Where do you think Martin got the idea for Maesters?

From the educated priesthood/monks of the Middle Ages.

Do you think Dany will kill Khal Jhaqo in her first chapter in Winds of Winter or somewhere down the line?

I don’t know about the first chapter, but certainly in the first couple.

Do you think we’ll see the Ironborn make a move for Lannisport or Casterly Rock? They seem to be focused on Oldtown for the moment, but the Westerlands isn’t far away and the Lannister forces are occupied elsewhere…

No, I think their arc is focused on Oldtown.

That raises the question, how do you suppose the Iron Bank of Bravos lended money to the various kingdoms of Westeros? Surely it seemed like some or other could pull it off, and then those debts fell flat when the Great Game lashed back.

Well, keep in mind that Braavos is only 500-600 years old, so I don’t know how long the Iron Bank would have been lending during the period of the Great Game.

But while it’s true that no one won the Great Game until Aegon, the kingdoms were pretty stable in their continuity, so repayment wouldn’t have been an issue save for say the Teagues. Moreover, since no one in the Great Game would want the Iron Bank suddenly bankrolling their biggest rivals in the name of fiscal responsibility, I would imagine payment would have been fairly prompt.

If Daemon Blackfyre had won, and the blackfyres took the iron throne, do you think it might become the norm for the blackfyre kings to chose which of their sons would succeed them, as opposed to promigeniture remaining the standard?

That might have been the case, especially if the fact that Daemon’s oldest children were twins caused a difficulty for primogeniture. But it might not have.

In your opinion would the Iron Islands be a comparable size to the British isles and be able support a similar size in population?

Absolutely not. The Iron Islands are much, much smaller than the British Isles, and has a population (of 1.5 million) that’s a fraction of the British Isles during the era of the Wars of the Roses (~4 million in 1500).

In your economic development series you proposed the establishing Land Banks, would you consider also establishing export-import banks for the promotion of trade . Also establishing infrastructure banks ?

I’ve discussed both of those in my econ dev series.

RFTIT Tumblr Weekly(ish) Roundup

Hey folks! We’re actually a bit overdue for one of these, so I have quite a bit of stuff from the Tumblrs ready to go: ASOIAF: How did Ned Stark’s style of government differ from other Starks? What did the crannogmen do to piss off the Freys? On the North and politics: Part I Part II On the Vale and politics: Part I Part II Part III Prospects for Sunspear competing with Oldtown for trade. “Link…

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In your AGOT Cat V review, you said that, had Cat not taken Tyrion as hostage, she could’ve warned the North to mobilize for war before the Lannisters. Bryndenbfish argues in the 2nd part of his military analysis of Tywin that Tywin was already preparing for war at this point, considering the size of his army, and used Tyrion’s arrest as an excuse to start it. Don’t you believe that? Maybe Tywin’s numbers were a mistake from GRRM’s part? But Stannis was an imminent threat, so he could be right.

Respectfully, I think Bryndenbfish is wrong on this point. News arrives of:

“the Kingslayer is massing a host at Casterly Rock,“ Ser Rodrik Cassel answered from the room behind her. "Your brother writes that he has sent riders to the Rock, demanding that Lord Tywin proclaim his intent, but he has had no answer.”

in Catelyn VII of AGOT, which takes place 5 weeks after Cat V took place. If the Lannisters are still in mobilizing at this point (the Battle of the Mummer’s Ford, the first time that Tywin’s host takes the field in the War of Five Kings, takes place about 50 days after Cat V), then I don’t think it’s likely that Tywin has already begun mobilizing in advance of Tyrion’s arrest.

To circle around to the main point, if Catelyn hadn’t been diverted to the Eyrie, her messages to Robb would have had a major head-start, potentially allowing the North to get its forces down earlier (remember, in OTL Robb’s army departs Moat Cailin about 3 days after Edmure loses at Riverrun, so a matter of weeks could make a huge difference).

Was Tywin a good hand?

Discussed here.