But they know, historically, that dragons existed. They have a nice display of their skulls in Red Keep, sorted by date (and corresponding decreasing size) - according to Viserys’s conversation with…I don’t remember her name, bathtub chick, Dany’s handmaid. I doubt they got rid of that after the Targeryens were ousted.
Maybe they think the historical sequence can be extrapolated, and her dragons are never going to get bigger than teacup poodle size 
We saw Arya exploring the dragon skull crypt back in season one.
They also know that the white walkers existed historically, and yet they do nothing when the Night’s Watch (essentially a branch of the governement) says they are coming. I just don’t see the people in charge being convinced in the unextinction of dragons until there’s three of them circling overhead, setting fire to things.
Varys, who is smart and has lots of trustworthy foreign sources will probably believe it if he hears it from the right person. Tywin Lannister seems more of a “show me” kind of guy.
Hm. Interesting stuff.
Also, it just hit me that Dany doesn’t have to buy boats but merely procure passage. It’s a lot cheaper to buy a ferry ticket than to buy the whole damn ferry, much less a whole fleet of ferries.
True, but the Nightwatch has been asking for better quality of recruits since ages.
As it is, the Wall is currently out of bounds for the Lannisters, being north of enemy controlled territory and in a god forsaken place, so getting reliable information information is iffy. Astapor was a free city with easy access, even if Tywin does not believe immidietly that Dany destroyed it with Dragons he is going to find out soon enough that its been reduced to a cinder and that there was a massacre and that will probably pique his interest enough to order intelligence that will reveal the truth to him.
I think the people of Westeros think of dragons the way we think of dinosaurs. Sure, they existed once, but in their minds dragons are extinct. Hearing rumors of dragons across the sea would be like us hearing rumors of pterodactyls in the wilds of the Amazon or something. People would be extremely skeptical without some kind of hard evidence.
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I think the people of Westeros think of dragons the way we think of dinosaurs. Sure, they existed once, but in their minds dragons are extinct. Hearing rumors of dragons across the sea would be like us hearing rumors of pterodactyls in the wilds of the Amazon or something. People would be extremely skeptical without some kind of hard evidence.
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Besides, it won’t really matter to the Lannisters that a dragon-led army will be coming in 5 years if they lose the war against the Young Wolf this year and lose their heads. In that case, let Robb deal with it.
Everyone in a do-or-die civil war may be forgiven for having very short-term thinking.
The few hundred years since people were riding dragons to conquer Westeros (not sure if the show gets specific as to the timeline) is a lot, lot less than 65 million years. Not quite living memory, but nowhere near so far off that I’d discount rumours of them if I were sitting on the Iron Throne - there are still Targeryens around to show they’re hardly fairy stories, and there must be books and songs about them. If you or your predecessors care enough to send assassins, you should care enough not to discount such rumours out of hand.
Whereas I got the impression the Wall was thousands of years old, so what happens beyond it is much more distant to anyone not actually going beyond it, so there’s a lot more reason to be skeptical there.
OK, here is how I rank the current storylines in order of preference:
Yeahbut— Didn’t the guy from the wall bring proof that the dead were walking? It was a while ago that the scene played, but I think he did. And Tyrion tried to get the rest of the counsel to listen but they laughed.
Just for funsies, my ranking:
I love how Dany’s story has moved from being at the bottom of everyone’s list to the top. She’s finally following through with her “I will take what is mine” speech instead of just whining all the time.
Dany was always at the top of my list. Though I may be influenced by knowing the books.
But she’s also always been at the top of my wife’s list and she hasn’t read them. Never got why people were bagging on it.
I can tell you that Dany is at the top of my husband’s list because there’s always a chance she’ll get nekkid. Something about that he seems to enjoy. . …
I got the impression, somehow, that the Starks and the North in general were kind of there because of or for the defense against the threats from further north, the White Walkers. I can’t recall any particular bit of conversation or history that indicates this, though. Anyone else get that impression? They certainly seem to be the only ones south of The Wall that take any of that seriously.
She actually has not been naked since the first season. There is a 90% chance of whores in any King’s Landing scene though.
Me too. Maybe it was something that Baratheon said to Stark in the first couple episodes?
Also, I don’t really rank the storylines because on paper, all the storylines are more or less interesting. It’s the actors that really make one storyline sparkle. For instance, I wouldn’t say Arya’s storyline is any more interesting than John Snow’s but I like all the people involved in Arya’s better than Snow.
Bran’s storyline has the unfortunate union of boring story as well as bland actors.
One problem with Jon’s story line – and the North Men in general – is the way it looks. Snow and ice aren’t interesting. The characters are all wearing the same leather and fur. The interiors are dark – it’s hard to pick out any detail.
On the rare occasions that a conversation in King’s Landing or Astapor isn’t riveting, we have the fashions and the set dressing to look at.
King’s Landing forecast: 90 percent chance of whores with occasional outbursts of exposition.