u/Wanda_andTargaryen3

With the Long Night 2.0 coming, fAegon invading Stormlands, Faith Militant taking control over King's Landing, and Ironborn raiding the Reach, Westeros is likely going to be severely pushed to its absolute limits and get fractured. The War of the Five Kings literally brought apocalypse to the continent.

As for Essos, Dany has completely destroyed slavery and economics of Slaver's Bay. The nobility of Essos is probably going to be eradicated by Daenerys. With the Old Blood of Volantis and Meereenese families destroyed, Essos is going to be torn apart with huge crisis. Therefore, the incomes and profit of the Iron Bank will drop significantly until it will go bankrupt and fall. So basically, the events in the books are a nightmare for all the powerful people in the world.

In my opinion, feudalism in Westeros will still continue but severely diminished after these events and the landscape and economics will change enormously. The Reach will stop being the breadbasket of Westeros and houses like Tyrell or Hightower will either go broke or extinct, with their lands burned and burned and armies butchered. We already know that Euron is going to destroy the Redwyne and Hightower fleet completely, raid Oldtown and perform a huge ritual that will wreak havoc. Upon receiving the news of the fall of House Tyrell and the succession crisis in the Reach, Cersei will be glad after witnessing "the fall of her enemies" and try to regain control over King's Landing. However, she will utterly fail. King's Landing will remain a place of zealotry and High Sparrow will manipulate people to storm the Red Keep to kill her and Tommen. Cersei will escape to Casterly Rock and she will learn that the golden mines had actually ran dry and Tywin had told the miners to keep it a secret. Aegon, with the support of House Martell, will be backed by the Faith Militant and sit on the Iron Throne for a short time until Daenerys lands to Westeros.

As for Essos, I can see most of the slaves killing their old "masters" and the Free Cities completely abolishing the concept of nobility and bloodlines. New banks will be founded that every person in the Free Cities could use or deposit their money as they despise and are exhausted of the old system. Overall, the concept of "the wheel" will cease to exist at the end of the books. Again, these events are a nightmare for all the nobles and slave masters and even the Iron Bank. The dominant system of wealthy and nobles will fracture.

In your opinion, what will happen to Westeros and Essos and how will the power balance change?

We've been told that the Braavosi families have access to the vaults of the Iron Bank and are called the "keyholders". Apparently, these families control the Iron Bank and decide whether to lend loans over merchants, magisters or lords.

Even though a Great House has its own titles, banners, castle and a lineage, they tremble when the Iron Bank is mentioned and try to flay themselves in order to pay their debts to the Iron Bank. The golden mines of House Lannister is running dry in AFFC, and Euron is raiding the Reach. So it is certain that crops and mines can be exhausted, while the ledgers and contracts can not.

Are the Braavosi families rulers of the world? Imagine the social classes of ASOIAF as a pyramid, where would the Braavosi and Westerosi families reside in the pyramid?

In the books, even though Ned Stark executing a deserter of the Watch in AGOT was honorable and all, or Boltons flaying their enemies for hundreds of years as a hereditary thing.. I wonder if a noble could eliminate a very beloved noble, who's their enemy, without making anyone suspecting a thing.

Imagine this: Olenna Tyrell gets blackmailed and gets threatened by the lord of a house of the Reach, say Fossoway or Florent. Could Olenna order her men to make him disappear never to be seen again? I'm not talking about poisons, a dagger or a sword.. but different methods like drugging the lord's horses or sending your men to retrieve the lord.. and make him vanish.

Obviously anyone with money and power eliminate people, but wouldn't it be more important to avoid starting a war or a blood feud?

Speaking bookwise, I wonder if there are any cartel or mafia-like organizations in Westeros who'd smuggle food, or weapons across the continent. Even though outlaws like Brotherhood without Banners exist, they are nowhere near to the level I'm talking about.

I've always wondered whether a leader or a captain of a cartel-like group in Westeros (who's main job would be stealing horses and goods and selling them) with dozens of cutthroats, bandits and ex-soldiers of noble houses thrive and make thousands of golden dragons.

Just imagine them raiding the vineyards and fields of the Reach or terrorizing the Riverlands. I wonder how would they be punished.

The moment Tywin was killed, House Lannister has entered to its downfall era and was completely dependent on the Tyrell gold and grain from AFFC and ADWD.

Well, when Cersei foolishly re-armed the Faith in AFFC, she managed to put Margaery and her cousins into dungeons with false accusations involving Osney Kettleback but it also backfired hard toward her. Even though reading it was quite entertaining and satisfying. How and why didn't Cersei or Margaery have more guards and how did the Kingsguard allow their Queen to be held in the dungeons of the Sept of Baelor?

Why is Olenna still in Highgarden and not visiting her grandchildren? How could the Faith even touch the blood of royalty and high nobility?

The Purple Wedding, that was designed by Lady Olenna and Littlefinger (perhaps), remains a magnificent assassination plot in ASOS. And even though I'm convinced LF manipulated the Tyrells into thinking Joff would harm Margaery later, and made Olenna think it was HER desire to orchestrate this whole thing.. I'm still confused by some questions and clues that GRRM left in those pages.

Something's off about LF's confession to Sansa in the books;

"My lord, I.. do not understand... Joffrey gave you Harrenhal, made you the Lord Paramount of the Trident... why..." "Why should I wish him dead?" Littlefinger shrugged. "I had no motive. Besides, I am a thousand leagues away in the Vale. 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. Remember that, Sansa, when you come to play the game."

Yeah sure, it's cool and all.. but how do we trust Littlefinger's (who is arguably the least trustworthy person in Westeros) words. Why would he reveal his scheme to a young girl, even if he was obsessed with her?

"Be that as it may. Lady Olenna was not about to let Joff harm her precious darling granddaughter, but unlike her son she also realized that under all his flowers and finery, Ser Loras is as hot-tempered Jaime Lannister. Toss Joffrey, Margaery, and Loras in a pot, and you've got the makings of a kingslayer stew. The old woman understood something else as well. Her son was determined to make Margaery a queen, and for that he needed a king... but he did not need Joffrey. We shall have another wedding soon, wait and see. Margaery will marry Tommen. She'll her keep her queenly crown and her maidenhead, neither of which she especially wants, but what does that matter? The great western alliance will be preserved... for a time, at least."

- If the poison was put inside the chalice, which both Margaery and Joff were drinking from;

1. How didn't Margaery get poisoned?

2. Why would the Tyrells risk it?

- And if the Strangler would dissolve and ONLY dissolve in liquid, why did Joffrey begin to cough right after eating Tyrion's pie?

While some would argue Oberyn's motive was to poison Tyrion's pie, get blamed and kill Gregor Clegane to take revenge, or Margaery was aware of the plan.. I can't find enough clues to drop the Martells into the culprit.

The text gives us a ton of clue about foul play upon the deaths of many royals and nobles in Westeros. Prince Rhaegel Targaryen, for instance, had choked on his lamprey pie during a feast.. however, how believeable was it by the smallfolk and among nobles? Or, Jon Arryn, even though Lysa confessed it in ASOS, the public still doesn't know about the true reason of his death.

However, my main question would be: can a lord, or lady.. such as Olenna Tyrell (not talking about the Purple Wedding in ASOS) or Lord Tywin or even a minor one like Lord Mallister.. can order the assassination of someone and show it as an accident? And how could they do it?

We see plenty of examples of Targaryen kings altering laws, issuing decrees, or arbitrating disputes (Jaehaerys I’s reforms, the codification of the Old and New laws, etc.), but it got me thinking about systemic state-building. From purely the book (Fire & Blood), we can estimate Kings like Jaehaerys I Conciliator (and his wife Alysanne) or Viserys I have made enormous changed in the Realm. Jaehaerys, for instance, had expanded the roads, connected the Seven Kingdoms via roads, and even disarmed the Faith over the Crown.

So, I think we can assume that the King can do whatever he wants with the laws and within the Crownlands. However, what if a Targaryen king, or say, Robert (due to his extreme fear of Dany's pregnancy and Khal Drogo in AGOT) wanted to create a permanent army of the Crown that's consisting of hundreds of men (who would be recruited from the slums of Flea Bottom or Crownlands), be trained by legends like Barristan Selmy or Jaime, and be armed with weapons like polearms, swords, shields and bore the banner of House Baratheon and Lannister? Could it work? How would this institution fare during the War of the Five Kings, or Blackfyre Rebellions or Robert's Rebellion (if it were founded before Robert)?

Bonus: How would your army of the Crown be in Westeros?

So, while Arya (working for Weese), Gendry, Hot Pie and other peasants and commoners suffer in the Harrenhal and the Riverlands, sleep in mud, dirt and soil and witness horrible things in the entirety of ACOK and ASOS.. notice how the Tyrells lived in complete opulence and abundance. They closed their gates, cut the food supply and hid their gold for themselves.

Or, when it comes to Essos, where slavery is common and brutality is much more widespread compared to Westeros, the Iron Bank (keyholders) and or other nobles in the Essos live in their palaces and estates.

Even though I think it PERFECTLY mirrors what's happening today.. just what are your opinions on who would be the equivelant of Tyrells and Iron Bank or Essosi nobles in modern world?

While reading through AGoT-ASOS, I could feel the authority of King Robert (AGOT only obv), Cersei and Joffrey.. like the entire Winterfell sequence alone, and the description of Cersei's big wheelhouse made me believe they were respected and feared. And the fact that Joffrey had e*ecuted Ned Stark, the literal Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell, with a single word.. was absolutely terrifying. Joffrey was able to eliminate Lord Stark in the steps of Sept of Baelor, and even though the High Septon (at that time) was mad about this, he could do nothing to Joffrey or even excommunicate him.

However, then reading AFFC and seeing Cersei, the literal Queen Mother and a Lannister, and Margaery, the Queen and a Tyrell, being imprisoned by the Faith made me realize how fragile and weak they were. Though, Margaery is now under Randyll Tarly's custody. Like, I know no ONE cares about Cersei and the smallfolk despise her but, wasn't the entire Walk of Atonement absurd for the medieval nobility and royalty standarts? How come a Queen can be humiliated by the High Sparrow in such a manner? It's true that the capital despised her, but how did the Golden Cloaks or Lannister-Tyrell troops allow both Queens to be imprisoned and Cersei to perform the Walk?

When it comes for the Tyrells, I think the Faith would've been cornered if they cut off the food supply. Like do you think nobles had far more authority over their lands, people and taxes before the main events (from Fire & Blood, character descriptions)? If the Kingsguard or Lannister-Tyrell troops can't even handle a light-armed group, there's no point of obeying them.

As we all know that Cersei re-armed the Faith in AFFC to forgive the Crown's debts to the Faith and plotted for Margaery's downfall by false accusations, and deceived Osney Kettleback to falsely confess the High Sparrow that he and Margaery had a relationship. However, acting on his testimony, High Sparrow arrests Cersei as well. Even though Margaery's situation is conditionally better than her mother-in-law, the fact that Mace Tyrell stands before the Sept and promises he'll wait there until his daughter is declared innocent is.. bizarre.

Well, why didn't the Kingsguard or guards Red Keep just raid the Sept of Baelor for their Queen (the same thing applies for the Tyrells as well)? If you look at our world's medieval history, you'd see that the Archbishop of Canterbury was a*sassinated by the four knights of King Henry II when the Bishop thought (and cornered him) the King would support the Church.

Like, why wouldn't any Golden Cloaks or, say, Lannister troops intervene to their Queen being imprisoned? Because Tommen is a naive and gentle boy king and he surely didn't have complete control over all of them. There must've been the loyalists of Cersei.

I know the Sept of Baelor was a religious and such a significant place but so was the Church in our history, but it didn't prevent the death of the Archbishop.

Reading through Fire & Blood, A World of Ice and Fire, and the main series, it struck me just how ridiculously unsafe it is to be a royal in Westeros. Even accounting for general medieval mortality rates, Targaryen and Baratheon royals die to covert violence, "suspicious" accidents, and internal betrayals at an astounding rate.

Looking closely at royal protection throughout history, a few massive systemic failures are:

- King Maegor's death remaining suspicious since he wasn't surrounded by his guards. (Fire & Blood)

- King Aerys II being murdered by Jaime (his own guard) in the Throne Room.

- Blood and Cheese sneaking into the royal apartments of Queen Alicent and Princess Helaena, and making Helaena choose between Maelor and Jaehaerys and then ending Jaehaerys's life. (As described in Fire & Blood)

- Tyrion being able to sneak into Tywin's (Hand of the King) chambers and striking him with a crossbow in A Storm of Swords. How there wasn't any guards in front of his chambers?

Bonus question: if a commoner had struck a royal child, you'd except them to face severe punishment.. how do you think a commoner would be punished if they had struck Tommen or Myrcella? (We're obviously not going to talk about Joffrey's situation with Mycah, because it was his demonstration of power).

Westerosi history is written by Maesters or septons, many of whom have their own political inclination (e.g., Septon Eustace in Fire & Blood), blind spots, or instructions to keep the peace.

We know poison is called "a woman's weapon" (or a coward's), but Westeros is also home to Faceless Men, Alchemists, Sorrowful Men, and shadow-binders. In the main series, deaths like Balon Greyjoy's fall or Joffrey's poisoning were initially passed off as accidents, choking, or divine retribution by those in power.

This makes me wonder: Were there any historical assassinations throughout the Targaryen dynasty or the Age of Heroes that were recorded as accidents or illness?

1- Do y'all believe the Citadel covers up some of the assassinations because of their political bias?

2- How would the perpetrator get away unnoticed? Given to the fact that not every house could afford a Faceless Man.