Can Davos evade his Destiny?

Potential Spoilers Below

Hurin was a Shienaran sniffer and thief-taker whose obligation was to Lord Agelmar.  He was about 5'10" tall, and lean, with a lined face and graying hair worn long. He had a longish nose that he rubbed. Hurin has a wife named Melia and children.  “Hurin blinked. “As you wish, my Lor—ah —Rand. I'm a sniffer, you see. Been one four years this Sunday. I never heard of such a thing before then, but I hear there's a few others like me. It started slow, catching bad smells where nobody else smelled anything, and it grew. Took a whole year before I realized what it was. I could smell violence, the killing and the hurting. Smell where it happened. Smell the trail of those who did it. Every trail's different, so there's no chance of mixing them up. Lord Ingtar heard of it, and took me in his service, to serve the King's justice.”

Lord Agelmar

Rand

“Davos was a slight man, his low birth written plain upon a common face. A well-worn green cloak, stained by salt and spray and faded from the sun, draped his thin shoulders, over brown doublet and breeches that matched brown eyes and hair. About his neck a pouch of worn leather hung from a thong. His small beard was well peppered with grey, and he wore a leather glove on his maimed left hand.

Davos

“Ser Davos of House Seaworth,” the king said, “are you my true and honest liege man, now and forever?”

“I am, Your Grace.”

“And do you swear to serve me loyally all your days, to give me honest counsel and swift obedience, to defend my rights and my realm against all foes in battles great and small, to protect my people and punish my enemies?”

“I do, Your Grace.”

“Then rise again, Davos Seaworth, and rise as Lord of the Rainwood, Admiral of the Narrow Sea, and Hand of the King.”

Note: Davos allegiance was to Stannis Baratheon.  Because of his loyalty and honesty Stannis made Davos his hand.  Davos has a wife named Marya and several children.

Stannis Baratheon

“His hand reached for his throat, fumbling for the small leather pouch he always wore about his neck. Inside he kept the bones of the four fingers his king had shortened for him, on the day he made Davos a knight. My luck. His shortened fingers patted at his chest, groping, finding nothing. The pouch was gone, and the fingerbones with them. Stannis could never understand why he’d kept the bones. “To remind me of my king’s justice,” he whispered through cracked lips. But now they were gone. The fire took my luck as well as my sons.

The man Hurin followed initially was Lord Agelmar.  He was considered one of The Five Great Captains.  The Five Great Captains is a collective name used for the five finest generals in the Westlands. They are known for their supreme skills in the ways of war and strategy.  Hurin after spending time around Rand knowing him to be the Dragon Reborn started following Rand believing him to be the one destined to save their world.

Davos was completely loyal to Stannis.  Stannis was considered one of the very best commanders during Robert's rebellion and IMO puts him on equal footing as one of the Five Great Captains when compared to the Wheel of Time.  Click here to see my blog on the Five Great Captains.  After Stannis dies Davos, in the TV series, comes to admire Jon Snow and his leadership qualities.  After he is brought back from the dead it seems that his loyalties now lie with Jon.  Jon Snow is the Rand al’Thor character from the Wheel of Time.

Jon Snow and Davos

In The Great Hunt Hurin, Rand and Loial bed down by the Portal Stone. They were transported to a mirror world similar to their own but with no people with the exception of a woman named Selene.  Selene directed them to another portal stone in hopes of escape.  They eventually encountered creatures called grolm.  Grolm have three eyes and are in my opinion the inspiration for the representational three-eyed crow.  In the midst of the grolm attack Rand was able to channel them back to the real world.

Portal Stone

Grolm

Three-eyed crow

Grolm attack

After the battle of the blackwater Davos washes up on the rocks known as the spears of the merling king.  As a tribiute to bedding down next to the Portal Stone ASOIAF uses the following: 

Battle of the Blackwater

How can I live when they are dead? So many brave knights and mighty lords have died, better men than me, and highborn. Crawl inside your cave, Davos. Crawl inside and shrink up small and the ship will go away, and no one will trouble you ever again. Sleep on your stone pillow, and let the gulls peck out your eyes while the crabs feast on your flesh. You’ve feasted on enough of them, you owe them. Hide, smuggler. Hide, and be quiet, and die.”

On the verge of giving up Davos spots a ship.  Where Hurin's group were saved by being directed to another set of Portal Stones by a woman named Selene; Davos was saved by a ship that was Lysene:

“A crewman on her forecastle saw him and pointed. He watched as other sailors moved to the gunwale to gape at him. A short while later the galley’s sail came down, her oars slid out, and she swept around toward his refuge. She was too big to approach the rock closely, but thirty yards away she launched a small boat. Davos clung to his rock and watched it creep toward him. Four men were rowing, while a fifth sat in the prow. “You,” the fifth man called out when they were only a few feet from his island, “you up on the rock. Who are you?”

A smuggler who rose above himself, thought Davos, a fool who loved his king too much, and forgot his gods. “I . . .” His throat was parched, and he had forgotten how to talk. The words felt strange on his tongue and sounded stranger in his ears. “I was in the battle. I was . . . a captain, a . . . a knight, I was a knight.”

“Aye, ser,” the man said, “and serving which king?”

“The galley might be Joffrey’s, he realized suddenly. If he spoke the wrong name now, she would abandon him to his fate. But no, her hull was striped. She was Lysene, she was Salladhor Saan’s. The Mother sent her here, the Mother in her mercy. She had a task for him. Stannis lives, he knew then. I have a king still. And sons, I have other sons, and a wife loyal and loving. How could he have forgotten? The Mother was merciful indeed.

Joffrey

Salladhor Saan

 “Stannis,” he shouted back at the Lyseni. “Gods be good, I serve King Stannis.”

“Aye,” said the man in the boat, “and so do we.”

Hurin traveled to Shienar alone to inform King Easar of the happeinings at Falme.  Months later Hurin was sent as a delegate by the Borderland rulers to meet with Rand.  When Rand first met with Hurin he picked him up with Air and turned him upside down asking him questions only the real Hurin would know. Hurin smelled a different kind of violence and blood coming from Rand, the smell being darker, but not. It is speculated that this was from when Rand used balefire on Graendal's palace. Hurin tried to negotiate with Rand the terms under which the Borderlander rulers would meet with him, the first being that Rand would meet in Far Madding. Rand sent him back telling him that he would not meet the rulers in Far Madding and that he would provide transport back to their lands, otherwise they could continue hiding in Far Madding.

Graendal

Far Madding

Later, when Rand returned to Far Madding to meet with the rulers of the Borderlands, he wished to speak with Hurin and apologize. It is assumed that he did so before he Traveled to the Field of Merrilor.

Field of Merrilor

Hurin died resisting a Trolloc charge on Polov Heights. Rand saw it occur in his struggle against the Dark One.

Trollocs

The Dark One

So what does this mean for Davos?  I believe that Davos has already done what Hurin did acting as an emissary, being humiliated and then apologized to:

Davos sails from Eastwatch-by-the-Sea at the Wall to represent Stannis and his claim in White Harbor with Salladhor Saan and his fleet of Lyseni sellsails. After a number of storms take their toll on his fleet, Salladhor abandons Stannis's cause and gives Davos the choice between coming with him to Essos, or leaving in a small row boat. Davos chooses to leave, and and rows his boat to shore at Sweetsister. He is caught when trying to buy passage of the island in the town Sisterton, and taken before Lord Godric Borrell of Breakwater. Lord Godric informs Davos of the deaths of Lysa Arryn and Tywin Lannister, and admits that Cersei Lannister now rules King's Landing, making Davos realise that Godric has doubts about which side to join. Godric frees Davos, allowing him to continue to White Harbor as long as he keeps silent about having been on Sweetsister, warning Davos that several Frey's have preceded him to White Harbor, and that Lord Wyman Manderly has made a pact with Lord Walder Frey.

The Wall

Lysa pushed through the moon door

Tywin shot with cross bow

Cersei

King's Landing

Davos arrives at White Harbor, but as Lord Godric's information suggests that Manderly plans to join the Freys and Boltons, he keeps his identity hidden. He sees warships in the harbor and learns that Manderly is raising soldiers. In the Lazy Eel, a winesink, and learns Robett Glover has been attempting to find support at White Harbor, though Lord Manderly has been ignoring his pleas, while several northen houses have been fighting against the ironborn, and House Umber has joined the Boltons. The news that Wylis Manderly is a hostage to the Iron Throne diminishes his hopes. Though he realises his situation is rather hopeless, Davos approaches a guard at New Castle, insisting to see Lord Manderly.

Instead, Davos is taken captive, not allowed to leave his large, airy and furnished chambers. After eighteen days, he is brought before Lord Wyman Manderly in the Merman's Court. Davos requests a private audience, but is refused and made to make his case in the presence of the Freys, Manderly's daughter-in-law, granddaughters, and others. Most are hostile towards him, and when Lord Wyman's cousin Marlon asks Davos about Stannis's strength, Davos's silence tells them his military force is too small. The only person supporting Davos is Wylla Manderly, Wyman's granddaughter, who insists House Manderly should support Stannis to get revenge for the Red Wedding. Lord Wyman has Davos arrested, and orders him to be taken to the Wolf's Den, and his hands and head cut off. Davos is imprisoned, but Lord Wyman has a lookalike prisoner executed in Davos's place. The prisoner is beheaded, his head dipped in tar and an onion stuffed in his mouth. The fingers of one of his hands are also cut off to resemble Davos's. The head and hands are then put up on spikes on the walls of the city. With the Lannisters now convinced of the loyalty of House Manderly, they allow Ser Wylis Manderly to return to White Harbor.

During the feast held to celebrate Wylis's return, Lord Wyman has Robett Glover free Davos and bring him to the New Castle, where Wyman meets with them in secret. He apologizes for the treatment Davos received, explaining that he had to fake loyalty in order to save the life of his son. Davos learns that Wyman does not believe the lies and stories the Frey's tell about the red wedding, nor the stories the Boltons spread about Winterfell's fall. He informs Davos that Wex Pyke, who had been present at Winterfell during its Sack, witnessed the survival of Bran and Rickon Stark, and, importantly, knows where Rickon has gone to Skagos. He tells Davos that he will swear his allegiance to Stannis if Davos will meet his price, travel to Skagos to retieve Rickon and his direwolf.

Winterfell

Bran and Rickon

Shaggydog

Will he die fighting White Walkers or Wights during a decisive battle costing him his life similar to that of Hurin?  The Myrddraal and Trollocs from TWOT series are similar to the White Walker and Wights from ASOIAF.

White Walkers and Wights

Myrddraal and Trollocs

Comments encouraged.  Love to hear the idea’s of others.  Most believe that since I present my idea’s as “fact like” I’m not open to change my viewpoints which is far from the truth.  I simply look at the information presented and go from there.  If you can shine a light on another way of thinking that opens the door to debate.