Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire Podcast, Episode 10: The Book That Never Was

In early 2015, Harper Collins UK in conjunction with Waterstones, a British Book Retailer, released pictures of a letter that George RR Martin wrote to his agent Ralph Vicinanza in 1993 outlining his idea for this brand new book that he was writing entitled A Game of Thrones, the first book in an exciting new trilogy that George RR Martin was calling A Song of Ice and Fire. This early letter provided insights to George’s agent on how he could promote this new series as well as provided a plot diagram for where GRRM thought that  A Game of Thrones  and A Song of Ice and Fire were going.

In Episode 10: The Book That Never Was, we do a detailed analysis of this letter and the book that could have been had GRRM written A Song of Ice and Fire to follow his initial diagram. We cover the topics of:

• The History of ASOIAF: How it came to be and where we are now
• GRRM’s original idea of plot, counterplot and murder centered on dynastic struggle
• Daenerys Targaryen: Dothraki Conqueror
• The, um, interesting love triangle had in mind
• Similarities and differences to the material that was published
• The foreshadowings that never were: leftover lines intended to foreshadow plot points that never came to be.
• Our take on the blacked out text and what it could mean for the future of A Song of Ice and Fire

Listen to us here or at:

• itunes
• Podbean

Special thanks to Adam Whitehead for his excellent series on the history of ASOIAF called A Song of Facts and Figures for his work in writing about the history of ASOIAF!

Find us on social media!

• The official Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook
• Nfriel’s twitter
• SomethingLikeaLawyer’s twitter
• Militant_Penguin’s twitter
• BryndenBFish’s twitter

The Winter Queen: Jeyne Westerling Part 1: The King’s Bride

Introduction

Jeyne Westerling (image credit to Duhi)

Robb Stark’s Kingdom of the North and Trident was but a shadow of the ancient realms which had existed there before the coming of the dragons. The Young Wolf had no Hand or council but his general group of advisors, and no capital other than his base at Riverrun. Yet for all its courtly lack, the kingdom over which Robb ruled so briefly did have one royal requirement: a queen consort.

Jeyne Westerling may not have been the bride Robb was promised (or the bride he politically needed); theirs was instead a match of mixed obligation and passion. As her marriage was built on tragedy, so it would end in tragedy.  Queen Jeyne would not share her husband’s horrific fate at the Twins (however much she might have been intended to), but she would mourn sincerely the heroic young man to whom she had been wed so briefly. Her sweetness and gentility might have made her a worthy queen in another life, but in her own she was simply an ill-fortuned bride, the first (and last) Queen in the North of the new dynasty.

The Ravenry: Week of 9/28/2015

Hello seekers,

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, NFriel and myself – take the text-based questions submitted to us, write up thoughtful text-based answers, and publish these answers on the Tumblr.

So every Monday we present to you The Ravenry.  We collect the questions we’ve answered during the previous week over on the Tumblr in post form, with a brief description of each, and publish it here, and link that post on Twitter and Facebook as well. The Queen Regent and the Lord Hand had their most productive week yet, discussing everything from books in Westeros to marriages and beddings. Plenty of hypotheticals and theorycraft, there’s certainly something for everyone this week.

Here’s The Ravenry for the week of September 28th:

The Ravenry: Week of 9/14/2015

Hello, friends!

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, a little while back we here at the blog partnered with ASOIAF University to answer questions about A Song of Ice and Fire.  We – that is, myself and NFriel – take the text-based questions submitted to us, write up thoughtful text-based answers, and publish these answers on the Tumblr.

So every Monday we present to you The Ravenry.  We collect the questions we’ve answered during the previous week over on the Tumblr in post form, with a brief description of each, and publish it here, and link that post on Twitter and Facebook as well. We’ve got a lot of hypotheticals, as well as a few political and setting questions.

A word about hypotheticals, the more we have to theorize, the less we can give an accurate answer. So, for example, “What if Aemond never attacked Lucerys Velaryon outside of Storm’s End, how does that impact the Dance of the Dragons” is tough, because there’s probably no Blood and Cheese, and so on. While we’re happy to answer your questions, the further we have to reach for straws, the less likely we’ll be able to give an answer that we feel confident enough in sharing with the fandom. The more limited in scope, the more reliable and sound any book-based answer will be. Certainly, ask all the questions you desire, but please be aware that we have no special insight or access to secret material.

So, without further ado, here’s The Ravenry for the week of 14 September:

The Ravenry: Week of 8/17/2015

Salutations, lovelies!

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, a little while back we here at the blog partnered with ASOIAF University to answer questions about A Song of Ice and Fire.  We – that is, myself and SomethingLikeaLawyer – take the text-based questions submitted to us, write up thoughtful text-based answers, and publish these answers on the Tumblr.

So every Monday we present to you The Ravenry.  We collect the questions we’ve answered during the previous week over on the Tumblr in post form, with a brief description of each, and publish it here, and link that post on Twitter and Facebook as well. Your beloved Queen Regent has returned to her rightful place on the Tumblr Iron Throne, dispensing wisdom from the high seat built of melted gifs and hashtags.  Of course, our fearless Hand has sat the throne as well, despite also writing several thousand wonderful words on the Young Dragon, the Septon-King, and the Thankless King. (Expose your eyeballs to those Wednesday!)

Here’s The Ravenry for the week of August 17, 2015:

Littlefinger: The Gambling Man and the Master Player Part 2: The Maniac

Introduction

“Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next. Sometimes the best way to baffle them is to make moves that have no purpose, or even seem to work against you.” (ASOS, Sansa V)

Part 1

When I was younger, I had delusions of playing poker professionally. After losing money early on, I tried to figure out what I was doing wrong. So, I read books to improve my game. While I was never able to really turn a profit in playing, I did learn about the various styles of play which made the actual pros tick. One of those styles of play is known as loose-aggressive. Loose-Aggressive players (sometimes pejoratively known as maniacs) play a lot of the hands dealt to them no matter the strength of the cards in hand. In this way, they consistently keep other players guessing what the true strength of their hand is.

If Littlefinger were a poker player, he would be a maniac. Like me, his early forays into the game resulted in losses for him — a scar and a broken heart being the most prominent. Unlike me, his later maniac style of play netted huge personal profits. But how did Littlefinger achieve this feat? We’ll pick up the story chronologically from part 1. I’ll talk about the knife and Littlefinger’s early intrigues of the court with Ned as Hand.

Littlefinger: The Gambling Man and the Master Player Part 1

This is just a series I’m working on in /r/asoiaf. You can find the original post and discussion here!

Introduction

Littlefinger . . . the gods only know what game Littlefinger is playing. (AGOT, Arya III)

Petyr Baelish: master player in the game of thrones or reckless opportunist motivated by personal reasons? The question is one that divides the fan-community, but I’d say that a majority favors the view that Littlefinger is a master strategist and player in the Game of Thrones. But is that sentiment true? Or is Littlefinger a reckless opportunist?

To spoil my main point, Littlefinger is both. Both sides of Littlefinger come through in A Song of Ice and Fire, often working in tangent with one another. But to come down squarely on one side of the debate does a disservice to the complexity of Petry “Littlefinger” Baelish. He is both a master player in the Game of Thrones and a reckless gambler motivated by personal grievance.

The Grand /r/asoiaf Analysis Companion

Have you ever wondered what the hell was going on while reading ASOIAF? I did. I could connect the basic plot while reading it, but even re-reading the books, I was unable to really grasp many of the characters, storylines, prophecies, locations, etc. Fortunately, my brother told me about /r/asoiaf – which quickly became one of my favorite places on the internet. I think the best thing about this subreddit is its analysis. While I love the theories that are bounced around the sub, I have to say my favorite part of this subreddit is the analysis. After yesterday’s very positive response (thank you all!) to the theories compilation, I started working on an analysis compilation. It’s intended to serve for those looking for greater depth in their re-reads. I’ve divided the sections up a little better this time around, so I hope it’s easier and more fun to read. Anyways, enough of an intro. Click on “More” for the best analyses all written of /r/asoiaf all written by its users!

A Complete Analysis of Robb Stark as a Military Commander

“Battles,” muttered Robb as he led her out beneath the trees. “I have won every battle, yet somehow I’m losing the war.” – Robb Stark, ASOS, Chapter 14, Catelyn II

Introduction

First, two bald statements to kick this post off:

• Robb Stark was the greatest tactician during the War of the Five Kings.

and

• Robb Stark was the worst strategist of the War of the Five Kings. (Though Balon Greyjoy gives Robb a run for his money for worst strategist.)

On the face of it, these two statements contradict each other, but in these posts, I will attempt to defend both of these statements with textual evidence and some non-technical references to military strategy.