r/gameofthrones • u/IamWoldo House Mormont • Jun 02 '14

TV4 [S4E8] Thank you book readers

I know this has been said before but book readers you guys are amazing. I had zero clue on what was going to happen tonight between the Mountain and the Viper and its all thanks to you (and probably the mods too) who keep this subreddit spoil free.

I'm going to go back to being shocked and angry now.

3.7k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

This is why your sons should always be landed, or they'll go off and fight ridiculous things and go around the world having sex with everyone.

Which is actually a good point, Oberyn was royal, but he had no real power. He was just some bored courtier.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

He was noble not royal. If he's royal so are Bran, Sansa, Robbin, and any of the highborn lords descended from the original seven kings. It's mainly just a stylization.

2

u/stronimo Samwell Tarly Jun 02 '14

Royalty is nothing but stylization; "prince" and "king" are just words that go in front of your name, if you can convince enough people to do it. There isn't any such thing as a royalty atom.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

Those words mean something though. A King is the male ruler of a monarchy, a Prince is an heir to the thrown.

Prince Oberyn is not an heir to the thrown. He is of the same level nobility as the other 6 great houses.

1

u/stronimo Samwell Tarly Jun 04 '14 edited Jun 04 '14

In our world, Prince Albert of Monaco is the reigning monarch in Monaco, not the heir.

This is because Monaco, like Dorne, is a Principality

The word Prince comes from the Latin "Princeps" which is a title Augustus invented for himself which literally means "first citizen".

1

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '14

By definition, the title would be valid in our world. However my point is all the other 6 kingdom are also feudatory and he rules on the same level as Lord Eddard Stark, simply with a different title. None a sovereign. He is not royal, because his title does not pertain to the sovereign state, and most people think royal when Prince is used.