Trigger Warning

You said he was blockading King's Landing, my point was that he wasn't. I can accept that the food situation would likely be less severe with no threat from Dragonstone but since the sea isn't mentioned regarding the food situation I'd say not enough for it to matter.

There's a food riot in King's Landing the day they dispatch Myrcella by sea, sure we can assume some traders are giving Dragonstone a wide berth but it's specifically pointed out by captain Vylarr that it's the situation with Renly and the Riverlands that's the primary cause of King's Landing's woes, even with open trade with the Free Cities Cersei can't just pull enough supplies out of her arse to feed 500,000 people by sea before Renly gets there when the city's already starving that would be a logistical nightmare.

King's Landing wasn't starving because of Stannis in the first place, he was never blockading King's Landing. They were starving because Renly closed the Rose Road and because of the fighting in the Riverlands.

I wouldn't really say he's taken part in a long campaign, he's been at war throughout the War of Five Kings but his Northern and Southern campaign are two distinct entities and both times his intention was to march straight at his end goal damn the consequences once he acquired some men. Like I said, the guy seems to be competent enough utilising his men on the field of battle but nothing he has done, including being crushed on the Blackwater suggests he's some kind of military genius or even a particularly good strategist. Also just for the sake of argument how does Stannis have a better or longer record than Tywin? Tywin fought in the War of Ninepenny kings Defeated 2 powerful rebellious vassals Tricked Aerys into opening the gates of King's Landing but also captured the citadel Commanded alongside Robert in the Greyjoy Rebellion, as did Stannis Defeated the Riverlords in the opening stages of the Wo5K Defeated the main body of Robb's army at the Green Fork Defeated Stannis on the Blackwater Robb tricked him and pulled of a daring attack, if that diminishes Tywin's record so greatly then surely Stannis being smashed on the Blackwater does the same for him. Tywin barely even had chance to contend with Robb, he had to sit at Harrenhal to be close enough to relieve King's Landing then Robb's magical wolf finds a secret path into the Westerlands, how is this Tywin's failure rather than Robb's luck that's the governing factor here. Again I don't even think this record paints Tywin as anything other than competent, no one in ASOIAF has a particularly long nor gleaming record and Stannis' record certainly isn't that shiny either.

Even if he manages to pull off a miraculous victory against the Boltons with some gimmick, marching off into a blizzard with no supplies to besiege a huge fortress just because you're determined to do it is the opposite of being a military genius. So far he's. Not surrendered during a siege. Won a major naval battle Lost a major battle Routed a numerical superior but highly disorganised wildling army Taken a lightly garrisoned castle Are we just handing out military genius titles? I genuinely have no idea where this perception of Stannis has come from, he's competent sure but a military genius? He's barely even ran a real campaign.

The point people are making about people loving Renly is that it generates him support as king and lends itself to making easy alliances.

Agincourt was fought on freshly ploughed ground hemmed in on both sides by dense forest not "rain-sodden fields", Crecy was fought on a hill protected on the flanks by two villages and a river, straight from the start both of these battles are so fundamentally different from Storm's End that the comparison is ridiculous, the Battle of the Golden spurs might be what you're searching for but again, the comparison is skin deep. The entire reason Crecy and Agincourt were such lopsided victories was because the terrain narrowed the front denying the French use of their numerical advantages, Stannis is sat in front of a fortress that's so large his army "looked as small and insignificant as mice with banners." in front of it, in what way can an open field big enough to hold such a fortress deny Renly's army the ability to envelop him? Stannis camp is described as a "tidy little camp beneath the castle" and was constructed under the watch of the garrison of Storm's End, neither the garrison nor anyone in Renly's army makes mention of Stannis creating any formidable earthworks or defences but lets for a second assume that he has done, does that means he wins? Do you think all failed cavalry charges result in lopsided victories? No, knights are perfectly capable of fighting on foot and Renly has a huge army with reserves, again at Agincourt the French were hemmed in and had to advance straight ahead and at Crecy they engaged piecemeal coming up from the road through retreating crossbowmen because they lacked terrain to manoeuvre on. Renly has no such disadvantage, the fact that you're even suggesting the sally of the garrison is Renly's "only chance" is so ridiculously biased that I'm sure this argument isn't even worth continuing.

Renly that attends small council meetings in Robert's absence and is explicitly described as "neither glutton nor drunkard." by Catelyn? The belief that people love Renly is throughout the text, the common people love him, prominent lords from the Reach love him, his men abandon Stannis at the sight of someone wearing his armour, he gathered 100,000 men to his cause despite being the third in line whilst Stannis hires mercenaries and lucks out by acquiring a magical assassin. To deny that people love Renly is to deny the text itself and how does Stannis clearly know how to run a kingdom, where have we seen him running a kingdom? One of the first things we see Stannis do on Dragonstone is martyr a knight and his sons for the dominant religion of the Seven Kingdoms.

"With Balon's 'moat' now undefended, King Robert had no difficulty bringing his host across Ironman's Bay from Seagard and Lannisport. With his Wardens of the West and North beside him, Robert forced landings on Pyke, Great Wyk, Harlaw, and Orkmont, and cut his way across the isles with steel and fire." Think it's fair to say he had his vengeance.

There's an inherent cost in killing men that did your bidding for doing your bidding. He needs his tools.

It's basically having your cake an eating it, he's taking credit for it since his men did it but at the same time they died when the citadel was stormed so it's not like he had them killed when they were already in his power, it's expected that innocents will die when a castle is stormed so he even has plausible deniability about ordering it at all. Not that I think it matters, for Jon and Robert making an enemy of Tywin for the sake of the Targaryens and Martells was never even on the table after he'd delivered up King's Landing to them on a platter. Ned cares, doesn't mean anyone else does.

Tywin can simply say they were in the citadel when it was stormed and as such died in the chaos to absolve himself of much of the blame, people might actually care had the citadel surrendered before he had them killed.

Because having Tywin Lannister backing you > placating the Dornish.

Completely nitpicky to snip from such a large post but I don't think this is up in the air at all. Tywin's numbers don't really matter, Stannis' men are strung out across a river assaulting a walled city after most of their fleet was annihilated in an inferno. The only thing reasonably stopping Stannis' men from breaking in a scenario where all this is happening and then heavy cavalry suddenly smash into their rear is authorial fiat. I'd imagine in the actual Battle of the Blackwater only a small percentage of the Tyrells and Lannisters were even engaged, Tywin's cavalry alone could rout an army under those circumstances.

I'd imagine it was personal choice, him being content to serve at Tywin's side without the hassle of managing his own estates.