Talk: Battle of the Blackwater

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Revision as of 23:06, 22 January 2012 by Crackclaw (talk | contribs)
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Strength Estimate

I am not sure that the current estimate of 20k to 86k is correct.

From Catelyn we know that Renly had about 80K troops and 10K more back at highgarden and iirc stannis had 5k and Tywin had 20K + KL defenders, which makes rough ~110k total(minus casualties, both sides sustained prior to their arrival). The part that we are unsure about is how many troops Renly took with him to strom's ends, it seems to me that the current estimate should be higher, otherwise I dont see how Stannis would be in a position to threatened KL after the "lake of fire". a 20-30k estimate sounds far more likely, minus a fifth of Renly's knights who lefter after Renly death should make it a 30k-ish? do we have any additional info/sources that I have missed, from which we can learn more? --Mor 04:04, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Stannis states he has 20,000 men in Davos II. Benethon Stark 04:59, 19 January 2012 (UTC)
He did have that - former Renlys vanguard. Plus his initial host (considering crewmen) - about another 20,000 in total.
He had that in total with him at Storm's End after Renly's vanguard went over. Nearly 5,000 he started with, and presumably a little over 15,000 (4/5ths) of Renly's vanguard. His boat crewmen aren't counted because they weren't used as foot, and their value is counted with their ships. Same for Joffrey's side. Benethon Stark 20:58, 22 January 2012 (UTC)
Further, please sign your comments if you're going to be editing. Renly had 60,000+ men at Bitterbridge, and Tywin Lannister almost 20,000. The two combined and took Stannis in the flank. Benethon Stark 21:00, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps the confusion itself is very consistent with the difficulties historians face in trying to determine the size of battles. Primary sources are often unreliable about strength because of differing motivations. --Crackclaw 23:06, 22 January 2012 (UTC)