Character Height of Asoiaf

[The Last Wolf]

This post may be a bit pointless, but I'm curious

[John Suburbs]

I just noticed that Joffrey is actually taller than both Robb and Jon.

Now, this is interesting because Ser Duncan the Tall and Lady Rohanne Webber had a strong attraction to each other when he had to settle a dispute between her and Ser Eustace Osgrey. Lady Webber eventually married Ser Eustace, but then later went on to marry Lord Gerold Lannister and bore him four sons, including Tytos, father of Tywin.

And Ser Duncan was described as having "sun-streaked" hair.

But this is probably all just a coincidence. Lord Gerold, it should be noted, was more than six feet tall.

[Banner Without Brothers]

42 minutes ago, John Suburbs said:

I just noticed that Joffrey is actually taller than both Robb and Jon.

Now, this is interesting because Ser Duncan the Tall and Lady Rohanne Webber had a strong attraction to each other when he had to settle a dispute between her and Ser Eustace Osgrey. Lady Webber eventually married Ser Eustace, but then later went on to marry Lord Gerold Lannister and bore him four sons, including Tytos, father of Tywin.

And Ser Duncan was described as having "sun-streaked" hair.

But this is probably all just a coincidence. Lord Gerold, it should be noted, was more than six feet tall.

But all he got was a kiss? She offered more and he turned her down? It's been a while since I read that one so I could be wrong. I had no idea that she went on to marry into the Lannisters though.

 

The height of characters is very weird. So many people 7ft or above. Personally I'm in the Post-Apocalyptic camp. So for me this is the result of genetic mutations and the abnormal height is just another thing that points to that.

 

[Foot_Of_The_King]

An old thread but pretty comprehensive on this subject.

@Ser Felipe Lannister

If this topic really does interest you I high suggest going through this thread. 

[Leo of House Cartel]

Noticed this in the height thread

From the Sworn Sword

 

"Egg’s brother Aemon had measured him in Oldtown and found he lacked an inch of seven feet, but that was half a year ago. He might have grown since"

Dunk would be in his late teens at this point, with a few more years of growing, I wonder how tall he actually grew.

 

[Universal Sword Donor]

15 hours ago, John Suburbs said:

I just noticed that Joffrey is actually taller than both Robb and Jon.

Now, this is interesting because Ser Duncan the Tall and Lady Rohanne Webber had a strong attraction to each other when he had to settle a dispute between her and Ser Eustace Osgrey. Lady Webber eventually married Ser Eustace, but then later went on to marry Lord Gerold Lannister and bore him four sons, including Tytos, father of Tywin.

And Ser Duncan was described as having "sun-streaked" hair.

But this is probably all just a coincidence. Lord Gerold, it should be noted, was more than six feet tall.

The mountain is also very tall. So is lucas longinch. Also the hound. Also Robert. Maybe they are all Joffrey's dad?

[Universal Sword Donor]

14 hours ago, Banner Without Brothers said:

But all he got was a kiss? She offered more and he turned her down? It's been a while since I read that one so I could be wrong. I had no idea that she went on to marry into the Lannisters though.

 

The height of characters is very weird. So many people 7ft or above. Personally I'm in the Post-Apocalyptic camp. So for me this is the result of genetic mutations and the abnormal height is just another thing that points to that.

 

There are literally 2 characters who *might* be 7 ft or above in the novels or novellas. Gregor definitely is. Dunk might be 7' at the end of the novellas. 

I'm interested to hear more.

[Banner Without Brothers]

36 minutes ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

There are literally 2 characters who *might* be 7 ft or above in the novels or novellas. Gregor definitely is. Dunk might be 7' at the end of the novellas. 

I'm interested to hear more.

Gregor is described as nearly 8ft. Sandor is shorter but shorter by over 12"? So I would say Sandor is around 7ft even though I just checked the wiki and there was no confirmation. Hodor is over 7ft. Great John Umber is 7ft Small Jon is very close. Olenna's twin body guards are both 7ft. There are plenty of others who are described "giants" although no specific height is mentioned. I perhaps exaggerated by saying "there are so many over 7ft" but there are so many that are abnormally tall for our world. Personally I've only met one person who was 7ft so for me at least seven named characters featured and alive at the same time being 7ft or over is an extraordinarily high number. I think it's intentional and that there's a reason behind it whether it's mutation/evolution or magic or something else.

There is another obvious option that is their foot is not the same as our foot. The wall being 500 foot tall is a prime example of a height that is ridiculously tall and arrows are supposed to be hitting the top and sticking in dummys and even kill a man.

[Jon Fossoway]

 

Hoster Blackwood is described as a boy about seven feet tall. That is to say, we speak of almost 2.15 meters, almost as tall of stature as the Greatjon.  He must be among the tallest known characters of the books. And he, like the Smalljon, can still be growing.

[Universal Sword Donor]

5 minutes ago, Banner Without Brothers said:

Gregor is described as nearly 8ft. Sandor is shorter but shorter by over 12"? So I would say Sandor is around 7ft even though I just checked the wiki and there was no confirmation. Hodor is over 7ft. Great John Umber is 7ft Small Jon is very close. Olenna's twin body guards are both 7ft. There are plenty of others who are described "giants" although no specific height is mentioned. I perhaps exaggerated by saying "there are so many over 7ft" but there are so many that are abnormally tall for our world. Personally I've only met one person who was 7ft so for me at least seven named characters featured and alive at the same time being 7ft or over is an extraordinarily high number. I think it's intentional and that there's a reason behind it whether it's mutation/evolution or magic or something else.

There is another obvious option that is their foot is not the same as our foot. The wall being 500 foot tall is a prime example of a height that is ridiculously tall and arrows are supposed to be hitting the top and sticking in dummys and even kill a man.

Gregor is is over 7 ft.

Sandor is a bit taller than Brienne, so nowhere near 7 ft.

Greatjon is nearly 7 ft, so not at 7 '

I forgot about Hodor

The twins are indeed 7'. 

There are plenty of people over 7' in the world. Also keep in mind that we're looking at the veritable cream of the Westerosi crop. Nearly everyone we see is in daily contact with nobles or is a noble.

And the wall is 700 ft high as confirmed by GRRM. It's 700 feet high and GRRM has confirmed the measurements are the same in both worlds. Estimates like Theon's or Roose's "1000 leagues" are a matter of semantics and inexact knowledge.

But honestly this is just a rehash of 

 

[Banner Without Brothers]

1 hour ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

Gregor is is over 7 ft.

Sandor is a bit taller than Brienne, so nowhere near 7 ft.

Greatjon is nearly 7 ft, so not at 7 '

I forgot about Hodor

The twins are indeed 7'. 

There are plenty of people over 7' in the world. Also keep in mind that we're looking at the veritable cream of the Westerosi crop. Nearly everyone we see is in daily contact with nobles or is a noble.

And the wall is 700 ft high as confirmed by GRRM. It's 700 feet high and GRRM has confirmed the measurements are the same in both worlds. Estimates like Theon's or Roose's "1000 leagues" are a matter of semantics and inexact knowledge.

But honestly this is just a rehash of 

 

Gregor is nearer 8 than 7.

Sandor is taller than Brienne.

Great Jon is 7ft "same height as hodor but twice as big".

"There are plenty of people over 7ft around the world" we're back to the meaning of words such as "plenty" or "many" as I was guilty of using. In fact there are very few people over 7ft in the world and I assume many of those are the result of malfunctioning pituitary glands. I just did a quick search to see if there are any real world stats on how many people are 7ft or over. The top result said there are only 2800 in the entire world. Another said that the number is about 3 per million which would work out at around 20,000. I could find no clear answer but those approximate numbers give a good indication for how rare these people are. I don't buy the "cream of the crop" explanation at all.

We also have an unusually high number of people that are in the high sixes including all the Baratheons and Brienne and many many more. Not discounting the people who are not given a specific height but are described as giant or huge.

While it could be said that my use of "many" was an exaggeration. I feel that 6 (if we discount Sandor) is a huge amount given the population disparity between our world and Westeros. It's plain weird. We can put that down to author error/carelessness or it's intentional that something very strange is going on. So I feel my original comment is justified.

Thanks for the correction on the wall. I believe I got the 500 from the amount of leagues across it is. But it further illustrates my point of ridiculous heights.

 

[Universal Sword Donor]

31 minutes ago, Banner Without Brothers said:

Gregor is nearer 8 than 7.

Sandor is taller than Brienne.

Great Jon is 7ft "same height as hodor but twice as big".

"There are plenty of people over 7ft around the world" we're back to the meaning of words such as "plenty" or "many" as I was guilty of using. In fact there are very few people over 7ft in the world and I assume many of those are the result of malfunctioning pituitary glands. I just did a quick search to see if there are any real world stats on how many people are 7ft or over. The top result said there are only 2800 in the entire world. Another said that the number is about 3 per million which would work out at around 20,000. I could find no clear answer but those approximate numbers give a good indication for how rare these people are. I don't buy the "cream of the crop" explanation at all.

We also have an unusually high number of people that are in the high sixes including all the Baratheons and Brienne and many many more. Not discounting the people who are not given a specific height but are described as giant or huge.

While it could be said that my use of "many" was an exaggeration. I feel that 6 (if we discount Sandor) is a huge amount given the population disparity between our world and Westeros. It's plain weird. We can put that down to author error/carelessness or it's intentional that something very strange is going on. So I feel my original comment is justified.

Thanks for the correction on the wall. I believe I got the 500 from the amount of leagues across it is. But it further illustrates my point of ridiculous heights.

It's 100 leagues across.

You're keep talking about " an unusually high number of people that are in the high sixes" when we're talking about dozens, maybe hundred, in a population of 40 million. That's not many.  There are 40 people in the US alone that are 7' or taller. Divide the US pop by the Westerosi pop are you're looking at 5-7 people who are 7' or taller. If you're 6'6" or taller, you're in the top 99.846% of the height distribution in the US, which gives us over 500,000. If we're looking at Westeros, it's over 65,000. Even quartering that for nutritional deficiencies, long winters, and brutal warfare and you still have tens of thousands. It's not that weird

[zandru]

9 minutes ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

There are 40 people in the US alone that are 7' or taller.

Forty? Are you serious? I would have assumed there were more than that, just on the professional basketball teams.

Note also that Westeros doesn't have to be "US average." The Polynesian natives towered over the Europeans who "discovered" them. American Indians (Native Americans) have also been described as much taller than their European counterparts. So Westeros, at least the well-nourished nobility, could very well have been taller than current US average.

18 hours ago, John Suburbs said:

Now, this is interesting because Ser Duncan the Tall and Lady Rohanne Webber had a strong attraction

We must constantly remind ourselves that, regardless of his travels throughout the continent of Westeros, Dunk is not the progenitor of every tall person who ever lived   ;-)

[Universal Sword Donor]

1 minute ago, zandru said:

Forty? Are you serious? I would have assumed there were more than that, just on the professional basketball teams.

Note also that Westeros doesn't have to be "US average." The Polynesian natives towered over the Europeans who "discovered" them. American Indians (Native Americans) have also been described as much taller than their European counterparts. So Westeros, at least the well-nourished nobility, could very well have been taller than current US average.

We must constantly remind ourselves that, regardless of his travels throughout the continent of Westeros, Dunk is not the progenitor of every tall person who ever lived   ;-)

I used the US as a reference. But not I don't believe there are more. ESPN or SI crunched some numbers and calculated that 7' men in the US have a 17% chance of playing in the NBA. Given the number of American 7 footers in the NBA and some height fudging and 40 is pretty reasonable. It might be more, but if it's over 100 I'd be very surprised.

[Banner Without Brothers]

12 minutes ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

You're keep talking about " an unusually high number of people that are in the high sixes" when we're talking about dozens, maybe hundred, in a population of 40 million. That's not many.  There are 40 people in the US alone that are 7' or taller. Divide the US pop by the Westerosi pop are you're looking at 5-7 people who are 7' or taller. If you're 6'6" or taller, you're in the top 99.846% of the height distribution in the US, which gives us over 500,000. If we're looking at Westeros, it's over 65,000. Even quartering that for nutritional deficiencies, long winters, and brutal warfare and you still have tens of thousands. It's not that weird

"You're keep talking about " an unusually high number of people that are in the high sixes""

No I mentioned that once..... 

"There are 40 people in the US alone that are 7' or taller. Divide the US pop by the Westerosi pop are you're looking at 5-7 people who are 7' or taller." 

The chances of every single one of those Westerosi 7 footers turning up in the story is ridiculous.

"If you're 6'6" or taller, you're in the top 99.846% of the height distribution in the US, which gives us over 500,000. If we're looking at Westeros, it's over 65,000. Even quartering that for nutritional deficiencies, long winters, and brutal warfare and you still have tens of thousands. It's not that weird"

It is weird compared to the rest of the population. It feels like you're making my case for me. 

Time to agree to disagree I think. I don't see this going much further.

[Banner Without Brothers]

7 minutes ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

No your interpretation is bizarre. Yes being huge is bizarre in comparison to small people. News at 11.

The people with the best medical care, access to food, and the best upbringing are the most likely to be the tallest in a fantasy world where genetics are kinda skewed and there are fire breathing dragons?

Fucking shocking.

From strawmen to ad hominem. Is this logical fallacy bingo? Keep going son I'm about to get a line!

[Universal Sword Donor]

5 minutes ago, Banner Without Brothers said:

From strawmen to ad hominem. Is this logical fallacy bingo? Keep going son I'm about to get a line!

I feel like you don't really know what either of those are or how to apply them in this context. Strawman would be a false position I'm attributing to you. I am not. I am correcting you. Then the "ad hominem" is merely sarcasm. I'm not not directing any insult or argument at you.

You have repeatedly mentioned the heights being weird/bizarre:

The height of characters is very weird. So many people 7ft or above. 

 but there are so many that are abnormally tall for our world. Personally I've only met one person who was 7ft so for me at least seven named characters featured and alive at the same time being 7ft or over is an extraordinarily high number.

We also have an unusually high number of people that are in the high sixes including all the Baratheons and Brienne and many many more. Not discounting the people who are not given a specific height but are described as giant or huge.

It is weird compared to the rest of the population.

Like I don't even know how to approach explaining to you that being nearly a foot taller (or more) than the average Westerosi is indeed bizarre. I shouldn't have to. They literally emphasize it for all the tall characters while ignoring the height of pretty much anyone but the POV characters or their best friend (eg Jon and Robb). Just because it's weird doesn't mean it's something that is directly related to magic, impossible, or improbable all the while ignoring the literally hundreds of thousands of people we see whose height we do not know. Leaning on your own anecdotal experience instead of population data is the height of folly anyway. Toss in that GRRM's Planetos genetics are wonky anyway along with the complete lack of any weird attribution to size outside of Hodor, and it's completely unremarkable and not even worthy of comment.

[Warren of Skagos]

Mountain, close to 8

Hound prolly 6'8

King robert 6'6

Ned is 6

Brienne 6'6

Greatjon 7 

Dunk 6'11 

Twins 7

Jamie 6'3

Joffey 6

Davos 5'8

 

[The Last Wolf]

33 minutos atrás, Warren of Skagos disse:

Montanha, perto de 8

Hound prolly 6'8

Rei robert 6'6

Ned é 6

Brienne 6'6

Greatjon 7 

Dunk 6'11 

Gêmeos 7

Jamie 6'3

Joffey 6

Davos 5'8

 

O Dunk tem 7 metros e a Montanha tem cerca de 2,50 metros e Joffrey deve ter 1,70 no pino

[Philokles]

There is a self-selection issue here, especially with the new(-ish) men like the Cleganes and Dunk. Were it not for their size they would never have made great fighters and remained anonymous hedge or landed knights or possibly still in Flea Bottom. Being anomalies is what has given them the noteworthiness to appear in the story and by their very nature are not reflective of the rest of Westeros.

Also I doubt those describing them, with the exception of Aemon, have got their measuring tape out. In the absence of a definitive figure it wouldn’t be a surprise for them to tend to exaggeration. Over 7ft could just be code for ‘one of the tallest people I’ve ever seen’.