A Thread for Small Questions III

[Horza]

The '...not die so easy...' bit suggests something more is going on, potentially drugging. Otherwise it is hard to see how he and Illyrio motivate these kids...

[Fusian]

I can't believe I forgot that quote about the tounges, I only re-read the book 2 weeks ago... Thank you all for the answers.

[Lord Mord]

What do the serfs do for sustenance and to sustain their liegelords in the inhospitable Mountains of Arryn and through the middle, which is to say the mountains and mesas, crags and deserts, of Dorne?

[lacuna]

What do the serfs do for sustenance and to sustain their liegelords in the inhospitable Mountains of Arryn and through the middle, which is to say the mountains and mesas, crags and deserts, of Dorne?

Drawing from my experiences here in Norway, mountain valleys like the Vale are usually very fertile. It has to do with that during the ice age, glaciers carried highly nutritious soil with them, depositing it along the valley floor as they melted, IIRC.

I'll let some desert dweller answer the Dorne question, though... :P

[Datepalm]

Drawing from my experiences here in Norway, mountain valleys like the Vale are usually very fertile. It has to do with that during the ice age, glaciers carried highly nutritious soil with them, depositing it along the valley floor as they melted, IIRC.

I'll let some desert dweller answer the Dorne question, though... :P

My impression is that there mountains themselves are pretty thinly populated by the clansmen, while the Arryns hold the fertile valleys. I imagine the clansmen get by on hunting and a bit of small scale agriculture in small and more remote valleys the Arryns haven't gotten to.

I think central Dorne is pretty sparsely populated as well - according to Other-in-laws map west-central Dorne (the area without a river) is pretty empty. (Though where the hell that river is coming from remains an interesting question. The nile starts in the tropics, for comparison. An aquifer would need rainfall to replenish it.) I imagine whoever does live there manages on oases and nomadism, and maybe some sophisticated dams and irrigation, something like Petra.

[goatherder]

There seems to be a lot of potential for Dorne, as it stretches from mountains to the sea. Even if it it is desert, you could have herders, goat, sheep, etc.., fisher peoples, figs, olives, whatever. It seems eastern Mediterranean-esque to me. You also have a lot of opportunity for trade. People make do in worse sounding places.

[Louis O'Carroll]

Hi, can anybody make sense of this?

(Page 310 of the Harper Voyager edition of AGoT)

Robert slapped Ned on the back. "Ah, say I'm a better king than Aerys and be done with it.You never could lie for love nor honor, Ned Stark. I'm still young, and now that you're here with me, things will be different. We'll make this a reign to sing of, and damn the Lannisters to seven hells. I smell bacon. Who do you think our champion will be today?

I smell bacon? What is that about? I laughed my ass off when I read that!

[Senta Signora]

Robert is just changing the subject when he says, "I smell bacon." He then goes on to talk about something else. GRRM is just showing how Robert's mind works.

[A wilding]

It may also be to illustrate how Robert got fat. Trying to calm down after a stressful situation, his mind drifts to food.

[StrongBelwas]

To the subject of the toungless boys that Varys requires, I was just re-reading AFfC today and got to the chapter where Cersi is planning to burn the tower of the hand. Jaime reported to her that when they demolished walls in the tower they found passages EVERYWHERE, and that some were so narrow they had to send BOYS in to investigate. So here is my theory on the toungeless boys:

Varys knows all the nooks in every corner of the red keep. He plants these kids in the places he wants monitored. They need to know their letters because they are going to write down everything they hear, both during their spying and afterwards. They need to be toungless so as to never tell anyone what they hear. Also, cripples are regarded with scorn in Westros so it's not likely that one of these kids would be given much attention, and even if they were they'd be unable to be put to the question, unless the questioner knew the child could write. But again, a questioner would never assume that an apparently lowborn child would know letters, only highborn kids in westros can read/write.

All the notes these kids take become briefs that are passed to Varys at specific times throughout his daily activites, like a CIA director being briefed on the quarter hour. No doubt these "little birds" are instructed in various protocols in how to communicate with Varys. (Drop locations, handoff sites, secret contacts, ect) I would also assume that these kids all come from across the narrow sea, since Varys was getting them from Illeryo. My guess is either Myr or Volantis.

Perhaps someone could help out here. Is there ever a time when a person in the red keep notices a silent child moving about? I don't recall Arya seeing anything in AGoT.

[Guest Other-in-Law]

Perhaps someone could help out here. Is there ever a time when a person in the red keep notices a silent child moving about? I don't recall Arya seeing anything in AGoT.

The closest I can think of is when Arya bumps into Tommen, Myrcella, their Septa, and a redcloak named Godwyn after she was chasing cats. They naturally don't recognise her, and Tommen calls her a ragged dirty smelly boy. The guard says: "You can't keep this sort out. Like trying to keep out rats."

The Septa even asks: "Who do you belong to boy? Answer me. What's wrong with you, are you mute?"

Now considering any castle is designed to not let anyone in that you don't want to let in (few gates, and all manned by guards, high walls everywhere else) that doesn't make much sense on the face of it. Why should the Red Keep be infested with street urchins (like rats!)? Why, because they seep through the secret entrances in the walls from mysterious other places, as this particular castle was designed to allow, by Maegor the Cruel. The Septa guessing that one of them would be mute is a little hint, I think...I mean Arya was scared so she didn't say anything, and it's a normal thing to ask someone who won't speak, but still....it works on both levels.

[Mad Monkey]

The '...not die so easy...' bit suggests something more is going on, potentially drugging. Otherwise it is hard to see how he and Illyrio motivate these kids...

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[fragment]

He remembered Rhaegar's infant son, the red ruin of his skull, and the way the king had turned away, as he had turned away in Darry's audience hall not so long ago. He could still hear Sansa pleading, as Lyanna had pleaded once.

AGOT p199

So Rhaegar's son indeed did die... why is their speculation that he might not have died? That's solid evidence from Eddard Stark mentioning the "red ruin of his skull", meaning his head was crushed.

[Evrach]

He remembered Rhaegar's infant son, the red ruin of his skull, and the way the king had turned away, as he had turned away in Darry's audience hall not so long ago. He could still hear Sansa pleading, as Lyanna had pleaded once.

AGOT p199

So Rhaegar's son indeed did die... why is their speculation that he might not have died? That's solid evidence from Eddard Stark mentioning the "red ruin of his skull", meaning his head was crushed.

'case a child exchange is still possible, and because GRRM never answered in interview when people ask if Aegon is still alive. (but he answered that Rhaenys is clearly dead).

[Alexia]

Personally, I believe Aegon is dead too and GRRM is just being difficult. :P Since Rhaenys' body would have been easy to identify, whereas one baby looks much the same as the other and Aegon's head was crushed...which would have made it impossible to positively identify him.

[Bubs]

Another 'game show' Dany question :thumbsup:

Do you envision Dany's hair as true silver or more like a platinum blonde?

[Dreadwolf]

It usually varies following the color of my last ale(s).

[Lady Blackfish]

I imagine it more like true silver, personally. Not expecting it for the TV show though ;)

[Alexia]

I think of it as a platinum blonde.

[Lannister Lion]

How come no-one at the wall mentions that Yoren never came back? They talk about Ser Alliser Thorne but not Yoren.