What's there to like about Robert really?

[DMC]

4 hours ago, Sourjapes said:

Cersei deserved it.

The fuck?  Yikes.

48 minutes ago, Jon's Queen Consort said:

 We have seen terrible rulers in GRRTH and what is told always is that they should had leave the rulling to a more capable person. Robert is the only person who understands it and does it any yet he is named as a terrible human being for not ruling. People are strange.

Good point.  It's telling that this thread's title is literally about what is likeable about him, yet the discussion is focused on his conduct as a ruler.

[House Cambodia]

44 minutes ago, dmc515 said:

The fuck?  Yikes.

Good point.  It's telling that this thread's title is literally about what is likeable about him, yet the discussion is focused on his conduct as a ruler.

To be fair, he was the king - that defined him as a person. However, it is a perfectly valid point to say that so long as he had a capable Hand and Small Council to which he could delegate his duties, he dispatched his royal duties well enough. That just left his drinking, hunting and whoring to assess.

[John Doe]

2 hours ago, dmc515 said:

The fuck?  Yikes.

How doesn't she? She's a traitor, a murderer and a schemer. 

[Jon's Queen Consort]

8 hours ago, Nami said:

The right thing to do would be to punish those who commited such crimes, but since he was a weak man outside of the battlefield, he didn't. Though my belief is that he felt satisfaction over what happened because it was Rhaegar's children, hence his words "I only see dragonspawn". Asshole.
He should have laughed so then Barristan would cross the room and slay him like he planned.

You mean the morally idiotic good thing to do, not the politically that securities the future thing to do. Like it or not the way that the real world history has told us in order to secure the future you need to kill the past.

 

[Lee-Sensei]

Just now, Nami said:

How dare she. Evil evil woman.

She was an evil woman.

[Brannis the Mannis]

15 hours ago, Nami said:

The stupid thing to do would be to punish those who commited such crimes, but since he was a weak man outside of the battlefield, he didn't.

FTFY

[Laughing Storm Reborn]

If punishing Tywin´s men (that´s punishing their lord also since it was his orders) was the right call then Jon Arryn would convince Robert to do so... 

But a war with the westerlands would mean thousands more killed (men, women and yes that´s right, CHILDREN)... Arryn saw that and every lord with minimal understanding of lesser wrongs would see that aswell...

Robert would care 2 craps if Gregor and Lock got their heads shopped off, it´s not like jon ordered their heads on a spike and Bob started screaming "SPARE theeeem"... the problem was Tywin, the voice of the deeds

Is ned morally right? yes... does morally right kill thousands? more than 1 time in history

[DMC]

9 hours ago, John Doe said:

How doesn't she? She's a traitor, a murderer and a schemer. 

To us.  To Robert she was merely a pain in his ass that embarrassed him in front of his BFF.

[John Doe]

Just now, dmc515 said:

To us.  To Robert she was merely a pain in his ass that embarrassed him in front of his BFF.

He knows what kind of a person she is. She threatened to kill his bastards should he take them to court, she insulted the honor of his best friend, she is one of the reasons why he doesn't just leave the court to do his own thing. 

[The Wolves]

6 minutes ago, John Doe said:

He knows what kind of a person she is. She threatened to kill his bastards should he take them to court, she insulted the honor of his best friend, she is one of the reasons why he doesn't just leave the court to do his own thing.

I don't get the bolded like at all. 

[DMC]

30 minutes ago, John Doe said:

He knows what kind of a person she is. She threatened to kill his bastards should he take them to court, she insulted the honor of his best friend, she is one of the reasons why he doesn't just leave the court to do his own thing. 

Right, and those were clearly the reasons he struck her when she said he should be in skirts and her in mail in front of Ned.

[John Doe]

45 minutes ago, The Wolves said:

I don't get the bolded like at all. 

Quote

"Let me tell you a secret, Ned. More than once, I have dreamed of giving up the crown. Take ship for the Free Cities with my horse and my hammer, spend my time warring and whoring, that's what I was made for. The sellsword king, how the singers would love me. You know what stops me? The thought of Joffrey on the throne, with Cersei standing behind him whispering in his ear.

19 minutes ago, dmc515 said:

Right, and those were clearly the reasons he struck her when she said he should be in skirts and her in mail in front of Ned.

Of course it contributed to it. 

[Nami]

29 minutes ago, dmc515 said:

Right, and those were clearly the reasons he struck her when she said he should be in skirts and her in mail in front of Ned.

I agree with her statement.

[DMC]

*Sigh*  No, his reservations pertaining to Cersei's cruelty had nothing to do his impulse to hit her in that moment.  But by all means continue defending domestic violence.

[Waters Gate]

I guess you might argue Robert was a more "liberal" King.

In itself Robert didn't have too much interrest in the throne, he left a lot of the governing to advisors. That doesn't have to be a bad thing if you look it down in history. The King before him hardly was that liberal, neither was the one after it. You wouldn't think a alternative like Stannis to be that liberal either. Renly would have been about as liberal too. Probably Robert knew Renly was guy but cared less.

He still had a lot of errors, but he was not the hardest king to live under.

[Wall Flower]

1 hour ago, dmc515 said:

*Sigh*  No, his reservations pertaining to Cersei's cruelty had nothing to do his impulse to hit her in that moment.  But by all means continue defending domestic violence.

I get the feeling that Robert's perfectly likeable as long as you're ok with condoning the murder of inconvenient children and the spousal abuse (including rape) of bad wives. I guess that answers why I struggle to find him likeable.

[Florina Laufeyson]

He was a drunken sot and hardly likable. He likely was likable at one point (Ned thought so), but ended up aging as a dumbshit. (Ned also thought so too) Hes what happens when the cocky hero wins the day and becomes king. He cant rule worth shit, so he has Tywin hold the reigns. He gets the beautiful girl who happens to be a literal harpy. He realizes his life sucks and so he drinks and makes bastards.

Robert was a moron, but people liked him because the post came on time during his reign.

[King Ned Stark]

1 hour ago, Waters Gate said:

I guess you might argue Robert was a more "liberal" King.

In itself Robert didn't have too much interrest in the throne, he left a lot of the governing to advisors. That doesn't have to be a bad thing if you look it down in history. The King before him hardly was that liberal, neither was the one after it. You wouldn't think a alternative like Stannis to be that liberal either. Renly would have been about as liberal too. Probably Robert knew Renly was guy but cared less.

He still had a lot of errors, but he was not the hardest king to live under.

Right, either directly or indirectly Robert was good for the people, by reining in (through common sense) some of the more absurd Targaryen rules and liberties.  Cersei claims, after Joffrey is "attacked" that under Targ rule that person would lose the offending hand.  Robert's reply showed that he did not think himself or anyone else exalted above others, or even beyond a good ass-kicking, "damn woman, she is a child, what would you have me do, whip her through the streets?"

[thelittledragonthatcould]

4 hours ago, King Ned Stark said:

Right, either directly or indirectly Robert was good for the people, by reining in (through common sense) some of the more absurd Targaryen rules and liberties.  Cersei claims, after Joffrey is "attacked" that under Targ rule that person would lose the offending hand.  Robert's reply showed that he did not think himself or anyone else exalted above others, or even beyond a good ass-kicking, "damn woman, she is a child, what would you have me do, whip her through the streets?"

You are kidding, right? Are you forgetting the butcher boy?

He reached back and shoved the burden off, and it fell with a thump in front of Ned.

Bending, Ned pulled back the cloak, dreading the words he would have to find for Arya, but it was not Nymeria after all. It was the butcher's boy, Mycah, his body covered in dried blood. He had been cut almost in half from shoulder to waist by some terrible blow struck from above.

 

Arya was spared due to who her father was.

[Waters Gate]

6 hours ago, thelittledragonthatcould said:

You are kidding, right? Are you forgetting the butcher boy?

He reached back and shoved the burden off, and it fell with a thump in front of Ned.

Bending, Ned pulled back the cloak, dreading the words he would have to find for Arya, but it was not Nymeria after all. It was the butcher's boy, Mycah, his body covered in dried blood. He had been cut almost in half from shoulder to waist by some terrible blow struck from above.

 

Arya was spared due to who her father was.

 

There was reason behind it atleast and certain circumstances to consider. Afaik Cersei was calling out much more for punishment than Robert. Robert likely would have wanted that butchers boy to be taken into custody but i'm not sure if he wanted him split like the hound did. Eitherway that a punsihment was due is somewhat understandable, it's a matter authority in a setting where the nobles tend to rule by strenght, however outright killing the boy was over the top imho compared to incarcerating him for a while. Besides that, Robert doesn't hold back from scrutinizing Joffrey for loosing.

It's not "random cruelty". I'm not going to say it's excusable, but it's not like with the mad King and Joffrey who would have killed commoners "for fun".

Caesar Augustus wasn't exactly the perfect emperor neither though highly acclaimed in history. He backstabbed Marcus Antonius in a way thats hardly commenable. As a roman emperor he will have send a few down the circus to battle it with the lions.  Afcourse with a succesor like Caligula people were soon to forget the relative small negatives and remember him for the peace during his rule and relative economic prosperity. 

In terms of monarchy, and Average intellect ruler in itself is practicly fairly good. Plenty of idots trough history that became king or noble. The intellectual kings were more the exception. Robert was no a Charles the Great but neither a Loius IVX.

I kinda liked Robert because overall he was a fairly likeable character and an average king seemed good enough comparing it to the likes of Joffrey and Areys II. And "to like" can be a complicated thing in the Asoiaf world, i mean people like characters like Jaime, Bronn, the Hound or Stannis despite all having more than enough faults and blood at their hands.