 |
"Mature Content Warning!" |
Lord Janos Slynt is a supporting antagonist of the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and the Game of Thrones TV series adaptation. He was the head of House Slynt of Harrenhal, the Lord of Harrenhal and the commander of the City Watch of King's Landing before Tyrion Lannister exiled him to the Night's Watch for his cruelty. After him (and after Vargo Hoat in the novels), the title of the Lord of Harrenhal was given to Petyr Baelish.
History[]
This section is too long. Visit here for more details: Janos Slynt's Synopsis on the Villains Wiki.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- Throughout his long tenure as the commander of King's Landing's City Watch, he has been extremely corrupt and uncaring about justice. At court, he is known for taking bribes and selling positions and promotions, and by his last years in office, over half the Watch's officers are paying him part of their salaries. Jon Arryn discovered this, and managed to find two men willing to testify against Janos, but before it could happen they were both found dead a short time later, implying either Janos or one of his allies had them killed to cover for his corruption.
- Nevertheless, King Robert was aware of Janos's corruption, but allowed him to remain in his position, arguing to Arryn that the next person to succeed Janos might be worse. According to Stannis Baratheon, Petyr Baelish is the one who convinced Robert to let Janos's crimes go unpunished. When Stannis personally exposes Janos's corrupt background in front of the Night's Watch's garrison of Castle Black, Janos is visibly angry and embarassed, and stops attempting to ingratiating himself to Stannis.
- Even after his exile to the Wall, his reputation amongst the clueless smallfolk of King's Landing remained positive and his crimes never acknowledged, except by highborn nobles who spent a long time living at court. The majority of the citizens are upset about Janos's sudden exile and think he was a decent and dutiful person, spreading rumors that the despised Tyrion banished him for being too blunt and honest.
- He betrays Eddard Stark under Queen Regent Cersei's orders, and personally commands his men of the Watch to massacre Ned's guards and innocent household retainers. This later leads to Ned's execution. He did so because he was offered a Lordship and the seat of Harrenhal by Cersei, along with a huge sum of money, much more than what Ned offered in his own bribe.
- It is also revealed that Janos was always a man loyal to Petyr Baelish, before ingratiating himself to the Lannisters. Baelish was the one who made sure Cersei would offer to Janos a higher price than Ned's to get him to support Joffrey's claim over Stannis's.
- In the books, he attempts kill Ser Barristan Selmy by sending some of his men after he is dismissed, under Joffrey's orders, for suspicion of becoming a potential Stannis supporter and for calling Joffrey a "boy".
- He has his men kill multiple bastard children of King Robert found in King's Landing (whose identities were exposed from Jon Arryn and Stannis's previous visits to them), under Cersei's orders in the books, while under Joffrey's orders in the TV series.
- In the TV version, when his subordinate refuses to kill the infant Barra, he does the deed himself right in front of her mother. In the novel version, he has his subordinate Allar Deem kill both Barra and the mother, a 15 year old girl. He also threatens Gendry's former master, Tobho Mott, to find out Gendry's place.
- After Tyrion calls him out for his spinelessness, he was going to attack him, only to be seized by his own men led by Ser Jacelyn Bywater/Bronn to take a ship to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea as punishment for his treachery and cruelty, along with a group of fellow men of the City Watch who were involved with the purge of Robert's bastards in the city.
- In the books, while at the Wall, he still uses his affiliation to the Lannisters to write to Tywin Lannister, which results in Tywin attempting to blackmail the Night's Watch into choosing Slynt as the next Lord Commander, or else the Iron Throne might entirely stop providing any kind of support to the Watch. This causes Tyrion to regret not having Janos murdered with Deem, back on the journey to Eastwatch.
- He calls for the execution for Jon when he confesses sleeping with Ygritte, while also calling him "bastard son of a traitor".
- In the TV series, he suggests sanctioning Jon's expedition to Craster's Keep so the mutineers may kill Jon.
- He mocks Gilly and calls her a whore, further insulting her by offering her money to prove it in front of Sam, her friend.
- In the TV series, he cowardly hides and does nothing to aid his fellow Black Crows during the Battle for the Wall. Even Gilly and Olly showed more courage than he did that night.
- In the books, in which is the acting commander of Castle Black during the wildling invasion (which is a series of multiple days battles with different waves from all directions and castles, instead of one single battle), he forces Jon to serve as the Watch's envoy to Mance Rayder, under the pretext of negotiating for peace. In truth, Janos and his new ally Ser Alliser Thorne make it blatant that they are trying to have Jon horribly and slowly killed by the free folk, for having deceived them. This is despite the fact that Jon never did anything wrong to Janos.
- In the books, he breaks the vow of neutrality of the Night's Watch by writing to Grand Maester Pycelle, Cersei, and Tywin (Janos being unaware that Tywin has been murdered by then) that Stannis has taken residence in Castle Black, informing the Lannisters about the strength and numbers of Stannis's military forces. He tells the Lannisters, who did not intervene to stop the wildling invasion, everything about the events going on at the Wall and about Mance's defeat, and even discloses to the them the fact that Stannis is trying to make common cause with the wildlings.
- Jon Snow's election as the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch and Janos's execution for insubordination lead the paranoid Queen Regent Cersei to mistakenly believe that Stannis and Jon are scheming against her and her son, King Tommen, at the Wall, speculating that both Stannis and Jon agreed to kill Janos, due to him being an informant to the Lannisters, as well as a revenge for Ned Stark, despite the fact that unlike her and Janos, Jon is no schemer and lawfully dealt with Janos by treating him as another fellow Black Brother, not on basis of his previous background.
- After Jon is chosen as the Watch's Lord Commander, he refuses his command to going to the castle of Greyguard to restore it, even with the prospect of being able to command his own garrison and have his own authority and men loyal to him from that seat (Jon also hoped him the hard work would have made him tougher). He refused even twice in the books, after receiving time from Jon to calm down and think it over, and instead mocked him multiple times. This leads Jon to execute him. Even Alliser Thorne didn't stop his execution and knew how foolish Janos's defiance was.
- His television counterpart has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and is a complete coward who hides and/or cries as soon as his own life is in danger. He is never presented in a positive light.
- While seemingly not heinous enough to be Near Pure Evil, he stands out by causing Eddard Stark's death and (in the show) leaving all of the Night's Watch and Baratheon cavalry to die during the Battle for the Wall.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- Even with his depraved actions, he fails the Heinous Standards to villains like Ramsay Bolton, Joffrey Baratheon, Petyr Baelish, as they did worse.
- In the second book, he appears to genuinely care for his children, showing concern for their fates when he learns he is being forced to take the black. He is visibly frightened for a moment, when Tyrion briefly makes him believe he might hurt his daughter, just to scare him. While still furious, he is more relieved when Tyrion promises the rest of his family will maintain their benefits, rewards, and wealth - except Harrenhal, which is replaced with another new castle - as the Lannisters "always pay their debts", and Slynt helped to prevent Ned from putting Stannis on the Iron Throne.
External Links[]
- Janos Slynt on the Villains Wiki
- Janos Slynt on the Game of Thrones Wiki
- Janos Slynt on the Hate Sink Wiki
- Janos Slynt on the Pathetic Pinhead Wiki
[]
 Near Pure Evils
| ||
|
Novels Television | ||