Post by Leo of Red Keep on Jun 25, 2017 7:55:56 GMT
"The Great War" used to be a name for the First World War. It was started not because some Serbian activist shot an Austrian Archduke but because countries had been preparing for it for decades. They had been preparing because they were afraid of each other.
"If you want peace, prepare for war". It's always been true and a side effect is that people base careers on it. They are defined by the eventuality of war. Choosing the point in time when war starts is something they come to see as an advantage to secure. This is how unnecessary wars start. It may have been the case for "the Great War" of 1914 which had such a devastating impact on the rest of the century.
George RR Martin has not portrayed this scenario in his "Song of Ice and Fire" series. Not yet.
The oldest cause of war, expansion and competition for resources, he covered in the ancient history of the First Men fighting the Children of the Forest.
He set war of conquest at the base of the Targaryen dynasty.
He told of the justified rebellion against a mad king ending in the sack of a city and the murder of innocent family members as well as the exile of surviving heirs.
He has shown how the feudal concept of power as a personal property led to a major war of succession after Robert's heir was accused of illegitimacy.
In parallel to this, ambition brought the younger brother of the deceased king to plan his own war of conquest on the throne he felt he should have.
The elder brother, Stannis, later came to the understanding he had to deserve his crown by saving the realm against a Wildling invasion or against the Bolton's rule of the North. In order to fight the second conflict, he would allow the invasion he went to stop in the first one. For Stannis the Hypocrite, war appears to be a public relation exercise, or maybe he just cared for the legality of things regardless of the actual results.
The sense of identity is what motivates the Ironborn to reject the authority of a "foreign" king. Balon Greyjoy would take his crown because "that's what he is".
When the Northerners make Robb Start King in the North, limiting his ability to negotiate peace by the nature of their support, independence is the driver, whereby identity plays a major role. The Greatjon's disdain of "a flowery seat in the South", his statement that "even their gods are wrong" make sure we understand this.
Further south, vengeance and another sense of identity will drive the Dornish into war, one way or another.
On another continent, if entitlement motivates the girl who will "take what is hers with fire and blood", it is the availability of a superior weapon which really sets her on the move. Her noble, generous intentions fail to hide the mess she makes of using it and she is openly out to invade what she calls her home land and destroy its social structures before she tries to understand them. At her side, or parallel to her in the books, we see idealists who believe using force to install a trained (Aegon) or monitored (Daenerys) ruler will be the solution to everything.
We weren't told of the White Walkers' intentions, only that they cannot pass the Wall. Maybe they never wanted to. It's theirs and they're only pushing people south.
Maybe Jon Snow is your typical fool jumping to conclusions and the "Great War" is the one he'll start out of understandable fear, very much like the previous "Great War" of history. It would complete the collection of war motives the author has been putting together.
It would finish the lesson he is out to tell. I won't be surprised if Bran is not the one who controls dragons and wights or White Walkers but simply finds out he can talk to the Night King.
At least we have a realist on the Iron Throne. Long may she reign!
"If you want peace, prepare for war". It's always been true and a side effect is that people base careers on it. They are defined by the eventuality of war. Choosing the point in time when war starts is something they come to see as an advantage to secure. This is how unnecessary wars start. It may have been the case for "the Great War" of 1914 which had such a devastating impact on the rest of the century.
George RR Martin has not portrayed this scenario in his "Song of Ice and Fire" series. Not yet.
The oldest cause of war, expansion and competition for resources, he covered in the ancient history of the First Men fighting the Children of the Forest.
He set war of conquest at the base of the Targaryen dynasty.
He told of the justified rebellion against a mad king ending in the sack of a city and the murder of innocent family members as well as the exile of surviving heirs.
He has shown how the feudal concept of power as a personal property led to a major war of succession after Robert's heir was accused of illegitimacy.
In parallel to this, ambition brought the younger brother of the deceased king to plan his own war of conquest on the throne he felt he should have.
The elder brother, Stannis, later came to the understanding he had to deserve his crown by saving the realm against a Wildling invasion or against the Bolton's rule of the North. In order to fight the second conflict, he would allow the invasion he went to stop in the first one. For Stannis the Hypocrite, war appears to be a public relation exercise, or maybe he just cared for the legality of things regardless of the actual results.
The sense of identity is what motivates the Ironborn to reject the authority of a "foreign" king. Balon Greyjoy would take his crown because "that's what he is".
When the Northerners make Robb Start King in the North, limiting his ability to negotiate peace by the nature of their support, independence is the driver, whereby identity plays a major role. The Greatjon's disdain of "a flowery seat in the South", his statement that "even their gods are wrong" make sure we understand this.
Further south, vengeance and another sense of identity will drive the Dornish into war, one way or another.
On another continent, if entitlement motivates the girl who will "take what is hers with fire and blood", it is the availability of a superior weapon which really sets her on the move. Her noble, generous intentions fail to hide the mess she makes of using it and she is openly out to invade what she calls her home land and destroy its social structures before she tries to understand them. At her side, or parallel to her in the books, we see idealists who believe using force to install a trained (Aegon) or monitored (Daenerys) ruler will be the solution to everything.
We weren't told of the White Walkers' intentions, only that they cannot pass the Wall. Maybe they never wanted to. It's theirs and they're only pushing people south.
Maybe Jon Snow is your typical fool jumping to conclusions and the "Great War" is the one he'll start out of understandable fear, very much like the previous "Great War" of history. It would complete the collection of war motives the author has been putting together.
It would finish the lesson he is out to tell. I won't be surprised if Bran is not the one who controls dragons and wights or White Walkers but simply finds out he can talk to the Night King.
At least we have a realist on the Iron Throne. Long may she reign!