Yep.
Author: stevenattewell
Have you read any Ian M. Banks novels?
Yes.
Regarding Ned Stark, what did you think of his plan to resettle the unmanned castles of the Wall with the relatives of Northern lords? It’s one of the few times (if not single) where we see Ned as a reformer, and I think it was a very smart and practical plan. You?
Ned wanted to resettle the Gift, not the castles, although presumably the increased production in the Gift could support a larger Night’s Watch that could occupy more castles.
Since the mention of Ned’s policy comes up in Jon V and Jon XI, I haven’t done a deep dive yet.
Do you think the blackfyre dynasty under daemon blackfyre would have been a better regime than the baratheon one under robert?
Better for some, worse for others.
Do the Vale lords have any deep loyalty to the memory Jon Arryn like the Northern Clansmen have to the memory of Ned?
They have some:
“Lord Jon was much loved, and the insult was keenly felt when the king named Jaime Lannister to an office the Arryns had held for near three hundred years. Lysa has commanded us to call her son the True Warden of the East, but no one is fooled. Nor is your sister alone in wondering at the manner of the Hand’s death. None dare say Jon was murdered, not openly, but suspicion casts a long shadow.”
It is less intense, probably because Lysa Arryn was not particularly popular and Robert Arryn isn’t much better, and it’s hard to get together much political movement around the memory of Jon Arryn when his widow and son are such disappointments, whereas Harry the Heir is so much more inviting…
How likely do you think it is that the Frey antipathy towards Crannogmen comes in part just from the poverty of Crannogmen leads to many of them to steal cattle and other livestock.
The crannogmen are never mentioned by the Freys as cattle-thieves, despite a long list of insults. In terms of illegal activity, the only thing they mention is that the crannogmen might harbor outlaws.
Based on the historical political economy of the fenfolk, I would guess that the thing that the Crannogmen get up to most that pisses off the Freys is smuggling. Remember, the Freys make their living off of charging tolls for people trying to cross the Green Fork – if instead, you can hire a crannogman to get on his boat and take your goods through the Neck and around the Twins, that’s money out of their pockets.
Hi again, i’m the anon from the northern and southern style of politics, i was wondering how different is ned’s ruling style from other lords of winterfell, and if that difference is more from been raised by jon arryn or some other reason (his uniquely strong sense of honour, the fact that he was a second son, raised to served his older brother) ? thanks for the fast answer btw!
That’s a good question – we don’t really have a good sense of how Ned’s very personal approach to power and his benevolent paternalism compares to the Starks who came before him. We know Rickard Stark was interested in continental power politics, dynastic marriage alliances, and fostering agreements but we don’t know much about how he related to the lords of the North.
What we can say is that Ned Stark was widely respected and beloved by his lords even past his death, so his style couldn’t have been been that far from the norms of Northern politics.
Any career advice for someone with a history degree but few job prospects? Is teaching the only path forward?
As an adjunct myself, I can’t claim to have any great answers here, but I would say that a history degree usually trains you to be pretty good at research and writing, so try to apply those skills to other areas.
Are there any good historical parallels to Aemon Targaryen of rulers abdicating or disclaiming a throne that is rightly theirs to serve in either a military or religious order for life?
Yes, Charles V.
Hi Maester Steven, its very common in the asoiaf fandom to contrast northern and southern politics, usually saying that the northern lords are way more honest and loyal than their southern counter parts, and on the main series there are very evident differences. But after reading woiaf i’m now under the impression that the political styles aren’t really that different, but that ned ruled in a different manner than before. What is your opinion on this?
I’ve been saying that Northern feudal politics are just as complicated and ruthless as Southern feudal politics since Bran VI of AGOT. Leaving aside the manifest disloyalty of the Boltons and the Karstarks as shown in ASOS and later, we can see from the Hornwood Crisis in ACOK that the lords of the North are constantly jockeying for position and power and that the Stark in Winterfell has to work very hard indeed to keep the Manderlys and the Umbers or the Glovers and the Tallharts working in harness.
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