Amory Lorch

Ser Amory Lorch was a knight in the service of House Lannister during the War of the Five Kings.
==Biography==
===Background===
Ser Amory Lorch is a landed knight of House Lorch, a knightly house sworn to House Lannister. He has been a loyal vassal of the Lannisters for many years. The sigil of his House is a black manticore on a red field.HBO viewers guide, season 2 guide to houses, House Lannister entry
===Game of Thrones: Season 2===
Off screen, Lorch is raiding in the Riverlands when he is approached by a pair of gold cloaks with a royal warrant for the royal bastard Gendry. The Gold Cloaks request assistance from Lorch to capture the boy who has been protected by Yoren and his Night's Watch recruits.
On screen, the Gold Cloaks along with Lorch and a force of Lannister soldiers return to Yoren's group. Lorch confronts Yoren and attacks his group when Yoren refuses to give up Gendry. Lorch kills Yoren personally after his men have subdued him and then imprisons the survivors, ordering them to be taken to Harrenhal. He does not realize that Arya and Gendry are among them. He questions them about Gendry and is tricked into believing that the slain Lommy Greenhands was his target because he was carrying Gendry's bull's head helmet.
Lorch and his men deliver the prisoners to the Mountain at Harrenhal. The Mountain oversees the torture of the captives, killing several of them. When Tywin returns to Harrenhal, he ends the interrogations and orders the prisoners put to work, criticizing his men for wasting valuable manpower.
Lorch attends a war council held by Tywin. Tywin criticizes his men for underestimating Robb Stark and demands that they devise a new strategy. Lorch reports rumors from spies that there is discontent in Robb's camp. Tywin is dismissive, saying that discontent is a part of war and that the very same spies would report the same from the Lannister side.
Amory is chastised by Tywin during a war council, since due to his illiteracy - a letter meant for Lord Damon Marbrand was instead accidentally sent to Lord Marlyn Dormand, a vassal of House Stark. Exasperated, Tywin remarks that "my cupbearer reads better than you!" Later, Amory catches Arya with a stolen letter and tries to seize her, and then heads to inform Tywin. Frantically, Arya seeks out the assassin Jaqen H'ghar and names Amory as her next kill. Ser Amory is killed with a poisoned dart to the neck dipped in wolfsbane, just as he enters Tywin's chambers. Tywin mistakes it for an assassination attempt on himself.
==In the books==
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Ser Amory Lorch is a noted servant of Tywin and a member of House Lorch, a knightly house sworn to Casterly Rock. He is described as a portly man of average height. He has a pale piggy face with small pig-like eyes, and a high, thin voice.
According to a semi-canon source, during the Reyne-Tarbeck revolt, Lorch threw the last Lord Tarbeck, a three year old boy, down a well.
During the Sack of King's Landing at the end of Robert's Rebellion, Lorch and the Mountain were assigned to eliminate the last scions of House Targaryen, breaking into the royal apartments and brutally killing Rhaegar's wife, Elia Martell, and their children, Aegon and Rhaenys, an act that has marred the reputation of both.
Lorch apparently dragged Rhaenys out from her hiding place under her father's bed and stabbed her about fifty times. Even Tywin was appalled by the brutality of the act; he asked Lorch why killing a four year old girl required so many thrusts, and Lorch answered that she kicked him and would not stop screaming. Years later, when discussing the foul deed with Tyrion, Tywin disdainfully comments that if Lorch had half the brain a turnip has, he would have calmed Rhaenys with a few sweet words and used a soft silk pillow to smother her. In the TV series, it is not mentioned that he was involved in the killing of Rhaenys, her murder instead being attributed to Gregor Clegane.
Considering he is not responsible for the killing of Rhaenys and his backstory is cut from the TV series, Lorch is generally perceived as being less cruel than his book counterpart.
Lorch is known for pillaging places in random, regardless if their owners are loyal to the Lannisters or not, simply because he can. One of his victims is Ser Roger Hogg, a bannerman of House Hayford. Ser Roger tells Lorch to which house his fealty is owed, but Lorch does not listen, slaughters half of Ser Roger's sheep and three milk goats, then tries to roast him alive in his tower. The tower walls are solid stone and eight feet thick, so after the fire burns out, Lorch rides off bored.
Lorch encounters Beric Dondarrion at the Rushing Falls. Lorch captures a beekeeper and his wife, and threatens to hang them if Beric does not surrender. Beric surrenders, but Lorch hangs the beekeeper and his wife anyway, with Beric strung up in the middle (this is the third time Beric is killed). Beric is later resurrected by Thoros.
In the books, Lorch comes into conflict with Yoren while hunting down the Brotherhood Without Banners instead of Gendry. Although Yoren assures Lorch multiple times that his caravan has nothing to do with the Brotherhood, Lorch picks a fight with him anyway without provocation or reason.
There is no mention in the books that Lorch is illiterate.
Lorch is not one of the names Arya gives to Jaqen, and is not killed by him. After Roose Bolton takes Harrenhal, he and Vargo Hoat, who had a running rivalry with Amory, have Lorch thrown into the bear pit, where he is torn apart. Arya considers that poetic vengeance for Yoren's murder, as she had thought of Yoren as hairy and tough, like a bear.
When Oberyn Martell comes to King's Landing seeking justice for the deaths of Elia and her children, Tywin plans to pin all of the blame for their deaths on Amory, now conveniently dead, to save him having to hand over Gregor Clegane to be put on trial. Tywin suggests that the manner of Amory's death ought to have been gruesome enough to satisfy even the vengeful Prince Oberyn. It is doubtful that Oberyn believes that new version, which totally absolves Tywin and Gregor of any responsibility to the deaths of Elia and her children (as when pressed by Tyrion, Tywin stated he planned to claim Lorch carried out the murders on his own initiative rather than specific orders from Tywin, in hopes of gaining favour with King Robert for having killed the family of his hated nemesis Rhaegar); in any case, Tyrion assures Oberyn that Lorch killed Rhaenys, while Gregor killed her mother and brother.
==Gallery==
Amory-lorch.jpg|Ser Amory Lorch at the HBO viewer's guide.
Amory chases Arya.jpg|Ser Amory chasing Arya in "The Old Gods and the New."
==Appearances==
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==References==
===Notes===
==External links==
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Category:Bannermen of House Lannister
Category:Individuals appearing in Game of Thrones
Category:Individuals from Histories & Lore
Category:Knights
Amory Lorch
Category:Westermen
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