[SPOILERS] F&B poll

[sweetsunray]

With the end of a year nearing, a poll is appropriate. And with F&B coming out, the most interesting poll would be regarding this book.

So, what is the poll about? On what you find the most interesting reveal or confirmation within F&B. And before we actually poll, we thus need to assemble the interesting reveals or confirmations. Depending on what this thread amasses as proposed reveals, I will classify and list them in this OP, with a link to the post proposing it.

Proposal posts in this thread should contain:

1. name the reveal
2. your motivation why you consider this reveal significant
3. quote from F&B, with chapter and page mention

The proposals must be entered for the poll before 31st of December. This means the actual voting will be done in January.

NOTE: this is NOT a discussion thread.  You get to vote on the gathered reveals afterwards. If you think a reveal is not important, just don't vote on it. And if you agree with the proposal, vote on it during the poll.

Yes, you can make multiple entries.

Happy gathering!

CATEGORY - LAWS, CUSTOMS, GOVERNING

1. Crennellation tax

CATEGORY - DRAGONS

1. Silverwing not flying north of the Wall

[Daendrew]

Dragons can’t go past the Wall.

”Firewyrms” infect people in Valyria. (I’m looking at you, Euron)

Daenerys is not the exception but the culmination of Targaryen queens taking significant role in ruling the realm. Visenya, Rhaenys, Alysanne, Halaena, Alicent etc etc we’re not simply consorts but power players in the game.

 

[The Fattest Leech]

5 hours ago, Daendrew said:

Dragons can’t go past the Wall.

I second this! 

5 hours ago, Daendrew said:

”Firewyrms” infect people in Valyria. (I’m looking at you, Euron)

I second this one as well!! We still do not know 100% what they are, but this was fantastic worldbuilding, especially for a place we may never see on page (With morning comes mistfall). 

5 hours ago, Daendrew said:

Daenerys is not the exception but the culmination of Targaryen queens taking significant role in ruling the realm. Visenya, Rhaenys, Alysanne, Halaena, Alicent etc etc we’re not simply consorts but power players in the game.

 

Interesting take on this lineage. 

[The Fattest Leech]

I also want to add this 'crenellation tax' to the vote in the important world-building for the future of the series [category]. To keep it short, there has always been something amiss about Queenscrown and the flaking gold paint paired with the fact that the land is good (as Jojen notices and the fact that apples trees are all around, supply of water, etc).

SIDENOTE- It has been more than two weeks since Fire & Blood 1 has been available, so if memory serves (it doesn't), I think we posters do not have to use the secret eye anymore??? @Ran please remind me if this is true.

Fire and Blood:

• Jaehaerys also brought forth a new law on crenellations. Any lord who wished to build a new castle or expand and repair his existing seat would need to pay a hefty price for the privilege. The new tax served a dual purpose, His Grace explained to Grand Maester Benifer. “The larger and stronger a castle, the more its lord is tempted to defy me. You would think they might learn from Black Harren, but too many do not know their history. This tax will discourage them from building, whilst those who must build regardless can replenish our treasury whilst they empty theirs.”

• “The soil is thin and stony, the hills unpopulated. The Watch lacks for coin, and when winter comes they will lack for food as well.” The answer she proposed was a New Gift, a further strip of land south of Brandon’s Gift.

The notion did not please Lord Alaric; though a strong friend to the Night’s Watch, he knew that the lords who presently held the lands in question would object to them being given away without their leave.

And this from the current story, which shows the opposite in the soil quality, as well as continuing to spread exaggerations about "stealing" and such. The entire story-plot characterizations behind this land was suspect to the reader back in ASOS, and F&B just added to it. Something to keep an eye on in the next books. 

• A Storm of Swords - Bran III

  It was a peaceful spot, still and tranquil and lovely to behold, but Bran thought there was something sad about an empty inn, and Hodor seemed to feel it too. "Hodor?" he said in a confused sort of way. "Hodor? Hodor?"

  "This is good land." Jojen picked up a handful of dirt, rubbing it between his fingers. "A village, an inn, a stout holdfast in the lake, all these apple trees . . . but where are the people, Bran? Why would they leave such a place?"

  "They were afraid of the wildlings," said Bran. "Wildlings come over the Wall or through the mountains, to raid and steal and carry off women. If they catch you, they make your skull into a cup to drink blood, Old Nan used to say. The Night's Watch isn't so strong as it was in Brandon's day or Queen Alysanne's, so more get through. The places nearest the Wall got raided so much the smallfolk moved south, into the mountains or onto the Umber lands east of the kingsroad. The Greatjon's people get raided too, but not so much as the people who used to live in the Gift."

 

[sweetsunray]

10 hours ago, Daendrew said:

Dragons can’t go past the Wall.

”Firewyrms” infect people in Valyria. (I’m looking at you, Euron)

Daenerys is not the exception but the culmination of Targaryen queens taking significant role in ruling the realm. Visenya, Rhaenys, Alysanne, Halaena, Alicent etc etc we’re not simply consorts but power players in the game.

 

Could you please provide quotes and significance for you for each of this? I love these reveals as well, but for a poll, I'd like to amass more than just the gist of it, for people who wish to reference it. For example, in the first case, it's not really clear whether it's "cannot" or "will not" once you check the source text. You could try to argument the consequence, regardless of the reason, in the significance part. That way you help others to vote by making their own informed decision.

But thank you for these. I enjoyed all three idea and sections in the book you allude to.

[sweetsunray]

3 hours ago, The Fattest Leech said:

I also want to add this 'crenellation tax' to the vote in the important world-building for the future of the series [category]. To keep it short, there has always been something amiss about Queenscrown and the flaking gold paint paired with the fact that the land is good (as Jojen notices and the fact that apples trees are all around, supply of water, etc).

SIDENOTE- It has been more than two weeks since Fire & Blood 1 has been available, so if memory serves (it doesn't), I think we posters do not have to use the secret eye anymore??? @Ran please remind me if this is true.

Fire and Blood:

• Jaehaerys also brought forth a new law on crenellations. Any lord who wished to build a new castle or expand and repair his existing seat would need to pay a hefty price for the privilege. The new tax served a dual purpose, His Grace explained to Grand Maester Benifer. “The larger and stronger a castle, the more its lord is tempted to defy me. You would think they might learn from Black Harren, but too many do not know their history. This tax will discourage them from building, whilst those who must build regardless can replenish our treasury whilst they empty theirs.”

• “The soil is thin and stony, the hills unpopulated. The Watch lacks for coin, and when winter comes they will lack for food as well.” The answer she proposed was a New Gift, a further strip of land south of Brandon’s Gift.

The notion did not please Lord Alaric; though a strong friend to the Night’s Watch, he knew that the lords who presently held the lands in question would object to them being given away without their leave.

And this from the current story, which shows the opposite in the soil quality, as well as continuing to spread exaggerations about "stealing" and such. The entire story-plot characterizations behind this land was suspect to the reader back in ASOS, and F&B just added to it. Something to keep an eye on in the next books. 

• A Storm of Swords - Bran III

  It was a peaceful spot, still and tranquil and lovely to behold, but Bran thought there was something sad about an empty inn, and Hodor seemed to feel it too. "Hodor?" he said in a confused sort of way. "Hodor? Hodor?"

  "This is good land." Jojen picked up a handful of dirt, rubbing it between his fingers. "A village, an inn, a stout holdfast in the lake, all these apple trees . . . but where are the people, Bran? Why would they leave such a place?"

  "They were afraid of the wildlings," said Bran. "Wildlings come over the Wall or through the mountains, to raid and steal and carry off women. If they catch you, they make your skull into a cup to drink blood, Old Nan used to say. The Night's Watch isn't so strong as it was in Brandon's day or Queen Alysanne's, so more get through. The places nearest the Wall got raided so much the smallfolk moved south, into the mountains or onto the Umber lands east of the kingsroad. The Greatjon's people get raided too, but not so much as the people who used to live in the Gift."

 

I edited the OP. Is the categorizing ok as I did, or do you mean something else?

[The Fattest Leech]

2 minutes ago, sweetsunray said:

I edited the OP. Is the categorizing ok as I did, or do you mean something else?

Sorry, I’ll clarify when I get back home to my computer 

[sweetsunray]

10 hours ago, Daendrew said:

Dragons can’t go past the Wall.

I'll try to use this as an example and turn it into a proposal I can list. Is the following what you mean?

Silverwing not flying north of the Wall

Quote

The ment of the Night's Watch were as thunderstruck by the queen's dragon as the people of White Harbor had been, though the queen herself noted that Silverwing "does not like this Wall." Though it was summer and the Wall was weeping, the chill of the ice could still be felt whenever the wind blew, and every gust would make the dragon hiss and snap. "Thrice I flew Silvering high above Castle Black, and thrice I tried to take her north beyond the Wall," Alysanne wrote to Jaehaerys, "but every time she veered back south again and refused to go. Never before has she refused to take me where I wished to go. I laughed about it when I came down again, so the black brothers would not realize anything was amiss, but it troubled me then and it troubles me still." (F&B, Jaejaerys and Alysanne, Their Triumphs and Tragedies, p. 264, Hard Back edition, Bantam books)

Significance: Regardless of the exact cause (magic, ice element, etc) why Silverwing refused or was unable to fly north beyond the Wall, this has consequences on the current situation with the threat of the Others. It heavily suggests that as long as the Wall stands and nothing of its magical potency alters, no dragonrider will be able to use dragons to come to the aid north of the Wall in a battle against the Others. And even if the Wall falls, the dragons might be severely handicapped against for example the ice magic that Others are assumed to be made of or use.

[The Dragon Demands]

I jumped out of my seat when I read about the crenellation taxes....I wrote my master's thesis on those....