Your Opinions 3: Is GRRM a "bad writer?"

[The Bard of Banefort]

As an aside, do a lot of people cross-post between here and Reddit? I’ve noticed that a lot of times we’ll be talking about something here and then it’ll come a day or two later over there. Nothing wrong with that, I’m only curious if I’m imagining things lol.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

1 hour ago, Ran said:

Indeed. GRRM gives artists lots and lots of leeway to depict characters as they see fit. That depiction, by Magali Villeneuve, is one of many different depictions that have been commissioned as part of official ASoIaF artwork. Consider this piece which GRRM also approved. 

There is no real "canon artwork". There's just artwork, as GRRM allows artists to take creative license.

I think that when GRRM aproves an artwork, it's more that "the idea is accurate" rather than "a character looks exactly how he imagined them". 

[butterweedstrover]

17 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

As an aside, do a lot of people cross-post between here and Reddit? I’ve noticed that a lot of times we’ll be talking about something here and then it’ll come a day or two later over there. Nothing wrong with that, I’m only curious if I’m imagining things lol.

I copy and paste some of my posts from one to the other sometimes.  

I have the same username as well so I consider both accounts one in the same. 

[The Young Maester]

It still irks me that Ned ruled the north with just 1 steward, 1 maester, 1 wife, and 200 guardsmen…..

Out of all the unrealistic and annoying things this is the one that bothers me the most.

[sifth]

16 minutes ago, The Young Maester said:

It still irks me that Ned ruled the north with just 1 steward, 1 maester, 1 wife, and 200 guardsmen…..

Out of all the unrealistic and annoying things this is the one that bothers me the most.

It is rather crazy to think about that. Ned should clearly have more men under is direct command.

[alienarea]

5 hours ago, The Young Maester said:

It still irks me that Ned ruled the north with just 1 steward, 1 maester, 1 wife, and 200 guardsmen…..

Out of all the unrealistic and annoying things this is the one that bothers me the most.

I guess they are all Super Ninjas.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

11 hours ago, The Young Maester said:

It still irks me that Ned ruled the north with just 1 steward, 1 maester, 1 wife, and 200 guardsmen…..

Out of all the unrealistic and annoying things this is the one that bothers me the most.

Am I missing something here?

[The Young Maester]

10 minutes ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

Am I missing something here?

Lol don’t mean to say he’s meant to have more wife’s. Just that catelyn also has administrative duties, along with the steward and Maester.

6 hours ago, alienarea said:

I guess they are all Super Ninjas.

The very little guardsmen don’t bother me as much as the lack of courtly positions one needs to rule a kingdom the size of Brazil.

With the lack of skilled administrators Ned should be incapable of even ruling his own demesne let alone a whole kingdom.

[James Arryn]

20 minutes ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

Am I missing something here?

He’s not saying ‘only 1 wife’, but just including Cat amongst the merger number of administrators et al who ran the North. It would probably be insufficient to run Winterfell itself when you consider how monstrously vast it is. 
 

 

[Ran]

Winterfell is big but also rather empty, as the abandoned and ruined towers and keeps should suggest.

[Hugorfonics]

45 minutes ago, The Young Maester said:

Lol don’t mean to say he’s meant to have more wife’s. Just that catelyn also has administrative duties, along with the steward and Maester.

I guess? Like setting the table, telling her kids where to sit, telling Jon where to not sit

46 minutes ago, The Young Maester said:

The very little guardsmen don’t bother me as much as the lack of courtly positions one needs to rule a kingdom the size of Brazil.

With the lack of skilled administrators Ned should be incapable of even ruling his own demesne let alone a whole kingdom.

North has no where near the administration that the kingdom of Brazil had. Ned's capable of calling in the banners, but he's hardly Mr. Congressman. That's why Roose is able to be a rapist with a knife for tongues or Jorah a slaver with a getaway car. Ned clearly does not rule his demesne, which is why wildlings are able to rob the sparkling cripple

[BlackLightning]

6 hours ago, Hugorfonics said:

I guess? Like setting the table, telling her kids where to sit, telling Jon where to not sit

More like being a hostess, a mistress of ceremony and an intrastate diplomat.

Also, the person that the Winterfell steward answers is the Lady of Winterfell. Also, when Ned holds court (which seemed to be often), she would be there as his second chair.

Given the amount of respect and influence Catelyn is able to command, she had a big part to play in the northern administration.

[sifth]

It does feel weird that Ned has much fewer men in his service than most of the other great lords. 

[Hugorfonics]

1 hour ago, BlackLightning said:

More like being a hostess, a mistress of ceremony and an intrastate diplomat.

Also, the person that the Winterfell steward answers is the Lady of Winterfell.

She had power, no doubt. That why Ned left her in charge

1 hour ago, BlackLightning said:

Also, when Ned holds court (which seemed to be often)

What do you mean by court and why do you think it's often? He supped with like, the village blacksmith twice a year but that's about it. If Ned held proper court then Robb and Bran wouldn't have been making introductions and wondering what Reeds look like.

He dispenced the kings justice often, can't say he didn't do that

1 hour ago, BlackLightning said:

Given the amount of respect and influence Catelyn is able to command, she had a big part to play in the northern administration

I don't think the North, or most places in Westeros, have much administration

 

 

32 minutes ago, sifth said:

It does feel weird that Ned has much fewer men in his service than most of the other great lords. 

Why do you think that? We're introduced to alot of then but Cersei and Theon wind up killing them. 

What other great lords have so many service men?

[sifth]

8 minutes ago, Hugorfonics said:

Why do you think that? We're introduced to alot of then but Cersei and Theon wind up killing them. 

What other great lords have so many service men?

Literally every major house in the series. It always feels like the Starks are in need of more men, yet the Lannisters, Tyrells, Baratheons, and so on always seem to have a limitless supply of people the plot allows them to put on the field. House Tully as well to degree, when you consider how many battles they lost in the first book, compared to the number of soldiers they still have in the latter books. 

I mean Ned takes only 50 men with him to Kings Landing and suddenly Winterfell is short staffed. I doubt that would be the case for any of the other great houses.

[The Young Maester]

10 minutes ago, sifth said:

I mean Ned takes only 50 men with him to Kings Landing and suddenly Winterfell is short staffed. I doubt that would be the case for any of the other great houses.

Tbh even 50 men isnt enough to guard a lord and his two daughters. Especially when they are moving residence to a land hundreds of miles away from their own kingdom.

50 men is what you bring when youre going to a wedding or a feast to lets say riverrun or the vale. 

[EggBlue]

I mean .. 50 guards sound a LOT, when you consider the fact that the legal heir of Casterly Rock traveled with a cook and a guard to the end of the world and back

[sifth]

3 minutes ago, EggBlue said:

I mean .. 50 guards sound a LOT, when you consider the fact that the legal heir of Casterly Rock traveled with a cook and a guard to the end of the world and back

That makes even less sense, lol

[Hugorfonics]

37 minutes ago, sifth said:

Literally every major house in the series. It always feels like the Starks are in need of more men, yet the Lannisters, Tyrells, Baratheons, and so on always seem to have a limitless supply of people the plot allows them to put on the field. House Tully as well to degree, when you consider how many battles they lost in the first book, compared to the number of soldiers they still have in the latter books. 

There's mad northern soldiers out there too. Mainly siding with Bolton but I doubt Robbs army was disintegrated to a man. In fact the north are the ones who pulled the mountain clans out of their ass adding thousands of soldiers we haven't heard about. 

But these are armies, not household staff which Doran Balon and Stannis don't have in mass quantities either. I don't know about the rest because we don't know them. I guess Lysa, she didn't have much either.

37 minutes ago, sifth said:

I mean Ned takes only 50 men with him to Kings Landing and suddenly Winterfell is short staffed. I doubt that would be the case for any of the other great houses.

Define short staffed? Winterfell hasn't had enough men to fully equip their castle in like a thousand years, maybe ever, but Theon was confident a few dozen can hold out for an incredible amount of time.

After Ned went south the cooks still cooked, blacksmith blacksmithed, old nan nan'd.

22 minutes ago, The Young Maester said:

Tbh even 50 men isnt enough to guard a lord and his two daughters. Especially when they are moving residence to a land hundreds of miles away from their own kingdom.

50 men is what you bring when youre going to a wedding or a feast to lets say riverrun or the vale. 

He didn't think it was a good idea to move with muscle. Didn't realize what he was getting into. But Tyrion Tywin Oberyn and even Mace proved more competent, they brought more then 50. (Actually I have no idea how many Tyrion brought)

18 minutes ago, EggBlue said:

I mean .. 50 guards sound a LOT, when you consider the fact that the legal heir of Casterly Rock traveled with a cook and a guard to the end of the world and back

Lol

15 minutes ago, sifth said:

That makes even less sense, lol

According to Tywin pissing off the edge of the world makes no sense, nor does traveling the free cities or anything remotely educational. It would be suprising if Tywin threw money at his son's enterprise

[sifth]

13 minutes ago, Hugorfonics said:

There's mad northern soldiers out there too. Mainly siding with Bolton but I doubt Robbs army was disintegrated to a man. In fact the north are the ones who pulled the mountain clans out of their ass adding thousands of soldiers we haven't heard about. 

But these are armies, not household staff which Doran Balon and Stannis don't have in mass quantities either. I don't know about the rest because we don't know them. I guess Lysa, she didn't have much either.

Define short staffed? Winterfell hasn't had enough men to fully equip their castle in like a thousand years, maybe ever, but Theon was confident a few dozen can hold out for an incredible amount of time.

After Ned went south the cooks still cooked, blacksmith blacksmithed, old nan nan'd.

He didn't think it was a good idea to move with muscle. Didn't realize what he was getting into. But Tyrion Tywin Oberyn and even Mace proved more competent, they brought more then 50. (Actually I have no idea how many Tyrion brought)

Lol

According to Tywin pissing off the edge of the world makes no sense, nor does traveling the free cities or anything remotely educational. It would be suprising if Tywin threw money at his son's enterprise

Well I wonder how short staffed Casterly Rock and High Garden will be, when we eventually see them. The Lannisters and Tyrell's certainly took more than 50 men with them to court. I suppose only time will tell.