Has there even been mentioned any restrictions or rules concerning the practice of magic or sorcerery in Westeros, or is it more of a social thing?

Are you asking if sorcery is illegal in Westeros? Then the answer is no, for the most part. There’s plenty of examples of people using the services of maegis of various stripes, from Targaryen kings down to Lannisport smallfolk.

However, it does seem as if sorcery is fairly taboo in Westeros, as we can see the Faith of the Seven being pretty consistent in their opposition to sorcery, as we can see in the case of street preachers condemning Bloodraven or the High Septon pleading with Aegon V not go through with his ritual at Summerhall, or (and this is the closest we get to illegality) Baelor I burning the writings of Septon Barth for his heretical investigations into sorcery.

Hello, What kinds of links in the Citadel would you find wise to get? (Imagine that you are a very extra son and not going to get the family seat without murder) I would want to get a comfortable life in a nice castle. Or at least make myself very useful and hard to replace. Not sure if you would have the same priorities. Ravenry and economics are important. I would think warfare wouldn’t be the most pragmatic choice. The nobles would think they know better than a weak man of education. Thanks.

I would argue that ravenry and medicine are the bare minimum for service outside the Citadel; no lord is going to pay for a maester without getting those base services. I’m sure there’s plenty of maesters who prefer an academic’s life who get by without those skills, but they can really only earn a living at the Citadel itself.

Everything beyond that is about making yourself a more attractive advisor and teacher: so it’s not that learning warfare is important because you want to advise your lord on strategy, it’s important because you can teach his sons that while you’re teaching them to read and write. Likewise, learning math and economics and/or astronomy means that you can keep the account books and tell people when it’s best to plant and when to harvest, so that you can assume the role of a steward, giving you more influence in the lord’s household. Metullurgy or history or architecture or foreign languages might not be necessary for a marcher lord, but they would be useful to a great lord.

And so on.

The Venture Bros. Podcast: Season 7 Ep 9: The Forecast Manufacturer – Graphic Policy

elanabrooklyn:

We did a super tight episode for the latest episode of The Venture Bros podcast. @racefortheironthrone and I did last week’s episode this week because of New York Comic Con schedule and trips to DC to block Kavanaugh. Anyway join us for some Freudian analysis.

The Venture Bros. Podcast: Season 7 Ep 9: The Forecast Manufacturer – Graphic Policy

Which structures do you think Bran the Builder really designed/built? Or are all extraordinary structures simply added to his list as an explanation for their existence? I see shades of Arthur’s stories, the conquering of Dacia especially, where Arthur seems to conquer every land people have heard of. Storm’s End seems to fit as an apparent “Dacian-like” embellishment but it’s size and magical properties say otherwise. Thanks!

In a normal setting, I think you’d be right. But in ASOIAF, “when the fact becomes legend, print the legend.”

When Littlefinger learned that the Tyrells planned to marry Sansa to Willas, why did he go to the Lannisters rather than simple accelerating his own plans to extract her from Kings Landing?

Because Sansa wanted to go to Highgarden and wouldn’t have been willing to leave with Dontos. Moreover, if Sansa comes to him having been forcibly married to the Lannisters and a fugitive from royal justice, she’s way more dependent on him than she would be otherwise.

Was Roose Bolton present when Robb was acclaimed King in the North? Corollary: would it have been possible for Robb to refuse the title, even after his vassals had proclaimed him the King in the North?

1. No, Roose was up at the Twins at the time.

2. Yes, but it would have been politically (and thus militarily) disastrous.

Why did George include all of the mentions of the oily black stone? Is there any kind of material (either historical or fictional) that is similar to the stone?

It’s from Lovecraft.

Is there a potential cultural reason why Iron Island bastards are called “Pyke” rather than something more generically Iron Island-y like “Salt”?

It could be a goof by GRRM, or it could be pyke as in the fish rather than the island.

It’s mentioned that there were more Dornish Wars besides Aegon’s War and Daeron’s War. If you had to guess, when do you think those happened?

I think we’ll find out in F&B V1.

Following on from the question about Jon’s name – would it not have been dishonourable to name a bastard named after you? Do we see it elsewhere in the series outside of the Freys?

Also, is there any chance Jon knew the truth of Jon Snows true parentage?

Not really. It’s not like Jon’s at court or Ned is asking Jon to be his godfather or something, so the issue of honor (I’d go more with insulting/not insulting) doesn’t really arise.

And there is zero chance that Jon Arryn knew the truth. The only person other than Ned who knew the truth was Howland Reed and maybe the Daynes; Benjen might have guessed the truth, but I don’t think Ned ever confirmed it to him.