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Could Robert have simply named Tommen his heir?


Varysblackfyre321

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Robert could do that.  The king can choose his heir.  His word is the law.  Robert chose to maintain tradition because it serves the purpose of maintaining peace within his household and his children.  Joffrey would react badly if he got passed over and might even try to discreetly rid himself of Tommen.  I want to mention one other thing.  It seems we look at these people and judge them according to our civilized modern times but we need to remember that brutality and violence were the norm during their time.  Joffrey acting like a brutal little shit should set off warnings that he will be cruel and violent but should not disqualify him from getting crowned.  Robert stole the kingdom through violence.  I might even say a peaceful, sensitive prince of dragonstone is even more alarming than a violent and brutal one.  A harsh Joffrey is preferable to weak Tommen.  Weakness will lead to greater tragedy.  Harsh is better than weak.  So while the killing of the cat speaks very poorly of Joffrey's character and his future propensity for violence, Samwell's weakness should be a stronger disqualifier for someone who wants to rule Westeros.   That's why I prefer Maegor to his half-brother.  Maegor and his capable mother saved the Targaryen Dynasty while if it would have been left to his half-brother things might have turned out different.  It is counter to what we are taught today but Westeros is violent.

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Kings may be able to choose their heir, but only if they don't have a clear line of succession, so Robert couldn't just decide Tommen was his heir. 

However, Tommen was already second in line, and Kings can disbar an unsuitable heir. If Joffrey had been feeble of wits or infirm of body or traitorous then Robert could have disbarred him and Tommen world automatically been the next King. But a cruel edge would never be enough for an heir to be considered unsuitable and Joff was twelve his true character was not yet known so Robert would not know of a justification to disbar him.

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Yes he could, but this would prompt a lot of serious discussions, problems and quite possibly a civil war.

Joff is the first born, what gives him a better claim than Tommen, but theoretically the King can name his own sucessor. But I can't see this happening for a lot of reasons:

1) Robert didnt really care about the realm. He didn't really care about nothing apart drinking,whoring and hunting. So he would take no interest in any of this.

2) Even if he did nominate Tommen, there would be a lot of pressure throughout the realm because he would be bypassing his first son with no apparent reason. For all we know Joffrey is not mad ("maester certified" mad at least) nor incapable. This could set a precedent that second sons can have the same rights as firstborns and this would be a real danger for the realm stability.

3) As some people have already said, as soon as Joff knows his "father" disinherited him he would see that Tommen is killed. This would prompt himself again as a possible heir despite his "father" wishes.

4) It all goes down to who support who in reality. As shown in the Dance of Dragons, the court have acknowleged Rhaenyra as Viserys I heir when he was still alive. But when Viserys died, It took only the small council and the kingsguard support for Aegon to be crowned the new king. Of course there was the war later and everything else, but the situation is basically the same. If Joff had more support at the time of Robert's death, Tommen would have no chance of being crowned without a war and the opposite is also true. It doesn't matter the person, just who have more support at the right time.

5 hours ago, Lady Blizzardborn said:

Yes, if he wanted to start a war. Would be interesting to see which side Tywin would take on that issue.

I think Tywin would take the side of the kid that had more chances of securing the throne to the Lannisters in the long run. He would base his choice on the movements of the other great houses, he would not risk choosing one if that meant going in the opposite direction of everyone else.

BUT if he was the one steering the other houses (wich he would be probably be) I think he would choose Tommen. Tommen is more controlable than Joffrey and being younger meant that Tywin could be the realm regent for a long time. 

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Alternatively, if Robert had lived to old age he could’ve disinherited Joffrey in favour of Joffrey’s own son, which would be much more palatable. If Jaehaerys II had lived long enough he may have chosen to do the same with Aerys II and Rhaegar.

Of course, speaking of Targaryens, Aerys II disinherited Rhaegar (and by extension Aegon) for Viserys, but it’s not so comparable due to Rhaegar’s popularity compared to his father, which Joffrey didn’t have and wasn’t like to get. 

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