Do you think Ned was cruel in taking young Then as hostage, according to a doylistic point of view? I know from the political sense, it was perfectly normal. And Theon was treated coldly but respectfully. So I’m a watsonian pov it was fine. Do you think there could be any more kind way to deal with the ironborn problem? Could young Theon not grow up feeling so scared or did the situation doomed him?

I think Theon grew up way happier than he would have been at Casterly Rock or King’s Landing, but no in general I think Balon screwed his life up pretty badly from the jump with his idiotic rebellion.

Given the speed at which Braavos can build ships and their advanced financial sector, why is anyone in Westeros bothering to build their own blue-water fleet rather than just buying one? (Ironborn excepted, for both cultural and economic reasons.) Cersei building new ships seems strange in particular, given that she clearly doesn’t care about money and also seems to be in kind of a hurry to get the royal fleet reinforced.

The Arsenal of Braavos is public, not private sector. I don’t think it sells warships to foreign nations.

Once the dragons were gone, why is there a central state at all? You can think of two reasons lords would submit to and enable a monarch: they’re forced to (by fire) or they benefit from central authority in some way. For the latter to work though, you’d think the Iron Throne would have to be projecting power outward from Westeros, bringing in land or plunder that would make submission to a king worth it. But it doesn’t, it just sits.

The central state prevents wars between the Seven Kingdoms.

Now I have a hilarious mental image of Team anti-White Walker finding out Cersei double-crossed them and sending Jaime all the way back to King’s Landing to kill her. And somehow he’ll manage to teleport back to the North for the final battle. :)

Sigh…I cannot wait for this show to be over and then to get TWOW so we can at least go back to a consistent sense of time and space. Say what you like about GRRM’s writing, but he spends literal years struggling over travel times to Meereen because he’s that committed to world-building.

I’m wondering just what Jaime in GoT will be able to accomplish in season 8. Had he convinced even some of the army to come with him, the North might have been receptive, but all by himself without even Bronn with him I’m not sure what he’ll accomplish other than to warn the North not to expect any help from Cersei, and possible problems from Euron.

I don’t know. Then again, I also don’t know what Cersei is going to be doing from a dramatic standpoint as the rest of the cast bar Qyburn has gone up to the North. Who is Lena Heady supposed to work with in scenes?

Before or during Robert’s Rebellion, logistically how could Rhaegar go about forcing a regency or even deposing his father? Would he have to establish military hegemony in the capital and basically seize control of the Red Keep by force? To prevent Aerys from making trouble (and it seems clear that a regency at least would have been permanent, as a deposition would have been), should Rhaegar basically just keep Aerys under a form of house arrest on Dragonstone for the rest of his life?

I think the bigger thing is establishing political legitimacy – getting the great lords of the realm to acclaim him king, whether that’s in small groups or individually or at a Great Council – which will bring military hegemony.

And yes, some form of house arrest would be necessary to prevent Aerys’ partisans from using him as a symbol to rally around a la Henry VI.

Between the fire set to distract Catelyn and Robb while the Catspaw attacks Bran, and Ramsay’s Sacking of Winterfell, I doubt the Winterfell library is in particularly good shape, which is unfortunate both because my heart breaks at the loss of any library, and because there’s possibly some good info in there. Looking towards TWoW, I’m worried about the future of the libraries at the Citadel and Castle Black.

Yeah, for someone who loves books so much, GRRM likes destroying fictional libraries.

Do you think the Others are aware of the things that have been happening in the South? The wars, the rebellion, the Targaryens unifying Westeros, or even the Starks and Winterfell? And if so, given they have been sleeping for thousands of years beyond the Wall how?

No. Outside of a crude recognition of human sex drives (see the Night’s King legend) I don’t think the Others have a frame of reference for human thought and behavior.

Do you think the burning of the sept will happen in the books and that Cersei will be crowned? Will she then be the one opposing Dany, as in S7, or will Aegon in turn defeat her and take the role of Cersei in S7?

I think the plot will be quite different from the books. I think Dany will confront Aegon indeed.

If I remember correctly Robert’s only visit to the North in fifteen years as king was at the start of AGOT. Was it politically wise for a medieval king to visit all its main domains during the span of his ruling? Was it common?

See here.