Nerd Questions for the World Con Guys

[Lord Varys]

Whoever meets GRRM at World Con, and has yet no idea what he could ask him, here are a few suggestions:

- R'hllorism: Is this a rather new (i.e. post-valyrian) religious movement? Maybe even syncretic in origin? From where does this belief system come from? And where is its center right now (we know there are Red Priests in most of the Free Cities, but none in Qarth, and the Slaver's Bay)? The question aims at the fact that there seem to be different sources for the Azor Ahai prophecy (scrolls in Asshai, and valyrian traditions), and especially the original valyrian religion seem to know no Lord of Light or Great Other.

- Details about Ned's mother (as Ran seems to know, we can know, too, I think).

- The name of Doran's mother, the Ruling Princess Martell. It is really stupid to refer to her as Doran's mother, as she has been mentioned a few times.

- The name of Walder Frey's father from TMK. I don't want to refer to him as 'Walder's father' or 'Lord Frey'.

- Redwyne Fleet: Details about how they get the permission to maintain such a strong naval force, and what they are actually doing with it during peace time?

- Florent stuff: Stannis' quote from the Prologue of ACoK seems to indicate that their strength lies at about 2,000 men. This seems to be too little for a principal house of the Reach, so might Stannis be wrong here?

And then, of course, my all-time Targaryen favorites:

- More details about this period of time. Who fought on what side? Who were the principal supporters of Aegon II and Rhaenyra? Who was Rhaenyra Targaryen's Prince Consort? Perhaps the Lord Velaryon who became Aegon's III Regent? On which side were Aegon's II younger siblings? Did they fight for him, or for their half-sister?

- Details about Rhaenyra Targaryen's death in the Dance of Dragons: How was it possible that Rhaenyra Targaryen death through the dragon of Aegon II is considered 'a traitor's death' when he son Aegon III (and Viserys II?) were present at that time? Their presence indicate that Rhaenyra's death was no execution, as it seems to be strange that Aegon II would not kill Rhaenyra's children as well. At that time in the war children most likely were no longer safe, and Aegon II needed to be sure that Rhaenyra's line was extinguished, if he wanted to be secure on the Iron Throne.

- What happened to Jaehaerys' II concealed arm? Was he disfigured since birth? Did Aerys II and Rhaella Targaryen have any siblings? Who Jaehaerys' II Queen?

Why was Viserys I not married to a Targaryen woman? Apparently he married two times outside his own family (an Arryn, and a Hightower), which either indicates a lack of suitable Targaryen women during his time - but this makes little sense, as the Targaryens had time to multiply during Jaehaerys' I long reign - or a change in Targaryen politics during the reign of Jaehaerys I/Viserys I. Was there a tendency away from incestuous marriages during this time?

- Is Lord Viserys Plumm a son of Princess Elaena Targaryen? And thus, was Princess Elaena once married to a Lord Plumm? Does Princess Elaena live at KL during the D&E stories, and is she (still) the de facto Master of Coin?

- Who is Daemon Blackfyre's wife?

- What happened to Rhaegel Targaryen and his sons? To whom is he married? [if one actually asks this question, one could ask if his wife likes him prancing around naked during the Red Keep ;-).]

- Are there still descendants of Daeron Targaryen (Daeron the Drunk) and Aerion Brightflame around? We know that both of them had children. If not, what happened to Daeron's daughter and Aerion's son?

Feel free to add more questions. And hopefully there are people out there who are going to ask these questions ;-).

[The Pale Griffin]

We know who the consort of Rhaenyra is according to the new roleplaying book. It is a member of House Strong, starts with an L his first name does, but its not coming to me. He was hand of the king. He was her second husband.

[Lord Varys]

Well, I do not expect that every question is going to asked. I certainly would not ask that much myself. I just wanted to make suggestions ;-).

[Guest Other-in-Law]

One thing I would personally find very useful, would be knowing if the Slaver's Bay map in aSoS is to the same scale as the main maps on the inside covers of the books. ;)

[Lord Varys]

OiL,

that would be really interesting. As we are at maps stuff: Do we know why on earth this completely pointless map of the Iron Islands/Westerlands/Riverlands was in AFfC, but not yet the map of the Free Cities we are supposed to get in ADwD, and/or a detailed map of Braavos and Dorne? If not, one could ask a question about this, too...

Another thing is the marriage of Robert. The murder of the Targaryens made it unlikely that the Lannister could ever rejoin Viserys III, so what was the real reason for Jon Arryn to force Robert into a marriage with Cersei?

[The Pale Griffin]

The Robert one is easy. Having killed Elia, the Martells had no daughter to marry Robert (not that they would have anyways), the Greyjoys had no girls which left only the Lannisters with a suitable bride for the new King of Westeros, Hoster having married his two girls off to Arryn and Stark respectively. Lyanna was supposed to be Robert's bride, but she was dead.

[Ran]

Remember that George has created a setting with many, many, many characters and many, many, many details... not all of which he carries in his head at any particular moment. I will guarantee you that he is very unlikely to be able to answer questions about the names of characters who have not been named in the books, so I'd suggest not using time asking those questions. Similarly, questions related to intricate timeline matters are very unlikely to get much of a response. I'm definitely all for asking him questions, but things that are less trivial or less dependent on very specific details (like names and precise dates) would best be asked when he has his notes to hand and time and inclination to actually look them up.

I would suggest that many of the genealogical questions, Varys, are going to be answered when the World of Ice and Fire is published and contains the Targaryen and Stark family trees, and probably others. The many questions regarding the Dance of the Dragons, most of those are also set to be answered in the WoIaF I think, and I'm pretty sure George doesn't keep that all in his head. Patience is a virtue, as was noted at a recent GRRM signing. ;)

Just some thoughts on your questions:

I'll wager R'hllor is not a new religion, as such, but may not be ancient by the setting's standards. I think George probably could answer that one (at least the first question, whether it's new or not).

George has already answered questions about Ned's mother before, and I don't think he'll be revealing more until he publishes it in one book or another.

Redwyne questions are quite fair, but I have a suspicion that GRRM hasn't really thought out the answer. OTOH, I think the Florents are exactly right in terms of strength. They are an old family with a high lineage, but they are not really a principle house of the Reach in terms of martial strength. Prestige and wealth are more their thing, but compare their appendix entry (where they're just called "Tyrell bannermen" and nothing more is noted suggesting exceptional power) to that of the Hightowers ("oldest and proudest... powerful and immensely wealthy")

Pretty sure George has already remarked on Aerion's descendants in the SSM.

Finally, as to Viserys I, the Targaryens were never prolific. From what I can see, there's only two Targaryen-descended women of about the right age in the family tree to be his wife. He happens to have married one of them (yes, one of his two wives is Targaryen on her mother's side).

[The Pale Griffin]

I know I've asked this question before, so sorry to make you repeat yourself Ran, but when should I be lining up at my bookstore to get my hands on a copy of the WoIaF?

[Lord Varys]

Well, in my heart I'm of course not really interested in this family tree stuff, but it seemed to me that this kind of questions have a better chance to be answered than plot related questions.

And it did work when I inquired him about the Daeron's II sister, and Dorne joining the Realm, a few years ago when he participated in this board Q&A thing.

But I must admit that I never have met GRRM (or bothered any living author with nerd questions), so I don't know how this kind of stuff works (I assumed, people who share a beer or two with him, might dig into that kind of stuff), but I'd not be surprised if he had not thought about most of these things.

Surely these kind of questions are not the kind of questions anyone (me included) would ask him during a panel. Or at least not all of them.

On the Viserys thing:

Well, so you already have more insight in the Targaryen family tree? Including the 'lost generation' of Jaehaerys' children? I'd inquire for more details if I had not just semi-truthfully confessed that I'm actually not that interested in that kind of stuff ;-). And does the retcon stand that Rhaenyra is now to be considered Aegon's half-sister, and ten years older, not just one year? We have to accept the Criston Cole stuff from AFfC, but everything could still have happened the way it was described in the appendices of AGoT, as Viserys I just could have liked his firstborn daughter more than his sons - the Targaryens could do as they liked, especially during this time. And if Rhaenyra and Aegon were full siblings, and close to each other in age, the whole thing would be more tragic than it is now. The new version clearly sets up a rift in the Royal House that would have to have some consequences after Viserys' death.

Oh, and by the way, where do I find this quote about Rhaenyra's second husband? This Strong guy?

The R'hllor questions originates in the fact that the Red Priests are strong in the Free Cities (especially Pentos, where they the Lord of Light seems to be the one of the main gods), but apparently more or less unknown in the ancient cultures of the east (Slaver's Bay, Qarth, and maybe Valyria). The Shadow Men also seem to follow other belief systems (wooden mask stuff). The only exception may be Melisandre, but we only know that she is Asshai'i by birth, not that she became a Red Priestess there. I'd rather assume that she first became a shadow binder at home, and converted to R'hllorism later on. That she later cites scrolls from Asshai as sources for her interpretation of the Azor Ahai prophecy is entirely possible. But I don't see the Red God and his religion being the link between Asshai'i and valyrian traditions on the same type of prophesied savior.

I'd rather like it if the cult of the Red God would be the newest version of much older dualistic belief system which originated somewhere in Essos. It's persistence to spread strikes as a sign of being young rather than being very old.

Something interesting could also be some kind of history of the Ironborn:

Did they behave under their kings as they behave now under the Greyjoys (i.e. were they mostly pirates and raiders back then?)? Harren the Black built a castle in the Riverlands; this seems to indicate that the Ironborn Kings did not care much about the Iron Islands or their original way of life (including their religion etc.).

[Ran]

Pale Griffin,

Sometime after ADwD is published. At a guess, maybe the year after.

Varys,

Look back over SSM reports from cons and signings, and you can get a sense of what sorts of questions GRRM is likely to be able to answer and those he can't. Timeline and genealogy questions often get references to his not having his notes on hand and not being sure of the answer.

Lord Lyonel Strong and his three sons are from Green Ronin's campaign guide. Contrary to PG, though, it's not actually said Strong was Rhaenyra's second husband.

[The Pale Griffin]

Yeah, sorry about that, don`t know where I got that from.

In my mind I saw three sons and did not remember a third son of Rhaenyra after Aegon and Viserys, which made me believe it was her second husband and the three kids were from a different marriage. However Ran confirming that Lyonel was not her second husband means that Rhaenyra had a third son.

[Ran]

She had five sons, I think. Three by Lyonel, two by the other husband, who are Aegon and Viserys.

[Jaxom 1974]

OiL,

that would be really interesting. As we are at maps stuff: Do we know why on earth this completely pointless map of the Iron Islands/Westerlands/Riverlands was in AFfC, but not yet the map of the Free Cities we are supposed to get in ADwD, and/or a detailed map of Braavos and Dorne? If not, one could ask a question about this, too...

Actually, and I know this might have been answered before, I was curious about maps in general. The ones in the books are acredited to James Sinclair, but with such vast settings and landscapes, I was wondering if GRRM had little homemade maps in a file that he refers to when writing...if he needs to...?

[Ran]

I'm not sure how the maps of the Iron Islands and the Riverlands are pointless, since significant parts of the action in AFfC take place in those regions. The westerlands, there's more of a case I suppose, but I think it was a case of completeness. The East will get a map when it's actually featured, i.e. ADwD according to GRRM's last report on the matter.

[Lord Varys]

So are all these Strong Targs death when the Dance ended, or were they never considered to be heirs to Rhaenyra in the first place? Now I'm confused...

So I really need to buy know RPG supplements although I don't play them to remain up-to-date? I thought I was already beyond that ;-).

On the maps: The additional map depicting the Iron Islands, the Westerlands and the western parts of the Riverlands is pointless in the sense as actually no action took place at the places depicted in this map (well okay, Ten Towers is depicted on the map, and Riverrun - but the latter is also on the great map). A real detailed map of the Iron Islands, Dorne, Braavos, and Riverlands/Crownlands would have made sense, as it would have enabled to follow Brienne's and Jaime's wanderings, Arianne's march through the Dornish deserts, and pinpoint the exact locations of the Watergardens. And a city map of Braavos would have done the same for Arya and Samwell - despite being really beautiful and interesting to look at.

[Ran]

The reason there wasn't a map of the east is, again, because it'll be featured much more in ADwD. You don't actually need to follow Arya's and Sam's wanderings on the map for any reason... I mean, you generally don't need to use the map to follow anyone, but there's nothing about their particular movements that matter very much for AFfC. :)

The other factor, I would guess, is that a map of the east wasn't done at the time of AFfC. ;)

Someone asked earlier about the maps. GRRM does have maps he has drawn out himself, rather messy and crowded and full of corrections and changes. I suppose at some point, he may have printed out one of the artist's maps and started working from that.

[Liliedhe]

I would like to ask whether Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters were full siblings or half silbings.^^ Hopefully, this is simple and unspoilery enough.

[Agnes Completo]

I will be happy simply to bask in the great man's presence! I am pretty damn excited about going to Aussie Con and will be too star struck to remember any questions I think!

[Guest Other-in-Law]

How about some questions about the Mystery Knight? Like, was the lake that they all took the ferry across the God's Eye, or some different lake?

There's been a lot of disagreement over that; the main objection to it being the GE is that it should be be much too wide for the same boat to make several crossings in one day (my suspicion is that boats go quicker due to the Green Men's magic to shield the Isle of Faces from unwanted visitors; they just get swept across before they can blunder in to the isle). But the fact that it's just referred to as "the lake" instead of by name suggests that it's THE main lake (as people from other parts of New York state often refer to NYC simply as "the city").

[ogbebaba]

OK I realize he probably has not even thought it important enough to make something up but I

really want to know what the CLEGANE HOUSE WORDS ARE? yeah there very small house but I still want to know...