Game of Thrones begins....

[Berkut]

I agree. Why would he be alive anyway?

Because the Dragon has three heads. Dany and Jon makes 2. Plus Mance Rayders apparent plot armor must have a point of some sorts.

Yeah, the Dragon has three heads, so it would be totally impossible for there to only be two, or for a dragon to die, or for any number of other things to happen such that there does not need to be three actual Taergaeryn riders.

I sure hope Martin does not feel nearly as enslaved to this kind of "it must be this way" mythos as his readers are...

[Viking]

I agree. Why would he be alive anyway?

Because the Dragon has three heads. Dany and Jon makes 2. Plus Mance Rayders apparent plot armor must have a point of some sorts.

If there's another Targ running around it makes way more sense for Tyrion to actually not be Tywin's son then for Rhaegar to be alive.

The case has been made that Tyrion is a result of Mad King Aerys (three years after the defiance of duskendale) cuckolding Tywin Lannister with Joanna producing Tyrion. Which is the true reason behind Tywin resigning as the Kings Hand, not Aerys rejection of Cersei for Rhaegar. This is supported by Tyrions fondness for dragons.

If Rhaegar is Tyrions father then Rhaegar was 13 when the deed was done.

This might explain why Jamie is made a Kingsguard so young, since Aerys might want a hostage to secure the life of his bastard son Tyrion "Hill". But, then again, he might want that regardless.

I'm not asserting that Rhaegar is alive, I'm pondering if he might.

[Viking]

I agree. Why would he be alive anyway?

Because the Dragon has three heads. Dany and Jon makes 2. Plus Mance Rayders apparent plot armor must have a point of some sorts.

Yeah, the Dragon has three heads, so it would be totally impossible for there to only be two, or for a dragon to die, or for any number of other things to happen such that there does not need to be three actual Taergaeryn riders.

I sure hope Martin does not feel nearly as enslaved to this kind of "it must be this way" mythos as his readers are...

Martin introduced the Azor Ahai, "The Prince that was Promised" prophecy. I can't think of any prophesy in literature which has not come true (in a twisted way though).

[Maximus]

Wow the east is damn close to them. How come no one figured to go sailing over there? Surely the iron men would have?
And the big southern Shivering Sea is surprising.

It might not be a problem getting there, but the inhabitants might be cannibals or monsters or something nasty.

There's a scale on the Westeros map from the page before, it'll give you some idea. I'd say it's about 900-1200 miles at the narrow points.

The sunset sea has never been crossed. At least that's what the ironmen (I think it was Victarion) believe.

[jimmy olsen]

Wow the east is damn close to them. How come no one figured to go sailing over there? Surely the iron men would have?
And the big southern Shivering Sea is surprising.

It might not be a problem getting there, but the inhabitants might be cannibals or monsters or something nasty.

There's a scale on the Westeros map from the page before, it'll give you some idea. I'd say it's about 900-1200 miles at the narrow points.

The sunset sea has never been crossed. At least that's what the ironmen (I think it was Victarion) believe.

I'm saying it's probably been crossed, just that no one's returned alive because of the inhabitants they run into.

[jimmy olsen]

I agree. Why would he be alive anyway?

Because the Dragon has three heads. Dany and Jon makes 2. Plus Mance Rayders apparent plot armor must have a point of some sorts.

If there's another Targ running around it makes way more sense for Tyrion to actually not be Tywin's son then for Rhaegar to be alive.

The case has been made that Tyrion is a result of Mad King Aerys (three years after the defiance of duskendale) cuckolding Tywin Lannister with Joanna producing Tyrion. Which is the true reason behind Tywin resigning as the Kings Hand, not Aerys rejection of Cersei for Rhaegar. This is supported by Tyrions fondness for dragons.

If Rhaegar is Tyrions father then Rhaegar was 13 when the deed was done.

This might explain why Jamie is made a Kingsguard so young, since Aerys might want a hostage to secure the life of his bastard son Tyrion "Hill". But, then again, he might want that regardless.

I'm not asserting that Rhaegar is alive, I'm pondering if he might.

While I doubt Tyrion is anyone's son but Tywin, I just think it's far more likely that he'd turn out to be Aerys bastard than for Rhaegar to still be alive.

[Berkut]

I would not care to argue about whether Tyrion being someones son other than Tywins makes sense or not, so much as I would say it would be shitty writing to pull something like that out of Martins ass.

John Snaw's parentage has been left very unclear, and that is clearly an intended mystery. Not only would yanking something like this out of his ass be poor writing, how could you do it in such a manner that it would actually make sense as a plot point? If Tyrion was a bastard, how could that ever even be revealed at this point?

[The Minsky Moment]

In "A Clash of Kings" Bran and Maester Luwyn hold court where they get reports and discuss harvests being set aside for winter not only for winterfell but for all the bannermen in their holdfasts. They comment on the ammounts set aside and in a few cases order some lord to set aside more. So obviously the lords do have rights to portions of the harvest, which is just like feudal lords did have. Peasants (either individually or as commons) would be allowed to work land and then pay either a portion or a fixed ammount of their produce to the lord holding the land.

The "winters" are quasi-supernatural phenonema that last for years and are particularly brutal in the north, where regular farming during the winter would presumably be impossible.  Therefore, there must be some mechanism for setting aside food reserves for the winter.  All this passage indicates is that the lords are in charge of overseeing and implementing this process.  It doesn't indicate a general right to consume produce, and it doesn't indicate how subsequent distribution is to be made.   It is silent as to the institutional "rules" that make up the process and the nature of the lords property rights.

[Josquius]

Holy crap! Semi-canonical world map!

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2011/05/12/game-of-thrones/

Wow the east is damn close to them. How come no one figured to go sailing over there? Surely the iron men would have?
And the big southern Shivering Sea is surprising.

It might not be a problem getting there, but the inhabitants might be cannibals or monsters or something nasty.

There's a scale on the Westeros map from the page before, it'll give you some idea. I'd say it's about 900-1200 miles at the narrow points.

People have been to Ashai before no problem- they went eastwards though.

[Maximus]

Jesus Christ can you stop quoting that picture?

[The Larch]

Wow the east is damn close to them. How come no one figured to go sailing over there? Surely the iron men would have?
And the big southern Shivering Sea is surprising.

It might not be a problem getting there, but the inhabitants might be cannibals or monsters or something nasty.

There's a scale on the Westeros map from the page before, it'll give you some idea. I'd say it's about 900-1200 miles at the narrow points.

The sunset sea has never been crossed. At least that's what the ironmen (I think it was Victarion) believe.

I'm saying it's probably been crossed, just that no one's returned alive because of the inhabitants they run into.

IIRC in the 4th book, during the Ironmen's Kingsmoot one of the minor candidates for the title of king that nobody pays any attention to is some guy from one of the westernmost isles that claims to know a route to new land westwards.

[Solmyr]

Holy crap! Semi-canonical world map!

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2011/05/12/game-of-thrones/

Wow the east is damn close to them. How come no one figured to go sailing over there? Surely the iron men would have?
And the big southern Shivering Sea is surprising.

It's actually likely that Euron Greyjoy had sailed that way.

[Martinus]

I would not care to argue about whether Tyrion being someones son other than Tywins makes sense or not, so much as I would say it would be shitty writing to pull something like that out of Martins ass.

John Snaw's parentage has been left very unclear, and that is clearly an intended mystery. Not only would yanking something like this out of his ass be poor writing, how could you do it in such a manner that it would actually make sense as a plot point? If Tyrion was a bastard, how could that ever even be revealed at this point?

Actually, hints of Tyrion being "more than he seems" are dropped all over the place, although they are much more subtle. From his affinity with dragons to him "standing tall as a King" in some passage, it's there. Of course, it is more of a shadow of a shadow, but it wouldn't be entirely surprising or deus ex machina.

[Solmyr]

I would not care to argue about whether Tyrion being someones son other than Tywins makes sense or not, so much as I would say it would be shitty writing to pull something like that out of Martins ass.

John Snaw's parentage has been left very unclear, and that is clearly an intended mystery. Not only would yanking something like this out of his ass be poor writing, how could you do it in such a manner that it would actually make sense as a plot point? If Tyrion was a bastard, how could that ever even be revealed at this point?

Actually, hints of Tyrion being "more than he seems" are dropped all over the place, although they are much more subtle. From his affinity with dragons to him "standing tall as a King" in some passage, it's there. Of course, it is more of a shadow of a shadow, but it wouldn't be entirely surprising or deus ex machina.

There's also Tywin saying "you are no son of mine" before he's shot.

[Viking]

I would not care to argue about whether Tyrion being someones son other than Tywins makes sense or not, so much as I would say it would be shitty writing to pull something like that out of Martins ass.

John Snaw's parentage has been left very unclear, and that is clearly an intended mystery. Not only would yanking something like this out of his ass be poor writing, how could you do it in such a manner that it would actually make sense as a plot point? If Tyrion was a bastard, how could that ever even be revealed at this point?

Actually, hints of Tyrion being "more than he seems" are dropped all over the place, although they are much more subtle. From his affinity with dragons to him "standing tall as a King" in some passage, it's there. Of course, it is more of a shadow of a shadow, but it wouldn't be entirely surprising or deus ex machina.

There's also Tywin saying "you are no son of mine" before he's shot.

Tywin also uses the argument that Tyrion is his son when Jamie is imprisoned at Riverrun and Cersei needs a Hand to bitchslap her. But his mother did die in childbirth, so that suggests Targaryen parentage.