I mean, that’s basically true of most of the south, so I didn’t bring it up as particular to the Stormlands. 

Accept him back, no. But he’d at least get to go home. 

Other than the one I made up, no. 

I think it still would have been a major religious force, it was way too big and too prominent for Julian to roll the clock back all the way. However, it might not have become as hegemonic across Europe as it became in OTL.

But I don’t know whether paganism would have prevented the divisions between Monophysites and Orthodox that weakened the Byzantine Empire, or whether the divisions instead would have been between Christians and Pagans. 

Through his castellan, his steward, his sheriffs and reeves and other officials. 

He’s definitely not just following orders, because he’s the main force who tells Dany not to follow Illyrio’s plan in Dany I of ASOS.

He knows something of their plans, but I doubt the whole of them.

And as for why, yes they can get him a pardon through the Small Council.

I think he’s doing what’s necessary. It is hard, hard work to get men to follow you after a defeat as comprehensive as the Battle of the Blackwater, and after the Battle of Castle Black and knowing you’ll need them again and again, yeah you’re going to want to keep them loyal.

Keep in mind, ALL of the castles he was talking about belong to the Night’s Watch, so while the Watch would be pissed, they also A. don’t really have anything they can do about it, and B. owe him their very lives. As for the Northern lords, they might not be super happy that traditions are being flouted, but they themselves aren’t losing any land, so they’re unlikely to start a ruckus. 

poorquentyn:

Thanks! To be honest, I really, really, REALLY hope this does not happen. It strikes me as a terrible idea on multiple levels, from our emotional relationships to the characters to the ethics of what you’re asking your audience to root for. It was in the original outline, true, but GRRM has rethought so much of the series since then, including character motivations and relationships; basically the only narrative element to survive completely intact from the pitch letter is the Others. Even if GRRM still had this in mind as of ASOS, that he then abandoned the five-year age-up for the Starklings makes me think and hope he’s abandoned this as well. 

As far as the writing goes, I feel like GRRM went consistently out of his way to emphasize that Arya and Gendry have a mutual crush that neither of them know how to handle, whereas with Arya and Jon, it always felt to me like a very close and platonic relationship between siblings who loved each other best in the family, full stop. 

Hmm…this raises an interesting opportunity to go back to the Ur-Text and ask ourselves what remains from the original pitch:

• The Others. Absolutely there as the “greatest danger of all.”
• A clash between the Starks and Lannisters.
• A Dothraki invasion led by Dany….well, not in ADWD, GRRM. Maybe in TWOW, but you’d better hurry up!
• The Jon Arryn murder mystery. 

What hasn’t:

• Catelyn and Arya escaping to Winterfell when Ned is executed.
• Sansa bearing Joffrey a son and siding with the Lannisters.
• Tyrion befriending Arya.
• Robb maiming Joffrey on the battlefield.
• Tyrion burning Winterfell. 
• Benjen being the Lord Commander of the NIght’s Watch.
• Catelyn, Bran, and Arya taking refuge at the Wall.
• Jon and Arya’s tragic love affair.
• Catelyn, Bran, and Arya meeting Mance Rayder north of the Wall.
• Dany killing Khal Drogo out of revenge for Viserys.
• Tyrion removing Joffrey from power.
• Jaime becoming King on the Iron Throne.
• Tyrion falling in love with Arya and hating Jon Snow as a result.

So I wouldn’t say that GRRM ditched everything, but he definitely changed A LOT in his gardening way, and you can see areas where he’s switched things up for narrative purposes (can’t have Benjen’s disappearance if he’s the Lord Commander, so you need a Jeor Mormont to fill the role, for ex), or where different characters have been handed particular plot duties (Ramsay burns Winterfell rather than Tyrion, or Tyrion marrying but not falling in love with Sansa), and so on. 

For roads? Not in medieval times. 

Hell, you didn’t even see much in the way of public illumination of cities in Western Europe until the 15th century and it didn’t really take off in a serious way until the 17th century.