Hi,
To answer your question, no I didn’t have any experience writing asoiaf meta. Nor did anyone else when they started out. We’re all just fans doing their thing, so you do yours.
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How do you think wine production at the Arbor is managed? Do the Redwynes own all the vineyards and manage distribution and sales, or do they just tax farmers and merchants?
Great question. If it’s anything like the standard manorial system from Medieval Europe, it’s probably a mix – the Redwynes hold the best lands themselves and either pay or compel labor to work it, the rest gets leased out to peasant tenants who pay rent most likely as a percent of their harvest, and the Redwynes probably own much of the production process (the presses, the cellars for secondary fermentation, etc.) both for themselves and (for a fee) for their tenants. So they probably make their own, get a bunch more in taxes from their own peasants, and from their vassal lords and knights.
What we do know is that the Redwynes directly market a lot of wine – because when you need a thousand merchant ships to move your product, you’re talking some serious volume. There’s a number of ways this could work – it could be that the Redwynes just hold a lot more of the land directly than is the norm because of the advantages of centralizing production, it could be they have the right of first refusal on all wine grown on the Arbor or some other form of monopoly on distribution and sales, etc.
This also explains why the Redwynes are so keen about excise taxes – much if not all of their revenue comes from wine, both in the production and commerce phases, so keeping those excise taxes down means pure profit on their end.
I was looking at your talk about Bran as a priest-king and I was reminded of something that I admittedly know little about: The Fisher-King. What little I know of this Arthurian legend seems to have parallels in Bran. What do you think
If you read some of my Bran chapter essays, you’ll see I discuss the Fisher King thing in detail.
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Hey folks! It’s that time of the week again. So let’s get into the news: Battle of Blackwater Week Update: Tyrion XI is done, Tyrion XII is done, Sansa IV is at 4,000 words and almost done, Sansa V has three pages written, Davos III has four pages written. Still need to add the quotes for Tyrion XIII and XIV and Sansa VI and VII, but I’m getting there. Catelyn VII is done and out, need to start…
Have you ever fashioned a critique of Conan The Barbarian. I’ve heard numerous times the common critique of that time that it is fascist but I was curious if you had other ideas.
The film? No, I’ve barely seen it. Writer/director John Milius is famously the most out-there right-wing member of the ‘70s New American cinema circle and is the likely basis for Walter from The Big Lebowski, so take that as you will.
The stories emerged parallel to the triumph of fascism in Germany, but I’m unaware of any evidence that Howard was influenced by this, and his view of the fate of civilizations, even or especially great civilizations, did not track with visions of the triumph of the will.
As far as anything I’ve read goes, Howard was a home-grown American racist, with his thinking strongly influenced by West Texas frontier history and culture. But I wouldn’t call him a fascist – he was way too much into the rugged individualist thing – unless you take the somewhat contentious agrarian anti-modernist view of fascism. Howard’s belief that civilization was unnatural and doomed to fall back into barbarism doesn’t jibe either.
What would knights coming to grips with the Dothraki look like? Attacking in favorable terrain? Accepting that it would be better to work in tandem with infantry instead of more romantic tactics?
Precisely. Hit them while crossing rivers, ambush them in the hills, move in concert with infantry and focusing on wheeling charges to push them up against your infantry and break them there (a la Cromwell).
Do you think Jamie will ever tell the truth behind killing areys to the public if so who do you think will believe him?
No. I think Jaime’s future is about Brienne, LSH, and Cersei. Private, rather than public.
If Tyrion fathered a child that was obviously not a dwarf, and obviously a Lannister, how would this change Tywin’s attitude to him?
I don’t think it would change much. I think Tywin’s attitude has hardened into stone by this point.
Even if it didn’t change his personal attitude towards Tyrion, do you think Tyrion having a politically uncomplicated heir (i.e. no kingsguard vows, no Baratheon ties) would change whether Tywin was willing to let him have Casterly Rock (if only as a stand-in until his child comes of age)?
Probably not. I think it’s a bit like their conflict over Tyrion saving the city – Tywin considers fighting successfully for the family to be meeting expectations, not going above them. Siring an heir to perpetuate the House is bare minimum.
When Bloodraven disappeared in 252 while ranging as Lord Commander, do you think he genuinely got lost and stumbled across the Children and decided to stay once he realized what was coming/what his powers could accomplish, or did he set out intentionally all along to desert for a higher cause (as in, he was already aware, through lore or sorcery, of what was beyond the Wall and sought the Children out if he discerned the return of the Others)?
I don’t think he planned to desert from the beginning. After all, why would he wait almost a decade and become Lord Commander if that was his intent?
Rather, I think Bloodraven learned something out on a ranging that led him to believe that it was more important for him to stay where he was than come back.
My hypothesis is that Bloodraven’s ranging was a cover for his implantation in the tree, which he knew would make it impossible for him to return.
Why do you think Stannis focusses on the direct relationship between king and individual subject, rather than king-vassals? And why does he focus on centralising the Crown as the seat of justice, rather than allowing the lords to distribute their own justice? Is having Mel and Davos (both “lowborn”) around part of it?
I don’t know. It seems to be strongly rooted, so it’s not a recent idea – and given Stannis’ reference to his various readings,my guess is that this is an idea he developed when he was being educated about Aegon’s Conquest, the Dance of the Dragons, Daeron’s Conquest, etc. After all, it’s hard not to read about Jaehaerys I, Viserys II, Aegon V, etc. and not see that you need a centralizing monarch to enforce justice.
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