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| “ | It was not for murder that the gods cursed him, nor for serving the Andal king his son in a pie. A man has a right to vengeance. But he slew a guest beneath his roof, and that the gods cannot forgive. | „ |
| ~ Old Nan on the Rat Cook. |
The Rat Cook is a legendary figure in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series. Like the Night's King, he is an infamous member of the Night's Watch, notoriously known in tales for tricking an Andal king into becoming a cannibal by making him eat a pie that was baked from the remains of his son, which the king was unaware of. Consequently, this caused the Rat Cook to be cursed by the Gods, in which he was transformed into a giant rat that feasts on nothing but his own young.
Biography[]
According to the legend of the First Men, the Rat Cook, prior to becoming a monstrous rat, was originally a simple human and a steward black brother of the Night's Watch, stationed at the Nightfort as a cook. He earned his infamous reputation when he served a pie he had baked to an Andal King (identified as either King Tywald II Lannister or King Oswell I Arryn). The king was unaware that while the pie was made from bacon, it was also made from the remains of his son, who was killed by the Rat Cook in revenge for a wrong the king supposedly did to him.
Oblivious to this, the king eats the pie. Loving it, he praises the cook for the taste and asks for a second slice. Angered that the cook had not only committed murder but also by the fact that he had made the king a cannibal as well as murdered a guest beneath his roof, the Gods cursed him by transforming him into a massive rat who is doomed to eat his own young and not anything else for eternity.
According to his story, he is a massive white rat who continues to live in the Nightfort as of the present, and all the other rats living there are his descendants.
Legacy[]
The story of the Rat Cook is so infamous that a song about him is still sung in the Seven Kingdoms, even though the incident happened hundreds of years prior to Aegon I Targaryen's conquest. The song about the Rat Cook is used to represent several repercussions for those who violate guest right and the sacred laws of hospitality.
A Song of Ice and Fire[]
While in the Nightfort, in 299 AC, Bran Stark remembers the tale of the Rat Cook, narrated by Old Nan.
In 300 AC at Winterfell, at the wedding of Lord Ramsay Bolton and Lady "Arya Stark" (real name Jeyne Poole), Lord Wyman Manderly has three large pork pies served at the feast. Wyman personally has portions of the pies served to Lord Roose Bolton, Lady Walda Bolton, Ser Aenys Frey, and Ser Hosteen Frey, expressing a great wish that they eat them. As they are served the pies, Wyman behaves with great drunken exuberance, and he personally eats two portions from each pie. As the guests are eating, Wyman asks Abel the Bard to sing about the Rat Cook.
It is heavily implied that the three pies were not made of pork but of the flesh of Ser Jared Frey, Rhaegar Frey, and Symond Frey, peace envoys of the Iron Throne who were Wyman's guests at White Harbor and went missing while en route to Barrowton, where Ramsay's wedding was initially supposed to take place, before being moved to Winterfell due to the threat of Stannis Baratheon. The Freys suspect Wyman of having murdered the three Frey envoys, as his son, Ser Wendel Manderly, was murdered by the Freys while a guest under their roof at the Twins during Lord Edmure Tully's wedding feast.
Although Wyman does not serve him a slice of pie, Ramsay eats much of the pies himself, while his wife "Arya" does not. Wyman has a deep hatred for Ramsay as well, as Ramsay raped and murdered Wyman's cousin, Lady Donella Hornwood, born Donella Manderly, and usurped the lands and incomes of House Hornwood.
Trivia[]
- The role and motivation of the Rat Cook are identical to those of Wyman Manderly in the books and Arya Stark in the show, who both baked the flesh of members of House Frey into pies and fed them to their own kin in revenge.
- In Season 3 of the show, when Bran tells the Rat Cook's story, the next scene cuts to Walder Frey eating.
- The difference between the Rat Cook and Wyman/Arya is that neither Wyman nor Arya broke guest right. In the novels, Wyman had Rhaegar, Jared, and Symond killed only after giving them guest depature gifts (which ends the laws of guest right) and after leaving the New Castle while marching to Barrowton to join Roose Bolton's host. In the show, Black Walder Rivers, and Lothar Frey were never guests of Arya in the first place, nor was Arya a guest of the Freys, as she was an intruder. To achieve his vengeance, the Rat Cook broke guest right and murdered his guests just like Lord Walder did for his own vengeance.
- Both Wyman and Arya acted in retaliation for their losses at the Red Wedding.
- The castle where the Rat Cook worked, the Nightfort, the largest and oldest castle on the Wall, has been abandoned for centuries, being the very first Night's Watch fort that was abandoned due to its size and costs and the Watch's inability to garrison it. Queen Alysanne Targaryen, wife of Jaehaerys I disliked its grim, scary, and depressing ambience.
- The Nightfort has a very sinister reputation and is rumored to be cursed, like Harrenhal. It is place of many scary stories and legends. It is where many infamous figures of the Night's Watch committed legendary atrocities and evil practices. Dreadful stories about the Nightfort include:
- Night's King who married a "corpse queen", bound the castle's garrison to his will with sorcery, and worshiped the Others and made sacrifices for them.
- The Rat Cook and his prince-and-bacon pie served to the Andal king.
- The seventy-nine sentinels, who were arrested for deserting the Night's Watch and were sealed inside holes in the frozen Wall, where they would continue to stand their watch as corpses in ice.
- Young Danny Flint, who was discovered to be a girl and was raped and murdered by her sworn brothers.
- Ancient King Sherrit, who called down a curse on the Andals of old.
- The thing that came in the night, a monstrous creature that repeatedly haunted the Nightfort at night and that apprentice boys had to face, ending up dying, going insane, or getting chained with it.
- The blind Symeon Star-Eyes saw hellhounds fight at the Nightfort.
- The serial killer Mad Axe walked the yards of the Nightfort and climbed the towers to butcher his own sworn brothers in the dark.
- The wildling Arson Iceaxe was walled alive by rangers within his own digged tunnel, with the legend claiming that one can still hear the sound of Arson's axe digging away at the ice to this day.
- The Nightfort was featured in the novels and in Season 3 of the show, being the place where Sam and Gilly crossed the Wall, met with Bran's company, and from where Bran went beyond the Wall through its magical passage. Later in the books, Stannis Baratheon visited the Nightfort with Sam, who showed him the magic passage.
- The Nightfort currently belongs to Stannis Baratheon. In the fifth novel, the Night's Watch (under Jon Snow's command) ceded the Nightfort to Stannis, who took it as his northern seat. The Nightfort is now the permanent property of House Baratheon. The Builders of the Watch are restoring the fort so that Stannis and his forces can take residence there eventually. Selyse Florent is currently waiting to move her host there, while Stannis is fighting south.
- It is speculated by certain readers that the next atrocity in the Nightfort will be the sacrifice of Shireen Baratheon, as the screenwriters of the TV show claim it will happen in the books as well.
External Link[]
- Rat Cook on the A Wiki of Ice and Fire.
