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How would you rate the Stark family in order of intelligence?


Marcus corvinus

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In this ranking i would exclude Cat and rickon. Cat is lady stark but not a stark herself, she is a tully and rick is too young.

1. Arya: My bet is she has the highest iq of the starks. She handled things like a BOSS in harenhal, survived in the decimated riverlands by dressing as a boy, managed to get to bravos and is halfway through her ninja/assassins creed training. All this at the age of 12!!! I would say she is MIT/Harvard/CIA SAD material.

2. Jon: I like jon in the show, but i can't hide my disappointment at how mediocre he is there. In the book jon is pretty smart. He raids the wall, survives among the wildlings, gains some of their trust and then mounts an extraordinary defence of castle black. Against all odds and completely shorthanded he manages to hold mance off for some time. Even mance praises his military leadership. 

And after becoming LC, he has handled the situation well enough despite his youth, bastard identity, low experience and wildling sympathizer status. He maneuvered stannis well and showed a better military mind than any of Stannis's ''cough'' mature generals. He solved their food crisis by bargaining with the iron bank. Settled the wildings and showed a sleight of hand with Alys karstark. 

Yes he got himself in the Ides of winter but still that was a lucky ambush by a few traitors. Hell even julius caesar got ambushed. But all things considering for his age jon shows extreme promise. If i had to say i'd put Jon's IQ at 120-130 range.

3. Ned: A great military commander. Won many great victories in Robert's rebellion and the greyjoy rebellion. Kept the north loyal and plentiful after a great tumultuous time. Is respected by all. 

4. Robb/Bran: Ok i know, its utterly unfair to compare a military commander such as robb with an 8 year old. But aside from his military success, a part which can be attributed to the blackfish, he has failed at almost all else. He botched up his alliance with the freys, let theon go, put a demonic man like roose bolton in command who partook in more than one suspicious activity, killed karstark and trusted a horde of people he shouldn't have: roose, theon, frey.... 

A lot of it can be attributed to ignorance of youth but still younger characters than him have been more wary.

Bran shows great promise in the tv show when he is rulling winterfell, i haven't read COK. He's been on the run for some time and came unscathed. A lot is owed to his magic powers. But i personally believe he has potential.

6. Sansa: *sigh*, who else would take the last spot. Despite being older than arya and bran, she's far less mature and thinking. Her brain is as big as her tummy unfortunately. She trusts everyone and fails to show any critical thinking at nearly any time. I'd put her iq at 100-105

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1 hour ago, Marcus corvinus said:

6. Sansa: *sigh*, who else would take the last spot. Despite being older than arya and bran, she's far less mature and thinking. Her brain is as big as her tummy unfortunately. She trusts everyone and fails to show any critical thinking at nearly any time. I'd put her iq at 100-105

I'm sorry but that is the stupidest thing I've heard.

Sansa (apart from arya) is the stark with the most character development in the books. She's gone from a doe eyed teen who believed in fairy tales and YES trusted everyone to a shrewd, mature protege of  Littlefinger(one of the most smartest and sly operators in westeros)who's just about ready to stop being a pawn and rally a comeback for the starks

The Hour of the Wolf is almost upon us..

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I guess its how one views intelligence. Does being intelligent mean you succeed in all spheres of life. No I don't think so its not possible to do that. So my basis of marking is those whose succeeded in some important sphere of life using their intelligence.

1)Sansa/Arya

Both of them have managed to survive in the harsh ASOIAF world without much help. Both had to suffer the maximum. Yet they managed to survive using separate skills. Sansa with her diplomacy and Arya with her rebel nature.

2)Robb

He led an army of Northerners at such a young age to victory after victory. Yes he had others to help him and guide him which is why I rate him below Sansa and Arya. But strategy such as lifting the siege of riverlands ,entering the westerlands etc were his. Yes he failed politically but then every one cannot succeed in every sphere of life like I said.

3)Jon

I don't think he has been a successful commander or military leader like Robb had been although even he has had help and guidance of others. Its Stannis who saves the wall not Jon.But still I will rank him third since he was able to win the trust of wildlings had some unique ideas about how to mange them though he really couldn't execute them so we don't know how they would have ended.

4)Ned

We don't know much about him since he dies in the very first book but since he rules North for long and almost every Northerner respects him I would say he was good at his job

5)Bran/Rickon/Catelyn

Bran and Rickon are too young to judge and Catelyn well made a  disastrous decision and I really don't see her succeeding anywhere else much. But may be in further books we will see her as leader so this may change.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Marcus corvinus said:

 

3. Ned: A great military commander. Won many great victories in Robert's rebellion and the greyjoy rebellion. Kept the north loyal and plentiful after a great tumultuous time. Is respected by all. 

you say say sansa has the lowest intelligence yet you think Ned has the 3rd most highest intellect among the present stark 

HE was avg. intellect at best and much too slow for the the political maneuvering in KL. is too gullible and puts honor at too high a pedestal for his own safety. yes i agree he is a good military commander but certainly not great or even close to some of the best like Randyll tarly.

2 hours ago, Marcus corvinus said:

 

4. Robb/Bran: Ok i know, its utterly unfair to compare a military commander such as robb with an 8 year old. But aside from his military success, a part which can be attributed to the blackfish, he has failed at almost all else. He botched up his alliance with the freys, let theon go, put a demonic man like roose bolton in command who partook in more than one suspicious activity, killed karstark and trusted a horde of people he shouldn't have: roose, theon, frey.... 

Bran shows great promise in the tv show when he is rulling winterfell, i haven't read COK. He's been on the run for some time and came unscathed. A lot is owed to his magic powers. But i personally believe he has potential.

 

Oh MY God..

I was wrong. THIS is the stupidest thing i've read 

Yes Robb did botch some plans which led to his demise but most people would agree He was a brilliant military commander one of the best at the time of the War of the five kings and no it cannot be attributed to the blackfish, while the blackfish was an all -round, savvy Badass. He was only advising the king in the north. You cant  pick and choose which acts Robb should get credit and blame for. Robb's victory were in fact his own. EVEN Tywin concedes  that they underestimated Robb and he's much shrewder that they though a BOY would be and the only reason Robb lost was because of Tywin's brilliance outside of war  in politics

Yes theon is on him as he trusted Theon too much even when Cat told him not to but everything else is just baseless.

 

Yes he botched up the alliance with Freys and that was dumb but not in the sense he was Dumb but that he was being Dumb.

He married Jeyne because like his father he put honor at too high a pedestal for his own safety. When the news of his fathers death came to him he was comforted by Jeyne and bedded her(Yes that is on him He was at fault for not keeping it in his pants) and wanted to protect her honour and thus married her. He knew marrying her would end their alliance but was too damn honorable to not do that.

as for trusting Freys no he did not trust them he was allied with them because he needed support but he like his mother knew better than to trust them(when they arrived at the twins they took care too eat some food and water so as to avail guest right) but even then they NEVER thought Freys would break guest right and ambush and kill them.Guest right is a BIG DEAL in westeros and in almost 300 years no one has broken guest right so no one in their right mind would've guessed Walder frey( with the backing of Tywin) would do it.

As for Roose, have you even read the books?! From DwD We  know for a fact that Roose was very secretive and never openly did anything terrible and even if he did he never let word get out   Here is a quote: Roose telling Ramsay that

No tales were ever told of me. Do you think I would be sitting here if it were otherwise? Your amusements are your own, I will not chide you on that count, but you must be more discreet. A peaceful land, a quiet people. That has always been my rule. Make it yours.

Roose was  NOT trusted because like i said before Robb needed troops and that is the only reason he allied with a famously rebellious house

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1 hour ago, the wolf that never was said:

mine would be sansa>arya>robb>cat>jon>ned>bran>rickon

I don't blame Robb for trusting Theon. Theon was his childhood friend and like a brother to him. It can be confirmed with the fact that in book 5 Theon himself as Reek agrees that Robb was more of a brother to him than his own brother's. In the similar way Robb trusts Jon as well because even Jon is like a brother to him. No one can fight a war if you don't trust any one. One should be able trust their family and loved ones. So I don't think Robb was wrong in trusting Theon.

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I'm leaving Ned, Cat and Jon out of my list.

Bran - He's a Greenseer.  End of discussion.

Arya - You don't live through what she has without a brain.  Also, she realizes her mistakes, such as not having Jaquen kill Tywin.

Rickon - Yeah, I know he's little, but he's already semi-warging Shaggydog, knew to go to the crypts when Ned died, and somehow knew Robb was making a mistake going South.

Robb - Brilliant in the field.  Playing the game, not so much.

Sansa - This may be changing, but she started off dumber than a bag of hammers.

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1.  Bran:  Maybe I'm too trusting in what is written, but Summer is described as the smartest of the Direwolves.  And since the direwolves reflect their master, Bran would be the smartest of his siblings.  Bran is very young though so I don't think it is quite apparent since he simply lacks age to directly compete with his siblings.  But in terms of raw intellectual potential he is above the rest.  Especially since his hobbies indicate a healthy dose of curiosity which would lead him to develop his natural talents.

2.  Robb:  Robb was an undefeated military commander, and while a part of that was due to the council he received.  He had the presence of mind to listen to such council which is a clear sign of intelligence to me.  The fact that he could in some small measure outmaneuver the greatest military mind of his time, Tywin Lannister, shows that Robb is truly gifted.  Yes he made mistakes, but those mistakes were made due to his youth and naiveté.  Thus it was not a mistake due to lack of intelligence so much as one from lack of knowledge.

3.  Arya:  Arya is able to survive on the streets on her own after having been raised as a young lady.  She concocts several plans of her own to improve her standing, both weasel soup and her escape from Harrenhal.  It's hard to say without seeing the conclusion, but it seems like her time spent in Braavos with the Faceless Men is full of mistakes on her part.  It seems to me that she is misjudging her own intelligence with some of the lessons Syrio taught her, in that she is misinterpreting them.  Even though she "looks with her eyes" she doesn't seem to really see what is happening around her.

4.  Sansa:  Sansa is likely on par with Arya though specialized in whole different areas.  Sansa is shown to be an exceptional lady.  She is shown to be a star pupil of learning the womanly arts, with the one exception being her poor math skills.  She is also quite talented in handling social situations, though she is far too trusting.  But that is a character flaw that she is working to overcome (though has not yet).  Yes she relies a lot on those around her, but she still manages to sneak out of King's Landing without revealing anything is amiss to Cercei or Varys and that is no small feat.

5.  Jon:  Jon has not shown himself to be all that intelligence.  He is at his best when following other peoples instructions.  He made the best of a bad situation with the wildlings attack on the wall.  But when actually put as lord commander he seems to stumble from one bad decision to another.  He doesn't listen to the council of those around him even though he is quite young and inexperienced.  He thinks he is smarter than he is, constantly thinking about how the men of the Night's Watch "know nothing" without realizing that his brief time with wildlings did not make him anymore knowledgeable.  He still has no idea why Ygritte cries to the Last of the Giants song, nor much about the culture of the freefolks beyond what Ygritte told him, yet he thinks of himself as an expert.  It's a terrible mistake to overestimate one's own intelligence and Jon is consistently doing so.

6.  Rickon:  Rickon is young and thus hard to peg.  But since most of his descriptors seem to be incompatible with intelligence, I'd guess he has the lowest of the Starks.  He is described as wild and feral, with the common concern others have for him is that he won't understand or doesn't understand what is happening.  Yes that could be primarily due to him being 3 or 4, it still doesn't instill much confidence that he will grow to be very intelligent.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think they are quite intelligent in various different ways; which are not always useful in the environment they currently are (f.e. Ned)

I do however belief Bran is in fact the most intelligent or the one who has the most potential. First of all, you have indeed the fact Summer is called the smartest of their litter. Second of all, Maester Luwin says Bran might become a maester and calls him "a surpassing clever boy when you work at it." At 8 or 9 years old, he is able to tell each banner of the Northern Lords (he recognizes the fist of House Glover at which Arya fails in ACOK). He is very good at remember things (geography of the North, ...). 

In the first chapter of AGOT: 

"Robb says the man died bravely, but Jon says he was afraid." "What do you think?" his father asked. Bran thought about it. "Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?" "That is the only time a man can be brave," his father told him. 

Bran has an idea what the answer is while his older brother don't. 

And how he finally found out about the truth of his powers, is quite brilliant. He has conversations with Jojen, Luwin, Meera and Osha about this. And he decides Jojen is telling the truth after some real evidence is established. Quite the little scientist. 

Another important factor is of course his curiosity, which makes him interested in a lot of various things.

Robb is the one who is the most brilliant in military matters. At a very young age he is indeed able to outsmart several more experienced commanders. He does have some problems in seeing how people would react to certain things. He absolutely believes Theon would never turn against him and doesn't see the possibility Theon might not be completely on his side and might chose his family over Robb. He underestimated how Walder would react, ... 

Arya is the one with street smarts. She is able to survive through very difficult times. I think she has a huge potential. But unlike her sister and her brother I do think she is not interested in applying herself much in learning little facts, books, ... (f.e. she doesn't recall song, forgetting Glover's sigil, ...) But this has more to do with the fact she isn't interested than she isn't smart enough to remember it. If she would learn it during her adventures, she would know it. You just cannot put her in a room. 

Sansa is more smart in an empathic and diplomatic kind of way. How she was able to survive in KL by manipulating Joffrey shows she is certainly intelligent. She knows her courtesies, songs, ... She is interested in learning the harp, ... She is able to find out what Littlefinger is doing. 

In the beginning of the books it is already established Jon is a very observant guy. The fact Mormont sort of recognizes him as a possible successor is probably also very relevant. His advice to Stannis really aids Stannis in his campaign. But like his siblings he also makes mistakes of course. 

Our dear sweet Rickon is a little too young to say anything about him. 

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1) Bran- Might be the smartest of his family despite his age.

Even as a kid, he's capable of deep thought and insight that rivals that of his older peers and as an earlier posted noted, he deduced that he had magical powers via the scientific method by asking multiple people and then finding solid proof to back his hypothesis.

Later, he uses his knowledge of the North's geography and history to navigate from Winterfell all the way to the Wall to where even Osha was impressed. He also develops his warg abilities through experimentation and memory, becoming more capable as he wargs Summer and Hodor. (unknowingly breaking a key rule in the latter)

Most of his drawbacks come from the willfulness of being 7/8 and still growing as a result including occasional bouts of emotion and depression (especially since he was crippled.)

2) Arya- Arya is the most street-smart of her family and she's survived circumstances where grown-warriors would just up and die. She has a good heart, but is willing to be ruthless, pragmatic and self-interested when necessary. I'd say that her best feat is manipulating Jaqen into helping her take Harrenhal from the Lannisters and managing to evade capture in King's Landing.

Now she's training under the Faceless Men to be a master of disguise and an expert assassin? On top of already being a good fighter (trained by one of the best of Braavos) and very skilled in stealth? (Even Varys didn't even suspect her presence when she accidently eavesdropped on him and Illyrio) 

3) Jon- Rises to LC of the Night's Watch; Convinces the Wildlings and his fellow brothers to accept a tenuous peace in face of the Long Night; defended the Wall against 100,000 wildlings; successfully infiltrated the Wildlings to learn their plans and thwart them/warn his brothers; Gives key advice to Stannis that turns his doomed campaign into a winning chance; thwarts the Karstark scheme; and all as a young man with more room to grow.

But...his focus on the bigger picture with the Others blinds him to Marsh's faction; He can't stay neutral in the WOTFK; and an inability to control himself after the Pink Letter may have just killed him. He was also initially a bit entitled and short-sighted until Noye/Tyrion opened his eyes to how fortunate he was to have Ned as a father who raised him as he did whereas other recruits either didn't have fathers or had horrible parents (Tarly)

4) Eddard/Catelyn- I'd put them roughly the same because they complete each other. Eddard is noble, brave, caring, fair, wise, honorable and generally believes the best about people unless given reason not to. Catelyn is also caring, wise, honorable and brave, but has an edge of caution, boldness, and is more selective about who she trusts (for instance, she distrusts/dislikes Jon). 

Eddard rules through a firm, but fair lawful approach to lordship and based on how most of the North honors his legacy long after his death, it worked for the North. He is also an experienced commander who was a fellow ward with Robert; and fought in Robert's Rebellion and the Greyjoy Rebellion. But even he admits that he's ill-suited for the environment of King's Landing and his refusal to adapt or escape contributed to his death.

Cat is similar, but she's more politically savvy as a native of the South. She uses this knowledge and diplomatic ability to advise her husband and son to good courses of action and qualifies as a good diplomat (she was sadly sent on a hopeless mission). But Cat is also prone to being more emotional than her husband. This makes her an easy target for LF to manipulate and leads her to capturing Tyrion and sparking war. Later on, she releases Jamie on emotional grounds of grief and a desire to get back her daughters.

5) Robb- He would be higher, but his brashness, headstrong personality and lack of political savvy doesn't do the eldest Stark child any favors. He's clearly a great commander and is both bold and cleaver enough to take risky gambles and succeed. But he was blind to the potential of Theon's betrayal and a Greyjoy invasion (as stupid as Balon was) and he impulsively broke his oath to the Freys to preserve Jeyne's honor which led to the Red Wedding.

6) Sansa- Consistently bad judge of character and trust throughout the first three books. Betrays her family twice with direct negative consequences for herself and her family because of short-sighted selfishness and immaturity. In fact, the only reason that she survived KL is because the Lannisters and LF needed her alive and has nothing to do with anything she herself did apart from play possum which everyone but Joffrey easily saw through.

As of now, she's effectively Littlefinger's pawn until Winds of Winter does something to effectively demonstrate that Sansa has grown a substantial amount of brain cells since the first book. Till then, she's the weak link of the family.

7) Rickon- He's 3-4, what do you think?

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1) Arya. At nine, she's better than Sansa at math, and generally recognized as being very smart. She then learns to hide so well she's able to spy on varyssomething nobody else is ever able to do. I actually think she acts fairly stupidly most of the time between KL and Braavos, but she has her excuses, and her few shining moments (e.g. the coin trick with the guard at the gate).

2) Rickon. He's incredibly verbal for a child his age, and (seriously) is almost always right. Every time he begs for his family to return? Yeah, they really should have. This would have been a very different story if people just listened to Rickon. He's also the most enthusiastic about embracing the direwolves and the Stark way.

3) Eddard. Brilliant military commander, knows his priorities (re: Cat and Asha), legendary administrator (keeping the roads safe and such). Still, incredibly thick, and too young to be excused as "set in his ways". 

4) Jon. Making his friends on the Watch, getting Sam his stewardship, interpreting Qhorin's command, navigating the wildling society, and forging the alliances of the new night's watch. Jon's the only Stark with real people skills. I don't actually think he's that great of a military commander though. 

5) Robb. It's truer to say that Jaime lost the battle of the camps than that Robb won it, and all his other victories happened far away from any PoV. Grey Wind is the one who won the Northmen's loyalty, and accepting the Greatjon's call for a King in the North is a great example of how his lax hold on the reigns kept carrying him off out of control. He never really learned to manage people. And of course, there's the Freys and Theon and the Westerlings and never explaining things to Edmure.

6) Sansa. I don't get where people get the idea that Sansa has diplomatic skills. Even in the Vale, she's still getting played, revealing more than she means to and trusting to much. I agree though that she's had a lot of character development, and that she sometimes has a sharp eye. She's also got a great head for arts, and had the good sense to manipulate her little brother into sharing her ideals. 

7) Bran. I love him, but he's not really smart. He's just a God. I mean, hell, even in the scene where he spies on the Lannister Twins, it takes him forever to figure out what they're up to, and he exposed himself completely unnecessarily. When last we see him, he can't figure out that he's eating jojen. 

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It's tricky because we have to decide precisely what's included in "intelligence". I think that Jon & Robb are largely meant to be seen as equal talents who differ because one was the groomed lord/king while the other was the bastard step-child. The way GRRM wrote the effects of that, Jon is pretty consistently shown to be more aware and wiser than Robb, but I don't think that's supposed to be because Targaryen blood or anything like that. And yet I doubt anyone here is looking for ties between the characters, so I'll just try to look at it in terms of whose wherewithal has been most impressive given their age, and without giving too much of an edge due to magical talent.

1. Jon - show only people are totally confused because of the coarse writing. Right from the start in the books he's shown to be more aware, more empathetic, and more creative than anyone else in the family, and the way he saw the big picture with the Wildlings shows more impressive wisdom that anything the rest of the family ever showed. 

2. Ned - it's hard to look at Ned as smart given how he got played in King's Landing, but of course he got played by Littlefinger who is much more intelligent than anyone in the Stark family. Ned has the same kind of humble wisdom going that Jon does and is clearly about as adept of a military commander as you'll find in Westeros.

3. Arya - I understand the temptation to put her first. She is without question the most resourceful of the Starks, which is a kind of tactical intelligence, but she's a concrete thinker who struggles with the bigger picture stuff. Granted she's young, but there's also the matter that she and Lyanna could almost be considered the same character at different ages with different contexts, and I don't think there's any doubt that Ned was a wiser person than Lyanna.

4. Robb - He's basically got the same type of overconfidence that Brandon Stark had and it's what gets him into trouble more than anything else. Yes technically honor brought him down, but if he had understood the consequences of his "honor", he'd have avoided major pitfalls. The fact remains though that he was an incredibly precocious leader who handled much of the turmoil better than his mother did.

5. Bran - He and Rickon are very hard to rank because they are basically written as true children. Also it seems pretty clear that overtime Bran is going to become the most powerful and wisest of his family, but that's because of magical talent that GRRM to me hasn't shown any simple connection with intelligence. Still, he's got a curious mind and tends to see past the limitations of the status quo, whereas...

6. Cat - is someone who is intelligent in many ways, but is basically defined by her inability to see past the status quo. She was wiser than her brother, sister, and father...but clearly had no real understanding of what was going on in her sister's head, or Littlefinger's head. There's also the matter of her essentially trusting the Boltons MORE because they were hard to read, which in retrospect is pretty astonishing. And of course, there's her raw emotion toward Jon that she should have been at least better able to hide if she'd recognized better the root and consequences of it.

7. Sansa - clearly by the end we're going to see her do things with her brain that make her be classified as intelligent, but you really can't overstate just how arrested her development was. In an epic story that's essentially the tale of the Stark Family and the traits that come with them by being guardians of civilization, she manages to grow up not seeing the value in any of it and truly that has everything to do with why the Stark has their wheel of fortune turn.

8. Rickon - he has to be here just because he's the only one of the Starks who hasn't shown intelligence. He's literally just been reacting as animal with magical senses.

 

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Sansa is for me the intelligent of the pack, but she's book-smart. She's like a Quixotesque figure: reads a lot, dreams a lot. 

The smartest would be Arya, because she can adapt and get out of situations while solving her mistakes. Or at least trying to.

I think most current Starks are gullible, which doesn't make them very smart. Intelligence, as for knowledge accumulated, they may very well be, but smart, they aren't.

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Arya, Jon, Ned, Sansa, Robb. 

Ned and the other Stark men aren't stupid (Robb maybe a little bit though), just not willing to go out of his way to think like others. All the Stark men share the same problems, which is why I put Arya on the first spot. 

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1 hour ago, The Greatmatt said:

3. Arya - I understand the temptation to put her first. She is without question the most resourceful of the Starks, which is a kind of tactical intelligence, but she's a concrete thinker who struggles with the bigger picture stuff. Granted she's young, but there's also the matter that she and Lyanna could almost be considered the same character at different ages with different contexts, and I don't think there's any doubt that Ned was a wiser person than Lyanna.

Wouldn't you agree that Arya has gone through experiences Lyanna has not? In the HoBW Arya has learned a lot about the psychology of people and behaviours, how to read situations and interpret information and people's motivations. How to see and hear a lie. She has learned patience, holding her tongue, and keeping secrets. And that with her already inate ability to be pragmantic, adapt and problem solve on the spot...etc. She has an excellent memory, the KM had her remember details of things she saw, learn new languages...etc.

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I'm sure Bran notes that Summer is the cleverest of the pack, and we see the DW take after their masters, I've always taken that to mean Bran is the smartest. I recall Arya clearly has a mind for mathematics vs Sansa's ability at writing and more traditionally 'feminine' pursuits. There are different types of intelligence, but if I were to give an 'overall measure':

I'd say:

  1. Bran
  2. Jon = Robb - If I had to choose, I'd go with Jon > Robb due to necessity, he's just had it tougher and has had to be more perceptive/thoughtful, but I think these two were likely intellectual peers. 
  3. Arya
  4. Sansa

Looking at it now that it's done it doesn't seem right though, there are certainly areas I think they outshine one another. Intelligence is very difficult to even vaguely define.

Comparing the children with the adult Ned and Cat seems a bit fallacious, same with Rickon as he is so young. 

 

 

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Im not sure how anyone can read Jon thought process in the books especially added and not think him extremely intelligent. Was Julius Caesar or Abraham Lincoln an idiot because he was assisinated. He simply tried to make drastic changes that the conservative night's watch guys couldn't handle. 

Jon shows his intelligence all the time in adwd that I think people on the forums overlook slot of it. Keep in mind he is only 17.

1. He sees the big picture.

2. His deal with the iron bank.

3. His strategy of for taking back the North.

4. The alys karstarck marriage was a political master stroke (if Jon wasn't sworn to not take sides)

5. Jon is border line revolutionary in his ideology. This is shown in his respect for women, promotion of satin, willingness to let wildlings through the wall, his respect forw wun wun and his culture. Jon is very pragmatic in his ideology as well. His mindset is if you can help the cause then I will respect you. I can't think of any other character in the story that is this progressive.

6 Glass gardens

7. Making use of val and melisandre.

8. Taking hostages from the wildling.

These are just the obvious ones in adwd.

Now my list

Jon>arya>Robb>Ned>new sansa>catelyn

 

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