Author: stevenattewell

Apologies if you’ve answered this question before, but what exactly is tyrion trying to accomplish by encouraging aegon to go to westeros instead of on to meereen?

Tyrion has many reasons for doing so: it screws over Cersei (who he hates), it screws over Illyrio (who he hates), it screws over Jon Connington (who he’s not exactly fond of), and it ensures that Aegon won’t ally with Daenerys before Tyrion has an opportunity to gain her good graces by helping to save Meereen, allowing himself (who he hates) to become part of her inner circle. 

RFTIT Weeklyish Tumblr Roundup (Part I)

RFTIT Weeklyish Tumblr Roundup (Part I)

Hey folks! Apologies about how long it’s taking to write Bran II – I’m currently up to 6700 words, but I’m slammed with IRL work – so in the mean-time I’ve got some Tumblrs. So much Tumblrs, it turns out, that I’ll probably need to do another this week. ASOIAF: English time periods. Breaking up betrothals. King-in-utero. Dany and Viserys’ penury. The power of the Kings of France and England Part…

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Kind of a mammoth ask here, but what’s your opinion on the whole Scott Summers-Jean Grey “romance,” as well as how it relates to the Cyclops-Emma Frost and Wolverine-Jean Grey relationships(and the resulting love triangles)?

That is a big ask, but I’m game.

I’ve talked a bit about it here, here, and here. 

Scott and Jean are tricky, because so much of their early relationship was very grounded in a particular kind of 50s Romance Comic dynamic where Angst and Not Talking About Feelings reigned, and then they became the It Couple because Jean was the only female member of the 05. And then there was the Scott-Jean-Logan love triangle they tried for a while, and then we got the Phoenix Saga (which was all about Scott and Jean as Doomed Lovers), and then Jean was the Lost Love, and then she came back so they became Destined To Be Together, and there was the Evil Ex/Clone, the Time-Travelling Baby, and on and on…

What I’m getting at is that that’s a LOT of dramatic weight being thrown onto their relationship which is about their relationship, without giving them much time just to be a couple. Part of this has to do with the fact that Marvel writers seem to have a problem writing married couples – one of the reasons I’ve been enjoying Slott’s Renew Your Vows is that it’s a rare book which understands that marriage and kids are the springboard for story not the end of it – so they keep adding Relationship Drama as the plot of last resort. 

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Scott and Emma were, to be honest, one of the most interesting things that had been done with those characters in a long time, and their relationship had enough juice to run for ~20 years. Indeed, I think it could have gone on longer had Jean not been killed off AGAIN (another source of cheap drama in comics) and if they hadn’t gone down the same road with Scott and Emma that culminated with Scott dying and Emma going crazy/evil.

Jean and Logan has some interesting Romance Novel dynamics, and I would be interested in seeing someone take a “Renew Your Vows”-style (although interestingly Jean and Logan are together and have a kid in that AU) take at them having a relationship, although it’s limited by them being in a triangle where the authors see Scott and Jean as the OTP. 

However, I’ve said for a while on Twitter that the Scott-Jean-Logan triangle would be much more interesting (and funnier) if it was really about Jean coming into her sexuality (without having to be killed off) and wanting a poly relationship but being really bad at it. 

How powerful are the Tarlys? How many man can they field? Do they have bannermens? Their lands doesnt seem to be very plentiful up in the red mountains so i guess not very populated lands. Not much riches and men power to throw around.

There’s not an exact number, but they are: ancient (going back to the sons of Garth Greenhand), a principal house of Highgarden, and a Marcher Lordship tasked with guarding the Prince’s Pass. 

I would guess that they aren’t that rich (although they could probably tax trade, and I would guess have quite a few sheep and cattle), but strong in manpower because if they weren’t they wouldn’t exist.

What is a masque? Is it like a masquerade? How often did the Nobility throw parties and celebrations?

A masque is a bit more organized than a masquerade, since it involves musicians, singers, dancers, often a written script as well as a musical composition, and a mixture of professional actors and amateur actors from the court up to and including monarchs like Henry VIII, James I, and Louis XIV. They tended to have a combination of aesthetic considerations (the architect Inigo Jones designed some, famous playwrights like Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare wrote them into their plays), political subtext (since the political elites were usually watching if not actively taking part, it was a good opportunity to get a message out), and truly epic levels of debauchery. 

In terms of how often, I couldn’t find any specific figure, but in general as many as they could get away with.