Category: Uncategorized

Why would Lord Hornwood want his bastard son raised at Deepwood Motte and why would House Glover accept him? Do you think Laurence Snow’s mother from House Glover?

Fostering a bastard child with another house is a pretty normal way of handling the situation with minimal embarrassment – Edric Storm being fostered with Ser Cournay Penrose, etc. Lord Hornwood minimizes tensions with his wife and her Manderly cousins, and Lord Glover enjoys stronger ties to House Hornwood (who now owe them a favor). 

And there’s potential advantages down the road, as we see when the Hornwood Question arises. With the legitimate male line struck down in battle, all of the sudden the lands of House Hornwood are up for grabs – both the Manderlys and the Umbers want to maintain the widow’s usage rights as a way to bootstrap their way into a claim, the Tallharts who have a claim through the female line want to put forward their younger son as the nearest male heir, etc. If Robett Glover were to marry his daughter to a legitimized Laurence, that gives House Glover a strong claim indeed to the Hornwood lands. 

RFTIT Tumblr Roundup, Vacation Edition

RFTIT Tumblr Roundup, Vacation Edition

Hello everyone! Hope you’re having a good start to the summer; I”m finally getting to enjoy myself, now that grading is over. After spending a week at Godolphin House (pictured above), the Cornwall estate of one Sidney Godolphin, early modern political wunderkind (came to power as one of the few of Charles II’s favorites who actually understood finance, backed James II to the hilt until the…

View On WordPress

Hi! Couple of questions: what does a steward actually do, and what were the real-world equivalents of maesters and Hands of the the King?

A steward is the chief servant of an estate: they are responsible for the condition of the buildings, the productivity of the land, whether the taxes are being paid, and at least in the early period, they were also in charge of the household and thus managed all the staff. 

However, the term can also be used to describe more illustrious offices: in the UK, the Lord Steward is one of the highest-ranking officials of the royal household and historically both carried out normal stewardly duties (for the king, mind you) and carried messages between King and Parliament and swore in new members of Parliament; the Lord High Steward is one of the Great Officers of State, outranking even the Lord Chancellor, responsible for bearing the crown during coronations, historically responsible for trials of peers in the Lords, and attached to the Earldom of Leicester since the 12th century. 

In Holland, Norway, Denmark, etc. the etymologically equivalent term – statholder – referred to an official appointed by a feudal lord (more often king) to govern part of their estate, essentially a royal governor. 

In the real world, the closest thing to maesters were university-educated priests, who were among the literate elite and thus invaluable in running both secular and church bureaucracies. There isn’t exactly a Hand of the King analogue, because historically no one gave out that many powers and authorities to just one man. The Hand is like the entire Privy Council rolled up into one. 

karrius:

So Dan Slott, the head writer of Spiderman on marvel, who has a long history of namesearching, attacking, and harassing to the point where people know not to mention him by name on twitter, is now falsely accusing critics of sending death threats. Nick Spencer, the dude who wrote the captain america thing, helped spread those lies around.

Somehow I don’t think this is going to get as much traction as the shitty story.

Right, because it’s just the fans that suck apparently. 

Where’s the thinkpieces about creators gone off the rails?

Accountability Corner Time

madeinmyr:

racefortheironthrone:

Yeah, I’ll own it. You were right about that one, @madeinmyr. 

I was still right about Tyrosh dominating the dye trade. 

The only thing that could make us happier would be GRRM releasing a Cersei chapter where the Small Council discusses how the Iron Bank’s capital strike is making it impossible to import food.

Westeros is primarily a food exporter, not importer. If you’re looking for a culprit, look to Littlefinger withholding grain from the market, not the Iron Bank withholding capital. 

So do you now believe that Euron DID go to Valyria? If so what is the relevance of Rodrik calling him out at the Shields?

poorquentyn:

racefortheironthrone:

Yeah, pretty much. At this point, the evidence is pretty substantial. 

I don’t know about Rodrik Harlaw – that part still confuses me. Any thoughts @poorquentyn?

I’ve had to reconsider this m’self, because as seriously as I take Euron, I didn’t actually think he’d been to Valyria…until the armor. And I’m willing to bet that was deliberate on GRRM’s part–he’s out to undercut and rattle us with Euron at every turn. As @boiledleather put it in the recent relevant BLAH installment, Euron levels up with every appearance and mention, and our understanding of him is supposed to evolve accordingly. 

So here’s what I got atm: his reaction to the Reader in “The Reaver” isn’t about being called on a lie. After all, back in his introductory scene in Vic’s feast tent, he couldn’t have cared less about Asha calling him on his bullshit RE Balon’s death, or Damphair calling him on his bullshit RE the pirate suit. Why? Because those subjects don’t actually matter to Euron; they’re means to an end. Valyria, though, matters to him, because that is his end. So Euron’s blue-hued smile vanishing upon hearing “have you?” so softly (such a perfectly written moment!) isn’t about his public image being endangered. It’s about his self-conception as the self-made heir of the One True Empire (or rather, heir to its Doom). In other words, mock the pirate suit all you want, but don’t you dare mock the monster wearing it. 

Of course, it could also just be because Euron doesn’t really know how to handle the Reader, especially compared to the heinous alacrity with which he plays his brothers like so many fiddles. 

Bit of a tinfoil theory which I don’t think much of because it kind of lets Euron off the hook…(b/c maybe demonic possession?)

But Valyria and the surrounding seas are called demon-haunted. And from Varys et al., we know that demons are quite real in ASOIAF, and are interested in conducting rituals with humans. 

Maybe Euron freaked out because someone with Rodrik’s book-smarts might guess what he’s about if it became clear that he set foot on demon-haunted Valyria and met its inhabitants? (and maybe struck a deal?)