The question was who’s the best who doesn’t have magical help. 

And given that we’ve only seen the Blackfish as a scout leader, yeah, I think Tarly’s better as far as we know. 

Probably Randall Tarly. 

Depends on if you want spoilers, but…

1. From leaked spoilers, Jon’s going to lead the ranging to Hardhome, fight some wights and walkers, and then get stabbed by his own men, who leave him for dead, where he is captured by the Night’s King. 

2. Melisandre doesn’t seem to be going on that ranging. She’s not in any of the Hardhome footage, and instead seems to be with Stannis on his campaign, wherever he is with the burning tents and whatnot.

3. That would seem to put Melisandre a couple hundred miles away from Jon when he dies from his stab wounds, as opposed to a few hundred feet away in ADWD. 

No. Tywin decided to retreat to Harrenhal at the Crossroads, he was much closer to it than Robb. 

And the problem everyone has with Harrenhal is that a small garrison can’t hold it, because it’s so big it’s too easy for someone to get over the wall in an undefended area. 

jeff22003:

racefortheironthrone:

It’s an interesting question. I can think of a number of possibilities: first, it may be that the fallout from the Blackfish might have made things more difficult if Hoster’s ability to speak for his kin was called into question. Second, the damage to his reputation by Tom o’Seven’s song might have made it more difficult – no one wants to marry their daughter to a man who potentially can’t consummate the marriage and sire some children. Third, given Edmure’s love for wenching, it may well be that he didn’t want to get tied down too early, so he may have resisted or drawn things out. Fourth, given that the Freys seem to have been pursuing him quite fiercely – it may be that Hoster was holding off, lest he offend some of his vassals by picking one and not another. 

As for Bran, I don’t think Eddard would have allowed that. He seems to have been very anti-fostering, probably due to the all-but-total loss of his own family at such a young age. 

That would also explain why Sansa and Arya weren’t sent to Lady Dustin or Maege Mormont as a cup bearer or something. Even though either would have prospered in either place and the relationships between either house could have been better than they were. 

Certainly. And why Jon wasn’t fostered with the Reeds I do not know, other than Eddard simply couldn’t bring himself to do it. 

It’s an interesting question. I can think of a number of possibilities: first, it may be that the fallout from the Blackfish might have made things more difficult if Hoster’s ability to speak for his kin was called into question. Second, the damage to his reputation by Tom o’Seven’s song might have made it more difficult – no one wants to marry their daughter to a man who potentially can’t consummate the marriage and sire some children. Third, given Edmure’s love for wenching, it may well be that he didn’t want to get tied down too early, so he may have resisted or drawn things out. Fourth, given that the Freys seem to have been pursuing him quite fiercely – it may be that Hoster was holding off, lest he offend some of his vassals by picking one and not another. 

As for Bran, I don’t think Eddard would have allowed that. He seems to have been very anti-fostering, probably due to the all-but-total loss of his own family at such a young age. 

It’s good dynastic politics. 

That’s a good question. I didn’t do a CBC for ADWD, but did incorporate it into my analyses. I’ve done a couple Quick Analyses for released chapters, so I might do one for books, similar to what I did for TWOW. Or I might do some podcasts. 

I dunno, what would people like? Let me know. 

Historically speaking, it’s incredibly difficult to restrain an army from sacking a city that falls during a siege. For example, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, as devout a Catholic as one could find in the Reformation and the most powerful man in Europe, couldn’t stop his largely Catholic army from sacking Rome – massacring the Swiss Guard almost to a man on the steps of St. Peter’s, looting almost every church and shrine in the whole of the city, and killing between 6-12,000 civilians. And that wasn’t a case where his men had their blood up – Charles V hadn’t paid his men in a while, so they just took their wages in plunder. 

As for Tywin, he didn’t care. I doubt he gave an order – his orders were to eliminate the royal family, which was the main political priority – because as far as he’s concerned, the smallfolk do not matter. His men sacking the city allows him to avoid paying some wages, so why not?