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- "The Boltons are defeated. The war is over. Winter has come. If the maesters are right, it'll be the coldest one in a thousand years. We should ride home and wait out the coming storm."
- ―Cley Cerwyn
Lord Cley Cerwyn is a minor character in the sixth season. He is played by guest star Tom Varey and debuts in "The Winds of Winter". Cley is a northern lord and the new head of House Cerwyn after the death of his father, Medger Cerwyn.
Biography
Season 5
Roose Bolton sends his recently legitimized bastard son Ramsay to Castle Cerwyn to collect taxes from his new vassals. Medger Cerwyn, however, refuses to pay, proudly professing his loyalty to House Stark and denouncing Bolton as a turncoat. For his defiance, Ramsay has Medger flayed alive, along with his wife and brother, all the while forcing Cley to watch the ordeal. Cley begrudgingly pays Ramsay the taxes in his father's stead, as Ramsay relays to his father.[1]
Season 6
Cley Cerwyn at Winterfell after the Battle of the Bastards.
While amassing a force to help him retake Winterfell from the Boltons, Jon Snow sends ravens to numerous Northern Houses pleading for help, one of them House Cerwyn. Despite Ramsay having flayed his family alive, Cley refuses Jon's pleas, though Sansa Stark expresses confidence that they can get Cley's help if they ask him personally.
Cley later joins the other Northern Lords gathered in Winterfell after the Battle of the Bastards. With the Boltons defeated, Lord Cerwyn notes that the newly arrived winter is expected to be the coldest in a thousand years and advocates waiting out the cold. Jon Snow responds by saying that the war is not over and the new enemy won't allow them to wait out the storm; he brings the storm. Lord Cerwyn is one of the lords chastised by Lady Lyanna Mormont for not aiding Jon against Ramsay, despite Ramsay having flayed his family alive. A repentant Lord Cerwyn declares Jon as the new King in the North along with the other Northern lords.[2]
Appearances
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Family tree
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In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Cley is the son of Lord Medger Cerwyn, who died of wounds he took at the Battle of the Green Fork.
While Ramsay Bolton did not kill Medger in the novels, he did kill his son Cley Cerwyn, at the Sack of Winterfell. When Rodrik Cassel hastily assembled a force to besiege Theon Greyjoy in Winterfell, composed of about 2,000 men from the few household soldiers left in the North, 300 of them were Cerwyn men led by Cley. Ramsay then arrived with 600 Bolton men, whom Rodrik and his lieutenants welcomed as their allies - but as soon as they were in the camp Ramsay's men betrayed the other Northern bannermen in a surprise attack, taking them totally off-guard. When Rodrik walked up to greet Ramsay by extending his hand in friendship, Ramsay quickly drew his sword and cut off Rodrik's outstretched arm at the elbow. Cley Cerwyn was killed in the betrayal by an arrow to the eye.
After Cley's death, Jonelle Cerwyn, his elder sister becomes the Lady of Cerwyn. Like the show version of Cley, she begrudgingly swears allegiance to House Bolton.
Cley Cerwyn's death from the books was therefore omitted from the TV series, but his entire existence in the first place was omitted until he was mentioned in Season 5. Thus it is unclear why the TV continuity didn't simply keep Jonelle Cerwyn as the new head of House Cerwyn after Medger's death. This has been part of a repeated pattern in the TV series of genderswapping female political rulers into male ones.
See also
Cley Cerwyn on A Wiki of Ice and Fire- Jonelle Cerwyn on A Wiki of Ice and Fire (spoilers from the books)
References
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