Riddle within a fantasy book about 3 men, one with money, one with might and one with a weapon?

Question

I can't remember the book this is in and I don't really know any parts of the exact wording, but a character was telling someone else a story about 3 men. (It may have been the Patrician from Discworld telling it to Vimes or Moist von Lipwig, but I'm not sure).
One of them had money, one had political power and one a weapon, and he asked him who out of these 3 men had the most power.

There may have been some question along the lines of: "kill this man and I will give you [something]."

?? Can't place that and I thought I knew the Diskworld books pretty well. I'd suggest looking in Making Money because somehow that one never made much of an impression on me---it just won't stick in my head. — dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten, Mar 16 '12 at 15:23
@dmckee Making Money is the first one that jumped to my mind (most likely because its the most recent that I've read), but I checked and could find no reference to the story in there. — Beofett, Mar 16 '12 at 16:21
I just skimmed through Making Money and it doesn't seem to be in there. — FlyingFoX, Mar 16 '12 at 16:56
There is a sequence in The Fifth Elephant where Lady Margolotta discusses the nature of craving with Vimes. Something about sublimating the desire for blood to the desire for power to the desire for control. It's not an exact match by any means, but has a similar flavor. — dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten, Mar 16 '12 at 17:10
Vimes, Vetinari, and Carrot have, respectively, money (after Vimes marries Sybil), political power, and a weapon (Carrot had the special sword). Could those be the three men he's talking about? — Pixel, Apr 07 '12 at 04:34
@Pixel Although this could definitely be true, I didn't think of that when I read it. I was under the impression that this was a hypothetical question, that had the intention to motivate another character to do what the patrician wanted. — FlyingFoX, Apr 07 '12 at 15:49
I have searched all the books containing The Patrician for the text "three men" and it doesn't exist. — Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE, Aug 21 '12 at 10:13
@Wikis thx for doing that! I totally forgot about this question. — FlyingFoX, Aug 22 '12 at 15:34
Can you think of someone else it might have been? Or any other clues? It vaguely rings a bell... — Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE, Aug 22 '12 at 15:46
The accepted answer shows this was from A Game of Thrones, therefore I removed the tags about Discworld and Terry Pratchett, and fixed the title. See discussion on meta. — Andres F., Sep 09 '15 at 22:30

score 18 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 22 '17 at 08:27

18

Totally forgot about this. But for the records here is the answer:

I mixed up who said it and totally confused it with another series. It was from the book A Clash of Kings from the series A Song Of Ice And Fire and it was Varys asking Tyrion a riddle:

A King, a priest, a rich man and a sellsword are in a room. Those three man tell the sellsword to kill the other 2.
Who lives and who dies?

edited Jun 22 '17 at 08:27

mrub

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answered Aug 22 '12 at 16:19

FlyingFoX

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Although this answer has been accepted, I can't find it in A Game of Thrones. Can someone supply a specific reference? – ImaginaryEvents Sep 11 '15 at 14:03
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This can't be in the first book as Tyrion didn't arrive at King's Landing until A Clash of Kings. I don't have my books on me, so I can't check right now for a specific page. – Telestia Sep 11 '15 at 16:37
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As an answer from the follow-up question states, it's from A Clash of Kings. – Sparhawk Jun 21 '17 at 12:12

Riddle within a fantasy book about 3 men, one with money, one with might and one with a weapon?

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