Author: stevenattewell

Re: Gregor & Tarly trapping the northmen, I’m getting maybe Tarly isn’t quite a military genius, but that seems like obvious tactics. Which do you think is more likely the cause? Gregor charging into the retreat path Tarly would have left out of bloodlust (or Tywin’s vindictive orders), or Tarly being affected by Robert’s successful retreat, maybe taking the lesson that you can’t count on an ally to finish a defeated foe, and not want Glover & Tallheart to rally elsewhere? Or some other factor?

Well, it’s not such obvious tactics, because outside of some of the best premodern armies ever (the Byzantines, the Mongols), people usually went for the complete encirclement. But there are other things that could have happened:

  • Gregor charging in recklessly is quite in character – his wing of the battle takes the heaviest casualties in the Battle of the Green Fork, he loses half his men at the Battle of the Fords, etc. 
  • It could be that Robett Glover is good enough of a commander that he reacted well enough to a bad situation to make the Lannisters pay dearly for their victory.
  • Or something else. 

In Medieval Saxon law a man who would throw a woman on the ground against her will, would forfeit the king’s grace. What does “the king’s grace” mean in this context?

Good question!

It’s a bit hard to tell, because as far as I can tell the phrase “forfeits the king’s grace” only comes up with reference to Saxon law on rape. 

My best guess, from a mention in the writings of Sir Francis Palgrave, is that it has to do with the king’s prerogative to show mercy:

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If my surmise is right, this would suggest that, if a man threw a woman on the ground against her will, the king was not allowed to reduce the penalty for the crime. Think of it like the medieval equivalent of a mandatory minimum sentence. 

How did the Lannister/Tyrell forces at the Battle of Duskendale manage to take heavy casualties given the massive advantages they were given?

Great question!

Sweeping victories in warfare tend to be rather rare, and even more rare without cost. Cannae is deservedly famous in military history as a complete victory, but even that total rout still cost Hannibal more than 10% of his army. 

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For this very reason, the Byzantine manual of war (hat tip to @warsofasoiaf) advised against completely surrounding one’s enemy, because men who are completely surrounded will often fight like cornered rats and inflict surprisingly heavy casualties. Instead, the Strategikon advised that one should always leave a path of escape for the enemy, because then rather than standing their ground, the enemy was more likely to make a run for it, which would allow one to inflict heavy casualites on a fleeing enemy at a lower cost to oneself. 

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Indeed, as military historians have pointed out, it was often the retreat from a battle that was the most deadly part of any premodern conflict, because a fleeing enemy couldn’t defend themselves against attacks coming from behind them, and often threw away heavy shields and armor in the process of flight. 

My guess is that Randyll Tarly and Gregor Clegane didn’t think about this.

What do you think of the theory that Aegon will be presented with a choice of either marching west to join the fight against Euron, or taking advantage of the chaos caused by the combination of Euron’s invasion and Cersei’s incompetence to seize the Iron Throne?

I don’t think that’s right. Aegon’s taken Storm’s End, next stop is King’s Landing, that’s where all his plot and theme dynamics are pointing. 

GRRM already has his pieces in places to deal with Euron and they’re called Garlan Tyrell, Willas Tyrell, Samwell Tarly, and Leyton and Malora Hightower.