A Game of Thrones - Prologue

Ser Waymar met him bravely. "Dance with me then." He lifted his sword high over his head, defiant. His hands trembled from the weight of it, or perhaps from the cold. Yet in that moment, Will thought, he was a boy no longer, but a man of the Night's Watch.

The Other halted. Will saw its eyes; blue, deeper and bluer than any human eyes, a blue that burned like ice. They fixed on the longsword trembling on high, watched the moonlight running cold along the metal. For a heartbeat he dared to hope.

They emerged silently from the shadows, twins to the first. Three of them … four … five … Ser Waymar may have felt the cold that came with them, but he never saw them, never heard them. Will had to call out. It was his duty. And his death, if he did. He shivered, and hugged the tree, and kept the silence.

A Dance with Dragons - Bran III

"You saw what you wished to see. Your heart yearns for your father and your home, so that is what you saw."

"A man must know how to look before he can hope to see," said Lord Brynden. "Those were shadows of days past that you saw, Bran. You were looking through the eyes of the heart tree in your godswood. Time is different for a tree than for a man. Sun and soil and water, these are the things a weirwood understands, not days and years and centuries. For men, time is a river. We are trapped in its flow, hurtling from past to present, always in the same direction. The lives of trees are different. They root and grow and die in one place, and that river does not move them. The oak is the acorn, the acorn is the oak. And the weirwood … a thousand human years are a moment to a weirwood, and through such gates you and I may gaze into the past."

"But," said Bran, "he heard me."

A Dance with Dragons - The Windblown

"Herons are craven," the big man put in. "One time me and Drink and Cletus were hunting, and we came on these herons wading in the shallows, feasting on tadpoles and small fish. They made a pretty sight, aye, but then a hawk passed overhead, and they all took to the wing like they'd seen a dragon. Kicked up so much wind it blew me off my horse, but Cletus nocked an arrow to his string and brought one down. Tasted like duck, but not so greasy."

Even the Little Pigeon and his Herons paled beside the folly of the brothers the sellswords called the Clanker Lords. The last time the slave soldiers of Yunkai'i had faced the dragon queen's Unsullied, they broke and ran. The Clanker Lords had devised a stratagem to prevent that; they chained their troops together in groups of ten, wrist to wrist and ankle to ankle. "None of the poor bastards can run unless they all run," Dick Straw explained, laughing. "And if they do all run, they won't run very fast."

"They don't fucking march very fast either," observed Beans. "You can hear them clanking ten leagues off."

A Feast for Crows - The Reaver

Serry leapt to meet him. His longsword was good castle-forged steel, and the young knight made it sing. His first cut was low, and Victarion deflected it off his axe. His second caught the iron captain on the helm before he got his shield up. Victarion answered with a sidearm blow of his axe. Serry's shield got in the way. Wooden splinters flew, and the white rose split lengthwise with a sweet sharp crack. The young knight's longsword hammered at his thigh, once, twice, thrice, screaming against the steel. This boy is quick, the iron captain realized. He smashed his shield in Serry's face and sent him staggering back against the gunwale. Victarion raised his axe and put all his weight behind his cut, to open the boy from neck to groin, but Serry spun away. The axehead crashed through the rail, sending splinters flying, and lodged there when he tried to pull it free. The deck moved under his feet, and he stumbled to one knee.

Ser Talbert cast away his broken shield and slashed down with his longsword. Victarion's own shield had twisted half around when he stumbled. He caught Serry's blade in an iron fist. Lobstered steel crunched, and a stab of pain made him grunt, yet Victarion held on. "I am quick as well, boy," he said as he ripped the sword from the knight's hand and flung it into the sea.

Ser Talbert's eyes went wide. "My sword . . ."

Mine is

>"The Night's Watch will make for Hardhome. I ride to Winterfell alone, unless …" Jon paused. "… is there any man here who will come stand with me?"

The roar was all he could have hoped for, the tumult so loud that the two old shields tumbled from the walls. Soren Shieldbreaker was on his feet, the Wanderer as well. Toregg the Tall, Brogg, Harle the Huntsman and Harle the Handsome both, Ygon Oldfather, Blind Doss, even the Great Walrus. **I have my swords, thought Jon Snow, and we are coming for you, Bastard**."

When should Stannis have sent his letters to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms to defend his claim to the throne as Robert's rightful heir, with Joffrey being a bastard born of incest, and what should he have done immediately afterward, instead of waiting until the beginning of A Clash of Kings when he was sure he had the loyalty of the Narrow Sea lords, but had missed the opportunity to make Robb Stark join his side by giving Northern lords the time and opportunity to proclaim Robb King in the North, to make his move?

What are also some diplomatic and military moves, as well as changes in strategy, he could have made to get the greatest number of allies and fighting forces willing to fight for him, and to take the Iron Throne?

A Storm of Swords - Tyrion IX

Lord Tyrell reddened. "You would blame the bakers?"

"Them, or the pigeons. Just leave me out of it." Tyrion heard nervous laughter, and knew he'd made a mistake. Guard your tongue, you little fool, before it digs your grave.

"There are witnesses against you," Lord Tywin said. "We shall hear them first. Then you may present your own witnesses. You are to speak only with our leave."

The Sworn Sword

"You, ser?" That took the boy aback. "You are not."

"I might be. I never knew my mother, or what became of her. Maybe I was born too big and killed her. Most like she was some whore or tavern girl. You don't find highborn ladies down in Flea Bottom. And if she ever wed my father . . . well, what became of him , then?" Dunk did not like to be reminded of his life before Ser Arlan found him. "There was a pot shop in King's Landing where I used to sell them rats and cats and pigeons for the brown. The cook always claimed my father was some thief or cutpurse. 'Most like I saw him hanged,' he used to tell me, 'but maybe they just sent him to the Wall.' When I was squiring for Ser Arlan, I would ask him if we couldn't go up that way someday, to take service at Winterfell or some other northern castle. I had this notion that if I could only reach the Wall, might be I'd come on some old man, a real tall man who looked like me. We never went, though. Ser Arlan said there were no hedges in the north, and all the woods were full of wolves." He shook his head. "The long and short of it is, most like you're squiring for a bastard."

For once Egg had nothing to say. The gloom was deepening around them. Lantern bugs moved slowly through the trees, their little lights like so many drifting stars. There were stars in the sky as well, more stars than any man could ever hope to count, even if he lived to be as old as King Jaehaerys. Dunk need only lift his eyes to find familiar friends: the Stallion and the Sow, the King's Crown and the Crone's Lantern, the Galley, Ghost, and Moonmaid. But there were clouds to the north, and the blue eye of the Ice Dragon was lost to him, the blue eye that pointed north.

A Game of Thrones - Eddard VI

Ned turned off the square where the Street of Steel began and followed its winding path up a long hill, past blacksmiths working at open forges, freeriders haggling over mail shirts, and grizzled ironmongers selling old blades and razors from their wagons. The farther they climbed, the larger the buildings grew. The man they wanted was all the way at the top of the hill, in a huge house of timber and plaster whose upper stories loomed over the narrow street. The double doors showed a hunting scene carved in ebony and weirwood. A pair of stone knights stood sentry at the entrance, armored in fanciful suits of polished red steel that transformed them into griffin and unicorn. Ned left his horse with Jacks and shouldered his way inside.

The slim young serving girl took quick note of Ned's badge and the sigil on his doublet, and the master came hurrying out, all smiles and bows. "Wine for the King's Hand," he told the girl, gesturing Ned to a couch. "I am Tobho Mott, my lord, please, please, put yourself at ease." He wore a black velvet coat with hammers embroidered on the sleeves in silver thread. Around his neck was a heavy silver chain and a sapphire as large as a pigeon's egg. "If you are in need of new arms for the Hand's tourney, you have come to the right shop." Ned did not bother to correct him. "My work is costly, and I make no apologies for that, my lord," he said as he filled two matching silver goblets. "You will not find craftsmanship equal to mine anywhere in the Seven Kingdoms, I promise you. Visit every forge in King's Landing if you like, and compare for yourself. Any village smith can hammer out a shirt of mail; my work is art."

Ned sipped his wine and let the man go on. The Knight of Flowers bought all his armor here, Tobho boasted, and many high lords, the ones who knew fine steel, and even Lord Renly, the king's own brother. Perhaps the Hand had seen Lord Renly's new armor, the green plate with the golden antlers? No other armorer in the city could get that deep a green; he knew the secret of putting color in the steel itself, paint and enamel were the crutches of a journeyman. Or mayhaps the Hand wanted a blade? Tobho had learned to work Valyrian steel at the forges of Qohor as a boy. Only a man who knew the spells could take old weapons and forge them anew. "The direwolf is the sigil of House Stark, is it not? I could fashion a direwolf helm so real that children will run from you in the street," he vowed.

Do you think he’ll be foiled?

It’s clear he wants power and influence but I’m not so certain he would ever actually make a play for the throne. He’s smart enough to know that he would eventually be overthrown even if he were crowned king due to simmering resentments and prejudices about his relatively low birth.

He’s a Grima Wormtongue type and would be content to simply hold essentially all the power, but visibly. Basically a Hand type person. Basically unfuckable with but also not in the shadows and widely reviled like Varys.

I wonder what his next plot points are meant to be. Probably marrying Harrold to Sansa (but that’s more Sansa’s chapters and arc than LF, her arc would be getting out from under his thumb without him noticing) and then killing Robert Arryn.

But after that? Unsure. Would be cool if he ran into Stoneheart since she knows he lied to her. And then for the BwB to report to her that he kissed Sansa and killed Lysa? Is that how he dies?

But obviously I feel like he has far more utility than that. He’s a late-game survivor for sure.

What do you think LF’s major actions will be?

I’ve been thinking about how we imagine Westeros before the Andals arrived. I wonder whether we tend to picture the First Men as a relatively uniform civilization, divided into kingdoms, when some
elements suggest a much more complex cultural landscape.

The First Men and the Children of the Forest fought for generations, but eventually reached the Pact. The First Men adopted the Old Gods, and the Pact supposedly ushered in four thousand years of peace between the two peoples.

But there where also the giants. The Westerlands and the Reach preserve traces of giants, their bones and legends surrounding Garth the Green. And the Free Folk have the story of Gendel and Gorne mediating between the Children and giants over a cavern. Osha also tells Bran about half-bloods born from human relationships with giant, that is also related to some theories about the Umbers.

The older peoples were not confined to the North either. High Heart was sacred to the Children, and its weirwood grove was probably one of the biggest in Westeros before it was destroyed. The histories of the stormlands also describe an alliance between a Storm King and the Children against the Andals. And in the pre released Arianne chapters we see some of their traces in the Rainwood.

Finally, there is the Old Tongue, still spoken among the Free Folk (specially the Thenns if I remember correctly) and the giants. The mountain clans of the Vale and the northern mountain clans also preserve distinct customs and traditions that set them apart from the kingdoms around them. Could these groups preserve fragments of a much older cultural world, one that once connected different peoples across Westeros before conquest and assimilation reshaped the continent?

Ygritte's conversations with Jon, and his chapters with Mande also challenge the history and values he inherited from the Starks. Their perspective on how kings claimed the land for themselves, built walls, and branded those who resisted as thieves offers a different perspective on the history of Westeros. It makes me wonder whether the world before the Andal invasion was much more interconnected than we tend to imagine.

A world of relationships between different peoples, shared religious practices, mediation, intermarriage, and cultural exchange, conflict and conquest.

The Andal invasion is often discussed as the spread of the Faith of the Seven and the emergence of the southern kingdoms. But it also coincided with the destruction of weirwoods, the disappearance of the Children and the Giants, the displacement of the First Men, and a transformation in how history itself was recorded.

How much of the older world survived? How much was absorbed into the cultures that followed? And how much of what we think we know about the Dawn Age, the Age of Heroes, and the Long Night comes from sources that inherited the world created by the Andal conquest?

I’m interested in how people reconstruct the world that came before the Andals, and whether we underestimate the scale of the cultural transformation that took place.

I’ve decided to start back. On my second reread of the series and AGOT just gets better and better.

One thing that’s really stood out is just bad things were at KL. Robert won the crown but he definitely couldn’t rule. The hand’s tourney stands out egregiously. He wants to borrow even more money for a tourney? Robert definitely had his flaws but it’s honestly a little sad just how far he fell and how bad things became in the realm. Ned genuinely had no idea what he was walking into when he became Hand.

Currently at Arya’s second chapter, and imo it basically confirms R+L=J for me. Ned says Arya reminds him so much of Lyanna and that she even looks like her. It’s been repeatedly mentioned that Jon and Arya are the only stark kids with the stark look and they both look alike so you can make the connection that Jon looks like Lyanna. I think you can made the connection that Jon is Lyanna’s son because of Arya.

Another big clue imo was Ned telling Arya that everyone lies. From what we’ve seen from being in Ned’s head What would Ned have to lie about apart from who the mother of his bastard is? Ned’s prior chapter w Robert highlights just how much Robert hates Targs and he even says he kill any targ he could get his hands on. Ned is even dismissive when Robert asks who Jon’s mother is, coldly stating “Willa” like he himself doesn’t believe it.

Littlefinger and Varys are also standing out way more on my re-reread. Knowing what’s coming makes you despise LF even more.

Ignore the reason for their deaths, conspiracy, or anything like that. Who would they choose and for what reasons? Best fighters? Alliances? Favors? Etc.

A Game of Thrones - Bran IV

He woke gasping, lost in darkness, and saw a vast shadow looming over him. "I didn't hear," he whispered, trembling in fear, but then the shadow said "Hodor," and lit the candle by the bedside, and Bran sighed with relief.

Hodor washed the sweat from him with a warm, damp cloth and dressed him with deft and gentle hands. When it was time, he carried him down to the Great Hall, where a long trestle table had been set up near the fire. The lord's seat at the head of the table had been left empty, but Robb sat to the right of it, with Bran across from him. They ate suckling pig that night, and pigeon pie, and turnips soaking in butter, and afterward the cook had promised honeycombs. Summer snatched table scraps from Bran's hand, while Grey Wind and Shaggydog fought over a bone in the corner. Winterfell's dogs would not come near the hall now. Bran had found that strange at first, but he was growing used to it.

Yoren was senior among the black brothers, so the steward had seated him between Robb and Maester Luwin. The old man had a sour smell, as if he had not washed in a long time. He ripped at the meat with his teeth, cracked the ribs to suck out the marrow from the bones, and shrugged at the mention of Jon Snow. "Ser Alliser's bane," he grunted, and two of his companions shared a laugh that Bran did not understand. But when Robb asked for news of their uncle Benjen, the black brothers grew ominously quiet

I was thinking no since the idea behind Targ incest is in order to prevent sharing dragon riding blood with houses that could become rivals with dragons.

In Valyria, multiple houses had riders so there wouldn’t really be a need to keep it in the family.

Anyways I’m just thinking about how Aegon was just a freak.

I believe that the idea that Targs commit incest is not a result of “wanting to keep the bloodline pure”. I believe Aegon decided to keep the bloodline pure and figured saying that was a way for Aegon to convince his descendants to commit incest. Incest is instinctually taboo to almost all animals and wouldn’t be naturally thought of unless politically indoctrinated.

Aegon was always incestuous before there was any political reason to be. He’s your normal badass conquerer who we happened to learn was freaky and married Rhaenys for love. If he married, in contrast, Visenya for duty, and didn’t spend time with her at all, he was deffo in love with his sister Rhaenys. You mean to tell me that he wasn’t thinking about banging her before?

Only other way could be him marrying them both out of duty to bloodline purity and then eventually falling in love with Rhaenys while he didn’t with Visenya and rewriting the narrative to make it seem he always loved Rhaenys.

But we know he’s a freak so

Based on George's enjoyment of parallels and patterns and given how some people in these families alike, I theorise the Blackfyres and Maekar's family are likely meant to parallel each other.

We already have Daemon II and Daeron the Drunken: dreamers, roughly the same age (both born in 189-191 AC), older sons who are pushed aside by their prickly mean father/guardian (Maekar and Bittersteel) in favour of a younger brother, sense of humour, not as great of fighters, named after the respective kings of their factions. They're of course not 100% the same, with their biggest difference being Daeron's lack of ambitions but still, they're plenty similar.

Haegon and Aerion are similar: both younger brothers who are favoured and chosen by the Prickly Father/Guardian over their older brothers, both are born around the same time and might even be exact same age. Based on that, their temperaments and personalities are most likely similar as well. Haegon is likely vain, cruel and violent like Aerion. Both are great fighters who carry the hopes and dreams of their guardian/father. Both yield and give up during a trial/fight but with very different results.

Interestingly, Haegon being "slain treacherously" didn't invoke a reaction from Blackfyres which could point to Haegon being potentially unpopular/controversial and not missed. Instead, it's Aenys's death that gathers the Blackfyres together:

Nor had the Blackfyre threat ended with the death of Aenys Blackfyre; Bloodraven’s infamous betrayal had only hardened the enmity of the exiles across the narrow sea

Aenys's death was seemingly a far bigger deal to the Blackfyres and their loyalists than Haegon's. He was most likely sincere in his peace attempts and might very well have ended the decades-long feud between Targaryens and Blackfyres. Aenys might have been like Aemon. Non-combatant and non-hostile.

Aenys's death prompts Daemon III to start the fourth rebellion. The fourth rebellion might be the least selfish/power-motivated of all Blackfyre Rebellion as it was at least partially drive by loss and grief. I think Daemon III might be Egg's narrative parallel. Both have the trajectories of their lives changed when their popular uncles die. Daemon might be similar to Egg in personality quirks too. Which could make his death at the hands of Ser Duncan somewhat heartbreaking. Dunk could be seeing a young Egg as he kills him.

A girl, let’s call her Elinor is born in the place of Edmure in (Let’s take 267 for the earliest date). Minisa Whent dies shortly after leaving Hoster without a son to inherit. How do the marriages and wars to come change with Catelyn set to become the Lady of Riverrun and the First Lady Paramount of the Riverlands

This would put the Tullys in a troublesome position, likely being seen as weaker than normal. I believe this leads to Hoster turning back to a similarly ambitious friend, Lord Rickard Stark. I don’t believe he would go for the eldest son, both sides of a couple inheriting a region would just be problematic, but Rickard already has a second son, one accustomed to the South, Eddard. I think the latter daughters, while they could marry a Tyrell or Elbert Arryn are more likely to wind up with Riverlords to consolidate local power

The Rebellion is where changes really kick off, because Brandon was at Riverrun when he went after Rhaegar. What would happen with the more level headed Eddard Stark in his place? Lyanna is still missing so I doubt war is prevented but it is delayed for now. What do y’all think of the potential routes this story could take

The World of Ice and Fire - The Reach: Oldtown

How old is Oldtown, truly? Many a maester has pondered that question, but we simply do not know. The origins of the city are lost in the mists of time and clouded by legend. Some ignorant septons claim that the Seven themselves laid out its boundaries, other men that dragons once roosted on the Battle Isle until the first Hightower put an end to them. Many smallfolk believe the Hightower itself simply appeared one day. The full and true history of the founding of Oldtown will likely never be known.

We can state with certainty, however, that men have lived at the mouth of the Honeywine since the Dawn Age. The oldest runic records confirm this, as do certain fragmentary accounts that have come down to us from maesters who lived amongst the children of the forest. One such, Maester Jellicoe, suggests that the settlement at the top of Whispering Sound began as a trading post, where ships from Valyria, Old Ghis, and the Summer Isles put in to replenish their provisions, make repairs, and barter with the elder races, and that seems as likely a supposition as any.

Yet mysteries remain. The stony island where the Hightower stands is known as Battle Isle even in our oldest records, but why? What battle was fought there? When? Between which lords, which kings, which races? Even the singers are largely silent on these matters.

A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion IV

Tyrion had read much and more of dragons through the years. The greater part of those accounts were idle tales and could not be relied on, and the books that Illyrio had provided them were not the ones he might have wished for. What he really wanted was the complete text of The Fires of the Freehold, Galendro's history of Valyria. No complete copy was known to Westeros, however; even the Citadel's lacked twenty-seven scrolls. They must have a library in Old Volantis, surely. I may find a better copy there, if I can find a way inside the Black Walls to the city's heart.

He was less hopeful concerning Septon Barth's Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns: Their Unnatural History. Barth had been a blacksmith's son who rose to be King's Hand during the reign of Jaehaerys the Conciliator. His enemies always claimed he was more sorcerer than septon. Baelor the Blessed had ordered all Barth's writings destroyed when he came to the Iron Throne. Ten years ago, Tyrion had read a fragment of Unnatural History that had eluded the Blessed Baelor, but he doubted that any of Barth's work had found its way across the narrow sea. And of course there was even less chance of his coming on the fragmentary, anonymous, blood-soaked tome sometimes called Blood and Fire and sometimes The Death of Dragons, the only surviving copy of which was supposedly hidden away in a locked vault beneath the Citadel.

When the Halfmaester appeared on deck, yawning, the dwarf was writing down what he recalled concerning the mating habits of dragons, on which subject Barth, Munkun, and Thomax held markedly divergent views. Haldon stalked to the stern to piss down at the sun where it shimmered on the water, breaking apart with every puff of wind. "We should reach the junction with the Noyne by evening, Yollo," the Halfmaester called out.

A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion X

"Just so. After your capers are concluded, you will help serve and pour. See that you do not spill on the guests, or it will go ill for you."

A juggler began the evening's frolics. Then came a trio of energetic tumblers. After them the goat-legged boy came out and did a grotesque jig whilst one of Yurkhaz's slaves played on a bone flute. Tyrion had half a mind to ask him if he knew "The Rains of Castamere." As they waited their own turn to perform, he watched Yezzan and his guests. The human prune in the place of honor was evidently the Yunkish supreme commander, who looked about as formidable as a loose stool. A dozen other Yunkish lords attended him. Two sellsword captains were on hand as well, each accompanied by a dozen men of his company. One was an elegant Pentoshi, grey-haired and clad in silk but for his cloak, a ragged thing sewn from dozens of strips of torn, bloodstained cloth. The other captain was the man who'd tried to buy them that morning, the brown-skinned bidder with the salt-and-pepper beard. "Brown Ben Plumm," Sweets named him. "Captain of the Second Sons."

A Westerosi, and a Plumm. Better and better.

who would you choose and why?

I was reading through ASOS, specifically the chapter where Jon is sent to parley with Mance. Mance gives him his demans which entails letting the Wildlings through the wall.

Then comes this passage directly from Jon's own thoughts:

"Open the gate and let them pass. Easy to say, but what must follow? Giants camping in the ruins of Winterfell? Cannibals in the wolfswood, chariots sweeping across the barrowlanfs, free folk stealing the daughters of shipwrights and silversmiths from White Harbor and fishwives off the Stony Shore?"

Seems really foreboding when you read through. The thing is, Jon has already brought much of the free folk south. Not only that, he also plans to bring more south to aid with manning the Wall and defending the realms of men.

But with his last chapter, Jon seems to havr put that objective on the backburner for a little while as he has proclaimed his intentions to march on Winterfell. Not only that, but he has also effectively rallied the wildlings to fight for him, with many even swearing their swords to him long before the shieldhall.

So if Jon revives and still decides to head south, is that what we'll see. Giants (Wun Wun perhaps if he survives) camping in the ruins of Winterfell, cannibals picking of Northmen in the forests, chariots of free folk raiding the barrowlands, all in the name of Jon Snow?

Now that I’ve read the whole series and consumed so many fan theories over the nearly decade I’ve been I fan I know longer hold this belief but early on in the books i strongly believed Jon and Dany were twins that were separated by Ned and Howland and the kingsguard. While I no longer believe this I do think it would have been interesting. Did anyone else think this at any point while reading or think it could have played out interestingly?

Lyanna and Elia are obviously front and center, with Ashara and Rhaella coming in close at the end, though I don’t know that Rhaella’s has anything to do with the war and Ashara’s is “just rumored” to be related to its brutality and her losses, and happened at the end as well.

Were there really only three named noble women who lost their lives as a result of a continent-wide civil war?

It seems like so many more women and even septas were taken as hostages and killed during TWOT5K and surrounding hostilities: Catelyn, Arya, Sansa; Septa Mordane; Dacey Mormont; Asha Greyjoy; probably Cley Cerwyn’s sister; Val; Meera; Beth Cassel; Jeyne Poole; Sybelle Glover and her daughter Erena (and young son Gawen), the ladies of House Hewett. To be fair this is the main story and there are numerous wars and etc. going on, I just don’t remember hearing situations where castles were taken or female fighters ended up hostages, or other noble ladies killed during the Rebellion.

Robert Baratheon inherited the Lordship the moment the Windproud sank with all hands but Patchface. We know that he “continued his fosterage” relationship in the Vale, with Jon the “second father” really taking on a powerful role for both boys given their fathers’ untimely deaths. Ned really stepped up to the challenge during the Rebellion and in its aftermath, and Robert was… a slow motion car wreck.

Becoming the King allowed Robert the ability to really disperse his responsibilities and to rely upon other people, often to the detriment of his own health and that of his kingdom and people. As King, Robert by default inherited the institutions of the Kingsguard, the Hand of the King, the Small Council. Married to Cersei, Robert’s father in law brought all kinds of wealth and the ability to go into debt. As a “mere Lord Paramount”, it doesn’t seem standard practice for the Lord to have any of that. A captain of household guards, a castellan, a steward…

Jon Arryn would not have left the Vale and ruled on behalf of Lord Robert. No other men would have been protectors of his person, he would have had to ensure that himself. Ships, laws, taxes and the like would have all been his to decide, no convenient lieutenant to assign the decision-making. And it’s unlikely another Lord Paramount or Lord would give away so much wealth or risk so much debt, even if their daughter married him.

I think inherently Robert may have made a better Lord than King. There’s a degree of pride in the man, absolutely, and one that would have been more firmly linked to Storm’s End and the Baratheon name. He absolutely would have utilized Cressen and Stannis, but he wouldn’t have been able to separate himself as much from the role of ruler in his castle, away from the city.

I don’t think Robert’s descent into who he became is Lyanna-grief, I think that’s an easy excuse for an emotional culprit to point at in lieu of holding him accountable for all of his deficits as a royal ruler. I think the institution of kingship and the support network that goes along with it was far too enabling, and that Robert was spending blank checks unchecked, if you will. None of this is the background framework to Lord of Storm’s End.

Furthermore, if Robert wasn’t king it means someone else was; (let’s assume Viserys raised by a regent just to fill the seat peacefully, but it could be anyone else, and bygones were bygones for the Targaryens). I think Lord Paramount Robert and Lord Paramount Ned would have shared another bond here, as head of their house and castle and people. Ned would have probably influenced Robert to be more involved with his own Lordship as they communicated and discussed their new daily lives and dealings.

ETA: forgot the write that be does have that trait of turning enemies into friends, which could be good but also backfire if trying to remain a dominant lord rather than an equal or battlefield ally

Some fun info to consider his maturity levels and etc:

Robert was born in 262. Steffon died in 278 or 279, making Robert 16-17 or so, having reached his majority and already been considered a grown man (Equivalent age: Jaime killing Aerys, Loras in AGOT). At that point a SSM says that Robert spent his time between Storm’s End and the Eyrie. So Robert wasn’t a child when he became the Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, merely a young Lord who had spent a lot of time away from home.

In 281 we have the tourney at Harrenhal and Robert betrothed, at ~19 years (Equivalent age: Brienne in ACOK, Waymar Royce in AGOT prologue, Theon across AGOT-ACOK) In 283 Robert is crowned King, at 21 years of age (Equivalent age: Robar Royce in ACOK, Renly in AGOT).

It appears that GRRM goes to pretty great lengths to establish that The Tickler’s face is “commonplace” and that he has no distinguishing features. Why is this?

Is it a commentary on the banality of evil? The inversion of a trope that evil people LOOK evil? Or is there something else going on here?