My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 15

Thursday is theory day now. 

This is the fifteenth article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.

Prepare for part 15. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously. 

 

Could Missandei secretly be in league with Yunkai?

Yes, of course she could. Is there any reason to think she is? Hell, no. Missandei is an 11-year-old child that was horribly abused by the same oligarchy that Yunkai now wants to restore. It was Astapor that cut her brother and made into an Unsullied, and it was her who was constantly objectified and threatened. Now you may want to take into account that mental abuse may turn her into a double-agent or something, but please, she remains an 11-year-old slave from the Lhazareen lands. I can think of not many archetypes that would be more ill suited than her. Besides, no one could anticipate that Dany would make said 11-year-old girl her confidante. She could just have freed her and sent her on her way. So, no, I don't think this idea holds any water. 

Is the Blackfish gay?

Yes, absolutely. I'm not sure whether he really acknowledges this, though. We have textual evidence that he is utterly uninterested in women, but it is not necessarily so that he has an interest in men. It might as well be that he surpressed this feeling early on and instead opted for a live of celibacy, which isn't really hard when you are a knight. In the end, it comes down to him being an a-secual being. So, that's bascially it with that question.

Why did Ser Mandon Moore try to kill Tyrion at the Blackwater? 

 You know, I never really considered the question and always bought into Tyrion's assumption that it was Cersei who put him on her.  But now, reading the question, doubt creeps in my mind. In fact, we know astonishingly little about Ser Mandon Moore and his motives on the attack on Tyrion. There are at least two more suspects that come into mind: Littlefinger and Varys. I can't really think of a motive for Varys, but he would have the ressources and cunning to pull it off. Littlefinger is a much more likely suspect, being really unsettled by Tyrion's suspicions about the dagger and all, suspicions that are well proven once Tyrion digs into Littlefinger's accounts as Master of Coin. Another theory that is also possible points to Lysa Arryn. She still has a beef with Tyrion, and we know nothing of the allegiances of Mandon Moore other than he was from the Vale, so it might be that the persons present at court may all be innocent of this peculiar incident. It is a strange fact that we take Cersei's allegiance for granted in any case. In the whole of "A Feast for Crows", she never once thinks about this all the time she wished Tyrion dead, and a thought like "too bad Ser Mandon didn't get him" or "Why did that stupid fuck only cut off his nose?" would fit her personality very much, so it seems strange that it never crosses her mind and strongly suggests she's to be ruled out as a suspect. Since Lysa seldom has a thought that Littlefinger didn't have before, I would bet my money on him.