Sor Vardis Egen era o capitão da guarda da casa de Jon Arryn, uma posição honrosa. Várias razões forçaram Sor Vardis Egen a lutar ou morrer nas mãos de Bronn, algumas delas são:
Honra de representar a Casa Arryn:
Ser Vardis foi selecionado sobre outros cavaleiros que queriam lutar contra Tyrion Lannister.
Lady Lysa raised a hand for silence. “I thank you, my lords, as I know my son would thank you if he were among us. No men in the Seven Kingdoms are as bold and true as the knights of the Vale. Would that I could grant you all this honor. Yet I can choose only one.” She gestured. “Ser Vardis Egen, you were ever my lord husband’s good right hand. You shall be our champion.”
A Game of Thrones, Chapter 40, Cateyln
Bronn era um mercenário:
As Swordswords não são respeitadas pelos Knights. Teria sido desrespeitador / insultuoso que Sor Vardis se entregasse a um mercenário.
Ser Morton Waynwood said. “Ser Vardis is a knight, sweet lady. This other fellow, well, his sort are all cowards at heart. Useful enough in a battle, with thousands of their fellows around them, but stand them up alone and the manhood leaks right out of them.”
A Game of Thrones, Chapter 40, Cateyln
Sor Vardis estava lutando com a espada de Jon Arryn:
Lysa havia dado a espada de Jon Arryn a Ser Vardis. Foi considerado uma honra para o velho cavaleiro.
Ser Vardis held out a gauntleted hand, and his squire placed a handsome double-edged longsword in his grasp. The blade was engraved with a delicate silver tracery of a mountain sky; its pommel was a falcon’s head, its crossguard fashioned into the shape of wings. “I had that sword crafted for Jon in King’s Landing,”
"I thought it only fitting that our champion avenge Jon with his own blade."
A Game of Thrones, Chapter 40, Cateyln
Lealdade a Lady Lysa:
Mesmo quando a maioria dos cavaleiros percebeu que Sor Vardis estava com problemas, Lady Lysa ordenou que ele lutasse e ele lutou.
Blind with arrogance as they were, even the knights and lords of the Vale could see what was happening below them, yet her sister could not. “Enough, Ser Vardis!” Lady Lysa called down. “Finish him now, my baby is growing tired.”
And it must be said of Ser Vardis Egen that he was true to his lady’s command, even to the last. One moment he was reeling backward, half-crouched behind his scarred shield; the next he charged. The sudden bull rush caught Bronn off balance.
A Game of Thrones, Chapter 40, Cateyln