RFTIT Tumblr Weeklyish Roundup

Hello everyone! Work continues on the High Spider Part II, and there’s going to be a cool Kickstarter/book announcement later today, but in the meantime we’ve got some Tumblrs:

• How do the Free Cities communicate long-distance?
• On the Cornwell Starbuck series:
  • Part I
  • Part II
• Byzantium as a slave society.
• A conversation on Varys’ theory and praxis. 
• A conversation on medieval booze vs. water:
  • Part I
  • Part II
• Why did Bloodraven ignore the west coast of the kingdom?
• What was House Peake’s original sigil? 
• The Stormbreakers:
  • Part I
  • Part II
• Does the rivalry between Dorne and the Reach vary within the kingdoms?
• Why did Varys pay for Gendry’s apprenticeship?
• Changing flags of the British Isles.
• How long to get from Westeros to Asshai?
• How would Econ Dev change in previous regimes?
• How did First Men polygamy work?

Politics of the Seven Kingdoms: Dorne (Part I)

Introduction:

The Dorne chapter of World of Ice and Fire is one I feel profoundly ambivalent about. On the one hand, of all of the kingdoms chapters it provides the most vivid portrait of a people, which does go to some lengths to giving Dornish culture more depth and variety. On the other hand, it is the least historical of any of the chapters, providing only a few snapshots of the very recent history of Dorne, which cannot help but give the chapter the feeling of a travelogue of an exoticized land, a land without history.

And this brings us to the issue of orientalism…

RFTIT Tumblr Weeklyish Roundup

Hello everyone! Just wanted to share a bit of personal news: my prosthetic finally arrived, so I am now capable of ambulation for the first time since mid-July. In terms of blogging, I will have a bit less free time for the next 4-5 weeks or so as I’ll be doing physical therapy in order to learn how to walk again. However, work continues on the Politics of Dorne Part I (doing a bit of research by brushing up on my Edward Said) and the Life of the High Spider Part II, so you won’t be contentless.

In the meantime, let’s see what we have on the Tumblrs:

ASOIAF:

• How could the Durrandons have done better in the Riverlands?
• Ned Stark on gender equality. 
• Feedback on Horn of Joramun theory:
  • Part I
  • Part II
  • Part III
  • Part IV
  • Part V
• On the maesters’ chains.
• The Freys and Riverlands numbers.
• Melisandre, Asshai, race, and magic:
  • Part I
  • Part II
• The misericorde.
  • Part II
• On standard-bearers:
  • Part I
  • Part II
  • Part III
• The downsides of medieval cities.
• Jon Connington and Myles Toyne:
  • Part I
  • Part II
• The Ironborn and the Arbor

Non-ASOIAF:

• D&D blogging, Session 3

The Headcanon Challenge: A Commentary on “The True Life of the High Spider,” Part I

So a while back, JSLAL from Wars and Politics of ASOIAF got a really interesting question on Tumblr, asking him to come up with a character who could fill in some of the gaps in Westerosi history. I really liked his response, and so when I got the same question, I decided to see if I could do one better.

(Much thanks goes out to @hiddenhistoryofwesteros and @cynicalclassicist for their assistance in pre-reading and editing this document.)

Below the cut is part one of the life of Lewys Flowers, the most infamous High Septon of all time.

X-Posted from Tumblr: A Theory on the Horn of Joramun

Based off a long conversation from Twitter, but I’ve started to have some ideas about the Horn of Joramun, one of the more significant objects in the series if assumptions are right that it will bring down the Wall.

The Horn is a curious object, because it seems to have a strong duality about it: it’s known as both the Horn of Winter and the Horn of Joramun, and it is supposed to have “woke giants from the earth” and it’s also supposed to have the power “bring this cold thing down.” And yet, even through Joramun was a King Beyond-the-Wall “in ancient days,” whom Jeor Mormont places as coming before the Horned Lord and the brothers Gendel and Gorne, and describes all of them as having “broke his strength on the Wall, or was broken by the power of Winterfell on the far side,” the Wall still stands.

Why did Joramun never use the Horn to bring down the Wall?

RFTIT Tumblr Weeklyish Roundup

Hello, everyone. Work continues on Dorne Part I, and you already know the rest of the game plan from last week.

So let’s jump straight into the Tumblrs:

• Will we see folks of the pre-Ned generation in Dunk & Egg?
• North/South divisions in England and its impact in fantasy:
  • Part I
  • Part II
• Medieval financial scams.
• The Horn and Oldtown.
• How did horses get off ships?
• Followup on Parcel of Rogues, Part II.
• Book series to adapt to big-budget TV.
• Renly’s original plan.
• Mace and Aerys:
  • Part I
  • Part II

A Parcel of Rogues in a Nation: On the Great Councils, Part II

Seemingly for the first time in recorded history, lords from all over Westeros had gathered together. The greatest Targaryen king in history had summoned them together to provide a peaceful mechanism for deciding the succession of the Iron Throne. And thanks to the fecklessness of Viserys I, their work would make a peace that would last only 28 years.

RFTIT Tumblr Weeklyish Roundup

Hey folks, I’m working on the Politics of Dorne, Part I, which will mark the end of the Politics of the Seven Kingdoms series, and after that comes Tyrion III and Catelyn III, which will put me up to the 25% mark on A Storm of Swords.

But in the meantime, we’ve got Tumblrs:

ASOIAF:

• Ysilla Royce and Harry Hardyng, a threat to House Arryn?
• Rhaegar, Lyanna, and chivalric romance.
• Debating dragonglass and wights.
• How big is Harrenhal?
• My entry into the “Headcanon Challenge.”
• The pre-Andal Citadel and its encounter with the Andal language.
• A Reach fleet on the Shield Islands.
• Parliaments and centralizing monarchies.
• Benioff and Weiss on themes.
• A CD Projekt Red version of ASOIAF:
  • Part I
  • Part II
  • Part III

Non-ASOIAF:

• D&D Blogging Session 2.
• Thoughts on Lear.

X-Posted from Tumblr: Why is the Faith of the Seven weaker than the Medieval Catholic Church?

hiddenhistoryofwesteros  asked:

Why is the Faith so weak in comparison to the RL Catholic Church?

Different paths of historical development, basically.

The IRL Medieval Catholic Church benefited from a number of factors:

• It was the only pan-Western European (pan-European, when Rome and Constantinople could agree that I + I = δύο) institution when the Roman Empire fell and the first medieval kingdoms of the Franks, the Lombards, etc. were forming. Not only did that give it a certain amount of prestige, but it also meant that it was the only institution that could coordinate across borders, the only common authority that feuding kingdoms might appeal to.
• It was the largest landowner in Europe at a time when land was the major source of political, economic, social, and military power. And because it was a corporate landowner, unlike with feudal lords, land wasn’t given away as dowries or split between sons or sold off to pay for ransoms, and there were no cases of the land falling into escheat because the only heir died intestate. The corporate entity kept growing and growing, century after century, and so the estates consolidated and could take advantage of economies of scale and do really long-range investments, making the Church a real economic engine of the Middle Ages.
• It was also almost exclusively the source of literacy, learning, and communication. Churchmen were the literate class, especially early on, so in every court in Europe there were clergy serving as officials of state, bureaucrats, scribes and secretaries, as well as their religious duties. Since Church Latin was the only common tongue in Europe – the lingua franca well before diplomats started speaking French – the Church was immensely important in international communication. Up until the invention of the printing press, monks copying out manuscripts was basically the only source of books.

The Faith had none of these advantages.

RFTIT Tumblr Weeklyish Roundup!

So Season 7’s over, my essay about LF’s schemes is up, and Sam I is around 11,000 words long (contender for longest ever, to be sure!). I’m still chugging away at that – and Parcel of Rogues Part II – and hoping to have it up by Monday.

But in the meantime, we got Tumblrs to talk about:

• Barriers to Stepstone growth.
• How lack of royal charters inhibit economic growth.
• Negotiating between lords and peasants.
• Why is Illyrio called a cheesemonger?
  • Part II
• Artisan working hours.
• What if Catelyn got pregnant in Cat II AGOT?
• Once more, re: the White Walkers.
  • Part II
• Wickenden and maps.
• Dany’s ritual and Nissa Nissa.
• What if Valarr’s sons had lived?
• Manderlys and Northern vassal relations.
• What happens to common foot soldiers if their army loses?
• Reclaiming your family lands.
• The Royces and Vale culture.
• Bear Island as a naval base.
• Speculation on Jon’s endgame and LOTR.
• Advice for non-incest fans in a Jon/Dany world.