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[Book spoilers] Turnips and other things that don't add up


a free shadow

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oh yeah, don't the NW have pickets who would catch Craster running outside with a miracle baby? Lax attitude on a ranging, boys. Hated that scene. Where was Ghost, huh?

Hah, good point on the NW pickets, but no one is going to stop Craster leaving his own place. The bundle could have been anything until you heard the distinctive baby noises. It's possible he just walk past and they didn't hear it. Not that they would stop him anyways but it would certainly raise eyebrows.

Ghost is only around when the plot tells him to be, just like in the book!

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I just figured the turnips were to add substance to the extremely greasy stew that everyone seems to eat all the time. The actual nutrition comes from the ingredients of the broth. Probably also has to do with ancient people like this not even knowing what nutrition is and bringing the load of turnips because its the cheapest thing they could find.

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I'm puzzled by so many people asking 'but where was Ghost?' In the books Jon often wonders the exact same thing!

Grey Wind was most often seen close by Robb (I seem to recall other characters commenting on that) but Ghost was more often than not somewhere else during the time Jon spent beyond the wall.

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Turnips. It takes more strenght to bring them along than their nutritional value could ever compensate. No expedition, especially heading North, would waste space and strenght to take sacks of turnips with.

It costs a human being no real energy to have his horses and mules carry a load of turnips. And medieval humans probably didnt calculate the specific nutritional values of a turnip in comparison to the caloric energy spent carrying one. Actually it looks like turnips were very commonly used, and were considered a pretty staple dietary item until the potato was available. We havent seen potatoes in Westeros yet. So in this case it looks like GRR Martin was correct, and you are mistaken in your criticism.

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It costs a human being no real energy to have his horses and mules carry a load of turnips. And medieval humans probably didnt calculate the specific nutritional values of a turnip in comparison to the caloric energy spent carrying one. Actually it looks like turnips were very commonly used, and were considered a pretty staple dietary item until the potato was available. We havent seen potatoes in Westeros yet. So in this case it looks like GRR Martin was correct, and you are mistaken in your criticism.

Horses need to be fed too. The more strenght they use up, the more they eat. And when it is apparently snow and ice all around, a good portion of the things they eat, must be carried too. Medieval people most likely did not calculate nutritional values in calories, but even without specific numbers, each human notices how a specific food can fill one up, how long it takes to go hungry after you've eaten it. Turnips are practically water and they took loads of it into the place where you can melt snow for water.

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And turnips were a staple food of Medieval Europe (probably one of the reasons their average life span was mid-20s, crap nutrition).

Actually the average life expectancy was so low because of the high infant mortality rate. The middle ages weren't THAT dark, you know. ;)

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<snip>

"You have perfected the art of tearing paper", said Tyrion. He ever witnessed Cersei tearing up Robert's will. It felt like he was apologizing to the viewers "Yes, we've been there, done that".

<snip>

I thought he was referencing Episode 1 -- when she tears up the paper naming tyrion acting-Hand-of-the-King. In other words, cuz in back to back meetings, she rips up the important document' at hand.

No?

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Ah, that makes sense. Although, I don't ever remember reading that valyrian steel can't use sharpening

It mentions in the book several times that Jon "keeps his sword sharp" and that he sharpens it regularly. Especially in the Qhorin/Jon scenes towards the end when he continuously asks him "Is your blade sharp?"

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"My mother was a lady" ...and then she got married and had kids. lol.gif

It sounded more like she wanted to say: While we were in Winterfell (while we were still together) may mother and sister were ladies, but I wasn't.

There is no sense picking apart the grammar of a little girl like Arya, sure she was highborn but she's still just like 10 years old and prone to grammatical errors. It could just be something the writers included to remind the audience that shes supposed to be still very young

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There is no sense picking apart the grammar of a little girl like Arya, sure she was highborn but she's still just like 10 years old and prone to grammatical errors. It could just be something the writers included to remind the audience that shes supposed to be still very young

It could also have been an actor error and they just figured it wasn't important enough to do another take. I guess they were wrong because people are PISSED! Haha.

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Turnips. It takes more strength to bring them along than their nutritional value could ever compensate. No expedition, especially heading North, would waste space and strength to take sacks of turnips with.

Since D&D know George's favorite food is onions, I think they were having a go at him.

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