Category: Uncategorized

Forgive if you have addressed this in one of your economic essays, but how do Braavosi iron coins effectively convey value in a world financial system that’s based on the inherent value of silver and gold? Is the Iron Bank’s reputation so renowned that people trust that the currency will carry value like modern-day banknotes?

Well, it’s the Iron Bank’s reputation, but it’s not just the Iron Bank – it’s the whole economic might of Braavos. If you want access to their internal economy, which includes all the goods they’ve imported from across the world and all the goods they will export to the rest of the world, you’re going to need some Braavosi coins, so you’re willing to exchange gold for iron – especially when you know that the exchange works the other way too.

Where the Iron Bank comes in is that it’s got a lot of gold and other valuable stuff in its reserves, but it’s also issuing financial instruments that are denominating in Braavosi currency, so in a weird sense Braavos has an iron standard that is also partially backed by gold.

Don’t you think its a bit strange that there is not a single definitive line of text that proves that any Westerosi or western Essosi people farm raw silk?Thoughts? Fun fact – To harvest silk thread from the cocoons, they are boiled to kill the moth, who would otherwise eat its way out, damaging the continuous thread and thus its value. My headcanon is that the Naathi have a unique silk butterfly, seeing as they aren’t allowed to kill anything. Also see the Sarnori Spider Silk.

Not really. I think GRRM finds silk interesting when it comes to fashion and commerce, not so much the whole industrial process of production, because he’s writing a fantasy series and not a history of silk making. 

But I like the idea about the Naathi deliberately not killing the butterflies. After all, you want to avoid the dreaded butterfly plague. 

I don’ think you’re giving Roman tactics a fair shake. Yes their infantry tactics wouldn’t work out great and their cavalry is behind but those weren’t the core contributions of the Romans to military history. Military academies, professional standing armies, citizen armies, standardized training, use of field artillery, earthworks, some degree of literacy. Roman legions sometimes got more done with shoves than with swords

All those things are great, but they’re not tactics, i.e, battlefield level organization and disposition of forces, maneuvers, and operations. I’m not passing judgement on the Roman army as a whole, but just saying that if you specifically revived their infantry tactics and tried to use them in the 1300s to 1400s, which is what I was asked originally, you’d face some real difficulties. 

On what part of Planetos do you think R’hollorism first arose? I’m assuming not Asshai (although there’s probably a mission or semi-heretical sect or something) because a cult with a black-white moral system that aggressively tries to denounce other religions couldn’t have survived an infancy in a place as libertine as Asshai.

You think a city that lives “by-the-Shadow” where the very stones try to devour light, wouldn’t be attracted to a religion that worships the Light and believes that “the night is dark and full of terror”?

image

Moreover, Melisandre says:

“In ancient books of Asshai it is written that there will come a day after a long summer when the stars bleed and the cold breath of darkness falls heavy on the world. In this dread hour a warrior shall draw from the fire a burning sword. And that sword shall be Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes, and he who clasps it shall be Azor Ahai come again, and the darkness shall flee before him.“ 

That suggests that Asshai was one of the earliest centers of R’hllorism. 

With his Valyrian steel armor, could Euron actually have been to Valyria? Could his stumble with the Reader’s question actually be result of something horrible he saw in Valyria? After all, in a society as decadent and corrupt as Valyria combined with magic is a recipe for some messed up stuff, even if it is all in ruins, the entire region is likely lousy with “thin places”.

I think he has been to Valyria, and I think he made a pact with the demons who haunt the ruins there for power, which is why he freaked when the Reader questioned him.

And it’s definitely a “thin place,” one of if not the biggest in Planetos.

Taking into account purchasing power, level of education, and length/quality of life for the average free citizen/subject, what would be the best region/city would be the best place to live in Westeros, Essos, and Planetos respectively in your opinion? If you have time, where would be the worst in your opinion?

Westeros: Oldtown. The Reach generally. 

Essos: Braavos. Lys would be quite nice if it wasn’t a slave state. 

Planetos: of the places we know well enough about – Oldtown, Braavos, the Summer Isles. Yi Ti might be quite nice but we don’t have enough detail, Leng would be nice except for the Old Ones living in the subterranean ruins who mate with the God-Empresses and command the population to massacre outsiders every so often. 

Do you think Planetos is going to go through a colonial period? Given its considerable stakes invested in the Westerosi economy and naval power, combined with Westeros’ comparative backwardness and disunity, I can just see Braavos intervening to protect it assets and then staying for a few centuries a la Britain in India, Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, everywhere.

Probably not. The Summer Islands are too good at naval warfare, the Basilisk Isles are too unhealthy, anyone who lands on Naath dies of the butterfly plague, Sothyros is plague-ridden jungles teeming with killer dinosaurs, and Ulthos is too far away. 

As for Westeros, Braavos doesn’t have the manpower or technological edge to conquer. Westeros can raise 400,000 soldiers, Braavos probably caps out at 30,000. 

Why was Carthage unable to defeat Rome considering their cavalry outmatched Roman infantry?

Here’s the thing with Carthage – most of their armies were mercenaries, outside of the officer corps and some of their infantry. Their cavalry, which so outmatched the Romans, were from a neighboring country, Numidia. While Hannibal was rampaging up and down Italy, trying to force the Romans to give in, or the Italians to join his anti-Roman coalition, and generally being unable to take Rome in a siege, Publius Cornelius Scipio (the future Scipio Africanus) was winning a bunch of battles in Spain against Carthage’s B-team.

When Scipio was elected consul due to his victories in Spain, he had the bright idea to go and bribe the Numidians into switching sides. He wasn’t wholly successful, but it meant that when he finally came to grips with Hannibal at Zama, he actually had more cavalry (6,000 to 4,000) than Hannibal did. Scipio’s cavalry beat Hannibal’s and pursued them off the field, the Roman infantry began to slowly grind down the Carthaginian infantry, and then Scipio’s cavalry rallied and hit Hannibal’s slowly retreating army in the rear, wiping out Hannibal’s army and leading to a “Roman Cannae.”

That’s the military/tactical side. There’s also a logistical side: Rome could raise far more men than the Carthaginians could, which meant that even though Hannibal kept wiping out entire Roman armies, they kept recruiting new ones. At that point, all Rome had to do was win once.