Author: stevenattewell

Some people seem to think that asoiaf is largely about Lf versus Varys and both of their overarching schemes… do u think that’s true ? While they’re definitely not working together and have been enemies, do u think that they’ll end up meeting again? do u think one of them might kill the other? Or is their relationship just more casual enemies who were astute enough to distrust each other … ?

I think the term “largely” is stretching it a bit much – Littlefinger and Varys are some of the biggest players when it comes to conspiracies, but they’re certainly not the only ones out there (Renly and the Tyrells, the Lannisters, Illyrio, Doran Martell, etc.). 

And no, I don’t think they’ll end up meeting again. 

I cant see much importance in trade for the Twins crossing cause the area between green fork and blue fork seems a lot populous and fertile, as seem the area around Seagard. But the area between green fork and the moon mountains doesnt seem to have any town or keep. Also i dont believe there is much trade heading north from riverlands into the neck. So, is it believable that the Freys got so rich? For military reasons the Twins are a must have, but for trade i cant see why.

You seem to be ignoring the Kingsroad which runs between the Green Fork and the Mountains of the Moon, as well as Saltpans and Wickenden, two rather prosperous towns in that area. 

Quick question, sorry if this has been asked before but couldn’t find anything when searching, how long would you say it would take for an army to “repopulate” its forces? Such as after a war, their forces exhausted how long would it take for them to get back to full fighting strength? Years, decades, generations?

Good question!

It depends on a lot of factors: 

  • Casualty rates: have a big impact on the ability of the population or at least the military subsection of the population to reproduce itself. For example, think of how the extremely high casualty rates of WWI affected France’s war readiness in WWII.
  • Population growth rates: if the population is growing quickly, it’s much easier for an army to “bounce back,” because you’re recruiting from an ever-larger base. Vice-versa, it’s a lot harder if the population is growing very slowly, because it’s harder to get back to where you were before the war.
  • Overall population size: to use a famous historical example, one of the reasons why the Romans were so resilient and able to come back from unbelievable setbacks is that they were able to call upon both different economic classes of Rome and the populations of the whole of the Latin League to replace their losses. 
  • Economic productivity: in addition to fresh bodies, you need the ability to arm, equip, and supply those bodies so that they can fight effectively. The more productive your economy, the more you can do that, hence the U.S in WWII as the “Arsenal of Democracy,” producing most of the materiel not only for itself but also for the UK, the USSR, and the other allies. 
  • Social structures and customs: if your society is set up in such a way that only a small proportion of your population is allowed to fight, that obviously limits your ability to rebuild armies. For example, Sparta’s extremely oligarchical society meant that there were very few spartiates at the top of the social pyramids – thus the Spartans were extremely “brittle” and their empire collapsed after they lost a few battles and weren’t able to replace their manpower losses. 

Hey! I just read your post about the army sizes of the Seven Kingdoms, and I was wondering how you came to those numbers due to curiosity? Did the books say explicitly, basing it off of region size and local resources, a combination or what? Thanks!

Mainly, I rely on these sources:

  1. Specific numbers given in text, or by GRRM himself in associated material, and comparative statements made by GRRM. 
  2. Elio’s estimates, which are based off #1 plus discussions with GRRM plus certain rules of thumb used by historians.
  3. My own estimates, using other rules of thumb used by historians, and applying them to things like estimates given as to population of the various Seven Kingdoms. 

I saw the notorious scene with Sam treating Jorah’s greyscale recently, and while there were certainly several points along which Sam ran the risk of contracting or spreading the greyscale himself, I’m curious about how he might have disposed of the dead tissue once he had completed each round of treatment. Improper disposal of infectious material is almost/even more dangerous than the treatment itself, so I’m wondering how Sam went about neutralizing that part of the risk.

I’m going to guess burning it?

What I don’t get about Dany’s strategy in GOT is why didn’t she land in Dorne instead of Dragonstone? Wouldn’t it have it been easier to gather all of her Tyrell and Dornish armies together and attack King’s Landing from the South?

Dany landed on Dragonstone because that’s where she was born. It’s not so much about strategy as dramatic parallels. 

But a Dornish landing wouldn’t be easier, necessarily. Gives enemy a bunch of time to prepare as you march up from Dorne through the Stormlands or through the Reach, and you’re potentially still stuck south of the Blackwater Rush as Stannis was, although you’ve got dragons which helps. 

Summerhall is described as a “lightly fortified castle” that the Targaryens used more as a summer palace than military fortress. Are you aware of any structure in medieval Europe that would be analogous? I’ve always tried to picture what is meant by “lightly fortified” but always come up empty.

Well, I think it’s meant to describe a largely ornamental castle as opposed to something designed to resist a siege: Hampton Court as opposed to say Edinburgh Castle.