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Hi Steven, I read about your theory that Renly wanted to make Margaery Robert’s Queen because he knew about the incest and wanted to displace the Lannisters from King’s Landing and replace them with the Tyrells. How would do you think Robert and Margaery would worked out as a married couple if the twincest had been discovered?

Well, politically, it’s basically replacing one main prop for the monarchy with another. The Tyrells would definitely be looking to replace Lannister appointees with their own people. On the other hand, they’re better at PR and making alliances and sharing the wealth, so there’s going to be less resentment. 

Personally? Margaery would definitely be a lot better at managing Robert, because she’s better at performing than Cersei ever was. Robert would probably be besotted and over-the-top-generous in that class mid-life-crisis second-marriage way, although he’s probably still going to drink too much and sleep around eventually. Very much likely to do that Henry VIII I’m still young thing – big question there is whether Margaery can get him to whip himself back into shape or whether she’ll have to fake being in love with OldElvis Robert. 

Dear maester Steven, you’ve mentioned in the past that even though it is on the wrong side of the continent, Lannisport has become one of the largest cities in Westeros due its industrial activities. However, why do you think Oldtown was able to become even larger when the main exports of the Reach are only grain and wine?

According to the WOIAF, being the oldest seems to have been the key – it was an ancient trading post since before the Age of Heroes, so it’s on established routes, it’s got a baseline of carrying trade, etc.

In terms of exports, I wouldn’t knock wine or grain. Pre-Industrial Revolution, those are some of the major exports of a lot of countries because they’re always in demand and you can sell in bulk because everyone can usually afford to buy them.

Hence, wine and grain are growth markets – as economies prosper around the world, large numbers of people people will want more grain and more wine.

Spices, silks, gems, precious metals are really high value per weight, but the high price combined with a highly unequal distribution of wealth and income means that demand is coming from a limited number of sources. This means that more exotic goods are niche markets, and thus really exposed to swings in fashion and other fluctuations in demand. 

To give an example from the 16th and 17th centuries: yes, a lot of people got rich off of the spice trade. Used to be, a cargo of nutmeg or saffron was literally worth more than its weight in gold. But a lot of the longer-term innovations that would lead to the emergence of industrial capitalism came from more prosaic industries: the Dutch herring trade, for example led to new techniques in vertical integration of manufacturing and herring futures helped fuel the growth of the stock market in Amsterdam. The industrial revolution itself started in the production of cheap textiles, because there was a potential mass market for affordable clothing that there wouldn’t be for say, rubies and emeralds. 

How do traders reach the Eastern Market close to Vaes Dothrak? It’s said that all Essos meets there, traders from the Free Cities and from the East like Asshai. But It seems to be such a desolate and isolated area, far away from major agglomerations and even routes. To get there is a whole dangerous adventure. It just doesn’t make much sense to me. How do you explain it?

Vaes Dothrak actually sits right on top of the Steel Road, a main caravan route that goes from Qohor to Vaes Dothrak to Kayakayanaya, and from there across the Bone Mountains to Trader Town and Tiqui in the great empire of Yi Ti. 

Do you think it would be possible to reshape King’s Landing into a grid plan?

Well, you could something if the city burned to the ground…

I don’t know if a strict grid would be a good idea, though. You’ve got those three hills that make grids difficult, and the main diagonal avenues have important purposes, so I wouldn’t want to get rid of them:

image

If I was redesigning the city, I’d focus more on a spoke-and-hub model. The unnamed square near the Great Sept should be moved and/or expanded a bit to the east where the exact center of the city is, so that it connects directly with the Muddy Way and is more in line with the rest of the gates. Moreover, the city at present lacks a main central plaza for public events and that location would do nicely.

Next, the King’s Gate, the Lion Gate, and the Old Gate lack a major avenue connecting them with the heart of the city, which is bad planning since each connects with a major road and you want traffic to move more smoothly. So I would extend the Muddy Way up to the Old Gate, connect the Rosby Road to the Gold Road, build a new road from the King’s Gate up to that central square past the Great Sept, and extend the Street of SIsters past the Dragonpit to the Dragon Gate. (Honestly, I’m shocked that the East Barracks of the City Watch isn’t directly connected to any major thoroughfares – how do they expect to respond to any crises over int he west of the city? And why isn’t there a Central Barracks?)