SeanF

It’s an open question, though, whether Paul is exploiting the fundamentalists, or if they are exploiting him. Perhaps both are true.

Troll threads were better in the past. We had Catelyn the Monster; Daenerys The Slut; Sansa The Psychopath; and The Slavers Are Just Misunderstood.

To be fair, in real life, most countries, and factions, fight for reasons of honour, interest, or fear. You do get purely altruistic fighters, like the International Brigades, and true believers are any side’s dream, but they are unusual.

Killing people for shits and giggles is part of the Harkonnen modus operandi in the novel. But, I accept it’s unrealistic. It actually makes it safer for people to plot against you, rather than remain loyal.

I enjoyed the Chani storyline, too. I agree that it would make sense for her to be an antagonist to Paul.

Social media actually enables the terminally thick. You can give a detailed answer, backed up by sources, and get the response; “Yeah well, that’s just your opinion.”

Discussions about Dany so often do veer into real-world politics, I've noticed. Dynasties striving for mastery, in a medieval world, is now so far removed from peoples' experience that it's not really a contentious subject, even if the Richard III Society passionately defend his innocence. Debates over how far violence is justified, or productive in fighting tyranny, have a much more contemporary relevance.

No holocaust, but there was no holocaust under Franco or Salazar. The North Korean government is utterly without mercy towards its own people. Stalin and his executioners mostly seem to have had the mentality of mob bosses "sorry man, but it is what is" - bullet through the head. The Nazis liked to mock, degrade, torment their victims, while telling each other how exciting it all was. So, there is that difference between the two. But, in Mao's China, mocking and degrading the victims was common enough.

There have been organisations though, like the Khmer Rouge, the Shining Path, or the Red Brigades, which claim to be fighting fascism, but which are utterly vile. If you wished to nominate someone for the title of most evil man in history, Pol Pot and Ta Mok would be near the top. Over the course of three years, they killed 25-33% of the population, as an experiment.

As we know, life doesn’t suddenly become great for ex-slaves in places where the institution has been abolished, in real life. They still face discrimination and economic disadvantage, after abolition. But, it’s still better that the institution be abolished than retained.

I’m not sure I agree. Genghis Khan believed he’d been appointed to rule by Eternal Heaven. But, he still planned his campaigns meticulously. I think you fall flat on your face when you think being chosen by God, or being racially superior, means that you don’t have to put in hard thinking and hard work.

My own view is that the Dornish hardliners, and Jon Connington, will put Tommen, Myrcella, and Margaery to death, along with anyone else associated with the a regime. So, the Tyrells and some other Reach and Western lords will switch to Daenerys.

By 9-0, although the three liberal justices dissent from some points of the majority ruling.

The Meereenese elite are evil and depraved, but unlike the rulers of Astapor and Meereen, they’re clever.

The masters need to be asset-stripped, Yunkai razed to the ground and ploughed with salt, and the revolution exported to Volantis (making it impossible for places like Mantarys and Tolos to continue as slave cities).

I’ve read the essays more than once. Have you?

Not that I am aware of. But, i stand by criticisms of the essays. The text does not support Feldman’s thesis, that the peace was real, the slavers are reasonable people, nor that Danaerys is choosing between good and bad sex. Nor that Ghiscari slavery is anything other than extremely evil.

Hopefully, Tyrion gets eaten by a dragon.

You don't think that Dany's dragons will defect to Jon, Sansa, and Arya for .... reasons?

Steven Attwell’s analysis is vastly superior to Adam Feldman’s.

The Slynt/Bolton/ Frey fans and the Ghiscari master fans are two cheeks of one unpleasant arse. They’re making bad faith arguments, just to wind up people who like characters who they detest.

I will always avoid any fic which is tagged “scat”, “daddy kink”, “girl penis”, “Thramsay”, or which pairs Sansa with men twice or thrice her age.

There are thousands of freedmen, however, trained as soldiers by the Unsullied. That’s in addition to the Brazen Beasts. Making use of Meereen’s walls, and letting the besiegers rot, due to disease, and drinking river water, makes sense.

Had she stayed in Astapor, she'd have faced an invasion by the slavers, but this time including the resources of Meereen. I don't think it would have ended well. Her mistake was not leaving a garrison behind. We see that some freedmen do prosper. She orders they be admitted to the guilds. She promotes agriculture, and weaving, and building, and the freedmen do now receive wages, if low ones. I'd criticise her more for not redistributing the wealth of the masters. The Great Masters had nailed up 163 slave children. That was a calculated, open, deliberate atrocity, by a ruling class that was collectively bloodying its hands. It's similar to Crassus crucifying 6,000 on the Appian Way. The entire Senate was guilty of that act, not just Crassus, for they empowered him. My criticism is not that any of the 163 masters were innocent (how could they be?). Rather, that the majority of the guilty walked free. WRT the fighting pits, what the afficionados really enjoy is seeing dwarves, children, and slaves being torn to pieces. I don't blame her for closing them. The moment she reopened them, Hizdahr was trying to feed Tyrion and Penny to lions. Her best decision in Meereen is actually recruiting a standing army, who are trained by the Unsullied. I assume that will be an important element in victory over the slavers, if we ever get TWOW.