Do you think Robert would have killed Jon?

[DominusNovus]

Presuming RLJ.

Ned, goes to Robert after the ToJ, and says "This is my nephew, Lyanna's son by Rhaegar.  He's all I have left of her and she begged me to protect him with her dying words  He's a bastard born of rape, and has no claim to the throne unless you yourself legitimized him.  I will raise him with my family in Winterfell, and he, as a bastard of the North, will join the Night's Watch when he comes of age, further removing any threat he poses to the succession by renouncing his claim and never siring any trueborn sons."

I just don't see Robert having the child killed.  It would go against the wishes of his true love and his best friend.  Notice that, even years later, when Dany actually did pose a credible threat and had an army behind her, Robert could still be convinced, belatedly, that killing her was not the right course of action.  With a helpless baby right in front of him, I can't see him going through with killing Jon or letting him be killed.

[The Wolves]

Yes Robert would have had Jon killed. 

[Beret of Stor]

Mmmm....I think I would disagree.  Rather than seeing Jon as a treat to his crown he would see him as the horrible result of Lyanna's rape.  I seriously doubt he would see Jon as Lyanna's child.  

[Jon's Queen Consort]

No. Robert would had never killed Jon, Tywin on the other hand he would had done it in a heartbeat and even the Tyrells or maybe the Martells but definitely not Robert.

[YOVMO]

Robert wouldn't have had to kill john. As @Jon's Queen Consort any number of people would have lined up to do it with Tywin right in front. If it didn't happen quickly enough Robert would have yelled something about Dragonspawn and while ned would have known that with time he could calm the king down and make reason prevail, someone who wanted to win points and didn't know Robert the way ned did would have seen that baby destroyed.

[Kolx]

Robert would have, he wouldn't have seen Jon as the baby of Lyanna but as the son of Rhaegar, a dragon pawn, just like he thought of Rhaenys and Aegon.

[Jon's Queen Consort]

25 minutes ago, YOVMO said:

Robert wouldn't have had to kill john. As @Jon's Queen Consort any number of people would have lined up to do it with Tywin right in front. If it didn't happen quickly enough Robert would have yelled something about Dragonspawn and while ned would have known that with time he could calm the king down and make reason prevail, someone who wanted to win points and didn't know Robert the way ned did would have seen that baby destroyed.

Agree. Robert was hot tempered but not cruel. He may had told something about dragonspawns but he could had calmed and wouldn't had done anything in the end.

11 minutes ago, Kolx said:

Robert would have, he wouldn't have seen Jon as the baby of Lyanna but as the son of Rhaegar, a dragon pawn, just like he thought of Rhaenys and Aegon.

Killing someone and not being an idiot and punish your most powerful and most dangerous supporter for something he did before Robert became the King isn't the same thing. Tywin had clearly told that Robert wouldn't had killed a child.

[marsyao]

If Jon is child from Rhaegar and the woman he deeply love? without a doubt, he would have killed Jon

[YOVMO]

1 minute ago, Jon's Queen Consort said:

Agree. Robert was hot tempered but not cruel. He may had told something about dragonspawns but he could had calmed and wouldn't had done anything in the end.

He def would have calmed down. You are right. There is not much cruelty to Robert at all. However, he would have screamed and shouted in front of a lot of people with a lot of man power who all wanted to win points with the new king.

 

Robert may not have killed jon in this hypothetical. He may not have ever explicitly demanded he be killed. But his very nature and his inevitable outburst would have been the prime motivator for Jon's death anyway and, make no mistake, he was not seeing his first name day

[gregg22]

Well, here is a sampling of Robert's rage after he has had 15 years to calm down over it...

 

AGOT Eddard I

When Ned had finally come on the scene, Rhaegar lay dead in the stream, while men of both armies scrabbled in the swirling waters for rubies knocked free of his armor.

"In my dreams, I kill him every night," Robert admitted. "A thousand deaths will still be less than he deserves."

 

AGOT Eddard II

The king frowned. "A knife, perhaps. A good sharp one, and a bold man to wield it."

Ned did not feign surprise; Robert's hatred of the Targaryens was a madness in him. He remembered the angry words they had exchanged when Tywin Lannister had presented Robert with the corpses of Rhaegar's wife and children as a token of fealty. Ned had named that murder;  Robert called it war. When he had protested that the young prince and princess were no more than babes, his new-made king had replied, "I see no babes. Only dragonspawn." Not even Jon Arryn had been able to calm that storm. Eddard Stark had ridden out that very day in a cold rage, to fight the last battles of the war alone in the south. It had taken another death to reconcile them; Lyanna's death, and the grief they had shared over her passing.

------------

"Treachery was a coin the Targaryen knew well,"  Robert said. The anger was building in him again. "Lannister paid them back in kind. It was no less than they deserved. I shall not trouble my sleep over it."

AGOT Eddard VIII

"Whereas Daenerys is a fourteen-year-old girl." Ned knew he was pushing this well past the point of wisdom, yet he could not keep silent. ", Robert I ask you, what did we rise against Aerys Targaryen for, if not to put an end to the murder of children?"

"To put an end to Targaryens!" the king growled.

 

Ned believed then, and 15 years later he decision is affirmed over and over again. The author went to lengths to convince us, show us, throughout the first book. It is the very reason Rhaegars other children were killed, for this plot. It is the premise of the entire story.

Its like when Dicken's said "Marley was dead, to begin with ... This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.'  except he couldn't come right out and say it.

 

Robert would have killed Jon.

 

 

[Jon's Queen Consort]

1 minute ago, YOVMO said:

He def would have calmed down. You are right. There is not much cruelty to Robert at all. However, he would have screamed and shouted in front of a lot of people with a lot of man power who all wanted to win points with the new king.

Robert may not have killed jon in this hypothetical. He may not have ever explicitly demanded he be killed. But his very nature and his inevitable outburst would have been the prime motivator for Jon's death anyway and, make no mistake, he was not seeing his first name day

I agree. But I believe that Tywin would had done what he was used to do; kill Jon in order to prove that he is the strongest of them all before even Robert would had the chance to say anything. I believe that people like the Tyrells would had killed Jon if Robert would had the chance to say something and the Martells would had killed him for simple revenge without Robert saying anything at all.

 

[YOVMO]

Just now, Jon's Queen Consort said:

Tywin would had done what he was used to do; kill Jon in order to prove that he is the strongest of them all before even Robert would had the chance to say anything

This is probably right. He might also have felt that slighting Ned in a way that Ned couldn't really react to because Tywin's justification of "this is your sisters rape baby I thought" would have made Tywin quite happy.

[Rise]

Well since Ned has lied about Jon's parenthood for 15 years, he was quite someone would like to kill Jon. Might be Robert or Tywin.

[Jon's Queen Consort]

2 minutes ago, gregg22 said:

Well, here is a sampling of Robert's rage after he has had 15 years to calm down over it...

[...]

Robert would have killed Jon.

There is a huge difference between forgetting, forgiving and calming down. The fact is that Robert wasn't cruel and the fact that Viserys and Dany were alive is the proof that Robert was able to calm down.

2 minutes ago, YOVMO said:

This is probably right. He might also have felt that slighting Ned in a way that Ned couldn't really react to because Tywin's justification of "this is your sisters rape baby I thought" would have made Tywin quite happy.

I can definitely see that.

[LokisRaider]

I think if Ned approached Robert about this privately than Jon would have lived. By privately I mean just the two of them and Jon probably needs to be on his way back to Winterfell or atleast as far away as possible. I think under those conditions Ned could convince him.

If it was in open court with all the schemers Jon would not have had a chance. Robert would have had to get rid of him either directly or indirectly to secure his place on the throne.

[Tianzi]

80% on yes, he would.

He went apeshit whenever the topic of 'dragonspawn' surfaced. He would have the children he thought his own killed if he learned their real parentage. He was deluded into thinking that Lyanna would luuuurv him and that stinky Rhaegar must have raped her => Jon is the result of that harm and must be destroyed.

However, Jon is still Lyanna's kid and Ned's nephew, so I give Robert some benefit of the doubt here.

I can also see the scenario of Tywin killing Jon and Robert being secretly relieved.

[Señor de la Tormenta]

Nope. He loves and trusts Ned to much for this.

If Ned swears he would never reveal Jons parentage I guess it would be enough 

 

I think Ned would think the same. Thats why Lyanna asked him to make a promise. She is afraid for her child, and afraid of Ned telling Robert.

 

Robert is unpredictable. He is flawed but has a good heart. He ends up backing from killing Dumbenerys, so who knows? And only bothers to order a hit when targaryens are setting a dothraki alliance.

 

And Its his beloved Neds nephew we are talking about.

[Adam Yozza]

14 minutes ago, Jon's Queen Consort said:

There is a huge difference between forgetting, forgiving and calming down. The fact is that Robert wasn't cruel and the fact that Viserys and Dany were alive is the proof that Robert was able to calm down.

Yeah, but to be fair there is also a huge difference between resisting the urge to hunt down two Targaryen's that are a thousand miles away and had nothing to do with anything (he sends assassins after them eventually anyway, even if he did back down in the end), and not killing Rhaegar's child by Lyanna when it is right in front of him.

If Jon was back in Winterfell already when Ned revealed it, then maybe he could have talked Robert down, if they spoke in absolute privacy. But even then, Bob even muttering something could be enough to put the thought in someones mind (as he did in the situation were Joffrey sent an assassin after Bran). Besides, since Ned didn't tell him in canon, then I think it's clear that Ned at least believed Jon was safer if Robert didn't know

[Jon's Queen Consort]

2 minutes ago, Adam Yozza said:

Yeah, but to be fair there is also a huge difference between resisting the urge to hunt down two Targaryen's that are a thousand miles away and had nothing to do with anything (he sends assassins after them eventually anyway, even if he did back down in the end), and not killing Rhaegar's child by Lyanna when it is right in front of him.

Well since he only had to order someone to do it how far those Targs were doesn't matter. He sent assassins against Dany who was conspiring to attack him he hadn't act when they had done anything against him.

Also Robert loved Lyanna more than Ned loved Lyanna. For Lyanna’s sake he most definitely wouldn’t had hurt her son as long as he wasn’t present to his everyday life, kind of out of sight out of mind.

[Señor de la Tormenta]

6 minutes ago, Adam Yozza said:

Yeah, but to be fair there is also a huge difference between resisting the urge to hunt down two Targaryen's that are a thousand miles away and had nothing to do with anything (he sends assassins after them eventually anyway, even if he did back down in the end), and not killing Rhaegar's child by Lyanna when it is right in front of him.

If Jon was back in Winterfell already when Ned revealed it, then maybe he could have talked Robert down, if they spoke in absolute privacy. But even then, Bob even muttering something could be enough to put the thought in someones mind (as he did in the situation were Joffrey sent an assassin after Bran). Besides, since Ned didn't tell him in canon, then I think it's clear that Ned at least believed Jon was safer if Robert didn't know

Viserys actually had a claim but Robert only ordered a hit when the targaryens moved to forge alliances in AGOT. Jon was not a threat, since the secret would had died with Ned.