North war of five kings

[Alex Gu]

Why do the north have a difficult time against ironborn if stark only had half of the possible strenght of north of 40000-45000 in south

[Warren of Skagos]

Becaus the ironborn attack quickly in raids. That doesnt give a lot of time to gather your forces and move to attack. Also theres vast distances between towns, castles, etc.

[The Golden Wolf]

On 9/25/2017 at 7:45 PM, Warren of Skagos said:

Becaus the ironborn attack quickly in raids. That doesnt give a lot of time to gather your forces and move to attack. Also theres vast distances between towns, castles, etc.

^this. The North was caught completely unawares by the Ironborn...Even though Ned specifically told Cat to keep an eye on Theon because he knew if trouble broke out the Ironborn would mobilize. while you could say that there was no definitive reason to believe the north would be attacked they should at the very least have still prepared for it after the death of Eddard and Robb was crowned king.

but even then, the North had fucking Ramsey "The Bastard of Bolton" Snow causing all kind of chaos in the eastern part of the North causing there to be tensions and fighting between the Boltons and Manderlys, so that was a detrimental distraction.

but even with that, the North could have rallied around Winterfell and easily driven the Ironborn from their lands. Theon taking Winterfell in one of the luckiest plans ever (empty the castle garrison to chase Ironborn a hundred miles away even though the heirs of the king are far more important). Then Ramsey and the Boltons betraying the North really sealed the deal. 

Ramsey being a psycho and Theon a traitor is what fucked the North and Robb