They’re not related at all.
Regarding Aegon conquering King’s Landing: did it exist then? It’s named after him. I thought that it was just a safe place to land and it was close to Dragonstone. Although it’s right on a river, so I guess it’d be weird for there to not be a city there.
We don’t know, but I don’t think it matters too much. It was probably a three house village because it was a good location. Once it was conquered and became the capital it was officially renamed from Shitsville to King’s Landing.
-Joe
And for a brief time during Joffrey’s brief reign, was renamed to Little Shitsville.*
*[sub]Not intended to be a factual statement.[/sub]
Just started watching it, because a geeky friend of mine made such a huge deal about it, it was nearly difficult to ignore her. You know, I’m getting into it! Yeah, there’s the usual medieval fantasy cliches, but damnit, the world is rich, and the characters complicated and multi-dimensional. It’s truly epic.
I think the major sectors of the Westeros economy are:
Also, for a society that can build a 700 foot wall, 300 mile long wall, the roads are pretty shitty.
Don’t forget booze production.
Anyway, you have to remember that the roads to the Eeyrie and Winterfel are kind of the equivalent to the roads to Cornhole, Arkansas and Scooba, Mississippi.
So, yeah, shit.
-Joe
For Tarwater: Dany’s not impervious to fire under normal circumstances. The pyre with Drogo and dragons was a one time deal. It was magic, she’s not immune.
I’m curious about the deal with Lord Frey and the Twins. In the viewers guide it explains that the Frey family spent generations building the fort at the river crossing and became very rich as a result. However, when you look at the included map of Westeros it doesn’t seem like the Twins are at a particularly useful point on the river. They seem to be trivially far away from the end of the river so simply going around the northern source would be doable and up that direction it’s probably fairly easy to ford as it gets closer to the source. More critically, there doesn’t appear to be a major road or a trade route crossing this comparatively minor river that would generate huge revenues and power. The Twins are located near a narrowing of the continent and there’s nothing located on either side of the river of note. WTF?
If the Twins were located at one of the crossings of the major highways just south of the Trident near the Inn at the Crossroads it would make total sense, connecting either the West with the Vale or conntecting the North with Kings Landing and the Stormlands. Does Martin explain why the Twin’s location is so critical?
A couple of eps prior she was putting one of the dragon eggs in the fire and one of her maids (?) came in and grabbed the egg out of the fire; the maid was burned but Dany was fine. I have only watched the show but they’re implying it’s more than a one-time deal…
Well, the books are not the show. Martin says that Targaryens are not immune (Wayback Machine).
You also have to bear in mind that up until a few centuries ago, a large portion of the eastern continent was ruled by the Empire of Valyria - which is why the language spoken in the Free Cities (Pentos, Braavos et al) is a debased form of Valyrian (much as French, Italian and Spanish are a debased form of Latin). The Valyrian dominion reached from far to the east and south all the way to the Island of Dragonstone, off the shores of Westeros; why they never expanded further westward until the Targaryans - who invaded an indeterminate time after the empire’s fall - has not been made clear.
Hereis a reader-made map of the known world. It’s non-canonical, but it gives you a sense of how the place is laid out.
Oh, I didn’t read through that whole interview I linked to. I suppose there might be spoilers. I’ll check when I get a chance.
Towards the north end of the green fork, on the west side, is a huge swamp. IIRC, it’s thought of as difficult if not impassible for large armies. I thought, in Robb’s case in GoT, being on the other side of the river gave them a better strategic position, as well as giving them a clearer shot towards Riverrun (the Tully’s home) without having to take the main road.
Also, crossing there hides them from Tywin’s scouts, allowing them to advance rapidly without being detected.
Both true and understandable, but that doesn’t explain why the Frey’s built and subsequently got rich off the Twins. Unless armies are attacking Riverrun on a daily basis I’m not seeing the business case for building that thing.
Linky no worky.
I think it’s a regular trade route & most travelers are willing to pay toll to the Freys. Not huge sums, but they add up.
It’s not just armies, traders too.
Well, yeah, but look at the map. Logically it’s not any where near where you’d expect a trade route to be. Does Martin ever say what the heck the bridge connects? What two cities or centers of commerce?
It connects the north and south, the trade routes go through there because that is where the bridge is.
