The Stupid Question Thread-GRRM [Spoilers]

**Werthead** · August 16th, 2011, 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by PeterWilliam

Does anyone who closely follows the series know if there are any hints as to what the endgame is for Mopatis-Varys? Clearly they are working together, seemingly with a distinct goal in mind, but I've not yet reasoned it out - other than perhaps bringing Daenarys to Westeros to rule and reign.

Fans are divided on the issue. One popular suggestion is that Varys is descended from the female line of the Blackfyre Pretenders and has been working to put either a Blackfyre

Spoiler:

(possibly Aegon, if he is a fake as some have suggested)

or a Targaryen (as the next best thing) back on the Iron Throne. Illyrio is working with him as payback for all the help Varys gave him during his rise to power.

What is a year?

In our world, at ASoIaF's approximate level of social and scientific progress, a year was simply one Summer to the next, or one Winter, one Christmas, whatever. But they don't have that pattern to work from. So how come everyone seems to know how old they are, how many years ago things happened, etc? How do they keep the record?

The planet has a moon which orbits it once a month. Twelve of those orbits equal a year, which by stunning coincidence equals one of our years

Another suggestion is that the world had 'normal' weather up until the Others' invasion thousands of years ago, and that event upset the seasons and cause them to go haywire. The length of the year may be a tradition held over since then. This may also tie in to the extremely loose grasp of history in Westeros (since we've been told since AGoT that the Andal invasion was 6,000 years ago, but in ADWD we're told it could have been 4,000 or even 2,000, since the tracking of the years and seasons was extremely erratic, even after the arrival of the Andals and their stronger record-keeping).

Do the days still get longer and shorter, even if there is no winter or summer?

No. The days get longer and shorter in keeping with the length of the seasons. So a summer that lasts for four years will have long summer days throughout the entire period (one suggestion has been that the maesters keep a careful track on how long each day has lasted, and once the days start getting shorter again, even if it's barely perceptible, they know the season has turned and can start warning people to stockpile food for the winter). It's this element that makes scientific explanations for the erratic seasons completely invalid, as there is no way to explain how the days change in such a fashion.

**kged** · August 17th, 2011, 03:36 AM

Damn it, I thought I had him that time. I'll keep trying!

**JustinfromTexas** · August 19th, 2011, 09:51 AM

Is there any evidence that the weird seasons occur outside Westeros? The Braavosi don't seem to be making any special preparations, and they're at the same latitude as the Vale and the Riverlands. Even the tropical parts of Essos should see some kind of monsoon variation.

**Vooloc** · August 20th, 2011, 12:14 AM

i thought that the normal seasons including winter came and went but there is always a BIGGER winter coming sometime and it was a bit random on when and how long.

**thirstyVan** · September 1st, 2011, 09:20 AM

What do we actually know about AA's sword? I was thinking about this recently. As far as I can remember, Lightbringer is supposed to glow brightly, but also give off heat. So we know Stannis' sword isn't it despite what broad says. Wasn't it also mentioned that it should be red? It occurred to me that we have a red sword made very recently that found it's way into Zombie Catelyn's (ZoCa's) hands. And it's was also kind of forged in blood. Right? Ned's blood.

Just a thought. Any opinions?

Though I guess it still begs the question, is a real Lightbringer ever going to show up? How true is the Red God's prophecy? Clearly it's somewhat true, but that doesn't mean it's 100 percent real, any more than the Seven or the Old Gods are real.

**Werthead** · September 2nd, 2011, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by thirstyVan

What do we actually know about AA's sword? I was thinking about this recently. As far as I can remember, Lightbringer is supposed to glow brightly, but also give off heat. So we know Stannis' sword isn't it despite what broad says. Wasn't it also mentioned that it should be red? It occurred to me that we have a red sword made very recently that found it's way into Zombie Catelyn's (ZoCa's) hands. And it's was also kind of forged in blood. Right? Ned's blood.

I think this is a good possibility. The series opens (more or less) with Ice being used to kill Gared (I actually just wrote Will; damn the TV series!), so it would be nicely circular if Oathkeeper became Lightbringer in some fashion. This could feed into Brienne bringing Jaime to Cat in some fashion.

**hyperchord24** · September 19th, 2011, 10:08 AM

How is it that during the last Cersei chapter of A Feast for Crows (hint: untagged spoilers), all of the High Septon's minions knew to stop Cersei from leaving? It seemed to me that the Kettleback was conffesing to fornicating with Cersei only then, when he saw her. The High Septon made to grab her and she ran. I figured she'd be home free because all the minions would think that she's just in a hurry. Are we to assume that the High Septon shouted at his minions to stop her? It's not like they had walkie talkies.

**grembel** · September 19th, 2011, 05:00 PM

What. I must be missing something? I have assumed that winter is coming refers to war and unrest since book 1.

Any threads elsewhere that go into this in some detail?

**KatG** · September 26th, 2011, 12:04 PM

Winter is coming means actual winter, massively for years. And with it, endless night that can bring the Others down past the Wall. Winter is coming means get ready for the zombie armies!

**Palfrey** · September 30th, 2011, 01:06 PM

Didn't somebody tell Dany "to go west, you must go east?" Who was that?

**Evil Agent** · September 30th, 2011, 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by Palfrey

Didn't somebody tell Dany "to go west, you must go east?" Who was that?

That was Quaithe.

**Chelleychelle** · January 24th, 2012, 05:03 PM

Re: Kettleblack's confession about Cersei- I read it as he had already confessed during his extensive flogging session. So the High Septon would have had plenty of time to let his minions know that Cersei was not to leave. What I don't understand is why he still allowed her to visit with Margaery Tyrell first. Why didn't he arrest her on sight?

**Aldroud** · June 7th, 2013, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by Vooloc

i thought that the normal seasons including winter came and went but there is always a BIGGER winter coming sometime and it was a bit random on when and how long.

I believe that the world of Westeros is a planet larger, but less dense, than Earth and orbits at the exteme edge of the habitable zone for their star. Their solar system is a double sun system, with a red dwarf on an eccentric orbit. At one point, a character (Jon?) is commented on as watching the red wanderer crossing the night time sky.

To me, this answers the question of why there are long, but unpredictable winters/summers. When the red dwarf is near enough, it's heat maintains the warm weather of Summer. As it recedes, the lack of a secondary heat source returns the planet to a cold world status. Toss in axial tilt, regular summer/winter orbital effects, and you end up with a world where you never know if winter will bring white walkers.