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Small Questions v. 10105


Rhaenys_Targaryen

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Is there any thread focusing on Maesters lies on Andals and First Men? Like round castles coming with Andals despite the fact that ring forts dating thousands of years before the Andals are scattered around everywhere or Andals being blue eyed blondes but the few Andal characters we have carrying the features have their "blood mixed" with First men from the very beginning of the invasions and only houses with blonde hair as an established trait are of first men origin.

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Ringforts, like the one mentioned on the Fist of the First Men in ACoK, appear to be short (definitely not as tall as typical castle towers), smallish, round, primitive fortifications, that may have been used for defense, but also for penning up livestock at night.

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34 minutes ago, Raisin' Bran said:

Ringforts, like the one mentioned on the Fist of the First Men in ACoK, appear to be short (definitely not as tall as typical castle towers), smallish, round, primitive fortifications, that may have been used for defense, but also for penning up livestock at night.

Ringforts are a real thing. Our best view of one in ASOIAF comes from Jon's chapters at the Fist of the First Men. 

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6 hours ago, Raisin' Bran said:

Ringforts, like the one mentioned on the Fist of the First Men in ACoK, appear to be short (definitely not as tall as typical castle towers), smallish, round, primitive fortifications, that may have been used for defense, but also for penning up livestock at night.

 

5 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Ringforts are a real thing. Our best view of one in ASOIAF comes from Jon's chapters at the Fist of the First Men. 

One of the cool ways they're made is using rammed earth. A trench is dug and the dirt piled beside the ditch. It is then forcibly rammed from all sides with logs, sometimes by wetting it first. Repeatedly ramming the dirt makes a hard, concrete-like wall. Over large areas, this can make a firm foundation, or a solid wall. Or both.

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43 minutes ago, Yukle said:

 

One of the cool ways they're made is using rammed earth. A trench is dug and the dirt piled beside the ditch. It is then forcibly rammed from all sides with logs, sometimes by wetting it first. Repeatedly ramming the dirt makes a hard, concrete-like wall. Over large areas, this can make a firm foundation, or a solid wall. Or both.

Isn’t this one of the strategies being used at Winterfell by someone outside the castle now? Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. 

An Umber, maybe? 

(Sorry, memory is foggy at the moment.)

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6 hours ago, Yukle said:

 

One of the cool ways they're made is using rammed earth. A trench is dug and the dirt piled beside the ditch. It is then forcibly rammed from all sides with logs, sometimes by wetting it first. Repeatedly ramming the dirt makes a hard, concrete-like wall. Over large areas, this can make a firm foundation, or a solid wall. Or both.

That's really cool - I always just had a picture in my head of sharpened stakes pointing outward in a roughly circular pattern. I know that type of thing is helpful against sudden cavalry charges, but this 'packed earth' method just sounds ingenious.

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6 hours ago, The Fattest Leech said:

Isn’t this one of the strategies being used at Winterfell by someone outside the castle now? Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. 

An Umber, maybe? 

(Sorry, memory is foggy at the moment.)

It is being used by Stannis' forces, although it seems that Ramsay was told of this trick. Stannis has resorted to other means to try to keep the Karstarks and Umbers loyal. If I recall... ?

 

2 hours ago, Mathias said:

That's really cool - I always just had a picture in my head of sharpened stakes pointing outward in a roughly circular pattern. I know that type of thing is helpful against sudden cavalry charges, but this 'packed earth' method just sounds ingenious.

Yeah, it's pretty cool! The ring-shaped bases are a result of the fact that circles don't have corners (duh) and so they're harder to crack when you are packing in more dirt. Keep smashing logs in from all sides and you end up with a circular base with no obvious weak points. Otherwise a hard blow to the corners would cause them to fracture.

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I always wondered if there was significance to the fact that the Kings of Westeros, past and present, are styled with "His/Her/Your Grace". (This was the standard way to address the King of England until Henry VIII, when it became His Majesty). I'm wondering if it's significant because most Kings of Westeros, past and present, conjure up lots of adjectives to describe them, but graceful or gracious are not ones I'd use. Is GRRM just using English history here, or is he making a point about the hypocritical ways rulers present themselves?

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8 hours ago, Pride of Driftmark said:

I always wondered if there was significance to the fact that the Kings of Westeros, past and present, are styled with "His/Her/Your Grace". (This was the standard way to address the King of England until Henry VIII, when it became His Majesty). I'm wondering if it's significant because most Kings of Westeros, past and present, conjure up lots of adjectives to describe them, but graceful or gracious are not ones I'd use. Is GRRM just using English history here, or is he making a point about the hypocritical ways rulers present themselves?

I think it’s probably just GRRM modelling off English history. And he also wanted to have one specific form of address for Westerosi royals, as we see from Barristan in Slaver’s Bay where he insists on using “Your Grace” rather than the various Ghiscari honorifics.

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23 hours ago, Pride of Driftmark said:

I always wondered if there was significance to the fact that the Kings of Westeros, past and present, are styled with "His/Her/Your Grace". (This was the standard way to address the King of England until Henry VIII, when it became His Majesty). I'm wondering if it's significant because most Kings of Westeros, past and present, conjure up lots of adjectives to describe them, but graceful or gracious are not ones I'd use. Is GRRM just using English history here, or is he making a point about the hypocritical ways rulers present themselves?

 

14 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I think it’s probably just GRRM modelling off English history. And he also wanted to have one specific form of address for Westerosi royals, as we see from Barristan in Slaver’s Bay where he insists on using “Your Grace” rather than the various Ghiscari honorifics.

I agree with HelenaExMachina on this one. My understanding is that George has a particular interest in 15th century medieval history, particularly the events surrounding the War of the Roses which many elements of ASoIaF are based on. This would have been prior to the custom change, so he probably used the honorifics from that time period from both personal preference and for a sense of consistency in source material. Just my thought :)

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On 3/7/2018 at 9:15 PM, Pride of Driftmark said:

I always wondered if there was significance to the fact that the Kings of Westeros, past and present, are styled with "His/Her/Your Grace". (This was the standard way to address the King of England until Henry VIII, when it became His Majesty). I'm wondering if it's significant because most Kings of Westeros, past and present, conjure up lots of adjectives to describe them, but graceful or gracious are not ones I'd use. Is GRRM just using English history here, or is he making a point about the hypocritical ways rulers present themselves?

I know you just received some great answers to this question of yours, but I wanted to add something I always thought was kinda weird...

In Essos, the "opposite" side of the world, they don't use the term "Grace" for the ruling peoples, they use "Your Radiance" (like a sun;)). Over in Essos the Graces are priestesses and cult prostitutes in an opposite play of words. 

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5 minutes ago, The Fattest Leech said:

I know you just has some great answers to this question of yours, but I wanted to add something I always thought was kinda weird...

In Essos, the "opposite" side of the world, they don't use the term "Grace" for the ruling peoples, they use "Your Radiance" (like a sun;)). Over in Essos the Graces are priestesses and cult prostitutes in an opposite play of words. 

I never realized that, thanks for pointing that out!

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4 hours ago, Pride of Driftmark said:

OK. Squire Dalbridge. Who is this guy? Is he a noble? To squire for King Jaehaerys II, he must have been, right?

Not necessarily. For one thing we've seen commoners rise higher than that (Dunk, Barth, Baelor's stonemason.) I mean if he's a commoner I'm sure there's a story behind how he got the job, but I wouldn't assume he was noble born.  

Also for all we know Dalbrige may have only squired for him one time. Say when he was still prince Jaehaerys attending a tourney and his regular squire was sick.  

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