RFTIT Tumblr Weekly Roundup!

Hey folks! I’ve emerged from my turkey coma – although I’ve managed to get a surprising amount of writing done in between the eating and the movies –  to put out another Tumblr Roundup. First, some news: Battle of Blackwater Week Update: Tyrion XI is done, Tyrion XII is almost done, Sansa IV and V are in the process of being written, and I’ve just plugged in the quotes for Davos III. Need to add…

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Think about it historically – the Maesters have been around for much longer than the Faith of the Seven, all the way back to the Age of Heroes, and they were a pan-Westerosi institution. So when the Andals come to Westeros and take the Vale, they find maesters there who are willing to collaborate with the new regime, who have vital and unique skills that they need to govern the lands they’ve conquered, and who aren’t competing with the septons on religious matters. 

Moreover, it takes the Andals a good deal of time to get to the Reach, and by the time they do, not only have they even more experience of dealing with collaborationist maesters, they’ve kind of lost steam. Unlike the disunited Vale and Riverlands, the Lannisters and Gardeners are prepared for them and run a good game of smacking them around a bit on the battlefield then arranging marriages, lands, titles, and conversions to get the Andals assimilated into the existing power structure while getting themselves on the right side of Andal culture. 

Which means when the Faith finally comes in contact with the Citadel down in the Reach, they’re both clients of the same patron. Causing trouble for the Citadel means risking the “septs, septries, and motherhouses” that the Gardener kings are building for them, and the Hightowers are forking over a lot of money for the Starry Sept and wouldn’t look kindly on them interfering with “Peremore’s pets.” 

Finally, by the time that the dust is settled, both sides realize the other is useful – the Maesters are educated and teach literacy to the nobility; the Faith of the Seven is a book-based faith, so educated nobility are easier to convert to the Seven. Vice-versa, the Faith’s emphasis on the importance of learning means more lords want maesters on hand to teach their kids to read. And there’s a basic division of labor – the maesters teach secular skills and hand over the kids to their septon or septa for the equivalent of Sunday school, the septons and septas finish up the sermons and make sure the kids get back to their lessons. 

Odds are pretty good he’s seen Cersei and Jaime fucking. 

A witness against Cersei and Tommen. How willing, dunno. 

Because to get to Braavos, they’d have to get through Qohor and Norvos. 

I think Jon was named by Rhaegar after Jon Connington. 

According to the World Book everyone’s beloved Egg sent massive shipments of grain to the North during the great winter which lasted for three years. Egg being the Good Samaritan that he is couldn’t let his Northern subjects continue to starve and sent them the much needed relief which they desperately needed to survive.

Yet strangely enough it seems “there were some who felt he did too much in this regard”. This begs the question. In a land like Westeros where there have been cruel kings and selfish kings, king that are completely indifferent to the suffering of their people, since when can a king do “too much” for the good of his people in a time of crisis?

What irks me about this is the fact that Egg genuinely did this out of concern for his people and because of this he got scorned by some. He had no hidden agenda, nor was he stepping on anyone’s toes for acting out of empathy. He didn’t even go to the extremes of wasting vast amounts of resources just for the sake of acting charitable the way Baelor did. And even if he was, people were suffering and dying on mass up North, given the circumstances I’m sure out of solidarity the rest of the kingdoms would understand.

For me personally I am reminded of Hurricane Katrina and how I wish the Federal Government had done more in the wake of that disaster. They were rightly criticized for their mishandling and lack of leadership in responding and providing relief in the aftermath of Katrina. But could you imagine if George W Bush and his executive office did an excellent job in handling Katrina and then got criticized for doing “too much”.

I’m not surprised. In any federal system, you’re going to get resource conflicts. Given the relative recent nature of the Westerosi kingdom and historical and cultural differences between the regions, that’s going to get intensified, because there’s less feelings of commonality between the regions. 

So yeah, there’s probably some folks down in the Reach who don’t appreciate the King taking valuable grain that they could have sold for a higher price and giving it to the heathen Northmen, who might also remember that Aerys I didn’t do anything to help them out during the drought. Likewise, I can’t imagine that helping out the North was popular in the Vale, especially on the Sisters, given the historical wars between their regions. 

If we’re talking real-world comparisons, what springs to mind is how many Republicans voted against Hurricane Sandy relief when New York and New Jersey needed help, and then started yelping for Federal assistance when their state got hit with a natural disaster. 

Did I not answer that one in Tyrion VI? Looks like I somewhat short-changed that plot point at the time.

Well, here goes. I think the main problem is ultimately one of timing: Tyrion’s got almost no men, and little in the way of food and other resources, that he can spare in the face of imminent attack. 

And while I think a moving hand is certainly a novelty that the court will murmur about, I don’t think it’s quite enough to convince people to stop everything. Consider what happens when word reaches King’s Landing of Mormont’s death and Mance Rayder attacking the Wall – even though he believes the report, Tywin says it’s not his problem atm and proposes to do nothing.

As of when? Pre-AGOT, probably Benjen. Post-AGOT, Qhorin would definitely be in the running especially if he can pull the Great Ranging out of the fire, but he’s still going to have opposition in the election. 

Hello. Long time fan here. I love your work!

I was wondering if an aggressive and talented general in Roose Bolton’s position could not just defeat Tywins army but destroy it.

I am envisioning a scenario where our hypothetical general stops his advance well up the kingsroad and builds up his defenses (pits, spikes, caltrops, etc.) all the while harrying Tywin’s army with his (albeit) limited cavalry. After handily defeating Tywin our general then either transports his army down the Trident by barge or steals a march on the Lannisters in the night.

I imagine the knock out blow is something like the battle of Lake Trasimene where Hannibal surprised the Romans and annihilated them thanks to the ingenious way he used mental stress and the geography of the battlefield. 

What do you think?

Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to Blackwater week.

Well yeah, that’s pretty close to the scenario I see as the Stark best case: the hills that Roose abandoned in Tyrion XIII are ideal for defending against a cavalry-heavy army. If after repulsing Tywin’s assaults the news of Robb Stark’s absence forces Tywin to retreat as per OTL, my scenario envisioned Robb and the Riverlanders force-marching and/or boating east on the Red Fork to trap Tywin north of the Trident with one army to his back, one to his front, an unfordable river to his west and mountains to his east.