The Citadel

The Archive of 'A Song of Ice and Fire' Lore

So Spake Martin

ConJose (San Jose, CA; August 29-September 2)

Here are the questions I asked:

1. Who is over lord of the Riverlands? (Since the Freys have Riverrun yet Littlefinger was named Lord Paramount). George says that Littlefinger is the Lord of the Riverlands but that he is going to run into trouble. I commented that Littlefinger is really powerful now that he has the Riverlands and supposed control of the Eyrie. GRRM laughed and said that I need to remember that for all his power Littlefinger has no army. (I thought that was interesting). GRRM also commented that (I forget which Frey, Emmon?) the Frey given Riverrun really wants to be Lord of the Riverlands and has dreams of having his father be his vassel. (I thought that was interesting also)

2. The Greatjon has more sons than just the Smalljon. GRRM commented that we will see more of Crowsfood and Whoresbane in AFfC. I wonder whose PoV we will see them from, Jon? Perhaps when Stannis calls the Northern lords to him?

3. Have you publishers been on your case for falling behind or are they cool? GRRM commented that Bantam (American Publisher) was very large and that they were not pushing him to produce the books at a strict schedule. The British publisher is smaller though and has been more concerned with getting the books out. GRRM did mention that it doesn't matter which book you buy, he still gets the same cut.

4. How does the Citadel get financed? Lords pay for the service of the Maesters and the Citadel collects some of the revenue of Oldtown via taxes.

5. When armies are described as destroyed, does that mean they are annihilated or are they mostly dispersed? GRRM commented that when an army is destroyed lots of things happen to the men. They become outlaws, they go home, they find new homes, they become mercs, they join other households, they become"broken men" ( I took this to mean wanderers and semi-outlaws). GRRM also mentioned that certain battles were much more brutal than others. The battle at the Freys was very bloddy, while the battle in front of Winterfel was not.

Hmm, thats all I can think of right now.

Oh, and he did mention that he put lots of legends into the books such as Bran the Builder. Bran the builder is supposed to have built the Wall, Winterfel, and Storms End. GRRM mentioned that he has become a legend so that people will look at a structure and say "wow, it must have been built by Bran the Builder" when it actually was not. This is GRRM's attemt on creating a world with myths and legends so if at some point you see, "They say it was built by Bran the Builder or Lann the Clever" realize that its part of the mythos.

. . .

Bolton didn't lie when he says that the Karastark men were sent to Duskendale and they then were with him at the Twins...Bolton split the Karstark host. George seem confused by my question and I think this is really a non-issue for him.

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