“How would you like to die, Tyrion son of Tywin?“
"In my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a maiden’s mouth around my cock, at the age of eighty,” he replied.

That’s not a bad candidate for a specifically male-gendered death, although one could argue that given the way that warfare is gendered in Westeros, most deaths in battle would count. Although it’s interesting how few of the main characters actually die in battle in ASOIAF…

We don’t know. 

The Targaryens had a tradition of polygamous marriage (i.e, more than one wife per husband), another import from Old Valyria. Now, granted, that tradition fell away rather early, but it’s still there. 

My argument is that, based on what we know about Rhaegar’s fascination with the prophecy of the Prince Who Was Promised and his belief that this figure required “three heads” and how he named his children, it fits thematically better if he went back to that tradition to try to emulate Aegon the Conqueror in order to recreate him in his son.

As a bonus, if Rhaegar did go with polygamy, he parallels nicely with another Targaryen princeling whose ambitions outstripped his sense of caution and who plunged the realm into civil war as a result: Daemon Blackfyre, who some sources claim wanted to marry his half-sister Daenerys (hey, it’s that name again) in addition to Rohanne of Tyrosh. (Yet another parallel: if that had actually happened, you’d have the marriage out of duty and the marriage out of love replicated, with Rohanne:Visenya::Daenerys:Rhaenys…)

I think even Baelor realized that dragons were necessary for the security of the monarchy and the strength of his family. I think what he objected to about Septon Barth was the blasphemous focus on sorcery rather than appealing to the will of the Seven.

RFTIT Tumblr Weekly(ish) Roundup!

Hey folks! So, work on Samwell I is ongoing (6800 words written plus three pages of handwritten notes on the Battle on the Fist of the First Men), but in the meantime I have some Tumblrs for you: ASOIAF: On Varys and the assassination attempt on Dany. Part II The strategic importance of the Golden Tooth. Castles, towns, and roads. Part II The Ur-Text vs the books and Jon/Arya. On Robb’s will, the…

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Maybe? Benioff and Weiss don’t really believe in themes. 

opinions-about-tiaras:

racefortheironthrone:

Both, depending on the circumstances. 

If the families were well-known to each other and their interests likely to align – the most common scenario we’re talking about is neighbors looking to consolidate their estates – you’d probably be pretty frank about it.

If on the other hand, the two families are not well-known to one another, they’d probably get more subtle about it: have the two sides meet at social occasions, see how the young people in question get along (this is why formal balls and dances were created, and why it’s very strange that cotillion culture still exists), then bring it up in such a way that neither side could lose face, probably as a hypothetical or something.

On the other hand, we have plenty of examples in Westeros of people being very blunt about offers out of the blue and rejected offers leading to hurt feelings, so…

There are, in my opinion, two very good examples of this sort of probing and trusting and manipulation in the text: Alys Karstark and Jaime Lannister.

Lord Rickard was very blunt about what he was doing when laying it out to his daughter, but not so frank and open with Eddard; Rickard was, ostensibly and publicly, going to Winterfell to have a tete-a-tete with his liege lord, like you do, but in reality is instructing his daughter to “charm” said liege lords heir, obviously with an eye to that heir viewing her as a potential friend or romantic partner. And then you can approach Lord Eddard and say “hey, our kids are getting along great, there’s clearly a spark there, we can make them both happy and also maybe once again show how close our houses are.” But he’s very much trying to manipulate the Stark’s here without telling them what he really wants is a marriage contract.

Conversely, you have Jaime Lannister and Lysa Tully. The Tullys and the Lannisters were in talks to see about affiancing them, which were tolerably far along. But Hoster didn’t tell this to Lysa, nor Tywin to Jaime. Instead Jaime was sent to Riverrun with an urgent message that “couldn’t be entrusted to a raven.” And he’s told to wait for Lord Hoster’s response, which of course Hoster spends some days considering. Which means Jaime is at table with and socially exposed to his unbeknownst-to-him possible wife Lysa every night. The kids don’t know what’s happening here, but the adults do.

You’ve also got Oberyn and Elia’s Grand Tour around the Reach and the Westerlands to scope out potential matches for the both of them, where they were aware of some of what was happening and ignorant of other aspects.

Excellent examples! 

Just to throw in some counter-examples:

• Maege Mormont basically throwing her daughters at Robb, and Lord Hornwood being a bit more nudge-nudge but still clearly trying to hard-sell Robb now that dad’s not around and the kid’s in charge for the first time.
• Tywin and Hoster, Round 2: “When I suggested to Lord Hoster that Lysa might be wed to you instead, he replied that he wanted a whole man for his daughter.“
• Tywin and Aerys II: “Lord Tywin chose that very night to suggest that it was past time the king’s heir wed and produced an heir of his own; he proposed his own daughter, Cersei, as wife for the crown prince. Aerys II rejected this proposal brusquely, informing Lord Tywin that he was a good and valuable servant, yet a servant nonetheless.”
• Tywin and The Dornish Princess: “What I did not tell you was that my mother waited as long as was decent, and then broached your father about our purpose. Years later, on her deathbed, she told me that Lord Tywin had refused us brusquely. His daughter was meant for Prince Rhaegar, he informed her. And when she asked for Jaime, to espouse Elia, he offered her you instead.”
• The whole business between Aegon the Conqueror and Argilac Durrandon.

So yeah, sometimes people are subtle and sometimes feelings get hurt and wars start. Usually around Tywin.