Mrstrategy Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 If house stark used all of their available wealth at the start of AGOT(no loans) to hire as many free companies/sellswords as they could,how many men could they hire and maintain for 6 months to a year a least considering they are looking for trustworthy and good reputation free companies and sellswords Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Steller Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 4 hours ago, Mrstrategy said: If house stark used all of their available wealth at the start of AGOT(no loans) to hire as many free companies/sellswords as they could,how many men could they hire and maintain for 6 months to a year a least considering they are looking for trustworthy and good reputation free companies and sellswords This is impossible to answer. We have no way of calculating the numbers you’re asking us to account for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Young Maester Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Starks were wealthy tbh. They are great house, and are centred to the center of the north, so naturally they’d receive lots of trade from everywhere in the north. They are definitely the 2nd richest house in the north after the manderlys. But trying to find out what they can use that money for is impossible, especially if we don’t know what their treasury count is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Topspin Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Not many. House Stark is not rich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Lannister Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 I'm with not many. The north is not very populous, just look at Winterfell. I recall that chapter where the North's bannermen were bringing basic maintenance problems to their castles to Bran and Luwin. That such assistance as grudgingly met. The Manderlys seemed to have more going in terms of wealth than the Starks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The hairy bear Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 3 hours ago, The Young Maester said: Starks were wealthy tbh. They are great house, and are centred to the center of the north, so naturally they’d receive lots of trade from everywhere in the north. They are definitely the 2nd richest house in the north after the manderlys. Not necessarily. Besides the Manderlys, other houses in the North could easily be wealthier than the Starks, such as the Dustins or the Boltons. And it's clear that Winterfell is not a trade hub (Marillion says that a singer has nothing to do there), and we know that Winter Town is almost empty during spring and summer. We also know that the Starks have passed centuries without reconstructing their fleet (since King Brandon the Burner set it on fire), or that many sections of Winterfell are in ruins. It seems obvious that the Starks are not particularly wealthy, and they would never be able to compete with the bigger Southern houses when bidding for the services of a sellsword company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moiraine Sedai Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 They can always offer lands and titles in exchange for services. But obviously that means taking land from somebody else in the north. It won't be simple. Somebody has to lose land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Guapo Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Ned Stark would never hire sellswords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rotting sea cow Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 2 hours ago, El Guapo said: Ned Stark would never hire sellswords. This is the correct answer. Neither would Robb, who was his father's son. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Steller Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 23 minutes ago, rotting sea cow said: This is the correct answer. Neither would Robb, who was his father's son. He did, though. A group of freeriders with Jaime switched sides to House Stark after the Battle of the Camps. Come to think of it, we never find out what happened to those people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Young Maester Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 5 hours ago, The hairy bear said: Not necessarily. Besides the Manderlys, other houses in the North could easily be wealthier than the Starks, such as the Dustins or the Boltons. And it's clear that Winterfell is not a trade hub (Marillion says that a singer has nothing to do there), and we know that Winter Town is almost empty during spring and summer. We also know that the Starks have passed centuries without reconstructing their fleet (since King Brandon the Burner set it on fire), or that many sections of Winterfell are in ruins. It seems obvious that the Starks are not particularly wealthy, and they would never be able to compete with the bigger Southern houses when bidding for the services of a sellsword company. Gotta remember that starks claim taxes from all their vassals. That’s allot of revenue seeing as they tax the manderlys, and Dustin. And winterfell seems to possess a large stretch of land as well (holds parts of the wolfs wood). The lands around it would also be full of small folks working it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The hairy bear Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 52 minutes ago, The Young Maester said: Gotta remember that starks claim taxes from all their vassals. That’s allot of revenue seeing as they tax the manderlys, and Dustin. And winterfell seems to possess a large stretch of land as well (holds parts of the wolfs wood). The lands around it would also be full of small folks working it. The problem is that we just don't have any information of how taxes work in the Seven Kingdoms. In real history there were times and places that worked as you say, but there were also many other instances where the nobles were exempt from taxes, or the overlords could not rise taxes without the approval of their vassals, or the level of taxation that was established by ancestral custom was very low. Given that the Starks do not seem to have any spare money, with great parts of their castle falling in ruins and no luxury seen in their court, I'd guess that they are not receiving any huge influx of money from taxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Young Maester Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 18 minutes ago, The hairy bear said: The problem is that we just don't have any information of how taxes work in the Seven Kingdoms. In real history there were times and places that worked as you say, but there were also many other instances where the nobles were exempt from taxes, or the overlords could not rise taxes without the approval of their vassals, or the level of taxation that was established by ancestral custom was very low. Given that the Starks do not seem to have any spare money, with great parts of their castle falling in ruins and no luxury seen in their court, I'd guess that they are not receiving any huge influx of money from taxes. True enough we know nothing of how Westeros is ran economically. But we’re just speculating how much trade passes through places, how productive certain regions are, and how they are taxed. Winterfell is a large castle, the starks have the main keep which is big enough to host the entire north, so the necessity to repair the first keep isn’t there. The broken tower is just one of many towers that are functional, and seeing as winterfell hasnt been under siege in a long time, their is no point in spending money in repairing a defensive structure which won’t be used. I think you are forgetting that the starks stay true to their house words“Winter is coming”. You can see how northerners don’t hold tourneys because it’s a waste of money, which lords can’t afford to lose. Luxury around the north is rare, and you won’t find any luxurious keeps but in white harbour. Starks seem to be the kind that don’t spend their money on unnecessary things like repairing keeps that they don’t use or buying golden goblets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rotting sea cow Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 10 hours ago, James Steller said: He did, though. A group of freeriders with Jaime switched sides to House Stark after the Battle of the Camps. Come to think of it, we never find out what happened to those people. Freeriders are a different thing. They fight for whoever they like, sometimes for money, sometimes just because they think they can get some land or a place in the garrison after the fight is done. However you are right, some tyroshi sellswords switched sides, but GRRM forgot about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Sidious Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 How many free companies/sellswords could house stark hire? Okay, very well. Let's do this. Forget whole companies of sellswords and let us consider how many individual mercenaries they can hire. The starks were able to hire the former bodyguard of the Sealord to teach Arya. I'm sure his services did not come cheap. The starks can afford at least that. Syrio's fees would pay for the services of at least two mercenaries of quality. Syrio was not expected to fight and his fees would reflect that. It will be high but still reasonable. House Stark is not one of the wealthier families but they should be able to afford to hire a few capable sellswords. Not enough to make a difference in battle but perhaps enough to guard Ned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLastWolf Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 The question is not how much, but will they? And not just Ned and/Robb. Someone mentioned it earlier IIRC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Sidious Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 On 10/29/2020 at 10:30 PM, Mrstrategy said: If house stark used all of their available wealth at the start of AGOT(no loans) to hire as many free companies/sellswords as they could,how many men could they hire and maintain for 6 months to a year a least considering they are looking for trustworthy and good reputation free companies and sellswords Yes, so this is a theoretical question to determine the economic abilities of the family. The short answer is, only a few men. The Starks lack the coin to hire whole companies and provide for their needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamiloRP Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 6 hours ago, rotting sea cow said: Freeriders are a different thing. They fight for whoever they like, sometimes for money, sometimes just because they think they can get some land or a place in the garrison after the fight is done. However you are right, some tyroshi sellswords switched sides, but GRRM forgot about them. I don't think he did, where did Greenbeard come from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rotting sea cow Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 2 hours ago, CamiloRP said: I don't think he did, where did Greenbeard come from? Quote Second; what did Robb do with the Tyroshi sellsword who dipped his banners at Riverrun? I don't know what Robb did with him... but =I= forgot all about him, I blush to admit. Now that you've reminded me... I imagine he kept most of them with him when he went west. Having just marched through the westerlands when they were on the other side, they would have had a certain value. I also would expect that he suffered some desertions... these men were not bound to him by oath or ancient loyalty, and there was plenty of plunder to be had... There's at least one Tyroshi outlaw in the riverlands in SOS... good chance he was a deserter, although whether it was Jaime or Robb that he deserted, I couldn't tell you right now... https://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/The_Tooth_and_the_Tyroshi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamiloRP Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 1 minute ago, rotting sea cow said: https://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/The_Tooth_and_the_Tyroshi Ohhhh I didn't know about that quote, that's good. Honestly, I have a hard time figuring out how to use the SSM thing, computers are not my thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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