Small Councils

Small councils we see:

AGOT: Robert's through Ned's eyes, Robb's through Catelyn's, Tywin's through Tyrion's. Dany's through her own.

ACOK: Stannis's through Cressen & Davos, Cersei's through Tyrion's eyes, Bran's through his own, Balon's through Theon, Mormont's thhrough Jon, Roose Bolton's through Arya's POV

ASOS: Mance's

AFFC:

ADWD: Dany's through her own eyes, Stannis's through Jon's eyes, The Merman's Court through Davos's eyes, Doran's small council through Hotah's eyes. Jon's through hs own eyes, Selmy's through his own eyes, Kevan's through his own eyes.

7 AGOT Catelyn II: Catelyn and Luwin agree Ned must accept the Handship to investigate Lysa's accusations against the Lannisters.

15 AGOT Catelyn III: Robb's council is those present when Catelyn says to close the door: Maester Lewin, Ser Rodrick Cassel and Theon Greyjoy.

21 AGOT Eddard IV: Robert's small council: Varys, Littlefinger, Renly, Grand Maester Pycelle, Barristan Selmy, Stannis and Ned. Selmy only attends when Robert does and Stannis has left.

28 AGOT Eddard VI: Ned is outnumbered in council on every issue. Where Tywin takes the king's seat, Ned leaves it empty and sits to its right, befitting his role as Hand.

38 AGOT Bran V: Bran worries that Theon is on Robb's small council, as Theon would have Robb call the banners. Bran recommends Robb listen to Luwin and wishes Mother had returned. Bran's view seems reinforced by the scene where Robb doesn't immediately know what to do with Osha and is distressed when Theon says to feed her to the wolves. Maester Luwin recommends questioning her and Robb is relieved.

42 AGOT Jon V: Jon goes to Maester Aemon to recommend Sam as his assistant. He knows he can't approach Lord Commander Mormont directly with his request, but that Aemon can.

56 AGOT Catelyn VIII: Though there is a small council, there is an inner council where decisions really get made.

57 AGOT Tyrion VII: "That was the trouble with the clans: they had an absurd notion that every man's voice should be heard in council, so they argued about everything, endlessly. Even their women were allowed to speak. Small wonder that it had been hundreds of years since they last threatened the Vales with anything beyond an occassional raid." 608

58 AGOT Sansa V: The role of the council members in Joffey's court is to abett the king and queen. For example, Pycelle will often play the mean cop, permitting the royals to appear comparatively lenient.

63 AGOT Tyrion VIII: While Tyrion does not realize it, Tywin's small council is at dinner.

70 AGOT Tyrion IX: A council of sorts is composed of those who see themselves as concerned enough to attend when a rider brings news in the middle of the night.

72 AGOT Catelyn XI: The council at Riverrun is composed of lords present. The river lords outnumber the northern lords.

74 ACOK 1 Prologue: Stannis's small council is getting an overhaul. Maester Cressen is out. Melisandre is in. This seems to relate to Stannis's frustration with results.

77 ACOK 4 Tyrion I: What appears to be Cersei's small council is in fact Littlefinger's until Tyrion walks in. Then, starts the process of it becoming Varys's.

82 ACOK 9 Tyrion II: Varys has made himself first in Tyrion's inner council. It seems Varys gets all his real business accomplished through one on one meetings.

89 ACOK 16 Tyrion III: Cersei's small council is ruled by her emotionality. Littlfinger provokes her to control her while others skip council entirely.

90 ACOK 17 Bran II: As the Stark in Winterfell, Bran is made to listen to council given to Winterfell's guests by Ser Rodrik and Maester Luwin. Still, Bran listens attentively, asks important questions and would see every person helped.

91 ACOK 18 Tyrion IV: Tyrion vets the small council, as Tywin asked him to. However, instead of trsting for loyalty to their house and its aims, Tyrion tests who will leak to Cersei.

98 ACOK 25 Theon II: Balon's inner council doesn't include his children, only his brothers.

99 ACOK 26 Tyrion VI: Tyrion considers mounting the heads of Pycelle, Varys and Littlefinger above the gate, as he believes Tywin would. None are loyal (Except Pycelle, the one he sent to the dungeons.)

108 ACOK 35 Jon IV: Mormont's council of seven officers is always changing as rangers are lost. Mormont may tell Thoren Smallwood he's not first ranger, but it doesn't stop Thoren from hanging around and stating loud opinions.

110 ACOK 37 Tyrion VIII: When Cersei threatens to remove Varys from council, he notes how small it has already become. Tyrion sent Slynt to the Wall and threw Pycelle in the black cells. Only Varys and Littlefinger remain who are not Lannisters. Technically, Jaime has a seat as Lord Commander of the kingsguard. The decision to send Littlefinger to broker with the Tyrells makes itself, but gives Littlefinger the power of the throne.

116 ACOK 43 Davos II: "One day I may make you a lord, smuggler. If only to irk Celtigar and Florent. You will not thank me, though. It will mean you must suffer through these councils and feign interest in the braying of mules." "Why do you have them, if they serve no purpose? "The mules love the sound of ther own braying, why else? And I need them to haul my cart. Oh, to be sure, once in a great while some useful notion is put forth. But not today, I think." 615

124 ACOK 51 Theon IV: Balon sent Theon with a small council of Aeron Damphair and Dagmer Cleftjaw. He peeled off to take Winterfell, his one councillor: Black Loren. Enter Reek, deceiver and enemy. He wheedles his way into Theon's trust and sets him up to be framed and betrayed and tortured in perpetuity. Varys is doing something similar, though less sadistic, to Tyrion as Littlefinger is to Cersei. It seems a small council is where secret rivals vye for dominance in long game form.

125 ACOK 52 Jon VI: Qhorin's small council in the Frost Fangs includes every man present. Qhorin announces the need to clear the wildling scout camp and proposes it will take two men. Then, men volunteer.

135 ACOK 62 Tyrion XIV: Balon Swann meant to ask Tyrion's council on what to do about the bridge of ships. But Tyrion doesn't stop to think about the trebuchets or discuss strategy, only says "Let's go kill them," effectively commanding Swann to attack.

138 ACOK 65 Arya X: Roose Bolton holds court while being leeched to repulse council. The farce even seems to imply that the Frey petitioners are themselves leeches. He speaks so softly that an oridinary man's voice sounds agitated and overly loud in comparison, assuring all it is under control. The implication is that Roose has secured allegiance to the Lannisters at ths point in the Red Wedding planning, not only with Frey.

140 ACOK 67 Theon VI: Theon does not create a council nor heed Maester Luwin, who he thinks of as a scheming enemy. It's probably a good thing he doesn't heed Black Lorren.

144 ASOS 1 Prologue: Chett hand picked the men of his conspiracy and speaks to each individually. While Lark the Sisterman thinks they could get more on their side, Chett would keep the group manageable. Too many and someone talks.

145 ASOS 2 Jaime I: Brienne does not want Jaime's council, nor his treacherous offers of help that are blatant attempts to get his shackles removed. At the same time, when a group faces tough calls, council is proferred.

147 ASOS 4 Arya I: Arya leads, leaving the others to follow as best they can. But Gendry interferes when Arya falls asleep on horseback and is riding in circles. They both ignore Hot Pie, who only bellyaches about his discomforts.

151 ASOS 8 Jon I: Mance's inner council seems to include Styr and Tormund.

286 ADWD 15 Tyrion IV: Tyrion lures Haldon into playing cyvasse for secrets.

288 ADWD 17 Daenerys III: Dany invites almost too many to her council about whether to accept Xaro's ships and sail for Westeros. It makes the decision easy, though. Dany can see Xaro isn't offering ships enough to take all who would leave with her.

289 ADWD 18 Jon IV: Jon is invited to Stannis's war council to tell what he knows of Mors Umber. He winds up redesigning Stannis's mission and is included in an inner council meeting, after.

291 ADWD 20 Davos III: The best example of a too-large council is probably the Merman's Court. Manderly cannot yet be seen to hold a council without the Freys, so must engage in a mummery with Davos.

296 ADWD 25 The Lost Lord: The captain's tent of the Golden Company.

297 ADWD 26 The Windblown: The captain's tent of the Windblown. The Tattered Prince gives the order for Meriss's secret mission to all assembled.

310 ADWD 39 The Watcher: Doran holds a small council with Arianne, Ellaria and the sand snakes. He dismisses Ellaria when she becomes upset and disgrees with the feeling for war. "This war has already begun." He then assigns each sand snake her mission.

318 ADWD 47 A Ghost in Winterfell: Theon is brought before the council investigating the mysterious deaths that have been happening in Winterfell. They rule him out, but continue to discuss in front of him. Manderly has been excluded. And Ramsay.

336 ADWD 65 The Ugly Little Girl: Arya stands as cupbearer at a council of the Faceless Men. It seems each man volunteers for his assignments and that he must not know the mark personally.

339 ADWD 68 The Kingbreaker: "Elsewhere, he knew King Hizdahr was consulting with Reznak mo Reznak, Marghaz zo Loraq, Galazza Galare and his other Meereenese advisors, deciding how to best respond to Yunkai's demands...but Barristan Selmy was no longer a part of such councils." 960

341 ADWD 70 Jon XIII: Jon meets with Bowen Marsh and Othell Yarwyck to ask their council, but he's taken tol little of ther advice to date and has never bothered to convince them to consensus. Asking advice on how to accomplish what your advisor thinks shouldn't be done rarely yields eager help. Jon also , and wisely, holds Melisandre at a distance.

342 ADWD 71 The Queen's Hand: Selmy's large round table replaces the two gaudy thrones. It is mostly peopled with captains, like Grey Worm and Skahaz, but Selmy invites all those Daenerys invited to her council about the ships, even the pit fighters who helped take the city.

344 ADWD 73 Epilogue: Kevan Lannister rules as regent with Mace Tyrell as Hand. Kevan has created a stalemate between Lannister and Tyrell on the council, but it blocks him. Though creating stability, Kevan is distracted by the political demands of rule.

Tyrion 48: When the captains of the Second Sons are called to Brown Ben's tent, Tyrion invites himself and is surprised to see Jorah does, too.