What would you do if you got dropped into the 7 kingdoms?

[Datepalm]

Myr at least seems to be well on its way to the Rennaisance - Lace, crossbows, portrait painting.

Bards, singers, painting, artistic armour, embroidery and theater all go by in passing, at least, wrt to the arts. (Though a lot of it does seem to be specifically from across the narrow sea as decadent foreign imports to the more, er, rustic Westerosi native culture.)

[B'uckles]

Artists often make interesting characters, as they may have a certain kind of aesthetic distance from their social/economic backdrop, and their own way of looking at things. They both can both reflect and interpret their world in surprising ways.

I think there will be a demand for my portraiture among the high and mighty, but if not, I'll do fine drawing common folk for coin and my supper in the taverns and markets. I also think I'll make a dandy POV once I've hung around for awhile and checked out the situation.

[Lummel]

Portrait painter sounds like a good idea, however it's probably too soon for something Jackson pollock or Rothko style. I don't think my archery is good enough for a place in the city watch but I am literate (despite all evidence to the contrary) so if Westeros had the same script as us I could try and make a living as a letter writer and reader in some of the larger towns. Alternatively I can count and carry out basic mathematical operations so maybe I could get a job in a counting house or in a customs office.

On the other hand maybe if I could brew up a good batch of singer's stew that might be enough for me to earn a living by. Yum.

[Frostylva]

(First real post, and I'll only reply to the headline, I'm sadly not well-versed enough in the mechanics of the real-world's medieval and Rennaisance periods to make much of a contribution)

If I all of a sudden had found myself somewhere in Westeros with mentioned equipment, first priority would be disguising myself as a man as best as I could, even though I find it hard to believe I could make myself appear convincingly male, before planning what to do further. I also believe discarding my phone would be a wise thing to do. (Even though, if I had been so lucky to have my solar charger, I might have thought twice! )

After that, I believe this would be the first time I'd be genuinely discouraged about my gender. With the skills and and knowledge I possess, I believe I could have made my way - if I had been a man. As many have mentioned, just being literate could probably at least have earned me some kind of work, and with my scientific background, I believe I could have made some valuable contributions to for instance healthcare. I also, even though I'm in no way professional, paint and draw reasonably well and could possibly have made some money that way. But then again, as a woman, I find it hard to believe any of those skills would be of much help to me. Had I been a man, I think the safest thing would have been to head for the Citadel, but since I'm a woman... Well, I've been told I'm a decent enough cook... ... ...

But to be honest, I don't think I would have lasted long.

[mor2]

"What would you do if you got dropped into the 7 kingdoms?"

probably killed myself.

Find the nearest brothel.

considering that you dont have anything to pay with, I hope you are a pretty boy and land near a big city, I hear they are more open to male whores there ;)

[Defengar]

Don`t forget, if you know anything about history (especially ancient/medieval times) from our world, you could become a story teller, and spin stuff like the norman invasion of England, or the stand of the 300 as fantastical stories that would probably get you a lot of favorable attention. You could also rip off stories like LoTR to...

That would probably be one of my main options.

[Lummel]

This is true..many a tale of a world with strangely regular and predictable seasons could be told...either that or garbled versions of "Star Wars".

[Defengar]

he's not a militant atheist! so whilst he isn't one of those hamfisted authors who portray religion as evil*, in contrast to the free spirited, nudist, vegan atheist hero-race :ack: ... I just think that his atheism caused him to forget to put in the art patronage, the scholastic philosophers, the pilgrimages, the obsession that the Medieval man or woman had with Christianity (practically every work that has come down to us places great emphasis on faith).

If you asked GRRM whether he was aware of the role that the Church played in art patronage, philosophy and day to day life during the Middle Ages, he would say yes, that he was aware.

But when he comes to write his fantasy series, which is otherwise realistic, he just leaves these things out, not consciously but just because they don't interest him and he would find a character who was as militantly religious as a real Medieval man or woman unsympathetic...

*No doubt the Medieval Church was evil,

BTW according wikipedia. I think GRRM was raised Catholic, which could explain why huge there are a number of celibate orders (The Nights Watch, Maesters and Kings Guard) in Westeros (only the Maesters and Septons should be celibate, unless you count the Night Watch as being like the Knights Templar) and why breaking said vows is portrayed unsympathetically.

Of course not. GRRM if asked would no doubt reply that yes, he was aware that much Renaissance art would not have been possible where it not for the patronage of people like the Medicis... No doubt GRRM enjoys going to cafes, bookshops and having his wife possessing a wardrobe that doesn't consist solely of grey pyjamas...

But when he comes to writing his otherwise realistic medieval setting, he forgets to mention the merchant class, simply because he doesn't find them as sympathetic or interesting.

Which is a pity because these things were significant in the Middle Ages, and it adds richness and realism to an already brilliant series.

Or we could just say that GRRM, being a low-brow American finds high culture and philosophy scary and therefore these things are absent from Martinworld or portrayed negatively. :devil:

You sound like that guy who wrote a response to "The Lorax" for the California logging industry that tried to make the tree`s sound like the bad guys...

Look at the 7 kingdoms for a minute. The most advanced things they have are architecture (giant ass castles that could only be rivaled in size IRL by a couple in Japan), and metallurgy (steel). Everything else about their culture seems to be at the point europe was when it was exiting the dark ages and emerging into the Medieval era. Which means no merchant class, religion is still somewhat slow in its rise to power etc...

The reason for this is because of WINTER. Winter in westeros acts like a big reset button and halts, or even reverses much of the progress (If any is made during the summer). The reason metallurgy and architecture has advanced ahead of everything else is because you have to have giant ass buildings to survive in a winter where the snow can get over 50 feet deep (eventually people also realized having walls high enough to keep 50 feet of snow at bay was also a good way of keeping asshats like the iron islanders out to). Thus it was a matter of survival that architecture got so advanced.

Then with metallurgy you have the fact blacksmiths are shut up in their shops for up to over a decade during some winters, and since there is nothing else to do, they likely started experimenting with different ores, blacksmithing techniques, and with tempering methods etc... until someone (or likely multiple people) created steel.

Everything else is slow to advance because it either isnt a matter of survival during winter, or because it would be difficult/not likely to be innovated during winter where there nothing to do but sit around.

[Woman of War]

Azor Ahai Reborn, on 20 November 2011 - 06:53 AM, said:

Find the nearest brothel.

Mor2 :

considering that you dont have anything to pay with, I hope you are a pretty boy and land near a big city, I hear they are more open to male whores there

Who said he wants to BUY??

[mor2]

as I said, considering he has nothing to pay with(no local currency), his only business in a brothel would be to sell...

[mor2]

Don`t forget, if you know anything about history (especially ancient/medieval times) from our world, you could become a story teller, and spin stuff like the norman invasion of England, or the stand of the 300 as fantastical stories that would probably get you a lot of favorable attention. You could also rip off stories like LoTR to...

That would probably be one of my main options.

tell to who, what are you a royal bard or something? you's be lucky to shovel horse dung in a tavern and maybe they will allow you to tell a few dirty jokes ;)

[Defengar]

tell to who, what are you a royal bard or something? you's be lucky to shovel horse dung in a tavern and maybe they will allow you to tell a few dirty jokes ;)

Considering your colorful clothes, health, appearance, and the fact it really only takes a good mind to be a bard/traveling story teller. I would imagine there would be no problem convincing people you were a bard from across the sea.

[mor2]

Dont forget the funny accent :hat: still it will not get you into the castle, otherwise anyone could just play costumes, but let's say rich tavern, might take for the right crowd, especially if you tell them about *make his voice go low* stories from a far, about a dragon queen or their wars or magical creatures from... :ph34r:

[GeoDave]

What would you do if you got dropped into the 7 kingdoms?

Pray hard. And run.

[Alia of the knife]

Cry like a six year old.

[SeanF]

he's not a militant atheist! so whilst he isn't one of those hamfisted authors who portray religion as evil*, in contrast to the free spirited, nudist, vegan atheist hero-race :ack: ... I just think that his atheism caused him to forget to put in the art patronage, the scholastic philosophers, the pilgrimages, the obsession that the Medieval man or woman had with Christianity (practically every work that has come down to us places great emphasis on faith).

If you asked GRRM whether he was aware of the role that the Church played in art patronage, philosophy and day to day life during the Middle Ages, he would say yes, that he was aware.

But when he comes to write his fantasy series, which is otherwise realistic, he just leaves these things out, not consciously but just because they don't interest him and he would find a character who was as militantly religious as a real Medieval man or woman unsympathetic...

*No doubt the Medieval Church was evil,

BTW according wikipedia. I think GRRM was raised Catholic, which could explain why huge there are a number of celibate orders (The Nights Watch, Maesters and Kings Guard) in Westeros (only the Maesters and Septons should be celibate, unless you count the Night Watch as being like the Knights Templar) and why breaking said vows is portrayed unsympathetically.

. :devil:

I don't really see much of a religious or political bias in Martin's books.

The Faith of the Seven is shown to have both good and bad sides. OTOH, you get corrupt High Septons, and then a bigoted High Septon and his followers. On the other, you encounter people like Septon Merribald, the Elder Brother, and Septons and Septas who are serving the community.

I'd say that Martin's attitude towards the Faith is pretty neutral. It may very well be that the Faith uses art and music to propagate his message, but he doesn't see it as being particularly important to the story.

By way of contrast, Tolkien was an extremely devout Roman Catholic, but you get almost no mention of organised religion in the Lord of the Rings.

While we do get passing references to Guilds and merchants in ASOIAF, you're right that there's very little detail. But again, I suspect that he doesn't consider it to be of importance to the story, rather than being evidence of anti-capitalism.

Again, harking back to LOTR, Tolkien makes almost no mention of trade or economic affairs at all (how on Earth do the Elves actually earn a living?) but he was politically conservative. I just don't think he thought it important to the plot.

[Brandon Baratheon.]

I've been meaning to post this in a while, dammnn. I would probably run off find Arya kidnap her then we would find Gendry, Syrio etc and we would start our own outlaw clan to later join forces with dead cat.

.... first I'll have a glorious swearing fit, 'cause it would SUCK to be a girl in modern clothes down there. I mean... seriously.. a mini-skirt and hoodie combo? Oh look, its rape-o-clock already (altho some may simply dagger me on sight for the UMBRELLA logo on the said hoodie, 'cause with my luck, watch that be some crazy Essos pirates crest)

Then I'll attempt to find out what date it is, 'cause if its something covering the books time...errr.. I may need to head up to Riverrun instead (compare places, within those walls is closest to SAFE its ever been!)

all else - cut hair, bind tits to not be so obviously a girl and go try my luck anywhere! ... thats not a whorehouse... and is South of The Neck

Instead of that craziness just hire me as a sellsword, i swear i will not fail you.

[Chise]

Instead of that craziness just hire me as a sellsword, i swear i will not fail you.

You are ON! lol, but however shall I pay you, good sir? With the dead phone battery or half-melted chocolates?

LOL, it'd be hilarious if all these odd "lost" people suddenly started popping up near King's Landing. We can all be THE NEXT GREAT SIGN like teh comet... Mel would say its a sign of needing more fires, Ironborn will insist its new slaves to row their boats...

[Lummel]

Instead of that craziness just hire me as a sellsword, i swear i will not fail you.

'sellsword', heh - you're planning on selling Chise as a slave in Volantis aren't you? Well I suppose slave trading is a better way than most of surviving in Westeros, so long as you can avoid the likes of The Ned.

[Ser Gei]

Well.

If the Westerosi language is not English, we would all be royally fucked. All our education and literature and writing skills would not be worth a jack. Good luck trying to mime "Yeah, I am from future, or kind of from a totally different world, I am not mad and this all totally makes sense, now put away that crossbow."

If the Westerosi happens to be English, then there would be some chance to actually survive. I would totally just try to make everybody convinced that I am some kind of semi-God with my phone and technically crafted army knife and my knowledge of stuff, both from the Westeros mythology-history and all modern future science things. With my engineer education, I could potentially teach the folks how steam power works. If I could get some big Kahuna convinced that there is better use of me than just to be arrow fodder, maybe I could get some blacksmith and a maester or couple to help me to build up some kind of steam engine. Then we could start to build a railroad from Kings Landing to Dorne and Winterfell. How much fun would that be?

Then again, with my luck, the first person I would meet would be Ramsay Snow with his hunting pals, and he would think I could make a very good Reek II. Oh, the excitement of getting flayed and gelded. Reek, reek, it rhymes with OH MAN I'M FUCKED!