I believe Benioff and Weiss specifically called that out as something GRRM told them.
Author: stevenattewell
Do you think Gendry’s story is heading to a place where it would actually matter if it is revealed that he is Robert’s son?
No, kind of the opposite. I think Gendry is heading to a place where he wouldn’t give a damn.
Would Walder Frey still have betrayed Robb if Robb hadn’t violated the marriage agreement? Assuming that Tywin still came calling and Boltons etc. were in on it.
According to GRRM, yes.
You know… this always seemed a little weird to me.
I mean, yes, Walder Frey has been looking for a chance to stab the Tully’s right in their face for a long time, and the Starks and the Tullys are bound closely together… but I’m trying to figure out what Walder would be so kindly disposed to the Lannisters.
Because Tywin slighted Walder big-time. Tywin stood up in front of half the west and called the marriage between his sister and Emmon Frey a mistake, a marriage that was beneath her dignity as a Lannister. And he did it as a ten-year-old. That must have been super humiliating, and Walder never forgets a slight.
I can only imagine that later on, when Tywin became Westeros’ number one war criminal, Walder looked at him and sort of grudgingly decided “yeah, okay, I like the kids style.”
Oh, Walder Frey still resents Tywin for his slights – hence why he insisted on Lannister-Frey weddings as part of his quid-pro-quo – but I think at the end of the day Walder is as much a pragmatist as a revanchist and he thought the architect of the Rains of Castamere and the Sack of King’s Landing was going to win the war and wanted to be on the winning side.
Is there an obvious precedent for characters like Varys and Hallyne who are allowed to style themselves as lords when it is nothing but an title?
Yes. Most of the offices in the King’s Privy Council had the word lord in the title – Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, etc. So the officer-holder would be addressed as “my lord” even if they were a commoner.
Would Walder Frey still have betrayed Robb if Robb hadn’t violated the marriage agreement? Assuming that Tywin still came calling and Boltons etc. were in on it.
According to GRRM, yes.
If (as you say in the second part of your Stormlands analysis) the mercenary armies of Essos are so much smaller than the armies of Westeros, why doesn’t one of the Free Cities try to build an army (standing or not) using the people living in its city and hinterlands? Considering how much more urbanized the western part of Essos is, the people under some of the Free Cities’ control could easily rival at least some of the less populated kingdoms of Westeros.
The individual mercenary companies are smaller, but the overall armies are likely of the same size or greater, they’re just made up of multiple companies.
How much do you think the Whent marriage contributed to solving the traditional Riverlands issues with overmighty vassals, atleast for Hosters generation? And also, separate question, but because the Whents have been essentially wiped out by this point, is Edmure now also the rightful heir to Harrenhal?
Maybe somewhat, although Harrenhal doesn’t seem to have been a major destabilizing force since the reign of Maekar I.
That second question is a bit tricky. Under normal inheritance rules, you’re quite right. But Harrenhal is special and hasn’t obeyed normal inheritance rules repeatedly over the last three hundred years. So it probably depends on whether the Iron Throne is exerting control (as they are with the Holy Hundred) or whether the locals are in charge.
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Hey folks! So, work has begun on Arya III (which, btw, marks me passing the 20% mark through ASOS) but in the meantime, let’s see what we’ve got on the Tumblrs: The Iron Bank and the Great Game. On the Dead Ladies Club: Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V Part VI Invasions and transport ship needs. Smallfolk conceptions of lordly honor. Naval communications pre-radio. Outlawed lords and…
Varys’ tragedy imho is his relationship with Aegon, whatever his heritage, and not Illyrio. It’s going to fail even though Varys’ plan worked to perfection — and at a key moment plotwise, Varys will probably even have to reveal everything to Aegon to keep him from doing something brash ala Quent re: Dany’s dragons. (My guess is that Arianne witnesses this, because it’s even more tragic from her perspective)
In terms of his end, I kind of like the idea of Varys trying to explain his Master Plan to Aegon once he’s gotten the young man on the Iron Throne, only to get Falstaffed:
Has Littlefinger some sort of agreement with Varys about not ratting him out? Telling the lie about the dagger with Varys right there seems to be insanely dumb otherwise. He must have been somewhat sure Varys would not report this, because he would have been in deep shit.
No he doesn’t, and yes it is insanely dumb. But then again, LF is a man who believes:
Littlefinger smiled. “Leave Lord Varys to me, sweet lady. If you will permit me a small obscenity—and where better for it than here—I hold the man’s balls in the palm of my hand.” He cupped his fingers, smiling. “Or would, if he were a man, or had any balls.”
This is why I consider LF to be too reckless to be the perfect conspirator.
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