Author: stevenattewell

In the past, there was an ask about army size in which you mentioned something about “common rules of thumb used by historians” (or something similar) to come up with army sizes of Westeros. I’m curious if you don’t mind, what are some of these rules of thumb?

The rule of thumb, which I believe originated from Edward Gibbon, is that no premodern society was ever able to keep more than 1% of their population under arms. 

if Aegon VI is a blackfyre, why is the GC invading pretending he’s Rhaegar’s son? what’s the point in finally getting a blackfyre on the throne if u have to pretend he’s someone else to do it? If they ever unveil his identity, wouldn’t that cause problems with doran martell, etc. Could he just be Serra’s son, but not royalty? Just Varys’ perfect ruler in the name of peace…

The point is getting him on the Iron Throne, so that they can get their lands back. They don’t give a damn what temporary fictions they have to tell to get him there. As for Doran Martell, he’ll be pot-committed once Arianne gets hitched to Aegon. 

Was the secession of the Southern states legal?

No. See Texas v. White (1869):

“The Union of the States never was a purely artificial and arbitrary relation. It began among the Colonies, and grew out of common origin, mutual sympathies, kindred principles, similar interests, and geographical relations. It was confirmed and strengthened by the necessities of war, and received definite form and character and sanction from the Articles of Confederation. By these, the Union was solemnly declared to “be perpetual.” And when these Articles were found to be inadequate to the exigencies of the country, the Constitution was ordained “to form a more perfect Union.” It is difficult to convey the idea of indissoluble unity more clearly than by these words. What can be indissoluble if a perpetual Union, made more perfect, is not?…

When, therefore, Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation. All the obligations of perpetual union, and all the guaranties of republican government in the Union, attached at once to the State. The act which consummated her admission into the Union was something more than a compact; it was the incorporation of a new member into the political body. And it was final. The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States. There was no place for reconsideration or revocation, except through revolution or through consent of the States…

Considered therefore as transactions under the Constitution, the ordinance of secession, adopted by the convention and ratified by a majority of the citizens of Texas, and all the acts of her legislature intended to give effect to that ordinance, were absolutely null. They were utterly without operation in law. The obligations of the State, as a member of the Union, and of every citizen of the State, as a citizen of the United States, remained perfect and unimpaired. It certainly follows that the State did not cease to be a State, nor her citizens to be citizens of the Union.”

Some people have argued that Stannis is more cronyistic then Renly, as his Castellan, Hand and Admiral are all from his wife’s House. What would be your answer to that?

For a moment Davos was too stunned to move. I woke this morning in his dungeon. “Your Grace, you cannot … I am no fit man to be a King’s Hand.”

“There is no man fitter.” Stannis sheathed Lightbringer, gave Davos his hand, and pulled him to his feet.

“I am lowborn,” Davos reminded him. “An upjumped smuggler. Your lords will never obey me.”

“Then we will make new lords.”

So nice to find someone who hates 300 as much as you do. I had to watch that fucking thing in a history class and it remains probably the most unpleasant movie I’ve ever sat through

poorquentyn:

“What if Frank Miller directed Lord of the Rings” is a question we very much did not need the answer to, and “rally the shining ab-laden masculinity of Europe for Freedom and Stuff against the dark scary gay-coded Persian” is a singularly toxic dose of derp in both historical and modern contexts. 300, of course, is practically subtextual compared to Miller’s followup Holy Terror, an outright screed against Muslims, but the worldview was still there in 300, and Zack Snyder presented it unfiltered. The only way to redeem his 300 is for its camp value, and it is admittedly a goldmine in that regard, but for me, the desaturated-slo-mo style interferes with even ironic enjoyment; I’m done laughing at a given scene about 20% of the way through it. 

Incidentally, if anyone wants a good corrective to 300, they should read @kierongillen‘s Three. It’s a mini-series about three helots trying to escape Sparta while being pursued by Spartiate slave-catchers. 

And unlike 300, this one is well-researched and historically accurate, with backpages where Gillon chats with historians and classicists he talked to while researching the book. 

do you think bloodraven lost his sense of self the same way bran is going to?

I think people are over-estimating the loss of self. Bran’s not gone, he’s just having trouble swimming through the gestalt of every greenseer ever and that’s making him a bit distant b/c he’s multitasking from a distance. 

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Looking at Bloodraven, who’s been the Three-Eyed Crow for at least fifty years, he certainly retains some sense of self:

“A … crow?” The pale lord’s voice was dry. His lips moved slowly, as if they had forgotten how to form words. “Once, aye. Black of garb and black of blood.” The clothes he wore were rotten and faded, spotted with moss and eaten through with worms, but once they had been black. “I have been many things, Bran. Now I am as you see me, and now you will understand why I could not come to you … except in dreams. I have watched you for a long time, watched you with a thousand eyes and one. I saw your birth, and that of your lord father before you. I saw your first step, heard your first word, was part of your first dream. I was watching when you fell. And now you are come to me at last, Brandon Stark, though the hour is late.”

The last greenseer, the singers called him, but in Bran’s dreams he was still a three-eyed crow. When Meera Reed had asked him his true name, he made a ghastly sound that might have been a chuckle. “I wore many names when I was quick, but even I once had a mother, and the name she gave me at her breast was Brynden.”

I know. I have my own ghosts, Bran. A brother that I loved, a brother that I hated, a woman I desired. Through the trees, I see them still, but no word of mine has ever reached them.

He knows his name, he remembers being a Night’s Watchman, he remembers the doggerel said about him when he was hand, and he remembers the strong emotional commitments he made in life – I’d say that’s a pretty good “sense of self” for anyone pushing 125, let alone a greenseer. 

Historically, how (if at all) did House Lannister control the flow of gold and silver from their vassal’s mines/vaults into the Westerosi and wider Essosi markets? We know that controlling the availability of these precious metals is of paramount importance, yet given the environment the story plays out in, could this even be done? Have these methods changed since the unification of the Seven Kingdoms under House Targaryen? – Thank You, RSAfan.

Good question!

Well, to a large extent, the Lannisters can pull a De Beers: since they have the largest supply, they can set the price by restricting or loosening the flow from their own vaults. 

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Now, in IRL, gold mines required royal licenses. Given that different Houses have their own mines in the Westerlands, it doesn’t seem to have been the case that House Lannister had that kind of system. (Maybe the De Beers technique was good enough that they didn’t have to?)