[BOOK SPOILERS] Was Stannis sent to kill Daenerys and Viserys?

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Wait why is this in the show subforum now? It's a discussion about the books...

[total1402]

I don't know it got moved for some reason

[Winterz]

I don't know it got moved for some reason

Probably because you mentioned that this was referenced in the show.

[total1402]

Probably because you mentioned that this was referenced in the show.

I was saying the show says this in a few extras clips. Is there any evidence in the text? Thats still discussing the books.

[Winterz]

I was saying the show says this in a few extras clips. Is there any evidence in the text? Thats still discussing the books.

Hey don't blame me. I was just guessing out loud.

[James Arryn]

Ned obviously felt Robert was 3-dimensionally okay with it, no? Wasn't that what almost ended their friendship? Lyanna's death brought them back together, but it must have been fairly significant; Ned is said to have 'ridden out of KL in a cold rage'.

[unSonofStannis]

I think I remember Stannis saying that after the siege of Storm's End and the sack of King's Landing he was sent by Robert to take Dragonstone which was the last Targ stronghold but please correct me if I'm wrong on that. And on the point of Stannis being sent to deal with the Targ children, no I don't think he was because Tywin did that and I think that was a show thing.

[TheSpottedCat]

The line with the Robert calling the Targaryen children dragonspawn was taken directly from the first book, where Ned and Robert are discussing Robert's plan to have Dany and Viserys assassinated and Ned remembers what Robert said after the murder of Rhaenys and Aegon.

From AGoT:

Robert’s hatred of the Targaryens was a madness in him. He remembered the angry words they had exchanged

when Tywin Lannister had presented Robert with the corpses of Rhaegar’s wife and children as a token of fealty. Ned had named that murder;

Robert called it war. When he had protested that the young prince and princess were no more than babes, his new-made king had replied, “I

see no babes. Only dragonspawn.”

[TheSpottedCat]

I think I remember Stannis saying that after the siege of Storm's End and the sack of King's Landing he was sent by Robert to take Dragonstone which was the last Targ stronghold but please correct me if I'm wrong on that. And on the point of Stannis being sent to deal with the Targ children, no I don't think he was because Tywin did that and I think that was a show thing.

Tywin dealt with Rhaenys and Aegon, but there was still Daenerys and Viserys. Stannis was sent to capture Dragonstone, where Viserys and the pregnant (with Daenerys) Rhaella had taken refuge. I think the fact that he had to "deal" with the remaining Targaryens was implied, which is why Willem Darry took the children and fled to Braavos (in the midst of a storm, no less).

[uncle fester]

Robert seemed more than okay with the butchering of Rhaegar's children. And having the Targ children as hostages seems nonsense so I'm pretty sure he sent Stannis there to kill them and any other claim to the throne. And ofc Stannis 'Robot' Baratheon would follow his King's orders without blinking.

Is it my imagination or was Robert's nonchalance re their deaths a major factor in the cooling of relations between him and Ned?

[GoldenFleece]

I think Robert was more relieved that Tywin ordered the death of the Targaryen children, means he didn't have a problem to deal with and he didn't have to do it himself or order it himself. Richard III never recovered his repudiation when the two young princes went missing.

And how do we know that Robert DIDN'T send assassins for Viserys and Dany in the past?

[SerArthurHeath]

I don't see how Robert is exonerated by any of this, did not mourn that man's death an iota

[KevAtUSC]

Not a villain but it does mean she can't exactly call the Baratheons Usurpers Dogs, get all vengeful and not be cast in a hugely negative light. Largely because the Baratheons haven't actually done anything aside from an attempted murder of Dany which Robert later decided against in a big show of mercy n regret. Trying to kill Dany is the only thing bad they've done. Aside from that they rebelled against a Mad King and a "rapist" abducter. The Lannisters did all the dirty work for the baratheons and this means its hard to pin any blame or crime against them.

Yes, I think theres enough gray just by giving them a legit reason to rebel but carrying that to its final conclusion involved that. This still leaves Dany wanting to get rid of rebels who had just reasons for what they were doing. Instead the Lannisters swoop in and do all of Roberts dirty work for him.

So Dany is a villian for hating the man (Robert) who killed her father (effectively) and brother (literally) and who attempted to kill her? What does a death-bed change of mind have to do with anything? Dany has no way of knowing about Robert's change of heart. And even if she did, the man still tried to kill her. Not sure I would care much if my attempted assassin had a change of heart before he died.

[HannibalStark]

Storm's End is a much more prestigious seat than Dragonstone. The crown's heir business was a Targaryen tradition because Dragonstone had been the original Targaryen stronghold. To the Baratheon dynasty, it was just a rock in the sea.

aren't the Baratheon's part Targ, so that whole heir thing might still actually apply, and Robert didnt have kids at the time....

[A spoon of knife and fork]

Yeah no. Robert isn't exhinerated for shit. He may not have pulled the trigger on the death of those babes but he not only fully condoned it, he basically handed the kingdom over to their murderers.

This is the kind of crime that Kings are typically guilty of, and it is perfectly reasonable for any targ or targ supporter (and the dornish) to want robert dead.

It is fair to argue that Dany blames someone like Ned too much, or maybe Jon Arryn. But robert himself? No. He celebrates the death of her INFANT cousins and her personal exile. Fully justified.

As for the subject of his question, Stannis. I don't think we know. Roberts apparent bloodlust does lead me to think he ordered them killed but it's possible not.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

aren't the Baratheon's part Targ, so that whole heir thing might still actually apply, and Robert didnt have kids at the time....

I don't really see how that comes into it. It was a Targaryen tradition, not a hard and fast rule. You could say the Baratheons are "part Targ" (though all the major houses are related in one way or another somehow) but they have their own distinct identity and don't follow any other Targaryen traditions.

[HannibalStark]

I don't really see how that comes into it. It was a Targaryen tradition, not a hard and fast rule. You could say the Baratheons are "part Targ" (though all the major houses are related in one way or another somehow) but they have their own distinct identity and don't follow any other Targaryen traditions.

unless you were going to hand the kingdom to the Velerion Lord Sea horse guy....since Aegon was the one that conquered and brought the 7 kingdoms together, it was convenient it went to a Baratheon, wasn't it? (they would be one of the closest houses related by blood, no?) Since the Velerions aren't actually related by Targ blood, just the blood of Valeryia, the Baratheons are actually as close the Targs have to blood kin, because of how infrequently the Targs wed outside their family before Egg was king, and if I recall, most those that Egg and his children married, died in the fighting or via Summerhall, so there really wasn't any other blood kin besides the Baratheons. It just so happens he had the strength to keep the throne.

Im just saying its not coincidence that Robert (who had the blood, as close as was possible, and the strength) to take and keep the throne, also its not just happenstance that once he dies the 7 kingdoms splinter.

Renly points out to Cat that Robert had no claim but his warhammer, but he took the throne, but the fact that he kept it for so long.......once a Targ or a Baratheon stopped sitting the throne, the realm fell apart.

[Wavey Sauce]

Yep but they were already smuggled away from there by the time he got there

[Lord Freddy Blackfyre]

Some complains that the show whitewash some characters but book's fans of Stannis never stop of whitewashing him. Of course Stannis intention was to kill the Targeryen's children.