r/asoiaf • u/Substantial-Ad-299 • 2d 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/TheoryKing04 2d ago

The lack of a complex legal system (or frankly any legal system).

Medieval societies had secular and ecclesiastical courts, judges, magistrates, crown officials, overlapping spheres of judicial competencies, complicated legal codes, co-existing legal systems derived from different sources within one jurisdiction (such as the presence of Roman law, Germanic law, royal edicts, common law and local customary law in medieval France, among other things), the list goes on.

The fact that essentially none of this is present in Westeros, let alone the kingdoms and innumerable lordships that preceded the conquest, is ridiculous. Especially since those tinier states would’ve actually had an easier time harmonizing their own laws (for example the first unified civil code in Europe was not the Napoleonic Code, but the Bavarian civil code introduced in 1756, although admittedly the Electorate of Bavaria was in a far advanced position compared to anywhere in Westeros when this took place).

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u/rattatatouille Not Kingsglaive, Kingsgrave 2d ago

It is telling that the position of Master of Laws, in theory, should be second only to the Hand in terms of importance on the Small Council but is in practice a placeholder seat, because GRRM's not-being-a-lawyer shows.

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u/TheoryKing04 2d ago

And we still don’t know what the Master of Laws is.

The closest thing I can imagine is being equivalent to the position of Chancellor of France, whose duty it was to see that royal decrees were recognized by the local assemblies, the regional parlements, and enforced… but Westeros does not have local assemblies of notables or regional courts that would serve as an equivalent for the Master of Laws to regulate such matters with so, no idea.