No, I don’t even partially subscribe to the theory; I merely added some footnotes to acknowledge that there’s a debate in the fandom. And just to be clear, in footnote 1 of Part I, I was referring to the Andal Conquest not Aegon’s Conquest, although I will clear that up (along with much else) when I combine all three parts.
Tag: asoiaf meta
Could Tywin have asked Robert to release Jaime from the Kingsguard immediately after the rebellion? And send him back to Casterly Rock. Also if the answer is yes, I don’t understand why he didn’t do it.
He could have asked, but Robert wouldn’t have necessarily said yes…
However, the way Tywin phrases it here suggests that he did see Jaime’s vow as binding until recently:
Lord Tywin glanced at Jaime’s stump again. “You cannot serve in the Kingsguard without a sword hand—”
“I can,” he interrupted. “And I will. There’s precedent. I’ll look in the White Book and find it, if you like. Crippled or whole, a knight of the Kingsguard serves for life.”
“Cersei ended that when she replaced Ser Barristan on grounds of age. A suitable gift to the Faith will persuade the High Septon to release you from your vows. Your sister was foolish to dismiss Selmy, admittedly, but now that she has opened the gates—” (Jaime VII, ASOS)
So it may well have been that he thought at the time that it was unthinkable that a member of the Kingsguard would be dismissed from office, but once it happened, he was happy enough to use the precedent (and a fair bit of bribery) to get what he wanted.
Does the term “The Great Bastards” apply to people like Brynden’s sisters or the children of Lord Butterwell’s three daughters (illegitimate children of nobly born women), or is it limited only to Daemon, Brynden, and Aegor? And do you think there might be other Great Bastards that we just haven’t been introduced to yet?
The term “Great Bastard” was given to all those of Aegon IV’s acknowledged bastard children from noblewomen, so it does include Brynden’s sisters, as well as Shiera Seastar.
It doesn’t include Jeyne Lothston (who could well have been his daughter by Falena Stokeworth as well as his mistress) because she wasn’t acknowledged, or Merry Meg’s daughters because she wasn’’t highborn although those children were acknowledged, or Bellegere Otherys’ children because she wasn’t a noblewoman and there was a question as to paternity.
What real-world precedents are their for the KingsGuard? Are they usually a state’s ‘best’ soldiers? I’ve always wondered that having to stand around on guard duty all day (especially for when the royal family waxes large) would make them less effective than a conventional, regularly working sellsword. How did they maintain their fearsome reputation?
The Kingsguard are something of a pastiche between your Royal Guards (think the guys in the giant bearskin hats) and various historical orders of knighthood: the Knights of the Garter or the Knights of the Golden Fleece.
They tended not to be the best soldiers per se, but the most disciplined, because you wanted them to be on their guard to defend the person of the monarch. Hence why Royal Guards “may not eat, sleep, smoke, stand easy, sit or lie down during your tour of duty.“
The Headcanon Challenge: A Commentary on “The True Life of the High Spider,” Part III
Harys Swyft’s Coup
How was Harys Swyft able to consolidate power over the government so fast? The two Kettleblacks were arrested by Kevan, not Swyft, so why’d they stick around for Kevan to show up? Why’d Osfryd tolerate being stripped of command of the Goldcloaks without causing a Goldcloak civil war between himself and Humfrey Waters? And what was Osmund doing? Why didn’t Swyft remove him too? Wouldn’t the two have reason to skip town once they heard of Cersei’s arrest, like Owen Merryweather and Aurane Waters? And why did Qyburn tolerate being kicked off the Small Council? Why didn’t he move first and have Swyft ousted?
- It was really Pycelle running the show, and Pycelle has decades of experience in royal government.
- Osmund couldn’t run, he was a member of the Kingsguard. Osfryd was either loyal to his brothers or lacked the initiative to go on his own.
- Who’d fight for Osfryd? Osfryd’s a transparent henchman of a deposed queen, so he doesn’t have any political influence after Cersei’s arrested. (Add to that that his brother’s just confessed to treason, perjury, aatnd murdering the High Septon.) Osfryd is an incompetent and frankly a bit dim, and he has absolutely no connections to the Goldcloaks, having been named about two months prior. By contrast, Humfrey Waters is the former captain of the Dragon Gate – he’s got substantial experience in the City Watch and likely made more than his share of friends – and has the backing of the King, the Hand, and the Grand Maester.
- Probably stuck guarding the King.
- Pycelle probably considered him less of a threat b/c he’s just one knight.
- See above.
- What’s Qyburn’s alternative? He’s Cersei’s appointee, and Cersei’s just been arrested. He has no pull with Tommen, no one in royal government knows or trusts him.
How do ravens work? Do most ravens need to be carried back to their castle by land after flying?
The ravenry system of the maesters is a very complicated point-to-point communication system, based on the historical use of homing pigeons. As with homing pigeons, most ravens are one-directional and have to be transported back to their homes to be used again, and the system as a whole works because maesters in each castle have a bunch of ravens trained to go to different castles, which they then share around to maintain contact.
However, there are some birds that are an exception:
The maester mopped sweat from his brow with his sleeve. “N-not entirely, Your Grace. Most, yes. Some few can be taught to fly between two castles. Such birds are greatly prized. And once in a very great while, we find a raven who can learn the names of three or four or five castles, and fly to each upon command. Birds as clever as that come along only once in a hundred years.” (TWOW)
Evidently, the Citadel haven’t figured out the historical trick that you can reliably get homing birds to go in two directions “by placing their food at one location and their home at another location.”
Is there any particular reasoning behind the Watch’s horn blast System (1 for Rangers, 2 for Wildlings, 3 for Others)?
As for why that order…it’s about dramatic tension. The sudden spike in tension that comes from going from one blast meaning “friends” to two blasts meaning “enemies” doesn’t work if it goes one = wildlings and two = rangers.
Likewise, the two/three structure allows for a further spike in tension: you thought you were dealing with a regular enemy, but now you’re dealing with a much more dangerous threat!
Two questions about bastardry if you’ll oblige. Firstly, is Catelyn’s fear of Jon’s children vying for control of Winterfell reasonable? Secondly, in AGOT Ned vehemently declares that Jon, as a bastard, would be shunned at court but we don’t really see that level of prejudice throughout the series; is this something GRRM decided to tone down a bit?
- Broadly, yes. It’s a bit exaggerated – Catelyn does after all have three sons whom Ned has all claimed as his own, so a Daemon Blackfyre scenario is not likely – but there havee been cases where bastards have challenged or surplanted their trueborn kin (looking at you Ronard Dondarrion né
Storm, you cunning so and so).
- I’m not sure how to view that comment, because I think you could see it from a number of angles. One answer is that Ned, wanting to keep Jon’s secret, does not want an entire court’s worth of gossips and conspirators wondering who the mother is. Another might be that Ned, not being familiar with King’s Landing politics, has overestimated the prejudice – it could well be the case that Jon would be sneered at behind his back or by the Lannisters, but a Hand’s favored bastard son is not a bad person for a courtier to cultivate. A third might be that court ettiquette follows the monarch – given Cersei’s murderous dislike of Robert’s bastards, she might have set the standard that bastards period are not welcome at her court. And finally, it might be an example of early installment weirdness.
While your note about chainmail under plate armour was informative, I can’t help but wincingly imagine that people sometimes got hit really hard in those flexible places and got rings of chainmail buried in their skin. Do we know much about what kind of injuries knights and similarly armoured fighters sustained in the course of battle?
Well, people did wear heavy quilted gambesons between the chainmail and their skin, but yes, having chainmail rings driven into someone’s flesh absolutely could and did happen.
As to what kinds of injuries could happen, let me introduce you to a favorite of medieval surgical manuals, the Wound Man:
The Wound Man was supposed to teach surgeons and other medical professionals all the different ways that someone could be injured. To take a quick inventory by body part:
- Head: hit by a club, hit by a rock, stabbed by a poinard/misericorde, stabbed by a knife.
- Shoulders/arms: slashed by a saber, hit by a rock, shoulder broken by a hammer, elbow broken by a club, hand cut off by a cannonball, hand partially cut off.
- Torso: shot with an arrow, stabbed by a javelin, run through with a sword, stabbed by a poinard/misericorde.
- Legs: boils, shot with an arrow with the shaft intact, arrowhead left embedded after shaft breaks, leg pierced by a spear, foot stabbed with a spear, treading on a thorn, leg broken by a cannonball.
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