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Why was Jaime named the Warden of the East?


jontargaryan

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I thought Kingsguard members couldn't hold any titles?

 

Furthermore why was Jaime allowed to leave King's Landing and lead Tywin's army against the Riverlords?

 

 

Technically shouldn't he be forbidden to represent his house and wear his house colors into battle? Shouldn't he have been defending his King instead?

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The Warden titles are somewhat different, they are only military commanders of respective regions. And the Kingsguard often commanded armies for their kings, so appointing Jaime the Warden of the East wasn't really such a big deal. However, the primary reason, of course, was Robert's debt to Tywin Lannister. Due to this debt, Tywin's influence grew, and more Lannisters gained positions at court.

As to leaving King's Landing, that surely was a big deal. By law, Jaime could have probably been named traitor, apprehended and executed. But someone needed to invoke the law, it couldn't happen automatically - that's the difference between natural and legal laws :) . And the one to invoke the law should certainly have been Robert, who at that moment couldn't risk such a move against the favorite son of the dreadful and mighty Tywin Lannister. Ned even asked the king for leave to bring Jaime to justice, but Robert would not hear of it, and went hunting (most likely, as a distraction at the moment of distress). It appears as though it was Robert's primary concern - whatever you do, DON'T upset Lord Tywin, and at that particular moment, Robert was apparently nervous about what offense has already been done to Tywin by Ned attacking Jaime in the streets. Note how he didn't care about what really happened, only about what Lord Tywin would make of it, and what consequences that could bring to the crown, and to him, Robert, personally. And Tywin had already been angered with Catelyn's abduction of Tyrion.

So, Robert was willing to forgive Jaime for literally anything, just so as not to have any problems with his father.

And when Jaime reached Casterly Rock (or Westerlands in general), who was there to oppose him? He's home, surrounded by the men unanimously supporting his father. The law didn't matter anymore, Tywin mattered.

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Robert was an idiot when it came to those things is why.

He should have named someone like Lord Royce or even Stannis as Warden of the East.

For his "altercation" with Ned the Lannister soldiers acting under his command should have been given the choice between execution and taking the black and Jamie at the very least should have been stripped of his white cloak and exiled to the Rock under punishment of death if he were ever set foot outside the Westerlands (which would actually be a win for Tywin but at least some modicum of justice would have been served).

Cersie's Lannister guards should have been stripped back to only a handful and all other Lannister soldiers sent home and replaced with Stormlanders loyal to Robert.

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Bronze Yohn as the Warden of the East - yes! That would have been just perfect!

Remember, however, that Robert didn't actually have to appoint a new Warden, it's just a title after all. I imagine Cersei simply seized the opportunity created by Jon Arryn's death to increase Lannister power, and Robert just yielded (as usual, apparently).

Also, neglecting Stannis surely was one of Robert's greatest mistakes. Had he maintained better relationships with his brothers, all could have been very different. Together, they could very efficiently oppose the Lannisters.

But, all in all, I can't help feeling sorry for Robert. Used by a skilled politician Jon Arryn as the popular face of the rebellion, he didn't manage to get what he was fighting for. He settled for a seemingly good marriage with Cersei only to have her despise him since their wedding night - and mostly because he had muttered 'Lyanna' during a vulnerable, intimate moment. Sure, no woman would like to hear something like that, but she could at least try to understand him and what he was feeling, which she didn't, not in the slightest. Hell, he never even had sex with her, his wife, as far as we know (he didn't know that, of course, being drunk most of the time, but surely he couldn't help but notice his sex life wasn't perfect). At the first glance, it might seem that didn't bother him, whores and all, but from his conversations with Ned and with Cersei we kind of know it did. And he's the king! He must remain strong, confident; he can't admit his insecurities. So he did his best trying to look strong and confident, while being miserable on the inside, hence the constant drinking and hunting and whoring, just to escape the dismal reality. Eventually, he got fat and constantly drunk, lost respect of people around him, most notably his brothers. Jon likely still loved him like a son, but after Jon died, Robert was left practically alone. I think that is why he rode to Winterfell - it's not like he lacked for competent people to serve as Hand of the King: Stannis was suitable and willing; hell, he could have even appointed Tywin, who would probably like nothing better. But Jon had been a crutch to him, allowing Robert to pretend everything was just like in the good old days, and that crutch was taken from him. He didn't need Ned to rule, he needed him to keep pretending, to desperately cling to the memory of that merry time when the whole wide world seemed to lie before him, and he didn't have a care in the world. And Ned - his last hope - failed him at that as well, as, unlike Robert, he had matured over the years, and couldn't revert to this adolescent world-view Robert was so desperately clinging to.

This is very sad. And it probably mostly comes down to Cersei - there are few things that can break a man as efficiently as the wife's disdain. Especially a strong-willed man like Robert, unwilling to admit his insecurities. Instead of being a life partner to her husband, offering comfort and support, she inflated his self-loathing and self-destructive tendencies. And in that way, she held power over him, simply because she made him feel like less than a proper man, she was constantly lowering his self-esteem, although he would of course never admit it. We saw it clearly during the incident with Joffrey, Arya, Mycah, and Nymeria: he made a show of "king's justice" for a while, but in the end, just let her do whatever she liked - just to escape from her contempt.

So I think I'll drop my argument about the debt to Tywin - I think it's more likely that similar 'reasoning' was behind appointing Lancel and Tyrek his squires, and Jaime the Warden of the East. Remember when they had that conversation with Ned about the Lannisters gaining too much power, Robert replied not with "you don't owe the Lannisters as much", but with "you don't sleep with a Lannister".

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Robert was a physically strong guy, but at the same time he was mentally weak. He was easily influenced by Cersei and Tywin, and others around him. Robert was kind of a b***h when it came to the Lannisters, so I'm guessing Cersei or someone other Lannister figure convinced him to name Jaime.

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