Fantôme, on 04 May 2012 - 09:15 PM, said:
... Which is a form of comparison. My point is what bothers me is the act of raping/killing/abusing one's younger child brother, not whether it's a smart way to do it.
yeah i don't care. He's not my brother. And the Iron Born all abuse their siblings. As did Robert and Brandon, Cersei, Edmure, Sansa, Joffrey, Gregor, Jamie, The Freys, Tywin. Its a byproduct of heridtary aristocratic government.
"Whichever of my sons inherits the sulta's throne, it behooves him to kill his brothers in the interest of the world order"
-Mehmed II, Sultan: Ottoman Empire
“Never mind that the bell has been rung just once in three hundred years,” Patrek had told Theon the day after, as he shared his father’s cautions and a jug of green-apple wine.
“When my brother stormed Seagard,” Theon said. Lord Jason had slain Rodrik Greyjoy under the walls of the castle, and thrown the ironmen back into the bay. “If your father supposes I bear him some enmity for that, it’s only because he never knew Rodrik.”
“There is no shame in that. A lord must protect his smallfolk. Cruel places breed cruel peoples, Bran, remember that as you deal with these ironmen. Your lord father did what he could to gentle Theon, but I fear it was too little and too late.”
Theon led the way up the stairs. I have climbed these steps a thousand times before. As a boy he would run up; descending, he would take the steps three at a time, leaping. Once he leapt right into Old Nan and knocked her to the floor. That earned him the worst thrashing he ever had at Winterfell, though it was almost tender compared to the beatings his brothers used to give him back on Pyke. He and Robb had fought many a heroic battle on these steps, slashing at one another with wooden swords. Good training, that; it brought home how hard it was to fight your way up a spiral stair against determined opposition. Ser Rodrik liked to say that one good man could hold a hundred, fighting down.