Dywen
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| Allegiance | Night's Watch |
| Culture | Westeros |
| Born | Westeros[1] |
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Dywen is a veteran ranger and forester of the Night's Watch.[1]
Contents
Appearance and Character
Dywen has a leathery, wrinkled face and gnarled hands.[2] The old ranger has oaken teeth which fit poorly.[3] He sometimes sucks on them,[4] and when he laughs the wooden teeth clack.[3]
Dywen is well renowned for his tracking ability within the Night's Watch,[5] and he claims he can smell when snow is coming.[6]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
When Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly go to the haunted forest to swear their vows, Dywen is among the rangers who escort them. He is the first to notice the human hand that Ghost found.[7] Dywen accompanies Jeor Mormont when the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch goes to look at the corpses of Othor and Jafer Flowers in the forest. Dywen fears the bodies were left as a warning, and he notices that Othor now has blue eyes.[8]
Dywen and Hake unsuccessfully search for the missing Benjen Stark.[9]
A Clash of Kings
According to Dywen, giant bears can be found beyond the Wall. Lord Commander Mormont doubts this.[10]
Dywen is among the great ranging, the two hundred brothers of the Night's Watch that leave Castle Black to search for the wildlings. He informs Jon that the woods and villages north of the Wall are empty.[11] The experienced ranger warns Jon and Grenn about Craster, and advises the younger members of the Watch to stay away from Craster's wives. Grenn disbelieves Dywen's claim that he slept with three of the wives in the night.[3]
While camped out on the Fist of the First Men, Dywen senses the smell of cold, to the disbelief of his brothers with the exception of Jon, who also understands the cold as a sign of wights and the Others.[2]
A Storm of Swords
Because of their excellent tracking abilities, Dywen and Bannen are to be killed by Lark and his cousins as part of Chett's conspiracy against Lord Commander Mormont.[5] Before the plot can begin, however, the encamped men of the Watch are attacked by wights.[5][12] Dywen guides packhorses during the retreat from the fight at the Fist.[12]
Once at Craster's Keep, Dywen is one of the few men that takes Samwell Tarly seriously when he tells the men he slew an Other with his dragonglass dagger. Dywen joins Dolorous Edd in making Sam and Grenn tell the Lord Commander the tale.[13]
Dywen stays loyal to the Watch during the mutiny at Craster's Keep, in which Lord Commander Mormont is slain. He is one of the few survivors of the ranging to make it all the way back to Castle Black.[14]
Dywen jokes about Jon's age when the youth is chosen as the new Lord Commander.[15]
A Dance with Dragons
Dywen and Kedge Whiteye report that two of the queen's men, Ser Richard Horpe and Ser Justin Massey, rode south along the kingsroad from Castle Black.[16]
Dywen is one of the most outspoken rangers against the proposal to seal off the gates and other entrances of the Wall to prevent the Others and more wildlings from passing. He argues threats like Tormund Giantsbane and the Weeper would either cross the Bridge of Skulls or pass through an unseen gate, trapping the Night's Watch unnecessarily. He rallies most of the rangers under Jon, whereas the builders and stewards side with Bowen Marsh.[17]
Lord Commander Snow appoints Dywen as the leader of one of three groups of three rangers sent ranging.[18] His group includes Ser Alliser Thorne. Melisandre warns Jon soon after their departure that in her visions she has seen three of the nine rangers return eyeless, weeping blood.[18]
When the decapitated heads of the group led by Black Jack Bulwer turn up north of Castle Black, Owen the Oaf inquiries if Dywen was among the casualties. Jon asks Melisandre if she has also seen the surviving six rangers, including Dywen, in her visions. Melisandre reveals she has not seen their fates just yet.[19]
Quotes by Dywen
Best we be starting back, m'lord. Dark's falling, and there's something in the smell o' the night that I mislike.[7]
—Dywen to Bowen Marsh
Dywen: I know this wood as well as any man alive, and I tell you, I wouldn't care to ride through it alone tonight. Can't you smell it?
Edd: All I smell is the shit of two hundred horses. And this stew. Which has a similar aroma, now that I come to sniff it.[2]—Dywen and Eddison Tollett
We'll learn you what you need t' know, ser. Teach you how t' wipe your highborn arse with leaves, just like a proper ranger.[18]
—Dywen to Alliser Thorne
Quotes about Dywen
Jon: Dywen says you can find anything beyond the Wall.
Jeor: Aye, Dywen says. And the last time he went ranging, he says he saw a bear fifteen feet tall. My sister is said to have taken a bear for her lover. I'd believe that before I'd believe one fifteen feet tall. Though in a world where dead come walking ... ah, even so, a man must believe his eyes.[10]—Jon Snow and Jeor Mormont
No man in Castle Black knew the woods as well as Dywen did, the trees and streams, the plants that could be eaten, the ways of predator and prey.[18]
—thoughts of Jon Snow
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Dywen.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 34, Jon IV.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 23, Jon III.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 54, Daenerys VI.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 A Storm of Swords, Prologue.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 53, Bran VI.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 48, Jon VI.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 52, Jon VII.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 60, Jon VIII.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 6, Jon I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 13, Jon II.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 18, Samwell I.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 33, Samwell II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 48, Jon VI.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 79, Jon XII.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 7, Jon II.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 17, Jon IV.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 28, Jon VI.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 31, Melisandre I.