Tywin's army travelling too fast?

[thi4f]

Hello! :)

I just finished reading ACoK, if you haven't yet, please do not read this thread (it contains spoilers about book's ending).

I was wondering how is it possible that Tywin Lannister's army marched all the way from Riverrun to King's Landing just in time to crush Stannis in the Battle of the Blackwater. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are three things to consider:

1) Distance between Riverrun and King's Landing is greater than between Storm's End and KL;

2) Catelyn fled to Riverrun after Renly's death and witnessed Battle of the Fords. Tywin couldn't start his march towards KL earlier than a month after Stannis left Storm's End;

3) After defeat in Battle of the Fords, Lannisters weakened army needed some time to gather and heal. What's more, if Tywin chose shortest possible route between RR and KL, he would probably face Roose Bolton forces. I assume it didn't happen, because Bolton already captured Harrenhal (and it's not mentioned).

To make my case more clear, I'll try to rephrase it below.

Catelyn sees Renly's death -> Catelyn flees from Storm's End surroundings to Riverrun (2 weeks? 4 weeks? 2 months?) -> Battle of the Fords -> Tywin gathers army and starts marching towards King's Landing

vs

Stannis negotiates with Storm's End defenders -> Melisandre assassinates Ser Cortnay -> Stannis captures SE without a fight (one week, two weeks at most?) -> march towards King's Landing

To sum up: Stannis Baratheon should reach King's Landing earlier than Tywin - I think at least one month earlier, if we take huge distances into account. With information above, it seems highly unlikely for Tywin's forces to take part in Battle of the Blackwater. Am I missing something here? Have someone already 'did the maths' and explained this issue? Or maybe I must read ASoS to fully understand the matter? Thanks in advance :)

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

The difference in distance (looking at a map) between the Red Fork (from where Tywin turned south for KL) and KL, and SE and KL, doesn't differ all too much.

The easiest thing to say here, and unfortunately the only good answers, is because the plot demands Tywin to be in time :) GRRM has stated on such subjects

[How big is Westeros? Is it the size of Europe, or even larger?]

I have deliberately tried to be vague about such things, so I don't have obsessive fans with rulers measuring distances on the map and telling me Ned couldn't get from X to Y in the time I say he did.

However, if you really must know, you can figure out the distances for yourself. The Wall is a hundred leagues long. A league is three miles. Go from there.

But if you turn up any mistakes in travel times by using that measure, let it be your secret.

The bolded part is most important here.

If it might help, Stannis arrived at KL days before the Battle of the Blackwater. Parts of his troops were delayed, and he needed those to make his attack.

For diving into timelines, look here. It ain't perfect, but we are working hard towards getting it as perfect as it can get with a story that doesn't account for timelines :)

[thi4f]

Normally, I wouldn't give it a second thought: if it happened, it's legit. But emerging Stannis sympathy made me read 'his' chapters carefully to enjoy them to the fullest. So when I learnt about Battle of the Fords, I felt relief - no one's going to prevent Stannis from besieging King's Landing any time soon! I was hundred per cent sure that Tywin won't show up; when Dontos broke the news about Lannister's victory - that Mace, Tywin and Renly flanked Stannis army - I tought he's drunk since it didn't make much sense :)

I suppose that Stannis 'time' advantage could be reduced slightly by skirmishes with Shagga and his men, but that's it. Thanks for GRRM quote, Rhaenys, it resolved my doubts. You're doing good job with timelines too, I'll save that link :)

[JonBranRickon]

Nev

The difference in distance (looking at a map) between the Red Fork (from where Tywin turned south for KL) and KL, and SE and KL, doesn't differ all too much.

The easiest thing to say here, and unfortunately the only good answers, is because the plot demands Tywin to be in time :) GRRM has stated on such subjects

The bolded part is most important here.

If it might help, Stannis arrived at KL days before the Battle of the Blackwater. Parts of his troops were delayed, and he needed those to make his attack.

For diving into timelines, look here. It ain't perfect, but we are working hard towards getting it as perfect as it can get with a story that doesn't account for timelines :)

Agree - Never use real llife metrics to question fantasy :bang:

[thi4f]

Why not, JonBranRickon? Fantasy literature has supernatural elements and magic, but it doesn't mean that every aspect of such world differs from ours. If you suggest that real life metrics do not apply to GRRM's work, then why does he use 'miles', 'feet' and 'inches'?

[Bran the Broken </3]

I think the delay of the fleet and the skirmishes with the Men of the Moon Mountains are supposed to account for the delay and the reason Tywin catches up.

[John Suburbs]

My understanding is that they met up with the Tyrells on one of the tributaries of the Blackwater and they sailed the army downriver from there. How, exactly, Mace Tyrell managed to get a fleet large enough to carry Tywin's entire army is not explained. Maybe he already had one there.