About dornish guerrilla tatics, you used Lord Beric’s example to show that the strategy would work well for the dornish. But doesn’t Beric’s campaign greatly rely in smallfolk support for his cause? The dornish wouldnt have that, specially if they were fighting in the Stormlands/Reach..

That’s not what I was saying. I was saying guerrilla tactics would work well for Westerosi in resistance to a Dornish invasion of the rest of Westeros in support of Dany.

When Robb declared himself KITN, the Riverlands were included in his kingdom, but what about the Iron Islands and the Vale? Did they get shunted into his kingdom as well, courtesy of being farther north than the Riverlands border, or would they still be considered part of the southern kingdoms?

Well, that’s the sticky wicket. Robb certainly wanted them to join his revolt, but neither the Vale nor the Iron Islands had acclaimed him King. Certainly Lysa Arryn could have done so had she wished to, and there were lords of the Vale who might have gone along with it with various levels of enthusiasm. As for the Iron Islands, Robb was careful to recognize them as an independent and equal kingdom, but it’s quite likely that Robb would have wanted to marry a Stark into the Greyjoy monarchy to bind their houses together.

This might have created a difficulty down the road – if the Valemen decide to acclaim a King of the Vale and Mountains, Robb doesn’t really have a leg to stand on to not recognize him, and probably wouldn’t want to. Which means now Robb is primus inter pares of a Federation of the North, with the Riverlands inexplicably in subordinate status. So down the road, if Robb’s alliance had held, you might have had a move to have a Riverlander king.

Surely Lutherans have a pretty well-developed clergy? I’d think quakers would be a better comparison.

I was referring to Luther’s doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.

RFTIT Tumblr Weekly Roundup!

Hey, folks! It’s that time of the week, so it’s time for some news and a Tumblr roundup. First, the news: as part of the lead-up to the Battle of Blackwater Week, there’s going to be a schedule change. Rather than going next into Tyrion XI-XIV, Sansa IV-VII, and Davos III, which cover the battle, I’m going to do the non-battle chapters first. So coming up on Monday, I’ll be releasing Theon…

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I noticed in your Economic Development Series, you propose the use of fractional reserve banking methods to generate loans. This would require the (existence and) acceptance of deposit slips (paper money) throughout the entire realm. Is there any indication that Westeros has progressed that far in Banking terms? Could this be one of Viserys’ financial reforms that he introduced, learned from his time with the Rogares in Lys? Also is Westerosi coin Bullion or “watered down” currency.?

As long as there’s a system of negotiable instruments – bills of exchange, promissory notes, letters of credit, etc. – you can basically run fractional reserve lending by giving out loans in the form of letters of credit that can be sold on by merchants to buy wool cloth or wine or ships or whatever. If negotiable instruments didn’t exist in Westeros, I don’t think most of what Littlefinger’s been up to would work, and the Iron Bank’s international banking would be incredibly complicated by the necessity to physically transport coin in bulk across the Narrow Sea.

As for Westerosi coin – well, the Iron Throne’s currency seems to be heavier and purer than the Gardeners’ coins, suggesting a better ability to extract precious metals from across a continent and mint more valuable currency. But issuing coins in pure gold is usually a good way to lose money, so it’s probably not 100% pure. I’ve done some rough estimates about how much a golden dragon is worth here.

Replica coins that are being made seem to be around ½ a troy ounce of gold.

But given the aftermath of the War of 5 Kings and the shock and awe of the dragons wouldn’t a lot of people turn and join Dany? Keeping Highgarden from burning and their own necks might be enough to turn over Tommen.

That is the most likely scenario, but the original question was whether Dany and Dorne could take Westeros militarily, not whether Westeros would choose to make a fight of it.

And I highly doubt Dany goes up against Tommen. The vision in HOTU wasn’t of a mummer’s stag, after all.

What do you think would’ve happened if Joffrey hadn’t Joffed out and let Ned take the black?

Well, I discuss this scenario here.

The interesting questions to me are:

1. Would Eddard keep an oath sworn to a religion he doesn’t believe in? Because if not, then Eddard living probably means he sends a letter putting Cersei’s dirty laundry out on the street and proclaiming Stannis to be the true king, which might very well mean Stannis starts the war with the North, the Riverlands, part of the Stormlands, and possibly the Vale or parts of it, on his side.

2. If he still keeps to the oath, Robb Stark’s not going to turn back around as long as the Lannisters hold his sisters and menace his kin in the Riverlands and have so badly insulted his family. On the other hand, it’s less likely that he goes full King in the North.

Do the old gods have a cleargy? The only one i remember is the white haired woman who sacrifices a man in the bran weirwood visions and what as probably milleniums ago.

Well, the greenseers and Green Men would seem to be something like a clergy, but in general, the followers of the Old Gods seem to have been a bit more Lutheran about that.

But would Dornish tactics actually work as well for say, the Reach or the Stormlands, in Doran’s ideal invasion scenario? Didn’t the Dornish rely on the Red Mountains for cover/escape, and have to abandon all of their castles? (And also Dorne already being described as already mostly dry/barren–and with a smaller population to support–and thereby possibly less vulnerable to scorched earth dragon fire tactics, and a sense of us vs them nationhood holding the insurgency together).

Arguably better. Guerrilla fighting is generally easier in more populated areas, because you can hide more easily and get support from more of the population (to quote Chairman Mao, which I rarely do, “the guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.” Easier to do that when you have more sea to hide your fish in). Likewise, Dorne’s barren geography means that there’s a limited area to hide in vs. the thousands and thousands of square miles you could potentially hide in across the rest of Westeros; on the flip side, Dany’s armies would have to occupy much much more territory, dividing them more thinly, and her dragons would be even harder pressed trying to fire-fight the whole of the continent. And finally, Dorne was conducting a guerrilla war with a far smaller number of fighters.

To give a relevant example, look how effectively Beric Dondarrion and the Brotherhood Without Banners conducted a guerrilla war with less than 200 men in a relatively confined region. Now imagine dozens if not hundreds of Beric Dondarrions with many more men, better trained and equipped, in every corner of Westeros.

Could Dorne have invaded and taken Westeros with dragons? Best case scenario with Dany, dragons- riding consort Quentyn, and the bulk of her unsullied. Hell give Elia Sand the last dragon.

Not if Westeros used Dornish tactics against them. Aegon and Co. had far more men in the First Dornish War to occupy a far smaller territory, and they couldn’t pull it off.