Storm Knight Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Dragons, Armies, Magic nothing can subdue Westerosi kingdoms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Storm Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Dragons did subdue them. The only problem was when the dragons died Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beerenee90 Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 It's a huge realm with a lot of people and vastly different cultures. It would be like trying to combine all the nations in the middle east into one country and ruling them from a central location. Except with dragons... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonardo Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 vastly different cultures? There are only 4, and one is 80% of the nation. The First Men barely differ from the andals aside from religion, so the other 10% is Dorne and Iron Isles. Many kings have come close to ruling a large chunk before then. Harren's kingdom was huge, and the Gardener's even larger supposedly. Then there's the fact the First Men were almost assuredly totally united after their wars with the children, and it's likely either one or only a few kings ruled the entirety of it. Not saying you aren't right on some respect, but given the nature of the feudal system, it moves towards a focal point in the realm so as to increase all the nobles' authority over those underneath them. Tywin for example was far more powerful under a king that unified the realm rather than a king in his own right, and knew this. All intelligent lords do, as then there is a ladder to be climbed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastTymor Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Westeros is big. The level of technology is low. The nobility is incompetent and/or focused on other things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonardo Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Westeros is big. The level of technology is low. The nobility is incompetent and/or focused on other things. They all speak a common language though, even if flavored differently, lending to the notion there must have been other kings of the realm who were quite powerful before the Targaryens, and whom also could have established a ruling dynasty of Westeros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastTymor Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 They all speak a common language though, even if flavored differently, lending to the notion there must have been other kings of the realm who were quite powerful before the Targaryens, and whom also could have established a ruling dynasty of Westeros. No, they couldn't have. The level of technology in Westeros is such that you cannot effectively rule the whole thing directly. You need intermediaries, in this case feudal lords. But Westeros, and most of its regions, are large enough that the amount of power which needs to be delegated to the vassals is large. Those vassals, being human, will attempt to increase their own power, generally at the expense of the centralized authority. Civil war, dynastic struggles, rebellions, and the inability to unify Westeros are the logical results. Culture is as much a result of this process as it is a cause. Dragons, of course, change the situation. Whoever has dragons now has sufficient power to keep all their underlings in line and can travel fast enough to check in on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythrel Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 They need better roads and Posts along the roads for regulation. The crown needs to have a more accessible way to rule the lands. And for god sakes, just ditch the North. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facebookless Man Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 It's full of humans. Nasty critters, those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthGirl Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Dragons did subdue them. The only problem was when the dragons died Even with dragons, as soon as Aegon the Conqueror died, people started to revolt already. So even dragons don't do enough to keep people in check. I think Westeros is hard because of its surface area. The Iron Throne only has the power that each LP, Great House and vassal agrees it has. That's why Egg can't just pass reforms, he has to get his Lords to agree. There is no way to micro manage the system from the top. There is no way to truly monitor activity to see if every level is doing what they should. Basically, Westeros as one country is for show only and in practice, more often than not, the ruling of each region by the LP is what makes an actual difference in how things work and how effective/just/etc. the system is. Take for example the Boltons being promoted Wardens of the North. Regardless of what the IT says, everyone (small council included) knows that unless Ramsay Bolton marries a Stark and the future rulers will have Stark blood in them, the North will not listen to them. They can call themselves whatever they want all day long, if the people under their rule don't recognise their authority and outnumber them, their titles don't mean anything and the IT's jurisdiction and authority has zero weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hodorisfaclessman Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 massive realm full of battle hardened people and professional armies with so many factions and cultures all on top of various territories that make waging war hard(the vale, dorne , the north) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikkel Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 The sheer size of the place is the number one factor. We may think of Westeros as something like Britain, or even medieval Europe, but it's in fact a continent the size of South America (I believe). That said, it's been ruled by the Targs and then the Baratheons without too many issues (the occasional rebellion aside) for 300 years, so it's not as bad as it may seem as of ADWD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neds Secret Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Because it would not make for a very interesting story if there was never ending peace and all the kingdoms behaved beautifully and everybody got along and knew their place and there was only one claim to the throne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bennis of the Brown Shield Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 The sheer size of the place is the number one factor. We may think of Westeros as something like Britain, or even medieval Europe, but it's in fact a continent the size of South America (I believe). That said, it's been ruled by the Targs and then the Baratheons without too many issues (the occasional rebellion aside) for 300 years, so it's not as bad as it may seem as of ADWD. No, it is actually a bit smaller than Europe. IIRC about 75% of its size or so. The South America thing is a quote taken a bit out of context from GRRM since it comes from when an interviewer compares Westeros to Britain, and George replies that it is "more like South America than Britain", which does not mean that it actually is the size of South America. Because in another So Spake Martin he says that you can calculate the rough size of Westeros by using the Wall as a ruler (being 300 miles long). Meaning that Westeros adds up to being somewhat smaller than Europe area wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyenon15 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 EditOops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBreastplateStretcher Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Chuck Norris declined the opportunity, stating it would be way to easy of a task. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyenon15 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Conquering is hard, ruling doesn't seem all that difficult.It stayed together nearly 2 decades under a fat alcoholic who didn't really care about the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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