Cersei planned to kill Bran, not Joff

[BondJamesBond]

Sorry if this has been done and figured out already, but I was thinking about the theory that Joff tried to kill Bran. I'm not totally buying it unless I'm missing something. Here are the main arguments for Cersei:

1) Joff appears to be unaware of any inkling as to his true paternity until Stannis sends the ravens informing the realm. Also, Joff was not aware of Jaime and Cersei being caught. In short, he has no motivation.

2) Joff is insensitive to the extreme ("I can't stand the wailing of women") but it is more of a genuine indifference. I don't think he is subtle enough to be able to act like he didn't do it if he is actually guilty.

3) Much is made of the would-be murder weapon being easily traceable to the Lannisters. In the beginning of the series, we view Cersei as being too smart to do this. BUT, through the Cersei POV chapters we see that Cersei actually is not that bright.

4) at Winterfell, Joff doesn't yet have his own entourage that could hire an assassin. He gets the KG later and shows us that his methods are not in any way subtle. Granted, he is king and can do whatever he wants, but what we later learn about Joff is that he doesn't really have any skill at subtlety.

5) Cersei is extremely worried about Bran waking up and it is Jaime who calms her down back in KL.

6) GRRM has hidden major plots points from us before despite giving us POV chapters from the characters who know how things happened (see Ned at TOJ).

In short, Joff has no motivation to kill Bran and we later learn that stupidity and ruthlessness are Cersei's MO as well. I'm hoping GRRM didn't explicitly rule this out in a Cersei POV chapter.

[Mikkel]

You make some good points, and honestly if it was indeed Joff, I'd simply chalk it up to characters that were not "mature" (from a writing perspective) yet when that part of the plot was written - AGOT came out years and years ago, so it's hardly surprising that some things change in the meantime.

[Winter's Knight]

Joff tried to have Bran killed after hearing Robert say that it'd be a mercy to off the boy. He did it to imitate his father, not protect his mother.

Furthermore, it is not so much as hinted at in her PoV, unlike Ned's ToJ mentions. And last of all, there is no need to hide it-it is not as though readers need more reason to hate her.

[Jolene Brown]

I don't think GRRM has any interest in re-visiting this issue. It's pretty clear that he wanted to close it off in ASOS by revealing it was Joff. I would be hugely surprised if we ever heard about this plotline again.

Also, I think he intended Jaime's conversation to Cat to make it clear it was neither him nor Cercei. He admitted to throwing Bran out the window - there's no reason for him to keep the dagger attempt a secret if Cercei was responsible for it. And at that stage in their relationship, there is no reason he wouldn't know about it, if she had done it.

[KhalDrogoReborn]

I've never bought it. He heard Robert say that killing Bran would be mercy so he did it? Come on, since when did Joffery had any sense of mercy? He would have left Bran to live just so he could laugh at him...

[The Drunkard]

I've never bought it. He heard Robert say that killing Bran would be mercy so he did it? Come on, since when did Joffery had any sense of mercy? He would have left Bran to live just so he could laugh at him...

Well, GRRM did say that the issue would be resolved in ASOS, and the only time the assassination is ever thought of is when two separate characters conclude that Joff must be responsible.

[mormont]

We have an open thread on this issue.