The single stupidest action by any character ever?

[Alaynsa Starne]

Not really that stupid, she got away with it, made it look like a possible natural death and planned to avoid justice by heading to the vale where she would become regent. Besides its understandable that she would want to kill him when she loved Littlefinger and was forced to abort his child then marry an old man. If you want stupid I would point out sending Quentyn Martell to woo Dany was a bad choice. Not only is he boring but he was useless to her in battle. Then it wouldn't be surprising if a rash young man did something stupid when he was humiliated by Dany. BTW trying to steal two rabid dragons with a bunch of sellswords and some half-decent chains. That was some extra special stupidity.

Eh she only got away with it insofar as she was useful to LF. Once she became more of a liability than a playable pawn, he killed her. I think the fact that he was advocating for the murder of Lord Paramount of the east and an otherwise good man should have tipped her off that LF was a bad guy to be in bed with. Just my opinion, though. :/

[dooog]

It has to be Joffrey commanding Ned's beheading. The Lannisters / Baratheons had everything they needed. Make Ned take the black and get him out of play. But instead, for the satisfaction of a moment of bloodlust he orders one of the most respected men in Westeros be executed. Sparks up a war with the North which undoubtedly would have been lost only for Tywin and Tyrion picking up the pieces. It's the catalyst that sparks several years of misery on an entire continent. A remarkably stupid decision.

After that, it would have to be pretty much any significant decision taken by Caetlyn. Infuriatingly stupid character.

[Modesty Lannister]

Eh she only got away with it insofar as she was useful to LF. Once she became more of a liability than a playable pawn, he killed her. I think the fact that he was advocating for the murder of Lord Paramount of the east and an otherwise good man should have tipped her off that LF was a bad guy to be in bed with. Just my opinion, though. :/

Tully sisters don't shine bright, but is it the stupidest move in all 5 books? It is a strong candidate, because it started a whole chain of events, but shouldn't she be given a bit of leverage there, because she was in love, which made her even more stupid than usual? Same applies to Cersei whose stupidity is enhanced by madness.

[~DarkHorse~]

Agreeing to the Freys terms to cross the bridge. Bloody chancers.

Ned not telling Catelyn about R+L=J and letting Jon join the NW without knowing...I would feel very bitter and cheated in Jon's shoes.

The RW (for Freys and Roose) temporary gain and hatred all around.

Robb marrying Jeyne. Very naïve.

Cersei. period

Joffrey executing Ned and starting the Northern rebellion

Tywin testing Tyrion

Roberts rebellion- the lack of communication on Rhaegar and Lyanna's part, Brandon "Come out and die, Rhaegar!" and Aerys ordering for Ned and Robert's heads (although, he was mad so he almost gets away with it).

[Good Guy Garlan]

Jorah going back to Meereen. Yeah, right, Dany threatened to kill you and you're still going to cross a war-torn continent crawling with slavers, pirates, sellswords and who knows what else, and then attempt to sneak into a besieged city just to deliver an useless dwarf to the girl who promised to kill your traitor ass if you returned.

Taking Tyrion to Cersei would have been the obvious course, but I guess he wasn't thinking clearly because he was in luv

[Elaena Targaryen]

Arya using her three deaths on inconsequential people.

Some might argue there is hindsight in that, but there really isn't. He told her anybody and eventually it would happen days, months, doesn't matter the person is done. For such a "smart" survivalist she sure fucked that one up.

There is a thematic purpose here though that is not present with other 'stupid actions' mentioned in this thread. Martin was obviously playing around with the three wishes/genie in the bottle/tricking the trickster tropes so if it's examined from that perspective it takes on more meaning or at least a different significance.

Sansa didn't know why Ned wanted them to leave KL. Had she known, she probably wouldn't have done it.

Well I wouldn't go quite that far as to say Sansa knew nothing, she may have not have known everything to make the appropriate choice, but she knew Ned felt that she could be in serious danger.

I want you back in Winterfell for your own safety. Three of my men were cut down like dogs not a league from where we sit, and what does Robert do?

I agree though, had Sansa known all she probably would not have done it, at the same time Ned knew his speculations were treasonous and knowing everything would put Sansa in even more danger.

In recent book actions I cringe every time I think about Cersei re-arming the faith, that was NEVER going to end well. Especially when you think how long and bloody the faith militant uprising was. And I think there are still A LOT of repercussions to come from this. .

This is an /thread for me.

No one in their right mind should allow such an unknowable entity to arm themselves, ever! Cersei gave this monumental decision practically no reflection, or should I say she had severely unrealistic expectations for the consequences, I have no words...

[Guard of the Rainking]

Arya not giving Jaqen some important names.

Robb not giving Edmure more detailed orders.

Stannis giving Ser Imry the command of his fleet.

Ned trusting Littlefinger.

Robert pardoning his enemies. If I'd had to choose one it would be Balon.

Sansa telling Cersei about Ned's plans.

Blackfish not marrying the Redwyne girl.

Jorah not being content with being in the friendzone.

Dany not thinking her Slaver's Bay plan through.

Renly not bending the knee to Stannis.

Tyrion not remembering his father's last words.

Greatjon yelling KING IN THE NORTH.

Wyman Manderly not using his forces to fight the Ironborn.

Roose Bolton agreeing to turn his cloak for the price being made the Warden of the North for a short time before Tyrion gets a son on Sansa.

Sallador Saan not abandoning Stannis earlier.

[Alaynsa Starne]

Tully sisters don't shine bright, but is it the stupidest move in all 5 books? It is a strong candidate, because it started a whole chain of events, but shouldn't she be given a bit of leverage there, because she was in love, which made her even more stupid than usual? Same applies to Cersei whose stupidity is enhanced by madness.

I'd say love made her more stupid, yeah, but she chose the man she loved. Cat, as questionable as her decisions were, didn't choose for her son tobe crippled and nearly murdered in his bed. Can't she be given a bit of leeway considering grief and paranoia are her driving factors? Didn't love for her son, who is an innocent child and not a megacreep like LF make her more stupid than usual? Maybe I'm being too hard on Lysa, though. :p

[Earth Singer]

Bolton letting armed Manderlys anywhere near him.

[MallisterTheMighty]

Ser Imry Florent

the dude who foolishly sailed every god damn ship he had into a trap. yea i know he thought Kings landing had a paltry navy and thought he could crush them with brute force. but thats the thing you NEVER make assumption in war. All it would have taken would be a token force to attacxk at first to bait out the wildfire ships.

i know there are better ones out there but ever since Clash of Kings ive never been able to clear my ind of that fools imcompetence as an admiral.

[Stormland's Fury]

Ser Imry Florent

the dude who foolishly sailed every god damn ship he had into a trap. yea i know he thought Kings landing had a paltry navy and thought he could crush them with brute force. but thats the thing you NEVER make assumption in war. All it would have taken would be a token force to attacxk at first to bait out the wildfire ships.

i know there are better ones out there but ever since Clash of Kings ive never been able to clear my ind of that fools imcompetence as an admiral.

He was supposed to land the troops at the Mudgate. He delivered.

[Lady Flandrensis]

There's so much stupidity it's tough to pick just one. Almost everything Catelyn and Cersei do is stupid. But Robb marrying Jeyne Westerling? King in the Stupid.

[BitsOfBrains]

Its gotta be Robb marrying Jeyne.

I mean he was cashed as soon as he pissed off Walder Frey. Robb knew damn well the kind of guy old lord Walder was.

I blame Cat for part of it. A. she made the marriage agreement then B. told Robb the Frey girls were all ugs C. wouldn't go pick out a wife for him.

If she would have gone and looked over the girls and found him a good one he wouldn't have had in the back of his head a young Walder Frey with teets he was doomed to marry.

[To catch a Lannister]

Daenerys playing Sim City Essos in Meereen, sweet Moses she should have at least run for comptroller or city council before she went full on Queen mode and cratered the city

[marsyao]

Arya not giving Jaqen some important names.

This is just human natural, say there is an evil king live tens of thousand of miles away, and there is a man who beat you bloody and torture your family and your friends day and night, now you have a chance to kill one of them, which one will you choose?

[iridescence]

If she would have gone and looked over the girls and found him a good one he wouldn't have had in the back of his head a young Walder Frey with teets he was doomed to marry.

You don't think he would have hugely resented her saying "Here son, I picked out your wife for you"? I don't see why he couldn't have gone to The Twins to pick out his own girl since it's very close to Riverrun and not like they were fighting non-stop. Obviously he did not take the betrothal at all seriously even before he met Jeyne which was a huge error in judgement.

[Minsc]

Everything Ned did in KL is a direct consequence of Cat nagging him into accepting to become the Hand in the first place. He rightly thought he could not cope with KL politics and cited the faiths of his brother and father, but he was emotionally blackmailed by his, and I cannot emphasize this enough, extremely stupid wife who claimed he was not a good father because their daughter's wouldn't get good matches if they stayed in Winterfell (??? as if Lord Paramount's daughters can marry badly). She also pushed him further with believing Lysa's letter while knowing the whole Tully family history with LF. So, the stupidest thing Ned ever did was listening to Cat at all.

Is Ned some type of drone where he has to do anything that Catelyn tells him?

In how, otherwise he is responsible for his own stupid decisions not her. Moreover, there was nothing inherently stupid about advising Ned that he has to duty to Robert to accept that Hand's position as seen how Maester Luwin equally agrees that he cannot refuse.

Moreover, I wanted quotes of emotionally blackmailing him into going to KL otherwise he would be an awful father. At most, both her and Ned agreed that the girls should go to King's Landing with the idea of Sansa becoming Queen someday is a great match.

Furthermore, she hardly knows the entire Tully history with Littlefinger besides the fact that they grew up together like siblings. In how it isn't like Hoster was openly telling everyone how LF boned Lysa and he forced her to abort her unborn child. Additionally, in the books everyone generally trusts LF thus it isn't horrible that she didn't expect he was plotting with Lysa to bring her family's downfall.

[BitsOfBrains]

Oh, and Jorah not just killing Danaerys and returning to Westeros to get his lordship on.

She gets off on treating him like shit and he almost died for her.

[BitsOfBrains]

You don't think he would have hugely resented her saying "Here son, I picked out your wife for you"? I don't see why he couldn't have gone to The Twins to pick out his own girl since it's very close to Riverrun and not like they were fighting non-stop. Obviously he did not take the betrothal at all seriously even before he met Jeyne which was a huge error in judgement.

Well I mean he did ask her to go to the Twins and do a scouting report on who to draft for spring tryouts, which she refused.

Still though I think he was too busy and at least Cat could have sent him reports of which girls were "in the running" so to speak.

[Minsc]

Well I mean he did ask her to go to the Twins and do a scouting report on who to draft for spring tryouts, which she refused.

Still though I think he was too busy and at least Cat could have sent him reports of which girls were "in the running" so to speak.

When does he ask that?

Moreover, honestly this is a ridiculous stretch of attempting to blame Catelyn for another's stupid mistake.