Mord

Mord is the gaoler of the sky cells in the Eyrie, a man of immense size and stupidity whose cruelty is matched only by his greed. He serves as the physical enforcer of Lady Lysa Arryn's will, meting out beatings and starvation to prisoners with a leather strap and a sadistic pleasure. His role in Tyrion Lannister's captivity illustrates the brutal, arbitrary power wielded by those in the lowest positions of authority in the Vale, and his eventual corruption by gold reveals the Lannister principle that every man has his price.

Identity and Role

Mord is described as a man of twenty stone, with brown rotting teeth, small dark eyes, and the left side of his face slick with scar where an axe had cut off his ear and part of his cheek. He is as predictable as he is ugly, a creature of pure physicality and base instinct. As the turnkey, he controls access to the prisoners in the sky cells, the Eyrie's unique dungeon where the floor ends and the sky begins, a six-hundred-foot drop to the stones of Sky below. His power over the prisoners is absolute, limited only by the commands of his mistress, Lady Lysa.

Cruelty and the Sky Cell

Mord's cruelty is a daily ritual. He torments Tyrion Lannister by holding a plate of boiled beans just out of reach, forcing the dwarf to scramble for his food. When Tyrion refuses to play the game, Mord drops the plate over the edge, laughing. For Tyrion's angry outburst, Mord kicks him with a steel-toed boot, driving the breath from him. The gaoler's favorite threat is the promise of the sky cell's ultimate punishment: "You fly," he tells Tyrion, "Twenty day, thirty, fifty maybe. Then you fly." He delights in the psychological torture of the open cell, where the sloping floor and the endless blue sky drive men mad. When Tyrion demands a trial, Mord beats him with a leather strap, smashing him in the face and ribs, leaving him bloodied and inches from the abyss.

Corruption and Greed

Despite his brutality, Mord is not immune to the lure of gold. When Tyrion offers him a fortune from Casterly Rock, the gaoler's suspicion wars with his greed. Tyrion plays on Mord's superstitious reverence for the written word, having him deliver a letter to Lady Lysa. The bribe works: Mord relents and fetches paper and ink. Later, when Tyrion is freed after the trial by combat, he tosses Mord a purse of gold. The gaoler's eyes go big as boiled eggs as he yanks open the drawstring and beholds the glint of gold. Tyrion tells him, "I kept the silver, but you were promised the gold, and there it is." With golden dragons spilling from both hands, Mord falls to his knees and promises to present himself at Casterly Rock for the rest of his payment. This final act confirms that Mord, for all his brute strength and cruelty, is ultimately a simple creature of appetite, easily bought and dismissed once his purpose is served.