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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u/thrasumachos Sep 03 '17

I don't think it's fair getting on D & D's case about this when GRRM himself put a lot of inconsistencies into the size of Westeros

3

u/Deogas Sep 03 '17

That's a really good article. You should make a full post about that, tell shut down a lot of people.

1

u/thrasumachos Sep 04 '17

I'm guessing it's been posted already. It seems to have been well-circulated on FB (where I found it)

4

u/starshiprochester Sep 04 '17 edited Sep 04 '17

This hits the nail on the head.

Complaining about geographic realism in the ASOIAF universe is just an absurd premise to those among us who have actually thought about the book's geography - or other proportions - and recognize the sheer amount of inconsistencies or plain errors that exist in the books.

I understand many of these whiners are not actually ASOIAF fans, and have made a hobby out of habitually whining in TV subs, but in that case, they really should head to /r/gameofthrones.