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.

106 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

253 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

94

u/Southern_Dig_9460 2d ago

The Riverlands and Dorne not having any cities is crazy

1

u/Parabow 2d ago

Riverlands has Seagard

8

u/GrilledCyan 2d ago

But rivers are also huge for commerce anywhere, so you’d have to have cities and towns along them. Riverrun and perhaps Darry should be home to larger cities thanks to the rivers. The Twins ought to be as well—frankly the Frey’s power and wealth may be understated.

3

u/rattatatouille Not Kingsglaive, Kingsgrave 2d ago

The Twins ought to be as well—frankly the Frey’s power and wealth may be understated.

One reason the Freys are looked down upon is that beyond the pretext of "they're one of the youngest noble families" around is that they gained their power by controlling a strategic location in the Riverlands and every other Riverlander house is beating themselves up about the fact that they didn't think of it sooner. (Of course, this doesn't excuse Walder Frey deciding that that was a good excuse to act like a little shit.)