one long moment she could not catch her breath. Hands closed around her throat, hard as stone, choking her.


After donning the face of the Ugly Little Girl, Arya suffers nightmares,

Sleep did not come easily that night. Tangled in her blankets, she twisted this way and
that in the cold dark room, but whichever way she turned, she saw the faces. They have no
eyes, but they can see me. She saw her father’s face upon the wall. Beside him hung her lady mother, and below them her three brothers all in a row. No. That was some other girl. I am no one, and my only brothers wear robes of black and white. Yet there was the black singer, there the stableboy she’d killed with Needle, there the pimply squire from the crossroads inn, and over there the guard whose throat she’d slashed to get them out of Harrenhal.
The Tickler hung on the wall as well, the black holes that were his eyes swimming with
malice. The sight of him brought back the feel of the dagger in her hand as she had
plunged it into his back, again and again and again.


Jon has the same problem

Sleep came at last, and with it nightmares. He dreamed of burning castles and dead men rising unquiet from their graves. It was still dark when Qhorin woke him. While the Halfhand slept, Jon sat with his back to the cave wall, listening to the water and waiting for the dawn.


The next day Jon and Qhorin set out to make their stand,

“Here is as good a place as any to make a stand,” he declared. “The mouth of the cave shelters us from above, and they cannot get behind us without passing through the mountain. Is your sword sharp, Jon Snow?”
“Yes,” he said.
“We’ll feed the horses. They’ve served us bravely, poor beasts.”
Jon gave his garron the last of the oats and stroked his shaggy mane while Ghost prowled
restlessly amongst the rocks. He pulled his gloves on tighter and flexed his burnt fingers. I am the shield that guards the realms of men.
A hunting horn echoed through the mountains, and a moment later Jon heard the baying of
hounds. “They will be with us soon,” announced Qhorin. “Keep your wolf in hand.”


 Arya settles in to watch her target,

By the time she reached the Purple Harbor, the old man was ensconced inside the soup
shop at his usual table, counting a purse of coins as he haggled with a ship’s captain. The
tall thin guard was hovering over him. The short thick one was seated near the door,
where he would have a good view of anyone who entered. That made no matter. She did
not intend to enter. Instead she perched atop a wooden piling twenty yards away as the
blustery wind tugged at her cloak with ghostly fingers.



At the moment when Rattleshirt and his wildings catch up with Jon and Qhorin......

The wildlings came boiling over a ridge not half a mile away. Their hounds ran before them,
snarling grey-brown beasts with more than a little wolf in their blood. Ghost bared his teeth, his fur bristling. “Easy,” Jon murmured. “Stay.” Overhead he heard a rustle of wings. The eagle landed on an outcrop of rock and screamed in triumph.

.....and the shipowner walks past the Ugly Little Girl.....

It was almost noon before she saw the man she wanted, a prosperous shipowner she
had seen doing business with the old man three times before. Big and bald and burly, he
wore a heavy cloak of plush brown velvet trimmed with fur and a brown leather belt
ornamented with silver moons and stars. Some mishap had left one leg stiff. He walked
slowly, leaning on a cane.

....both plans are set in motion. And if you look closely, both plans are very similar.

“They would shame us into folly.” Qhorin gave Jon a long look. “Remember your orders.”
“Belike we need to flush the crows,” Rattleshirt bellowed over the clamor. “Feather them!”
“No!” The word burst from Jon’s lips before the bowmen could loose. He took two quick steps forward. “We yield!”

Both plans are executed with a sharp blade and a slash that would not be felt,


Arya with her fingerknife,

He would do as well as any and better than most, the ugly girl decided. She hopped off
the piling and fell in after him. A dozen strides put her right behind him, her finger knife
poised. His purse was on his right side, at his belt, but his cloak was in her way. Her
blade flashed out, smooth and quick, one deep slash through the velvet and he never felt
a thing. Red Roggo would have smiled to see it. She slipped her hand through the gap, slit
the purse open with the finger knife, filled her fist with gold …    (notice the "red smile" of Roggo in this scene after Arya's 'slash')

Jon with Longclaw,

“I’ll do whatever you ask.” The words came hard, but Jon said them.
Rattleshirt’s bone armor clattered loudly as he laughed. “Then kill the Halfhand, bastard.”
“As if he could,” said Qhorin. “Turn, Snow, and die.”

And then Qhorin’s sword was coming at him and somehow Longclaw leapt upward to block. The force of impact almost knocked the bastard blade from Jon’s hand, and sent him staggering backward. You must not balk, whatever is asked of you. He shifted to a two-hand grip, quick enough to deliver a stroke of his own, but the big ranger brushed it aside with contemptuous ease. Back and forth they went, black cloaks swirling, the youth’s quickness against the savage strength of Qhorin’s left-hand cuts. The Halfhand’s longsword seemed to be everywhere at once, raining down from one side and then the other, driving him where he would, keeping him off balance. Already he could feel his arms growing numb.
Even when Ghost’s teeth closed savagely around the ranger ’s calf, somehow Qhorin kept his feet. But in that instant, as he twisted, the opening was there. Jon planted and pivoted. The ranger was leaning away, and for an instant it seemed that Jon’s slash had not touched him. Then a string of red tears appeared across the big man’s throat, bright as a ruby necklace, and the blood gushed out of him, and Qhorin Halfhand fell.
Ghost’s muzzle was dripping red, but only the point of the bastard blade was stained, the last half inch. Jon pulled the direwolf away and knelt with one arm around him. The light was already fading in Qhorin’s eyes. “…sharp,” he said, lifting his maimed fingers. Then his hand fell, and he was gone.   (and notice after Jon's 'slash',Ghosts muzzle dripping red in this scene)


After the fight the wildlings loot Qhorin's corpse,

They burned Qhorin Halfhand where he’d fallen, on a pyre made of pine needles, brush, and
broken branches. Some of the wood was still green, and it burned slow and smoky, sending a black plume up into the bright hard blue of the sky. Afterward Rattleshirt claimed some charred bones, while the others threw dice for the ranger’s gear. Ygritte won his cloak.

They gather up their loot and their newest member and head off to join up with Mance Rayder and the Free folk.

“Will we return by the Skirling Pass?” Jon asked her. He did not know if he could face those heights again, or if his garron could survive a second crossing.
“No,” she said. “There’s nothing behind us.” The look she gave him was sad. “By now Mance is well down the Milkwater, marching on your Wall.”


After Arya escapes she returns to the House of Black and White...

By now the shipowner would have gathered up coins and cane
and limped on to the soup shop. He might be drinking a bowl of hot broth and
complaining to the old man about the ugly girl who had tried to rob his purse.
The kindly man was waiting for her at the House of Black and White, seated on the
edge of the temple pool. The ugly girl sat next to him and put a coin on the lip of the pool
between them. 


....and  like Rattleshirt  and the wildlings when they "acquired" Jon,  the ship owner picked up something that wasn't his to begin with,


Arya has given the 'gift' to ONLY the man at the soup shop proving she is worthy to serve Him of Many Faces.

She did this by swapping one coin for poisoned coin with the smooth slash of a sharp blade that the shipowner didn't feel.

She is given new garb, and begins her apprenticeship,

That night they gave her back the face of Arya Stark.
They brought a robe for her as well, the soft thick robe of an acolyte, black upon one
side and white upon the other.
“Wear this when you are here,” the priest said, “but know
that you shall have little need of it for the present. On the morrow you will go to Izembaro
to begin your first apprenticeship. Take what clothes you will from the vaults below. The
city watch is looking for a certain ugly girl, known to frequent the Purple Harbor, so best
you have a new face as well.” He cupped her chin, turned her head this way and that,
nodded. “A pretty one this time, I think. As pretty as your own. Who are you, child?”
“No one,” she replied.

This time when she says she is "no one" nobody calls her a liar.

When Jon reaches the wildling camp he is  also given  new garb,

Mance Rayder looked at Jon's face for a long moment. "I think we had best find you a new cloak," the king said, holding out his hand. ASOS Jon I


Jon wheeled and followed Tormund back toward the head of the column, his new cloak hanging heavy from his shoulders. It was made of unwashed sheepskins, worn fleece side in, as the wildlings suggested. It kept the snow off well enough, and at night it was good and warm, but he kept his black cloak as well, folded up beneath his saddle. ASOS Jon II


For Qhorin, the cost of being a Man of the Night's Watch was his life, which he gave up willingly so Jon could live and join the wildlings to find out what Mance Rayder was planning.

"We can only die. Why else do we don these black cloaks, but to die in defense of the realm? I would send fifteen men, in three parties of five. One to probe the Milkwater, one the Skirling Pass, one to climb the Giant's Stair. Jarman Buckwell, Thoren Smallwood, and myself to command. To learn what waits in those mountains." ACOK Jon V

He considers the price of his life as "coin well spent".................. I pledge my LIFE and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come."

“Belike we shall all die, then. Our dying will buy time for our brothers on the Wall. Time to
garrison the empty castles and freeze shut the gates, time to summon lords and kings to their aid, time to hone their axes and repair their catapults. Our lives will be coin well spent.” ACOK Jon V

For Jon the cost was his honor. To fulfil his oath Jon had to slay his brother and become someone he was not.  A turncloak

"Our honor means no more than our lives, so long as the realm is safe. Are you a man of the Night's Watch?" ACOK Jon V

The price of his honor is the "coin" that Jon spent.................... I pledge my life and HONOR to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come."


When Qhorin ordered Jon to yield and turn his cloak

You must not balk, whatever is asked of you. Do as they bid you . . . 

he knew what would happen

He knew, he thought numbly. He knew what they would ask of me.

Qhorin traded his coin(life) for Jon's coin(honor)

One coin for another.

It was gold, with a dragon on one face and a king on the other.
“The golden dragon of Westeros,” said the kindly man. “And how did you come by this?
We are no thieves.”
“It wasn’t stealing. I took one of his, but I left him one of ours.”


Davos's Thumb

Aerys, Tywin and a Bride for Rhaegar

The Trident Has Three Heads.

Who's Looking Through The Black Gate?

Male And Female In The Vale Of Arryn

Swords of Ice and Fire

Valonqar - High Valyrian or Bastard Valyrian?

Brandon's Bastards

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?”

“No.” Davos coughed. “No, he left me that.” A Storm of Swords Davos II


Aerys,Tywin And A Bride For Rhaegar 

The Trident Has Three Heads 

Who's Looking Through The Black Gate? 

Male And Female In The Vale Of Arryn

Swords Of Ice And Fire

Coin Well Spent

Valonqar - High Valyrian Or Bastard Valyrian

Brandon's Bastards

To ravenousreader....just for fun,


I couldn't fit all this into tweets so i've made a short post here with some pics to help illustrate what i'm trying to say.
 
I've looked at the the names of the castles and villages in the Vale to see if there might be a clue to a possible 'back door' to the top of the mountain.  With no textual evidence and some wild speculation all wrapped in the shiniest foil coating, there could be one.

Wickenden (circled)

Wickenden is the seat of House Waxley in the Vale of Arryn. The town is located on the northern shore of the Bay of Crabs, northwest of Crackclaw Point. It is famous for making scented beeswax candles.  A Wiki of Ice and Fire Wickenden




House Waxley of Wickenden is a noble house from Wickenden in the south of the Vale. They are sworn to House Arryn of the Eyrie. The names Wickenden and Waxley come from the wicks and wax used in the bees wax candles produced in the village. The coat of arms of House Waxley are six white candles with red flames and their words are- 'Light in the darkness'

Coat of arms	Six candles, white with red flames, within silver candle holders, on a grey field within a black border (Cendrée, six candles white in holders argent inflamed gules, within a bordure sable)
Words	Light in Darkness
Seat	Wickenden
Lord	Ser Edmund Waxley
Region	Vale of Arryn
Title	The Knight of Wickenden
Overlord	House Arryn

Wickenden-  Wick-end-den 

Wick etymology- Verb

wick (third-person singular simple present wicks, present participle wicking, simple past and past participle wicked)

(transitive) To convey or draw off (liquid) by capillary action.-

The fabric wicks perspiration away from the body.

(intransitive, of a liquid) To traverse (i.e. be conveyed by capillary action) through a wick or other porous material, as water through a sponge. Usually followed by through.-

The moisture slowly wicked through the wood.

Traveling through this 'back door' would be 'wicking' through the mountains to the top of the Giant's Lance.

My own theory about there once being a weirwood at the top of the mountain would make the snow covered mountain look like a white candle burning with a red flame, like the candles in the arms of House Waxley

Aerys, Tywin and a Bride for Rhaegar

We know Aerys II Targaryen earned his title of "The Mad King". He thought everyone was out to get him. But just because your paranoid, doesn't mean you're wrong.

The friendship between Aerys and his Hand of the King, Tywin Lannister started in King's Landing when both were just boys,


Aerys and Tywin had known each other since childhood. As a boy, Tywin Lannister had served as a royal page at King's Landing. He and Prince Aerys, together with a younger page, the prince's cousin Steffon Baratheon of Storm's End, had become inseparable. During the War of the Ninepenny Kings, the three friends had fought together, Tywin as a new-made knight, Steffon and Prince Aerys as squires.    The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II


When Aerys became king, he declared he wished to be the greatest king in the history of the Seven Kingdoms. His first wise act was to make some major changes to his small council,


His father's court had been made up largely of older, seasoned men, many of whom had also served during the reign of King Aegon V. Aerys II dismissed them one and all, replacing them with lords of his own generation. Most notably, he retired the aged and exceedingly cautious Hand, Edgar Sloane, and named in his place Ser Tywin Lannister, the heir to Casterly Rock. At twenty years of age, Ser Tywin thus became the youngest Hand in the history of the Seven Kingdoms. 
Many maesters to this day insist that his appointment was the wisest thing that "Aerys the Wise" ever did.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

With Tywin as Hand, trade flourished in the Seven Kingdoms.

Tywin won the approbation of many great lords by repealing what remained of the laws Aegon V had enacted to curb their powers. Tywin reduced tariffs and taxes on shipping going in and out of the cities of King's Landing, Lannisport, and Oldtown, winning the support of many wealthy merchants. Tywin built new roads and repaired old ones, held many splendid tournaments about the realm to the delight of knights and commons both, cultivated trade with the Free Cities, and sternly punished bakers found guilty of adding sawdust to their bread and butchers selling horsemeat as beef.   The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

He focused on trade and infrastructure. In the Volantene sense, Tywin was an Elephant.

By the time they turned to history, Young Griff was growing restive. "We were discussing the history of Volantis," Haldon said to him. "Can you tell Yollo the difference between a tiger and an elephant?"
"Volantis is the oldest of the Nine Free Cities, first daughter of Valyria," the lad replied, in a bored tone. "After the Doom it pleased the Volantenes to consider themselves the heirs of the Freehold and rightful rulers of the world, but they were divided as to how dominion might best be achieved. The Old Blood favored the sword, while the merchants and moneylenders advocated trade. As they contended for rule of the city, the factions became known as the tigers and elephants, respectively.  A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion IV


Aerys's  jealousy of Tywin is well known.  Where Tywin was a man of action, Aerys was full of grand schemes for the realm that never panned out.


His Grace was full of grand schemes as well. Not long after his coronation, he announced his intent to conquer the Stepstones and make them a part of his realm for all time. In 264 AC, a visit to King's Landing by Lord Rickard Stark of Winterfell awakened his interest in the North, and he hatched a plan to build a new Wall a hundred leagues north of the existing one and claim all the lands between. In 265 AC, offended by "the stink of King's Landing," he spoke of building a "white city" entirely of marble on the south bank of the Blackwater Rush. In 267 AC, after a dispute with the Iron Bank of Braavos regarding certain monies borrowed by his father, he announced that he would build the largest war fleet in the history of the world "to bring the Titan to his knees." In 270 AC, during a visit to Sunspear, he told the Princess of Dorne that he would "make the Dornish deserts bloom" by digging a great underground canal beneath the mountains to bring water down from the rainwood.
None of these grandiose plans ever came to fruition; most, indeed, were forgotten within a moon's turn, for Aerys II seemed to grow bored with his royal enthusiasms as quickly as he did his royal paramours
And yet the Seven Kingdoms prospered greatly during the first decade of his reign, for the King's Hand was all that the king himself was not—diligent, decisive, tireless, fiercely intelligent, just, and stern. "The gods made and shaped this man to rule," Grand Maester Pycelle wrote of Tywin Lannister in a letter to the Citadel after serving with him on the small council for two years.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

Aerys real jealousy of Tywin started with Joanna.

"As you command." The white knight chose his words with care. "Prince Aerys … as a youth, he was taken with a certain lady of Casterly Rock, a cousin of Tywin Lannister. When she and Tywin wed, your father drank too much wine at the wedding feast and was heard to say that it was a great pity that the lord's right to the first night had been abolished. A drunken jape, no more, but Tywin Lannister was not a man to forget such words, or the … the liberties your father took during the bedding." His face reddened. "I have said too much, Your Grace. I—"   A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys VII


Aerys showed this jealousy in many ways,

Aerys had Ser Ilyn Payne's tongue torn out just for boasting that it was the Hand who truly ruled the Seven Kingdoms.  A Storm of Swords - Jaime II

He began to go against any advice Tywin offered,

Where previously Aerys had sided with Tywin Lannister on most matters of substance, now the two men began to disagree. During a trade war between the Free Cities of Myr and Tyrosh on the one hand and Volantis on the other, Lord Tywin advocated a policy of neutrality; King Aerys saw more advantage in providing gold and arms to the Volantenes. When Lord Tywin adjudicated a border dispute between House Blackwood and House Bracken in favor of the Blackwoods, His Grace overruled him and gave the disputed mill to Lord Bracken.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

He started to undo the work Tywin had done, sometimes blaming Tywin for these changes,

Over his Hand's strenuous objections, the king doubled the port fees at King's Landing and Oldtown, and tripled them for Lannisport and the realm's other ports and harbors. When a delegation of small lords and rich merchants came before the Iron Throne to complain, however, Aerys blamed the Hand for the exactions, saying, "Lord Tywin shits gold, but of late he has been constipated and had to find some other way to fill our coffers." Whereupon His Grace restored port fees and tariffs to their previous levels, earning much acclaim for himself and leaving Tywin Lannister the opprobrium.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

After the War of the Ninepenny Kings and the tragedy of Summerhall, Tywin had helped  Aerys "heal" the realm. For his efforts, he recieved nothing but scorn and jealousy from his King.

At the great Anniversary Tourney of 272 AC, held to commemorate Aerys's tenth year upon the Iron Throne, Joanna Lannister brought her six-year-old twins Jaime and Cersei from Casterly Rock to present before the court. The king (very much in his cups) asked her if giving suck to them had "ruined your breasts, which were so high and proud." The question greatly amused Lord Tywin's rivals, who were always pleased to see the Hand slighted or made mock of, but Lady Joanna was humiliated. Tywin Lannister attempted to return his chain of office the next morning, but the king refused to accept his resignation.
Aerys II could, of course, have dismissed Tywin Lannister at any time and named his own man as Hand of the King, but instead, for whatever reason, the king chose to keep his boyhood friend close by him, laboring on his behalf, even as he began to undermine him in ways both great and small. Slights and gibes became ever more numerous; courtiers hoping for advancement soon learned that the quickest way to catch the king's eye was by making mock of his solemn, humorless Hand. Yet through all this, Tywin Lannister suffered in silence.
In 273 AC, however, Lady Joanna was taken to childbed once again at Casterly Rock, where she died delivering Lord Tywin's second son. Tyrion, as the babe was named, was a malformed, dwarfish babe born with stunted legs, an oversized head, and mismatched, demonic eyes (some reports also suggested he had a tail, which was lopped off at his lord father's command). Lord Tywin's Doom, the smallfolk called this ill-made creature, and Lord Tywin's Bane. Upon hearing of his birth, King Aerys infamously said, "The gods cannot abide such arrogance. They have plucked a fair flower from his hand and given him a monster in her place, to teach him some humility at last."  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings:
Aerys II

When Tywin heard this, he was at Casterly Rock in mourning but the memory of his father being openly mocked  and taken advatage of by his bannermen must have been in his mind.  Aerys, his childhood friend. A squire who he himself had knighted was making mock of him.

 Tywin seems a hard man to you, I know, but he is no harder than he's had to be. Our own father was gentle and amiable, but so weak his bannermen mocked him in their cups. Some saw fit to defy him openly. Other lords borrowed our gold and never troubled to repay it. At court they japed of toothless lions. Even his mistress stole from him. A woman scarcely one step above a whore, and she helped herself to my mother's jewels! It fell to Tywin to restore House Lannister to its proper place. Just as it fell to him to rule this realm, when he was no more than twenty. He bore that heavy burden for twenty years, and all it earned him was a mad king's envy. Instead of the honor he deserved, he was made to suffer slights beyond count, yet he gave the Seven Kingdoms peace, plenty, and justice. He is a just man. You would be wise to trust him."  A Feast for Crows - Cersei V

So why did Tywin stay on as hand?

 When she was just a little girl, her father had promised her that she would marry Rhaegar. She could not have been more than six or seven. "Never speak of it, child," he had told her, smiling his secret smile that only Cersei ever saw. "Not until His Grace agrees to the betrothal. It must remain our secret for now." And so it had, though once she had drawn a picture of herself flying behind Rhaegar on a dragon, her arms wrapped tight about his chest. When Jaime had discovered it she told him it was Queen Alysanne and King Jaehaerys.
She was ten when she finally saw her prince in the flesh, at the tourney her lord father had thrown to welcome King Aerys to the west. Viewing stands had been raised beneath the walls of Lannisport, and the cheers of the smallfolk had echoed off Casterly Rock like rolling thunder. They cheered Father twice as loudly as they cheered the king, the queen recalled, but only half as loudly as they cheered Prince Rhaegar.  A Feast for Crows - Cersei V

Even with all his gold, Tywin could never be King. In fact i dont think he wanted to be. But he could be Father to a Queen and Grandfather to a king.

Cersei recalls her father telling her she is to be betrothed to Rhaegar and will one day become queen.  Tywin must have been pretty certain of this to tell Cersei about it. Did Tywin expect this as a"natural" betrothal because he was Hand of the King? Or did he have assurances from Aerys that this would happen?

Cersei had been so happy that day. Elsewise she would never have dared visit the tent of Maggy the Frog. She had only done it to show Jeyne and Melara that the lioness fears nothing. I was going to be a queen. Why should a queen be afraid of some hideous old woman? The memory of that foretelling still made her flesh crawl a lifetime later. Jeyne ran shrieking from the tent in fear, the queen remembered, but Melara stayed and so did I. We let her taste our blood, and laughed at her stupid prophecies. None of them made the least bit of sense. She was going to be Prince Rhaegar's wife, no matter what the woman said. Her father had promised it, and Tywin Lannister's word was gold. A Feast for Crows - Cersei V

In preperation for this betrothal, Tywin held a tourney to honor the birth of Prince Viserys. Many viewed the Tourney as a reconcilliation between King and Hand.

Her laughter died at tourney's end. There had been no final feast, no toasts to celebrate her betrothal to Prince Rhaegar. Only cold silences and chilly looks between the king and her father. Later, when Aerys and his son and all his gallant knights had departed for King's Landing, the girl had gone to her aunt in tears, not understanding. "Your father proposed the match," Lady Genna told her, "but Aerys refused to hear of it. 'You are my most able servant, Tywin,' the king said, 'but a man does not marry his heir to his servant's daughter.' A Feast for Crows - Cersei V

Instead Aerys wanted Rhaegar to be married to someone more "appropriate".

When Aerys was captured and held at Duskendale, Tywin saw a way to bypass the King's rejection and wed Cersei to Rhaegar.


Most of the small council were with the Hand outside Duskendale at this juncture, and several of them argued against Lord Tywin's plan on the grounds that such an attack would almost certainly goad Lord Darklyn into putting King Aerys to death. "He may or he may not," Tywin Lannister reportedly replied, "but if he does, we have a better king right here." Whereupon he raised a hand to indicate Prince Rhaegar.  
Scholars have debated ever since as to Lord Tywin's intent. Did he believe Lord Darklyn would back down? Or was he, in truth, willing, and perhaps even eager, to see Aerys die so that Prince Rhaegar might take the Iron Throne? The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

 Aerys was rescued by ser Barristan Selmy, but he was suspicious that Tywin wanted him dead so Rhaegar could ascend the throne and take Cercei as queen.


Once safely returned to King's Landing, His Grace refused to leave the Red Keep for any cause and remained a virtual prisoner in his own castle for the next four years, during which time he grew ever more wary of those around him, Tywin Lannister in particular. His suspicions extended even to his own son and heir. Prince Rhaegar, he was convinced, had conspired with Tywin Lannister to have him slain at Duskendale. They had planned to storm the town walls so that Lord Darklyn would put him to death, opening the way for Rhaegar to mount the Iron Throne and marry Lord Tywin's daughter.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II


Aerys' Paranoia now extended to Tywin conspiring with his son and heir Rhaegar.

Determined to prevent that from happening, King Aerys turned to another friend of his childhood, summoning Steffon Baratheon from Storm's End and naming him to the small council.

The king—the old king, Aerys II Targaryen, who had not been quite so mad in those days—had sent his lordship to seek a bride for Prince Rhaegar, who had no sisters to wed.  A Clash of Kings - Prologue

Aerys wish to marry Rhaegar to a Volantene bride has many implications if successful, for many people including Tywin.  It would end any conspiracy between Tywin and Rhaegar.
 Steffon Baratheon being chosen to find this bride looked to many, as a sign that Tywin's time as Hand was over and Steffon would be his replacement.


 In 278 AC, the king sent Lord Steffon across the narrow sea on a mission to Old Volantis, to seek a suitable bride for Prince Rhaegar, "a maid of noble birth from an old Valyrian bloodline." That His Grace entrusted this task to the Lord of Storm's End rather than his Hand, or Rhaegar himself, speaks volumes. The rumors were rife that Aerys meant to make Lord Steffon his new Hand upon the successful completion of this mission, that Tywin Lannister was about to be removed from office, arrested, and tried for high treason. And there was many a lord who took delight in that prospect.   The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II




If  the old blood of Volantis married the Iron Throne it(Volantis) would have the power to challenge the rest of the Free Cities. The Tiger faction who originate from the "old blood" and favor war and conquest of the Free Cities, would have the power to challenge the ruling Elephant faction who favor trade. Tywin had advised Aerys in the past to stay neutral in Volantis' war with Myr and Tyrosh. Aegon himself flew Balerion against Volantis.



Near the end, even the future Conqueror, the still-young Aegon Targaryen, became involved in the struggle. His ancestors had long looked east, but his attention from an early age had been turned westward. Still, when Pentos and Tyrosh approached him, inviting him to join a grand alliance against Volantis, he listened. And for reasons unknown to this day, he chose to heed their call...to a point. Mounting the Black Dread, it is said that he flew to the east, meeting with the Prince of Pentos and the magisters of the Free City, and from there flew Balerion to Lys in time to set ablaze a Volantene fleet that was preparing to invade that Free City.  The World of Ice and Fire - Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria

Whatever these "unknown reasons" were,  Aegon's alliance with Pentos and Tyrosh 300 years ago meant that Volantis has been ruled by the Elephant faction ever since and trade flourished.

"The tigers held sway for almost a century after the Doom of Valyria. For a time they were successful. A Volantene fleet took Lys and a Volantene army captured Myr, and for two generations all three cities were ruled from within the Black Walls. That ended when the tigers tried to swallow Tyrosh. Pentos came into the war on the Tyroshi side, along with the Westerosi Storm King. Braavos provided a Lyseni exile with a hundred warships, Aegon Targaryen flew forth from Dragonstone on the Black Dread, and Myr and Lys rose up in rebellion. The war left the Disputed Lands a waste, and freed Lys and Myr from the yoke. The tigers suffered other defeats as well. The fleet they sent to reclaim Valyria vanished in the Smoking Sea. Qohor and Norvos broke their power on the Rhoyne when the fire galleys fought on Dagger Lake. Out of the east came the Dothraki, driving smallfolk from their hovels and nobles from their estates, until only grass and ruins remained from the forest of Qohor to the headwaters of the Selhoru. After a century of war, Volantis found herself broken, bankrupt, and depopulated. It was then that the elephants rose up. They have held sway ever since. Some years the tigers elect a triarch, and some years they do not, but never more than one, so the elephants have ruled the city for three hundred years."  A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion IV

For Tywin and the Free Cities, Steffon Baratheon(of cherished memory) could not be allowed to find a Volantene bride for Rhaegar. But who could stop him?



The greatest, richest, and most powerful of the Nine Free cities are Braavos and Volantis. And there is a curious connection between the two, for in many ways they stand in opposition to one another. Braavos lies in the far north of Essos, and Volantis to the far south; Volantis is the oldest of the Free Cities, and Braavos the youngest; Braavos was founded by slaves, whilst Volantis is built upon their bones; Braavos's greatest might is at sea, whilst that of Volantis is upon the land. Yet both remain formidable powers, their histories deeply marked by the Freehold of Valyria.   The World of Ice and Fire - The Free Cities: Volantis

Braavos.

 The Volantenes were fond of boasting that the hundred isles of Braavos could be dropped into their deep harbor and drowned. A Dance with Dragons - The Merchants Man

Braavos may be small but it is mighty.

The youngest of the Nine Free Cities, Braavos is also the wealthiest, and in all likelihood the most powerful. Originally founded by escaped slaves, its humble beginnings were rooted in nothing more than a desire to be free. For a great part of its early history, its secret status made it of little consequence in the wider world. But in time it grew, eventually emerging as a power almost without rival.   
Neither prince nor king commands in Braavos, where the rule belongs to the Sealord, chosen by the city's magisters and keyholders from amongst the citizenry by a process as convoluted as it is arcane. From his vast waterside palace, the Sealord commands a fleet of warships second to none and a mercantile fleet whose purple hulls and purple sails have become a common sight throughout the known world.
Braavos was founded by fugitives from a large convoy of slave ships on its way from Valyria to a newly established colony in Sothoryos, who rose in a bloody rebellion, seized control of the ships on which they were being transported, and fled to "the far ends of the earth" to escape their erstwhile masters. Knowing they would be hunted, the slaves turned away from their intended destination and sailed north instead of south, seeking a refuge as far from Valyria and her vengeance as could be found.   The World of Ice and Fire - The Free Cities: Braavos


The wealth of Braavos comes from many sources

Today Braavos is one of the world's greatest ports and welcomes trading ships of all nations (save for slavers). Within the vast lagoon, Braavosi ships dock at the splendid Purple Harbor, located near the Sealord's Palace. Other vessels must use the port called the Ragman's Harbor, a poorer and rougher port by all accounts. Still, there is so much wealth to be had in Braavos that ships come from as far as Qarth and the Summer Isles to trade there. The World of Ice and Fire - The Free Cities: Braavos


But its true wealth and its true power comes from the Iron Bank

Braavos is also home to one of the most powerful banks in the world, whose roots stretch back to the beginnings of the city, when a few of the fugitives took to hiding such valuables as they had in an abandoned iron mine to keep them safe from thieves and pirates. As the city grew and prospered, the shafts and chambers of the mine began to fill. Rather than let their treasure sit idle in the earth, the wealthier Braavosi began to make loans to their less fortunate brethren.
Thus was born the Iron Bank of Braavos, whose renown (or infamy, to hear some tell it) now extends to every corner of the known world. Kings, princes, archons, triarchs, and merchants beyond count travel from the ends of the earth to seek loans from the heavily guarded vaults of the Iron Bank.
The Iron Bank will have its due, it is said. Those who borrow from the Braavosi and fail to repay their debts oft have cause to rue such folly, for the Bank has been known to topple lords and princes and has also been rumored to send assassins against those it cannot remove (though this has never been conclusively proved).   The World of Ice and Fire - The Free Cities: Braavos


As well as lending money to "Kings, princes archons, triarchs and merchants beyond count",The Iron Bank has the wealth and power to "topple lords and princes" if they dont have their due. If you do pay your debts in the agreed upon time and in the agreed upon amounts, the Iron bank can be a good friend to have...and a Lannister always pays his debts.

It was Tywin Lannister who settled the crown's dispute with the Braavosi (though without "making the Titan kneel," to the king's displeasure), by repaying the monies lent to Jaehaerys II with gold from Casterly Rock, thereby taking the debts upon himself.   The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

When Tywin payed the Crown's debt to the Iron Bank, he avoided  a lot of trouble on both sides of the dispute.

When the bank backed Stannis's claim, it was on the condition that Stannis pay the Crown's debt when he won the throne. It actually cost the Iron bank to claim back the money it was owed.

When Tywin payed back the crowns debt himself he may have gained some influence with the Iron Bank. That influence, together with a shared interest in stopping a Volantis/ Iron Throne alliance that would certainly upset the trade that Tywin had cultivated with the Free Cities at the begining of Aerys reign (and possibly add to the slave trade) could have been enough to sway the Iron Bank to stop any betrothal that Steffon sought for Rhaegar.

This could be easily done. The Iron bank lend money to everyone and no doubt many nobles in Volantis have debts with the bank. Calling in the debts of anyone considering the betrothal would be a subtle message that this was a mistake.


When he raised his head to look at her, his dark eyes were clouded with pain. Is that the gout? Arianne wondered. Or is it me? "A strange and subtle folk, the Volantenes," he muttered, as he put the elephant aside.   A Feast for Crows - The Princess In The Tower.



 Steffon's mission to find a bride for Rhaegar ended in tragedy and only led Aerys to deeper madness and paranoia,

The gods had other notions, however. Steffon Baratheon's mission ended in failure, and on his return from Volantis, his ship foundered and sank in Shipbreaker Bay, within sight of Storm's End. Lord Steffon and his wife were both drowned as their two elder sons watched from the castle walls. When word of their deaths reached King's Landing, King Aerys flew into a rage and told Grand Maester Pycelle that Tywin Lannister had somehow divined his royal intentions and arranged for Lord Baratheon's murder. "If I dismiss him as Hand, he will kill me, too," the king told the grand maester.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

But just because your paranoid doesn't mean your wrong all of the time. The circumstances in which Lord Steffon's ship went down are suspicious.

Why was Lord Steffon's ship in Shipbreaker bay?

Storm's End itself, looming over the great cliffs of Durran's Point and the treacherous rocks of Shipbreaker Bay, offers no safe anchorage for either warship or merchant craft...... The World of Ice and Fire - The Stormlands: The Men of the Stormlands

The landing beneath Storm's End is described in A Clash Of Kings,

A mouth yawned in the cliff, and it was that Davos steered for, as he had sixteen years before. The tunnel opened on a cavern under the castle, where the storm lords of old had built their landing. The passage was navigable only during high tide, and was never less than treacherous, but his smuggler ’s skills had not deserted him. Davos threaded their way deftly between the jagged rocks until the cave mouth loomed up before them. He let the waves carry them inside. They crashed around him, slamming the boat this way and that and soaking them to the skin. A half-seen finger of rock came rushing up out of the gloom, snarling foam, and Davos barely kept them off it with an oar.  Clash of Kings Davos II

This seems like an unnecessary risk to take for the Lord and Lady of Storm's End.

  Daemon Sand stepped up beside her. "Shipbreaker Bay can be perilous even on a fair summer's day. The safer way to Storm's End is overland."  - Arianne II The Winds Of Winter

There are safer places to land when returning to the Stormlands,

 South, beyond Shipbreaker Bay with its wild waters and treacherous rocks, lies Cape Wrath. The moist green tangle of the rainwood dominates the northern two-thirds of the cape. Farther south a broad plain opens up, rolling gently down to the Sea of Dorne, where numerous small fishing villages dot the shoreline. A thriving port and market, the Weeping Town (as it came to be known because it was where the body of the slain hero King Daeron I Targaryen returned to his kingdom after his murder in Dorne), stands here, and much of the region's trade passes through its harbor. - The World of Ice and Fire - The Stormlands

After Lord Steffon's failed mission to find a bride for Rhaegar, should he not have returned to King's Landing to tell the King why? Instead he seems to have been returning to Storm's End to bring home a fool he bought in Volantis.

The ship that sailed to Volantis, bore a name that should give pause when thinking of Aerys' mad ravings about Tywin arranging the murder of Steffon Baratheon.

 The storm came up suddenly, howling, and Shipbreaker Bay proved the truth of its name. The lord's two-masted galley Windproud broke up within sight of his castle. From its parapets his two eldest sons had watched as their father's ship was smashed against the rocks and swallowed by the waters. A hundred oarsmen and sailors went down with Lord Steffon Baratheon and his lady wife, and for days thereafter every tide left a fresh crop of swollen corpses on the strand below Storm's End.  A Clash of Kings - Prologue

And who are you, the proud lord said,
that I must bow so low?


Swords Of Ice And Fire

Male And Female In The Vale Of Arryn

Davos's Thumb

Aerys,Tywin And A Bride For Rhaegar

The Trident Has Three Heads

Who's Looking Through The Black Gate?

Coin Well Spent

Valonqar - High Valyrian Or Bastard Valyrian?

Brandon's Bastards