Question about the battle of bells

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

App is a official app made by the authors of world book (i remembered so) and approved by grrm. 

You can not edit it or add something into it and you have to pay a little money to see full contents. They released those wow chapters through app too. There are indeed some errors and mistakes, but overly it was considered close to canon. 

Information not in the books was even provided by GRRM for the app.

That said, the app is semi-canon. I personally see it as a combination of summaries of the books (where GRRM clarified where clarification was necessary and possible) and SSMs. And as with all SSMs, should the author decide to present the info differently in the printed works (for example, first state in the app that character A has blonde hair, and then state in a book released afterwards that said character has black hair), the printed work is the one that should be followed (and the app, in an update, will be adjusted accordingly, as has happened in the past).

[John Suburbs]

I'll post this again as we have nowhere close to the entire story of RR:

I haven't gone into the whole history of the fighting, but there was a good deal more to it than just two armies meeting on the Trident. There were a number of earlier battles, sieges, escapes, ambushes, duels, and forays, and fighting in places as farflung as the Vale and the Dornish Marches.

http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/The_Siege_of_Storms_End

 

You don't need entire armies to do things. Robb splits his up and was in 3 named battles (Oxcross, Camps, Whispering Wood) while Roose only was in 1 (Green Fork). There were a number of skirmishes that we only know about because of a POV chapter, none of which we have for the vast majority of RR. Hell we only have a fever dream for the ToJ scene.

OK, but the entire time that Rhaegar is gathering a force large enough to quash the rebellion and put all the rebels' heads on spikes, you think Robert and Ned would be wasting time chasing down little pissant lords in the Riverlands? This is a fight to the death, and if they had their army intact after the wedding they would use it in some meaningful way to win the war. Marching to Ashford to take on the Tyrell army is a proper use of the army. Marching on KL before Rhaegar becomes a real threat is a meaningful use of the army. Splitting your forces to wage minor skirmishes on your home turf while the real enemy gathers enough strength to defeat you is a huge blunder and is completely uncharacteristic for military minds in the rebel camp: not just Robert and Ned but old war dogs like Hoster Tully and Jon Arryn.

So with the World Book saying it happened after the BotB, and the obvious military strategy requiring the rebels do something meaningful with their army while Rhaegar is gathering troops, it makes logical sense that Ashford happened later, not sooner.

[John Suburbs]

Information not in the books was even provided by GRRM for the app.

That said, the app is semi-canon. I personally see it as a combination of summaries of the books (where GRRM clarified where clarification was necessary and possible) and SSMs. And as with all SSMs, should the author decide to present the info differently in the printed works (for example, first state in the app that character A has blonde hair, and then state in a book released afterwards that said character has black hair), the printed work is the one that should be followed (and the app, in an update, will be adjusted accordingly, as has happened in the past).

Maybe we'll get some clarification at some point, but for the moment I will hold the app on the same level as the wiki: a useful tool, but not to be relied upon with a high degree of certainty.

But I'm curious, what is it about Ashford taking place later in the war that makes people so defensive? What difference does it make, really?

[thelittledragonthatcould]

 

So with the World Book saying it happened after the BotB, and the obvious military strategy requiring the rebels do something meaningful with their army while Rhaegar is gathering troops, it makes logical sense that Ashford happened later, not sooner.

Considering that the Reach Lords go on to put Storm's End to siege after Ashford it actually makes less sense that it happened later in the war.

[Universal Sword Donor]

Maybe we'll get some clarification at some point, but for the moment I will hold the app on the same level as the wiki: a useful tool, but not to be relied upon with a high degree of certainty.

But I'm curious, what is it about Ashford taking place later in the war that makes people so defensive? What difference does it make, really?

Why would you put the WOIAF, which is written by Elio, Linda, and GRRM, ahead of the app, which is written by Elio and Linda and GRRM?

[John Suburbs]

Considering that the Reach Lords go on to put Storm's End to siege after Ashford it actually makes less sense that it happened later in the war.

Why? All it means is that the two armies did not meet until a few months after originally thought. Either way, after Ashford Tully went on the Storm's End.

[John Suburbs]

Why would you put the WOIAF, which is written by Elio, Linda, and GRRM, ahead of the app, which is written by Elio and Linda and GRRM?

Because the more I hear about the app, the iffier it sounds. The World Book was written, revised, edited, checked and verified, while it sounds like the app is just a mishmash of random thoughts and ideas.

[Universal Sword Donor]

Because the more I hear about the app, the iffier it sounds. The World Book was written, revised, edited, checked and verified, while it sounds like the app is just a mishmash of random thoughts and ideas.

So for "reasons"? It's a free download you know. 

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

Maybe we'll get some clarification at some point, but for the moment I will hold the app on the same level as the wiki: a useful tool, but not to be relied upon with a high degree of certainty.

But I'm curious, what is it about Ashford taking place later in the war that makes people so defensive? What difference does it make, really?

Ashford taking place so late in the war isn't logical. We know the siege lasted about a year, as did the war. We know the siege was lifted shortly after war's end. And we know that between the Bells and the Sack some 9 months passed. For the siege to count as "a year" or "better part of a year", it will actually need to have been close to a year in time. And if it's less than 9 months, it's not close to a year. It would sooner be described as half a year than "a year".

So with all the info from the main series pointing towards Ashford taking place earlier than the Bells, and with the World Book account, imo, not chronological, I see no reason to start assuming otherwise.  

[purple-eyes]

Because the more I hear about the app, the iffier it sounds. The World Book was written, revised, edited, checked and verified, while it sounds like the app is just a mishmash of random thoughts and ideas.

it does have some errors and mistakes. But it is surely not wiki. 

[John Suburbs]

 

Ashford taking place so late in the war isn't logical. We know the siege lasted about a year, as did the war. We know the siege was lifted shortly after war's end. And we know that between the Bells and the Sack some 9 months passed. For the siege to count as "a year" or "better part of a year", it will actually need to have been close to a year in time. And if it's less than 9 months, it's not close to a year. It would sooner be described as half a year than "a year".

So with all the info from the main series pointing towards Ashford taking place earlier than the Bells, and with the World Book account, imo, not chronological, I see no reason to start assuming otherwise.  

The entire timeline for the war is beyond screwy. If the war lasted nearly a year, and we need nine months between the wedding and the sack, how could Ned have made his way from the Eyrie to Winterfel, rallied his banners, marched his army more than 600 leagues (1800 miles) to Stoney Sept and then back to Riverrun within 2.5 months?

How could the siege last a year, while the entire war was less than a year? Even if you give Ned a good month to get from KL to SE -- a straight shot down the Kingsroad of about 100 leagues or so, a snap for someone who just crossed six times that distance in less than two -- that means Mace Tyrell must have rallied his army and marched to SE, fighting a major engagement along the way, all within a month of Jon A calling his banners. Incredible.

The fact is, we don't know how long it was after the sack that Ned showed up at SE. He could have taken a month or more just to rest his troops and track down information regarding Lyanna's whereabouts, then a month's march and viola, you have Ashford taking place maybe two months after the wedding, seven months later is the sack, two months to lift the siege, and there's 9 months, aka the better part of a year. And this is without knowing exactly when Jon was born. It could have been a month before or after, which puts even more uncertainty into the timeline. So therefore it is impossible to make any definitive statements about the timeline.

Just for curiosity's sake, do you recall where the comment about the year-long sack is in the text? I'm pretty sure it's in there, but I don't recall where. If it was Stannis or Renly or someone on the inside, then we take it for a grain of salt because with each telling the battle is always fiercer, the foe is always more formidable and the siege is always longer and more desperate.

[thelittledragonthatcould]

Just for curiosity's sake, do you recall where the comment about the year-long sack is in the text? I'm pretty sure it's in there, but I don't recall where. If it was Stannis or Renly or someone on the inside, then we take it for a grain of salt because with each telling the battle is always fiercer, the foe is always more formidable and the siege is always longer and more desperate.

 

It was from Maester Cressen

Maester Cressen remembered the day Davos had been knighted, after the siege of Storm's End. Lord Stannis and a small garrison had held the castle for close to a year, against the great host of the Lords Tyrell and Redwyne.

Though I'm inclined to think it was closer to half a year than a year as Tywin comments on how long it should be able to hold out

"Both of them." Storm's End was strong, it should have been able to hold out for half a year or more . . . time enough for his father to finish with Robb Stark. "How did this happen?"

 

Tyrion seems pretty well informed and I think the older Cressen was simply rounding up rather than down.

 

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

 

The entire timeline for the war is beyond screwy. If the war lasted nearly a year, and we need nine months between the wedding and the sack, how could Ned have made his way from the Eyrie to Winterfel, rallied his banners, marched his army more than 600 leagues (1800 miles) to Stoney Sept and then back to Riverrun within 2.5 months?

How could the siege last a year, while the entire war was less than a year? Even if you give Ned a good month to get from KL to SE -- a straight shot down the Kingsroad of about 100 leagues or so, a snap for someone who just crossed six times that distance in less than two -- that means Mace Tyrell must have rallied his army and marched to SE, fighting a major engagement along the way, all within a month of Jon A calling his banners. Incredible.

The fact is, we don't know how long it was after the sack that Ned showed up at SE. He could have taken a month or more just to rest his troops and track down information regarding Lyanna's whereabouts, then a month's march and viola, you have Ashford taking place maybe two months after the wedding, seven months later is the sack, two months to lift the siege, and there's 9 months, aka the better part of a year. And this is without knowing exactly when Jon was born. It could have been a month before or after, which puts even more uncertainty into the timeline. So therefore it is impossible to make any definitive statements about the timeline.

Just for curiosity's sake, do you recall where the comment about the year-long sack is in the text? I'm pretty sure it's in there, but I don't recall where. If it was Stannis or Renly or someone on the inside, then we take it for a grain of salt because with each telling the battle is always fiercer, the foe is always more formidable and the siege is always longer and more desperate.

 

Both lasted "close to a year", so either a little more than 12 months, or a little less. My guess would be that the entire war itself alsted slightly longer than 12 months.. 13, something like that, whereas the siege most certainly (according to Yandel, see below) lasted less than 12 months. 

But with such a scenario, Ned would have had some 3,5 to 4 months to reach the Stony Sept/riverrun, and that, I think, is not unlikely.

We indeed don't know exactly how long it took Ned to get to SE from KL, but we do know that the situation was severe, and Ned left KL in anger. We also know that he crossed about the same distance (Trident to KL) in two weeks time, and we know that the Tyrells and Redwyn's were still actively besieging. All pointing to a short passage of time, of a few weeks. Based on the speed Ned went to KL, I would estimate 2 weeks, three weeks tops, but that is my personal guess only.

 

It was from Maester Cressen

Maester Cressen remembered the day Davos had been knighted, after the siege of Storm's End. Lord Stannis and a small garrison had held the castle for close to a year, against the great host of the Lords Tyrell and Redwyne.

Though I'm inclined to think it was closer to half a year than a year as Tywin comments on how long it should be able to hold out

"Both of them." Storm's End was strong, it should have been able to hold out for half a year or more . . . time enough for his father to finish with Robb Stark. "How did this happen?"

 

Tyrion seems pretty well informed and I think the older Cressen was simply rounding up rather than down.

 

Two other quotes:

Ned found it hard to imagine what could frighten Stannis Baratheon, who had once held Storm'sEnd through a year of siege, surviving on rats and boot leather while the Lords Tyrell and Redwyne sat outside with their hosts, banqueting in sight of his walls.

 

 

The siege of Storm's End, where Mace Tyrell actually did hold the command, had dragged on a year to no result, and after the Trident was fought, the Lord of Highgarden had meekly dipped his banners to Eddard Stark.

 

 

As Tyrion here speaks of "a year", I'm not sure if the statement about Storm's End current status is directly applicable to Storm's End as its situation was 16 years prior.

 

And Yandel states

The present Lord of Highgarden, Mace Tyrell, fought loyally for House Targaryen during Robert's Rebellion, defeating Robert Baratheon himself at the Battle of Ashford and later besieging his brother Stannis in Storm's End for the better part of a year. With the death of the Mad King Aerys II and his son Prince Rhaegar, however, Lord Mace laid down his sword, and is today once again Warden of the South and a leal servant of King Robert and the Iron Throne.

[thelittledragonthatcould]

snip

 

Well the war officially starts out when Jon refuses Aerys demands of executing his wards.

• He calls his banners. Ned goes home to do the same
• Robert and Jon win at the battle of Gulltown
• Robert goes home, calls his banners
• Fights the battle of Summerhall
• Returns to Storm's End, wines and dines his prisoners taking the hunting and turning them into friends
• Leaves for Ashford in the Reach. Gets beat; flees to Septy Stone while the Reach lords descend on the vulnerable Stormlands.

Is there really a year left of the war from here? I know there are battles we have not been told about but the above must have taken at least 2-3 months

[purple-eyes]

Well the war officially starts out when Jon refuses Aerys demands of executing his wards.

• He calls his banners. Ned goes home to do the same
• Robert and Jon win at the battle of Gulltown
• Robert goes home, calls his banners
• Fights the battle of Summerhall
• Returns to Storm's End, wines and dines his prisoners taking the hunting and turning them into friends
• Leaves for Ashford in the Reach. Gets beat; flees to Septy Stone while the Reach lords descend on the vulnerable Stormlands.

Is there really a year left of the war from here? I know there are battles we have not been told about but the above must have taken at least 2-3 months

GRRM was not very good with timeline and distance, he may not think too much about this rebellion 20 years ago either. 

I would say maybe robb was born a couple of months later than jon snow, so from battle of bells to sack maybe just 6 months. 

 

[John Suburbs]

Both lasted "close to a year", so either a little more than 12 months, or a little less. My guess would be that the entire war itself alsted slightly longer than 12 months.. 13, something like that, whereas the siege most certainly (according to Yandel, see below) lasted less than 12 months. 

But with such a scenario, Ned would have had some 3,5 to 4 months to reach the Stony Sept/riverrun, and that, I think, is not unlikely.

We indeed don't know exactly how long it took Ned to get to SE from KL, but we do know that the situation was severe, and Ned left KL in anger. We also know that he crossed about the same distance (Trident to KL) in two weeks time, and we know that the Tyrells and Redwyn's were still actively besieging. All pointing to a short passage of time, of a few weeks. Based on the speed Ned went to KL, I would estimate 2 weeks, three weeks tops, but that is my personal guess only.

 

Two other quotes:

Ned found it hard to imagine what could frighten Stannis Baratheon, who had once held Storm'sEnd through a year of siege, surviving on rats and boot leather while the Lords Tyrell and Redwyne sat outside with their hosts, banqueting in sight of his walls.

 

 

 

 

The siege of Storm's End, where Mace Tyrell actually did hold the command, had dragged on a year to no result, and after the Trident was fought, the Lord of Highgarden had meekly dipped his banners to Eddard Stark.

 

 

 

As Tyrion here speaks of "a year", I'm not sure if the statement about Storm's End current status is directly applicable to Storm's End as its situation was 16 years prior.

 

And Yandel states

The present Lord of Highgarden, Mace Tyrell, fought loyally for House Targaryen during Robert's Rebellion, defeating Robert Baratheon himself at the Battle of Ashford and later besieging his brother Stannis in Storm's End for the better part of a year. With the death of the Mad King Aerys II and his son Prince Rhaegar, however, Lord Mace laid down his sword, and is today once again Warden of the South and a leal servant of King Robert and the Iron Throne.

 

Well, Ned's recollections are all over the map. He has the siege lasting longer than the war, which is all the more reason why we can't use the timeline to prove or disprove anything related to the war.

The most generous timeline I can come up with is that the war ran from Jon A calling his banners, thus marking the initial intention to commence military hostilities, to the sack and death of the Mad King. If that period was almost a year, the sack must have been some months shy of that just to give time for Mace to call his banners and make his way to SE. If you choose an earlier start or a later end, say the kidnapping and the final assault on Dragonstone, then that leaves even less time for Ned to make his miraculous flight north and march south, given that we need nine months at minimum between the wedding and the sack. (More on that in a moment) So anyone who talks about the siege lasting a full year or close to a year has to be rounding up.

I agree that Ned most likely beat a hasty path to SE, in part because Stannis was starving and Ned himself says he left the capital in a rage that very day (the day Tywin presented the dead children to Robert) "to fight the last battles of the war alone in the south." But the point is we don't know how long it took to get there or how long it took to lift the siege once he arrived. Two armies are now facing each other outside the city walls. Ned wants to end things peacefully but he has to move cautiously so things don't spin out of control. That means riders are dispatched, messages are exchanged, meetings are held, negotiations... And then even after a deal is struck, you still need to have an orderly retreat from the scene. You don't just let tens of thousands of hostile soldiers wander off into the woods. It has to be done in an organized way, and that takes time.

As for Robb and Jon, note that nine months is the minimum amount of time we need between the wedding and the sack. If Jon was born a few weeks before the sack (maybe even a full month before?), and then Robb is a few weeks (maybe even another month?) before that, then we have a good 11 months between the wedding and the sack, maybe nine months between Ashford and the sack and 10 months before the lifting of the siege. Give Mace a month to go from Ashford to SE (again, if Ned can make his journey in two, Mace should be able to do his in one) and you're left with a nine-month siege: again, the better part of a year.

Of course, this throws the early part of the timeline completely out of whack because now we have to imagine Ned fleeing north and marching south in a matter of weeks.

So something is wrong here, and it could very well be that Ashford did in fact happen close after Summerhall. All I'm saying is that the World Book lists it later and you can't definitively say that it could not have happened later because it doesn't fit the timeline. The entire war doesn't fit the timeline.

 

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

Well the war officially starts out when Jon refuses Aerys demands of executing his wards.

• He calls his banners. Ned goes home to do the same
• Robert and Jon win at the battle of Gulltown
• Robert goes home, calls his banners
• Fights the battle of Summerhall
• Returns to Storm's End, wines and dines his prisoners taking the hunting and turning them into friends
• Leaves for Ashford in the Reach. Gets beat; flees to Septy Stone while the Reach lords descend on the vulnerable Stormlands.

Is there really a year left of the war from here? I know there are battles we have not been told about but the above must have taken at least 2-3 months

Both the war and the siege are described as having lasted "a year" and "close to a year". So clearly, neither lasted an exact 12 months, and those characters describing were either rounding up or down.

Mace marched for Storm's End after Ashford, and could have begun the siege around the same time as the Bells took place. If there's about 9 months between the Bells and the Sack, and the siege began around the same time, but ended later (at about 10 months?) there's logic in it being rounded up to a year, as well as it being described as having lasted "close to a year".

Similarly, the months of war before the Bells, were several, but in total, that war will have lasted close to 12 months. Fewer seems unlikely, given all that Robert has to do before the Stony Sept (even if you leave out Ashford), hence my believe that something like 13 months hits close to the truth.

 

Well, Ned's recollections are all over the map. He has the siege lasting longer than the war, which is all the more reason why we can't use the timeline to prove or disprove anything related to the war.

The siege and the war are described with equal terms. "A year" and "close to a year", yet that doesn't mean that both lasted exactly as long as each other. Just that both lasted somewhere close to 12 months, in a range that one could believably round up or down to a year. And people often round up or down.

Nothing contradictory there.

 

I agree that Ned most likely beat a hasty path to SE, in part because Stannis was starving and Ned himself says he left the capital in a rage that very day (the day Tywin presented the dead children to Robert) "to fight the last battles of the war alone in the south." But the point is we don't know how long it took to get there or how long it took to lift the siege once he arrived. Two armies are now facing each other outside the city walls. Ned wants to end things peacefully but he has to move cautiously so things don't spin out of control. That means riders are dispatched, messages are exchanged, meetings are held, negotiations... And then even after a deal is struck, you still need to have an orderly retreat from the scene. You don't just let tens of thousands of hostile soldiers wander off into the woods. It has to be done in an organized way, and that takes time.

As for Robb and Jon, note that nine months is the minimum amount of time we need between the wedding and the sack. If Jon was born a few weeks before the sack (maybe even a full month before?), and then Robb is a few weeks (maybe even another month?) before that, then we have a good 11 months between the wedding and the sack, maybe nine months between Ashford and the sack and 10 months before the lifting of the siege. Give Mace a month to go from Ashford to SE (again, if Ned can make his journey in two, Mace should be able to do his in one) and you're left with a nine-month siege: again, the better part of a year.

Of course, this throws the early part of the timeline completely out of whack because now we have to imagine Ned fleeing north and marching south in a matter of weeks.

Of course we don't know exactly how long it took Ned to get from KL to SE. We can currently only compare to distance and travel times given to us in the texts that we have, until such a time as when we get more information.

I think you are confusing Jon's window of birth here. Dany was born 9 months after the flight from KL, or, as she describes it as well, 9 months after the Sack (since there's only about a week or so between the flight and the Sack, it's not odd for her to use both to place her birth). Jon was born 8 or 9 months before Dany, and if you take the Sack as her statement of "I was born 9 months later", we have Jon's birth occuring at some point in the month following the Sack. (If you want to calculate from the flight on out, subtract about a week, making the window of time about one week before the Sack until three weeks after).

So Jon can't have been born a few weeks or a full month before the Sack. With the current info that we have, we can say that it was one week before the Sack, at most, with more likelihood of his birth have been after the Sack than before the Sack (simply because his time window of birth was larger after the Sack). 

[John Suburbs]

The siege and the war are described with equal terms. "A year" and "close to a year", yet that doesn't mean that both lasted exactly as long as each other. Just that both lasted somewhere close to 12 months, in a range that one could believably round up or down to a year. And people often round up or down.

Nothing contradictory there.

 

Of course we don't know exactly how long it took Ned to get from KL to SE. We can currently only compare to distance and travel times given to us in the texts that we have, until such a time as when we get more information.

I think you are confusing Jon's window of birth here. Dany was born 9 months after the flight from KL, or, as she describes it as well, 9 months after the Sack (since there's only about a week or so between the flight and the Sack, it's not odd for her to use both to place her birth). Jon was born 8 or 9 months before Dany, and if you take the Sack as her statement of "I was born 9 months later", we have Jon's birth occuring at some point in the month following the Sack. (If you want to calculate from the flight on out, subtract about a week, making the window of time about one week before the Sack until three weeks after).

So Jon can't have been born a few weeks or a full month before the Sack. With the current info that we have, we can say that it was one week before the Sack, at most, with more likelihood of his birth have been after the Sack than before the Sack (simply because his time window of birth was larger after the Sack). 

How could Mace have possibly gotten his army together, fought a battle at Ashford and then made his way to Storm's End in time to have the siege last even close to the entire war? Remember, this is after Robert has already fought at Gulltown, fled to Storm's End, called his banners and fought at Summerhall. So if the war lasted nearly a year, then people have to be playing fast and loose with the "better part of a year" description for the siege. There is no way they can even be close in duration; 10 months at best, eight is still within the realm of possibility.

People don't round up or down to beyond the point at which they are rounding to. If you have $105 in your pocket you don't say I have "almost a hundred dollars." But if you have $85, you might say "I have almost $100" but not "I have more than $100", unless you want to be called a liar.

Dany was born nine moons after Rhaella fled the capital -- about two weeks before the sack. "Nine moons" can be closer to eight months or ten, depending on the phase it was when she left and the phase in which she was born. Jon was born eight or nine months before Dany, "or thereabouts" so right off the bat we have a fuzzy timeline that could put Jon's birth a full month before the sack. Robb is said to be a few weeks earlier than Jon. Is that three weeks? five? seven?

This is what I mean when we say we cannot rule things out, or confirm them in a lot of cases, using the timeline. There are simply too many holes.

 

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

How could Mace have possibly gotten his army together, fought a battle at Ashford and then made his way to Storm's End in time to have the siege last even close to the entire war? Remember, this is after Robert has already fought at Gulltown, fled to Storm's End, called his banners and fought at Summerhall. So if the war lasted nearly a year, then people have to be playing fast and loose with the "better part of a year" description for the siege. There is no way they can even be close in duration; 10 months at best, eight is still within the realm of possibility.

People don't round up or down to beyond the point at which they are rounding to. If you have $105 in your pocket you don't say I have "almost a hundred dollars." But if you have $85, you might say "I have almost $100" but not "I have more than $100", unless you want to be called a liar.

Dany was born nine moons after Rhaella fled the capital -- about two weeks before the sack. "Nine moons" can be closer to eight months or ten, depending on the phase it was when she left and the phase in which she was born. Jon was born eight or nine months before Dany, "or thereabouts" so right off the bat we have a fuzzy timeline that could put Jon's birth a full month before the sack. Robb is said to be a few weeks earlier than Jon. Is that three weeks? five? seven?

This is what I mean when we say we cannot rule things out, or confirm them in a lot of cases, using the timeline. There are simply too many holes.

If the only description for the siege had been "better part of a year", then I would have said that 8 months would indeed be a possibility, yes. But since people also describe the siege as "a year", it seems to me that rounding up to a year creates more accuracy in their minds than rounding down to half a year.

Whether I have 105 dollars or 95 dollars, I have "close to a hundred dollars", either way. Perhaps it is most common to assume that I have 95 dollars, in that case, but the option of having 105 dollars is not invalid, either.

A moon as mentioned as a passage of time equals a month, as far as I am aware. Hence, Dany was born 9 months after the flight, which could have occured anywhere in the two weeks between the Trident and the Sack (but I agree, would have occured as soon as possible after the Trident). 

The amount of weeks between Robb and Jon are never mentioned. Only that Jon's conception came after Robb's (according to Ned when speaking to Robert).

[John Suburbs]

If the only description for the siege had been "better part of a year", then I would have said that 8 months would indeed be a possibility, yes. But since people also describe the siege as "a year", it seems to me that rounding up to a year creates more accuracy in their minds than rounding down to half a year.

Whether I have 105 dollars or 95 dollars, I have "close to a hundred dollars", either way. Perhaps it is most common to assume that I have 95 dollars, in that case, but the option of having 105 dollars is not invalid, either.

A moon as mentioned as a passage of time equals a month, as far as I am aware. Hence, Dany was born 9 months after the flight, which could have occured anywhere in the two weeks between the Trident and the Sack (but I agree, would have occured as soon as possible after the Trident). 

The amount of weeks between Robb and Jon are never mentioned. Only that Jon's conception came after Robb's (according to Ned when speaking to Robert).

I read "better part of a year" as most of a year but not more. And even "close to a year" still means, almost a year, but not more. But whatever.

A lunar cycle is roughly 30 days, but it is simplistic to say that nine moons equals nine months. Let's start with the day Rhaella leaves KL just before the sack. We'll call that Moon 0. If it is the very last day of the waning crescent, then three days later you have the waxing crescent of the new moon, or Moon 1. Note that only three days have elapsed, not 30. Then you add 30 days each for Moons 2-9, which brings you to the end of the eighth month. If Dany was born on the first day of the new moon, then she was born in the ninth moon, but it is only eight months and six days later. Not nine full months.

This would make Dany a premie, depending on when she was conceived, but it still means only eight months have elapsed since the sack, or even less considering Rhaella could have left KL a good two weeks before the sack.

Jon being nine months older than Dany "or thereabouts" could put his birth before the sack. That means Robb could have been born a month before that, which could put at least 10 months between the wedding and the sack. If we assume a month or two between the wedding and ashford, then eight months until the sack, then another month or so to lift the siege, viola, "the better part of a year." Again, the sack could not have lasted a full year or even close because the entire war didn't last that long.