Starks don't play Games

[RainGhost]

The purpose of this thread is to analyse why Rickard Stark’s ‘Southron Ambitions’ led to the downfall of his House.

“Someone should have told him that war is not a game.” Benjen Stark on the Young Dragon in A Game of Thrones. Ned says something similar in AGoT when Ser Hugh is killed in the tourney. The clue is in the title. War is a game: the Game of Thrones. But I don’t think the Starks play the game.

“Some battles are won with swords and spears, others with quills and ravens.”

I can’t imagine a Stark trying to win a battle with quills and ravens. It’s Catelyn Tully who makes the marriage pact with the Freys. We hear of the Starks being involved in plenty of battles but the closest we get to politics is when a Stark marries the Marsh King’s daughter and that’s only after he has first defeated them with swords.

Now, Lord Rickard tries to play the Game of Thrones with marriage alliances and fostering. But he loses. When Lyanna gets ‘kidnapped’, Brandon’s solution is to settle the matter with swords. This could be put down to recklessness but I still think it’s the Stark way. Rickard demands a trial by combat but this is probably because he realised he wasn’t going to get a fair trial.

Ned is now forced to play the Game of Thrones. He wins thanks to the alliances made by Rickard. But then these alliances bring him south again. This time, he’s out of his depth and cannot and will not play the game. He loses. The alliances fall down.

Robb is now forced to play the Game of Thrones. He wins every battle but loses the war because he doesn’t think to use quills and ravens. His age doesn’t help but he tries to win the war the way he would do it in the north. And there goes the last of the adult Starks.

In conclusion, I think northmen are similar to wildlings: ‘they follow the man’. The Starks ruled the north because they were the strongest in battle not because they were politically smart. They don’t play the game. If they don’t win with swords, they don’t win. That's why they failed in the south - because they weren't playing their game. Fortunately, Rickon Stark seems to have learnt the lesson: Starks who go south don’t come back.

[Game Of Thrones]

Starks who go south don't come back? Cat did.

[RainGhost]

Starks who go south don't come back? Cat did.

Cat's not really a Stark and she didn't go back to Winterfell.

[blerg]

Seeing as the alliance the Starks were part of ended up sitting their man on the throne I would say Rickard's ambitions were quite fruitful.

[JoeyBanana]

Westerosi life is hard and Starks die, it happens.

My guess is, they lost more Starks in Northern rebellions, wildling invasions, Ironborn raids/wars, and the succession crisis preceding Ned's grandfather than by going south. I count five, who knows how many more were killed in the aforementioned conflicts. If there is something we should learn from the past, it's that Rickard knew what he was doing. Southron ambitions is totally a great idea, especially to have allies when war comes knockin' and that it's best to spread out the pack, so they can't all be butchered in one place or turn on each other.

[Leonardo]

Uhh

Rickard played the game so well that Ned, Bobby B and Jon Arryn became the 3 most powerful men in the realm, ahead of Tywin Lannister.

Rickard was baws at the game of thrones, he created an alliance between 2 kingdoms and a region; the stormlands alliance was just bonus until lyanna got betrothed.