SeanF

The latter. Slavery was the norm in Ghis from the get go, even if slave-trading was not such a big business. Meereen is arid, but like North Africa, it is not a desert. Olives, corn, grapes, tomatoes, grow easily enough. It has a huge river basin, in which to grow crops. It has a merchant navy, smiths, weavers, builders, artisans etc. Its elite have plenty of alternatives to slave trading, should they choose to pursue them.

Tywin drowned women, children, and servants at Castamere. He had his father’s mistress stripped naked, and paraded as a harlot. He had Tysha gang-raped. He had Elia raped and murdered and her children hacked to pieces. Even by the standards of his time and place, Tywin is a monster, as is Kevan. I find it inconceivable that Robb Stark would ever commit such enormities. But, Robb is a king, and he takes the decisions that kings take. And that means being very ruthless, and inflicting suffering on the smallfolk of the enemy (as of course, do our own leaders).

For the Gods’ Sake, no gentleman was paid to fight! A gentleman was *rewarded* by his commander, out of spoils taken from the enemy.

Well, we got Robb’s commanders hanging young women for sleeping with Lannister soldiers, and Catelyn is told they’re “paying back in kind”, what was done in the Riverlands. Seizure of livestock means Western peasants will starve - and starving the enemy is itself a weapon of war. I don’t think it’s in Robb’s nature (unlike Tywin or Kevan) to expressly order murder and rape. I expect his orders are more along the lines of “seize what you can, burn the rest,” and “punish collaborators”, and then it’s left to his commanders to interpret them as they see fit.

Murder, pillage, rape, and arson are standard operating practice, for most armies in this world. Armies live off the land, which means pillaging the smallfolk. Once you march into enemy territory, as Tywin and Ser Kevan did at the start, and Robb did later on in the war, murder, rape, and arson get added to the pillaging. The aim is to break the will of the enemy, by devastating their lands and killing their people. I think there was an extra level of cruelty and spite to the Lannisters, but the Northmen were not a lot better.

When Dany arrives she’ll have allies among the nobility. Simply because, there’ll be plenty of plenty of men with military experience who have lost out, whether against Aegon/Arianne or Euron, or whoever else is on top at the time. My enemy’s enemy is my friend. So, there will be plenty of local knights and soldiers in her ranks, as well as the Unsullied, Dothraki, sellswords, tiger soldiers, and the Iron Fleet. Supplies will be an issue, as winter bites, but just as much for her opponents as for her.

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At least to me, the source material does make the Greens in general, and Alicent in particular, out to be despicable. That may not be what Martin intended but it's how it comes over to me, and it seems, a great many readers. I can feel sympathy for Alicent, simply because the last years of her life were so awful, and she had to witness the deaths of her children and grandchildren, but that doesn't alter that she was a terrible person.

Many Americans would consider that a compliment, although I doubt if it’s meant to be.

I never had the impression, in the books, that Rhaenyra was that bothered about her looks. And, quite clearly, a lot of people rallied to her cause. The list of Black families is twice as long as the list of Green families.

I do remember seeing one that was used in Virginia, entitled “How the Negroes Lived Under Slavery.” It depicts a jovial slaver in a top hat, greeting a well-dressed black family off the boat. It read as if slavery was like a benign finishing school.

Maybe they shaved them, then.

Do Targaryens have silver pubes? But, if so, they may have died them, like Daario does.

For sure, by that stage, Sansa had made herself a target. She’d struck at the Queen and she’d missed.