Can you explain more how the Targaryen monarchy is not a genuine nation-state? Is it because Westeros as a whole is pre-nation-state, or is it because the Seven Kingdoms is more of an empire (in that its several nations) built on tenuous ground after the Dragons died?

joannalannister:

I am definitely not the person to go to for this question, but my understanding of a nation state is one where everyone shares a common cultural identity, which doesn’t seem to be the case in Westeros?

Westerosi define themselves more regionally, by kingdom, like westermen and northmen and rivermen. The Neck also represents both a geopolitical and cultural divide between North and South, with northmen sometimes feeling disdainful of southron culture and vice versa. The people are also ethnically divided, with the primary ethnicities being Andals, First Men, Rhoynar, and (a relatively small number of) Valyrians. These cultural divides represent vast differences in religion, customs, regional accents, etc. and it’s one of the reasons why I think the Seven Kingdoms will break apart in #endgame.

As you suggest, I believe Westeros might technically be called an empire, but I think Aegon the Conqueror eschewed the title “emperor” because that title wasn’t working out too well for other dragonlords after the Doom.

You might want to check with someone like @racefortheironthrone or @warsofasoiaf though, because they would be able to give you a much better answer, and I’m not sure if I’m correct.

@joannalannister raises an excellent point, with regards to Westeros’ lack of a common national identity.

But to chime in on the state part, Westeros is largely a weak feudal monarchy and not a state that can honestly claim to exercise unitary, legitimate and unchallenged authority over its territory: the regional nobility of Westeros just pulled down one dynasty and are bid fair to do it to a second.

The state doesn’t really have a centralized bureaucracy that can raise the necessary revenues for a standing army or keep adequate records on the population, it doesn’t have a centralized judicial system, it’s rather underdeveloped when it comes to national infrastructure, and so on and so forth.

Would Janos Slynt still have been subject to the Curse of Harrenhall, despite having never set foot in the place? His luck did take a sharp turn for the worse after being granted Harrenhall.

He owned it, he bought it.

Why wouldn’t Randyll Tarly join Stannis? Stannis is the sort of man Randyll would respect, tough, cold, ruthless, and a good commander. Stannis is also married to the same family that Randyll’s wife comes from and I cant see how Randyll could be all that loyal to someone like Mace Tyrell.

Because Renly had the rest of the Reach and Stannis had 5,000 men. And I am sure that Randyll Tarly believes that the Gods favor the side with the biggest battalions.

What do you think Littlefinger’s game plan is in the event of a Renly or Stannis victory? Stannis is almost guarranteed to give him the chop, and Renly likely wants to replace him with a Reach or Stormlander.

I think Littlefinger’s aim was to prevent either of those events from happening, through murder and/or war if necessary.

Its a bit of dark irony that the so-called “Free Cities” and Valyrian Freehold” have names with connotations of freedom but are in fact horrific slave societies(with the exception of Braavos). Were there any real life states that had names invoking “Freedom” but were actually built on slavery and exploitation?

Some people might point to the American Revolution, with its universal proclamations of human liberty written by slaveholders, as a capital example…

Do you think that Arya might end up killing Tyrion at the end? Arya has to kill somebody important and it sounds like the sort of thing Martin would do have the second most popular character kill the first one.

Nope.

Maester Steven, could the rival who assaulted Braavos during the Century of Blood have been the Men of Ib rather than the Tigers? (Volantis failed to break through Tyrosh & Pentos at sea, failed to secure Dagger Lake inland and was therefore far away – Ib was nearer, we know they have History of battling with Braavos for the Shivering Sea and we know that the last God-King of the Hairy Men fell sometime after The Doom; a defeat before the Titan might be a logical reason for his downfall).

Eh. It’s plausible but it’s far less dramatic than the Volantenes in the full sway of imperial grandeur going up against the wily ex-slaves.

Why did the Dothraki stop their campaign of destroying different societies and returning things to a wild state? Their defeat at Qothor did not stop all of them.

It didn’t stop all of them, but it probably caused a huge social/cultural crisis – death in battle against a fellow horseman is honorable, but to be defeated by a non-horserider is a huge shame.

So why risk a dishonorable death, when the city-dwellers will give you riches for going away?

Why did the North abandon the Old Tongue?

We really aren’t told why, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense given political and cultural considerations.

My only guess is the spread of the Common Tongue across the south meant that it was too useful as a lingua franca not to learn, but that’s not a great solution.

Re roads: Good points. However, isn’t the river road itself atypical of that in that connects the Rock and Riverrun, then follows the Red Fork? The former is fitting for a number of reasons, but wouldn’t it be more apt if at Riverrun it instead turned south-east to join the gold road near KL? Wouldn’t Daeron II (Dornish integration, had Summerhall connnected to the Boneway) and Egg (lords on side) have seen the benefit of Highgarden-Storm’s End? Did Pycelle big-note Tywin’s road contributions?

To me, the significant thing about the River Road is that it dead-ends at Lord Harroway’s Town and doesn’t continue on to Maidenpool, whereas the Rosby Road (connecting through King’s Landing) does, which weakens connections between Riverrun and its more eastern vassals and strengthens the connections between those vassals and the capitol.