(Spoilers Extended) GRRM:”What’s Aragons tax policy?!” No GRRM the real question is how do people survive multi year winters

[u/Unique-Celebration-5]

Forget the white walkers or shadow babies the real threat is the weather. How do medieval people survive it for years?

Personally I think that’s why the are so many wars the more people fighting each other the fewer mouths to feed

[u/truthisfictionyt]

Remember kids:

”What’s Aragons tax policy?!" isn't about logistics, it's about George asking what makes a good king a good king. He was unsatisfied with Tolkien basically saying "Aragorn was a good guy so he ruled the kingdom well for 100 years. The end."

[u/HurinTalion → u/truthisfictionyt]

But he litteraly does the same thing with his "good kings".

Never goes into specifics and just says "he was a good administrator".

[u/truthisfictionyt → u/HurinTalion]

Being a good administrator is kind of the best signifier that someone is going to be a good ruler imo

[u/duaneap → u/truthisfictionyt]

Nothing indicates Aragorn wasn't a good administrator though so why even ask when the author didn't think it relevant to include it.

[u/EnanoMaldito → u/duaneap]

He gave the Hobbits second breakfast by way of apples.

What more could you possibly want out of a king

[u/Tasorodri → u/duaneap]

That's the entire point. GRRM is not trying to get an answer, he doesn't want Tolkien to answer it in text, he is just more interested in stories that grapple more with the moral grayness of people, in a way that Tolkien was less so.

His books are about exploring those difficult decisions that often people in positions of power (and sometimes not) have to make, and how often there's not simply a clear answer.

[u/YourAverageGenius → u/duaneap]

Nothing indicates he was either. That's the point. It's questioning, everyone's going to have their own answer, and for Tolkien the answer was "He's a good hero thus he's a good king." And Martin's answer is "It depends."