Episode 20: A GAME OF THRONES, EDDARD IV: Show Notes!

 Hello and welcome to the Not A Cast … podcast: the one true chapter-by-chapter podcast going through A Song of Ice and Fire one chapter a week. I’m one of your hosts Jeff better known as BryndenBFish. 

And I’m your other host Emmett, better known as PoorQuentyn. 

Welcome to our twentieth episode of the Not A Cast entitled: “The Hand of the King”: An Analysis of AGOT, Eddard IV,” in which Ned Stark arrives angry to King’s Landing, has his first small council meeting, ends up holds a knife to Littlefinger’s throat (regrettably not slicing) and hangs out with Catelyn in a brothel … uh, phrasing? 

This episode is brought to you all by our Lords Commander Mark N, Timothy W and Hayden J. Thank you, gentlemen!

Spoiler warning: All published books - 5 novels, 3 Dunk and Egg novellas, histories, interviews, and TWOW sample chapters, as well as Game of Thrones the TV show, anything and everything!

News/Questions

Ser Travis M writes us to say:

I recently fell into an N+A=J and R+L=D/A pit and crawled out to find a world gone mad. For those equations to be true, George has to overly complicate both his story and his characters.

For Jon to be Ned and Ashara’s son and for Dany or Aegon to be Rhaegar and Lyanna’s child, the story has to get so unbelievably convoluted that George not only defies his early writing but also the characters he created. This would mean Ned would have to truly dishonor himself by having a bastard, abandon his real love Ashara Dayne, get her to play along and not throw a holy fit, lie to Catelyn, hide Dany or Aegon, risk the wrath of his best friend Robert Baratheon and the Lannisters, and finally, if she is Septa Lemore, get Ashara to fake her own death and assume a new identity to raise Aegon.

Phew!

What makes R+L=J more compelling is not the “hidden prince” or “lost king” fantasy trope, it’s the complexity for the characters themselves. Ned is the most honorable man in the realm and for him to take this falsity upon himself is something that makes sense because the true knowledge rests solely inside him (and maybe Howland Reed) and it fulfills a promise to Lyanna, saves his nephew Jon, and protects his whole family from retribution. That’s a personal burden that the honorable Ned Stark can live with and take to his grave.

Please discuss!

Ser James R asks:

Here’s a question for sometime in the future - you can pick the show in addition to whether or not you care to answer: what’s the deal with Valyrian steel swords in Essos- it seems like there should be a lot there. It seems like people as rich as Tywin and Mace should be able to buy some. The people of meereen and astapor and yunkai don’t seem to have any.... this is an area of world building that doesn’t make sense to me

Summary/Synopsis

Ned Stark arrives in King’s Landing unhappy, hoping for a shower, some chow and a nap. Instead, he’s summoned by Grand Maester Pycelle to a small council meeting. He grouses a bit but agrees to head on over to the council chambers, ordering his men to take care of his belongings , find some clothing for him and to ensure that Arya doesn’t go off exploring the Red Keep.

Orders given, clothing acquired, Ned heads on over to the small council chambers in borrowed clothing and finds four counselors (Varys, Littlefinger, Pycelle and Renly) awaiting his arrival. The first to greet Ned is the one he dislikes most: Varys. The eunuch weirdly decides to poke Ned by telling him that he heard about the troubles on the road, and that they’ve all been visiting the sept to light candles for Prince Joffrey. (We’ll talk about that later on). Ned politely and cooly tells Varys that his prayers have been answered. The prince is growing stronger.

Next, Ned walks over to Littlefinger and Renly, complimenting Renly about how he looks very much like a young Robert. “A poor copy,” Renly jests. “Though better dressed. Lord Renly spends more on clothing than half the ladies of the court,” Littlefinger banters back. Then Littlefinger, in turn, pokes Ned, asking if Catelyn spoke of him, talking about Ned’s brother Robert and needling Ned about how the heat probably doesn’t suit Ned. “Here in the south, they say you are all made of ice, and melt when you ride below the Neck.” Finally, Ned introduces himself to the ancient Grand Maester Pycelle who wears maester chains of multiple colors and stones. He is also old and tired and warns Ned that he’ll fall asleep if they delay the meeting much longer.

The council now assembled, Ned looks over the group, thinking back to Robert’s statement that his small council was full of flatterers and fools. He thinks he knows which one is which. But does he? Hm. 

Ned points out that there’s only 5 members present, and he’s told that the king’s brother Lord Stannis sailed to Dragonstone right after Robert left King’s Landing while Barristan is escorting Robert through King’s Landing as befits his role as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. When Ned suggests waiting for Barristan and Robert to join, Renly laughs and tells Ned that “If we wait for my brother to grace us with his royal presence, it could be a long sit.” Robert’s not really into the whole “coin and crops” side of ruling the kingdom. So, they proceed with council business.

First (and last) matter of the day: Robert has a command: hold a great tournament to honor Ned as Hand of the King. “Gods be good,” Ned swears. This is folly. And a folly at cost: forty thousand golden dragons to the champion. Twenty thousand to the man who comes in second. Another twenty to the man who wins the melee and ten thousand to the victor of the archery competition. Ninety thousand golden dragons in rewards and lots of secondary/tertiary costs. Can the treasure bear the cost, Pycelle wonders. “What treasure is that?” Littlefinger replies. “Spare me the foolishness, Maester. You know as well as I that the treasure has been empty for years.” Well, that’s not good. And how will Littlefinger pay for the tourney? He’ll borrow money from the Lannisters. Besides, they already owe the Lannisters three million in golden dragons anyways. What’s 100K more?

Ned is stunned, outraged. How can they be 3 million in debt? Well, it’s a mite worse than that, Ned. They’re actually 6 million in debt. They’ve borrowed 3 million from the Lannisters and another 3 million from other sources: the Tyrells, Iron Bank of Braavos and Tyroshi trading cartels. They’ve even had to borrow from the High Septon of late. Well, by the gods, Ned won’t stand for this financial malfeasance. He’ll talk with Robert! And he’ll convince him that the crown can’t bear the expense. Yeah, good luck with that, Ned. 

Tired and annoyed, Ned abruptly calls the small council session to a halt, and rolls out of the meeting. Outside of the council chamber, Ned reflects on the state of things between House Stark and the king’s family. After the ugly business on the Trident, the Starks stayed well ahead of the main party and kept away from the king, the Lannisters and the rising tension.

Things haven’t been good on the homefront either. Sansa blamed Arya, and Arya was lost after she heard what happened to Mycah. The rest of the way, Sansa cried herself to sleep every night, and Arya brooded. Ned dreamed of a frozen hell reserved for the Starks of Winterfell.

Just then, Littlefinger appears, telling Ned that he’s going the wrong way. Weirdly, Ned follows Littlefinger. When it appears they aren’t going back to the Hand’s chamber and Ned says as much, Littlefinger tells him “I’m leading you to the dungeons to slit your throat and seal your corpse up behind a wall.” Very obvious foreshadowing. Anyways, Littlefinger claims that he’s leading Ned to his wife.

Ned disbelieves Littlefinger, telling him that Catelyn is thousands of miles away at Winterfell. Littlefinger replies that it must be Cat or an astonishing impersonation. Either come or don’t, Ned. If you don’t, Littlefinger will keep her for herself. Yikes.

Ned again follows, and they reach a cliff. Littlefinger climbs down it, poking Ned about him becoming old and slow. Terrified, Ned follows suit and finds little nooks in the cliff-face that guide him to the ground below. When Ned finally reaches the ground, Littlefinger is waiting with horses. They ride until they come across a ramshackle building: a brothel.

Ned is furious. “You’ve brought me all this way to take me to a brothel.” “Your wife is inside,” Littlefinger says. Shouldn’t have said that, asshole. Ned throttles Littlefinger, throwing his body against the wall of the brothel and then draws his dagger and prepares to kill the man until Ser Rodrik Cassel calls out and tells Ned that Littlefinger speaks the truth. 

Amazed at hearing a familiar voice and then recognizing Ser Rodrik, Ned releases Littlefinger and follows the Master of Coin and Ser Rodrik into the brothel. They climb three flights of stairs, and then Catelyn is there. She runs into Ned’s arms and they embrace. Ned asks why Cat is in King’s Landing, she shows him the blade and her hands, and then she tells Ned the story Littlefinger told her. It was Tyrion’s blade, and he’d sent the catspaw after Bran. 

It doesn’t make sense to Ned, and why would it? Bran had never done Tyrion any wrong. Littlefinger implies that Tyrion wasn’t working alone. Ned thinks that Cersei may have done it, but not Robert, except … didn’t Robert talk about sending hired knives after the exiled Targaryens and turned away from the murder of the infant Aegon Targaryen at the end of Robert’s Rebellion? The thought sends a chill ratcheting down Ned’s spine. 

But Littlefinger says that they really don’t have proof. Tyrion would lie about the dagger, and if he accused the queen of treason, he’d face Ser Ilyn (Foreshadowing alert). It’s probably best for Ned to throw the dagger into the Blackwater Rush and forget about the whole thing. Or so says Littlefinger.

Lord Baelish, I am a Stark of Winterfell. My son lies crippled, perhaps dying. He would be dead and Catelyn with him but for a wolf pup we found in the snow. If you truly believe I could forget that, you are as big a fool now as when you took up sword against my brother.

Well, that’s something, Ned. Littlefinger japes about how he’ll try to keep Ned alive, calling it a fool’s task. And then again poking Ned about never being able to refuse Catelyn anything. Catelyn asks for a moment alone with Ned. Littlefinger says he usually charges for that sort of thing, but Ned needs to be back at the Red Keep before long, before their absence is noted. Cat thanks Littlefinger, and Littlefinger, in a classic villain monologue, claims that he’s desperately sentimental and that he’d spent his whole career convincing everyone that he’s cruel and wicked when he’s really not. Spoilers: he is cruel and wicked. Ned doesn’t believe Littlefinger all the same, but he thanks Baelish for his “help.” 

Alone with Catelyn, Ned begins giving orders -- orders for war: Helman Tallhart and Galbart Glover are to raise 200 bowmen in total and fortify Moat Cailin. Lord Manderly will strengthen and repair the defenses of White Harbor. And keep an eye over Theon. They may need the Greyjoy fleet if it comes to war. Trying to keep my editorializing to a minimum, but Ned, really? Sigh.

The thought of war scares Catelyn, and Ned tries to reassure her that it won’t come to that. The Lannisters can’t hope to invade the North unless the whole of the realm was at their back. Meanwhile, Ned would work on finding out who killed Jon Arryn, and when he found the proof, he would bring it to Robert.

And pray that he is the man I think he is, he finished silently, and not the man I fear he has become.

And that is AGOT, Eddard IV. Talk about a chapter that really ramps up the tension and intrigue in a story. Hoo boy

Depth/Structure

It’s your first day at the office. Your commute was hell; you’re exhausted and extremely cranky. Your coworkers are flatterers and fools, and you just realized your job consists of spending money you don’t have on things nobody needs on behalf of a boss who doesn’t care, all with your name slapped on everything. Not only that, but after your first staff meeting, the unbearable prick two desks over puts you through an elaborate hazing ritual while reminding you of that time he asked out your wife. Who is there, by the way, and has nothing but bad news for you. 

Welcome to your new life, Eddard Stark. 

Tonally and structurally, Eddard IV reminds me (and this may strike you as an odd comparison) of a Theon chapter, specifically those in ACOK. Ned is ostensibly in charge in this chapter, but he spends it a step behind--uncertain, uncomfortable, grasping after the power he feels he ought to possess, stared down with a raised eyebrow by the people over whom he now claims authority, increasingly desperately aware of the floor falling out from underneath him. 

Now, I hold Ned in higher regard, given that Theon’s arc in ACOK climaxes with him doing the thing Ned refuses to do: kill children. The sense of confusion and exhaustion is the same, though, and it’s what lingers about this chapter for me, more than anything plot-specific. It’s Ned’s first day in King’s Landing, his first meeting with the small council, but it’s not really a portrait of his leadership as Hand--that comes more in Eddard VIII (arguing with Robert over Dany’s fate) and XI (sitting the Iron Throne and sending Beric after Gregor). It’s less about how Ned deals with his environment and more about how his environment is going to deal with him. Ned’s constantly interrupted, inconvenienced, and bewildered throughout. That’s not to say he’s dumb, we’ll get into that as we go--but it’s an early sign that this isn’t going to end well. 

And of course, the subtext of that gathering sense of dread is this is the place where Ned’s father and brother were murdered by the Mad King, and where his righteous rebellion in response was soured by the massacre of Rhaegar’s family. That “terrible knowledge” courses underneath this chapter, and upon reread, it goes hand-in-hand with the knowledge that Ned will die here, too. 

• So much for pomp and circumstance:
  • Eddard Stark rode through the towering bronze doors of the Red Keep sore, tired, hungry, and irritable. He was still ahorse, dreaming of a long hot soak, a roast fowl, and a featherbed, when the king’s steward told him that Grand Maester Pycelle had convened an urgent meeting of the small council.
  • Starting the chapter this way has multiple effects:
    • It reminds us of the toil and grief of the journey here, preventing us from considering this a fresh start for Ned (in any sense)
    • It stands in for the vigorous athleticism through which Robert tries to connect to his youth, the mess that is unsuitable for throne and council
    • It provides a contrast with the perfumes worn by Varys, Renly, etc. establishing a divide between Ned and them 
    • It encapsulates Ned putting on the “lord’s face” over his true feelings
    • It undercuts the Red Keep itself and the delusions of grandeur within it
    • Above all, it sets a tone of discomfort and discombobulation
• The flatterers and fools
  • Varys: the one Ned likes least
    • Why? Because of Aerys?
    • Again the concern for the children, which I think is only half-feigned
    • Observing Ned to see what he’ll do, as we learn in Eddard VII
    • Irony alert: the counselor Ned likes least is the one who means him the least amount of harm and wants to preserve Robert’s reign for his own purposes.
  • Renly: “a poor copy” of Robert. (He said it, not us!)
    • Embodies the easy blind nostalgia that has consumed Robert whole
    • Spends lavishly on clothing--a hint that he’s all image, or is GRRM trying to communicate this early that he’s gay? 
    • Chatting to Littlefinger--is there a tacit alliance here? 
      • I think so. This is what Ned sees when he first enters the council chambers:
        
        He disentangled himself from the eunuch's grip and crossed the room to where Lord Renly stood by the screen, talking quietly with a short man who could only be Littlefinger. 
        • Renly and Littlefinger talking quietly? I wonder about what. (Seriously, are they discussing the Margaery plot or something else?)
      • Also, consider Stannis’ complaint to Maester Cressen from the ACOK Prologue:
        
        “What has Renly ever done to earn a throne? He sits in council and jests with Littlefinger.”
    • Speaking of Littlefinger...
  • Littlefinger: an incel who’s been rehearsing this moment in his head for years
    • Immediately brings up Brandon like he’s the Joker talking about his scars
    • Reference to Starks melting in southern heat. Like Rickard? Stay classy.
    • Antagonizes Ned for no goddamn strategic reason, just to feel superior
      • Every single time Littlefinger antagonizes Ned in this chapter alone:
        • Making Ned feel jealous over Catelyn. “No doubt Lady Catelyn has mentioned me to you.”
        • Like Emmett said: Bringing up Ned’s older, dead brother “Did Brandon speak of me too?”
        • Telling Ned that he’ll melt here in the south.
        • Telling Ned that he’s leading him to the dungeons to slit his throat and seal his corpse up behind a wall
        • Saying if Ned doesn’t follow him, he’ll keep Catelyn for himself
        • Telling Ned that he’s growing old and slow
        • Letting Ned know, without context, that his wife was inside a brothel
        • Telling the honorable Ned Stark to be lecherous and cop a feel
        • Insulting Ned’s intelligence by asking him if he has snow in between his ears.
        • Advising the (like I said earlier) honorable Ned Stark to throw the Valyrian steel dagger away and forget about it
        • Again bringing up the memory of Brandon’s death and phrasing it as “your brother has been moldering his frozen grave for some fourteen years now.”
        • And again, implying that he’s doing it all for Catelyn and their shared past.
        • Using a needless obscenity about Varys to the prudish Ned Stark.
        • Joking that if Ned wants to have sex with Catelyn, he’ll have to charge him for it.
  • And finally, introducing Pycelle: the not-so-grand maester
    • The straight man of the small council (pretending the vaults aren’t empty)
    • Font of official wisdom and perspective...undercut by every scene he’s in
    • Right after Renly as young Robert and Littlefinger’s bitter invocations of the past, Pycelle offers another angle on the aging process
    • What’s amusing is that despite Pycelle being the worst counselor here, come AFFC, he’s the one actually giving good advice to Cersei: don’t let Aurane crew the royal fleet with criminals, Tyrion isn’t in league with the Tyrells, the Ironborn haven’t allied with Stannis. 
    • What do each of Pycelle’s chain links mean? Well, for some of them, we don’t know. We do know what some of the links mean from the text and from extra-textual things GRRM has said:
      • Black Iron: Ravenry
      • Pale Silver: Medicine
      • Bronze: Astronomy/astrology

The others, we don’t know:

• Platinum: Unknown
• Red Gold: Unknown
• Bright Copper: Unknown
• Dull Lead: Unknown
• Steel: Unknown
• Tin: Unknown
• Brass: Unknown
• In the story, two of three known metals come into play: the ravenry allows Pycelle to control the flow of information to and from King’s Landing, the pale silver link gives Ned/Tyrion vantage points to question Pycelle over Jon Arryn’s death
• Ned says he already knows which are the flatters and which are the fools. So...which is which???
  • I’d say he’s thinking of Varys and Renly as the flatterers and Pycelle and Littlefinger as the fools. 
    • Agreed.
      • Ned confirms he thinks LF a fool later in the chapter:
      • If you truly believe I could forget that, you are as big a fool now as when you took up sword against my brother.
    • But is Ned wrong here? Varys, sure. He’s a flatterer throughout. But Littlefinger? As we’ll find out throughout AGOT, Littlefinger isn’t a fool -- though he plays one on TV, Renly is more fool than flatterer. Pycelle is probably more in the fool category. 
      • Overall, Ned only get a 50% grade.
    • Here’s the bigger question than all that: Ultimately, is Ned the fool?
      • Seems at least Ned thinks so in his final chapter: Yet in the end he blamed himself. "Fool," he cried to the darkness, "thrice-damned blind fool."
• The absent councillor: here begins Stannis’ structuring absence in AGOT, as we learn he retreated to Dragonstone after Robert named Ned the new Hand
  • Was Stannis right to abandon King’s Landing and make for Dragonstone?
• The affairs of state: the Hand’s Tourney and the crown’s debts
  • Robert is absent, and Ned learns this is typical 
  • The Hand’s Tourney is immediately a bad sign about Robert as King:
    • The expense 
    • The breakdown of law and order 
    • The focus on masculine athletic splendor (again, nostalgic) over all else
    • Putting Ned’s name on it and making him run it 
    • Wanting to compete personally
    • On the other hand, tourneys are an important part of feudal politics; Robert’s motives and process are troubling, but it wouldn't be the worst idea, except for…
  • The crown is dangerously in debt
    • Not to get #political, but big gov’t spending in itself isn’t the problem here. The road that Ned took to get here only exists because Jaeherys I said so
    • The problems are threefold:
      • As Tyrion learns in ACOK, it’s practically impossible to make sense of Littlefinger’s accounting methods
      • Even putting aside the cooked books, there’s no evidence of worthwhile big-ticket projects. Where is the King Robert Road?
      • As we see with the reborn Faith Militant, the crown’s creditors can potentially wield a great deal of leverage over policy
    • The debt is there to make clear to the reader that Robert is bad at this (even if Littlefinger is directly responsible, as we’ll discuss later)
    • It’s also there to frame the small council as a bunch of cheerfully corrupt gladhanders who have let this happen for the sake of their own schemes
    • In terms of Ned’s arc, it tells him that the regime he fought for is falling apart at the seams. He even compares it unfavorably to that of Aerys:
    • That’s the overall effect of this part of the chapter, building on Ned’s trepidation from previous chapters: this is my friend, my brother, my king?
• Littlefinger’s mustache-twirl conspiring
  • Withholding his intentions for no reason but to have something over Ned
  • Mocking his unfamiliarity with the Red Keep…
  • ...and his reasonable questions…
  • ...and his age for the same reason. 
  • Literally eating an apple all casually like no one but an asshole does
  • “The final insult” is clearly intended as such, and Littlefinger almost dies for it
• Mom and Dad talk strategy
  • Ned’s fear RE the direwolves, connecting the conspiring to family and identity
  • Orders for war preparations in the North, which come up as late as ADWD
  • The chapter ends on Ned’s uncertainty about Robert, tying everything together

Likes/Dislikes

Like: I appreciate that Ned can verbally spar with Littlefinger: 

It establishes that Ned’s not exactly tripping over his own tongue, and that he only comes off as bumbling later in the chapter because Littlefinger’s arranging things to produce that outcome.

Dislike: Speaking of which...it’s always bothered me that Ned trusts Littlefinger as much as he does, because it’s obvious even to a first time reader how this relationship is going to end. Yes, Ned’s ultimately trusting Catelyn, who’s vouching for her childhood friend, but he still has five senses of his own, doesn’t he? Why aren’t those senses telling him that Littlefinger loathes him and is lusting after his lady wife? Is he really incapable of realizing that Catelyn is looking at Littlefinger through rose-colored glasses? Putting all the eggs in this basket was a noticeably terrible decision even before Littlefinger put the knife to Ned’s throat, especially right after learning that the crown is massively in debt. Gee, could the master of coin have had anything to do with that? More on that later.

Like: Look, I’m a simple man with simple tastes. I love a good small council sesh, and the first session is an especially good one. You’ve got your traitors, fools, sycophants, and then you have Ned. Every time Ned is in session with the small council, it’s just a place where George dips his writing quill into a well of great material and writes great drama and dialogue. 

On a deeply personal note, I love Ned’s aversion to deficit spending and perhaps Emmett is right. I do love Ned Stark. He’s a deficit hawk after all.

Dislike: My dislike is similar to Emmett’s in that I find Littlefinger’s obvious villainy a bit much on re-read. All the times he’s pissing off Ned: it screams I’m the bad guy! I get that part of what George is going for here is to obscure Littlefinger’s villainy by making it “so obvious”, but I prefer the subtlety of Varys. Though George is definitely subtle at points, he isn’t here. 

As a secondary dislike, the chapter foreshadows Ned talking with Robert about the tourney and how it’s too much of an expense for the crown to bear, but we never get to see Ned talk with Robert. I’d have preferred to have a Robert/Ned confrontation which would reinforce the motif of Robert’s misrule of Westeros, but I suppose George likely suspected he’d made the point already and liked it as background.

Groundwork/Foreshadowing

Littlefinger hints at Ned’s fall:

"This is not the way to my chambers," Ned said.

"Did I say it was? I'm leading you to the dungeons to slit your throat and seal your corpse up behind a wall," Littlefinger replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. 

“Accuse the king and you will dance with Ilyn Payne before the words are out of your mouth.”

GRRM sets the groundwork for how King Renly will be received:

Renly had been a boy of eight when Robert won the throne, but he had grown into a man so like his brother that Ned found it disconcerting. Whenever he saw him, it was as if the years had slipped away and Robert stood before him, fresh from his victory on the Trident.

In Ned’s orders, we get our first real glimpse of the role to be played by Theon and his family…

“And from this day on, I want a careful watch kept over Theon Greyjoy. If there is war, we shall have sore need of his father’s fleet.”

Robb stood. "I will not grudge him that. If I'm King in the North, let him be King of the Iron Islands, if that's his desire. I'll give him a crown gladly, so long as he helps us bring down the Lannisters."

...as well as the Manderlys and White Harbor.

Instruct Lord Manderly that he is to strengthen and repair all his defenses at White Harbor, and see that they are well manned. 

Our first reference to Moat Cailin as an important, if not the important, defensive location to the North. 

“Once you are home, send word to Helman Tallhart and Galbart Glover under my seal. They are to raise a hundred bowmen each and fortify Moat Cailin. Two hundred determined archers can hold the Neck against an army.”

Ned fundamentally misunderstands his role as Hand of the King and the powers he wields in two key areas -- areas that will impact his arc down the road:

1. The small council immediately tests Ned by convening a session without his say-so. 

Grand Maester Pycelle had convened an urgent meeting of the small council. The honor of the Hand's presence was requested as soon as it was convenient.

• It ain’t Pycelle’s role to call a meeting. That’s the King or Hand’s role. And notice how the council business isn’t that urgent? That they call it as soon as Ned comes into the Red Keep is intentional and was likely an attempt to test Ned. 

     2.   More worrisome is Ned’s perspective on his role as Hand of the King. Here’s how he   thinks on it:

He would have to remember that he was no longer in Winterfell, where only the king stood higher; here, he was but first among equals.

No, Ned, you’re not the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. You had it right in your first chapter:

The Hand of the King was the second-most powerful man in the Seven Kingdoms. He spoke with the king’s voice, commanded the king’s armies, drafted the king’s laws. At times he even sat upon the Iron Throne to dispense king's justice, when the king was absent, or sick, or otherwise indisposed. Robert was offering him a responsibility as large as the realm itself.

• This will have consequences for Ned down the road.
  
  

Theory

Who broke the bank: Robert or Littlefinger? 

Let’s go back to Eddard IV and this exchange between Littlefinger and Eddard:

Ned was stunned. "Are you claiming that the Crown is three million gold pieces in debt?"

"The Crown is more than six million gold pieces in debt, Lord Stark. The Lannisters are the biggest part of it, but we have also borrowed from Lord Tyrell, the Iron Bank of Braavos, and several Tyroshi trading cartels. Of late I've had to turn to the Faith. The High Septon haggles worse than a Dornish fishmonger."

Ned was aghast. "Aerys Targaryen left a treasury flowing with gold. How could you let this happen?”

Littlefinger gave a shrug. "The master of coin finds the money. The king and the Hand spend it."

Oh is that all, Littlefinger? Hm, I wonder. 

So is Robert to blame for all the debt? He is throwing an extravagant tourney in this chapter after all? And the man has an appetite for the finer things in life and no appetite for the hard job of ruling And who knows, maybe all those tourneys are behind the massive debts the crown has. Or are they? 

• Cite Steven Attewell’s “Who Stole Westeros?” essay from the A Hymn for Spring

Robert’s tourneys, feasts, etc don’t account for the large amount of debt. Per Ragnarok on Westeros.org:

“The normal expenses under Aerys, plus an equal amount in Robert’s waste, would only account for 20% of the total expenses of a tenfold increase.  Robert could waste four times as much money as was spent under Aerys each year and still pay the normal expenses that existed under Aerys, and that only accounts for half of the money spent.”

Steven Attewell’s point from the Hymn for Spring essay:

In order to equal his yearly income, let alone exceed it and be forced to borrow, Robert would have to throw 22 tourneys a year.

This is an impossible # of tourneys to throw, and the books show nowhere near that number of tournaments during Robert’s reign. Steven Attewell did the legwork and estimated that at most, Robert threw 1-2 tourneys/year during his reign.

Another aspect of rule that often results in greater debt is war. In a time of war, medieval monarchs and lords would take out loans to afford the expense of building ships, armoring men for battle, hiring mercenaries, etc. But the last real war that Westeros had prior to AGOT was the Greyjoy Rebellion -- an event that occurred some 8-9 years before events from AGOT. So, it can’t be that Westeros has incurred large debts from warfare.

Meanwhile, Westeros seems to be experiencing a time of peace and prosperity and hasn’t had a winter since the Year of the False Spring -- some 15-16 years before events from AGOT. 

So, what’s up? It’s complicated to understand. Even Tyrion, a smart man, does not understand Littlefinger’s accounting:

He went back to work after she left, trying to track some golden dragons through the labyrinth of Littlefinger's ledgers. Petyr Baelish had not believed in letting gold sit about and grow dusty, that was for certain, but the more Tyrion tried to make sense of his accounts the more his head hurt. It was all very well to talk of breeding dragons instead of locking them up in the treasury, but some of these ventures smelled worse than week-old fish. I wouldn't have been so quick to let Joffrey fling the Antler Men over the walls if I'd known how many of the bloody bastards had taken loans from the crown. He would have to send Bronn to find their heirs, but he feared that would prove as fruitful as trying to squeeze silver from a silverfish. (ASOS, Tyrion VI)

But when we look back at ACOK, we get an idea of what precisely Littlefinger has been doing as Master of Coin:

He did not simply collect the gold and lock it in a treasure vault, no.  He paid the king’s debts in promises, and put the king’s gold to work.  He bought wagons, shops, ships, houses.  He bought grain when it was plentiful and sold bread when it was scarce.  He bought wool from the north and linen from the south and lace from Lys, stored it, moved it, dyed it, sold it.  The golden dragons bred and multiplied, and Littlefinger lent them out and brought them home with hatchlings. (ACOK, Tyrion V)

The “paid the king’s debts in promises” is the most troubling and damning line there. I was recently listening to Radio Westeros’ first episode on Littlefinger, and they define what Littlefinger as doing as engaging in extreme fraud via way of deferred interest -- meaning that Littlefinger paying the crown’s debts in promissory notes ensures that the interest owed on the loans only goes up. In layman’s terms: Littlefinger is paying off debts that he is making (with all his purchases) with more loans and at a higher interest rate. Put even more simply: it’d be like if you paid off your credit card bill with another credit card, but this one had a higher interest rate.

But let’s get even more detailed on it. That Littlefinger loans money out and brings the money home with interest is all the more damning. The vaults in the treasure store would be be overflowing, right? So why aren’t they? Embezzlement. Plain and simple: Littlefinger is transferring wealth into hard property: wagons, shops, ships, houses, linens, grain: Littlefinger is taking the Crown’s money and cleaning it in high value items that only he has access to. And if those wagons, shops, ships, houses, grain and linens make profits or are sold on the market, does Littlefinger return the money to the crown? Well, sure, Littlefinger likely returns a small profit to the crown’s treasure (as evidenced by Tyrion saying that he brought golden dragons home with hatchlings), but I’d wager by and large, lol, nope. He’s keeping the lionshare of profits for himself.

So, I think we can safely say that Littlefinger, not Robert, was the true culprit of the Crown’s debts. But to what end? Beggar the realm, ride the wave of chaos, climb to the top, that sort of thing. The usual Littlefinger fuckery.

Conclusion

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