Salutations, once again!
As you may or may not know, Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire has its own Tumblr page (as well as its own Twitter and Facebook pages). Even more excitingly, we here at the blog have partnered with ASOIAF University to answer questions about A Song of Ice and Fire. We – that is, SomethingLikeaLawyer and I – take the text-based questions submitted to us, write up thoughtful, text-based answers, and publish these answers on the Tumblr.
Another productive week at Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire Headquarters. The Hand wrote some fantastic lengthy metas this week, from the transition of Westeros away from feudalism, to an overhaul of the levy system, to the ideological division between Quellon Greyjoy and his four surviving sons. I got to talk about one of my least favorite houses in a strangely positive (well, kind of) way, and got to consider a bunch of historical parallels, from Margaret of Anjou to Elizabeth of York to Simon de Montfort. You lovelies keep us busy, and we’re eternally grateful.
So, without further ado, here’s The Ravenry for the week of January 25:
- SomethingLikeaLawyer briefly outlines what is necessary to move Westeros away from feudalism
- NFriel emphasizes Jena Dondarrion’s dynastic fitness for the queenship
- NFriel illustrates an alternate scenario where Barristan fails to rescue Aerys II
- NFriel draws parallels between Sansa and Elizabeth of York
- NFriel contemplates why the crown keeps giving away Harrenhal
- SomethingLikeaLawyer describes why Quellon Greyjoy’s sons were so different from their father
- NFriel reminds readers of the complexity of historical comparisons in ASOIAF
- NFriel rationalizes why Manderly would be a more obvious regent than Jon
- NFriel muses on the possibility of Aegon V’s sisters having children
- NFriel challenges the possibility of a cadet branch of the Reynes surviving in the Golden Company
- NFriel goes into various royal succession modes
- NFriel highlights the political expedience, and strong moral disturbance, of Robert ordering the assassination of Daenerys
- SomethingLikeaLawyer gauges how Daenerys would fare as a nationalist Queen of Meereen
- SomethingLikeaLawyer suspects Stannis would have a decent chance of winning his war (without the looming threat of the Others)
- NFriel imagines Shireen would keep the Baratheon name as queen
- NFriel acknowledges the likelihood of connection between the Reynes’ sigil and that of Simon de Montfort
- SomethingLikeaLawyer judges why Renly would have rejected Stannis’ offer
- SomethingLikeaLawyer believes the second Dance will consume King’s Landing
- NFriel links to an earlier theory that Melisandre will burn Shireen not for Stannis, but for Jon
- SomethingLikeaLawyer briefly shows how the Rhoynar initially resisted Valyrian conquest
- SomethingLikeaLawyer predicts two unhappy fates for Ser Eustace post-TSS
- SomethingLikeaLawyer wonders if the Rhoynar could have negotiated a truce with the Valyrians
- NFriel reflects on the sadness of Arya’s story
- SomethingLikeaLawyer believes current Bloodraven is the same Bloodraven he was as Hand
- SomethingLikeaLawyer balances Aegon’s possible future brides
- NFriel reflects on the possible fate of Dark Sister
- NFriel argues Jon x Daenerys is not as messed up as it might seem
- SomethingLikeaLawyer reasons why Bloodraven focused so singularly on the Blackfyres
- SomethingLikeaLawyer picks out likely allies for Young Aegon
- SomethingLikeaLawyer indicates what’s necessary to bring the realm to peace
- SomethingLikeaLawyer clarifies why Jeor Mormont joined the Watch
- SomethingLikeaLawyer thinks Daenerys has a chance of surviving the books (but a hard time coming in the future)
- NFriel admits a slight (but probably not major) lessening bastard prejudice if Daemon Blackfyre had won
- NFriel suspects the realm will be Iron Throne-less at the end of the series
- SomethingLikeaLawyer evaluates possibilities for Aegon V’s smallfolks
- SomethingLikeaLawyer doubts Bloodraven’s greenseeing powers were influencing his actions as Hand
- NFriel explains the Stark succession crisis after Cregan Stark’s death
- NFriel gives very little chance that the Martells will crown Myrcella against Aegon
- NFriel appraises the Martells’ hatred of Robert
- NFriel gives the victory to Barristan in a fight with Jaime
- NFriel points out a book-smart Westerosi lady
- NFriel partially defends House Peake’s less-than-stellar history
- SomethingLikeaLawyer discusses exceptionally poor Targaryen kings
- SomethingLikeaLawyer disagrees with the designation of Daeron II as absent-minded
- NFriel affirms the lack of “the Tyrant” as a Westerosi royal epithet
- NFriel gathers the various pre-Conquest royal titles
- NFriel underlines Aegon’s faults in connection to his accused “tyranny”
- SomethingLikeaLawyer ponders whether Daemon truly believed Daeron II was a bastard
- SomethingLikeaLawyer utilizes the Aegon Doctrine to explain Aegon’s non-control of the Riverlands
- SomethingLikeaLawyer sketches out what would happen if Bran confessed what he saw after he awoke from his coma
- SomethingLikeaLawyer engineers a useful canal for the North
- NFriel theorizes on what happened to the sword Blackfyre
- SomethingLikeaLawyer comments on the usefulness of sending Baby Aegon to the Wall with an “honor guard” after Robert’s Rebellion
- SomethingLikeaLawyer pinpoints a reward for a Robb-loyal Theon
- NFriel contemplates whether Baela was alive at the time of Alyn and Elaena’s affair
- SomethingLikeaLawyer overviews how to improve Westeros’ levy system
- SomethingLikeaLawyer rejects Harrenhal as a possible capital for the Seven Kingdoms
- NFriel reviews the succession if Duncan or Daeron survived Summerhall
- NFriel considers Dawn as Lightbringer
- NFriel disagrees on wildfire playing a part in the War for the Dawn
- NFriel hypothesizes what might have changed had Princess Shaena lived
- NFriel expounds upon the title “Protector of the Realm”
- NFriel elucidates Aegon the Conqueror’s polygamous marriages
- NFriel confirms that the current Targaryens are all descended from Rhaenys (and probably Aegon)
- NFriel points to blood magic rather than incest as the cause of the Targaryens’ malformed children
- SomethingLikeaLawyer discusses Stannis’ upcoming victory at Winterfell
- NFriel offers a theory on what Barristan was doing between his knighting and his white cloaking
- NFriel enumerates problems for Jacaerys even if Rhaenyra successfully succeeds to the throne
- NFriel traces how Petyr Baelish came to foster at Riverrun
- NFriel debates whether Jon is still a bastard under R+L=J
- NFriel names several militarily talented Freys
- NFriel designates possible members for King Robb’s small council
As always, we love to hear your text-based questions, so if you have a burning question about ASOIAF, click this link to send us a raven.
Be safe and make good choices,
The Queen Regent (NFriel)
Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire 
NFriel, I like your post about Dark Sister. Allow me to expand on it: Dark Sister is almost certainly Longclaw. I recently brought up a few thoughts on the matter in the comments below this post of mine. I plan to expand on them soon.
The basic gist is, as you said, Bloodraven probably took it to the wall. (Actually, I also believe Bloodraven *wanted* to go to the wall, but that’s a long story in itself.) It came into the possession of Jeor, and Jeor made up a bunch of bull about its history. (I also suspect Jeor is not who he says he is and that House Mormont is quite young – another long story.) Jeor knowingly gave a Jon a Targaryen sword, and knows some secrets about Jon’s true past. His private discussions with Jon strongly indicate this. Bloodraven speaks to Jeor through the raven, or at least observes, and that raven sure does like to perch on Longclaw, doesn’t it?
So, in a way, Jon did indeed end up with Dark Sister as you desired. Quite fitting.
The swords aren’t the same size though. Longclaw is a “bastard”, hand-and-a-half sword, while Visenya’s blade was a slim longsword made to fit a woman’s hand and smaller frame.
Remember, Nfriel, this isn’t a D&D manual. Take a look at this brief primer from ARMA. It would not be inaccurate to describe Longclaw also as a longsword. As for the hilt, Jeor had it remade and reweighted. It works.
I see SomethingLikeALawyer also said, “If Bloodraven was aware of the danger of the Others, he would have done more to bolster the power of the Watch in order to prevent it.”
I agree, and I think he did. I suspect that Bloodraven showed up again in the upcoming fourth D&E story and witnessed the sorry state of the Night’s Watch under Sleepy Jack. He may have been disguised as Red Raven. He probably had a part to play in the Stark succession after Willam’s death, supporting Lady Melantha Blackwood’s son. (Was Melantha a niece or daughter of Melissa, Bloodraven’s mother?)
When he later went to the wall, he took many Raven’s Teeth with him as well as Maester Aemon. This was all probably a deliberate effort to strengthen the Wall, and may have even been done with Aegon V’s blessing. Later, I believe he coordinated efforts with Jeor by communicating through the raven.
I don’t know if any of this has anything to do with the Blackfyres, but I don’t think it’s unlikely.
I have a question to anyone interested in answering it: are we going to see other dragons in the main series? Any chance we might be surprised and see the Others riding ice dragons? What about other fire dragons?