Lord Lannister

It could be this would break him of sticking to honor, being what doing so cost his father and now him. He could go to a very dark and revenge filled place.

To give the straw man his due, Walder Frey did have a legitimate grievance with the Starks and Tullys. The Late Lord Frey? He was going to be on the winning side of the war, that was him looking after his own interests. Can't really fault that. The Tullys did routinely look down their noses at the Freys, sleight them and treat them as poor relations. Robb Stark did go back on his word. The problem comes not of his grievance, but that he took it too far. The Red Wedding was pretty much an orgy of gratuitous revenge. If Walder Frey just declared himself for Tywin, or even closed the Twins at an opportune time, trapping Robb on the wrong side, I don't think he'd be as reviled as he is both in the world and among the fans. Heck, his crass nature probably would be found amusing by most in the fan base. So long as you don't focus too much on the fact that he routinely used his position as lord to initiate completely consensual sex with girls in their early teens.

Well Dany has her flaws to be certain, but generally speaking not initiating massacres or executing hostages is a good thing.

I'll second this. If Stannis and Renly could've reached an accommodation, this would've been a comparatively happy ending for Westeros until the dragons come.

What is it with these skewed defense threads of morally unambiguous characters? Janos Slynt, wronged innocent and now this. Can't wait for Roose Bolton, the man no one ever trusted or Viserys, the King Westeros deserved.

This seems a fairly flimsy attack to me. Yes, Jaime got the Kingslayer stigma. That was more for being a kingsguard betraying his king more than anything else. Robert, Ned, Jon Arryn and the rest of the rebels were all traitors who overthrew their king. Tywin Lannister, the Kinslayers father and the guy who sacked King's Landing and murdered the Targaryen babies, was rewarded with a royal engagement. History is written by the victors, and a knife in the back is rewarded if it's in the back of the winner's enemy. So Walder Frey and Roose Bolton getting rewarded for betraying and murdering Robb Stark is hardly inconsistent. I should also say that while they got the favor of the court and the Lannisters, pretty much everyone else thinks they are the scum of the earth. Witness the actions of the Manderlys and the Brotherhood Without Banners.

I'd just be happy if the soldiers didn't fight out in front of the walls in the novels.

Even if Robert fell at Ruby Ford(Antler Ford now?), the rebels still would've won the battle by that point I think. Thus, I think in the short term the story still. Tywin still sacks King's Landing, Jaime kills Aerys and Ned relieves Stannis at Storm's End. It would present a very interesting scenario as to what comes after though. I can't see Tywin giving up control of King's Landing in the short term until a King is decided. Stannis would think it's his right. Though there wouldn't be a clear consensus amongst the lords of Westeros without Robert's charisma and force of personality to unite everyone. Which leads to all sorts of questions. Would the lords grudgingly back Stannis? Would Tywin have other ideas? Would there be a need for Ned to hide Jon's identity with Robert out of the picture? Would the civil war continue? All sorts of ways this scenario could go.

Clearly it was Bloodraven. Thus all the Others are secret Targaryens.

I'm honestly surprised there are many answers beyond a single flush per use. It just never occurred to me there would be a need beyond that. Maybe a second one now and again if there's anything the first one missed but that's rare.

Well I've been gone a long time and only started posting in the last month. After all the spoilers that were floating around before season 7, without tags and in all sorts of places when I saw it happening again with season 8, I was scarce. After season 8, I was just done with the whole franchise for a good while. Getting back, there seems to be a LOT less activity. The show forum is virtually dead and even the book forum seems very diminished. I can't gage the general forum since I never spent a lot of time here since it's mostly politics. I can't say I'm surprised by the trend. Certainly I'm not the only one disgruntled by the way the show ended and lacking belief that we'll ever see Winds much less Dream.

As many Ironborn chapters as we're got, especially in Feast, I sincerely hope Martin's going somewhere with that. There's times I think that plot is wasting our time as is. A meaningless conclusion would only beg, why bother including it?

Varys. I really want to know what his ambitions are.

Whatever you want to say about (f)Aegon, he was introduced and started forcing conclusions in Westeros in a single novel, while Dany's been twiddling around in Mereen for the last three. He raised the dragon banner in Westeros, so he's in the drivers seat for a Targaryen restoration regardless of if he's legitimate or not. Personally, I think it would be more than ironic if he wasn't real but managed to sit the Iron Throne anyway. In the end people don't care about the truth of bloodlines. Look at how many houses followed Joffrey and Tommen "Baratheon" because it was in their interest to. If it becomes in their interest to follow Aegon "Targaryen" they will. It remains to be seen if (f)Aegon can make something happen, he may well be in over this head and it'll all collapse around him. But landing in the Stormlands was a shrewd move. There's a power vacuum there and the Storm lords don't have a love for the Lannister regime in King's Landing. If he manages to seize Storm's End, the Storm Lords may well fall into his ranks. Dorne seems to be wanting to flirt with him too, the way Doran has pointedly kept Arianne unmarried. That marriage pact would certainly be in his interest, and Doran seems to want to offer it. If the Stormlands and Dorne fall into (f)Aegon's fist, he may well be able to seize King's Landing. The Reach is going to be busy fighting Euron, the Riverlands are in chaos and the Westerlands are in a leadership vacuum and far away. I'm not sure if Mace Tyrell is going to be up to defending King's Landing against a force with the veteran core of the Golden Company.

I mean, I liked Robb, but he had his issues. He decided it was worth risking(and eventually paying) thousands of his own people's lives for a war of revenge over one person. He never even considered an accommodation with Tywin because of his pride, even when he had the ultimate bargaining chip in Jaime. He later decided his personal honor was more important than his kingdom(and people) as well. By doing the "honorable" thing, he drove a wedge into the backs of his own people. Robb wasn't a bad person, but he was a product of the feudal system he was a part of. Too afraid to lose face, rather than face hard truths that might have benefited his people. Was he the best person of the five kings? Maybe. Was he the best leader? Certainly not.