Como Gendry começou a trabalhar para Tobho Mott?

Gendry veio trabalhar para Tobho Mott quando um Senhor sem nome o pagou para contratá-lo como aprendiz. Esse senhor saberia quem Gendry era também, pois pagou o dobro com a segunda taxa sendo que Tobho ficasse calado.

Ned touched the boy's head, fingering the thick black hair. "Look at me, Gendry." The apprentice lifted his face. Ned studied the shape of his jaw, the eyes like blue ice. Yes, he thought, I see it. "Go back to your work, lad. I'm sorry to have bothered you." He walked back to the house with the master. "Who paid the boy's apprentice fee?" he asked lightly.
Mott looked fretful. "You saw the boy. Such a strong boy. Those hands of his, those hands were made for hammers. He had such promise, I took him on without a fee."
"The truth now," Ned urged. "The streets are full of strong boys. The day you take on an apprentice without a fee will be the day the Wall comes down. Who paid for him?"
"A lord," the master said reluctantly. "He gave no name, and wore no sigil on his coat. He paid in gold, twice the customary sum, and said he was paying once for the boy, and once for my silence."
"Describe him."
"He was stout, round of shoulder, not so tall as you. Brown beard, but there was a bit of red in it, I'll swear. He wore a rich cloak, that I do remember, heavy purple velvet worked with silver threads, but the hood shadowed his face and I never did see him clear." He hesitated a moment. "My lord, I want no trouble."
_{A Game of Thrones, Eddard VI}

Quanto a quem foi o senhor que pagou a taxa bem, não sabemos. Eu acredito que a principal teoria é que foi Varys disfarçado. Ele claramente sabe sobre eles como ele observa para Tyrion.

"Robert's bastards? What of them?"
"He fathered eight, to the best of my knowing," Varys said as he wrestled with the saddle. "Their mothers were copper and honey, chestnut and butter, yet the babes were all black as ravens . . . and as ill-omened, it would seem. So when Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen slid out between your sister's thighs, each as golden as the sun, the truth was not hard to glimpse."
_{A Clash of Kings, Tyrion III}

Sabemos que ele gosta de usar disfarces também, como é evidente quando diz novamente a Tyrion.

"The work I do does not permit me to travel the streets amid a column of knights. So when I leave the castle, I adopt more suitable guises, and thus live to serve you longer."
_ibid

Gendry veio trabalhar para Tobho Mott quando um "Senhor" anônimo pagou por seu aprendizado.

"The truth now," Ned urged. "The streets are full of strong boys. The day you take on an apprentice without a fee will be the day the Wall comes down. Who paid for him?"
"A lord," the master said reluctantly. "He gave no name, and wore no sigil on his coat. He paid in gold, twice the customary sum, and said he was paying once for the boy, and once for my silence."
"Describe him."
"He was stout, round of shoulder, not so tall as you. Brown beard, but there was a bit of red in it, I'll swear. He wore a rich cloak, that I do remember, heavy purple velvet worked with silver threads, but the hood shadowed his face and I never did see him clear." He hesitated a moment. "My lord, I want no trouble."

A Game of Thrones, Eddard VI

Embora não esteja 100% confirmado (que eu saiba), há um indicador muito strong de que Varys tem estado de olho em Gendry e agindo no interesse de mantê-lo seguro. Isso parece sugerir que Varys, ele próprio disfarçado, ou através do uso de outra pessoa que pode ter sido um Senhor, garantiu o aprendizado de Gendry.

Esta citação é após Tyrion exilar Janos Slynt, que foi ordenado a dar a volta e matar todos os Bastardos. Sabemos que os Mantos Dourados ainda estão procurando por Gendry depois que ele deixa Porto Real (a equipe de Yoren), e ele é o único outro bastardo conhecido de Porto Real identificado na história que combina com essa descrição de Varys.

"Not enough to save this child, it would seem"
"Alas, no. There was another bastard, a boy, older. I took steps to seem him removed from harm's way ... but I confess, I never dreamed the babe would be at risk. A baseborn girl, less than a year old, with a whore for a mother. What threat could she pose?"
"She was Robert's," Tyrion said bitterly. "That was enough for Cersei, it would seem."

A Clash of Kings, Tyrion II

Tipicamente, com os Lordes, a marca de identificação é um sigilo ou o esquema de cores de sua vestimenta, mas é de notar que não há nenhum sigilo específico mencionado nessa descrição. A cor pode corresponder a uma casa cujas cores são roxas em branco, por ex. House Dayne ( link ), mas não há confirmação, por isso é difícil especular quem ou porquê.