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Comment by nemo44x | Hacker News Reader

I read it. My point stands - assuming the land the Dothraki roamed is anything like somewhere on Earth is a leap. To suggest there are latitudes or that they are even on a spherical planet is a leap. They have what appears to be great seafaring cultures yet they always have to take what would appear to be the long way if they were in a spherical planet. Would their dragons fly in our physics? They cast steel in fires that couldn’t possibly be hot enough in our physics. There are innumerable examples to suggest their realm is quite unlike ours.

There’s simply no reason to assume Dothraki climate resembles ours.

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Have you read the book or seen the show? GoT is not crazy anything goes fantasy. Weather in GoT follows clear patterns that also happen to be super important for plot.

It is also big on maps and accurate timing of how long it takes to get from place to place. There was even massive complaining when last seasons written by different people failed in that aspect.

There are inaccurate things beyond Dothraki, as described on both this blog and half the internet. But arguing about GoT as if it was Alice in Wonderland crazy fantasy is absurd.

Have read all the books to date and seen the show. There are dragons in it. There is magic in it. There are mystical people and what appears to be spirits and ghosts and witches.

People get badly wounded and yet no one dies of a bacterial infection. There are buildings constructed in ways that our physics wouldn’t support with the assumed materials and tolerances of the assumed period.

There are undead - in fact they are introduced in the prologue of the first book. There is a massive ice wall made by humans in an area that is, as described in the books in permanent winter but yet inhabited by people. And giants. And a few days ride to places that have warm summers. And oh yeah, the seasons last years instead of months and are irregular and unpredictable in length.

But yes, the lands the fictional Dothraki people roamed in should be similar to our grasslands in terms of climate and appropriate garb.

> yet no one dies of a bacterial infection

I have read most of the books (a long time ago now) and I believe this happens at least twice. As well as that, there's a lot of talk about cleaning wounds too, even in field situations (typically with boiled wine - apparently similar to Hippocrates).

"They cast steel in fires that couldn’t possibly be hot enough in our physics."

That's not because of fantasy elements; it's because the author didn't do his research, and instead just went with what he'd seen in countless movies.

The reason to assume that Dothraki climate resembles that of Earth steppe peoples is, as quoted in the essay, because Martin claimed to have based the Dothraki on them. Those Steppe peoples have adapted their clothing and cultures to the climate they live within. If the Dothraki are supposed to resemble these people culturally then their clothing should reflect the climate of Earth's steppe peoples.

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