These are pretty awesome, but I kind of prefer the simplicity of the OG covers also this means we’re getting closer to a Winds announcement, right?! His previous entry said there’d be no leaks and it would be a big announcement, but didn’t have his usual ramblings about how it was still a ways off and etc. snort that hopium everyone!
Cool artwork, I lent out my copies of AGOT, ACOK, and ASOS and never got them back, so I’d definitely be interested in a new set
I was just getting into the series around then and thinking by the time I got to Dance there would barely be that big a wait lol
What is Renly's justification for contending for the throne? If the rationale for the war is that Joffrey is not a true heir, why would you then go ahead and pass over your older brother Stannis? Did people not like Stannis or something?
Yeah it was pretty much Stannis was super unpopular and Renly was extremely popular. I don’t remember the book Renly giving any more justification than that, and also just that he was ambitious and full of himself. Show Renly I think it was implied that Loras gave him the idea, probably at the behest of Lady Olenna and mace plotting to make Margery the Queen. But that’s all not in the book iirc.
Maybe I need to rewatch those first few seasons. I was so lost with all the characters until maybe season three. Some of this stuff seems intentionally confusing; they always say seven kingdoms but there are 8 regions outside of the kingdom but they split off after the empire unified? Why not just say eight kingdoms, then? It is a fictional show so why write in your own archaic title? I never really got big into a fantasy franchise so I don't know much about this stuff, but the world in this series seems so deep from what I read in wikis and other outlets. Martin really made all the monarchs of the past even though they are long dead and don't matter at all? The closest I have ever come to something like this is Star Wars, which was so clearly just made up as it went along.
Did a quick Google search and the Seven Kingdoms thing refers to how they were before Aegon the Conqueror united them. They were literally seven different kingdoms.
But you are talking about this like it is real history. This is all make believe from one person. Why not just make it eight kingdoms, or nine if you include the capital?
kind of what Penlab said…basically it was 7 kingdoms because the Riverlands themselves were never their own kingdom before Aegon arrived. They were always just fought over by the Storm Kings, the Rock Kings, and sometimes the other kingdoms. Some of the older Houses declared themselves kings of smaller holds, but never really held the entire Riverlands. This history of bloodshed and violence relates a lot to what Daemon was dealing with in season 2 of HOTD btw lol At the time of Aegon’s conquering, they were controlled by the Iron Islands under Harren the Black (hence, Harrenhall) Iirc, the peoples of the Riverlands hated Harren so much, that they rose up in rebellion under the leadership of House Tully to help Aegon overthrow them. As a reward, he gave House Tully dominion over the lands as a separate area, rather than part of any of the other 7 kingdoms. So you that’s how you got 7 Kingdoms and then also the Riverlands.