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Do you think that the Manderlys practice worship of both the Old Gods and the Seven? I can see Seven being kept for appearances and tradition’s sake, so that its easier to interact with southern houses and potential trade partners. While the Old Gods are worshipped quietly, away from Southron eyes, so the Manderlys aren’t lumped in with the stereotypical, “tree and wolf worshipping savages” that people like Cersei think northmen are. Cuz, I’m pretty sure that the Seven don’t condone cannibalism.

No, they’re worshippers of the Seven. But Wyman Manderly has gone too far to care about religious objections to anything.

Assuming Rhaegar didn’t marry Lyanna, would Jon then technically be a Waters or a Sand?

I’m not an expert in these matters, I would certainly defer to @nobodysuspectsthebutterfly on this, but my understanding is that the name is based on where someone is raised, not who their parents are. 

Hence why it’s Mya Stone rather than Mya Storm, even though Robert Baratheon is her father, or Aegor Rivers rather than Aegor Waters, even though Aegon IV was his father. 

So it would still be Jon Snow who knows nothing.

Bronn’s rise to Lord Stokeworth

1.  Lady Falyse looked as if she were about to cry. “Your Grace is good to ask. Mother’s hip was shattered by the fall, Maester Frenken says. He did what he could. Now we pray, but …”

Pray all you like, she will still be dead before the moon turns. Women as old as Tanda Stokeworth did not survive a broken hip. “I shall add my prayers to your own,” said Cersei. “Lord Qyburn tells me that Tanda was thrown from her horse.”

“Her saddle girth burst whilst she was riding,” said Ser Balman Byrch. “The stableboy should have seen the strap was worn. He has been chastised.”

Was Bronn behind Lady Tanda’s fall from her horse?

I like to think that something like this happened. 

No, seriously, it was Bronn.

2.  When I ordered Bronn seized, one of his knights had the insolence to say that I should do as Lord Stokeworth said. He called him Lord Stokeworth!“ Lady Falyse clutched at the queen’s hand.

How come none of the Stokeworth garrison came to Falyse’s aid?

Because they know when to back a winning side. 

Did you watch Free State of Jones?

I did, and forgot I only talked about it on FB. My overall take on it was:

Well, the Free State of Jones was really slow, but I’m willing to forgive much because it’s a rare film indeed that actually depicts Reconstruction the way it happened.

It’s not the best movie ever – I think the pacing was very slow, and I would have cut the 1950s framing device – but it shows the Black Codes being used to re-enslave black children after emancipation, it shows freedmen and white unionists working together to organize Union League rallies and marches and meetings, freedmen agitating for 40 acres and a mule, voter registration efforts being met with violence, and it shows klan members wearing their old Confederate uniforms using terrorism to punish black political activity. 

This narrative of the Civil War and Reconstruction – a far more historically accurate one than the “moonlight and magnolias” vision of Gone With The Wind – is almost never shown in American cinema or television, so it was really surprising and encouraging to see it on the big screen. 

How could the population of King’s Landing recover from the sack? The merchants were penniless, the women were dishonored and some of them pregnant, many people died and a lot of houses were burned. This also goes for all the people who suffered the sacking of their city.

“…the news comes from Rome that the Emperor’s Spanish and German troops, who have not been paid for months, have run wild through the Holy City paying themselves, plundering the treasuries and stoning the artworks…Thomas More says that the imperial troops, for their enjoyment, are roasting live babies on spits. Oh, he would! says Thomas Cromwell. Listen, soldiers don’t do that. They’re too busy carrying away everything they can turn into ready money.” (Wolf Hall)

Here’s the thing about sacks: While they are awful on a human level, they are not the end of the world when it comes to property. Soldiers are running around stealing stuff, but they can only steal as much as they can carry away and are going to prioritize precious metals. So the losses are going to be partial and uneven rather than total, and if you’re lucky enough that your money is in real estate or wool rather than gold, you might escape the sack altogether. 

And the loss of human life means that if you’re lucky enough to survive, you have some opportunities: lots of dead people means property that can be snapped up on the cheap, means wages are going to go up (because labor supply just dropped), means less competition in your given trade so you can put up your prices. 

And all of these factors also mean you’re likely to see an increase of migration into the city – if you’ve got some small capital, you might be looking to buy some real estate or set yourself up as an artisan or a merchant; if you don’t, you probably can get better wages in the city than you could in Duskendale, so why not move? 

Do you think Dany is going to use her cultural capital deriving from Essos to modernise Westeros? Jon also shows signs of understanding of industrial espionage when he thinks of buying Myrish glass makers. Speaking of Jon I really feel bad for the guy, why on Earth did he not travel the world before taking a permanent position in the Watch?

I don’t think Dany’s going to get the chance.

Because he was a dramatic teenager, but I repeat myself.