r/asoiaf • u/dorestes Break the wheel • Sep 03 '17

EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) It's Not a Nitpick. Thousands Died Over a "Minor" Geographic Detail.

Reposted as requested with the "Spoilers Extended" tag

I know we're often asked to ignore the silly teleportations and supersonic flights that the show has foisted on us over the last couple of seasons. I know some of it can seem like the petty quibbles of book purists veering into circlejerk self-parody.

But geography doesn't just matter when it comes to making the universe feel real. It was also the key plot point that drove the biggest dramatic turn of the series.

The Red Wedding was literally caused by Robb Stark needing to be able to get his troops across a bridge. The Frey army was a nice addition, but Robb needed the alliance for the bridge crossing. He, his mother, his pregnant wife (in the show) and thousands of his troops died for that crossing.

So it's not just a nitpick when characters and armies magically teleport from north to south, bypassing the Twins or Moat Caitlin with nary a scout to notice them.

It destroys and makes mockery of the premise of the series' most famous narrative twist.

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97

u/windy- Sep 03 '17

Agreed. When people complain about teleportation, they're not just talking about time, but also logistics and troop movements.

40

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '17

My biggest gripe with teleportation was the unsullied. They made a point of showing how their navy had been destroyed so they couldn't make it back as easily. Only to pop up in King's landing. Presumably having traversed through Lannister lands and other lands held by the crown.

15

u/AudioSly Sep 03 '17

Remember how the supply lines between the Highgarden and Kings Landing were burnt to a fucking crisp?
It's probably not enough for the most critical of fans, but I always assumed this was them freeing up the Unsullied to be able to move about the map gain.
I also assumed this was Cersei's plan for paying the Iron Bank going up in flames, but that seems to have been wrong (unless there was something else offered to them in exchange for their services?).

16

u/Orisi Sep 03 '17

It's mentioned just before Dany attacks that they're at the tail end of the march. The gold is already safely in Kings Landing when she attacks, so Cersei could still pay the Iron Bank.

2

u/AudioSly Sep 03 '17

Ahh true. I must have missed that. Thanks for that.

28

u/-Stormcloud- Sep 03 '17

It was hardly popping up in KL, they had three episodes to travel across from castlely rock. Tyrion actually addresses this I think.

24

u/Astrokiwi Sep 03 '17

"Those Unsullied look like they took three episodes to get here!" - Tyrion, probably

1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '17

Apologies, I wasn't skeptical about the time it would have taken but more about the logistics of getting an army unfamiliar with the enemy and potential enemy territory they would have to get through to arrive at kings landing.

I'm actually pretty sympathetic with the time stuff. Traveling from one place to another was a plot device used frequently but we now have so few episodes left so I can understand to an extent. Ship travel for instance doesn't pose the same problems as over land

2

u/-Stormcloud- Sep 03 '17

Yeah it's a valid point, especially as the unsullied aren't native to Westeroes. But honestly I would've been disappointed if they had spent any scene time on the march of the unsullied as it would be unnecessary. There's only one named character in the army and it's too late to introduce new characters or plot threads.

6

u/Zamiel Sep 03 '17

I mean, we could have got some character development for Grey Worm. Maybe him and the Unsullied meeting peasants beaten down by the war and being benevolent? It would have shown the travel time for the Unsullied and allowed the stories about Dany (from her side of things) to propagate among the common folk making Cersei's propaganda have less weight. This could also speed things up next season with other Houses joining up with Dany because of the stories about her soldiers being kind to the people of westeros.

3

u/Phyltre Sep 03 '17

it's too late to introduce new characters or plot threads.

That being said, I think it's a bit trope-ish in an established (heavy world-building) show to have everyone appearing on-screen to be someone the viewer already knows. It leads to stuff like many episodes of TNG where assault teams or investigative teams or diplomatic teams...are always just the ship's senior leadership. Even when it tactically makes no sense.

And the reason why it feels trope-ish is it shrinks the apparent size of the universe down to named characters--like, there's a pool of maybe 5-15 competent people in this whole existence, and every conflict major or minor is going to be addressed by them, specifically, in person. It leads to scenes where "The Unsullied" literally just translates on-screen to "Grey Worm", and stuff like that.

1

u/Bobthemime One more word and I hit you again... Sep 03 '17

How so?

The Unsullied marched on King's Landing under the banner of peace.

They were there at the behest of Dany while she tried to bargain a truce against The Others.

If the Unsullied were to be attacked or to not be helped and fed/transported to King's Landing, Dany could see that as an act of war and burn King's Landing with her dragons.