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Yes but they have a rank as well, this allows you to know whether they are indeed your superior without having the specific knowledge of who they are that would be required if that information was not provided the importance of this information cannot be overstated in a world where families exterminate each other over preceived slights

Well, that's kind of my whole point....I was military for a decade. Anyone higher in rank was sir. You didn't call them by their rank. You just said sir. Women included. All sir. Ma'am was acceptable too, but sir was the default and always acceptable.

This has very much already happened, its just that the different levels use the same form of address which complicates rather than simplifies things Except the very fact that everyone gets it solves nothing its more like having a military where everyone has the same rank, this didn't even do that in village militia and for good reason.

You’ll probably get a better response in Literature.

At the risk of a bunch of people hating me.....wait....yeah I don't care. Not sure I'd trust The Atlantic as any kind of historical source. It's bad enough that everyone seems to think that arranged marriages were/are some kind of....male thing. Historically, matchmaking was a woman's responsibility in many cultures. We all act like arranged marriages were some sort of male thing but it wasn't. The boy had no more say than the girl, and more often than not, the marriage was arranged by the mothers of both families - it was one of the several very important things that a wife did. I honestly couldn't think of a worse "example" of patriarchy than arranged marriages. Historically, the household was an incredibly important thing....and women were almost exclusively in charge of that. Fully expecting a whole lot of hate for that take. Hope I don't get it....but I probably will.

Meh, the movies are equal opportunities employers when it comes to screwing over characters. It’s one area where Disney really excels in its diversity.

The issue is scale, the Reach by itself is almost exactly the size of Carolingian Empire at its greatest extent and that had between 10 and 20 million in the 9th century when few other states had even half the lower figure, the Reach is really really big as fertile countries go, by rights it should be three kingdoms not one but it isn't (yet) The North has far more people than any realm except the Reach but due to sheer size seems very empty, I've got it as a third of the population density of the Reach but its also around two and a half times bigger so sheer size eats up a lot of the difference, they cound not however maintain very large armies in one place for a similiar amount of time due to lacking the Reachs vast fertile lands. My numbers are actually quite a bit lower than the pre-famine, pre-plague 14th century when the most fertile countries reached up to a 100 people per square mile, at that density the Reach would have over 40 million by itself. Basically all the kingdoms except the Iron Isles have far more men than they mobilize at once because they don't have the logistics to send them the thousands of miles required to do battle, secondly because they don't have the leadership and thirdly because its not required, a similar situation in France prevailed through the middle ages after the Carolingian Empire split. the Riverlands is large and fertile but like France under most kings gets beat up on a lot due to infighting, its the second largest fertile kingdom and therefore should have a lot of people, I put it as about ten percent less populated than the Reach because of this. What the Riverlands lacks isn't men its quality leadership and once the war begins leadership at all across much of it.

If people haven’t come round after five years, they won’t now. Season 8 still has a rating of 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. The gulf between “tell” and “show” was unbridgeable, in later seasons. We were told that Tyrion and Varys were very brilliant. We were shown that they were morons. We were told that Jon was a hero. We were shown that he was bad general, an inept diplomat, a terrible boyfriend. We were told that he had nothing to live for, after killing the love of his life, Daenerys. We were shown that he lied to his vassals about bending the knee to her, and washed his hands of her, after discovering his parentage. He loved her neither romantically nor as family, and simply exploited her. We were told that Arya was a girlboss. We were shown that she was a xenophobic sadist. We were told that Sansa was a wise leader. We were shown that she was a treacherous schemer. We were told that Bran “had the best story.” We were shown that he was a weird teenager who made horrid comments like telling Sansa how beautiful she was, the night Ramsay raped her. We were told (by Tyrion at the end), that Daenerys was worse than Cersei, Tywin, and Ramsay combined. We were shown her leading a vast army to save a continent, and freeing vast numbers of slaves. Her vilification was abrupt and unearned. i could discuss all the plotholes, the teleporting armies, the shrinking continent, the absurdity of the dragonpit scene, but no doubt others will wish to comment.

I think it's fine. The title of Lord solves it. Lord can apply to the leader of an entire quarter of the continent (Lord Stark, Lord Lannister), and it can apply to a holdfast, or a town....or even just be an honorific given to somebody, like Lord Varys. In-world, the title of Lord seems to be applicable to all levels of leadership. Very much like in our own world, where "Sir" or "Ma'am" is an appropriate way to address nearly anyone important, or anyone you don't know. Maybe that doesn't make as much sense to others as it does to me....it's probably a cultural thing. But....being from the midwest and having a military background.....Sir/Ma'am makes a whole lot of sense to me. Better to be more polite than needed...than not polite enough. It's much better to have somebody say "please call me X" than to be viewed as overly familiar.

On the real world history of the practice, particularly when it comes to women, and also perhaps on why there is this perplexing resistance to the idea on these forums. https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/04/why-baby-names-arent-usually-mother-names/629693/

This is actually a really interesting topic. GRRM definitely did not pick names at random. While I don't think there's any really big reveals hidden away in the first names of characters....I think you're completely correct that he chose the names for a reason. We've got plenty of examples in the books....families choosing names based on the female lineage of the husband, and of the wife. They also choose them for honorific reasons - Ned, of House Dayne, for example....mysteriously named in honor of Eddard Stark. I don't think there's any major plot developments involved....there's so much intermarriage....but it's certainly a fun way to try and trace relationships backwards in time.

I liked that series quite a lot.

My wife worked on the single documentary winner. She would like to thank me for a great many things.

I remember the astonishing draft chapter, I just forgot the where he was and did he have a specific plan part!

It's as if all the wealth and class there can't buy authenticity.

Don't worry, if the Grey Death follows the course of the Black Death, it will do exactly that

He's massing his fleet off the coast of Old Town, along with some kind of massive human sacrificial thing involving the priests from all the major religions, and the Hightower family is preparing themselves, per the novels. Some of that comes from the books and some of it comes from the pre-published chapter that GRRM put out a few years ago.

I finally watched Mad Max: Fury Road, and yeah, I can see why it received all the praise that it did.

is Euron attacking Oldtown something that is established? I never know this stuff.

Rooting for City No way do I want Arsenal to win the PL with 89 points when we didn't with 97 and 92 points.

Another possibility.....since GRRM enjoys setting things up and making us wait to see the results.... WoW could open from the POV of somebody in Old Town, witnessing the initial attack by Euron. Maybe a maester for the Hightowers? That'd be quite the opening......and if we had to wait half the novel to even learn what happened to Old Town....especially since we'd also be wondering about Sam and Gilly at the same time... That'd be so much his style. We'd have to spend the entire rest of the book trying to figure out how it turned out by reports from other characters who've only heard about it.

Keep going.

Oh I totally agree. I posted on another board I frequent that their window might close after next year. This could be like NFLs bengals. Gobert is not getting any better, Towns well this is about the best we can expect. Conley could leave after this. They better hope for some growth from Naz, McDaniels, NAW and others. They certainly aren’t getting much in the way of draft picks either. OKC are in a great spot and can pick up more top players through the draft. Wolves have much less options.

I love that you've gone into such detail, relating it to populations in the late middle ages..... I think the numbers are high though. It seems like there are fewer peasants in GRRM's world....there's plenty of them around city centers...the places that can stockpile food. The spaces between.....less so. I suspect the crazy long winters make living away from a holdfast or city center harder than in real history. Maybe cut these numbers in half? Still.....pretty great that you've connected each region with a real historical area of europe and estimated based on that. Pretty cool.

Eh, maybe not quite what you mean, but every opportunity is one they need to take. Look at the Celtics the past few years, or the Grizzlies now. Even the Thunder shouldn't think that there is always next year. You never know what's going to happen and Gobert and Conley aren't getting any younger. Too soon is for rebuilding teams that have next to no chance.