Where do you keep iron coins? An Iron Bank?

[joshrackley]

Couldn't find this discussed in any thread and wanted to get some opinions on it. While rereading AFFC, it jumped out at me that the coin Arya uses to buy passage to Braavos and enter tutelage at the House of Black and White is an iron coin. Yes, I've always known it was an iron coin, but the significance of it being specifically noted that the coin was made of iron didn't really stand out. Seems a strange coincidence that in Braavos you would have an organization that uses iron currency and it not be associated with an "iron" financial institution.

 

[Tywin]

A very interesting detail, and it goes in line with some stuff that I've been researching for a side project.

As far as it being currency, I don't know that what she has was "currency" per se. It almost worked like a membership medallion. The crew that brought her to Bravos didn't take it as payment for her passage for instance, and it is rare enough that the Bravosi knew what it was and held it in respect.

What kind of coins did people coming to the house of black and white to die give?

My side project has been about mythological creatures and specifically demons. "Iron" comes up all the time as having powers against magical creatures, and specifically against evil spirits. If you grew up in a house with an iron horseshoe over the door for good luck (as I am amazed to remember that I did growing up in the Chicago suburbs), then that is one example of the traditional "power" of iron.

 

[ArstenWhitebeard]

I think the peoplw coming to the house of black and white used all kinds of coins. When Arya is blind she says part of her duties were counting the coins and having to feel them out, though this could have just been part of her training and not necessarily counting the payments made by "petitioners". in any case, they seem to have all kinds of different money at their disposal.

The Iron coin and its potential connection to the iron bank is an interesting point. I don't recall what thread this is in but there was talk that these 2 institutions are connected. I posted the theory that the Iron bank and the HoBaW work together and that this is how they set prices for their faceless men.

For example, if a Bill owes the Iron bank money and Bob wants the HoBaW to kill Bill, then Bob would have to pay the amount that Bill owes the Iron Bank (plus a commission) in order for the FM to kill Bill. That way, the iron bank gets paid back (and the iron bank ALWAYS gets repaid). Dead men pay no debts, and the Iron bank isn't about to put out more money to kill someone who owes them.

 

[Tywin]

I think the peoplw coming to the house of black and white used all kinds of coins. When Arya is blind she says part of her duties were counting the coins and having to feel them out, though this could have just been part of her training and not necessarily counting the payments made by "petitioners". in any case, they seem to have all kinds of different money at their disposal.

The Iron coin and its potential connection to the iron bank is an interesting point. I don't recall what thread this is in but there was talk that these 2 institutions are connected. I posted the theory that the Iron bank and the HoBaW work together and that this is how they set prices for their faceless men.

For example, if a Bill owes the Iron bank money and Bob wants the HoBaW to kill Bill, then Bob would have to pay the amount that Bill owes the Iron Bank (plus a commission) in order for the FM to kill Bill. That way, the iron bank gets paid back (and the iron bank ALWAYS gets repaid). Dead men pay no debts, and the Iron bank isn't about to put out more money to kill someone who owes them.

Excellent posts. Especially on the repayment of the Iron Bank.

It is known.

 

[Ursa major]

Sounds like putting one's money in an iron bank makes it easier to steal.









I'll get my coat.

 

[Boaz]

Wouldn't it be easy to launder money at the Iron Bank?

 

[Vertigo]

Whyever would you make any kind of coinage out of Iron, the most plentiful metal on Earth? It kind of defeats the object doesn't it? Unless Iron is a scarce resource in GRRM's world? Though that seems unlikely from the snippets of the TV series I have seen.

 

[ArstenWhitebeard]

I don't think the iron coins are a real currency, more a token of passage for the house of the undying. When Jaqen gives the iron coin to arya he tells her "this coin is not for the buying of horses". Probably the only thing you could get from forging one of the iron coins would be a quick and inexpensive trip to Bravos, which is the only thing Arya could buy with her coin. I think that's probably risky though. I doubt the faceless men would take kindly to you forging one of their coins.

 

[Young stormlord]

You keep Iron coins at the House of Black and White. Description of iron coin is "so old and worn out you can no longer recognise his facial features (of the 'head' side)". You buy with that coin a trip to the House of Black and White anywhere in the world (Arya is literarly brought right to the front of the house, first by the ship across the sea then by boat over the cannals). It's said and repeated that Braavos was founded by escaped slaves of old Valyria. It is implied that the first Faceless man had important role in that endevour. Iron Bank is city (central, national) bank of Braavos. It is said that when a king won't pay for his debts, a country gets a new king. Same with all the other debts.

Of course, there's Jaqen and other FM insisting on paying life debts and valuing life and death. It is possible that two institutions are connected, simply by both being there from the start, from founding of the city of Braavos. Also, money talks, assassins listen. Arya got in trouble for killing a man without order and without FM getting paid for it.

It's also weird to note how weird "traditional" formal greeting in Braavos is. They might say hi and goodbye normally, but when you say "Valar morghulis" to them, their answer is "valar doheris". Approach a man from Braavos, say to him "All men must die" their answer is a formal "All men must serve". But only if you show an iron coin. And there's also Brusco's answer to Arya (the guy whose fish she was selling when she said that she must go serve): We all do.

So, I think the story of Braavos is like this: An assassin freed the slaves of ancient Valyria and founded a city with them. He was the best assassin in the world. The city got rich and powerful. The Iron bank was founded to keep the riches and make them multiply. He coined his own coins, from the iron chains of the slaves and he had put the face without facial features on them, to show that all people are equal. No slaves, no slave owners, no kings, no dragon lords. Every slave who ran away probably had chains or some other thing marking them as a slave, so they had at least a small start in life in his city. And every single person born in Braavos is indebted to the founder of the city, our assassin, for freeing their parents and their grandparents and unto 14th generation and making them a place where to be free. And Braavos hates Valyria and it's slave owners and dragon riders. Slavery is specifically forbidden in Braavos and every person found smuggling slaves or owning them is detained and executed. And the story of city's founding is that "other story, the one you do not share with anyone".

 

[ArstenWhitebeard]

I really like the idea of the Iron coins being forged from the chains of the slaves that were freed. Unless GRRM explicitly explains something else, I am going to choose to believe that this is how the tradition of the iron coins and the iron bank got started.

Arya got in trouble for killing a man without order and without FM getting paid for it.

Did she though? the day after she tells the kindly man that she killed the singer, she wakes up blind, but that was part of her training, not a punishment. actually, I think the kindly man tells her that they were going to take her sight away no matter what, but did it sooner then they usually would have. To me it seems like Arya's ability to do that deed, and to be honest with the Kindly Man about who did it and why it was done, advanced her a few grades in her training. She is like one of those child geniuses who gets to skip ahead a few years and ends up in university when they are only 14, except her particular talent is in remorseless murder...