Most cowardly deed in ASOIAF.

[Lion of the West]

12 hours ago, HoodedCrow said:

I would say that Robert retreating to drink shows emotional and mental cowardice. He fails to come to terms with Lyanna's rejection. (Wow get over it) He womanizes, using his position and wealth, instead of looking after his responsibilities. He fails to look after his bastards and the children he believes are his. He fails to deal with Cersei in any mature way. He lets Littlefinger bankrupt the kingdom. His retreat over the Lady situation is just one more example.

While I totally think that Robert was in the Lannisters' pocket, and no king should ever be so indebted to anyone. I think you are overblowing it even while I agree with some parts.

I'd say that Robert's drinking is a sign of weakness, not cowardice, as he seems bewildered on how to get out of his situation, not because he don't dare to do what he knows he should do.

As far as I know, Robert wasn't aware of Lyanna's rejection so I don't think that its part of it, but I do agree that him not getting over it is more weakness.

As for avoiding responsibilities I agree that he is a coward in that.

But as far as I know Robert's bastards have a pretty ok deal in life with Edric Storm fostered at Storm's End, Gendry being an apprentice to a master smith and Mya Stone having a solid work at the Eyrie. Where I do agree that he showed cowardice is that he kind of abandoned his own children to Cersei and there let, in particular his heir Joffrey, come under Cersei's domination.

In regards to Cersei I can see the immaturity but that's different from cowardice.

For Littlefinger I am willing to give Robert a pass as Jon Arryn brought Littlefinger onboard and Robert had his father figure giving Littlefinger recommendations. I thinkt that is was sloppy by Robert to let Littlefinger reign, but not very cowardly.

As for Lady, I agree that it was cowardice. Although I would have personally understood i Nymeria was killed following the attack on Joffrey. Dire Wolves are big animals and shouldn't be allowed to learn to attack humans and in particular not let an attack on the crown prince go unpunished. Is it fair according to our standards? Yes and no, but certaily in accordance with Westerosi standards.

[HoodedCrow]

Immaturity in an adult and weakness of that kind comes from the lack of moral courage to grow. He was too cowardly to get to know Lyanna then, or after her death. His fantasizing a real person shows a lack of courage, or fragile ego, but they are related. It was too much trouble to confront a realationship and realize Lyanna was unwilling. The he 

Now I thought Varys looked after Gendry. He didn't know about Barra. Elric was too high up the food chain to ignore.

Robert drank, hunted,  and womanized  to avoid internal pain and dislike for his duties, all the tedious bits of ruling, fatherhood, spousal. The seduction of underlings is also cowardly. The self pity was also a sign of moral cowardice.

If Dany just drank herself silly, waved her hands at rape, refused to make choices in ruling, accepted a slave culture and the brutalizations of the unsullied, cried herself into the Dosh Khaleen, giggled at the danger her dragons posed, let other people confront her enemies, not dealt with the marriage with Diogo, placed Daario as her prime minister, or just played yes woman to Hizdhar,  sat shivering while Drogon attacked the crowd, told people she was just too girlish to try to understand or solve economic problems, hit on all the young male or female cup bearers, become a clotheshorse to distract herself, happily take bets on the slave  Gladiators, hold orgies while the people starved, then we are talking moral cowardice.

But I see, a guy who wants to use a hammer to solve his problems, and fails to develop in any other way, is a great guy with a few weaknesses, the main one being moral courage. He had considerable power and status and did nothing useful with it, other than not be as crazy as Aerys.

There is a reason Martin has him gored by a pig, while hunting to deny his troubles, after failing to recognize how drunk he is, assisted by his own wife and her lover. He dies in his own stink.

 

[Lion of the West]

1 hour ago, HoodedCrow said:

Immaturity in an adult and weakness of that kind comes from the lack of moral courage to grow. He was too cowardly to get to know Lyanna then, or after her death. His fantasizing a real person shows a lack of courage, or fragile ego, but they are related. It was too much trouble to confront a realationship and realize Lyanna was unwilling. The he 

You may call it what you want. I tend to separate cowardice which implies that you make a choice to go contrary to what you know is the right thing to do, and immaturity which to me means that you are limited in various ways and or have failed to rise above petty motivations.

Secondly what makes you think it was cowardice that prevented Robert from getting to know Lyanna? Or that he really knew her at all? I have seen nothing to hint of the sort in my reading.

1 hour ago, HoodedCrow said:

Now I thought Varys looked after Gendry. He didn't know about Barra. Elric was too high up the food chain to ignore.

And I thought Varys looked after Gendry on behest of Robert, as Varys would really have no reason for himself to care for Robert's bastards. True that Robert didn't know about all his bastards though.

1 hour ago, HoodedCrow said:

Robert drank, hunted,  and womanized  to avoid internal pain and dislike for his duties, all the tedious bits of ruling, fatherhood, spousal. The seduction of underlings is also cowardly. The self pity was also a sign of moral cowardice.

Robert didn't to my knowledge seduce any particular underling nor do I find that self-pity is connected with cowardice. Self pity is, or can be, pathetic but its neither brave nor craven, its just one of many ways to cope with an unbearable situation like Robert found himself in. Now his avoidance of responsibilities I can agree was cowardly as Robert knew what he was supposed to do in many ways but wanted someone else to do it or just get out of the situation until it was over.

1 hour ago, HoodedCrow said:

If Dany just drank herself silly, waved her hands at rape, refused to make choices in ruling, accepted a slave culture and the brutalizations of the unsullied, cried herself into the Dosh Khaleen, giggled at the danger her dragons posed, let other people confront her enemies, not dealt with the marriage with Diogo, placed Daario as her prime minister, or just played yes woman to Hizdhar,  sat shivering while Drogon attacked the crowd, told people she was just too girlish to try to understand or solve economic problems, hit on all the young male or female cup bearers, become a clotheshorse to distract herself, happily take bets on the slave  Gladiators, hold orgies while the people starved, then we are talking moral cowardice.

What does Danaerys have to do this with? I don't recall mentioning her at all in my post.

1 hour ago, HoodedCrow said:

But I see, a guy who wants to use a hammer to solve his problems, and fails to develop in any other way, is a great guy with a few weaknesses, the main one being moral courage. He had considerable power and status and did nothing useful with it, other than not be as crazy as Aerys.

I see a fairly immature guy thrown headlong into the water and expected to learn to swim, or drown, and he drowned. Also I think that you underestimate what Robert actually managed to accomplish. After Robert's Rebellion there is peace with the crazy Greyjoys as the sole expection and when Robert dies everyone scrambles to find their Baratheon to support. No widespread rebellion during his lfie, or that can connected with him afterwards to return the Targaryens. That's something useful as peace is most often useful. To mend such rifts after a major war speaks well of both Robert and Jon Arryn.

So there you have something useful, and putting the Greyjoys in their place can also be counted as something useful beyond that.

1 hour ago, HoodedCrow said:

There is a reason Martin has him gored by a pig, while hunting to deny his troubles, after failing to recognize how drunk he is, assisted by his own wife and her lover. He dies in his own stink.

I see your point but I do disagree with your conclusion. I don't think that Robert's ending was some kind of hint by GRRM about how we are supposed to view the character but rather a logical end when knowing Robert's life style.

[ravenous reader]

8 hours ago, LionoftheWest said:

You may call it what you want. I tend to separate cowardice which implies that you make a choice to go contrary to what you know is the right thing to do, and immaturity which to me means that you are limited in various ways and or have failed to rise above petty motivations.

While you may quibble about the finer aspects of inaction, perhaps we can agree on the definition of cowardice's opposite, i.e. bravery -- which according to Ned is about taking action even when one is uncomfortable or afraid.  So while Robert may have been 'cowardly' or 'immature' or 'limited' or 'weak'-- take your pick -- he was certainly not brave.  Before you counter with how brave he was on the battlefield, please consider that the battlefield was his element; he enjoyed the sport of war, was good at killing people, and had no fear when he was going about his business with the hammer when the bloodlust was up -- so although he was a successful soldier, even a great war leader, I would not necessarily conclude from there that he was brave.  Bravery is not about doing what one already enjoys and has mastered; on the contrary, it's about stepping out of ones comfort zone, embracing the willingness to make the hard calls and face up to unpleasant realities, even when it's not personally fulfilling.

Going with your definition above, however, Robert did indeed 'go contrary to what he knew was the right thing to do'.  In support of this conclusion, one may infer that he often felt ashamed of his actions -- people who are confident they are doing the right thing (however rightly or wrongly) do not tend to feel shame.  We are given an inkling of his internal conflict, for example, on the rare occasion he confesses as much to Ned:

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A Game of Thrones - Eddard VII

"Robert …"

"Drink and stay quiet, the king is talking. I swear to you, I was never so alive as when I was winning this throne, or so dead as now that I've won it. And Cersei … I have Jon Arryn to thank for her. I had no wish to marry after Lyanna was taken from me, but Jon said the realm needed an heir. Cersei Lannister would be a good match, he told me, she would bind Lord Tywin to me should Viserys Targaryen ever try to win back his father's throne," The king shook his head. "I loved that old man, I swear it, but now I think he was a bigger fool than Moon Boy. Oh, Cersei is lovely to look at, truly, but cold … the way she guards her cunt, you'd think she had all the gold of Casterly Rock between her legs. Here, give me that beer if you won't drink it." He took the horn, upended it, belched, wiped his mouth. "I am sorry for your girl, Ned. Truly. About the wolf, I mean. My son was lying, I'd stake my soul on it. My son … you love your children, don't you?"

"With all my heart," Ned said.

"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. My son. How could I have made a son like that, Ned?"

"He's only a boy," Ned said awkwardly. He had small liking for Prince Joffrey, but he could hear the pain in Robert's voice. "Have you forgotten how wild you were at his age?"

"It would not trouble me if the boy was wild, Ned. You don't know him as I do." He sighed and shook his head. "Ah, perhaps you are right. Jon despaired of me often enough, yet I grew into a good king." Robert looked at Ned and scowled at his silence. "You might speak up and agree now, you know."

 

A Game of Thrones - Eddard XIII

"Damn you, Robert," Ned said when they were alone. His leg was throbbing so badly he was almost blind with pain. Or perhaps it was grief that fogged his eyes. He lowered himself to the bed, beside his friend. "Why do you always have to be so headstrong?"

"Ah, fuck you, Ned," the king said hoarsely. "I killed the bastard, didn't I?" A lock of matted black hair fell across his eyes as he glared up at Ned. "Ought to do the same for you. Can't leave a man to hunt in peace. Ser Robar found me. Gregor's head. Ugly thought. Never told the Hound. Let Cersei surprise him." His laugh turned into a grunt as a spasm of pain hit him. "Gods have mercy," he muttered, swallowing his agony. "The girl. Daenerys. Only a child, you were right … that's why, the girl … the gods sent the boar … sent to punish me …" The king coughed, bringing up blood. "Wrong, it was wrong, I … only a girl … Varys, Littlefinger, even my brother … worthless … no one to tell me no but you, Ned … only you …" He lifted his hand, the gesture pained and feeble. "Paper and ink. There, on the table. Write what I tell you."

His shame about the various children and other innocents (like 'Lady') falling victim to his cowardice is clear.  I've said he's not a psychopath, so Robert actually has a conscience, and a capacity for empathy, although he doesn't always live by it , so he was capable of feeling ashamed of his choices, leading him to attempt to rectify his troubled feelings using a variety of compensatory behaviors, both mature behaviors such as confessing, seeking forgiveness and attempting to institute reparations; as well as less mature behaviors involving his principal defense mechanism -- namely, avoidance.  

In a nutshell, Robert can be understood according to this rule of thumb: he would habitually avoid (both emotionally and physically) anything that disturbed his ease -- avoid eye contact, avoid discussing complex issues, leaving the room or riding off in the middle of important deliberations, or failing to show at all (e.g. council meetings).  Most of the time he would avoid by seeking refuge in pleasure as an antidote to his pain, by going drinking, womanizing, hunting, etc.  

Avoidance is cowardice -- it's basically a fear of confrontation.

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Secondly what makes you think it was cowardice that prevented Robert from getting to know Lyanna? Or that he really knew her at all? I have seen nothing to hint of the sort in my reading.

In his obsessive relationship to Lyanna with its sequelae, the flaw is less cowardice and more vanity.

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And I thought Varys looked after Gendry on behest of Robert, as Varys would really have no reason for himself to care for Robert's bastards. True that Robert didn't know about all his bastards though.

Robert didn't to my knowledge seduce any particular underling nor do I find that self-pity is connected with cowardice. Self pity is, or can be, pathetic but its neither brave nor craven, its just one of many ways to cope with an unbearable situation like Robert found himself in. Now his avoidance of responsibilities I can agree was cowardly as Robert knew what he was supposed to do in many ways but wanted someone else to do it or just get out of the situation until it was over.

Indeed, this is a problem when you're supposed to rule a kingdom and make important decisions affecting the lives of multitudes.  It's difficult fulfilling your responsibility to protect the weak, when you're weak yourself.  It's difficult protecting children, when you're a child yourself.  Thus, why GRRM shows us how so many children and innocents are placed in peril by Robert's essential passivity, leaving a void of inaction into which the cohort of psychopaths surrounding him (Tywin, Littlefinger, Varys, Cersei, to name a few) gladly stepped.  His principal act of cowardice is not standing up to them, allowing them free reign to harm others, in the full awareness of what kind of people he was dealing with (hence why he elected to avoid dealing with them or disciplining them, effectively preferring instead to unleash them full-throttle on others).  

Case in point -- don't forget the injustice that was done to Mycah.  GRRM draws our attention to the wanton brutality, forcing us to question its source and rationale, with the frequently reiterated epithet 'the butcher's boy', which I'd argue is an ironic comment on the 'butchery' involved and the identity of the 'butcher' with whom Mycah is affiliated -- beginning with Sandor Clegane, acting on Cersei's orders, and finally committed in Robert's name (who when it was done predictably said 'not a word').  The buck stops with Robert.  One might say he's the eerily silent and rather squeamish butcher behind the cleaver!

8 hours ago, LionoftheWest said:

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There is a reason Martin has him gored by a pig, while hunting to deny his troubles, after failing to recognize how drunk he is, assisted by his own wife and her lover. He dies in his own stink.

I see your point but I do disagree with your conclusion. I don't think that Robert's ending was some kind of hint by GRRM about how we are supposed to view the character but rather a logical end when knowing Robert's life style.

I agree with @Hooded Crow here.  While GRRM does not subscribe to traditional notions of a just world -- in fact, he's quite pessimistic about the whole human enterprise -- he does however allow himself as omniscient author-puppeteer the luxury of dealing out 'poetic justice' or 'karmic retribution' to his characters, in which he can be observed repeatedly following a pattern of matching the punishment to the crime (as assessed by GRRM's own moral compass), in a rather fitting fashion.

 For example, Jaime in bad faith offers Bran his hand with the words 'take my hand', only shortly thereafter to use the same hand to chuck him from the window.  In recompense, GRRM chose the punishment of Jaime losing that same hand -- hardly coincidence.  Another example:  Theon murdered the 'miller's boys' who may very well have been of his own seed (considering all his sexy romps with the miller's wife).  For his punishment, GRRM condemned him to losing his penis and testicles -- his sexual prowess and reproductive potency (i.e. his seed) -- making the Ironborn adage 'we do not sow' painfully ironic.  Another famous example: the Frey pies...baked in 'porky pies', Cockney rhyming slang for 'lies,' to pay them back for their perfidious oathbreaking.  Strangely, Dany and Tyrion are hardly ever made as graphically accountable for their crimes -- I wonder why that is (some have dubbed the obvious footprint of the author in sparing certain of his favorites 'plot armor')?

 

 

[HoodedCrow]

Yes, I do think it is moral cowardice to rely on patriarchal force to marry a young woman who dislikes you, and then never consider the motives behind an "abduction" other than to construct a self serving fantasy. I do think it's cowardly to chase women who are much lower in status than you are. Yes, he drowned in booze and sexual gratification. He seeks Ned out much too late. He had many opportunities to be a much better man; more than most of his subjects.

Solely relying on self pity as a motivation is morally craven. Much worse than Sam, who confronts his weaknesses, and grows in difficult circumstances. Here's a new story about Sam. He goes to the wall, and spends all his time in Moletown with prostitutes and drinks till he dies. Now how do you regard craven Sam?

So, Robert's accident of birthright made him a good guy. Yah. Useful for fighting battles and claiming a throne, but morally nothing. But to be fair, it's possible that in becoming a great warrior, Robert abandoned moral development, in a craven way. He did have alternative examples, and a lot of opportunity to stand up morally.

I was responding to all the Dany hate. Perhaps this thread is not all about you:)

Oh, I do think Martin is clever enough to show characters deaths as compatible with characters, and their moral development.  Note: Ned has his head separated from his heart because he couldn't reconcile the two. (Robb, too) Tywin dies from a wound to his bowels while sits on the privy, a wound from his own son, and then stinks unbearably while he lies in state.

 

[ravenous reader]

7 minutes ago, HoodedCrow said:

Oh, I do think Martin is clever enough to show characters deaths as compatible with characters, and their moral development.  Note: Ned has his head separated from his heart because he couldn't reconcile the two. (Robb, too) Tywin dies from a wound to his bowels while sits on the privy, a wound from his own son, and then stinks unbearably while he lies in state.

Good points.  The topic of GRRM's handling of 'karmic or poetic justice' is an interesting one.  There was a thread about it a while ago that was unfortunately closed down.

About Tywin, the 'punishment' was also fitting, considering his painstaking obsession about whitewashing his image, keeping all the 'dirty secrets' of the Lannisters in the closet, and unfairly terrorising his son based on the narcissistic shame he felt having a dwarf and/or Aerys' progeny (neither of these any fault of Tyrion's) affiliated with the Lannister name.

[HoodedCrow]

R R, yes, the poetic justice of the numerous deaths would make a good thread.

I do think people give extra credit to characters who are not too craven to reflect on their cowardly moments. It's takes more guts than to pretend that they aren't there.

 

[Lion of the West]

17 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

While you may quibble about the finer aspects of inaction, perhaps we can agree on the definition of cowardice's opposite, i.e. bravery -- which according to Ned is about taking action even when one is uncomfortable or afraid.

Not really. Eddard says you can only be brave when you are afraid and that's different from simply taking action when you are afraid, for many actions can be more cowardly than simple inaction also when being afraid. If a bully bullies someone, and you are afraid of the bully, you don't show bravery by joining in the bullying, despite taking an action when afraid.

17 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

 So while Robert may have been 'cowardly' or 'immature' or 'limited' or 'weak'-- take your pick -- he was certainly not brave.  Before you counter with how brave he was on the battlefield, please consider that the battlefield was his element; he enjoyed the sport of war, was good at killing people, and had no fear when he was going about his business with the hammer when the bloodlust was up -- so although he was a successful soldier, even a great war leader, I would not necessarily conclude from there that he was brave.  Bravery is not about doing what one already enjoys and has mastered; on the contrary, it's about stepping out of ones comfort zone, embracing the willingness to make the hard calls and face up to unpleasant realities, even when it's not personally fulfilling.

Robert was brave and strong in physical aspects but cowardly and weak in emotional aspects. Its not really hard to find it in the same person as people are complex and GRRM tries, to my understanding, to write complex characters. But I mostly agree with what you say.

17 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

Going with your definition above, however, Robert did indeed 'go contrary to what he knew was the right thing to do'.  In support of this conclusion, one may infer that he often felt ashamed of his actions -- people who are confident they are doing the right thing (however rightly or wrongly) do not tend to feel shame.  We are given an inkling of his internal conflict, for example, on the rare occasion he confesses as much to Ned:

I agree. Robert can often be a coward and he's very emotionally immature and handles such things and non-violent conflicts very poorly, sometimes reversing back to physical violence like when he hits Cersei.

17 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

His shame about the various children and other innocents (like 'Lady') falling victim to his cowardice is clear.  I've said he's not a psychopath, so Robert actually has a conscience, and a capacity for empathy, although he doesn't always live by it , so he was capable of feeling ashamed of his choices, leading him to attempt to rectify his troubled feelings using a variety of compensatory behaviors, both mature behaviors such as confessing, seeking forgiveness and attempting to institute reparations; as well as less mature behaviors involving his principal defense mechanism -- namely, avoidance.

More or less agree with this.

17 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

In a nutshell, Robert can be understood according to this rule of thumb: he would habitually avoid (both emotionally and physically) anything that disturbed his ease -- avoid eye contact, avoid discussing complex issues, leaving the room or riding off in the middle of important deliberations, or failing to show at all (e.g. council meetings).  Most of the time he would avoid by seeking refuge in pleasure as an antidote to his pain, by going drinking, womanizing, hunting, etc.

I think that's actually far to harsh. Robert can be understood in many ways but avoidance is his primary defensive mechanism against hurt is something I agree with, but there are also other ways to understand Robert, such as rage immaturity.

17 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

 Avoidance is cowardice -- it's basically a fear of confrontation.

DIsagree. Avoidance is the fear of escalation. If you are in a bad situation, avoiding it is based on that it won't become even worse if you distance yourself from it. Its very faulty as sometimes a situation must become much more worse before it can be better. But it is in fact a way in the short term of avoid increased problems or hurt from an issue.

17 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

In his obsessive relationship to Lyanna with its sequelae, the flaw is less cowardice and more vanity.

Sounds reasonable.

17 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

Indeed, this is a problem when you're supposed to rule a kingdom and make important decisions affecting the lives of multitudes.  It's difficult fulfilling your responsibility to protect the weak, when you're weak yourself.  It's difficult protecting children, when you're a child yourself.  Thus, why GRRM shows us how so many children and innocents are placed in peril by Robert's essential passivity, leaving a void of inaction into which the cohort of psychopaths surrounding him (Tywin, Littlefinger, Varys, Cersei, to name a few) gladly stepped.  His principal act of cowardice is not standing up to them, allowing them free reign to harm others, in the full awareness of what kind of people he was dealing with (hence why he elected to avoid dealing with them or disciplining them, effectively preferring instead to unleash them full-throttle on others).

I agree that its a problem. But then again Tywin don't surround Robert. Tywin is in the West and Cersei runs the Lannisters in the capital. However I also think that one of the thing that you miss is that Robert also seems aware that keeping the greater peace is something which is important and in a feudal society you can't send the cops on crocked people and expect them to be done away with in prison or in disgrace. If Robert moves against Littlefinger, blam the crown can go bankrupt, if he goes against Varys, blam the crown is without vital information on plots are hatched at court. And going against the Lannisters will mean a new major war with at the minimum several hundreds of innocents dead. Most likely tens of thousands as the armies of the realm would ravage the Westerlands, sack Lannisport and lay siege to Casterly Rock. 

In essence I don't think that Asoiaf is a morality tale in such direct ways. There's nothing to suggest that a realm run by mediocre people of moral standing will be better than a realm run by immoral people of great skill. Case in point is that Tywin, by most people considering a not very nice person, ran the realm pretty well for some twenty years without habitual massacres, constant rebellions etc.

17 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

Case in point -- don't forget the injustice that was done to Mycah.  GRRM draws our attention to the wanton brutality, forcing us to question its source and rationale, with the frequently reiterated epithet 'the butcher's boy', which I'd argue is an ironic comment on the 'butchery' involved and the identity of the 'butcher' with whom Mycah is affiliated -- beginning with Sandor Clegane, acting on Cersei's orders, and finally committed in Robert's name (who when it was done predictably said 'not a word').  The buck stops with Robert.  One might say he's the eerily silent and rather squeamish butcher behind the cleaver!

The main problem with this is once more than Robert don't know how to deal with the Lannisters in a non-violent way and is not so down that he'll do a Maegor on anyone that displease him. Also Robert is not responsible for Mycah's death. Sandor Clegane killed the boy and Cersei gav the order. Neither Sandor nor Cersei can lay the blame at Robert's feet and wash their hands of it. Everyone is guilty of what the did, not what others did. Robert didn't give the order and he didn't wield the sword.

17 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

I agree with @Hooded Crow here.  While GRRM does not subscribe to traditional notions of a just world -- in fact, he's quite pessimistic about the whole human enterprise -- he does however allow himself as omniscient author-puppeteer the luxury of dealing out 'poetic justice' or 'karmic retribution' to his characters, in which he can be observed repeatedly following a pattern of matching the punishment to the crime (as assessed by GRRM's own moral compass), in a rather fitting fashion.

 For example, Jaime in bad faith offers Bran his hand with the words 'take my hand', only shortly thereafter to use the same hand to chuck him from the window.  In recompense, GRRM chose the punishment of Jaime losing that same hand -- hardly coincidence.  Another example:  Theon murdered the 'miller's boys' who may very well have been of his own seed (considering all his sexy romps with the miller's wife).  For his punishment, GRRM condemned him to losing his penis and testicles -- his sexual prowess and reproductive potency (i.e. his seed) -- making the Ironborn adage 'we do not sow' painfully ironic.  Another famous example: the Frey pies...baked in 'porky pies', Cockney rhyming slang for 'lies,' to pay them back for their perfidious oathbreaking.  Strangely, Dany and Tyrion are hardly ever made as graphically accountable for their crimes -- I wonder why that is (some have dubbed the obvious footprint of the author in sparing certain of his favorites 'plot armor')?

All entertaining but then again the dust hasn't settled just yet. But plot armour is very real in Westeros and has for example allowed people to survive and even thrive in outrageous ways. And the dust hasn't settled yet, and there are at least two more books to go. But in some ways I agree that GRRM sometimes uises poetic deaths and fates for people.

[HoodedCrow]

No, defense mechanisms are all about the fear of emotional pain.

Avoidance is very much about fear. At it's most obvious, there are phobias, such as fears of clowns, escalators, or birds! At its best, it is a mild or sensible fear. 

Cowardice is in play when spectators to someone getting bullied do nothing, and I think Martin is specifically looking at leadership in this series. Robert is a poor leader because of his abdication of responsibilities, due in part to his fear of confrontation of his own weaknesses, the needs of other people and the realm, or other people's abuse of power. It is a looming mess.

He is quite thoughtless with Cersei( not that I like her either)womanizing in front of her, being perpetually drunk, dissing her for a Lyanna fantasy. Might he have had an ally in time?

His Bluff King warrior persona is just enough so that he is preferred to a crazed Targ when the population is too war weary to care, but he leaves a legacy of bankruptcy, corruption, political opponants, personal enemies, and unprepared successors. I think the contrast between physical courage and moral courage is very deliberate here.

[JoeMama]

Joffrey.

Torturous little bastard can dole out horrific punishment to anyone or anything without consequence, but he himself is precious as a snowflake when anyone hits back; leaving him to hide behind his guards or his mother's skirt.

The most cowardly deed is every cruel thing he did to those beneath him.

[Sigella]

Joffy attacking Mycah.

Kraznyz treatment of the Unsullied also comes to mind. 

[winter daughter]

Every thing Joffrey did. he was a coward through and through.

[StepStark]

20 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

Avoidance is cowardice -- it's basically a fear of confrontation.

Sorry but this is blatantly not true. Of course that avoidance can be cowardice, but to say that it's always cowardice is really stretching. Cowardice is when you make decision (either to act or not to act) based solely or primarily on fear. In the case of Robert, there is nothing in the text that suggests that he was afraid of Lannisters. As someone already said, maybe he just didn't want escalation, which is not brave, but it isn't cowardly either. But there is absolutely no sign that any of Robert's decision was based on fear, which is the very definition of cowardice.

I will repeat that of course his decisions to tolerate Lannisters were wrong and had terrible consequences. He too suffered those consequences and very directly. But just because a decision is wrong it doesn't mean that it's cowardly.

And if you want to talk about moral cowardice, by your interpretation the entire King's Guard is way more cowardly than Robert, because they just stood and watched as Aerys was terrorizing the entire realm. But I wouldn't agree with that either, even though I also hold KG's inaction against them (no oath can be justification for that). There is no indication that they were afraid to do something, which is what cowardice means. It was wrong and possibly immoral, just like Robert, but it wasn't cowardice.

[Good Guy Garlan]

Joffrey was too chickenshit 99% of the time, but to his credit he didn't run away during the battle of Blackwater until Cersei called for him. 

[HoodedCrow]

No, defense mechanisms are about avoiding psychological pain. There are mechanisms to defend the psyche against pain. It's not about a clock, it is about fear of psychological pain.

Avoidance is about fear. 

Study psychology, if there is a real desire to understand how avoidance works.

Robert spends most of his time avoiding other people's needs and pain as well as his own, and it has a tremendous impact.  I consider that to be cowardly. Maybe other people think that's fine.

Being brutish with Cersei, and abdicating responsibility to her was cowardly. His wedding night shows a great deal of cowardice. He does not, over the course of years, and adds spousal rape, unchecked drinking and womanizing, emotional and physical abuse to his behavior with his wife. Spousal abuse is the opposite of bravery.