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Let’s say at the beginning of the series you could take anyone’s position on the Small Coincil, even Hand, which would you choose, why, and what would you try and accomplish given the state of the monarchy at the time? (And please don’t say master of ships so you can pull an Aurane Waters and get the heck outta westeros and head to the summer isles).

tcarve:

racefortheironthrone:

Master of Coins. Build a canal linking the Mander to the Blackwater and the Trident to Ironman’s Bay. Charge 10 gold a ship, that’ll put a significant dent in the debt. 

I can think of several problems with that.

  1. The crown is already waist deep in debt at the start of the series. Where is the initial capital for this mammoth undertaking coming from?
  2. Per your analysis of the series the Westerosi monarchy is pretty weak. How would you convince the lords upon whose land these canals will be dug to cooperate? Would you allow them to tax shipping too?
  3. Connecting the Trident to Ironman’s Bay seems likely to meet with a lot of resistance from the Riverlords. Is it really a good idea to provide the Ironborn with easy access to the Trident? There would probably still be memories of Ironborn rule in the Riverlands, and I doubt anyone’s trusting the Greyjoys not to exploit such a strategic weakness when Balon’s first rebellion was only nine years previous.

1. That’s a fair point. My only argument would be that the true state of the crown’s debt and income is highly uncertain, as Littlefinger cooked the books hardcore. 

2. Yeah, they’d get a share. And they’d benefit from the improvements to their local economy – as their smallfolk get richer, they get richer.

3. You can more easily close off a canal than a river, and the Ironborn can already get from IB to the Trident by portaging their boats – as Harwyn Hoare did when he conquered the Riverlands. 

Tyrion & Young Griff play a game of cyvasse where Tyrion badgers Young Griff into turning west instead of east — to take Westeros before Daenerys can get there and await Dany’s movement to him. Why do you think Tyrion manipulated Aegon to invade Westeros without Daenerys or her dragons? Given that Tyrion is later shocked that Young Griff took the “bait”, there has to be some sort of plan or at least intent behind it. I haven’t been able to come up with a good answer; so I’m kicking it to you.

Yes. I think Tyrion’s plan was to get to Dany before the Griffs/Illyrio and Varys did, so that he could become her adviser and box out the Griffs/I+V from influencing her. And contrary to his think about Dany being a rescuer, I think she’ll see Young Griff on the Iron Throne as a challenge to her rights.

Had the Griffs arrived in Meereen with the Golden Company and broken the siege so that Dany didn’t have to marry Hizdahr, I think she probably would have agreed to marry Young Griff – he’s a very good-looking dude, he’s helped her win the war, and he’d probably pass the dragon test (people always forget that the Blackfyres have a lot of Targaryen blood in them, more than Dany does). 

Status Update

book2

Hey folks, just wanted to update you on some things coming up:

  • New essay series at Tower of the Hand: “The Blacks and the Reds,” examining the Blackfyre Rebellion, will start this week with a mammoth Part I, examining the causes of the First Rebellion and who fought for which side.
  • Associated with that, I’m hopefully going to be collaborating with the awesome people at History of Westeros Podcast

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While we’re on the topic of Winterfel; what do you think of the flying snake that breathed fire that Summer saw after the fall of WInterfel? Do you think the Stark tradition of having a Stark maintaining the seat works as an ignition for some kind of blood magic? And after listening to the Bran chapters with the Children beneath the earth, do you think the Crypts of Winterfel share that in common for a reason or just a death rite?

Might have been a vision, not sure. Haven’t re-read that chapter yet. 

Ingnition, fail-safe, keeping the spells active, don’t know, but it’s something like that. 

Need to refresh my memory about Bran in ADWD.

I have a different theory about the origin of the wildlings, and I think it matches the text better: selective immigration. You don’t like living under an Umber, you move North. You think it’s wrong for people in the same village to marry, you move North. You still want to sacrifice people to the trees, you move North. After the Others fade from living memory, the prospect seems far less daunting.

Problem with that theory is that there’s zero evidence for anyone migrating over the Wall, and it’s not at all clear that the NW would allow anyone to pass north of the Wall, especially early on. 

Likewise, wildling oral tradition is that the Wall was built with them already north of it. 

Do you think the Varyspiracy regarding Shae and Tywin is true? I.E. “Varys drugged Tywin and Shae, put Shae in Tywin’s bed, and then set the whole thing up for Tyrion to find and kill Tywin?” Some of it certainly seems set up.

That goes too far. I think Tywin is weird enough to ask for Shae, Varys was probably his hookup back in the day, Varys then sends Tyrion in, knowing his likely reaction and that there’s weapons accessible.