Author: stevenattewell

Before Lord Karstark murdered the Lannister boys, could Robb have gotten ahead of the situation? Karstark was clearly not happy with some of the decisions regarding Jamie Lannister even before Catelyn released him, but after the release, could Robb have offered Catelyn as a bride for Lord Karstark to bind him better to his cause? She was not past her childbearing years, so possible children from that match would be kin to the king. Plus the idea of new sons may have soothed his anger.

I think that dramatically misreads the situation. 

Rickard Karstark has been implacably wrathful ever since the Battle of the Whispering Wood, and his responses in ACOK and ASOS are driven by emotion rather than any consideration of policy. Consider that he was strongly opposed to Robb’s peace terms which only generally encompassed the idea that Jaime might eventually be traded back after Tywin’s good behavior, an extreme outlier among the Northern and Riverlords. 

And even if, in some implausible scenario, Rickard Karstark had gotten his wish and Jaime had been executed rather than set free, I still think the inconsolable grief and rage that drove him would have manuevered him into some violent death – if not on the battlefield than suicide-by-king. 

Looking to pick up Machiavelli’s The Prince for a friend. FWIW, this is meant to be a “useful” gift, so I’m less worried about the type of language (ie flowery vs blunt) used and more interested in its ability to convey the original lessons. Having said all that, any particular edition/translation you recommend?

Oh, that’s a tough one. I’m not an expert in these matters, although I have a friend who is so I will ask them and reblog this with their response. 

I originally read the Penguin Classic version when I read it first as an undergrad, if that’s any help. 

How Is possible that Corlys Velaryon did 8 expedition and became the richest man in westeros and Greyjoy and Ironborn who are best sailors in westeros are the poorest region!?(Sorry for English)

opinions-about-tiaras:

racefortheironthrone:

Because unlike the Ironborn, Corlys is willing to engage in trade and has thing to trade with. 

The ironborn aren’t totally immune to the lure of trade, as Steven’s writings on the New Way show; in the books, Tris Botley understands it, and while Asha doesn’t have a lot of time for Tris she doesn’t ridicule his notion of getting rich with an eastern trading voyage as foolish or unmanly.

The ironborn live in the back of beyond, at the literal edge of the world, and their culture has an enormous revanchist streak of “anything you didn’t take by smashing in someones face with an axe isn’t really yours, you fucking coward.” That’s not a recipe for wealth. They could overcome that, but choose not to.

I am relatively sure in my own mind that there have been plenty of New Way ironborn captains and traders who have amassed very large fortunes trading to the east. And then they frittered them away, or their heirs were Old Way idiots who declined to maintain any sort of trading or industrial infrastructure, or any one of a number of pitfalls the Old Way has of destroying the New Way popped up.

Ok, allow me to be more elaborate:

The Ironborn are not consistent enough traders to get rich in the long term – absolutely there are plenty of historical examples of New Way kings and captains who got quite rich enouraging trade, even if it was of the “fell off the back of the ship” variety. The problem is, as @opinions-about-tiaras points out, those fortunes are easily frittered away and those commercial contacts easily lost, especially if the son of the man who traded with you suddenly starts robbing you at axe-point.

So Corlys had a much better time getting to the heart of Essosi trade than the Ironborn – he doesn’t have the pirate’s reputation to deal with, he speaks Valyrian and because he has the old blood will be treated with respect if not awe by most of the Free Cities, he represents an island with more productive resources and a large, rich hinterland, etc.

Any idea who the six companions of Rhaegar were when he abducted Lyanna?

If I had to guess…the three Kingsguard who were at the Tower of Joy, plus Richard Lonmouth and Myles Mooton. While Jon Connington is a logical choice for the sixth, I would have thought given his feelings we would have read about his resentments towards Lyanna. So given the location and the fact that Brandon heard about it PDQ, I’m going to guess that Walter Whent was the sixth man at the Godseye. 

EDIT:

So according to the App, Ser Gerold was sent to find Rhaegar after the Rebellion went sideways, so wouldn’t have been there then. So we’re still looking at Arthur Dayne, Oswell Went, Walter Whent, Myles Mooton, Richard Lonmouth, and one other. 

You add links to Wikipedia in many of your answers. Since you’re obviously someone who strives to be well-informed, I’d like to ask advice on how to answer to people who go like, “You’re searching for information on WIKIPEDIA?”. It’s so easy to criticize it, but it’s still such a useful tool. I’ll be more careful if I’m searching for an academic paper, obviously, but some people are sooo skeptical that Wikipedia is invaded by strange people to the point they can’t bother to access it casually.

Ah, the old Wikipedia question. 

To begin with, context is key – if what I’m looking for is a brief explanation of a type of boat or the definition of the Romantic movement for an ask on Tumblr, the standards are obviously not the sam as they would be for an academic paper, as you say. 

Another key point is diversity of sources – as I tell my students when it comes to research papers, using Wikipedia to check a date or a figure is fine, the problem comes down to when you’re using Wikipedia (or any source really) exclusively, because you’re not really getting a ocmprehensive view of the topic from different angles. So I use Wikipedia, I use Google Scholar and Google Books, I use JSTOR, and of course my own knowledge base, to try to present a well-rounded answer to a question. 

The final key point is following the footnotes. Whether it’s Wikipedia or an academic article or a book, it’s important to find out where the information presented came from so that you can check things for yourself; likewise, when you present information, it’s important to tell your readers where it’s coming from whenever possible. This comes up more in my formal academic work than my ASOIAF stuff, but in the former, I try to cite original documents whenever possible and give a citation that’s comprehensive so that anyone who wants to know where I got a given idea can find the exact document themselves by going to that archive.