It depends on those characters’ relationship to the overall culture/society, how intense the taboo is, and so on.

agentknitter:

racefortheironthrone:

Because Robert isn’t an unkind man and would want his bastard child taken care of and Varys would be the man to do that discretely, because Varys doesn’t cause unnecessary harm to children (while being bang alongside the idea of necessary harm to children), and because Varys would want a bastard of Robert’s on hand to de-legitimize Joffrey/Tommen when the time was right. 

Here’s a brain itch: did Robert know about Gendry? 

Because if he did, then Gendry is, properly, Gendry Waters. But I always had the impression that Robert was unaware of Gendry’s existence, and Varys’ detective work/general spy mastering led him to Gendry a decade or more before Jon Arryn and Stannis worked it out. 

Totally agree that the reason Varys paid Tobho Mott for Gendry’s apprenticeship was to have a son of Robert Baratheon who absolutely looked the part at hand for when the time was nigh to expose Cersei’s incestuous bastards to trigger chaos for Team fAegon. 

Awareness is not the same thing as acknowledgement, I would argue. My guess is that Varys came to him and told him “that serving wench is pregnant, your grace,” and Robert said “take care of it, won’t you, Varys.”

It’s an extrapolation from the practice of Popes renaming themselves when they are elected. 

working on it!

Crossbowmen are far, far, cheaper than household knights – the whole point of a crossbow is that you can train someone to use one much faster and more cheaply than you can a longbowman. 

The issue with crossbowmen, though, is that they’re mostly ranged infantry (although they would carry personal weapons) whose weapons are slow to load and reload. If they come under hand-to-hand assault by either infantry or cavalry, they’re in for a really bad time. 

Knights are more expensive – training, arms, armor, horses, tack, and other equipment add up – but what you get for your money is both the offensive shock tactic of the knightly charge and the defensive value of the dismounted man-at-arms. So high cost, high value. 

Nope. I think a major flaw in Baelish’s thinking is that he’s purely materialistic. 

1. I think it has a major bearing on both Jaime and Tyrion’s direction as characters, less for the action Jaime takes but more for how the knowledge both gain in the moment changes them profoundly. 

2. Haven’t seen anything so far, but I’ll keep an eye out for it. 

They helped him assassinate Pycelle and Kevan, so yes.

Complete coincidence.