Ironrath's location and Gared
Since Ironrath has never been officially mapped by George R.R. Martin, I decided to research this myself out of boredom. Based on the game's intro, it appears to be even further north of the Wolfswood and east of Bear Island.
My question is:
How did Gared manage to get from the Twins to Ironrath in a matter of days, seemingly on foot and with an injured thigh?
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But we don't know the time difference between Gared escaping The Twins and meeting the soldiers/getting his leg stabbed. He could have walked most of the distance by then, and assuming by the Forrester's reactions to his return they all thought he was dead because he hadn't been seen for days/weeks since the Red Wedding.
It takes a month to get from King's Landing to Winterfell on horseback riding at average speed. Walking from the Twins to Ironrath covers roughly the same distance, so it would take over a month minimum for Gared to reach his destination on foot.
This all takes place before Joffrey and Margaery's wedding too, so the timetable can't be that extensive.
Edit: I also remember the show mentioning that the wedding was a fortnight away at the end of S3. (That's two weeks.)
The wedding was a fortnight but the killing was in the last night... so it doesn't matter how long a wedding takes if you wanna know how long it takes to reach Ironrath from the Twins (ain't that obvious?).
Also, Moat Cailin was taken by Victarion at that time (I didn't watch the 3rd Season of the show so Im not sure), so Gared couldn't just get past it.
Perhaps he took a boat, the same way Roose Bolton got back to the Dreadfort. Moat Calin was necessary for getting his army through the neck but I assume Gared would have to hire a boat at Seagard
He was travelling through the Kingsroad right before reaching Ironrath, but he may have made most of the advance before that through the White Knife. Or he may have reached Greywater Watch and got help from the crannogmen.
My point is that the game begins at the end of S3E9 and is currently taking place before the wedding, which all happens in a span of a couple weeks.
Roose Bolton was back in the Dreadfort at the start of S04E02 just before the royal wedding. I agree 2 weeks seems too short but obviously he was at the RW and took a boat, presumably from Seagard which is slightly southwest of the Twins, so if he made it in 2 weeks then ill give Telltale the benefit of the doubt. That said he shouldn't need the Kingsroad travelling by sea
He had a horse?
Nope.
Also since the game is based on the HBO series, teleportation is a thing in that version of Westeros. Melisandre teleported to the riverlands in season 3 and Littlefinger teleported from Kings Landing to Renlys camp in season 2
Melisandre traveled to the Riverlands by boat and the show covered that during her beach scene with Stannis an episode or two prior. As far as Littlefinger goes, he disappeared for a few episodes and Renly was at Storm's End, which is a short ship ride below King's Landing.
Your move.
Haha well Littlefinger then manages to teleport from Storms End to Harrenhal in the same episode (e05) and followers of R'hllor must be able to locate one another through telepathic GPS for Mel to find Thoros in the space of an episode. I suppose it's somewhat plausable. My point remains about Gared using the same method as Roose, who made it back to the Dreadfort before the wedding, boats are quick in Westeros
And they say words are wind...
Based on what I found, I can only assume that TTG got the location of Ironrath in the introduction wrong, if only slightly.
It's been stated that Ironrath lies 'on the edge of the Wolfswood'. Seeing as how there's little to none trees in that area, I don't think that area can be called the Wolfswood. In which case it would be moved a little more south, which would place it closer to Deepwood Motte (the seat of House Glover, their bannerman, which is based deep in the Wolfswood making it more realistic), Winterfell, and to the Kings Road, which makes it a little more forgiving. But looking at another map, I found something else that might incriminate the location of Ironrath.
I remember in Ethans story, the maester told Ethan that a Forrester lord 'seized back the river valley from the Whitehills'. I don't know how significant the rivers in this map are, but if that's the case surely it's possible that Ironrath would be closer to Cerwyn than Winterfell? It's also close to the Kings Road so it doesn't violate that part.
One thing I do agree with though is the distance in which Gared travelled, which I find ridiculous that he could've done it in a few days. Even if you argue that it's further south and close to Winterfell, it's still a strong distance to travel and to reach in such a small time. In the show, a certain someone after the Red Wedding spends a whole season travelling from The Twins to The Bloody Gate, with some of it even on horse. In the second map, you can't even see The Twins it's that far away. Let's not even start with how Gared got around the Ironborn occupations, meaning that Gared had to take a few detours in order to avoid occupied areas like Moat Cailin.
I guess you caught them naked, since it is indeed impossible to walk that distance in presumably one week.
But he was not injured while walking the kingsroad. He get's injured on the pig-farm of his father which is very next to Ironrath since his father is a subject to the Forresters and their territory ain't big.
The game also can't play near the Wolfswood. The Whitehills are directly sworn to the boltons for 500 years but the Forresters were (directly) sworn to Winterfell. So their territories need to have a border between the zones of influence of this two houses. The Dreatfort however lies east to Winterfell. Furthermore the kingsroad plays an important role in the game but isn't anywhere near the Wolfswood. The only place that would make sense with this setting is in the woods near the "long lake" on the map above.
Except it's been officially stated that House Forrester is based in the Wolfswood.
http://www.telltalegames.com/blog/86265/your-story-begins-first-details-on-game-of-thrones-a-telltale-games-series
It's about the 3rd paragraph in, just above the picture of Ironrath. It also says that they are bannermen of House Glover, which is a house based deep in the Wolfswood. I suppose it could be based in that small forest around the Long Lake, but surely that would be a different forest entirely?
The plot helped him.
If you watch the title sequence Ironrath is to the south of the peninsula in the Sea of Ice south of Bear Island(which for some reason isn't there). That should place it south west of Deepwood Motte.
I think I mapped it correctly. It doesn't appear to be anywhere near the Wolfswood and is surrounded by mountainous terrain.
And even if the intro is incorrect, Gared getting to Ironrath in a couple of weeks is still implausible.
Edit: Upon further inspection, the intro map is all over the place and it could possibly be in the northernmost region of the Wolfswood. If you watch the map zoom out after showing Ironrath, you can see Blazewater Bay and Torrhen's Square south of it, which means that it could even be directly southeast of Bear Island.
0:50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL0BuKoLDYk
yeah, I know. But the location is implausible.
why is the Forrester territory linked to the kings road?
why is the Forrester territory linked to Whitehill-territory, when the Whitehills are century old bannerman to the dreatfort which is somewhere else?
The location of Ironrath makes no sense @ all.
The river valley is probably a valley west to White Knife's upper area, the one above Winterfell and that connects Lonely Hills with Wolfswood. In terms of being geographically closer to a certain noble house and not having that much to do with it, that's entirely realistic and common. Deepwood Motte controls all the Wolfswood, and Forresters' Ironwood culture and knowledge is needed by the Glovers, therefore they naturally form a centuries-aged alliance. House Cerwyn appears to be more connected to the Borrowlands rather than the Wolfwoods, so, House Forrester being close to either White Knife's borders in north of Winterfell or west to Deepwood Motte or even south to WInterfell and closer to Castle Cerwyn doesn't really change anything that Maester Ortengryn said in regards of the river valley thing. He could even have been a Lord Forrester from before the Lord that built Ironrath, since Whitehill/Forrester's rivarly are ages old to the point of being senseless... and House Forrester's history is divided by when a lord built Ironrath and before that (which is highly unknown nowadays).
A wizard did it.
For real though, it's not because we see Garred go in a forest that he's already out of the Starks "camp", there might have been horses a few dozen meters away that we didn't see, he took one, lost it sometime before he was at home due to not being able to feed it much or something.
If they really want to find something to explain they will, as unrealistic as it'll sound.
Oh, and also, "average" speed it something you'd have to think upon. What exactly is average speed ? Most of the time it's just horse-walking speed. In the books at the beginning Robert just decides to run at full course because he's bored of things going that slow, because there are people that can't really use horses that well with him (Cersei etc...).
So if it takes a month at this kind of speed, ~2 weeks shouldn't be totally unrealistic.
Although it'd really be far-fetched and kind of an asspull, but hey, like I said, if they really want to find a reason/explanation they'll find one.
He definitely had a horse.
The Lord of Light's fire burns bright in the hearts of his chosen, granting them ability to reach their destinations at ease. Distance is no obstacle for the servants of R'hllor.
Seriously though, I don't know, this thread confused me, I don't think it should matter as much, games are for fun, don't overcomplicate things :P. But most of what you said seems to be right.