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I just remembered I wrote about some of the worldbuilding problems of Westeros before: https://military-fantasy.com/2019/12/11/worldbuilding-problems-westeros/ Not sure whether I already posted link here, but whatever. Important thing is, it relates to what you wrote about states. Basically...

Worst part is that, by understanding Tolkien's inspirations and some history, you can actually fill in a lot of blanks: https://military-fantasy.com/2020/03/21/military-organization-of-gondor-expanded/ https://military-fantasy.com/2020/03/26/military-organization-of-rohan/...

Martin apparently subscribes to the "nobody believes in their religion" postmodernist BS and projects it to the medieval fantasy world.

I am actively contradicting nothing. Rently literally lists all his forces: - twice number with him - ten thousand with Mace Tyrell - Storm's End garrison - Dornishmen who he hopes will join him That is 80 000 + 10 000 + 200-300. Add perhaps some other smaller garrisons, and Renly has a total...

I have never seen any evidence they are treated like second banana in the text. The only thing they don't have is link to the throne, but they have taken many important positions after their alliance with Lannisters: “The Faith,” her uncle said, “unless you insist on a trial by battle. In which...

It wasn't all from Reach, but there is no way majority of it was from Stormlands. Or anywhere other than Reach. That is what I was saying with my point about terrain, so I don't see how that is "moving the goalposts" (you were the one who said that even with Reach, Renly was a minor player...

But that does not make any sense, strategically. Look at the map: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c9/7c/a1/c97ca1807d68f005ca9049d9a891c1bb.png Reach borders five kingdoms, and has no natural defences. It is also much larger than any single kingdom except for North, and appears to be more...

I am not moving goalposts, I am showing that majority of army at Bitterbridge must have been Tyrell. Also, you missed from your own link that Renly's cavalry was both Storm's End and Reach cavalry. So at best, we cannot know which portion was of what size. But it makes no sense for Stormlands to...

And logistically, that makes no sense. Reach is the most fertile and populous of kingdoms. That can be seen from map alone, but is also stated in the books IIRC. Except it didn't. Portion of cavalry joined Stannis, portion went with Loras. And you clearly missed the part where Stannis'...

1) Cersei was made a queen because Tywin actively made Robert a king. Meanwhile Tyrells "merely" stood out of the way. 2) Sack of Highgarden only happened in that fanfic-that-shall-not-be-named, courtesy of a teleporting army. In books, Tywin and other Lannisters have to tiptoe around Tyrells...

Renly is not head of the family, but a) he is related to Robert (who is former king), b) has support of the Stormlands and c) is a Baratheon. Since Stannis is already married, the only option for Tyrells to get into the royal family is to support Renly, kill off Stannis, and make Renly a king...

That is not actually correct. Renly by his marriage gained allegiance of the Tyrells - which means Reach. And big houses in Westeros are treated pretty much like nation-states: when Starks call, majority of the North mobilizes. When Stannis called, his entire army left to the Wall. Tywin can...

What you listed are basically standing forces. Thing is, Ottomans were able to quickly recruit rather inane numbers of irregular troops - what we would today call bandits. What you call "auxilliaries" were, in fact, professional soldiers modeled on Byzantine pronoia system of land grants (so...

You forgot Ottomans. And Hungarians IIRC put a few times armies of similar size in the field, though they weren't able to do so consistently, unlike the Ottoman Empire. Pretty much, yeah. Though there were militias / draftees in some cases: you had for example Hungarian Militia Portalis, where...

I will note that that idea is not necessarily true: https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/91171-come-into-my-castle-the-ways-of-warfare-in-westeros-updated-and-psa-regarding-troop-quality/ https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/157575-proof-that-westerosi-armies-are-professionals/

As far as movies go, Gondorian plate armour is actually a variation on munitions plate. And rather well-done one, too. So while real reasons behind it lie in, basically, costume department (making molds for plastic plates is much easier than making thousands of plastic rings), it is not that...

I don't recall anybody wearing leather hat for a helmet in LotR. Not even orcs. To me, that seems to be more like typical "Middle Ages were shitty" fare.

Either all or none. But if they were copying LOTR, they did a really shitty job. I mean, Gondorian armour actually looks like munitions plate. I am hard-pressed to find plate armour in GoT that looks like a functional plate armour.

Yeah... whenever you drop a major historical force into Planetos (11th century Byzantine Empire, 15th century Hungary, hell, even 15th century Holy Roman Empire), result appears to be "they conquer everything, everywhere".

What @Bear Ribs said. Rituals developed in part precisely in order to ensure preservation of knowledge, and priests' duty as interpreters of wills of gods meant that they had to, well, understand will of the gods. And that meant understanding the natural processes which were manifestation of...