Apple Magazine - Issue 389 (2019-04-12)

(Antfer) #1

Thanks to her feeble cousin Robin Arryn, the
Knights of the Vale are under her command.
Her troops are the freshest and arguably best
provisioned, given the Vale’s rich soil that
provides for wheat, corn, barley and enviously
large pumpkins.


Her rivals have suffered the destruction of their
farmland and the depletion of their armies after
years of warfare and the occasional scorched-
earth dragon attack.


“I think it was Napoleon who said an army
marches on its stomach,” Wright said.


Not everyone, however, is convinced that Sansa
will rule.


The betting markets have picked Bran Stark, her
mystical and disabled brother.


He might also seem like an unexpected pick.
Bran has the ability to journey through time.
This gives him an oracular power, but it has
extinguished his former emotional warmth for
cold prophecies. He seems too detached from
humanity to sit on the Iron Throne or establish
the personal connections that a ruler would
need to rally a weary populace.


But to economists, his popularity on the betting
markets matters a lot.


The market is the closest thing the public has to
a three-eyed raven. It can forecast the future by
distilling the wisdom of the crowds. The stock
and bond markets do this daily.


He has no charisma and can’t fight, and the
show suggested last season that he’s no longer
even a Stark. But Boyle Sports gives him 4/5
odds. He’s the top pick on Bovada, too. And on
Oddschecker. And Gambling.com.

Free download pdf