Author: stevenattewell

I enjoyed your commentary on the roles of medieval nobility versus modern nobility within society. I know that nobility as later eras would conceive of it didn’t quite exist in the Ancient World, but I was wondering if you could expand a bit and discuss the class/categories of people which would later develop into the medieval nobility? I realize a lot of the Ancient World was still highly tribal in that time period, but there are some correlating groups that might be called “nobility.”

I haven’t done as much reading in ancient history as other periods, but I wouldn’t agree that pre-medieval societies didn’t have noble classes. There’s plenty of examples to the contrary, whether you’re talking about the Eupatridae of Athens or the patriciate of Rome or the Zhuhou of Zhou China. 

I would hazard a guess that the main distinction between pre-medieval and medieval aristocracies is the relationship between the class and the state – whether aristocrats thought of the state as something that belonged to them collectively or an outside actor that should be interacted with through reciprocal agreements and otherwise resisted. 

I noticed you said you read very fast, and you’re an academic who has to read tons of stuff. Any tips for memory retention?

Take written notes. It helps recontextualize the information so that, rather than trying to brute force every last detail, you’re choosing what’s important and what’s not and then creating a larger mental framework to fit information into. 

Oh, and if you can take the notes in a form that lets you set up and then search by tags, keywords, etc. that helps a lot. 

Is Rickon bound for death in Winds of Winter? I can’t figure his involvement in the narrative other than to provide Davos with a certainly thrilling excursion to Skaagos. Rickon can’t be a true KITN contender if Robb’s will surfaces and that it is a pretty well smoking Chekov’s gun. Your thoughts on Rickon’s arc?

I think he’s there to set up internal conflict in the North. 

If Wyman Manderly believes Rickon Stark to be the last living legitimate son of Ned Stark, you’d better believe he’s a true contender for the Northern throne. I imagine there’s going to be not a few people who’ll argue that Robb wrote his will believing Rickon to be dead, so that invalidates the will. 

Likewise, I’m sure the forces of the Vale will argue that Sansa is the last legitimate child of Ned Stark, and that Rickon is an imposter pretending to be a dead prince. In rebuttal, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Manderlys argue that Sansa is an imposter put up by the treacherous Littlefinger and that sons come before daughters.

Similarly, in Jon Snow’s camp, there will no doubt be arguments from the Glovers, Mormonts, and Reeds that the will should trump all, that an adult male proven warrior is a better choice than a child or a woman. (On the other hand, when R+L=J comes out, that’s going to complicate the situation, because bastard-born or not, Jon Snow comes from the female and not male line of the Starks.)

Hi, sorry for messaging so often. I was going through your Lannister stuff and I came across something about “fascist undertones in Agents of SHIELD”? I looked it up on Google but all I found was anti-Trump stuff. Could you elaborate? Thanks so much and happy 2018!

joannalannister:

Hi! I’m sorry, but I barely know what Agents of SHIELD is. Did I really type “fascist undertones in Agents of SHIELD”? (If I did type it, what was I smoking while doing so? because I need more.) Or was this a post I reblogged because I was interested in the discussion of fascism? You’d have to link me to what it was, because I’m really lost here, I’m sorry.

So anyways, um, I am definitely not the person to talk to about fascist undertones in Agents of SHIELD, because I know nothing about comic stuff. Maybe @racefortheironthrone or @nobodysuspectsthebutterfly could help?

It could be referring to the whole HYDRA reveal in Season 1?