The Boiled Leather Audio Hour

Do the Right Thing: Honor, Morality, and Power in Westeros, Part One - by Sean T. Collins & Stefan Sasse Consider this the All Leather Must Be Boiled Holiday Special: My very first A Song of Ice and Fire podcast! This podcast was the brainchild of Stefan Sasse, whose excellent series of essays on the warring parties in the War of the Five Kings for The Tower of the Hand comprise some of my all-time favorite writing on A Song of Ice and Fire, and who has his own blog dedicated to his re-read of A Dance with Dragons. Stefan and I share a keen interest in moral and ethical issues as they relate to the conduct of war, the use of power, and the role of honor in Westeros, so he suggested we talk some of these things over and record it for posterity. (The BLAH acronym was my idea.) Here’s part one of our discussion, which explores the Westerosi concept of honor, the respective leadership of Eddard Stark and Tywin Lannister, the question of which of the Seven Kingdoms you’d like to live in given the behavior of their leaders, the degree to which Westeros’s honor code pushes for and prolongs war, and more. You can download it by clicking here. It’s about 38 minutes long, so cue that badboy up during your lunchbreak and enjoy. Part two will debut next Monday, and part three the Monday after that. Holiday in Westeros with us!