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Steven, just had a thought: When Mirri Maaz Duur starts performing her bloodmagic ritual on Drogo, Dany hasn’t gone into labor yet. Using Rhaego as the sacrifice had to be a spur-of-the-moment decision. Her original plan couldn’t have involved him, since she had no idea Dany would be present, let alone go into labor early. So what was her Plan A? How do things change if Dany isn’t thrown to the ground & the baby comes early?

I’m pretty sure you can take life force in vitro. I think it was the Plan A. 

I’m sure you’ll discuss this more once your CBC Analysis gets to ASOS, but am I right in thinking the Red Wedding was an extremely excessive reaction to breaking a betrothal? I see a lot fans say something to the effect of “Well, that’s what happens when you do something like that” but it seems to me like in Westeros and any society remotely like that, the Red Wedding is not what you do on such an occasion as a betrothal is broken.

It is excessive. As we’ve seen, sometimes broken betrayals just lead to strained relations, sometimes to rebellions, but murder that breaks the guest right taboo is way off the charts. 

What kind of authority over the other northern lords did Rodrik Cassel have as castellan of Winterfell and a mere landed knight? Would it have been easier to keep everyone in line to resist the ironborn invasion if Robb had had been an adult relation like Benjen to leave the job to instead?

Well, as castellan, he spoke with the authority of House Stark, and Ser Rodrik was able to round up a couple thousand men on the basis of that alone. But yes, I think had uncle Benjen been around as castellan, he would have been able to do things that Ser Rodrik couldn’t – like raise the Northern hill clans. 

Re Aegon and marriage alliances, what specifically would you have advised him to do differently? It doesn’t seem like Tywin’s opposite approach was much more succesful

He absolutely needed to make his children comply with these marriages. Whatever it took – whether that’s fostering his kids with their intendeds so they grew up around them (and not their own brothers and sisters who they wanted to marry), whether that’s assuring them sotto voce that once they get married and pop out an heir they can have all the paramours they want, etc. 

What do you think of King Aegon V’s reign, leaving aside your apprehensions about Summerhall. Is there enough to judge him as a decent King or see him as another failed good-man-in-power a la Ned Stark?

My opinion about Aegon V has changed as various retcons (War of Ninepenny Kings) and new information (WOIAF) have come in. For example, I had long thought that the War of Ninepenny Kings was an example of Egg learning from what he had seen as a child, and choosing to act swiftly rather than let Maelys make another crossing into Westeros. Instead, we learn that Aegon V fought a well-executed but unfortunately not definitive war against Daemon III, and then ignored the Band of Nine. 

I think Aegon V was in many ways ahead of his time, both in terms of what he wanted the monarchy to look like and what he wanted to do with monarchical power. I think his reforms were well-intentioned and would have represented a substantial improvement for the smallfolk of Westeros, but it was probably something of a mistake to try to enact them before establishing the coalition that would give them weight (that’s the order in which the WOIAF seems to suggest it happened in, although the WOIAF is problematic in organizing information so it’s possible that’s not the case). 

I do think we have to critique his mishandling of the marriage alliances. With the Baratheons, Tyrells, Tullys, and Redwynes united to the royal family by blood, I think Aegon might have been able to quell the rebellions and make his reforms stick. Instead, he had to fight new rebellions, and his reforms were undone by his own son and grandson. 

And in the end, I think Aegon was a frustrated king, who could envision a new world more clearly than he could bring it about, who decided to do something terrible for the best of all possible reasons.

What does Kevan give to Tywin that he doesn’t already have?

Well, Kevan’s a rare commodity for Tywin – a truly trustworthy subordinate. He’s completely loyal to House Lannister, both by birth and by inclination, and Tywin can trust him to act for the family in ways that he can’t your Paynes, Cleganes, or Lorches. 

Moreover, Kevan is a careful, cautious, and steady subordinate. He won’t exceed orders and kill everyone like your Gregor Cleganes or your Amory Lorches. He won’t get ideas into his head like Tyrion or go charging off like Jaime. He’ll do exactly what’s asked of him. 

You know, reading ‘The Red and The Black’ got me thinking–while there’s a strong dose of the Jacobite movement in the Blackfyres, enough to make it the primary inspiration, there’s another later bunch of royal pretenders who seem to have played a part. The implied Blackfyre succession squabbles, with figures like Aenys trying to jump the queue as it were brings to mind the great dynastic farce of the 19th-20th century, Carlism. It also covers certain regional aspects better. What do you think?

I’m less familiar with Carlism, but given Martin’s emphasis on British rather than Spanish history, I think Jacobitism is more likely.