SilverGhost

And if Stannis wins at the Blackwater without the Lannister/Tyrell alliance and takes KL, Robb is still a rebel to Stannis, the Tyrell's and large amount of their bannermen are back in the Reach since not all swore to Stannis after Renly's death, and Myrcella's in Dorne. The Ironborn are in revolt and still control the main entrance way to the North from the Neck and Winterfell. It's a real big bunch of "what if's" at that point.

Ned's only option was to get out of King's Landing. He was injured, in hostile territory, and his two daughters were both potential hostages if his play for Regent went sideways. It's one of the few things in the series that's always bothered me. While Ned might trust Robert he should remember from his father/brother that justice and honor were in short supply in the Red Keep. Different King but the same corrupt system. Everyone kept trying to convince him to take a different option - basically stating to his face where that Ned's course was not going to benefit them. Still he trusts that those who agreed to assist him will do so even when it's not in their best interest to follow Ned. He's got a Northerner's cynical view of the Red Keep and enough political sense to understand most of his limitations. Ned's not an idiot but while he's always thinking or talking about how different he is from these people - he never actually applies that knowledge to his calculations and think that untrustworthy people might be untrustworthy.

A lot of those killed during the Red Wedding didn't deserve to die. It's not only the Starks who deserve revenge, many of the Houses of the North and Riverlands lost family and men that night and the Lannisters and Boltons are sitting back and letting the Frey's take the blame. The Red Fork will run red with blood before the series is over.

If she exists its merely to convey that the Starks are aware (well were aware at that point in history) of Aegon's dream and that is why they bent the knee. She might try and hook up with him in order to unite their bloodlines to be the bond that will defeat the others -- he agrees to get his mother to break his betrothal or do it when he is king - but then ends up dead and that promise is lost in the sappy love songs that bard compose about the pair.

I would agree with this point. Most of the prostitutes' Tyrion would visit probably have someone making Moon Tea for them, its not worth them not being able to work for several months for the chance that the babe might be like him. A King or a respected Lord sure that might be worth it for the chance they acknowledge the kid and offer some patronage but not Tyrion. Most other bastards come from servants or the like and even if they were attracted to Tyrion they probably heard rumors about him being an outcast in his own family and knew that carrying his child was a ticket to Tywin's bad side.

Her and Maegor Towers just living among their various ghosts as well as those of Black Harren and his sons. It would be a great novella or even a spinoff series. What happened with Alys Rivers there between the death of House Strong and the awarding of Harrenhall to the Lothstons is another interesting mystery.

If selected rather than Jon Arryn -- potentially a bad decision. Yes he keeps Littlefinger away from KL (and that would be good) but Jon Arryn's biggest success in the early period of his Handship was avoiding a Dornish Rebellion. Could be that Hoster takes a harder line and Doran isn't able to control his angry Lords and brother, which would give him the time to put into (slow) motion his master plan for revenge.

The Night's Watch - A base building and base defense game where you have to manage resources, gather intelligence, and eventually defend the Wall from Wildlings and the Others.

They enabled House Peake and even had the Peakes push House Manderly out of the Reach. Also everyone went to war a lot back then, Gardener Kings more than likely declared wars of aggression on Dorne, The Westerlands, the Stormlands, and whoever was ruling at the time around the God's Eye and Blackwater Rush.

Agreed. They overreached as Bannermen because Tytos was so weak - the Westerlands were a lawless mess under his rule with several landed knights and petty Lords actually swearing to Highgarden in order to gain protection. Aegon V had to send some of his knights and forces more than once to make peace in the west but Tytos would just screw it up again. Tywin specifically created the conflict by ordering the Lords Reyne and Tarbeck to present themselves for trial at Casterly Rock. Tywin could have cracked down the on bandits and robber knights, he could have hit back at the Ironborn raiders who'd raided Fair Isle when Tytos wouldn't let Lord Farman build ships, he could built a power base among other Lords by showing competence and cutting his father out of the decision making. Instead he went for one bit of shock and awe/show of force. Everyone got back in line not because they respected Tywin or his ability but because it was clear that he was willing to murder hundreds to thousands if someone upset him. The ability he showed as Hand would come afterwards and I think Tywin's ruthlessness rubbed off on Aerys II. Aerys always seemed jealous of Tywin some of his crueler traits could have been honed at the start by emulating Tywin - Duskendale looks a lot like how Tywin dealt with Houses Reyne and Tarbeck. Maybe it made Aerys even more angry at how people seemed to "respect" Tywin for his brutality but were shocked and repulsed by his own.

Yes. Listing all of the reasons why Roose is awful would take all of my Sunday. I was just pointing out some side reasons that were in my head at the moment.

Janos Slynt - One of the little things about him that always got me extra angry was the fact that he had many men of the watch paying him part of their salaries as bribes for their positions. There are a lot of bad leaders in the series but taking from your own men, from the money they need to feed their families, is really petty. Ramsay Snow - Just an absolute shithead. Roose Bolton - When you go back and reread knowing what Ramsay will do in ACOK and what he will do in ASOS you can see just how evil he is. How many Northern Lords and respected commanders he gets captured or killed, how much he fucks over Robb, and how he was always out for himself even before the Red Wedding.

Viserys allowed two major factions to form at court, going so far as to bring back Ser Otto Hightower as Hand after the death of Lord Lyonel Strong - the same Ser Otto he fired as Hand because Ser Otto could not seem to stop pushing for Prince Aegon to be named Heir over Rhaenyra. This allowed the Greens to take power in the Red Keep and fill the Small Council with their allies who would eventually launch the coup after his death to put Aegon on the Throne (RIP to the loyal and true Lord Beesbury). At least Robert never brought Tywin in as his Hand. Viserys kept enabling this brother Daemon, forgiving Daemon time and time again, and always trying to make Daemon a part of his government. In turn Daemon loathed Otto Hightower - an other person Viserys could not just seem to quit bringing back into the fold - and their feud divided the court and was a major factor in developing the factors that begat the Green/Black factions. Viserys also turned a blind eye to the fact that Rhaenyra was cheating on her husband. Viserys had a lot in common with Robert and he also did nothing to heal the divisions in his court, in fact he enabled them by constantly forgiving the men causing them and bringing them back into his circle of power so that they might continue to chip away at the illusion of peace and happiness he wanted to preserve.

Ohhhhhh Marry - Daemon II - I mean settling down to a life of going to concerts and tournaments just seems like living #bestlife or some other modern dream. Bang - Daemon - Once and done, anyone else who stays around him for too long either ends up dead (usually by arrow) or exiled and bitter(steel). Daemon is Westeros' "Ex Nobody Ever Gets Over" so I would like to keep from too involved. Kill - Aegon - It's what all the cool kids are doing? Next - Female Leaders/Warriors of the Dance era (Team Rhaenyra) Jeyne Arryn Sabitha Frey Black Aly Blackwood

There isn't a bridge that Cersei wouldn't burn with Wildfire after three glasses of wine and one disagreement with any of her beliefs, opinions, thoughts, or paranoid delusions. Robert was a mediocre King in the mold of Viserys I, the realm had peace and prosperity for the most part but a willful ignorance towards serious issues and ambitious bad actors meant war and chaos upon the death of the King. Without the Rebellion Robert would be another boisterous, lusty, Lord of Storm's End who loved a good fight - which is pretty much the description you'd find next to "historical Baratheon" in a weird dictionary. If anyone Cersei is similar to Aegon IV The Unworthy or Ellyn Reyne.

We Need Hard Men For Hard Times!

Walder Frey seems to have done a good job raising Stevron Frey, if what most characters think of Ser Stevron is any indication. The Red Viper taught his daughters to be independent and skill at arms/poisons. Considering most fathers in the series those examples stand out as close as Westeros gets to an 80's Sitcom dad.

On secondary and tertiary characters it risks doing what GOT did with a good number of interesting secondary characters, either not adapting them or giving them a half-heart representation on screen that goes nowhere and removes what made the characters interesting in the first place. I am pretty sure what they will do -- just hoping that is doesn't backfire like in the latter seasons of GOT. As for the deaths, Hobart's death might seem dumb to the reader but the text gives it a bit of drama and respect.

Yep. Scumbag of a character who stands out even in a world full of despicable people.

Daemon and Aemond's dragon duel over the God's Eye. The Queen Who Never Was taking on two dragons and seriously wounding Aegon II and Sunfyre. Rhaenyra getting betrayed and surprised like Ned in the Throne room and being burned and eaten by Sunfyre. Addam of Hull/Velaryon dying at 2nd Tumbleton after rallying the Riverlanders when the way to King's Landing seemed wide open to the Hightower Green Army. Even Hobart Hightower drinking poisoned wine to kill Ulf and Jon Roxton offing Hugh the Hammer with a great line - and then going down fighting. Yeah I would certainly agree that a lot of the deaths in the Dance are simple - deaths in battle or from disease with one line of mention. However most of the main characters that the show seems to be focusing on are one who meet rather interesting ones. Cole's always stood out - he was blamed for the conflict and after the battles in the Riverlands which culminated with the Fish Feed the Black army refused to give him an epic death worthy of a song. It's a great "F U" from knights and men who've seen a lot of their allies die and who killed a lot of Lords, knights and men from the Westerlands. After all that bloodshed Cole's death seems like a blow for all those from both sides burned by dragon fire or feeding the fishes.

Marry Robb (He's probably a good family man) Bang Jaehaerys (he's an awful parent but was probably a good lay) Kill Daeron (And save probably 100,000 lives) Next: Heirs Who Never Wore the Crown Baelor Breakspear Aemon the son of Jaehaerys and father of Rhaenys Rhaegar

90% of Dany's story. She's a solid character but so much of her plotline thus far have been start-stop-start-stop-start-stop with a promise that one day, eventually, probably, maybe, certainly she and an army of X + her dragons will return to Westeros. Probably. If she gets back to Slaver's Bay. Again.

Dunk & Egg. I love those stories.

I hope that they show up but I'm preparing for most of the great non-Targaryen characters to be ignored/shunned aside in order to have 8 or 9 more scenes of Daemon acting like an asshole instead of just admitting to needing Viagra. Okay maybe only 2 or 3 scenes of that. I still hope they stick to Criston Cole's death from Fire and Blood. It's the perfect middle finger to him and an ironic death considering how many epic and tragic deaths the main characters of the Dance suffer.

I have to unfortunately agree with this. It appears that the show is narrowing its focus to the Targaryens (with bits of spotlight spilling over onto the Velaryons) and other Houses/characters really only getting screen time due to interactions with the Targaryens. I fear that a good many of the side plots and characters from F&B's description of the Dance will be cut out due to not featuring the main characters the series wants to focus on. I am just dreading how many of the interesting non-Targaryen characters they're going to cut: Sabitha Frey, Bloody Ben Blackwood, Black Aly Blackwood, the Tully brothers, Thaddeus Rowan, Roderick Dustin, Jon Roxton, Unwin Peake ...