Winter Is Coming: Is The Entirety of Westeros Covered Ass-Deep In Snow?

Cafe Society
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My fanwank is that the intro scene is more literal than it seems. They are on the inside surface of a constructed world with an artificial sun at the center. The mechanical bits are a metaphor for the fact that the entire planet is a machine.

The control systems for the sun, intended to produce “reasonable” seasons, have degraded progressively, and made them both longer than intended and chaotic. Other, more advanced systems have (as they also break down) produced what we see as “magic” (a combination of holograms, robots, medical systems, field manipulation, and other technology).

Turns out wildfyre is the main method of energy transfer on their world; the alchemists had just been collecting it from small leaks. There are literal oceans of it beneath the surface, and the safety systems have broken down. The dragons manage to punch completely through a weak point, igniting the entire planet. Boom. Final scene: Danerys flies away in an escape pod in her underwear, petting a baby dragon. A white walker clings to the outside.

Wait, where was I going with this?

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I couldn’t read the article, but my take is that they enter a cycle of deep, cold winters and colder-than-average summers. It is inconceivable to me that they could live through years of snowfall. Even places like Alaska have summer seasons that allow food and animals to grow. Most animals that live in these areas are close to starvation by the time spring arrives. If spring were delayed even a month or two longer they would all be dead. I can’t imagine an entire world covered with snow without some degree of seasonal warming, because the food chain would completely break down.

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The main food producing region in Westeros is The Reach, and its southern extent is at the same latitude as Dorne.

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Everybody on the show died in a plane crash before the first episode, and now they’re working their way through Limbo, which has irregular seasons.