Cersei mentioned a new tactic that could be crucial.
At the present moment, we’re certain that Cersei Lannister is absolutely reeling after Dany, the Dothraki and Drogon absolutely annihilated her forces at the end of The Spoils of War.
After losing allies in Dorne, Highgarden and the Iron Islands, Daenerys desperately needed a win and she did so with fire and blood. The Lannisters were absolutely butchered in that epic battle, but it’s also worth noting that Dany has also eviscerated their food and supply lines.
There are very few positives for the Queen to take from her defeat at The Field of Fire v2.0, aside from one important thing.
The gold that Jaime stole from Highgarden has now safely made its way back to King’s Landing which means that the Lannisters are no longer in debt to the Iron Bank.
As seen during her discussion with Tycho Nestoris – Mycroft from Sherlock/the iron banker that’s currently staying in King’s Landing as her guest – Cersei has ambitious plans to expand the Lannister armies and navies.
In order to do so, the Iron Bank have guaranteed her the money that’s needed to hire a mercenary group called The Golden Company as she aims to regain control of Westeros.
Who are The Golden Company? Well, they’re a legendary mercenary army that are considered to be the biggest, most famous, and most expensive sellsword company in the Free Cities.
Up until recently, they’ve prided themselves on the fact that they’ve never broken a contract since they were founded in the aftermath of the First Blackfyre Rebellion – 100 years before the War of the Five Kings began. This is an important point given the fact that they were founded by a legitimised bastard of King Aegon IV Targaryen – more about that later.
Hell, their motto is even “Our word is as good as gold.”
The Golden Company? Book reader alert. #GameofThrones
— Winter is Coming (@WiCnet) August 7, 2017
This army of soldiers and mercenaries are ruthless, tough, efficient, and according to Stannis Baratheon, they consist of 10,000 men. They also have war elephants.
Hardcore Game of Thrones fans might remember that they’ve bene mentioned in the show before.
In Season 4, when Stannis was plotting his strategy to lay siege to King’s Landing, Ser Davos suggested that they they hire 10,000 Golden Company soldiers to boost their numbers. Stannis found the idea of using sellswords to take the Iron Throne as an insult and he refused to hire them.
In the same season, Dany says that Jorah Mormont spent some time with The Golden Company before he aligned himself with her brother, Viserys.
Important: Randyll Tarly said the gold was safely thru the gates of Kings Landing. Which means Cersei could buy the Golden Company! #GOTS7
— Ned Stark, Descendent of Cregan. (@EddardStark_1) August 7, 2017
Most importantly, in the novels, The Golden Company feature in a plot line that involves a possibly long-lost Targaryen child, Aegon Targaryen. Basically, it’s claimed that he’s the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell – it’s said that he escaped before The Mountain killed Elia Martell’s children after following through on Tywin Lannister’s order.
Remember, this ultimately caused Oberyn Martell to arrive at King’s Landing seeking justice for his family.
It appears that the TV show has completely jettisoned this story arc but elements of it have made their way into the characters of Jon Snow and Jorah Mormont.
As stated previously, The Golden Company have a long history with the Targaryen dynasty. They were founded by Aegor Rivers, a legitimised bastard of King Aegon IV Targaryen, after he fled Westeros with the younger sons of Daemon I Blackfyre at the end of the First Blackfyre Rebellion.
It’s looking likely that Cersei will indulge in a bitter twist of irony by hiring the Targaryen-founded Golden Company to thwart Daenerys’ bid for the Iron Throne.
