Author: stevenattewell

Same anon. So, what would be the best Westerosi tactic to defeat a, the Unsullied, b, the Dothraki, c, the dragons, and d, the Golden Company? Yeah, I know the Golden Company is basically just an army, but they’ve been along this long, they deserve inclusion.

A. Either flank them with heavy cavalry and disrupt their formation or use missile forces to push them into testudo and them target them with artillery. 

B. Combination of disciplined infantry (because Dothraki don’t flank infantry) to pin them in place and then heavy cavalry to encircle and counter-charge them, making sure to always wheel back to the line.

C. Assymetric warfare combined with attempts to bring the dragons down either by artillery, poison, assault on a downed dragon.

D. This one is tricky. @warsofasoiaf, any thoughts?

If losing your own standard was shameful, does that mean there was glory to be gained by capturing your enemy’s standard? Maybe along with more material rewards?

goodqueenaly:

warsofasoiaf:

racefortheironthrone:

Hell to the yes. 

This was a truly important thing on the historical battlefield. Having the standard fall was very risky, both for losing communication and losing morale. Bringing back the enemy standard and turning it over to the general was a way to get rewards and recognition galore, as it signified bravery and talent enough to bring the standard back when it made you such a target. In the battle of Lepanto in 1571, the Ottoman sultan Selim II held the captured flag of the Knights of Malta flagship in high regard despite the decisive defeat suffered in that battle.

Basically, capture the flag didn’t come from nowhere after all.

-SLAL

If I recall correctly, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk – one of Henry VIII’s closest and nearly lifelong friends, and eventually his brother-in-law – was able to become so close to the young Henry because his father, Sir William Brandon, had been Henry Tudor’s standard-bearer at Bosworth and had been slain by Richard III himself. The new Henry VII repaid this loyalty by giving the young Charles court appointments, becoming a page in Prince Arthur’s household and eventually an Esquire of the Body to Henry VII.

Yep. And specifically slain putting himself in between Henry VII and Richard III to allow Henry to get some distance and prevent Richard from winning at Bosworth by killing the oopposing king. 

Going through Game of Thrones, illustrated edition today, and reading it again something’s was nagging me towards the end and I’d like to see if you had any insights. How exactly DOES Dany know/figure out how to bring back the dragons exactly? A lot of it she extrapolates from other sources and what she’s head but why is she so sure it’ll work? Do you think the books confirm some Daenys the Dreamer type of manifestation in her?

GRRM has described it as a miraculous event. I think it is a combination of extrapolating from her own actions (she puts the dragon eggs in the brazier in Dany VI, but it’s not hot enough), her dreams (the refrain of “wake the dragon” and at one point Rhaegar stands over the eggs in the brazier, in Dany IX), what she learns from Mirri Maz Duur. 

But as to why she’s so certain, I definitely think it’s a Dreamer situation, she’s having prophetic dreams throughout. 

Were there literal lions in Westeros? I was thinking about the house sigils and was wondering how many of them are flora and fauna that actually exist and would be familiar to a Westerosi (falcons, bears, etc.), how many are stylized or symbolic versions of real things (none of the dragons actually have three heads), or mythological (I don’t recall griffins existing in this world). And if lions (not mountain lions) did exist in Westeros, could they live in the mountainous Westerlands?

Lions existed in the Westerlands as recently as Tytos Lannister’s day.