RFTIT Tumblr Weeklyish Roundup

Hey folks, now that Sansa IV is done, the decks have been cleared for the Purple Wedding. But before we can get to those festivities, we need to deal with the Tumblr backlog. Thankfully, we’ve got some good stuff for your reading pleasure.

ASOIAF:

• How plausible is copper currency in Westeros?
• When did trial by combat fall out of favor in Europe?
• What is the state of optometry in Westeros?
• What power did an underage monarch have during their regency?
• In the Robin Hood era, what did sheriffs do?
• Lawyers in medieval England.
• Institutional memory and changing institutions in medieval Europe.
• Why is Judah Macabee one of the Nine Worthies?
• King Robert and wardship over Robert Arryn.
• What if Sansa doesn’t attend the Purple Wedding?
• What if Ned isn’t killed after he confesses in AGOT?
• Why don’t the Lannisters have a bigger fleet?
• How to abolish the right of pit and gallows.
• How often did knights fight other knights rather than infantry?

Non-ASOIAF:

• Question about the Killing Joke.
• Hercules and the other Greek Gods in Marvel’s Thor.
• Thoughts on Hickman leaving the X-books.
• Why was Winston Churchill not re-elected after WWII?
• The Crisis of the Bedchamber.

Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Sansa IV, ASOS

Pages: 1 2

“They have made me a Lannister, Sansa thought bitterly.“

Synopsis: Sansa and Tyrion attend Joffrey’s wedding breakfast and everything goes smoothly.

SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.

RFTIT Tumblr Weeklyish Roundup

Hey folks! Now that Tyrion VII is done and Sansa IV is coming up on the horizon, it’s high time we had a Tumblr Roundup, because we’ve got some good stuff on the docket.

ASOIAF:

• Westerosi accents.
• Why did Cersei choose to have three children?
• Corlys’ motives with regards to the Stepstones.
  • Followup on the Stepstones.
• A discussion on Stannis and Targaryen loyalists.
• How common was it for swords to break and be reforged?
• Did knights use crossbows from horseback?
• Why was John of Gaunt hated?
• John of Gaunt’s place in the succession.
• Why was Edward II so unpopular?
• Contemporary English historical terms.
• Would Aegon have done better going straight to the smallfolk?
• Varys’ original plan in King’s Landing.
• What is Varys’ perfect prince supposed to do?
• My process for writing chapter-by-chapter essays.
• Would Baelor Breakspear’s line have ended even if he’d survived Ashford?
• Renaissance popes as crypto-atheistic rakes.
• Could peasants working in royal households get patronage?
• Could commoners working in royal households sell their royal gifts?

Non-ASOIAF:

• The length of fantasy novels.
• Color palettes of medieval fantasy.
• Marvel’s What If?
• Why is the Mona Lisa in the Louvre?
• A case study of academic columbusing.
• International reactions to the American Civil War?
• Does D.C have progressive metaphors?

Patron Questions:

• “What is the most mundane detail that writers usually get wrong in their worldbuilding? Economic, military, social, whatever–just which detail is usually wrong?”
  • That’s a tricky question. It’s probably something like sanitation or travel speeds or something like that.
• “How do you think fAegon is going to get a dragon, so we can get Dance of Dragons Mk II over King’s Landing in The Winds of Winter?”
  • I think Dany will invite him to ride a dragon, thinking he’ll end up like Quentyn because he’s not a real Targaryen, only to find that it doesn’t work and he rides the dragon just fine. This will be the straw that gets her to launch into her dragon duel above the city.
• “Will King’s Landing still be the capital of Westeros at the end of this, or will it basically be a charred ruin?“
  • Probably both.

Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Tyrion VII

Pages: 1 2

“I survived the Green Fork and the Blackwater, I can bloody well survive King Joffrey’s wedding.”

Synopsis: Tyrion gets ready for a wedding with a bit of early morning delight.

SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.

RFTIT Tumblr Weeklyish Roundup

Hey folks, now that Dany V is done it’s time to burn off some built-up stuff on the tumblrs so that we’re current. So here goes!

ASOIAF:

• A discussion on Bloodraven:
  • Part I
  • Part II
• Uses of the glass candles.
  • Part II
  • Part III
• What if the Vale joined Robb?
• Were the Five Forts built to guard against White Walkers?
• Robb Stark and Harrion Karstark.
• How do the Tullys stay on top of the Brackens and Blackwoods?
  • Part II
  • Part III
• Shavepate’s motivations.

Non-ASOIAF:

• Was the Great Society a perversion of the New Deal? No.
• Why is Franklin Richards no longer a mutant?
• Why did the (contemporaneous) British Parliament strengthen the state while the Polish Sejm weakened it?
• Thoughts on the Locked Tomb novels.

Patron Questions:

• “Do you have any ideas on how to build an economy where a sixth of the population can make plants grow with magic and another sixth can ‘plant’ metal in depleted mines and form new veins? I keep trying and I mentally freeze up every time I try.”
  • So what you’re dealing with is a scenario in which there is limited scarcity in agriculture and mining, but not no scarcity because labor still has to go into harvesting and mining, and then processing and manufacturing. So start with lower prices for food and metal ores and work from there – does this mean real wages are higher, because food is cheaper? Are farm incomes lower, because supply is less constrained? Are manufactured goods cheaper and more abundant because their raw materials inputs are cheaper?
• “I recently sprung for the X of Swords hardcover. What should I read before cracking it open?”
  • The main thing you need to read for the X of Swords event is the Tini Howard/Marcus Toh Excalibur run, which does a lot o work setting up the X of Swords event. Other than Excalibur, you don’t really need much since you’re already pretty caught up on Dawn of X.

Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Daenerys V, ASOS

Pages: 1 2

I will have this city, Dany pledged to herself once more.

Synopsis: Dany wrestles with strategic and personnel dilemmas during the siege of Meereen.

SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.

RFTIT Tumblr Weeklyish Roundup

Hey folks! I’m hard at work on Dany V – about 7700 words in, closing in on the end – but it’s been a while since I updated the blog, so I have some Tumblr roundup stuff that I’ve been meaning to post, so here goes.

ASOIAF:

• Worldbuilding travel times.
• An extended discussion on Queens of Love and Beauty:
  • Part I
  • Part II
  • Part III
  • Part IV
• Aegon’s legitimations and the succession.
• How difficult would it be to tunnel underneath the Blackwater Rush?
• What would happen if Roose Bolton hadn’t led at the Green Fork?
• Worldbuilding question: origins of inequality.
• The Waif and the Faceless Men’s relationship to wealth.
• Why the Night’s Watch wear black.

Non-ASOIAF:

• Top X-Men stories.
• Thoughts on Hickman’s Xavier.
• Thoughts on Hickman’s run on X-Men and Dawn of X.
• How stock markets worked in the 18th century.
• How did progression through military ranks work between 17th-19th century?

Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Bran IV, ASOS

Pages: 1 2

“It is only another empty castle,” Meera Reed said as she gazed across the desolation of rubble, ruins, and weeds.No, thought Bran, it is the Nightfort, and this is the end of the world.

Synopsis: Bran tells some stories, and then becomes one.

SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.

By Popular Demand: Machiavellianism for a Purpose

Pages: 1 2

Introduction:

“In the Game of Thrones, you win or you die.” – much of the fandom seems to internalize the cynical logic that ruthlessness is the prime determinant of success. We can see this most vividly in the “Stupid Ned” meme, where the doomed protagonist of the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) is mocked for his hapless naiveté in the midst of King’s Landing’s “nest of vipers.”

But is it accurate that ruthlessness, pure and simple, is the key to victory and survival in Westeros? The thesis of this essay is, in so far as we can take success or failure in the narrative of ASOIAF as a hint to George R.R Martin’s own political theorizing, that this is not the case. An idealistic attachment to codes of honorable behavior can trip up politicians who fail to guard themselves from the unethical, but it’s also the case that those who embrace Machiavellianism for Machiavellianism’ sake ultimately find their achievements last no longer than their ability to inspire fear. More lasting success ultimately comes from those who can marry pragmatism in their methods to an overarching purpose that can inspire the hearts and minds of Westerosi.

After all, if brutality was the only measure of a prince, why is it that the blood-soaked Maegor the Cruel reigned for only six years, failed to sire an heir, and ended up murdered on his own throne, while the peaceful Jaehaerys the Conciliator ruled for over fifty years, sired the Targaryen dynasty, and is remembered three hundred years later as the best of kings?

RFTIT Tumblr Weeklyish Roundup, Part II

Ok, time to finish off the Tumblr backlog before diving into the Nightfort!

ASOIAF:

• Was medieval Parliament similar to modern Parliaments?
• How close were peasant revolts to modern strikes?
• The Iron Bank’s loans to the Night’s Watch.
• Was there medieval cryptocurrency?
• How to repair Littlefinger’s corruption?

Non-ASOIAF:

• The difference(s) between X-Men, X-Factor, and X-Force.
• Why have so many adaptations of the Dark Phoenix Saga failed?
• A discussion of Krakoan resurrection.
• The Krakoan resurrection protocols.
• A discussion of the Krakoan Crucible.
• Krakoan iolationism.
• Human-mutant solidarity.
• Thoughts on Charles Xavier.
• Thoughts on X-Corp #1.
• Thoughts on Xcoin and Krakoan monetary policy.
• Why did Killmonger become a kid on the ancestral plane?
• Why are some Kree blue and others pale-skinned?
• Thoughts on Theodore Roosevelt.
• Why do some argue that the New Deal made things worse?
• British Airways Flight 5390.

Patron Questions:

• 1. Since the next Daenerys-Chapter is coming up, I wanted to ask, if the “White Saviour”-Dilemma in the Slavers-Bay-Storyline is not perhaps a bit of a Catch-22? I mean, if it is wrong for Dany to participate in slavery (or at least commit the sin of omission by tolerating it), but also wrong to act against slavery, then what possible choice is left? 2. A Non-ASOIF-Question: Your thoughts on Wandavision?
  • 1. Well, arguably the answer is to support existing indigenous voices for change, but that’s not really possible in the setup GRRM went with, so Dany really did have to make use of her privilege as a force for good.
  • 2. Wrote about it here.
• What does the structure of the existing novels, especially the first three, suggest to you about the remaining story? If ASOIAF is following a rough three-act structure, where do you think we are at the end of ADWD and how much is left? (To me, Books 1 – 3 read as Act 1, but I don’t think we’ll reach the end of Act 2 until the Battles of Ice and Fire and maybe the second Dance of the Dragons are done. This says to me there has to be at least an eighth book and maybe even a ninth. I suspect Winds is taking so long because George knows this too and is fighting it.)
  • I don’t think 1-3 are Act 1. If anything, I think they’re Acts 1-3. With 4+5 acting as a very long Act 4, with the last two books being a very long Act 5.
• What’s your favorite Historical Economic Event and what happened?
  • The South Seas Bubble. I write about it all the time. It was a giant Ponzi scheme that almost swallowed the early 18th century British economy.

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