Why do I put geography first in trying to interpret and predict the future of A Song of Ice and Fire?
The simple answer is that coordinating people and events in space (and time) is among the most fundamental parts of writing any narrative.
GRRM created a "world" in which all the events of the ASOIAF books occur, which the fandom has come to call "Planetos." GRRM pays particular attention to issues such as distance, with travel between two locations requiring realistic amounts of time, given the travel technologies available in the books (e.g., walking, horse, sailing, rowing, raven flight). Dani's trek across the desert after the birth of her dragons... Ned Stark's marching south to join the Battle of the Bells... Sam, Gilly, and Maester Aemon's sea voyages... they all take considerable time... in weeks or even months. The time taken to traverse two destinations becomes a huge part of the plot.
Within the world of "Planetos," climate plays a major role as well. We know that the North of Westeros experiences very cold winters (and very cold Others), while more southerly locations seem to be consistently hot -- think of the city of Qarth or continent of Sothyros.
In this blog, I will use geography to demonstrate my theories and predictions. I hope to convince you of the importance of this approach.
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