Mistakes/Contradictions in the books?

[Corvo the Crow]

Darry lands are all over the place; it is North of thr trident when Ned goes to KL, they have lands located as far as Redfork near Westerlands border when mountain is raiding, and finally it is on the southern side of Trident, near Harrenhal, when Goldenhand the Just is travelling around the Riverlands.

[Walda]

^ very true. It's also a bit odd that there are wild aurochs and a shadowcat on (or near) Darry lands, but apparently nowhere else in the Riverlands is so wild, or even apparently the North (Sansa had not seen an aurochs until she saw the three at the feast for the Tourney of the Hand in King's Landing, and Bran had not seen one before the Harvest Feast.)  Maybe wild aurochs head North in the summer.  Also, thanks to Arya, Darry Lands now have the second to only direwolf south of the wall living off them.

~

Quote

—Merrett’s daughter, AMEREI, called AMI, a widow of sixteen, m. {Ser Pate of the Blue Fork}

ACoK Appendix  (also ASoS and AFfC appendices)

But at the Red Wedding, when Lord Walder introduces the King in the North to her he says

Quote

 I married Ami to Ser Pate of Sevenstreams, but the Mountain killed the oaf so I got her back.

ASoS, Ch.49 Catelyn VI

and Tom'o'Sevens tells Merrett Frey

Quote

“I sang at your daughter’s wedding. And passing well, I thought. That Pate she married was a cousin. We’re all cousins in Sevenstreams. Didn’t stop him from turning niggard when it was time to pay me.”

ASoS, Epilogue

Mind you, there are a lot of Pates. and most of them dead.

A stonemason at the Wall, from Maidenpool, who carved the wolfhead pommel of Longclaw and had his own head twisted off by Mag the Mighty (although Pate might have been a nick-name for him),

a ranger at the Wall who still lives.

Tommen's brutalized but still living whipping boy,

An orphan at the Inn at the Crossroads,

A novice at the Oldtown citidel and apparently the faceless man that killed him,

and four killed by Ser Gregor and his men, apart from Ser Pate

Quote

Pate of Mory, Pate of Lancewood, Old Pate, and Pate of Shermer’s Grove

ASoS, Ch.34 Arya VI

Or perhaps Ser Pate and Old Pate are the same person, explaining why Tom'o'Sevens buried him and still cares enough about his old house and things to tell Arya she was stealing from his garden.  But it doesn't seem likely - Amerei at seventeen describes her exhusband as Gallant, and Pate thought he could best Gregor Clegane, neither of which seems likely if Pate were old.

Also, Tom'o'Sevens gives other dead knights their honourifics, one would think he would extend the same courtesy to his cousin. Indeed, if Ser Pate isn't one of these, it seems odd that Tom didn't mention his as a Clegane killing. 

Although, I suppose as Ser Pate actually set out to kill Gregor, in a time of war, it could be because he was killed lawfully on a field of battle. But then, Tom mentions people like Alyn of Winterfell, Joth Quickbow, Ser Raymun Darry, and the Bastard of Bracken, that we know set out as soldiers with the express purpose of killing Gregor Clegane.

So I guess maybe Tom found out about his cousin's death after Sandor's trial?

 

 

[Ran]

On 5/31/2018 at 6:29 AM, Corvo the Crow said:

Darry lands are all over the place; it is North of thr trident when Ned goes to KL,

No, it's half a day south of the Trident in AGoT. The castle has not changed location.

[JaneSnow]

Idk if it is a mistake or just weird, but even though Dany's hair was burned off at the end of the first book, she's already about to braid it again about midway through the second. Does being the blood of the dragon mean her hair grows magically fast or something?

[Kandrax]

Let's not forget gender-bending Turnip.

[Yukle]

5 hours ago, JaneSnow said:

Idk if it is a mistake or just weird, but even though Dany's hair was burned off at the end of the first book, she's already about to braid it again about midway through the second. Does being the blood of the dragon mean her hair grows magically fast or something?

It's probably just GRRM pictures her with long hair all of the time and it's hard to break that image in your mind's eye.

[Walda]

This was a Tolkien issue too: How many miles in a league?

According to Quentyn

Quote

It was a hundred leagues from Astapor to Yunkai by the old Ghiscari coast road, and another fifty from Yunkai to Meereen.

(ADwD, Ch.25 The Windblown)

but to Dany

Quote

Two hundred leagues divided Meereen from Astapor

(ADwD, Ch.30 Daenerys V) and

Quote

Worst of all, they had nailed a slave child up on every milepost along the coast road from Yunkai,...By the time they came to Meereen sitting on the salt coast beside her river, the count stood at one hundred and sixty-three

(ADwD, Ch.57 Daenerys V)

According to Asha

Quote

One hundred leagues from Deepwood Motte to Winterfell. Three hundred miles as the raven flies.

(ADwD, Ch.42 The King's Prize) cf. ADwD, Ch.62 The Sacrifice

Deepwood Motte is not so far from the sea, however

Quote

The sea was closer, only five leagues north

(ADwD, Ch.26 The Wayward Bride)

So Asha is clearly overstating her case when she lays it out to Theon

Quote

Your prize will be the doom of you. Krakens rise from the sea, Theon, or did you forget that during your years among the wolves? Our strength is in our longships. My wooden pisspot sits close enough to the sea for supplies and fresh men to reach me whenever they are needful. But Winterfell is hundreds of leagues inland

(ACoK, Ch.56 Theon V)

and Bran is confused

Quote

Bran was as confused as he was dismayed. “But the sea is hundreds and hundreds of leagues away, and Winterfell’s walls are so high the water couldn’t get in even if it did come.”

(ACoK, Ch.35 Bran V)

or the world around Winterfell has shrunk since the War of Five Kings.

We learn the length of the wall early on, and are reminded frequently

Quote

The Wall was a hundred leagues long

(AGoT, Ch.21 Tyrion III) cf. ACoK,Ch.43 Jon V;  ASoS,Ch.26 Jon III; ASoS, Ch.60 Tyrion VIII; ADwD,Ch.07 Jon II

In the first mention, we are also given the length in miles

Quote

Our strength is less than a thousand now. Six hundred here, two hundred in the Shadow Tower, even fewer at Eastwatch, and a scant third of those fighting men. The Wall is a hundred leagues long. Think on that. Should an attack come, I have three men to defend each mile of wall.”

“Three and a third,” Tyrion said with a yawn.

(AGoT, Ch.21 Tyrion III)

So we know that Tyrion and Asha are using the same league

Sam knows

Quote

 It’s a hundred leagues long and seven hundred feet high

(ASoS, Ch.56 Bran IV)

and uses the same ratio leagues:miles as Tywin and Asha

Quote

The Wall is three hundred miles long and seven hundred feet high, Sam reminded himself.

(ASoS, Ch.46 Samwell III)

But he gets lost

Quote

It was the gate at Castle Black they needed to find; the only way through the Wall for a hundred leagues.

(ASoS,Ch.46 Samwell III) If he was thinking clearly, he would realise that, as he was not on the Bay of Seals or the Bay of Ice, he could not have been more than thirty leagues from the gate at Castle Black.

Jon has a better understanding of the distances involved...well, most of the time

Quote

Jon knew the song, though it was strange to hear it here, in a shaggy hide tent beyond the Wall, ten thousand leagues from the red mountains and warm winds of Dorne.

(ASoS, Ch.07 Jon I)

Although, 10,000 leagues north of Dorne is actually in the ballpark of 1,000 leagues north of Dorne (if you take the shortest path rather than flying in a great circle around Planetos one and a bit times) and that is in fact where Jon happens to be when he says this, ±100 leagues (possibly even less than 100 Dany leagues).

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

5 hours ago, Walda said:

This was a Tolkien issue too: How many miles in a league?

According to Quentyn

(ADwD, Ch.25 The Windblown)

but to Dany

(ADwD, Ch.30 Daenerys V) and

(ADwD, Ch.57 Daenerys V)

Dany counts 200 leagues from Astapor to Meereen, Quentyn 150, which implies that the truth lies in between, with Quentyn rounding down and Dany rounding up. Dany's count of miles posts (163) gives 54,3 leagues (3 miles in a league), but nowhere is it stated that the children are nailed up immediately starting outside of Yunkai, IIRC. So there's no contradiction there.

 

Quote

 

(ASoS,Ch.46 Samwell III) If he was thinking clearly, he would realise that, as he was not on the Bay of Seals or the Bay of Ice, he could not have been more than thirty leagues from the gate at Castle Black.

The gate at Castle Black is the only gate in the Wall for 100 leagues, when looking at the Wall itself, not looking at Sam's position with respect to the Wall.

 

 

[Mordant Jester]

There are two 'errors' that I have noticed.  For a series this scope, its remarkable how neat the package is kept.

 

In GoT when Jon's thoughts indicate he knows about Lady/Nymeria fairly soon after the incident at House Darry.    

 

Also, in ACoK, when Arya is approaching the town that includes Sir Gregor, Tickler, etc., the description of the land and where the Lake/water is gets turned around.  (I think, I cant look for the passages right now).

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

In AGoT, Ned says that he last saw 7 year old Tommen when he was a baby, but it's later said that Ned and Robert haven't seen each other since the Greyjoy Rebellion, which was nine years before AGoT. Unless I'm mixing things up.

[Ran]

18 minutes ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

In AGoT, Ned says that he last saw 7 year old Tommen when he was a baby, but it's later said that Ned and Robert haven't seen each other since the Greyjoy Rebellion, which was nine years before AGoT. Unless I'm mixing things up.

You're right. But Ned didn't say he saw Robert then -- in fact, he said the last time he saw Robert was Greyjoy's Rebellion.

Notably, roughly around the date that Ned thinks he saw Tommen is also roughly about the date of the birth of Robert Arryn... and Catelyn indicates she saw him as an infant.

Put these together, and it seems Cat and Ned went south to see Lysa after the birth of Robert, and that Cersei happened to be around the area -- perhaps travelling with young Tommen to/from Casterly Rock -- and they ended up encountering her. That fits all the pieces together.