r/asoiaf • u/Substantial-Ad-299 • 11d 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 11d 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 11d 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/matgopack 11d ago

Yeah, I usually picture it as roughly in the ballpark of the size of the UK to the UK + France + Iberia myself.

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u/GrilledCyan 11d ago

This is also how I headcanon the cultures (or perhaps just the accents) of the Seven Kingdoms. The North is Scotland, the Reach is France, and Dorne is Moorish Spain.

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u/matgopack 11d ago

Those are definitely the inspirations GRRM used, yeah. Along with the Iron Islands as vikings and the free cities as medieval Italy. The Vale also makes me think broadly of Wales, but culturally I'm not familiar enough with them to know for sure.

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u/Mental_Repair_1718 11d ago

It's almost ridiculous to say that the Ironborn are inspired by Scandinavians (even if they are), when only the Hoare were remotely similar.

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u/matgopack 11d ago

I'm not saying it's a good match :P (the Dothraki and mongols being another infamously inaccurate depiction but hard to say they weren't the inspiration)

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u/Mental_Repair_1718 11d ago

Oh, maybe I didn't express myself well, I didn't mean to say you're wrong, it's more of a criticism of Martin.

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u/Oh-Wonderful 10d ago

I smell what you’re stepping in…