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Why did Robert hate ALL Targs?


Emie

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According to the series it would only make sense for him to hate only two members of the family: King Aerys II and Crown Prince Rhaegar. But what's odd is that his hatred extends to other members that didn't even have anything to do with Harrenhall, the supposed kidnapping of Lyanna, the killing of Rickard and Brandon, or even the sending away on the ship of Steffon and Cassandra that resulted in their deaths. Hell, Dany wasn't even born until pretty much after the rebellion and he even hated her and wanted her and her unborn child to die. We all know he was a passionate and fiery tempered kind of guy anyway , but his hatred of the House Targaryen as a whole was very irrational. Even Ned didn't have much hatred for them even though he lost more than Robert, but at least Ned was smart enough to know that only a couple of Targs are to blame. 

(It makes it especially funny since Robert is part Targ himself. Does that mean he should hate his own Grandmother? Good grief) 

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Because that's how you do this enemy thing in a medieval world. It functions better than "I hate your brother but I'm cool with you, so I hope if I smash his head you won't come back for revenge in twenty years". If you wipe out a clan, you wipe out a clan.

Of course Tywin could do that without any hatred, but it's Tywin. For simpler folks it requires some ideology dehumanizing the target ("dragonspawn") and bullshitting oneself. Deep down Robert knew he was wrong and admitted it (regarding Dany'd assasination) on his deathbed.

Also he just wasn't done with revenge when Aerys and Rhaegar died, so he extended the hatred pool.

Also I don't see anything overly strange with the fact that a guy who isn't established to be rational, in a world when people completely seriously evaluate someone based on their bloodline, thinks this way.

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Because Robert has a selfish need/desire to punish others for everything that goes wrong in his life, even things that aren't anyone's fault like his parents dying and Lyanna dying. It's easier than dealing with his feelings or acknowledging unpleasant aspects of reality. Granted, the average medieval man was not much given to introspection, and therapy hadn't been invented for the most part. And now I'm picturing Robert on a couch in a Psychiatrist's office...

Also, what Tianzi said.

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3 hours ago, Emie said:

 

(It makes it especially funny since Robert is part Targ himself. Does that mean he should hate his own Grandmother? Good grief) 

Maybe it was the self-loathing of his Targ heritage that caused him to turn to self destructive behaviour and thus drink and whore so much. 

But seriously... he hates all Targs because they are all so very emo and douchy 

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I think I can explain this by reposting something I posted to the RLJ threads some time back:

 

Jon: Robert, we have to think about this. There's so much at stake here, we cannot afford to act hastily.

Robert: BARATHEON SMASH!

Ned: Look, it's my sister he's got, but even I'm saying we should try to talk this out, we don't want to endanger the plan.

Robert: BARATHEON SMASH!

Jon: Robert! Focus for a moment. We can gather our forces and deny the king's demand for your heads. Take no offensive action, but put up a united front against Aerys. That will force Rhaegar's hand. He'll have to come out of hiding to call the council, or the seven kingdoms will be plunged into war. Then we can demand Lyanna back for our cooperation.

Robert: BARATHEON SMASH!

Jon: Robert, this is the best way to Lyanna back. What's going to happen if we start the war now? She'll be stuck with that ass Rhaegar for months before we can get this sorted out.

(exit Robert, pursuing a dragon. Alarums and excursions.)

Ned: It's no good Jon, he's pulled a Leroy Jenkins on us. We better get this show on the road.

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1 hour ago, Kingmonkey said:

I think I can explain this by reposting something I posted to the RLJ threads some time back:

 

Jon: Robert, we have to think about this. There's so much at stake here, we cannot afford to act hastily.

Robert: BARATHEON SMASH!

Ned: Look, it's my sister he's got, but even I'm saying we should try to talk this out, we don't want to endanger the plan.

Robert: BARATHEON SMASH!

Jon: Robert! Focus for a moment. We can gather our forces and deny the king's demand for your heads. Take no offensive action, but put up a united front against Aerys. That will force Rhaegar's hand. He'll have to come out of hiding to call the council, or the seven kingdoms will be plunged into war. Then we can demand Lyanna back for our cooperation.

Robert: BARATHEON SMASH!

Jon: Robert, this is the best way to Lyanna back. What's going to happen if we start the war now? She'll be stuck with that ass Rhaegar for months before we can get this sorted out.

(exit Robert, pursuing a dragon. Alarums and excursions.)

Ned: It's no good Jon, he's pulled a Leroy Jenkins on us. We better get this show on the road.

I very much enjoyed that. Thank you, Kingmonkey! 

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I don't think he hated Dany - He was afraid of her and certainly of her unborn child.

Let's face it, Robert wasn't a good King and he knew it. The existence of a rival - with a better claim no less - must've terrified him. I'm sure he believed he could beat the Dothraki in open battle but whether he trusted his Lords to fight for him is another question.

He couldn't admit that he was afraid, of course, so he had to go with hatred, which Ned saw through.

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9 minutes ago, UnFit Finlay said:

I don't think he hated Dany - He was afraid of her and certainly of her unborn child.

Let's face it, Robert wasn't a good King and he knew it. The existence of a rival - with a better claim no less - must've terrified him. I'm sure he believed he could beat the Dothraki in open battle but whether he trusted his Lords to fight for him is another question.

He couldn't admit that he was afraid, of course, so he had to go with hatred, which Ned saw through.

This. Any targ had a better claim than his. He was keenly aware of the targ supporters who he did not defeat, like the Tyrells and the Martells.  

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1 hour ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

This. Any targ had a better claim than his. He was keenly aware of the targ supporters who he did not defeat, like the Tyrells and the Martells.  

Was just about to post the same thing. Literally anyone with the name Targaryen would have a more legitimate claim (not that legitimacy or claims have any real and consistent meaning).

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19 hours ago, Tianzi said:

I just thought... in this context it rould be really, REALLY funny if Cersei and Jaime (and consequently, their kids), really turned out to be Targ descendants.

You know, that makes me more favorably disposed toward Twingaryen theory. Would serve Robert right after the comments he made about those poor babies, and in a way it could be considered the kinslaying curse coming to get him...him having no legitimate offspring.

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4 hours ago, Lady Blizzardborn said:

You know, that makes me more favorably disposed toward Twingaryen theory. Would serve Robert right after the comments he made about those poor babies, and in a way it could be considered the kinslaying curse coming to get him...him having no legitimate offspring.

I don't really consider killing Rhaegar's family as kinslaying (and on that note... Jaime's murder of Aerys shines in a new light) and Cersei's illegitimate offspring will probably bite it before Robert's illegitimate offspring... but yeah, it would be like last Targaryen spit on his grave.

4 hours ago, Jon's Queen Consort said:

Why the readers dislike all the Freys?

Do they? I personally like Fat Walda, have sort of a soft spot for Big Walder and those losers during the siege of Riverrun were extremely fun to read about.

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2 minutes ago, Tianzi said:

I don't really consider killing Rhaegar's family as kinslaying (and on that note... Jaime's murder of Aerys shines in a new light) and Cersei's illegitimate offspring will probably bite it before Robert's illegitimate offspring... but yeah, it would be like last Targaryen spit on his grave.

<snip

Not his family...Robert didn't do that. Killing Rhaegar himself. They were cousins. Not as close, and thus not as bad as being siblings or parent and child, but it still counts as kinslaying (unlike Robb and Karstark who were hundreds of years and generations apart from the connection).

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