Why do you think Ned never took his kids to see the Wall? It’s a huge part of their heritage as Northerners, and so (relatively) close! I don’t see why they never combined one of their usual Stark supply runs to the Wall with a trip to visit Uncle Benjen and a chance to take a look at one of the 9 Wonders Made by Man.

Because it’s a penal colony, full of rapists and murderers. Not exactly suitable for young children.

Given that Viserys had to flee Westeros at the age of eight and then spend much of his adult life travelling the Free Cities where he had few allies, little to no wealth at his disposal, and no army or power base to help him make his ambitions come true. All the while the Iron Throne was firmly in the grasp of the Baratheons. What prospects did he actually have in regaining his family’s throne that didn’t involve marrying his sister off to the Dothraki?

Well, there’s always Doran’s conspiracy.

Do you think the Targs would have ever allowed a female dragonrider to be married to an outside (ie non Targ/Velaryon) house? I would think not because that would mean giving a dragon to a potential rival house.

Well, Daella Targaryen married Rodrik Arryn, so yes.

Had Bronze Yohn realized that no amount of pestering could make Lysa support Robb’s war effort, and instead led the strength of House Royce into the field and joined Robb’s forces, would the events have turned out any differently than in OTL? If so, how would they have differed?

Well, as with previous questions about the whole of the Vale, it greatly depends when this happens. Let’s say Royce swings the 6,000 men of the Lords Declarant behind them – if this had happened immediately after the Green Fork, Tywin might be caught between them and Roose’s army and/or Robb’s army (if the Valemen can slow Tywin’s march), and the war could have been ended there.

Later on, 6,000 men are less consequential.

You’re in Robb Stark’s boots when the Red Wedding doesn’t happen. You go North, rid your kingdom of the ironborn and successfully secede from the IT, on shaky grounds (this is the Riverlands after all). Now what?

Well, I think my main priorities are going to be (in no particular order):

1. Dealing with the integration of the wildlings.

2. Trying desperately to survive the onslaught of the White Walkers.

3. Trying to reunite my family.

Beyond that, the North’s Westerosi Economic Development Plan. Especially after the IB invasion, I think the founding of Salt Harbor and a Western fleet would be a high priority.

Did you think either Davos or Theon were dead your first time through ACOK?

I don’t remember exactly, but I definitely didn’t think Theon was dead. Davos I don’t remember. I think the Bran and Rickon fake out worked the first time, and definitely the Arya one from ASOS did.

RFTIT Tumblr Weekly Roundup!

Hey folks! Arya X isn’t ready yet, because I’ve been crazy-busy preparing for the start of the Spring semester (teaching two classes this semester, one of them is new and takes a lot of prep work). But I have been working on it, and in the meantime I’ve got some great Tumblr responses for you: on Barrowton. Steven Xue Asks: The Crownlands grain supply. Brandon the Builder and Azor Ahai. More…

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WarsofASOIAF Asks: A Successful Aegon V Reformation

Couple days back I was asked a question about how an Aegon V reformation would go down. Let’s say you’re the Hand of Aegon V. The Fortunate King has been able to successfully get all four of his marriages to go off without a hitch. I’m sure some form of your EDP’s will make their way into it, but what sort of acts would you do to reform and restructure the government for the sake of the smallfolk?

Cheers,

-SLAL

As I talked about a while back, it’s very hard to know what Aegon’s reforms consist of, because GRRM is very unspecific about them and because a lot depends on what precisely is the legal status of westerosi smallfolk.

But if I had to guess, I would say that there probably would be a lot of legal reforms – royal judges and sheriffs, eliminating the right of pit and gallows, the right to a jury, etc. – given the lawlessness of the period (especially in the Westerlands), Egg’s experience with local conflicts between nobles in the Reach, and so on.

Given that he gave food to the North during winter (which may also have been prompted to his trip to Winterfell), I think he was definitely focused on charity during natural disasters and the like.

But beyond that, I don’t know.

Who do you think Daeron I would have married if he didn’t die early?

I don’t know. The Targaryen practices of marrying their kids to the worst people possible seem to have hit pretty hard in that generation – you’d think the logical step is to marry Daeron to Daena who adored him and Baelor to the pious Rhaena, but for some reason Baelor was married to Daena and neither Aegon III nor Viserys II made provisions for Daeron I.

Given that royal imposters could successfully impersonate kings, (a la Perkin Warbeck) did any commoners ever try to impersonate a member of the nobility?

Yep, definitely happened. Pretending to be a down-on-their-luck nobleman was actually a pretty common confidence trick back in the day, whether one was looking to get handouts from other aristocrats touched by your hypothetical suffering, or trying to pass off fake “heirlooms” as genuine articles that have to be sold off in a moment of need, or trying to finagle your way to marrying the daughter of a wealthy and socially ambitious bourgeois.

When you get right down to it, nobility ultimately is just a set of mannerisms and cultural capital attached to a certain costume and appearance.