Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 62

Thursday is court day!

Welcome to the Supreme Court of Westeros! Every week, three pressing questions from the community will be answered by the esteemed judges Stefan (from your very own Nerdstream Era) and Amin (from A Podcast of Ice and Fire). The rules are simple: we take three questions, and one of us writes a measured analysis. The other one writes a shorter opinion, either concurring or dissenting. The catch is that every week a third judge from the fandom will join us and also write a dissenting or concurring opinion. So if you think you're up to the task - write us an email to stefan_sasse@gmx.de, leave a comment in the post, ask in the APOIAF-forum or contact Amin at his tumblr. Discussion is by no means limited to the court itself, though - feel free to discuss our rulings in the commentary section and ask your own questions through the channels above.

One word on spoilers: we assume that you read all the books, including the Hedge Knight short stories, and watched the current TV episodes. We don't include the spoiler chapters from various sources in the discussion, with the notable exception of Theon I, which was supposed to be in "A Dance with Dragons" anyway.
Casting Call: We're searching for guest judges again! If you like to participate, even if you have been part of previous rulings, send us an email.

And now, up to ruling 62 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Johnny from Philadelphia. He began reading the series after the 1st season of Game of Thrones and began listening to BLAH and APOIAF. He is on the forums at APOIAF as The Smiling Knight. A while after his first read he began getting a few friends together to form a book club. Two of them were reading for the second time and the other two were first time readers. Throughout the books he took detailed notes for discussion at the meetings, which he has posted on the forums. This is his second time as a member of the Supreme Court of Westeros.

Does the Iron Throne have magical properties?

Main Opinion: Amin:

The Iron Throne has been rumoured to have semi-magical properties, in the sense that it may signal through injury to the person sitting there that the person is not fit to rule. Joffrey cuts himself on it, as did Aerys the Mad, cut so many times he was nicknamed King Scab. Maegor the Cruel was found dead on the Throne, while the histories list that Queen Rhaenyra cut herself around the time her short rule began to fall apart. However, a magical explanation is not needed. It is enough to realize that the Iron Throne is physically not a safe chair to sit in, particularly if you are of the nervous or fidgety type. The greatest rulers may have cut themselves at some point without it being reordered in history, and some tales, like Rhaenyra’s, may be exaggerations or lies. Notwithstanding all that, it is interesting to note that the Irone Throne was forged using Dragon Fire from the greatest dragon Westeros has ever seen, perhaps with some Valyrian Steel mixed in there from some of the weapons. If one is into blood magic, at least one king (Maegor) spilled his life’s blood there. So the basis is there for a magical based theory, but the secular explanation is more than sufficient to explain the past incidents.

Concurring Opinion: Stefan

I absolutely agree that the Iron Throne is not a magical item. While blood may have been spilled on it at a point, someone will have cleanded the damn thing in three centuries of Targaryen rule. The stories about the killings also seem more like a legend. Yes, three people who weren’t exactly the best rulers cut themselves on it, but really, Aerys cut himself long before he became a total lunatic, and Rhaenyra didn’t do more horrible things than other people who sat it who didn’t cut themselves. It seems to be more a convenient myth than real magical property. I also don’t think that Valyrian steel was melted into it, so there’s that.

Concurring opinion: John Kolla

I agree with Justice Amin, I do not think there are any magical properties to the Iron Throne, it is just simply a dangerous chair. It makes sense that impulsive Kings, or Kings who do not mind their surroundings would cut themselves repeatedly. I’m sure most Kings have cut themselves on the Throne at some point, the ones who are famous for getting cut did not learn the lesson. “Syrio says that every hurt is a lesson, and every lesson makes you better.” The Kings who did not learn this simple lessons did not get better, so therefore were not worthy of the Iron Throne.

Final Verdict: The Iron Throne does not have magical properties. 

Will Dany make it back in time for the battle for Meereen? And if so, will she and Drogon have a Dothraki Khalasar (formally Jhaqo's) with them?

Main Opinion: Amin

I don’t think Dany will make it back for the initial part of the battle. If it is not resolved quickly, and lapses back into a siege, then she could show up to life the siege. But if it is an all or nothing battle, it seems like the issue will be resolved in the next few hours before the time it takes for Dany to gather the Dothraki (if she is able to command them at all), and organize them to come with her to the city. A caveat is that Dany’s last chapter might predate the last chapter from Meereen enough in the timeline that her showing up even in the middle of battle is possible, it is impossible to tell how far the two events are in time right now.

Concurring Opinion: Stefan

We don’t need Dany at that battle. It actually makes great sense to have her miss it. Dany has so far missed every actual fight, of which there was only one anyway - the battle for Meereen. Yunkai and Astapor were both taken by treachery. It would fit that she now takes the Dothraki by sheer force of superior weapons (dragon) and collect whatever remained of her army in Meereen, using it for her new “fire and blood” vibe. Come to think of it, as a faithful disciple of the “Dany’s on the wrong path”-theory laid out masterfully by Adam Feldman, it would fit perfectly with the idea of the books that there is a responsibility to all the blood and gore of battles. Dany so far hasn’t ever seen it, and if she arrives only after the cleanup, she will miss this and make the decision to go to full-out war against Aegon VI and his allies way too quickly instead of exhausting diplomatic options. Check out my latest essay on the Tower of the Hand for more analysis on that take.

Concurring opinion: John Kolla

I also don’t think that Dany will be back in time. I think she will be spending a few chapters with the Dothraki. I also think the battle will give us a glimpse at the devastation caused by a rider-less dragon. Quentyn released Rhaegal and Viserion and I think they will play a major role in the battle. I think most people agree that we have seen that a dragon with a rider causes terrible damage, I think we are going to find out how truly dangerous the dragons can be when they are not under control.

Final Verdict: Dany will not return in time for the battle.

What are some far out theories you three skeptics place at least some credence with? Also why do you think Martin has written some chapters in such an obtuse way so as to encourage these wild speculations?

Main Opinion: Amin

I think that Martin enjoys the theory crafting that his fans undertake. He throws in red herrings from time to time to encourage it, such as the suggestion that Ned fathered a bastard with a girl he barely knew while escaping back North to muster the troops during Robert’s Rebellion. He cannot sample most of the theories while his current works are going, but he still probably gets a kick out of it. He has often said he likes to write the type of stories he likes to read himself, so perhaps he was a big theory crafted when he read other works from other authors. I think that during the course of this Court we have each highlighted some of the obscure theories we admire. One we should probably cover at some point is the idea that the entire prologue of A Clash of Kings involved Stannis’ pragmatic test of Melisandre’s predicted powers on whether he could prevent Cressen’s death, as foreseen by Melisandre. I’ll leave the details to a subsequent ruling.

Concurring Opinion: Stefan

Martin seems to enjoy this kind of writing, but it also its merits on a purely literary level. It greatly enhances re-readability and gives you something to think over if you’re not into analyzing major themes. In fact I’d argue that much of the great popularity of the books come from the endless discussions in fandoms about theories that have to remain unsolveable until the next books come out.

Concurring in part, dissenting in part: John Kolla

I agree that Martin plants a lot of red herrings because I’m sure he enjoys that the fans like to speculate. However, I often wonder if he has someone who keeps an eye on different theories and when one that is true is not picked up on he throws something in the text to make it a little more obvious. I have not been a fan long enough to know theories that were thrown out before ADWD, but it seems to me that something like the Southern Ambitions theory has been on the written on the wall for sometime with all the marriages between major families around the time of the Rebellion. I could see Martin realizing that no one was picking up on how rare that was and deciding to have Lady Dustin point it out in ADWD. As far as my favorite out there theory, I don’t like many of the theories that I read (Tyrion = Targ, Jojen Paste, and FAegon) but one that I guess I like is the Septa Lemore = Ashara Dayne theory. I do not think it is true by any means, I really just like it because I like the character of Ashara, her story interests me, and I would like to find out more about her. So if that is revealed I would be happy. Also, Tyrion finding Tysha for the same reason, but that doesn't seem like something that could happen in these books.

Final Verdict: Martin uses the hints to give the books a deeper layer and because he's a sucker for them.