Kind of, although in medieval Europe they just stripped people down to nightshirts and then tucked them into bed with a lot of lewd jokes, songs, and noise-making. And then they stood outside the door and listened to be sure that the couple actually had sex, which is even weirder. 

The point was, in a world in which property and political power were handed down through and between families, whether a marriage was consummated was a giant honking deal. For one thing, one of the reasons why a marriage could be annulled was due to non-consummation; the bedding ceremony made sure that there were witnesses to the event.  

Well, the Iron Bank doesn’t try to destroy every other bank – after all, there are a number of other organizations that are lending money in large amounts in other nations (and indeed, the Iron Bank probably does a lot of business with other banks). Rather, they act against banks that rival their power. 

But even then, the Iron Bank isn’t omnipotent. Dealing with the Rogare was a lot easier than dealing with a Westerosi bank would be, especially one with the explicit backing of a Great House, due to distance and the internal politics of the Free Cities. A Lannister Bank, for example, would be difficult to deal with, as Tywin’s hegemony within the Westerlands would make it difficult for the bank to find rebels to finance. 

That doesn’t seem to have been the case that much. Indeed, we’re told in the World of Ice and Fire that “the first Pentoshi were merchants, traders, seafarers, and farmers, with few of high birth among them; perhaps this reason they were less protective of their Valyrian blood.”

So yes, they are Valyrianized, but much less so than the Lyseni or Volantenes.

Not a bad idea. 

serfriendzonetoth:

racefortheironthrone:

lysenecontingency:

racefortheironthrone:

It is a bit odd, yes. But if you think that’s odd, what about the Faith of the Seven? 

You’d think that the religious leader of the Vale, as the oldest Andalized region in Westeros (where we don’t even know about a single named sept!), would have demanded pre-eminence vs. that upstart at the Starry Sept when the position of High Septon was created. For that matter, why wasn’t there a schism or some kind of controversy when Oldtown suddenly lost its place to King’s Landing? 

The Lannisters would certainly have built a Golden Sept in Lannisport just to make it more magnificent than everyone else’s and be constantly bribing the Most Devout to get a Westerman elected as High Septon. And there’s no way that the Septons of Dorne aren’t going to have adapted their practices to suit Dornish customs, or haven’t picked up Dornish attitudes to the Reachermen, even if just for evangelical purposes?  

For that matter, given the Iron Islands’ contentious relationship with the Faith, why don’t the mainlanders consider the Ironborn heathens? And given the wars between the Vale and the North, you’d think Valemen of the Faith would be more anti-Old Gods than the rest of the South. Likewise, given its history, how does the Riverlands not have syncretic elements from the Old Gods and the Drowned God? 

The Riverlands certainly has its own customs though. The Tully funeral rights of sending the deceased back to the river sounds like something more likely to be done by followers of either the Old Gods or the Drowned God rather than the Faith of the Seven. So does the Quiet Isles’ significance as a a place where the dead wash up and are “reborn” though admittedly this might be reaching. As to the center of the Faith being in Oldtown/King’s Landing, the Vale seems like it would be a poor seat for the High Septon. Despite its history, the region is pretty isolated from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, thus the bureaucracy of an organized religion would be rather difficult to manage with the Mountains of the Moon in the way. Sure the Vale has Gulltown, but the lack of easy access over land makes Oldtown or King’s Landing seem more ideal as Rome/Constantinople type locations.

Agree in parts, dissent in parts. 

1. The Tully funeral custom probably is an Old God or pre-Pact First Man tradition. 

2. The Quiet Isle I think goes too far. 

3. History is important for questions of institutional development. For decades while the Riverlands was being conquered, the Vale was the only Andal Kingdom, and thus the only center of their faith. Indeed, the Andals didn’t get to the Reach until after they’d invaded the Vale, the Riverlands, and the Stormlands. 

3A. The Starry Sept was built ~1000 years before the Conquest, and even in the most optimistic scenario, 1000 years passed between the Andal invasion and its construction. A millennium does not pass without seeing the Faith set up a religious bureaucracy, especially as centralized a religion as the Faith of the Seven. There would have been Septs across eastern Westeros that were ancient beyond living memory when Septon Robeson proclaimed himself the first High Septon, and if the history of Christianity is anything to go by, the Septons of the great septs of the Vale, the Riverlands, and the Stormlands would not have accepted Robeson’s authority meekly or quickly. And given the power relationships involved, why would the Kings of the Vale or the Riverlands have accepted that House Hightower should hold the preeminence?

In other words, where’s the equivalent of the Sees of Antioch or Alexandria? Why don’t we have regional heresies, like the Arians or the Monophysites?

Why aren’t there holy sites in Andalos? That’s where the Seven supposedly walked the land, so you’d think the pilgrim trade would be lucrative. Andalos is only a short boat ride across the Narrow Sea from the Vale.

Big YUP to that. Moreover, why is it that the Sept Across the Sea is in Braavos when the Pentoshi have so much Andal blood? Surely there should be a large Faith of the Seven community in Pentos. 

Yep – and he compounds it with the ludicrously stupid idea to openly attack a party carrying the king’s banner and letting survivors get away. Indeed, as I’ve argued, only Deus Ex Machina prevented Tywin from being publicly proclaimed a traitor, rebel, and outlaw. Which means that at least one one occasion, Eddard Stark was a better politician than Tywin Lannister. 

I think Roose would have been a lot, lot more careful with real Arya than with fake Arya, because I think part of the reason he’s been so laissez-faire about “Arya” is that he knows she’s a fake. 

mewthril:

racefortheironthrone:

(For previous parts in the series, see here)

For rather idiosyncratic reasons, I’ve probably written more about the economic development of the Iron Islands (before starting this series) than any other part of the Seven Kingdoms other than the Westerlands – see here, here, here, here, and here. And one of the things I’ve learned is that the Iron Islands is a region that had a successful economic development strategy – the strategy of the Hoare Kings and Vickon and Quellon Greyjoys – and pissed it away.

Which of course complicates any future economic development plans, because all of your neighbors hate and mistrust you. So how do we proceed? In this case, I’m going to be taking on the role of Balon Greyjoy, but let’s say that in the wake of the disaster at the Mander, I have a Dickensian vision of the future that shakes me to the very core and causes a sudden conversion. So what do I do now?

Keep reading

I love the idea of a maritime crime syndicate as endgame for the
Greyjoy’s developmental focus.  It’s 1. Incredibly Greyjoy. 2. A logical
exploitation of a kind of power Westerosi houses do not usually engage
in – beyond the local protection rackets necessary to prop up a feudal
system.

My one issue is the supposition that the Braavosi wouldn’t contest rival navies for dominance of the merchant trade, or attempt to undermine a rival
bank. Someone write the fanfic where there’s a proxy war for the
Stepstones to settle the issue? 

Oh, there would absolutely be contestation, but it would depend on the circumstances. The Braavosi were willing to let the Three Daughters control the Stepstones until the Three Daughters got too greedy. The Iron Bank has rivals in Tyrosh and Lys and Myr and Pentos who they don’t try to destroy (and whom they probably do business with all the time), but they destroyed the Rogare bank because it got too big and too powerful for their liking.