Author: stevenattewell

If the North had another 17000 potential recruits, why didn’t Robb call for some reinforcements ? Like when, Edmure gave Riverlords leave to return to their lands, Robb could have brought a few thousand men south to strengthen his depleted forces. Or he could have ordered them to descend on Moat Cailin from the North, while he, Greatjon & Bolton led the 3 divisions up the Causeway. That seems to have been the simpler solution, rather than the risky detour through the marshes he was planning.

There’s several factors:

  1. Bringing up reinforcements doesn’t become relevant until the very end of AGOT, when Robb’s attempt to free his father by defeating the Lannisters and forcing a prisoner exchange fails, due to Joffrey killing Ned. 
  2. The leadership remaining in the North consist of Bran (9 years old), Maester Luwin (non-combatant), and Ser Rodrik Cassel, who is a better soldier than a general. In fact, Ser Rodrik will order reinforcements (the Wild Hares) to de-mobilize, then go haring off himself to deal with Ramsay, then shuttle back to Winterfell when Theon takes Winterfell. So there’s no one in the North who’s up for the job of calling the banners. 
  3. Speaking of Ramsay, the deaths of Lord Hornwood and his heir mean that the Hornwood lands spark a crisis, whereby the remaining lords of the North are divided by their competition to win the lands of House Hornwood. When Ramsay Snow abducts Lady Hornwood, this changes from a peaceful but distracting political contest into all-out war, as the Manderlys and the Boltons go to war, and Ser Rodrik goes to war to try to defuse the conflict. 
  4. Speaking of the Ironborn, the capture of Moat Cailin, Winterfell, Deepwood Motte, and Torrhen’s Square, along with the attack on the Stony Shore, make reinforcement practically impossible because the political nerve center of the North is paralyzed (so there’s nowhere to rally the banners to) and the main land bridge by which those reinforcements would march south across is cut off. 
  5. And then, to put the cherry on the sundae, Ramsay sacks and burns Winterfell, so that as far as anyone in the North knows, there is no Stark in Winterfell, and kills Maester Luwin and Ser Rodrik, so that the not-particularly-great adult leadership that was left in the North is now completely gone. 

Could House Tyrell create a Land Bank of Highgarden even without the proposed Mander-Blackwater Rush Canal? Would the Tyrell’s be able to do that on their own since it would just be within the Reach, or would they need the King’s permission?

Good question!

Yes, absolutely the Land Bank could be built without the canal, it’s just that the two are complementary, with the Bank providing credit for the canal and canal revenue providing a steady stream of capital for the bank.

Most likely, they’d need permission just as the Lannisters probably would. 

Now, it’s possible that if the Land Bank stuck to just being a sub-treasury system which didn’t issue loans but only IOUs for crops that were only good in the Reach, they might be able to get away without needing royal permission unless some bright spark in the Master of Coin’s office realized that those IOUs were effectively money. 

Hi! Long time fan. Quick question, what’s the difference between a castle and a citadel?

Hi! Glad you’ve been enjoying the work. 

Good question!

Citadel is a word that’s used in a slightly confusing fashion when it comes to fortification. For example, citadel can mean a fortress attached to a city (whereas a castle may or may not be attached to a city) that forms the inner defenses, to which an army could retreat to if the city walls fell. 

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However, a citadel can also be used to describe a part of a castle: another layer of walls between the outer walls and the inner keep. This is, however, a more rare use of the term. 

I’v never understood why the Braavosi underwriter that Arya kills had a hit taken out on him. Did he fail to honor an insurance contract?

Good question!

So here’s the relevant passage:

“He is writing each a binder. If their ships are lost in a storm or taken by pirates, he promises to pay them for the value of the vessel and all its contents.”

“Is it some kind of wager?”

“Of a sort. A wager every captain hopes to lose.”

“Yes, but if they win …" 

“… they lose their ships, oftimes their very lives. The seas are dangerous, and never more so than in autumn. No doubt many a captain sinking in a storm has taken some small solace in his binder back in Braavos, knowing that his widow and children will not want.” A sad smile touched his lips. “It is one thing to write such a binder, though, and another to make good on it." 

Emphasis mine there. The old man in question has been refusing to honor maritime insurance contracts – which the Braavosi call “binders” – and probably a widow or widows who’ve been screwed over “came to the House of Black and White and prayed for the god to take him.”

What’s your take on Huey Long and the Share Our Wealth program, especially the net wealth tax? Any merit? Too populist to work?

Great question!

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For those of you not familiar with this particular part of American political history, Huey Long was the famous populist governor of Louisiana, who turned his state’s constitution into silly putty, the entire state government into a giant patronage operation, and the only reason he was hated because of it was that, while he was absolutely corrupt on a personal level, he didn’t actually sell out to the powerful oil industry that had been running the state for decades.

Now, when Huey decided he’d like to become President on a third party ticket – after being U.S Senator and Governor essentially simultaneously – the centerpiece of his platform was the “Share the Wealth” Program, which included:

  • various caps on wealth and income: personal wealth no higher than $5-8 million (or rather, no more than 300 times the average family wealth), annual income no higher than $1 million (or rather, more than 300 times the average family income), inheritances no higher than $5.1 million.
  • sharply expanded progressive taxation on wealth and income.
  • a guaranteed family income of $2,000-$2,500 (or rather not less than 1/3 of average family income). 
  • a universal old age pension for everyone over the age of 60.
  • government purchase and storage of surplus agricultural production.
  • veterans pensions and health care.
  • Free higher education and technical/vocational education.
  • Public works to boost the economy.

Now you’ll note that a lot of this is actually quite similar to stuff Roosevelt was already doing or in the process of doing – public works, government subsidies to farmers, higher taxes on the rich, old age pensions, etc. – but just more so, mostly because Huey Long was primarily interested in outflanking FDR from the left. And other parts of it was just stuff that Huey Long thought would be popular.

And it’s that last part that colors how I feel about this: while I’m sure that he was quite genuine about wanting to help the poor and hurt the rich, Huey Long didn’t care whether he could pay for any of this, or whether he’d be able to get it through Congress, or whether the Supreme Court would consider any of it unconstitutional. because what he really wanted to do was defeat FDR in 1936 and then become President in 1940. 

And no, I don’t think it particularly pushed FDR to the left, because a lot of the things that people point to (Social Security, for example) were already in the works when Huey Long started pushing his program, and Huey was clearly taking parts of FDR’s program and saying “BUT BIGGER!” The biggest influence I would say it had on FDR was that he labeled his 1935 tax bill the “Soak the Rich Tax.”                             

Would House Rowan of Goldengrove need the permission of House Tyrell to build a ring road like you suggested in your Economic Developments series? Or could they do it on their own while giving their liege lords a heads up about what’s happening?

I don’t know whether you need permission to build a road (as opposed to building a castle, where you definitely do), but my guess is that House Rowan would need the permission (or more likely, a license) from their liege lord to build on lands other than those of themselves and their own vassals. 

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So in the case of a ringroad meant to connect the Ocean Road to the Rose Road by way of Goldengrove, at the very least you’re going to need the permission of the Oakhearts of Old Oak, quite possibly the Cranes of Redlake (depending on how far south their lands go), and definitely the Caswells of Bitterbridge, and given how large those open plains are I would guess some more houses.