Alden Rothack

While I wouldn't be suprised if westeros had cave lions at some point the only recent incident involving a lion suggests it is at best normal lion sized, a pack of hounds against a lion is impressive but doable, a pack of hounds against a cave lion is not. Back to the direwolves, Bran was comparing the size, though the direwolf weighing more than Brans pony isn't unlikely, Grey Wind and Ghost do seem to be large pony height though weight is uncertain. a scale up would conservatively put it at five times the weight of a real wolf

It seems to me that the information on direwolves is somewhat contradictory the direwolf mother is described as both bigger than a pony and twice the size of the biggest hound- this suggests a full grown female direwolf is at least 4ft high and 6ft long grey wind and ghost are eye level with a human- conservatively at least 5ft tall, cannot be based on length because several types of hound are 7ft long. ghost and nymeria are both twice the size of the largest wolf- twice the height and length would be similar to the previous point, cannot be weight because that is too little.

120lbs is the minimum per wikipedia with 150-180lbs being more like per same Your assessment of the size of a pony being is eually if not more flawed, it is true we don't know for sure whether a direwolf would beat a lion which was the actual point before you started your own lies and goal post moving However if you wish to bow out then do so.

no it wouldn't because wolfhounds weigh from 150lbs to 180lbs, they are extremely lightly built for their length, a mastiff for example is up to double the weight despite the wolf hound being on average much longer, a wolf the size of a pony would be a lot more than that. if the difference was as great as you claim no wolf would ever come near a lion and they do, we also specifically know that direwolves in the books can kill armoured knights, something I doubt is the case for lions. you clear up nothing because your realities are nonsense, the lion has a huge advantage over a wolf to the degree it does because its a lot bigger, if it was better for its size then even a entire pack of wolves would have no chance against a single lion. wolves and in particular direwolves are very good at killing bigger things

the exactly measurement of the direwolves are complex however the direwolf mother was bigger than a pony and very unlikely to be as lightly built as a wolfhound which is one of the lightest built 'large' dogs in existence, however we also need to consider whether Bran means by weight or by size, Because this makes a huge difference, for example the largest wolfhounds sit between the size of the common grey wolf and the real direwolf. if the direwolf is twice the weight of a wolfhound then its at least 300lbs, however if its bgger than a pony then its at least double that wolves do kill lions, they do so despite being on average four times smaller and being less well adapted for it than direwolves were I'm still betting on the direwolf

a cave lion is bigger than a real direwolf, its still tiny compared to the direwolves of westeros

yup, in fact the number of smallfolk itself requires certain assumptions, particularly when your comparing urban vs rural the number of people in cities for example tended to be the actual number counted whereas the number of rural people tended to be the number of households and/or number of people who owned or rented land, the counts in city also tended to be more accurate because city dwellers mostly paid their taxes in cash. smallfolk could run all the way from someone who farmed half an acre up to the guy who owned twenty villages, as many ships and a fish market, hes still a commoner because he has no right to hand out his own justice.

its worth noting that the difference between different ypes of smallfolk if they exist are only meaningful to other smallfolk to someone like Tyrion there is no difference between a crofter and a franklin but there sure as hell is to the franklin

it certainly does

I wish her the luck of it slavery will make monsters out of saints and planetos as nne of the latter to begin with

the dothraki are among those who deserve something like that

the ironborn vs the dothraki would an interesting fight, particularly as both sides have archers

Yes it depend on if its just the three or everyone I can't see the seven kingdoms wanting to fight everyone

good quality and loyal troops are very hard to do without having a strong social investment in the system that employs them. essos seems to favour one or the other rather than going for both, its not unknown for that to happen the thing about sense is isn't actually very common the presence of both the unsullied and large amounts of rabble suggests that whoever got the sense in essos it wasn't the people in charge. westeros by contrast seems to go for both, which is why i'm betting on them

relying on sellswords and sellsails is risky and slave soldiers have their own issues i'm betting on the westerosi

if done right you are correct, the place could become a boon to the Riverlands

Not that they were united against the mad king in fact mlost of the realms navies were either for the mad king or sat it out However taking and holding the stepstones is something they have done and could do again, once done the next step would be made easier Could the three cities really find enough men to maintain a war against the seven kingdoms

building a city inside the walls would be harder than tearing them down and building a proper castle in their place though neither could be done quickly

Maze defeses have been tried, its generally not worth the effort of having a bigger castle most large castles have multiple walls including Winterfell and manage quite well with that, we see relatively few castles taken while properly defended after all

At least some of them started before though, in fact it was the greater influence of the commons that led to the terror

Well that would be better than leaving it as it is but stil gives them a lot of wall to defend, a smaller castle with a town or city next to it would be better

I'm pretty sure that was in spite of them not because of them, they were in most respects more like one step forward three steps back, in particular the rights of most people suffered rather than improved, though in France the law was much codified it did not actually improve things for most people.

And they give up effective control when they do so, generally to the castellan Which Robb isn't going to be doing if hes there, theres no reason for him to go fight the raid Even with Robb gone there were more than enough men to fight the IB, with him they have even more

Robb can't be leading them and be in charge at Winterfell, besides which you just said that it didn't matter and it was the lack of men not the lack of quality leadership that made the different, which is the point i'm arguing against so which is it?

I'd question the tech edge personally, as outside of niche technical trades their tech seems to be on par on best