One of my least favorite things in the series is Maggy the Frog’s prophecy. In principle I’m not necessarily opposed to prophecy but hers just seems so clearly designed as a plot device to make Cersei paranoid while basically reducing all her actions to attempts to avoid its fulfillment. It’s also far too specific for my taste, to the point where she can accurately discern the number of children Robert and Cersei respectively have. Also, Jaime=actual valonqar is obvious. What do you think?

Prophecies by their very nature are plot devices. Oedipus’ prophecy is pretty specific, but that doesn’t stop it from being riveting drama.

How will Stannis become the 1000th LC if the Wall falls? I mean, what would there be left to man or defend? Also, although clearly the show has diverged significantly, if Stannis takes the black as penance for sacrificing Shireen why would the show throw that possibility away by having him die at Winterfell? If your formulation were true, that seems like the sort of significant development they’d want to at least try to preserve.

Walls get rebuilt when they fall down.

As for why, who knows why the show does stupid things? Why did someone write and someone in charge approve the line “you want the good girl but you need the bad pussy”?

I have a question about Aerion’s promise to Steffon Fossoway. Would a prince (and one well behind in succession at that) have the authority to award a lordship, or was he promising to convince Daeron II to give Steffon a lordship? If Ser Steffon had gone to Daeron II for his lordship, would he have been refused?

The latter. Probably not, especially with Aerion and Maekar making the ask.

Aside from the fact that GRRM is writing it as such, is there a good in-universe explanation for why everything has basically been stuck in the medieval period for thousands of years? Even when considering the Andals and changes in weaponry, Valyrian engineering with the roads, etc., the world has been mired in an essentially stagnant state, developmentally-speaking, since the Dawn Age. With 12,000 years one might expect at least a little more technical, social, and material innovation.

Yeah, I don’t agree with this characterization at all. Westeros has gone from the Stone Age to the High Middle Ages in 12,000 years, and Essos is firmly in the Renaissance.

Given that the Paleolithic Age lasted 2.5 million years, the Mesolithic 5-10,000 years, and the Neolithic anywhere from 6-8,000 years, it only looks like stagnation if you arrange your comparison to include the unprecedented development of the last few hundred years. There’s a reason they call it the hockey stick graph.

In your analysis of Cat 3 in ACOK, you mention that Renly is possibly more guilty of kinslaying than Stannis. Kinslaying, like breaking guest right, is one of the gravest sins in Westeros, but is it’s taboo affected by war? Namely, if Stannis and Renly met on the battlefield or in single combat, is it still viewed so badly?

Judging from Maekar and Baelor, yes, war counts.

The reason why I say he’s possibly more guilty is that he decides to fight in no small part to kill his brother and wipe out his claim, and gives orders about what’s to be done with the body.

That’s more mens rea that Stannis seems to have, given that I don’t think Stannis gave the order to Melisandre to kill his brother. I think she did that to try to change her prophecy.

Why weren’t the Starks more careful around the Boltons? I understand that Robb needed their men but both he and Cat were cautious around Roose, which must mean that Ned taught them about their Bad Neighbors of lore. You’d think that the Kings of Winter over the ages would have worked to bring the Red King’s decedents closer over the ages, fostering/weddings and the like, right?

Well, when Rogar Bolton bent the knee to the Starks, he sent his sons to Winterfell as hostages, so there’s that.

As for why not more careful, the Boltons have been loyal for a thousand years. Yes, they rebelled against the Starks in the past, but we’re talking the capital-p Past,

did renly know about cersei and jamie affair?and how? thank you

Yes, he did, because it’s the only way his plan to marry Margaery to Robert makes sense.

He probably figured it out the same way that Varys and LF and Stannis and Jon Arryn did – put two and two together with the hair color, then confirm it by spying on Cersei and Jaime (more the former two than the latter two then). They weren’t very good at hiding their affair.

Why do you think Oldtown is a huge city despite also being on the wrong side?

Incredibly rich region, religious pilgrimages, the Citadel, and strange Cthulhuoid towers.

Per John VI you question the story of Bael the Bard by questioning the dates on the Starks as Lords. I think you’re over-reading the text. The Starks are certainly Kings in the North, but they’re also Lords of Winterfell, and both titles are contextually accurate. She merely chose to go with the style of ‘Lord’ instead of ‘King’ for the story

I don’t think the title Lord of Winterfell existed before the Conquest. Why would it?

Did salting the fields actually work? That is, did it actually ruin the land so people could no longer grow there? And if so, why wouldn’t conquerors just colonize the place they are salting, and then prevent a return that way, while increasing their wealth?

Well, destroying irrigation systems worked. Just ask Genghis Khan.

Salting the fields, not so much. Then again, the Romans did colonize Carthage after the Third Punic War.