Hey folks, it’s that time of the week again! I’m still working simultaneously on Tyrion XI, Jon VII, and Sansa IV, which is a bit daunting but the writing is coming along well and I expect Jon VII to be up on Monday. There’s only one item of news – for those of you who are fans of the new Jessica Jones show on Netflix, I’ll be doing guest appearances on an episode-by-episode podcast with the fine folks at Graphic Policy Radio. The first episode will be airing live on Sunday, so tune in.
Now to the Tumblrs:
- Why is Lannisport a big city?
- An exchange on retcons and continuity stuff.
- Westerosi stagnation.
- An exchange on the Riverlands #s problem and Harrenhal.
- Rhaegar’s last words.
- What does “nation” mean in Planetos?
- A dialogue on Stannis and monarchy.
- On the Targaryen crowns. (BTW, thanks Steven Xue for consistently asking great questions!)
- How to fix Harrenhal:
- Vetinari in Westeros.
- How to govern the Riverlands from the North.
- On Lyonel Baratheon’s rebellion.
- A discussion about the Faceless Men and EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL.
Race for the Iron Throne 
Steven,
I think the only person who likes canals more than you is this guy:
https://screen.yahoo.com/johnny-canal-000000884.html
Steve-like your comments as always and LOL to Rhaegar being obsessed with well…Rhaegar. I actually have always felt that the guy was probably insufferable and probably the source of Jon’s more annoying emo tendencies. Fortunately Jon’s Northern upbringing and time as a Crow have helped to counter them quite a bit.
Have always thought that the Rock must be pretty gloomy, but that Lannisport was probably a pretty nice place.
And the countdown to Blackwater Week continues!
I honestly think the fandom’s gotten so hard on Rhaegar of late that it’s another example of obsessive “deconstruction” actively setting itself against what’s written in the books. (And ignoring that the so-called “deconstruction” isn’t actually very original. when you get down to it.)
And I’m pretty sure that the mopiness and self-indulgence comes from both parents, myself. Again, “Knight of the Laughing Tree” people.
You may have a point on both accounts. I think most of my dislike for Rhaegar comes from
a. Lack of indication he had a sense of humor or irony.
b. Everyone constantly harping on how unbelievably beautiful and noble he was. After a while it reminds me of the way Bella moons after Edward in Twilight and it really irritates me.
So perhaps I’m not entirely fair.
And yeah, I do feel that Lyanna’s actions suggest a certain amount of well…selfishness without considering the long term consequences. Again it’s almost certainly all for the good that having taken the Black, Jon has been forced to practice an extreme form of self-abnegation. It’s helped curb that tendency considerably. Also I can’t say how grateful we all must be that Jon *wasn’t* raised to consider himself a Targaryen burdened with Glorious Purpose and Destiny so he didn’t develop that Messiah complex Dany has.
“selfishness without considering the long term consequences” — in other words, teenager! LOL. I think Lyanna’s behavior was a typical decision of what a starry-eyed fifteen-year-old girl dissatisfied with her current life and probable future might do. There’s a reason you have to be sixteen to drive, seventeen to join the Army, and eighteen to vote or sign contracts (where I live). Tl;dr, this is why I don’t put any blame on Lyanna. She’s fifteen.
Rhaegar, on the other hand, was a GROWN ASS MARRIED MAN who took advantage of that infatuated teen. What about your wife and little kids, Rhaegar? He might have at least seen to their safety instead of leaving them in the clutches of Crazy Dad.
Lyanna was a typical teenager, but I still think Rhaegar was a self-important tool. Jon’s upbringing saved him – I don’t just mean going to the Wall, I mean being brought up at Winterfell among sane people.
In ASOIAF fandom you tend to see really far swings back and forth on how to interpret characters and events.
With Rhaegar it was ‘they were in love’ and then ‘he tricked her and didn’t care about her at all’. Because of this my own personal view is ‘Rhaegar probably did not out of the blue kidnap Lyanna and he probably was focused on his prophecy but we are not certain of the details of their relationship at this time’.
I think that Vetinari gets a bit too much credit. He’s mishandled a number of crises and it only turned out alright because there was some really skilled individual or useful creature* to provide the key to resolving things.
*Errol from Guards! Guards!, Leonard from Jingo, Vimes and Carrot from Men at Arms.