[Note: URL edited to the most recent incarnation of the ASoIaF forum.]
I hope things are going well with Storm of Swords.
Very well, thanks. I'm right on schedule and hope to be done by year's end.
I must apologize for taking up valuable time to ask questions but this one is nagging me and I was hoping you would help. I was paging through Game of Thrones for the millionth time and came back to the tale that Old Nan was telling Bran about the Long Night and the last hero who went to find the Children of the Forest. Right at the scariest point of that story within a story Maester Luwin barged in, and the tale was never finished.
Did the last hero ever find the Children of the Forest? What stopped the advance of the Others? Is there any relationship between the Children of the Forest and the Others?
I realize we will most likely see more of the Others later on, but that old yarn is very interesting and I don't think Old Nan is still around to finish it. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
I'm afraid these are the sorts of questions that I will be answering in the books to come, rather than divulging via email.
If you enjoy speculating about this stuff with other fans, however, check out the site at http://asoiaf.westeros.org/
P.S. I am about halfway through "Portraits" and I wonder what took the public so long to flock to your work. It's just so damn good.
Thanks. I don't know what took 'em so long either, but I'm glad they've finally found me. <smile>
Maekar was said to be the Prince of Summerhall. That sounds somewhat like the Soviet top men's leisure places ("datsja's"), but I expect it is a castle somewhere. Where is this? Dorne?
Summerhall was a lightly fortified castle that Daeron II built on the Dornish marches, roughly where Dorne, the Reach, and the Stormlands come together. It was a Targaryen castle and a royal residence, especially when Daeron was young, but as he grew older he left King's Landing less frequently, and Summerhall passed to his youngest son, Maekar. (Baelor had Dragonstone, and Aerys and Rhaegel seldom left the court).
You will learn more about Summerhall if I write more Dunk & Egg stories.
[The rest: Was Dunk really knighted? What are prices in Westeros (800 silver stags to live a year comfortably, but food is super cheap)? How many silver stags to the gold dragon? How did Robert manage to leave the crown so far into debt?]
No comment on the rest, except to say that Robert was a generous soul who spent money at a prodigious rate. Look at the prizes he decreed for the Hand's tourney, for instance.
1. Can you say a bit more about the Grand Council?
If I do it will be in the books.
2. How many men can the Greyjoys rally?
No comment.
3. How old was Jaime Lannister as he joined the Kingsguard?
15. Youngest in history.
4. Who was Ned's mother and what happened to her?
Lady Stark. She died.
Was Aegon the Dragon married with Rhaenys and Visenya at the same time?
Yes.
No plans for a European tour, but I will be attending a convention in Leipzig, Germany the first weekend of October in 2000. I hope to meet some of my German readers there.
The best way to contact Steve Youll, or any cover artist, is to write them care of the publisher at the address in the book.
The letter will be forwarded along, though it may take awhile. In the case of an artist, sending to the attention of the Art Director may speed the process somewhat.
This answer contains a SPOILER for those who have not yet read the story, so beware.
Egg did not want to reveal himself, and he most =especially= did not want to reveal himself to his brother Aerion, whom he hated and feared. He only did it in the end out of desperation.
[Summary of initial mail: The people in the books count their ages in years. These seem to have the same lengths as our years. But ours come from the seasons we have: The seasons in the seven kingdoms are much longer. How do they come to this way of counting time?]
Years are not based on seasons, even in the real world. They are based on how long it takes the earth to revolve around the sun... i.e., on astronomy, the position of the sun and moon and stars. Ancient monuments like Stonehenge and Newgrange served astronomical purposes as well as religious, and helped measure the passage of years, the summer and winter solstices, etc.
[In response to a question asking why ravens are used instead of pigeons as messenger birds in the Seven Kingdoms]
All that Elio says is certainly true; ravens are smarter than pigeons, better flyers, more able to defend themselves against hawks and other predators, etc.
I also liked the mythic resonances. Odin used ravens as his messengers, and they were also thought be able to fly between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Would ravens actually be better carrier birds than pigeons? Probably not... but it seemed to me that if I was going to have dragons and direwolves, that stretching the truth about ravens a bit was allowable as well. In the end, after all, A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE is a =fantasy= series.
[Summary: In response to a reader who would like to know just how big Ser Gregor Clegane is, speculating near 7 feet]
Bigger, actually. Ser Gregor is closer to eight feet than seven.
I'm less certain about his weight, but he's pretty much all muscle.
Thanks for the kind words.
[Summary of initial mail by Min: Is it true that POV-characters have to be physically apart?]
Look at GAME OF THRONES -- there are plenty of places there where two or even three differenet POV characters are together in the same place at the same time. It's only later that they scattrer. There are no hard and fast "rules" for this. I use the POVs I need to tell the story... and I want each POV to have his or her own story within the story as well, i.e. to change and grow and develop.
1. Could Ned's evidence about the bastardy of Cersei's children have convinced a Great Council, such as gave Aegon V his crown? Is this evidence completely unequivocal in the context of this fantasy world (it wouldn't be in our own)?
Having just given a real life deposition in a court case in which I am a witness, I can tell you that no evidence is "completely unequivocal," either in Westeros or the USA. Lawyers will argue about anything.
And the Great Council is a very rare event. Westeros has no equivilent of a Parliament meeting at regular time. If Ned had been able to establish his authority as regent and summon a Great Council... well, the lords would have presumably heard the evidence and decided...
2. Was Littlefinger saying the truth, when he told Ned that Tyrells and Redwynes would rise against Stannis's succession?
No comment.
3. Do members of one Great House have a legal right to arrest and judge members of the other? I.e. was Catelyn's abduction of Tyrion, given all the incriminating evidence, legal?
It was a bit dicey. A lord administers justice in his own lands. Catelyn would have had a much stronger claim if she had taken Tyrion in the north. Even in our own world, there are always dangers in taking on the rich and powerful, regardless of the legality of your auction or how much evidence you have... and the high lords of Westeros are a deal more prickly about their honor.
Authors really have very little control over where they go touring. The cities are usually selected by the publishers. A lot of it starts with the bookstores. The stores that get a lot of authors make a point of =asking= for them, ordering a large stock of their books, and doing whatever advertising is necessary to make a signing a success. Some bookshops want authors, but aren't willing to sink a penny into ads -- those signings are inevitably a disaster.
And the last tour can affect the next one. If a publisher sends Author X to a particular city or bookshop, and three people show up to buy books (or no one at all, which has also happened), that store is not likely to get a visit from Author Y when he tours six months later.
None of which addresses the particular question of why Oklahoma doesn't get a lot of touring authors. I don't know the answer to that one. The manager at your local bookstore might, however.
And on an unrelated note, just how old is Bronn? The age thing has reared its ugly head on one of the discussion boards. ;)
Bronn is in his early to mid 30s, I'd imagine.
I was wondering about the kingsguard at Aerys' death, I know that Jaime Lannister, Oswell Whent, Gerald Hightower, Arthur Dayne and Barristan Selmy were in the kingsguard, who where the other two? Was one Prince Lewyn of Dorne?
Yes.
The other was Ser Jonothor Darry, brother to Ser Willem.
House Greyiron is the house of Urron Redhand, the older ruling dynasty of the Iron Islands, wiped out by the Andals. House Hoare is the house of Harwyn Hardhand and Harren the Black, that Aegon the Conquerer wrote an end to.