Instances of Poor World Building

[Alden Rothack]

4 hours ago, Aldarion said:

But that's just it - Westeros isn't that disunited or busy fighting each other (there are wars, but not that many). It also doesn't have a hostile superpower in the form of various Islamic Caliphates right on its doorstep. In other words, as similar as situation may appear on the surface, context is completely different.

its the ironborn who have a hostile superpower next to them

[Aldarion]

2 hours ago, Alden Rothack said:

its the ironborn who have a hostile superpower next to them

Precisely. They should have gotten, at best, colonized a long time ago.

I mean, when Venice went pulling shit, Hungarian kings took back Dalmatia as soon as the geopolitical situation allowed it. And Venice was a far more powerful enemy than the Ironborn are.

[Alden Rothack]

4 minutes ago, Aldarion said:

Precisely. They should have gotten, at best, colonized a long time ago.

I mean, when Venice went pulling shit, Hungarian kings took back Dalmatia as soon as the geopolitical situation allowed it. And Venice was a far more powerful enemy than the Ironborn are.

Venice is more like the Arbour, except more so because venice had one of two standing fleets not one of four large large fleets and at least four medium sized ones

[Corvo the Crow]

Gregor not being “The Mountain” but “The Mountain That Rides”. He shouldn’t have been able to find so many horses that are able to carry him. Finding even one would have been a challenge but guy loses a horse in every tourney or battle we see and yet keeps on being ”The Mountain That Rides” when he should’ve become simply become “The Mountain” long ago.

[Alden Rothack]

On 11/25/2022 at 2:19 PM, Corvo the Crow said:

Gregor not being “The Mountain” but “The Mountain That Rides”. He shouldn’t have been able to find so many horses that are able to carry him. Finding even one would have been a challenge but guy loses a horse in every tourney or battle we see and yet keeps on being ”The Mountain That Rides” when he should’ve become simply become “The Mountain” long ago.

Tywin pays to breed or buy the horses so his monster is more effective, given that seven foot men who ride is common enough that Dunk manages to find a horse on a hedge knights wages it can't be that hard

[Corvo the Crow]

49 minutes ago, Alden Rothack said:

Tywin pays to breed or buy the horses so his monster is more effective, given that seven foot men who ride is common enough that Dunk manages to find a horse on a hedge knights wages it can't be that hard

And when did Tywin start this breeding program? Why are these Westernesse horses aren't so popular? After all, a warhorse for Gregor is of little use but you said it yourself, a horse that can carry more would be invaluable. Tywin should've made a name for himself with his Sampsons.

Dunk was written AFTER Gregor.

[Alden Rothack]

8 hours ago, Corvo the Crow said:

And when did Tywin start this breeding program? Why are these Westernesse horses aren't so popular? After all, a warhorse for Gregor is of little use but you said it yourself, a horse that can carry more would be invaluable. Tywin should've made a name for himself with his Sampsons.

Dunk was written AFTER Gregor.

But set nearly a century before, besides while Gregor is unique westeros already contains bigger and taller knights than western europe had and they manage even when they are poor like Dunk, as for why bigger horses aren't popular we don't know they aren't among people who can afford them.

[Corvo the Crow]

2 hours ago, Alden Rothack said:

But set nearly a century before, 

And Based upon the poor world building that was already there. Sure,  there could be the occasional freakishly large horse and it may be bought so Gregor may from time to time function as a knight but Westerosi apparently see no reason to breed such horses and why would they, with Gregor is one of a kind and while There are Umbers and Baratheons and the like, they do stand out among other men, there aren’t many like that, not logical to breed horses for them only. Not to mention these Kwisatz Horserach will take generations to breed so Gregor getting a specially bred horse for him is out of the question.

And who is to say that a mare Jessica wouldn’t ruin your program with a stallion Leto by birthing Paul colts?

[prophetXIII]

On 10/26/2022 at 4:41 AM, Lady Misery said:

Why does Westeros only have two languages? Russia is of a similar size as Westeros and they have 36 official languages and roughly 100 minority languages, if not more. So why does every one from Dorne to the Frostfangs speak common?

Good observation. It's especially absurd that the North and Beyond the Wall speak the common tongue, as the North was never conquered by Andals, and most wildlings have probably never even heard of the Andals.

There should be perhaps hundreds or thousands of distinct languages in Westeros, given its size and the length of time it has been inhabited (by Andals for as long as 6,000 years, by First Men 12,000). For example, Proto-Indo-European was spoken as a single language as recent as 4,000 years ago.

[Jaenara Belarys]

19 hours ago, Corvo the Crow said:

Not to mention these Kwisatz Horserach will take generations to breed so Gregor getting a specially bred horse for him is out of the question.

And who is to say that a mare Jessica wouldn’t ruin your program with a stallion Leto by birthing Paul colts?

The references are wildly abundant and I love it. 

[Alden Rothack]

On 11/27/2022 at 9:05 AM, Corvo the Crow said:

And Based upon the poor world building that was already there. Sure,  there could be the occasional freakishly large horse and it may be bought so Gregor may from time to time function as a knight but Westerosi apparently see no reason to breed such horses and why would they, with Gregor is one of a kind and while There are Umbers and Baratheons and the like, they do stand out among other men, there aren’t many like that, not logical to breed horses for them only. Not to mention these Kwisatz Horserach will take generations to breed so Gregor getting a specially bred horse for him is out of the question.

And who is to say that a mare Jessica wouldn’t ruin your program with a stallion Leto by birthing Paul colts?

Again, horses for seven foot knights are common enough that Dunk had one, given that a knights riding horse let alone warhorse is expensive the fact that Dunk could get one is extremely instructive.

[Corvo the Crow]

Valyrian Steel Swords, more specifically, who gets those. They are supposedly worth a fortune but Bear Islander Mormonts have one, Jorah sold poachers into slavery to pay for a cook and a few dresses because his land is poor but Mormonts of old can have a VS? Same goes for Corbrays, the most those guys had been is Lord of the Five Fingers and we know how poor the Fingers region is. But where did these blades come from also. For thousands of years Valyria existed and there are no such blades in Westeros but suddenly, some 500 years ago Valyrian Steel becomes all the rage. I suspect Targaryens buying those in bulk when they left the Valyria but how were they even allowed to buy so many?

[Tyrosh Lannister]

2 hours ago, Corvo the Crow said:

Valyrian Steel Swords, more specifically, who gets those. They are supposedly worth a fortune but Bear Islander Mormonts have one, Jorah sold poachers into slavery to pay for a cook and a few dresses because his land is poor but Mormonts of old can have a VS? Same goes for Corbrays, the most those guys had been is Lord of the Five Fingers and we know how poor the Fingers region is. But where did these blades come from also. For thousands of years Valyria existed and there are no such blades in Westeros but suddenly, some 500 years ago Valyrian Steel becomes all the rage. I suspect Targaryens buying those in bulk when they left the Valyria but how were they even allowed to buy so many?

It is possible the Mormonts obtained their sword through battle or stole it off of someone 

[Alden Rothack]

9 hours ago, Corvo the Crow said:

Valyrian Steel Swords, more specifically, who gets those. They are supposedly worth a fortune but Bear Islander Mormonts have one, Jorah sold poachers into slavery to pay for a cook and a few dresses because his land is poor but Mormonts of old can have a VS? Same goes for Corbrays, the most those guys had been is Lord of the Five Fingers and we know how poor the Fingers region is. But where did these blades come from also. For thousands of years Valyria existed and there are no such blades in Westeros but suddenly, some 500 years ago Valyrian Steel becomes all the rage. I suspect Targaryens buying those in bulk when they left the Valyria but how were they even allowed to buy so many?

I'm more surprised that Jorah found someone willing to pay a fortune for poachers

[Corvo the Crow]

39 minutes ago, Alden Rothack said:

I'm more surprised that Jorah found someone willing to pay a fortune for poachers

Perhaps because Northern slaves are hard to come by, they'll use them for breeding hardier slaves, who knows?

[Alden Rothack]

4 minutes ago, Corvo the Crow said:

Perhaps because Northern slaves are hard to come by, they'll use them for breeding hardier slaves, who knows?

Still seems implausible

[Corvo the Crow]

7 hours ago, Tyrosh Lannister said:

It is possible the Mormonts obtained their sword through battle or stole it off of someone 

And Corbrays, lords of rocks and sheep pellets? It doesn't end there either, I can only give these two as they were named but there are over 200 houses that Had such weapons but we know for a fact that there aren't as many houses that could afford such weapons given their portrayal, nor were there so many houses in the past. Unless there's been an inflation in VS prices after this time, everyone and their Direwolves shouldn't have been able to afford such weapons.

 

[Corvo the Crow]

8 minutes ago, Alden Rothack said:

Still seems implausible

I agree but if Mirri can pay for her travel expenses, accomodations and tuition fees for blood mage education, then this should also possible, in universe. At least Jorah is actually bringing into the deal something of value. We also know slavers pay serious money for rare things like the grotesquerie Tyrion was brought into. A Westerosi slave, because it would be much more rare, should worth more than some lamb men which are a dime a dozen, a Northerner can perhaps fetch more for the breeding aspect of it. Jorah himself has fetched a good price if I recall and he's an older fellow and wasn't bought to be bred.

[Alden Rothack]

1 minute ago, Corvo the Crow said:

I agree but if Mirri can pay for her travel expenses, accomodations and tuition fees for blood mage education, then this should also possible, in universe. At least Jorah is actually bringing into the deal something of value. We also know slavers pay serious money for rare things like the grotesquerie Tyrion was brought into. A Westerosi slave, because it would be much more rare, should worth more than some lamb men which are a dime a dozen, a Northerner can perhaps fetch more for the breeding aspect of it.

yes but enough more to make a dent in the expenses of someone like Lynesse

I suppose its possible if they fetch prices like the gladiators we saw

[Loose Bolt]

11 hours ago, Corvo the Crow said:

And Corbrays, lords of rocks and sheep pellets? It doesn't end there either, I can only give these two as they were named but there are over 200 houses that Had such weapons but we know for a fact that there aren't as many houses that could afford such weapons given their portrayal, nor were there so many houses in the past. Unless there's been an inflation in VS prices after this time, everyone and their Direwolves shouldn't have been able to afford such weapons.

As long as Valyria existed they had huge demand for slaves. So there is a possibility that one way of gaining VS weapon was to sell "enough" slaves to Valyria. So Corbrays and Starks might have gained their special weapons by selling slaves to Valyrians.

After all as long as dragonlords were around they did not really needed any gold but only thing they lacked was fresh meat and blood to replace all slaves that died in their service. Or I am almost certain that Valyrians did not use gold as a currency but only acceptable way to pay VS was slaves.