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Best military commanders in A Song of Ice and Fire


dornishprince

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Jon snow is up there. Jon con is up there. Robb definitely is. Tywin is good but I think a bit over rated bus is definitely one of the best in westeros. Ned was one of the best; I truly believe he was most of the brains behind bob's bellion despite no direct quote saying so and probably did more than tully and Aaron and way more than big bobby himself. Euron is good. Stannis is pretty good. Theon actually came up with some great ideas but let his own stupidity stop him. Randal tarly is considered one of the best soldiers in westeros but I do no think that makes him a great commander but we can count him

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While Randyll is no doubt competent in the extreme, going by what weve seen of him i dont think he can be the best in Westeros. Its silly to put him above others when we know of only two battles hes won-one against Robert, and won inconclusively, and one where the enemy was sent into a trap by their high commander. Not bad but not excellent

Robb would likely have been the best had he had time to fight more battles. However, for his flexibility Stannis is likely the best. So my list would be:

Stannis

Robb

Ned

Robert

Tywin

Randyll

Jaime

Theres loads of threads on this if anyone wants to see more in detail analysis

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Stannis. Here is a list of his accomplishments from the man himself.

Stannis bristled at that. "I defeated your uncle Victarion and his Iron Fleet off Fair Isle, the first time your father crowned himself. I held Storm's End against the power of the Reach for a year, and took Dragonstone from the Targaryens. I smashed Mance Rayder at the Wall, though he had twenty times my numbers. Tell me, turncloak, what battles has the Bastard of Bolton ever won that I should fear him?"

While Randyll is no doubt competent in the extreme, going by what weve seen of him i dont think he can be the best in Westeros. Its silly to put him above others when we know of only two battles hes won-one against Robert, and won inconclusively, and one where the enemy was sent into a trap by their high commander. Not bad but not excellent

Robb would likely have been the best had he had time to fight more battles. However, for his flexibility Stannis is likely the best. So my list would be:

Stannis

Robb

Ned

Robert

Tywin

Randyll

Jaime

Theres loads of threads on this if anyone wants to see more in detail analysis

Also, this!

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I think it is a little unfair to say that Ned was great. We know he was competent, but we don't really know anything about his battles.

He fought in two wars and helped win both. He was the main strength in Roberts Rebellion, bringing the most men by a distance. Goerge has specifically said not just anyone can rule over the Northmen, so it was a Stark who led them the whole time. So thats near half of the rebel forces led personally by Ned. Add to this that hes given credit for the Battle of the Bells, and was charged with getting the capital and the Tyrells to surrender means he was exceedingly capable. As for the GJ Rebellion we know Balon bares him and his a grudge so he seems to have done something in that also.

Add in Cats various comments on him, such as when she comments on Robbs war plan, and Renly plan at SE, not to mention that both his sons whom he raised and thought all they know about war have become two of the best young commanders, and we get a picture of a pretty epic commander

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In terms of demonstration within the text, Robb is clearly the best field commander we have seen...both as a campaign and battle commander. He is the class of the field. Others who have demonstrated talent include Jon Connington, Randall Tarly, Addam Marbrand, Jaime and Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow, Stannis and Renly Baratheon, and various Greyjoys, Victarion probably the most in spite of being an idiot otherwise. Tywin, Ned, Jon Arryn, the Blackfish, the Halfhand and others are people who, within context, we should assume have talent, Ned more than others, but it has not been shown directly. I should add Mance. His logistical accomplishment is only rivaled by Renly.

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Its interesting the stick Jaime gets, when really his mistake is the same as his fathers-he expected Walder Frey to keep the Twins shut. Jaime thought he was safe, as did Tywin. Jaime had scouts out and then rode out in force (about 2000 horse) to deal with the skirmishers. He had his camps well defended, but of necessity split into three. He won two battles before this, and managed to get the surrender of two enemy castles without losing a single man.

All in all i dont see where he gets his poor rep. Id put him, Randyll and Tywin all on a par

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