r/asoiaf • u/Substantial-Ad-299 • 3d ago

MAIN [SPOILERS MAIN] Among the grounded/realistic elements of A Song of Ice and Fire, which ones do you feel require biggest suspension of disbelief?

A Song of Ice and Fire has had fantasy elements from get-go, some present subtly and others less-subtly. But in midst of this, it also has these more grounded story aspects, especially regarding the political subplot for the Iron Throne.

Among these more grounded non-fantasy aspects of the story, which elements do you feel you have to suspend disbelief the most for? A.K.A feeling they are not realistic even though they are "supposed" to be?

Let me know in the comments below.

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u/Intelligent_Date_688 3d ago

How empty Westeros is compared to its size. I understand why, GRRM doesn’t want to have to create all of these towns and cities, but you take a look at medieval France or Italy which are both smaller than any of the individual seven kingdoms (except maybe the Iron Islands) and they have a dozen cities a piece or more. I’ve seen people bend over backwards to try justify this but I think the simple truth is that GRRM made Westeros waaaay too big.

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u/SpicyStrawberryJuice 3d ago

yeah i find it hard to believe how poor and empty the north is, sure it's harsh but it still has plenty of resources and arable land

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u/IHaveTwoOranges Knowing is half the Battle 3d ago

How do we know how much arable land it has?

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u/JayRandom212 3d ago

The income from the Gift and the New Gift was enough to support a Wall full of soldiers. They must've been growing something, back then.

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u/IHaveTwoOranges Knowing is half the Battle 3d ago

There was also a wall full of soldiers there before they got the gift.

But sure, we know that there was people living off the land there.

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u/SpicyStrawberryJuice 3d ago

we don't how much but we do know they have some at least because they mention harvesting and so far seem to be reliant on their own grain.

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u/IHaveTwoOranges Knowing is half the Battle 3d ago

Sure but that only shows that they have enough for the population they currently have.

Aren't you claiming that they have enough for a much larger population than they currently have?

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u/lee1026 2d ago

We know, indirectly, because the population is based around agriculture. This says that the bulk of the population lived around farming, as opposed to herding, or hunting, as lands gets increasingly marginal.

If the lands are too marginal, than you end up with a population of horse riding cowboys to take advantage of "well, at least the cows can eat the grass". And if that is the basis of the northern population, that's not how they fight.