Why isn't incest more prevalent in Westeros, especially amongst nobility?

[Jasta11]

Maybe they also noticed the proverbial tendency towards... shall we say interesting behavior some Targaryens had and connected the dots. I think both main religions also dislike the practice anyway.

As for the Targs being admired, I don't think so. The Lords threw them out easily enough as soon as they ceased to obey the social contract. It think it was simply a Targaryen ''thing''; Lannisters are rich and prideful, Starks are dour and freeze their arses, Martells are hot-blooded and sexually liberated, Greyjoys are stupid, and Targaryens have a chip on their shoulder and marry their siblings. It was accepted because, well, it's good to be the king and all that, just like (overly and publicly) drinking and whoring is rather frowned upon but it's OK when Robert does it. Plus, would YOU complain about incest when the offender can barbecue your face with a giant dragon?

[binga]

I am sure a lot of lords and ladies said bad things about the Targaryens and their "sister fucking" when they could do so without the Targaryens finding out. It wasn't an admired trait.

[Shane the Llama]

Maybe they also noticed the proverbial tendency towards... shall we say interesting behavior some Targaryens had and connected the dots. I think both main religions also dislike the practice anyway.

As for the Targs being admired, I don't think so. The Lords threw them out easily enough as soon as they ceased to obey the social contract. It think it was simply a Targaryen ''thing''; Lannisters are rich and prideful, Starks are dour and freeze their arses, Martells are hot-blooded and sexually liberated, Greyjoys are stupid, and Targaryens have a chip on their shoulder and marry their siblings. It was accepted because, well, it's good to be the king and all that, just like (overly and publicly) drinking and whoring is rather frowned upon but it's OK when Robert does it. Plus, would YOU complain about incest when the offender can barbecue your face with a giant dragon?

I think you are overestimating the prevalence of these traits in the bloodlines. Tytos, Tywin's father, was not a prideful man at all, and he was draining the Lannister fortune. Many of the Starks of the past have been quite reckless and wild rather than dour; this personality was so common amongst Starks that there is a special term for it: the Wolfsblood. I'm not sure where you're getting the "chip on their shoulder" thing with the Targaryens. Regarding the Martells and Greyjoys, I don't think we have enough information on past members of those families to comment, but I have not read the Dunk and Egg stories.

[Dragonmag170]

This is actually one of the contradictions I have found oddest in this series- I wonder why the other great houses didnt practice incest lines like the Targaryens, as well. I feel like other major houses (like stark and lannister, Arryn, Martell, etc) would have been inbreeding for years before the Targaryens invaded to keep their bloodlines "pure." When Aegon invaded he found 7 kingdoms which fought each other all the time, and united 6 of them. Where did the great houses marry each other until they all made peace?

[Morienthar]

As for the Targs being admired, I don't think so. The Lords threw them out easily enough as soon as they ceased to obey the social contract. It think it was simply a Targaryen ''thing''; Lannisters are rich and prideful, Starks are dour and freeze their arses, Martells are hot-blooded and sexually liberated, Greyjoys are stupid, and Targaryens have a chip on their shoulder and marry their siblings. It was accepted because, well, it's good to be the king and all that, just like (overly and publicly) drinking and whoring is rather frowned upon but it's OK when Robert does it. Plus, would YOU complain about incest when the offender can barbecue your face with a giant dragon?

You know the Targs didn't have Dragons half the time right?

Targs were accepted and admired because they put themselves above other men with the ability to control the Dragons at first,remember at this point Westeros was sort of already descending into a Magical Dark Ages of sorts where most of the people didn't know nor believe in the Magic in the north.

People did admire the Targs at first but that probably declined over the years and it culminated in a rebellion.

[King Tam Stark]

Well, here in Britain, the real Royal family are a bunch of inbreds and the general population never followed suit

total lies from a bigot! reported typical hate and troll type behaviour and bringing down the tone of the board for your own warped agenda, examples of first cousins marrying but nothing closer and not on the scale of the targs in westeros you are comparing it too

[King Tam Stark]

another issue with the targ policy is they marry to keep the bloodline pure but this inbreeding is actually a bad thing and can cause gene deficiencies although it possibly explains why some targs go mad

[The Weirwoods Eyes]

Well probably because people naturally know not to have sex with their siblings and it only happens in rare cases and usually when the siblings are not raised together. Incest just goes against every bone in your body. Can I ask does the OP have any siblings of the opposite sex?

[Lala]

Thanks Lala, guess incest is despised by the Old Gods and the New, maybe the Drowned God swings that way who knows.

Np~ Yeah the Drowned God and Rh'llor are both fairly quiet on the subject though considering what we've seen of the Greyjoys/salt wives practice it doesn't seem common on the Iron Islands, I don't know whether or not it was considered acceptable.

[Jaak]

There is a natural aversion of humans to committing incest themselves - yes. Evolved mechanism to avoid inbreeding and seek out less closely related partners if available.

But it can be overcome. Look at Egypt of Ptolemies. When the royalty gave example and made incest legal, the commoners were not forced by government to commit incest. Yet a lot of them did practice incest.

So how about Westeros?

[ab aeterno]

Well probably because people naturally know not to have sex with their siblings and it only happens in rare cases and usually when the siblings are not raised together. Incest just goes against every bone in your body. Can I ask does the OP have any siblings of the opposite sex?

I think that this well documented effect would probably come into play, though it's worth noting that it mostly only applies to siblings you were raised with, which could potentially mean that fostering would have an effect.

This is actually one of the contradictions I have found oddest in this series- I wonder why the other great houses didnt practice incest lines like the Targaryens, as well. I feel like other major houses (like stark and lannister, Arryn, Martell, etc) would have been inbreeding for years before the Targaryens invaded to keep their bloodlines "pure." When Aegon invaded he found 7 kingdoms which fought each other all the time, and united 6 of them. Where did the great houses marry each other until they all made peace?

We don't know enough about the history of Westeros to know whether they did or not, though given the religious prohibitions and what we're told about the Targaryen exception beginning at the Conquest it seems that they had not been doing it for some time before that point at least.

Where the Iron Throne is concerned, as well as the social factors, incest makes a lot more sense of the Targaryens, who wish to secure the throne and their position above the rest of Westeros, than it does for the other houses, great and small. Incest rather than marring into other families would make you weak by preventing you from forming alliances in the same way as other houses, and if you're a small house, marrying into another house potentially gives you the opportunity to improve your prestige. The Targaryens already are owed the fealty of Westeros, and there is no-where for them to move up to, so in addition to keeping their bloodlines pure, and the "Blood of the Dragon," etc. it makes political sense. Additionally, while the Targs themselves were by no means immune to it, keeping marriage within their family would likely reduce the incidence of wars of succession or civil wars.

[Hangover of the Morning]

I think it is the same as in our world. We are genetically predisposed to not to be attracted to people we grew up with (as shown on studies from Israeli kibbutzim), which tent to be our closest relatives. Plus it is a social taboo in every society including Westerosi.

[BearandMaidenFair]

I actually disagree that incest isn't prevalent in Westeros. As far as the current generation goes Jamie/Cersei, Theon/Asha, and Loras/Margaery have all engaged in some form of incest. If the Targs were still in power and continuing the practice (as Dany and Aegon may), that would mean 4 of the 9 controlling houses have had some form of incest very recently.

Tywin also married Joanna (a distant Lannister relative) for the sake of keeping the house stable. Some even theorize there was abuse between Euron and Aeron. And let's not forget Craster.

All things considered, there's plenty of incest Westeros.

[Morienthar]

I actually disagree that incest isn't prevalent in Westeros. As far as the current generation goes Jamie/Cersei, Theon/Asha, and Loras/Margaery have all engaged in some form of incest. If the Targs were still in power and continuing the practice (as Dany and Aegon may), that would mean 4 of the 9 controlling houses have had some form of incest very recently.

Tywin also married Joanna (a distant Lannister relative) for the sake of keeping the house stable. Some even theorize there was abuse between Euron and Aeron. And let's not forget Craster.

All things considered, there's plenty of incest Westeros.

Loras is gay dude,There's no indication that he and Marge are in a relationship that's just Cersei's dirty mind.

Asha knew Theon didn't,I don't know I wouldn't classify it as full blown incest.

[The Dornishman's Wife]

I actually disagree that incest isn't prevalent in Westeros. As far as the current generation goes Jamie/Cersei, Theon/Asha, and Loras/Margaery have all engaged in some form of incest.

Loras/Marge? I thought that was just the deluded speculation of Cersei that even she didn't ultimately believe to be credible.

[BearandMaidenFair]

Loras is gay dude,There's no indication that he and Marge are in a relationship that's just Cersei's dirty mind.

Asha knew Theon didn't,I don't know I wouldn't classify it as full blown incest.

I'm not so sure it was just in Cersei's imagination. While she's a poor political leader, her strength has always been reading people and then manipulating them. It was alluded to that Renly was gay, but Loras' sexuality has never been defined. Also Margaery was taking moon tea, implying an affair. The most logical candidate for that is Loras. But we're getting off topic

[King Tam Stark]

I actually disagree that incest isn't prevalent in Westeros. As far as the current generation goes Jamie/Cersei, Theon/Asha, and Loras/Margaery have all engaged in some form of incest. If the Targs were still in power and continuing the practice (as Dany and Aegon may), that would mean 4 of the 9 controlling houses have had some form of incest very recently.

Tywin also married Joanna (a distant Lannister relative) for the sake of keeping the house stable. Some even theorize there was abuse between Euron and Aeron. And let's not forget Craster.

All things considered, there's plenty of incest Westeros.

an interesting belief about who we are attracted to involves us naturally being attracted to our siblings if we have been brought up separately and are unaware we are siblings ala thoen/asha or for example a half brother/sister

[Hukthagz]

I'm not so sure it was just in Cersei's imagination. While she's a poor political leader, her strength has always been reading people and then manipulating them. But this is a little off topic.

She's been a hit and miss at reading people so far. More misses then hits actually.

[The Dornishman's Wife]

I'm not so sure it was just in Cersei's imagination. While she's a poor political leader, her strength has always been reading people and then manipulating them. But this is a little off topic.

Come on, Cersei also believes that gays are eager eager to sleep with any woman they can get ("A man may prefer the taste of hippocras, yet if you set a tankard of ale before him, he will quaff it quick enough."). I would say her ability to read people with regard to who they would be attracted to is about as bad as her ability to read anything else about people.

[BearandMaidenFair]

My edit came in a little late, but I still think my original point is relavent. Marg/Loras is debatable (clearly), but even though Theon didn't know Asha was his sister it still should be considered a form a incest. As you guys have discussed, incest is either seen as an affront to the gods (the westerosi religions) or a way of behaving like them (the Targs). Theon and Asha's encounter wouldn't have been included in the story at all if Martin didn't want to involve them in the Gods vs incest conversation. So while their incest is much, much lighter than Cersei and Jamie's, it's still signifcant.

So if we remove the Tyrells for being speculation, that's still 1/3 of the controlling houses.