The Weird Seasons of Westeros

The climate and geography of Westeros resembles much of real life on Earth, however its seasons do not. Some seasons last a few short years, others a decade of darkness. What causes this? Some say an extreme axial tilt, or a wobbly axis. Or is it just inexplicable magic? Let's find out.
Atlas of Ice & Fire: atlasoficeandfireblog.wordpre...
Timestamps:
0:00-0:39 Intro
0:39-7:36 Climate of Each Kingdom
7:36-13:22 Science of Westeros Seasons
13:22-15:08 Grand Theme of Climate Change
15:08-15:28 Outro

[@canbozkurt7471]

I’m curious how animals and plants adapted to the irregular weather cycles of Westeros (and other places in the world of Asoiaf) and if a scientific explanation can be given to explain it, or is it also due to magic.

[@jenniferlee5910]

Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series covers something similar, with plants, animals, and cultures adapting to massive storms that blow across the world frequently

[@jacob4920]

Another notable question. Would winter even have any impact on Sothryos (the southernmost continent in GRRM's world, which barely nobody knows anything about)? That place, based upon the latitudinal examples provided by the video, would be more or less on the equator. Even if that world's axial tilt was magically similar to a planet of extreme seasons, the equatorial region would still remain mostly the same, climate-wise. If not for the fact that the place was so godawful dangerous, that seems like it would be the place to go, if you wanted to avoid the worst impacts of the long winter.

[@renatlottiepilled]

@@jacob4920 I think Sothoryos is analogous to the Amazon rainforest or the Yucatan peninsula, sure, some civilization can flourish there but it's so plentiful and prone to life that that in itself makes it hard for humans to inhabit for long periods of time because cities are swallowed by forests and jungles and the diseases therein

[@jacob4920]

@@renatlottiepilled LIke I said... a dangerous place. An entire series of books could be written, simply about a group of people trying to survive in that hell hole. lol

[@ninototo1]

@@jacob4920 Yeah I imigane it wouldn't be affected much by winter. Just gotta carve out a civilization there lol

[@alessandro_natali]

My theory before discovering that there was a magic related explanation was: the sun Planetos revolves around is some kind of variable star and it has random unpredictable variation in luminosity and energy output, so that it causes those harsh variations in temperature leading to long summers, brief summers, bad winters, etc...that would have been the most reasonable scientific explanation to me. No need to take axial tilt or wobbling of the axis into account.

[@Jonathan331]

The way I interpreted it, they have regular seasons. With the regular "winter" they call summer snows up north. They even have annual storm season in the narrow sea, so I believe they have regular yearly seasons like we do. It's just that they have brutal winters every decade or so, give or take (irregular) and it's reoccuring enough that they know to expect it, thus considering it "True winter", but it could actually be mini ice ages, given its description, and more than likely magical in nature.

[@jk3253]

This has always been my interpretation too

[@michaelhenry3234]

Yep. I believe their "summers" and "winters" are like the medieval warm period and early modern little ice age, only instead of centuries it lasts years. During their seasons, they have "summer snows" and "false springs."

[@Themrine2013]

that makes sense actually

[@Luckie_7]

Perhaps natural ice ages

[@Luckie_7]

Semi natural

[@ntluck1592]

I read somewhere that GRRM wanted Planetos (the planet where the books are set) to be three times as big as Earth but his editor convinced him that's a bad idea. Instead he made the planet to be a third larger than Earth. I wonder if that would affect the days of the year? Also, its never explained how many days are in a moon or even in a year. For all we know, a year in Westeros could be 420 days or so which would explain the prevalent child marriages occurring in Westerosi history like Daemon Blackfyre who got married at 12 and had 5 or 6 children before his death. If he was 12 years old and a year in Westeros is 420 days that would make him 14 in our own years

[@Barbarossa125]

Do you remember why his editor stated, it would be a bad idea? Gravity would be most likely bigger, but you can counter it with a lower density than earth has. As for the duration of a year, I don't think they are longer than a usual earth's year. It was common in ancient and medieval times to marry at the age of 12. Most children were physically cabable of getting children their own at that age, and if so, why not marry and do so before dying? Also, it's the fastest method of cementing an alliance between two families. Nowadays, because of medicine and nutrition, this age would go down to 9, if there weren't more important things than getting offspring as fast as possible.

[@freddykrueger8076]

@@Barbarossa125 Multiplying Earths Size by 3-fold fucks literally *everything* up. Not just Gravity. Earth is a literal paradise in terms of ‘stable’ climate, gravity, ecological progression, etc We are in the Goldlocks zone To give an example, we dream of living on Mars, which is BARELY that much larger than Earth. Yet everything about Mars is so astronomically different (not solely due to size, but that plays a major element) than Earth as it is. That’s usually the reason most fantasy settings either stick to ‘Earth-like’ or use a Discworld of some kind. The unforeseen evological ramifications of significantly enlarging Earth by more than 1.5x can not be understated.

[@eruiluvatar7155]

@@freddykrueger8076 "Mars is barely that much larger than earth" Tf are you smoking? Mars is smaller than Earth

[@123chargeit]

@@eruiluvatar7155 Was thinking the same thing.

[@TheLewinator902]

1/3 the size of Earth, I thought it was supposed to be 90% the size of Earth.

[@phnompenhandy]

Glad I found you. This is good - I'll watch your other ASOIAF videos.

[@CrusaderChris]

Thank you

[@ahmadsultan4643]

My theory is the others causing the irregularities by causing magical mini ice ages but they have limits and require time to build their power and that what causes the long summer in the start of the books it was because the others were trying to conserve their power for the long night maybe if the humans managed to kill the others the season will return to normal

[@Levacque]

You probably share the bare bones of GRRM's concept, maybe all of it. It would explain the fluctuation, or even possibly that the Others don't have control over the cycle but rather have to wait and hope for a particularly long winter.

[@ahmadsultan4643]

@@Levacque that also make sense maybe the others has greensight and know when a long winter is coming and planned for it and maybe there is something causing a long summer the series called ice and fire so maybe something is also causes a long summers

[@ocsjc13]

The long summer started way before the start of the book

[@Levacque]

@@ocsjc13 and? That just means that they were preparing and holding back their strength at least 10 years, based on the length of the summer. All indications are that the Others have been preparing for, bare minimum, forty years, because that's how long Craster had been giving them his sons. I'm not sure why the summer beginning before AGoT would have any effect on this theory.

[@Levacque]

The fact that GRRM has written sci-fi for decades indicates that if he wanted it, there would be a science fiction explanation. He probably ruled out any realistic astronomical explanation while writing AGoT, because his sci-fi is not surface level - there's hard science in the concepts.

[@hitmannik7079]

I roughly knew most of this but it's always good to watch an entertaining video about it, great job

[@AjaxLefeuf]

I always assumed the planet had a very slight, stable tilt, and that it was variation in the star that caused the long weird seasons.

[@mattmorales4320]

Can’t believe I’ve found this channel so early. The production and quality of content already feels closer to somebody with tens of thousands of subs. I’m sure you’ll be there soon enough!

[@greywolf7577]

The video and research is closer to someone with tens of thousands of subs, but the audio is a bit rough. That could use a little bit of an upgrade to sound more professional.

[@MaynightMemory]

I can fully accept that the explanation for the seasons is a magical one, but I still feel like throwing some more science into the mix 😂 I always thought that the seasons might actually not even be irregular, but maybe they repeat in cycles that are too long for humans to recognize the pattern. The maesters in Westeros do keep records and have been doing so for a couple hundred years, but let's just assume the seasonal patterns repeat in a 1000 or 2000 year cycle (which wouldn't be much in cosmic dimensions), the maesters simply wouldn't be aware (yet). GRRM himself mentioned the multi-star system and that was also one of my first thoughts. Our solar system is a bit of an exception with its one lonely sun - most star systems have multiple suns. Planetos could very well be in a system with 3 or 4 or 5 or even more suns merrily rotating around each other, opening up endless possibilities of rotation patterns. Let's throw some other weird stuff into the mix: two of Saturn's moons swap (!) their orbits every 4 years as they get close enough to each other. Imagine this happening to Planetos, taking the planet onto a completely different orbit for the next who knows how many years until it reaches its original starting point again. Maybe on that orbit it passes larger planets or moons that make it wobble for a while in addition to that. And then maybe of course there was once the famous second moon in the sky - maybe indeed some celestial body that crashed into Planetos causing a phenomenon literally called impact winter. All these options are possible and realistic and totally happening somewhere in our universe - especially in combination they could cause a climate seeming completely and utterly random to the planet's inhabitants.

[@sleemo642]

“The taste of their food and the faces of their women made the Ironborn the best sailors in Westeros.” -Crusader Chris

[@alfoakes7111]

Recently found your channel and wanted to say thank you. Fantastic and well-informed content! Hope you get the recognition you deserve.

[@Jonkuzon]

Great video, I’d love to see this series continue for sure

[@Melkimund]

For all that is holy, Keep. It. Up. I'm so stoked to have seen you from the start! (Of this series, damn I have some catching up to do)

[@AidanH1996]

Terrific ASOIAF video!

[@sanlougaru149]

Always nice to find another competent ASOIAF commentator 👌. You should make a video about the geopolitical realities and relationship each kingdom within Westeros has.

[@ajae...]

Yes. So I can understand why the hill tribes are not referred to as wildlings or free folk.

[@noirangelxd1195]

Pls pls continue this! I loved it!

[@ohmygordd9426]

This deserves wayy more likes. Cheers man :)

[@LordJordanXVII]

This really did it for me!

[@renatlottiepilled]

Seems the algorithm picked up your video a little bit, nice vid anyway, going to subscribe, the latitude map and references to real world are super interesting

[@ASTROMOSTRA6]

Im glad you made this investigation so thoroughly, because it's been a while since I've been think ASOIF planet is not round like earth

[@newaccount7.8bviews3second8]

I just found about your channel. Subscribed. Amazing stuff.

[@poseidonc1259]

Thanks for the informative video brother. I’m a huge fan of taking the science-fiction view of the story, even if I don’t believe the results to be true. It is fascinating to consider just what explanations could be found.

[@pimpaopimpudo7144]

I loved it! Can you do the same thing about Essos and other lands? Showing the latitudes and etc

[@gawkthimm6030]

my fav explanation for the seasons is; an unstable sun that itself wobbles and fluctuates slowly between; just enough energy output for a stable normal climate and not enough... so over time, if it werent for "magic" the sun would eventually dim and cause a new permanent ice age...

[@andrewogunmokun9309]

Great job

[@CMVBrielman]

My theory: The Arm of Dorne was broken by the Children of the Forest in order to allow the waters of the Shivering Sea to be warmed by the Summer Sea. Before then, the Others and the Long Night probably froze the entire Shivering Sea.

[@CMVBrielman]

@Kerrie Wilson He’s been known to use unreliable narration. Or it could be both.

[@CMVBrielman]

@Kerrie Wilson Thats not what I claimed.

[@benjaminbazi9355]

@@CMVBrielman Kerrie is right, it is mentioned in the beginning of the The World of Ice and Fire to stop the First Men from invading Westeros through the Arm of Dorne

[@CMVBrielman]

@@benjaminbazi9355 I’m aware of that. That same book is chock full of unreliable narration because its written from an in-universe perspective by a Maester who is anti-magic.

[@thnkng]

It's a good theory but it doesn't really explain why the Children did the same thing at The Neck when the First Men tried to cross it. Warming the Shivering Sea might have been a side effect of breaking the arm (even though the Shivering Sea is still ridiculously cold now) but it's *probably* true that the Children were attempting to stop any more First Men trying to migrate into Westeros.

[@ronnie5340]

Nice one buddy

[@fabioavaro7947]

The seasons could be explained if the star had an irregular light, in summer it burns brighter and in winter it becomes dimmer

[@FelipeGomes-ek8lf]

Cool video.

[@thornskiss8186]

Something about the reach Sam Tarly said it doesn’t even get cold there it’s always temperate and comfortable there

[@emilygrace3097]

Going based on a magical explanation, my theory is that the lands of always winter is like the centre of cold and ice magic and Valyria is the centre of heat and fire magic and in order for the seasons to be “normal” there has to be a balance between the magical beings of both sides, ie. the Others and dragons.

[@BenJover]

Nice buddy 👍 I got here early

[@thesoulbrook2798]

When are we going to get your 1k special, if we get one?

[@Quasimodo-mq8tw]

A very simple explanation would be vulcanic activity in far away reaches of the world. maybe even the lands of always winter. if it is not too extreme you will not realise what is happening, just that it snows in what should be summer. Mayhaps someone wanted to create an ethernal summer(without axial tilt) and that was the result.

[@durrangodsgrief6503]

Baratheon/durrandon biology is fairly interesting to me

[@johnhickman8391]

Winter is coming, is indeed a battle cry. In multiple ways.

[@rcshadowpriest2819]

hey great work? do you think it will snow on the great grass see?

[@asoiaf.got.3048]

Hello i just watched your video and really enjoyed it but it has something i wanted to point out. You talked about how in the south they fight and ignore the threat in the north but in my opinion in our world its way more the north who doesnt really care about climate change europe and north america are super wealthy so they should invest massively in isolation so we need less energy and obviously also in clean energy for example it doesnt make sense to have a highly centralized energy system because energy naturally devaluetes into thermal energy which we cant use for electricity but we could decentralise our energy and use the clean energy that is already here. And we also polute so much because we allways have to produce more to do more profit this also comes from the north(europe nort ameria) i just watched your video and really enjoyed it but it has something i wanted to point out. You talked about how in the south they fight and ignore the threat in the north but in my opinion in our world its way more the north who doesnt really care about climate change europe and north america are super wealthy so they should invest massively in isolation so we need less energy and obviously also in clean energy for example it doesnt make sense to have a highly centralized energy system because energy naturally devaluetes into thermal energy which we cant use for electricity but we could decentralise our energy and use the clean energy that is already here. And we also polute so much because we allways have to produce more to do more profit this also comes from the north(europe nort ameria)

[@monkeymox2544]

I always thought that the North was inspired by Northern England, since GRRM got his inspiration for the wall when he visited Hadrian's Wall. Also the Seven Kingdoms were inspired by the Heptarchy, the kingdoms whose combined territory correlates roughly with modern England - that would make the North roughly analogous to Northumbria, which is where Hadrian's Wall was located (in modern times, it runs through the counties of Northumberland and Cumbria). And of course, they (mainly) had Northern English accents in the show, which I assumed was partly down to these links (as well as Sean Bean being from Sheffield). Not saying the North isn't based on Scotland, I just find it slightly surprising. The descriptions certainly make me think of Northern England, although I guess it is geographically similar to Scotland, albeit with smaller hills / mountains. And I suppose that Northumbria did extend quite far into modern Scotland at one point, up to the Firth of Forth.

[@kalamataolives]

i personally like to think that each year on Planetos has regular seasons within the larger summer/winter structure. just because otherwise most people and animals would die out.

[@kalamataolives]

like during winters there still are growing seasons but they’re just quite poor compared to the summer ones

[@saminator3563]

Ive always wondered. A long night would cause seal levels to drop would it not?' Would the step stones have been close to a land bridge at the end of the long night?

[@blahblahawesomeninja]

I think George may have messed up with sothyros. He said a dragon rider (can't remember which targ) flew for 6 months and didn't find it's end. If Dorne is near the equator and he said it took 2 weeks to fly from kings landing to the wall planetos must be a weird shape

[@iamsheel]

The dragon rider could just flow along the equator without encountering a sea. Sothyros can possibly shaped like Eurasia in our world.

[@blahblahawesomeninja]

@@iamsheel this is true but seeming as they have mapped the width of sothyros it doesn't seem likely

[@iamsheel]

@@blahblahawesomeninja as far as I know it only the northern shores are known

[@TheHowlingEye]

I thought you were going to mention the climate itself and how different it is in different places of Westeros regardless of the altitude.

[@benjaminbazi9355]

Can you provide the link for the spinning globe at 7:43 ?

[@CrusaderChris]

imgur.com/6gMzBdc

[@zaylaurentt]

Max Kepler reference is crazy

[@renaigh]

at the beginning of the series Summer had just ended after 10 years the longest it had been for centuries or more, throughout the series up until the Epilogue of Dance is Autumn/Fall

[@blueblood8658]

*Sees a video about the weather in the world of ASOIAF* Yup, that's something for me.

[@nordboya1656]

The sci-fi explanation alluded to in the GRRM quote - "multiple stars" ie. a binary or trinary system with the right configuration of orbits (and black holes for invisible suns) can maybe give the observed seasons and star field. But as word of god says its magic, then its magic. Going by his work so far we will not get any further explanation, so I guess its some kind of effect of the others magic and there isn't a lot more to say about it.

[@comradekitten9883]

Maybe the planets orbit is like earth, but the sun's brightness fluctuates erratically.

[@stephen011298]

Perhaps it could be possible that the planets sun in ice in fire has a wobble causing planets orbits to tilt. That way when it does perhaps the planet get slightly eclipsed by an asteroid belt or some other large stellar body causing the change in temperature?

[@paulster185]

Seasons from Earth having axial tilt aren't because one side is closer to Sun than other. It is due to tilt that one side is longer exposed to Sun than other depending on time of the year.

[@peterwindhorst5775]

There is a such thing as tidal locking as well. Basically, a planet / moon can have one face the star. The facing side would have over-long summers, while the not-facing side would have over-long winters.

[@ninototo1]

Yes but impossible in this context since Westeros experiences both extremes

[@peterwindhorst5775]

Our own moon rotates on an axis, but we only see the one side - due to the tidal lock of the Earth. So the planetos would still rotate - just that one side favors the star for a little too longer than the other side.

[@jackwalters5506]

@@peterwindhorst5775 if planetos were tidally locked then only one side would ever face the sun, just like how only one side of the moon faces the Earth

[@peterwindhorst5775]

@@jackwalters5506 actually the earth's moon does rotate, we just don't see it. When the Moon is New in the phase cycle (no moon to be seen) - that is when the back side (the side without the face) is facing the earth. The problem is can't see (the side without the face) due to the earth's shadow on the moon. The operation on planetos would be the same but instead the star's light would hit the front side during the 7-14 year long summer, while while the backside would have a 7-14 year long winter. Then when the rotation happens and the positioning is right the front-side (westeros side) would get 7-14 years of winter and the back side would get 7-14 years of summer.

[@jackwalters5506]

@@peterwindhorst5775 you do realize the moon is tidally locked to the earth, and that's why the "dark side" gets sunlight. A planet tidally locked to it's star would not have a day/night cycle

[@billvolk4236]

They've never said how the people of Westeros know what a year is. I've always just assumed they had a lunar calendar with one year being exactly twelve lunar cycles, but they've never said. They can't use the sun or the stars, because the seasons do affect hours of daylight and so the planet's axis is definitely wobbling.

[@E-Brightvoid]

There’s no Moon. That would cause irregular seasons? Maybe the Valerians crashed the moon into themselves in a space elevator accident?

[@perlundgren7797]

Sorry if I'm missing something obvious, but what do you mean by no moon? I don't remember if they bring it up in the tv series, but the ASOIAF world definitely has one. Besides it simply being described in several chapters ("Tyrion had never seen a bigger moon", "Up above the treetops, a crescent moon was floating in a dark sky" and so on), there's Doreah's story about the former two moons and how "One day the other moon will kiss the sun too, and then it will crack and the dragons will return".

[@nunyabiznes33]

I'm curious how it'll eventually be explained. The North get blizzards even during autumn.

[@SapphireSolstice67]

What is a year in Westeros if not a cycle of seasons? Just 13 moons?

[@quartz9272]

Maybe he will flex his high fantasy writing muscles and give us a magical cause/resolution

[@steretsjaaj2368]

Doesnt asoiaf lore have strips around sun instead of planets. It's seen at end of intros where got logo is presented and strips around it

[@OneEyedJack1970]

That's a model set inside an astrolabe. It's at the Citadel or wherever it is they train the Maesters.

[@steretsjaaj2368]

It's in the books, it is like inverted planet

[@jacob4920]

Environmentalists would just love it if our real life climate change was leading to a "long winter," because that would mean that global warming is not, in fact, a thing. But global cooling is. So I just want to point out that while GRRM's world is headed towards a long winter. Our world, paradoxically, is headed toward a super-long summer.

[@markd.s.8625]

if a smuggler calls where one star or constellation is true north that doesnt mean it never moves just that it probably doesnt move so much to prove to hinder their work

[@historiadelaciencia6860]

Dorne is actually like Northern Mexico owo

[@ajae...]

Every time I hear Tycho Brahe's name I get distracted giggling about his drunken pet moose.

[@CrusaderChris]

Homie was the richest dude in Denmark and used the money to buy a moose. Can’t say I’d do anything different though

[@RubyAPBT]

I think the death of Valyrian dragons changed the climate, the world lost a lot of that magic. Why know when Daenerys 3 dragons hatched mages felt the change in magic, imagina what was to lose hundrends of dragons at same time? The Targaryens manage to save it for 200 year +- with their surviving dragons, but they all died too at the dance and the few who hatched after it died. Maybe the answer to why it is so erratic is unbalanced magic. Too much Ice or fire for exemple can change it. Losing fire could mean awakening the Others, too much water could mean awakening the squishers. It would make sense because an ice age would make the seas level fall and a global warming would make it rise. Also the world lost natural dragons too. Before all being concentrating in Valyrian there were dragons all around the world.

[@sohamdhoke]

Yeah nah mate, by the end of Season 5 Winterfell, King's Landing, Dragonstone and the Reach were just 5 minutes away from one another

[@jelly434]

Read Helliconia Spring ;)

[@Polak2.5]

Wow

[@tbone11x]

So what you're saying is Robert Barratheon is the westerosi version of Florida Man.

[@CrusaderChris]

“Florida Man, 36, killed by boar in hunting accident, locals suspect his wife intentionally got him drunk to ensure his death”

[@HerrMauserr]

"Citizens of Uranus" 😂

[@HerrMauserr]

Very interesting video, I enjoyed it even tho I never watched full episode or have readen GoT.

[@boris_bulletdodger9109]

Positive comment

[@CrusaderChris]

Positive response

[@tomasdavid7829]

Or maybe unlike our Sun the star of planet of RR Martin work has irregular activity cycle making it more powerful at times and some like grand dusty clouds are orbiting around in irregular trajectories blocking some of the star light etc.

[@terastrasza7421]

Entire video can be summarized as, "It's magic."

[@jacobrivera7707]

was that max kepler

[@CrusaderChris]

Yeah

[@spliffertonsheldrake6007]

Strategic aerosol injection and climate manipulation are pretty much like "magic" in our current world.

[@CaptainTimeStories]

This is really neat! I just did a video on some climate stuff, but this goes a bit deeper on many topics.

[@oasisrules6591]

Praise Garth Greenhand

[@boythee4193]

volcanic activity?

[@Sr.Pirulito]

"Front runner candidate for President burns daughter to stop climate change"

[@jamesbarron7512]

Earth’s bright blue pole star is not Vega it’s Polaris. Good video, keep up the good work

[@CrusaderChris]

I meant to say that Vega used to be our north star, and will be again in the future due to Earth's wobble. Didn't mention that bit, though, my bad.

[@dataportdoll]

the most intuitive explanation seems to be that Planetos has a tilt similar to Earth, with winters (causing the "summer snows" in the North) but Winter (with the capital W) is magical.

[@arcadiaberger9204]

I'm so disappointed that Planetos is a magical world. I thought I'd found all the breadcrumbs that led to its being a McKendree Cylinder, or whatever you call it that is to a McKendree Cylinder what a McKendree cylinder is to an O'Neill Cylinder. An Isaacarthur Cylinder, maybe. But, GRRM says it's a fantasy world, not another crypto-SF world like Pern, so that's what it is. Guess I'll have to write my own.

[@alexmckee4683]

I think it's a shame he shared that ex-cathedra. The speculation about the possible scientific origins of the seasons is fun, and allows a degree of suspension of disbelief for those who are utterly opposed to magic and fantasy. Coming straight out and saying that the series is a fantasy series is pigeonholing the series in a way that most authors tend not to like to do, usually.

[@jaybe9627]

@@alexmckee4683 well if anyone is utterly opposed to magic and fantasy I don’t think m asoiaf is the series for them, unless you were to go the show route where they cut out a lot of the magical stuff.

[@BamBamGT1]

Oh that's an actual thing. You had me thinking about the tale that everyone lives in the eye of a giant, named Macumber

[@benhadaway3322]

Considering that GoT was writen in 1996 I don't think the climate change theme was ever intended. George always said the phrase "summer snows" fasicnated him and that was what made him write the book (first chapter at least). To rationalize summer snows he had to do something, hence the perpetually long seaons. This climate change stuff is all after the fact. People just trying to retroactively put modern social and political issues onto GoT.

[@CrusaderChris]

We don't know if GRRM intended for there to be a climate change theme in the 90s. He's just said that he agrees with the observation readers have made, that it's a fitting analogy. And there's nothing wrong with noticing how a work of fiction relates to similar topics in the real world. It's not meant to be political; it's just a natural science observation.

[@Magneticlaw]

Just write the damn book, George.

[@1handedtyper]

Jawsome 🦈 I've really been wondering about the westerlands. There's gotta be more than just mountainous flatland, right? 🪨 You can't eat gold, and flooding the market lowers the value, so they gotta have iron or something you can't find anywhere else.

[@ninototo1]

Lots of farmland would be my guess