I always figured that the continent of Westeros was on a planet that has almost parallel evolution to Earth, but where the seasons last a lot longer. But in the title sequence, it implies that the world is hollow, with the sun in the centre meaning no night at all, but there is. So is the GoT planet like Earth, and the title sequence is simply a stylised belief system?
The opening credits arent meant to be taken literally, they're meant to look odd in a way that grabs the attention of your visual cortex.
If that world were really hollow, the sun would shine all the time, instead of rising and setting.
Well, yes, I mentioned that. But yes, the titles do get your attention, especially considering how the cities are all made out of clockwork constructions and their names appear next to them. Should've thought of that.
I don't think its just a matter of seasons being longer, somehow the seasons completely change. Winter can lasts entire years, or they can be mercifully short according to the show. Maybe its some type of uneven orbit to the sun, or maybe the sun is dying out, causing uneven radiance?
Of course this begs the question how a planting cycle can ever occur, but its a fantasy world, best not to get into that bit.
Planets that orbit two suns have unpredictable seasons, so even though we've only ever seen one, it's possible that there's a star somewhere close enough to affect the seasons. It also might have a really long, elliptical orbit around its sun, which causes uneven seasons. Maybe.
Also, a planet's axial tilt affects the length of seasons. The tilt is caused by the moon, and the larger the moon, the more stable the tilt, and the more stable the seasons. Earth's moon is pretty big (for the size of Earth, anyway), so if Planet X's moon is much smaller, it may be that it wobbles more on its axis, causing the seasons to be a little wonky. Also, we know that, according to myth, there used to be two moons, but that one suffered some cataclysmic event and was destroyed. So that may have caused the seasons to be thrown out of wack as well.
Probably, though, if one wanted to get all scientific about it (and as you said, it IS a fantasy world), it's probably a result of multiple factors. If you have a planet that wobbles significantly on its axis as it travels around its sun in an elliptical orbit and comes close enough to another star to be affected by its gravity, you may end up having some weird seasons that the astronomers of Westeros haven't figured out yet.
Good call. those would be great ways to explain it. It would be interesting to hear if Martin ever actually theorized why his world behaved this way.
shareI've said it before and I'll say it again... Intelligence is so damn sexy!!!!!
shareNope. It's magical. That's why they been in medieval stasis for thousands of years.
sharePretty much. That universe has some sort of tides of magic which affect the very laws of nature. It is implied in the books (and I think mentioned in the show) that dragons may serve as catalysts for magic "high tides". Probably affect the seasons as well.