History Headscratchers / ASongOfIceAndFire

-> He means to kill me. The thought was queerly comforting. Death did not frighten Theon Greyjoy. Death would mean an end to pain. "Be done with me, then," he urged the king. "Take off my head off and stick it on a spear. I slew Lord Eddard's sons, I ought to die. But do it quick. He is coming.- Winds of Winter

* Theon is also suicidal and sought death since he became Reek, he even thinks that Stannis killing him would be a sweet escape, especially from Ramsey. -> He means to kill me. The thought was queerly comforting. Death did not frighten Theon Greyjoy. Death would mean an end to pain. "Be done with me, then," he urged the king. "Take off my head off and stick it on a spear. I slew Lord Eddard's sons, I ought to die. But do it quick. He is coming.- Winds of Winter

* Theon is also suicidal and sought death since he became Reek, he even thinks that Stannis killing him would be a sweet escape, especially from Ramsey.
-> He means to kill me. The thought was queerly comforting. Death did not frighten Theon Greyjoy. Death would mean an end to pain. "Be done with me, then," he urged the king. "Take off my head off and stick it on a spear. I slew Lord Eddard's sons, I ought to die. But do it quick. He is coming.- Winds of Winter

** It probably does exist in Essos – after all, we haven't exactly seen all of Essos so far. It's possible the Faith exists on a small scale in the cosmopolitan Free Cities. Or it may exist in a different form in Essos – for example, a sub-sect that believes in only one of the Seven. Or there's a chance that the remaining believers in Essos were been wiped out due to natural calamities or for political reasons. Alternatively, it could be that all adherents of the Faith left Essos, maybe because of religious persecution, as the above troper points out, or maybe they were just a very small community. There’s also the possibility that the Faith originated in Westeros, i.e. the Andals didn't bring it with them, they developed it only after they came to Westeros.

* The answer here is probably "Because Mushroom made it all up," but how does Helaena being locked up with her mother in a brothel to get pregnant with a bastard child tally with her being so loved by the smallfolk that they riot upon learning of her death? If anything, it seems like the people of King's Landing would stage a rescue, enact justice on anyone who... um, [[Main/Squick took advantage of the offer]], and kick off the violence even earlier.

* The answer here is probably "Because Mushroom made it all up," but how does Helaena being locked up with her mother in a brothel to get pregnant with a bastard child tally with her being so loved by the smallfolk that they riot upon learning of her death? If anything, it seems like the people of King's Landing would stage a rescue, enact justice on anyone who... um, [[Squick took advantage of the offer]], and kick off the violence even earlier.

* All the talk of genetics can be debunked with one simple face. Jaime Lannister is not the only blond man in Kingslanding. Cersei easily could have been having an affair with a random blond man that wasn't her brother, and that is a far more likely conclusion to the evidence Ned had. The simple fact is that yes, it's a bit of a unrealistic leap in logic for Ned to make, but Martin didn't really have any other choice than for Ned to correctly deduce it because that was the plot and he needed it to be divulged to Ned.

** Some POV are discontinued. So far POVs only ceased to exist if the character died (except Catelyn, a special case). But it may be used to solve this problem. However, as of the end of ADWD, only a few POV are together (so that one could fill in for the other). Arianne (confirmed to appear in TWOW) could fill in for Areo Hotah (who never ...did much anyway), Theon for Asha (if they are still together after what may or may not have happened to Stannis' host). Barristan only got his POV to narrate the story in Mereen after Dany was gone, so he could lose it if she returns soon. Melisandre only had a single chapter anyway, but she will very likely be used to narrate what happened to Jon.

** Sam does mention in one of his last POVs in ADWD that while he's still overweight, he's not nearly as fat as he used to be. And people can be fit/in shape while still appearing "fat", which may be the case with Sam.

* Just what the hell is wrong with Cersei? In a GOT she was cruel, malicious and overall a Grade-A bitch,but she seemed to be pretty intelligent and competent. Yet by the time of AFFC and ADWD she is making decisions that even a complete novice in politics would hesitate to make,and is so obsessed with Margaery that she can't think about her without feeling that the girl needs to be attended to by a headsman. Doesn't she realize that the moment Margaery dies,she and her offsprings(and likely the whole of House Lannister) is doomed?(Because from what we have seen of Mace Tyrell,I don't think he is one to accept the execution of his daughter quietly,and House Lannister is definitely not strong enough to take on the Reach and win right now).Then we find out that she was planning to have Doran Martell's son killed,which would have dashed all hopes of a Dornish alliance to bits. I realize that Joffrey's and Tywin's deaths made her paranoid,and also that she wants to hog all the power,but these moves seem to be bordering on outright lunacy.

** That's actually a valid point. It has been stated a few times that in court, vows taken from the point of a sword are not considered completely binding (I think mainly marriage, bur YMMV). And there is one further bit of evidence to this theory that some of us are forgetting. Before he was killed, Ned lied about this treason charges FOR THIS DAUGHTERS. His final act proved that even a honourable man like Eddard Stark is willing to break his oaths for his family. Had Ned be ALLOWED to take the black, I am sure Yoren, if not a few Lord in the North, whole free him on the pretexts that he escaped. I agree, had Ned taken the black and said the words, not even Ygritte would have him break his vows, but before then, during the travel? I gotta believe Ned would have been the next King in the North....

* In ''A Game of Thrones'', a group of mostly experienced rangers of the Night's Watch (including officers), find two bodies in the woods in a very strange state of non-decay: their hair pulls out easily and is brittle, their skin is milk-white, they have dried blood on their wounds and even in their veins (these are described as looking like "iron worms" and the blood as black dust.) Oh, and their eyes are blue now although they didn't used to be. But they are not rotting. This group containing experienced fighters and, presumably, hunters (all nobles hunted), notices ''only that last fact'' and stands around saying the men must have been recently killed, rather than being [[UncannyValley royally creeped out by the weird symptoms,]] and it is Samwell Tarly the wimp who shows his smarts by pointing these out, complete with a detailed description of the different stages of blood drying, which he knows from watching his father gut deer. Way to go Samwell and all, but seriously, does George R. R. Martin (who normally gives us so much realism) really believe that only geeks notice things? Hunters and fighters who don't notice things get killed.

** It's mentioned that he was devoted to his wife (Aegon ruled the kingdom, he ruled Aegon, she ruled him). Further, after he found out about the infidelity of his wife and the past business with his fathers mistress, I can imagine him being a bit bitter on official relations with women, if not still heartbroken. Remarrying purely for power gives conflicts with his other children, who he does love. Still, I'm not convinced myself...

** The possible answers are: Littlefinger is
a) running a Ponzi scheme, loaning from Iron Bank to pay the Lannisters and the other lords of the realm and the other way around. In circles we go, until the whole thing collapses when Littlefinger accidentally is nowhere near King's Landing or Master of Coin post
b) stealing from the treasury by such means as employing more jailers/gold cloaks than there actually are, all of which are paying him and his cronies part of their salary
c) stealing from the treasury via tourneys, because he owns all inns, eateries, bakeries/ mills and brothels in King's Landing and the area and tourneys are good for his businesses.
d) all of the above.

** The "fact" that all magic is gone from the world is a claim made by the Maesters at the Citadel. They are fervent denialists in this fallacy and not even all the Maesters agree to this; take Marwin. Marwin trained Mirri and Qyburn in the magic arts and he is a pursuant of the dark arts himself. If magic was indeed gone from the world, Bloodraven would not have been able to use it to spy during his time as Hand of the King and he would not have been able to use the weirwoods in the cave North of the Wall, nor there would be Wargs and skinchangers. Magic did dwindle, but it was never quite gone as the Maesters claimed.

* This a very minor point, but why does Tyrion's scheme to have Myrcella betrothed to Trystane Matrell when Doran Martell has an older son, Quentyn, who (as far as Tyrion knows) is as yet unbethrothed? True, Trystane and Quentyn are better matched in terms of age but that seems to matter little in Westeros, and isn't one step higher in the succession so much better?