Marillion

Marillion is a wandering singer whose vanity, cowardice, and opportunism make him a minor but revealing figure in the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire. He attaches himself to Catelyn Stark after she captures Tyrion Lannister at the Crossroads Inn, survives the brutal mountain journey to the Eyrie largely by luck, and later serves as a mocking witness to Tyrion's trial by combat, his broken hand and stolen shadowskin cloak marking the gap between his pretensions and his actual place in the story.

Identity and Introduction

Marillion is a young singer, about eighteen years old, who first appears at the Crossroads Inn where Catelyn Stark and Ser Rodrik Cassel stop on their journey north. He is handsome, with a woodharp, and immediately begins to boast of his talents and connections. He claims to have performed for kings and high lords, and tells Catelyn that Lord Tully keeps a chamber for him at Riverrun and that her brother Edmure is "like a brother" to him. Catelyn, recognizing the type from her girlhood, smiles inwardly at the exaggeration. When Ser Rodrik dismisses him, Marillion persists, offering to sing for them if they have the silver. His manner is airy and self-important, and he is quick to ingratiate himself with anyone he perceives as powerful.

Journey to the Eyrie

When Catelyn reveals Tyrion Lannister as her prisoner and calls on the men in the inn to help her, Marillion announces his intention to ride with them, declaring that a great song is to be made from the adventure. He follows the party into the Mountains of the Moon, but his courage proves entirely absent. During the mountain clan attack, Marillion hides behind a rock, clutching his woodharp, and screams at Tyrion to go away when the dwarf seeks cover beside him. When a clansman's horse crashes down on top of him, Marillion moans that he is bleeding, but Tyrion observes that it is only horse blood and advises him to close his eyes and pretend to be dead. Marillion survives the battle, but his playing hand is broken—all four fingers are shattered—and his woodharp is destroyed. He also acquires a magnificent shadowskin cloak, stolen from the body of the brigand chief, which Tyrion later wins from him at dice.

At the Eyrie and the Trial

Marillion accompanies Catelyn to the Eyrie, where he finds a new woodharp and begins to recover his composure. When Tyrion demands a trial by combat, Marillion is present in the High Hall, and Tyrion notes with satisfaction that a singer is the best possible witness to spread a story far and wide. As the lords of the Vale laugh at Tyrion's predicament, Marillion clumsily plucks a gay note on his new woodharp with the fingers of his broken hand. After the trial, when Tyrion is freed, Marillion is among those who survive the journey, though he keeps throwing sullen looks at the dwarf. His role throughout is that of a passive, self-serving observer, more concerned with his own comfort and reputation than with the events unfolding around him.

Thematic Significance

Marillion embodies the gap between the romantic ideal of the wandering singer—a figure celebrated in the songs of Westeros for bravery, love, and adventure—and the reality of a vain, cowardly, and opportunistic hanger-on. He talks constantly of the great songs he will make, but he never actually produces one; his only tangible achievements are surviving through luck and acquiring a stolen cloak. His broken hand, which prevents him from playing, is a physical symbol of his impotence. He is a reminder that in the brutal world of the story, the singers who celebrate heroic deeds are often the least heroic people present, and that the songs themselves are a form of self-serving fiction.