I especially liked the last part of the quote, and thought it most fitting for Robert. If you want to continue with analogies, Cersei may be Elizabeth Woodville or Margeruite of Anjou, Aerys may be Henry VI (who was also mad, though he was just weak), Eddard may be Richard III (he overthrew Edward V, his nephew, claiming all the king’s sons with Elizabeth Woodville were bastards), Dany might be some sort of Elizabeth I, Jon might be John de la Pole (Richard IIl’s nephew and heir, which especially works if L+R=J) and so forth. I even have comparisons to new characters introduced in ADWD (Lambert Simnel, anyone?).

@Koby

TRUTH!

*Spoilers

Mel was the only one who warned and tried to help Jon survive the wall. She get’s props for that, surely?

I just want to reiterate here, in case you didn’t see the tweets, because of Dance with Dragons we’re taking the week off to give me a chance to catch up and to keep Elena away from a possibly spoilerific week for Game of Thrones.

Thanks guys!

Hmm, I’m not sure how incompetent Robert really is. I do know he is utterly irresponsible and he’s ignoring his job, which is in some ways worse.

I don’t know how long it’s been like this though or what Robert was like back during the time of the GreyJoy rebellion and what steady grind of disappointments lead to his current state. Did he ever do his king job? I don’t know.

At the same time, I can’t help but feel sympathetic to him. When I look at him I see one of the most desperately miserable people in the entire series.

Stannis is actually one of my favorite characters. Maybe he wouldn’t be if we didn’t get to see his heart to hearts with Davos, but the man is so incredibly conflicted and driven, and in his own mind forced to make so many crappy moral choices, that I can’t not be compelled by him.

Not that I’m rooting for him. Oh no. Not unless his worldview undergoes a serious change. But I would cheer if Dany came back and Stannis immediately supported her and ended up living through the story. Which is, I believe, a distinct possibility.

@Drake

I know he has his fans, and he DID save Jon from pretty certain death soo.. I’ll give him a pass.

It’s just that in these books I find characters to be wildly compelling or horrible boring. No in betweens.

@Drake

because being an uptight, teeth-grinding, rule-following prick is cool?

he is responsible for subjecting us all to Melisandre, who despite her magic (boobs..) is also awful and boring.

I never had a problem with Ned’s decision to meet Littlefinger at the brothel. Yes, we know that that one last loose end will be his downfall, and even Ned realizes that it’s a pretty bad idea, but is he really going to just walk away from this mystery? In his own inept way, he’s been chasing down clues for a month or more; the hope of discovering the truth is what compelled him to come all the way to King’s Landing in the first place. His sense of honor and his obligation to Robert also played a part in that decision. But it was the death of his mentor Jon Arryn that really convinced Ned that there was something rotten in the state of Westeros, and only he could fix it. He may have lost all faith in Robert, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to give up on seeking justice for an honorable man whom he loved and admired. Maybe he should have just let it go, but Ned being Ned, that was never going to happen.

i have indeed watched the first season so i do know where ned’s antagonism towards the lannisters gets him.

i still don’t really get ned’s dislike of them. i mean, i know it comes down to their joining with the rebellion late and the back-stabbing way they did it which was an affront to everything that ned believes in, but i kind of like their style. and that’s a really good point about twyin being the one who kept aerys under control and made things prosperous. hadn’t put that connection together yet.

god, you make him sound almost sympathetic. but i just have a low tolerance for incompetence, and so…no. he just annoys me. there were ways around his inability to do the job, and he chose not to take them. realistic, sure, but do i cut him slack? hell no! 🙂

I agree with you, Tywin Lannister would be a far, far better king than Robert ever was (or Ned could have been, for that matter). Actually, if all those years ago the Lannisters had taken the crown (they had no chance, but still), the kingdom would be infinitely better off. Ned noted in one of his first chapters at court that “Aerys had left the treasure full”. That’s a lie. Aerys may have been king, but it was Tywin Lannister (his Hand of the King) who ruled the kingdom for twenty years and gave it peace and prosperity that the common folk still remembers with nostalgia. Ned is too antagonistic towards the Lannisters (while the only Lannister who had a problem with him is Cersei, and later Joffrey), and that’ll cost him and his family (I assume you’ve already watched the entire series?).

He knows he doesn’t measure up and never has and now he’s trapped in a place he doesn’t want to be and his only way out is blocked.