Robert's Rebellion - Davos Seaworth

"Robert's Rebellion - Davos Seaworth" is the fifth short of the second season of Histories & Lore. It is the twenty-ninth short of the series overall. It was released on February 19, 2013 in Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season. It was narrated by Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth and written by Dave Hill.
==Premise==
==Narration==
Davos Seaworth: In King's Landing, if you leave the Red Keep and aren't careful, you may find yourself in Flea Bottom. In such a cesspool did House Seaworth have its glorious start.
I got out as soon as I could, finding work on a smuggler ship. Soon, every port on the Narrow Sea had a bounty on me, which they would collect if I didn't pay a percentage to the right people or pick the right tide.
You know how to tell a good smuggler? When you talk to one, there's a head that talks back.
I was very good. Davos of Flea Bottom had run with orphans and beggars, but Davos the smuggler was received by merchants and lords when nobody would catch them.
Oddly, the only honest work came from pirates, like the notorious, bloodthirsty Salladhor Saan, an old friend. All he ever wanted was someone to buy his cargo quickly before the tide left, and sell it without telling where I got it.
In time, I saved enough to buy a small plot of land and found a woman who was kind enough to overlook my trade. She gave me a son, Matthos. And we dreamt of the traders' circle around the Jade Sea. Just one trip and I could settle us and our family for life.
Then some Stormlord revolted against the Iron Throne. Wars are not as good for smugglers as you'd think. Every harbor fills with guards and inspectors, and the seas fill with blockades and pirates paid by each side to prey on the other.
Though I had no love for the Mad King, I'd grown up around the power of King's Landing. I figured this Robert Baratheon would end as the other rebel lords: burned to ash. But he didn't.
The North, the Riverlands, and the Vale joined him. And in the taverns, people drank to Robert's health openly. "Brave fools," I thought. But I had a family who'd be left in the cold if I lost my head.
When Mace Tyrell marched on Robert's home at Storm's End, I spied the end of the rebellion.
The castle was garrisoned by Robert's younger brother Stannis and a small guard, and would not hold out for long. When it fell, Robert would be homeless, and his support would bleed away. This, I knew from experience.
Months later, Stannis was still holding the castle. Nobody cared. But on voyages, I had seen what famine does; and I thought of all those men in Storm's End, who would die unmourned and forgotten. No better than Flea Bottom orphans.
I told his wife, and myself, that I'd get a high price for the onions and salt beef. In truth, I knew I'd be captured by the Tyrell galleys or drowned. But I was too stubborn.
Later that night, in the dark, in a tiny boat with a black sail, I cursed myself and the moonlight as I waited for the tide to turn.
When it did, the wind beat the sail so hard I ripped it down, fearing the Tyrell ships would hear. Luckily, they had grown lax.
With muffled oars, alone, I steered my cargo through the treacherous currents and snarls of rock that gave Shipbreaker Bay its name.
The waves finally carried me, soaked and near-blind from seawater, through the mouth of the cavern beneath the castle. Then Stannis Baratheon arrived.
The siege had left him gaunt, but not weak, never weak. He greeted me and accepted my onions with cool courtesy, betraying no emotion even as all wept.
He doled out the food to his wife and each of his men before he ate himself, a portion no larger than any other. When he finally thanked me, I could see his mind had already returned to the castle's defense. His duty.
After Aerys fell and Lord Stark lifted the siege, Stannis summoned me. For my salvation of Storm's End, I was to be granted a knighthood, a keep of my own, and my son taken into Stannis's personal service.
"Davos of Flea Bottom" had become "Ser Davos of House Seaworth," and my son would serve the king's own brother.
But for my previous crimes as a smuggler, I was to have the fingertips of one hand taken off above the highest joint. Stannis held that I had flouted the laws of the land for years, and a good act does not wash out the bad.
In one fell swoop, or five, Stannis gave my son a future and my family a name that I could've never imagined, nor earned, on my own.
I still keep the finger bones in a bag around my neck to remind me of what I was, and what I owe to Stannis.
For during my many years as a smuggler, I visited many ports, taverns, and back alleys, and saw many things in this world, but never justice. Until Stannis.
==Appearances==
===​Individuals===
* Ser Davos Seaworth
* Salladhor Saan
* Marya Seaworth (unnamed)
* Matthos Seaworth
* Lord Robert Baratheon
* King Aerys II Targaryen, the "Mad King"
* Lord Mace Tyrell
* Stannis Baratheon
* Selyse Baratheon (unnamed)
* Lord Eddard Stark
===Houses===
* House Seaworth
* House Baratheon
* House Targaryen (mentioned)
* House Tyrell (mentioned)
* House Stark (mentioned)
===Locations===
*The Crownlands
** King's Landing
*** Flea Bottom
*** Red Keep
*The Stormlands
**Storm's End
**Shipbreaker Bay
*The North (mentioned)
*The Riverlands (mentioned)
*The Vale of Arryn (mentioned)
*Jade Sea (mentioned)
===Events===
*Robert's Rebellion
** Siege of Storm's End
===Miscellaneous===
*Iron Throne (mentioned)
* Knighthood
==Cast==
*Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth
==Behind the scenes==
*This is the fourth of ten shorts on Robert's Rebellion.
*Davos says that Stannis took the fingers from his off-hand in "five swoops": this is an error. Stannis only cut off the tips of his "fingers" - narrowly defining "fingers" to exclude his thumb. In the TV series itself, Davos visibly still has his right thumb when he removes his gloves.
==References==
Category:Shorts narrated by Davos Seaworth
 05
Seaworth, Davos
2.19E
Category:Shorts written by Dave Hill
fr:La Rébellion de Robert (Histoires & Traditions)
pt-br:Rebelião de Robert (História e Tradição)