I like the sense of history in the books that comes from the long-lived noble houses. But is it unrealistic for medieval noble families to last that long? I’ve heard that something like a quarter of English noble lines went extinct every generation.

Highly unrealistic. The oldest dynasty in human history doesn’t come to a quarter of House Stark’s longevity, for example. 

But that’s all part of GRRM’s issues with numbers. 

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