Table of Contents

Foreword Elio M. Garcia Linda Antonsson ix

A Raven From House Wiley: Editor's Note on Spoilers xiii

Acknowledgments: How I Was Spared from Having to Take the Black xv

Introduction: So What if Winter Is Coining? Henry Jacoby 1

Part 1 "You Win or You Die"

1 Maester Hobbes Goes to King's Landing Greg Littmann 5

2 It Is a Great Crime to Lie to a King Don Fallis 19

3 Playing the Game of Thrones: Some Lessons from Machiavelli Marcus Schulzke 33

4 The War in Westeros and Just War Theory Richard H. Corrigan 49

Part 2 "The Things I Do For Love"

5 Winter Is Coming!: The Bleak Quest for Happiness in Westeros Eric J. Silverman 63

6 The Death of Lord Stark: The Perils of Idealism David Hahn 75

7 Lord Eddard Stark, Queen Cersei Lannister: Moral Judgments from Different Perspectives Albert J. J. Anglberger Alexander Hieke 87

8 It Would Be a Mercy: Choosing Life or Death in Westeros and Beyond the Narrow Sea Matthew Tedesco 99

Part 3 "Winter is Coming"

9 Wargs, Wights, and Wolves That Are Dire: Mind and Metaphysics, Westeros Style Henry Jacoby 115

10 Magic, Science, and Metaphysics in A Game of Thrones Edward Cox 129

11 "You Know Nothing, Jon Snow": Epistemic Humility Beyond the Wall Abraham P. Schwab 142

12 "Why Is the World So Full of Injustice?": Gods and the Problem of Evil Jaron Daniël Schoone 154

Part 4 "The Man Who Passes the Sentence Should Swing the Sword"

13 Why Should Joffrey Be Moral If He Has Already Won the Game of Thrones? Daniel Haas 169

14 The Moral Luck of Tyrion Lannister Christopher Robichaud 183

15 Dany's Encounter with the Wild: Cultural Relativism in A Game of Thrones Katherine Tullman 194

16 "There Are No True Knights": The Injustice of Chivalry Stacey Goguen 205

Part 5 "Stick them with the Pointy End"

17 Fate, Freedom, and Authenticity in A Game of Thrones Michael J. Sigrist 223

18 No One Dances the Water Dance Henry Jacoby 236

19 The Things I Do For Love: Sex, Lies, and Game Theory R. Shannon Duval 250

20 Stop the Madness!: Knowledge, Power, and Insanity in A Song of Ice and Fire Chad William Timm 264

Contributors: The Learned Lords and Ladies from beyond the Seven Kingdoms 279

Index: From the Archives at Oldtown 287