Will would not have given an iron bob for the lordling's life if Garred pulled it from its scabbard ?

Question

I just bought a Game of Thrones novel recently, A Song of Ice and Fire, and am having a problem to understand the sentence I've found in earlier pages :

"Will would not have given an iron bob for the lordling's life if Garred pulled it from its scabbard."

Does the sentence mean that Will would've hitten Garred if Garred was ever going to pull his sword out ?

Or would it be nice if it were written like these :
"Will would not have given an iron bob for the lordling's life if Garred had pulled it from its scabbard" ?

Please help.

Teechr · Accepted Answer

"would not have given an iron bob for the lordling's life" = "would not have cared."

This pattern is quite common in English.

"I don't give a **** ...etc." = I don't care
"He wouldn't give a tinker's curse ...etc." = He wouldn't have cared
"They don't give two hoots ...etc." = They don't care
"She did give a rat's *** ... etc." = She didn't care

And there are many more!

"Will would not have given an iron bob for the lordling's life if Garred pulled it from its scabbard."
This means that Will would not have cared if Garred had pulled the sword out from its scabbard.

Samuraibabes · Answer

I understand what it really means  now. Thanks for the help <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Will would not have given an iron bob for the lordling's life if Garred pulled it from its scabbard ?

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