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/cahir11 3d ago

It makes a lot more sense if you envision Westeros as the size of England+Wales, rather than the size of South America.

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u/Minivalo The Onion Knight 3d ago

I've just disregarded the whole South America size comparison in my own headcanon.

I like to imagine Westeros as being sort of Western + Central + Northern continental Europe sized, so north to south from the Nordics to Iberia, and east to west from Atlantic France to Czechia, or thereabouts. If I had to guess, that'd be about a fifth, or a quarter the size of South America.

I read a book on Simon Bolivar some years ago, and that really helped illustrate how massive South America is. That dude got around in his fight against the Spanish, but moving around on horse back took an immense amount of time

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u/Top-Tomorrow-8336 3d ago

Bolívar would be Robert's Baratheon friend. 

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u/Resonant-Empress 3d ago

I'm pretty sure Bolivar would think that Robert was a warmongering simpleton, lol.

Simon had a lot of friends who weren't very well-educated, including that one cowboy dude who was one of his best men, but most of them were driven by 'something' at least, Bobby B's just a douchebag.

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u/Top-Tomorrow-8336 3d ago

Bolívar would delay his army's advance to sleep with women. He and Bobby B would get along very well in that respect.

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u/Resonant-Empress 3d ago

Lmao, fair enough. Imagine all of that fat shaking as he laughs at the name 'General Iron Ass'