Economics of Ice & Fire

Großartige Podcast-Serie auf Slate von Matthew Yglesias über die Wirtschaft in Game Of Thrones. Überhaupt: Habt Ihr die Folge vom Wochenende gesehen? Mother of Dragons, fuck yeah! Jedenfalls: Wirtschaft, Drachen und Gold… die dritte Folge des Podcasts bezieht sich halbwegs direkt auf die letzte Folge und den Markt der Drachen. Großartig!

Economics of Ice & Fire I: House Tyrell Is Richer Than House Lannister: „As you watch members of House Lannister and House Tyrell scheme for control over King’s Landing here’s something to keep in mind. The Westeroi conventional wisdom that that the Lannisters are the richest house in the Seven Kingdoms is dead wrong. House Tyrell is number one in all the ways that count.“

Economics of Ice & Fire II: The Lannisters’ Subprime Lending: „A later post will explain why it’s no surprise that the agriculturally oriented Reach supports a larger city than the mining-based Westerlands. But for now let’s consider the other objection, that in addition to its gold mines, House Lannister possesses valuable assets in the form of debts incurred by the Iron Throne.“

Economics of Ice and Fire, Part 3: The Market for Dragons:

There are very few dragon sales happening, so the price of dragons hinges entirely on the idiosyncratic decision-making leading up to a single transaction. Nobody knows what price a dragon would fetch if Daenerys tried to offer it up at a widely publicized auction. What we know (from the books where the transaction is spelled out in more detail) is that Kraznys Mo Nakloz is willing to trade 1,000 Unsullied for the goods carried by the Vhagar, the Meraxes, and the Balerion and to trade 1,000 more for the three ships themselves. But for her plan to work, Daenerys needs to buy all 8,600 Unsullied. Krazynys agrees to sell the whole lot for the three ships, their contents, and a single dragon. Hence a dragon is worth 6,600 Unsullied, a ship is worth 333 Unsullied, and thus a dragon is worth approximately 20 ships.

Spoilers are involved in the details, but from the books we know that Sallador San has at least 29 ships left after the Battle of Blackwater, so in pure financial terms, three dragons does not seem to make House Targaryen all that rich compared to the great houses of Westeros. Certainly, though, it’s valuable property.