176 replies to this topic

[the Remarkable Other]

Definitely Stannis, but I think some of the qualities that make him a good king might make him unpopular. Though he seems to be working on it (he's learned to compromise to some extent etc).

[Free Northman]

Brandon Ice Eyes.

Sorry, but he is my favourite in pretty much any category.

It's like whenever the North is being disrespected it needs to produce a Brandon Ice Eyes to hang the entrails of their enemies from some Heart Trees.

That's the kind of king I'm talking about. Even if he was the King in the North, and not your king on his rusty Iron Throne.

Edited by Free Northman, 24 February 2012 - 04:39 PM.

[Ice Turtle]

Free Northman, on 24 February 2012 - 04:38 PM, said:

Brandon Ice Eyes.

Sorry, but he is my favourite in pretty much any category.

It's like whenever the North is being disrespected it needs to produce a Brandon Ice Eyes to hang the entrails of their enemies from some Heart Trees.

That's the kind of king I'm talking about. Even if he was the King in the North, and not your king on his rusty Iron Throne.

Don't worry the old gods are working on it. Jon, Brando and Arya are pretty dangerous and once they start to work together the South will tremble.

[Winter's Lady]

Mance!
Kicking ass and taking names from the Free Folk! He was able to make them follow his command, despite their very nature that goes against kneeling to anyone.

Stannis is a close second, he is harsh but ultimately just, and he can look past the boundaries of birth and status (see: Davos). The burning people thing is a no no, but he'll come around someday.

[Thunderfist]

Of the names on the list: Stannis

But as others have said, Mance Rayder is a strong contender. The only thing I would have liked him to do differently is to try and treat with the NW before attacking the wall, maybe negotiate something without bloodshed. After the Fist of the First Men, maybe some NW-members might have been willing to listen. Posed like this: "Please let us in and we´ll play nice, behave well and help you guard the wall. If you don´t, you´ll have 50000 wights to deal with instead", the first option might sound good.

[PrinceAdam]

I would say Stannis but the others are or could have been good.

Dany seems to be doing ok despite some bad decisions. Ned was a good Lord and Hand and Robb is a lot like him so he could have been good. Balon seems to be loved and respected by his people.

The others were either not that good or we havent seen much of them.

Edit: oh yeah if Mance counts then he is one of the best.

Edited by PrinceAdam, 24 February 2012 - 05:44 PM.

[Kate Poem]

King Stannis. Because he would do his duty, worked hard, be fair, treated smallfolk and lords equally, listen advice of his trusted men or his faithful Hand.
Robb. He had good intentions.
Mance. He protected his people before Others.

[JKeats]

Signature says it all.

When I first read ACoK all those years ago, I could not have imagined Stannis of all people would end up with such a stalwart following.

[K1NGSLAYER]

Stannis, The other Lords may not like him as much as some of the other's but I think that Stannis would actually be a great King.

[Gurkhal]

I'd also throw in for Stannis.

[Neriwyn]

Thunderfist, on 24 February 2012 - 05:19 PM, said:

But as others have said, Mance Rayder is a strong contender. The only thing I would have liked him to do differently is to try and treat with the NW before attacking the wall, maybe negotiate something without bloodshed. After the Fist of the First Men, maybe some NW-members might have been willing to listen. Posed like this: "Please let us in and we´ll play nice, behave well and help you guard the wall. If you don´t, you´ll have 50000 wights to deal with instead", the first option might sound good.

I'm not very sure they would have listen to him. But I agree Mance is a good king, specially because it is not his birth who brings him to the "throne" but the folk, and if he acted badly they just needed to say "you're not the king-beyond-the-wall" anymore...

I like Stannis as a king, he is fair and wants to be king by duty more than desire. He just need to burn the Red Priestess to be better !

[YoungGriff the Conqueror]

The smallfolk thought Aerys gave them better times so I'll go with Aerys.

[Dacie]

Stannis.
Mance in close second.

[Ramsay's Third Nipple]

None of them are any good.

Only fools fight over land that burns down around them. The true King will be the one to kill the flames.

[Sweet-N-SourRobin]

Ramsay, on 24 February 2012 - 07:14 PM, said:

None of them are any good.

Only fools fight over land that burns down around them. The true King will be the one to kill the flames.

This.  In fact, I'll go one further.  Screw the true King; hereditary monarchy is a really bad system of government.  Just because it's always the law of the land in high fantasy doesn't mean we should automatically be so unquestioningly okay with it there any more than we would be in real life (where we've gotten rid of kings and queens except as figureheads).  Sometimes I think that's part of the theme/message GRRM has in mind with this series, and part of his mission to play with and adhere to fantasy conventions just long enough to set us up and then overturn them. The Rightful King (and just who the heck is that anyway?) sucks just as bad as all the others.

[SerDavosShepherd]

Danny-Has made a lot of poor decisions, and is lucky she has the council around her that she does, Oh and the Dragons help too
Robert-Whored and wasted an absurd amount of money, but still gave Westeros 8 years of peace
Renly-Didn't really do anything, but at least inspired people
Stannis-People don't like him but he takes a hardline and seems the most decent out of the bunch
Balon-Like all of the ironborn He was had too much bloodlust to play the game of thrones
Robb-Probably the greatest Military mind of them all, but got caught thinking with the wrong head and paid the price for it. Also was a strong inspiration considering he was appointed King by great leaders much older and harder than him
Aegon-Hasn't dpne much yet, but i think he has a lot of potential, He knows who he is (blood of the dragon) but has shown some solid moments of bravery
Joffrey-total punka**
Tommen-Maybe one of my favorite characters along with Hot Pie, but doesn't really rule anything. However if he cares for the kingdom like he does his cats Westeros will be well served!
Euron-same spiel i mentioned before about the Ironborn
Beggar King Viserys-Just as bad as Jeoff

I also saw a lot of stuff about "what if's" and "they had a lot of potential" but not a single person included Robert in this category. Robert certainly had his flaws, he mismanaged money and was notoriously unfaithful, but what if he would have been given a chance with his true love (one sided as it may have been) Lyanna, It could have changed him as a person, Having Ned around full time might have made him a better king. And he most certainly wouldn't have become the bitter shadow of himself that life with Cersei forced him to be. He put two Wonderful hand's around him to rule and as i mentioned before he also ruled the realm for the last 8 years of summer, and gave them peace. I think he deserves a lot more credit than he's getting. Especially if we are playing the "what if" game.

Robb certainly had a ton of potential but made a terrible decision based off of "Love" it ended up costing him his life, and the north.

Aegon and Danny both have a lot of potential moving forward, but they can't afford to act their age, Aegon is hotheaded and needs to learn some restraint, Danny should know better than to do the crap she does, but she seems to never learn. She plays the innocent to mock people in court, but then actually goes out and makes those mistakes in real life situations. I'm sure she'll come around however, GRRM certainly loves her, i can't see him hanging her out to dry.

Robb certainly had a ton of potential, but made stupid decision for "love" and it cost him his life, and the North.

Stannis Is a solid king, he isn't a very likable guy but he treats people fairly and has come a long way in being able to make a deal with someone. He has surrounded himself with a wonderful person in Davos, and see's something in Jon. However i think he is making a HUGE mistake in placing full trust in Mel. Her alliance is not with him, but with R'hllor. And as soon as she "see's the flames wrong" it's so long Stannis and hello Azor Ahai (*cough Jon Snow cough*). Although i like him a lot, i can't place someone who i think is deceived on such a massive level clear out in front of this list.

So i'm gonna say Robert and Stannis in a tie. But I'm sure sweet little Dany will trump me in the end.

[The Blind Eye]

I'm going with the animals here: King Jon Snow, he's pragmatic, future minded and doesn't count blood as a determining factor for service and reward.

[Turkey Jack]

Walder_Frey, on 24 February 2012 - 03:50 PM, said:

I think that Stannis would make the best king out of that bunch, and that the person who did the best job ruling the seven kingdoms was Robert.

I think that of any character in the story, Tywin would make the best king, followed only by Tyrion.

Stannis and Tywin would be too hard.

Tyrion has compassion and understanding coupled with intellect and steel.  He considered the good of the common people of KL when he was hand, what they wanted an what was best for them, played the game better than any of his rivals until he was incapacitated and his father wanted him out of the way.  Ruthless when needed to be and capable of spin, Tyrion had all the qualities of a well rounded king.

He also knew the need of the night watch, and if he was regent of a peaceful realm when Joff ascended the throne would have sent as raised an army to defend the wall against the others

[Artos Stark]

Out of those choices it would probably have to go to Robb.

• Robert was a drunk who whored and spend all the realms money.
  
• Dany has he making of a good queen in the future but has made some really terrible decisions and hasn't really been much of a success.
  
• Renly had the makings of a fine King and had he got the chance I think he would have made the best King of all but we all know how that ended.
  
• Balon didn't really do much of anything.
  
• I have no idea who so many people say Stannis.  What exactly has he done in these books to make him a good king?  Stannis assassinated his brother who would have surely destroyed him in battle, he turned to a different religion in the hopes that magic would help him win, he burns people as sacrafices to a God that the people in the Seven Kingdoms don't accept, he took a crushing defeat on the Blackwater and lost most of his army, he lost the Stormlands (he has no chance of returning to Storms End at this time) and Dragonstone, he ran up North and since has been trying to gather whatever army he can.  No one wants to follow Stannis, he inspires no loyalty.  He has been one of the worst kings out of everyone IMO, an absolute disaster.
  
• Euron has had succsess as a raider but honestly I don't see it going any farther than that, I don't believe he will ever get his dragon and so he will likely return to Pike and rule his people from there, never being a threat.
  
• Mance was terrible, all he did was lead his army into slaughter dispite having them outnumbered at least 15 to 1.
  
• Don't really even need to mention Joffery, Tommen or Vaserys

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

I'm going with Stannis. He is a brilliant commander, doesn't quit and he does the right thing. He just needs to get rid of Melisandre.