Is a king like Aerys I realistic historically-speaking, in the sense of someone so eccentric or preoccupied with non-political affairs that he simply refuses to participate in the dynastic mandate of siring a heir? Are there any notable historical parallels to Bloodraven or his police state-approach to ruling in the early modern period, especially a relative of the monarch who effectively ruled in his place due to the monarch’s weakness, mental instability, or something similar?

Is a mad king realistic? Well, we could ask King Henry VI of England who suffered repeated mental breakdowns resulting in catatonia for upwards of a year. Or we could ask his maternal grandfather, Charles VI of France, who had repeated psychotic breaks in which he could be murderously violent, completely disassociative to the point of not knowing his own name or remembering his wife, believing himself to be made completely of glass, etc. Yeah, there’s plenty of cases of mentally ill kings and queens.

Parallels to Bloodraven? The tricky thing here is that having lots of spies and arresting people wasn’t hugely unusual, but the question is how widespread and effective the network is. Are we talking Sir Francis Walsingham or Cardinal Richelieu, or something closer to the oprichniks of Tsar Ivan?