boiledleather:

You bet!

Thinking about this for a second:

– Hedge Knight is a pretty straightforward underdog sports movie. Come on, guys, Ol’ Man Maekar’s going to have the rec center torn down unless we can beat that rich asshole Aerion in a game of seven-on-seven!

– Mystery Knight – a quasi-noir with a patsy protagonist who refuses to stay dead.

My hope is that, over 50-odd years, Bloodraven has gained some wisdom and perspective. I think that’s where his story is going, anyway. 

My reading of Targaryen inheritance law, post the Great Council of 101 and the decrees of Aegon II, is that a woman cannot rule until all male collateral relations are exhausted. It’s not saying that a woman could never rule – post Blackfyre Rebellion, Daemon II redid the rules so that a woman inherits ahead of a legitimized bastard. 

So after Viserys died, Robert became the rightful heir as the closest collateral male relation, but Dany would inherit ahead of Edric Storm if Edric was legitimized. 

As to other Houses: the Martells probably have the edge against the Penroses, as the connection to Aegon IV is more proximate than that to Aegon III. 

Then it probably goes House Velaryon, given their repeated connections with the Targaryens and their Valyrian blood, then the Hightowers, assuming that one of Garmund’s daughters bred back into the line, then probably the Arryns. 

In AGOT: tossup between Edmure’s defense of the Riverlands and Jaime’s attack at Whispering Woods. 

In ACOK: Balon’s invasion of the North. Battle of the Fords counts for consequences, but makes a basic sense. 

In ASOS: does Duskendale and the Ruby Ford count, given that they’re intentional losses? 

In AFFC: Euron sending the Iron Fleet to Essos right after invading the Reach. Cersei’s blunders are mostly political, but shipping out the new royal fleet?

In ADWD: Dany’s inaction in Meereen, basically letting herself get besieged without a fight. 

I find the Dance of the Dragons kind of uninteresting for the most part – compared to the War of Five Kings, the Blackfyre Rebellions, or Robert’s Rebellion, it’s not as well plotted. 

The Greens especially act like jobbers – they don’t really win unless there’s treachery involved (Tumbleton) or a deus ex machina (Honeywine), or if they take hideous losses and make it Pyrrhic (Rook’s Rest, Gullet), and they take some huge losses which make major figures seem a bit pathetic (Aemond and the loss of King’s Landing, Criston Cole and the Butcher’s Ball, the Lannisters and the Fishfeed, Daeron and Second Tumbleton, Borros Baratheon and the Battle of the Kingsroad), etc. 

Whereas the Blacks seem to always inflict crushing, devastating defeats without suffering them in return. The Battle of the Kingsroad is a good example: the Baratheons are completely fresh, the Riverlanders have been fighting the whole time, taking casualties along the way, and somehow 40,000 Stormlanders get stomped by 4,000 Riverlanders. 

And Robert’s Rebellion seems pretty well studied. 

If they’ve got money to spare, certainly. Especially with House Tarly’s new connection to Maidenpool, there’s a beach-head there. 

If I were them, I’d focus my efforts at the area around Stony Sept, Pinkmaiden, Acorn Hall, etc. which are reasonable close to the borders of the Reach and easier to incorporate. 

I don’t know if I’d say that there is an ideological successor, necessarily, as the two situations don’t really match up. The Greens, after all, were arguing for male preference (and both Daemon and Daeron were male), and the Blacks for the importance of the last will and testament (so maybe that’s the Reds? But on the other hand, the Blacks were using Blackfyre as a sort of will, so it’s sort of both). 

The argument in Robert’s Rebellion was pretty straightforward – is the King of Westeros absolute or can he be held accountable for transgressions against noblemen? 

madeinmyr:

racefortheironthrone:

If it’s anything like the historical traditions of Renaissance Italy that gave birth to the courtesan – it’s not that noble ladies are absent from social life, but rather than they’re absent from public venues. They of course did a huge amount of socializing in their own homes and the homes of other people of their class and other respectable venues. 

In Mercy, we’re talking about a theater, and a lowly theater at that. The theater was generally associated with vice – prostitutes did a lot of business at the theater in this period, so for a high class women to be seen at the theater was to lose one’s reputation and good name. Indeed, one of the reasons the Elizabethan theater banned women from acting on stage was that it was believed that actors turned tricks on the side to supplement their wages, on the grounds that if you’re making your money from displaying your body in one way, you must be up for doing it in another. 

We think this aspect of Braavos does not have an obvious direct historical parallel. The courtesans aren’t prostitutes or mistresses with low respectability who high class men can take to low class establishments. Rather, they’re celebrities with very high respectability (and perhaps some license to appear in less than respectable places, a license that is not extended to more bourgeois women). The leading courtesans are the ones who determine the prevailing high class fashions which all Braavosi women of means do their best to imitate. Being seen with a courtesan in a public place is like being seen today with a world famous Hollywood actress or a New York model dressed in the most cutting edge designer outfits. Although the Otharys scions might end up sleeping with the courtesans accompanying them, it’s not actually required or the most important thing. The most important thing is being seen: being seen with a courtesan or being visited by a courtesan serves to remind people that you’re a big shot. Such gestures are especially important with the current Sealord ailing and a choosing on the horizon and with it a change of administration. The great courtesans also have personal followings of bravos, men skilled in street fighting.

I don’t know about without historical parallel. 

The Renaissance Italians certainly distinguished between the cortigiana onesta, who were lauded as witty intellectuals who one could be seen with in public, and the cortigiana di lume, who while a high-class prostitute, was still a prostitute. 

But even in the case of the cortigiana onesta, it wasn’t normally the case that noble families would raise their daughters to be courtesans or be ok with their daughters being associated with courtesans, because that would damage their marriage prospects; and even quite famous courtesans could find their lives to be extremely precarious if they were accused of witchcraft or a mob decided to loot their house (as happened to famous Venetian courtesan and poet Veronica Franco). There are some cases of noble-born courtesans –  La Castiglione, for example – but it was pretty rare, and even when it happened would typically lead to scandal. 

So my guess is that sober Bravosi businessmen would be thrilled to be seen out in public with a famous courtesan, but they’d probably challenge you to a duel if you called their sister or daughter a courtesan.