Your sister was kidnapped, how do you get her back?

[TimJames]

You are Brandon Stark. You are heir to Winterfell, son of Lord Paramount Rickhard, and older brother to Lyanna, Eddard, and Benjen.

You were in the Riverlands when you got news that your sister disappeared and was almost certainly kidnapped. The only suspect is Prince Rhaegar, heir to the Iron Throne and member of a dynasty known for producing sadistic and insane inbreds.

Your first instinct is to ride to the Red Keep with the fury of the Old Gods in your heart and a sharp sword in your hand, ready to fight and kill the son of the Mad King in a duel if necessary to save your sister from a possible rapist.

However, Lord Paramount Hoster Tully, your future father in law, thinks this is a rash action.

What do you do?

[JonCon's Red Beard]

If I am Brandon Stark heir to Winterfell, son of Lord Paramount Rickhard, and older brother to Lyanna, Eddard, and Benjen, I would do exactly the same :dunno:

[TimJames]

If I am Brandon Stark heir to Winterfell, son of Lord Paramount Rickhard, and older brother to Lyanna, Eddard, and Benjen, I would do exactly the same :dunno:

Ned will miss you then.

[Barty]

Ride to the Vale, gather a small army in secret (or as much secrecy as possible) sail to DragonStone via Gulltown and take Aegon, Elia, Rhaenys captive and ask Rhaegar to return my sister or heads start rolling.

[Mal Malenkirk]

It depends on how aware I am of the madness of Aerys.

Calling out of a prince in open court is something that could be done in medieval society, though with circumspection.

A case in point; one of the very last judicial duel in France involved a guy named Jarnac calling out the Dauphin (crown Prince, future Henri II) for slander. In short, the prince and his mistress had started a rumor that Jarnac was sleeping with his father's second wife. After rushing home to assure his father that this was bull, he came back to court and essentially called the prince a liar. It's rather complicated, but It ended up in a legally sanctioned judicial duel (After a long while!) between Jarnac and a confident of the prince who had stood up as a buffer and claimed the affirmation came from him. Jarnac won and was vindicated.

That case is damn complex and I skipped a few steps here, but the bottom line is that it's not unthinkable for a noble in a medieval society to call out the crown prince when he is behaving like an ass by the standards of the surrounding culture.

Of course, that anecdote does not involve a mad monarch who mistakenly believed he was all-powerful...

PS: You may have heard the expression 'Coup de Jarnac' (Jarnac's Strike). In french, it's an expression signifying a vicious, efficient and surprising method to achieve your objective in a swift stroke. It originates from that Jarnac in that duel.

[LordStoneheart]

Menelaus and Agamemnon didn't show up to the gates of Troy by themselves and demand Paris' death. I wonder why Brandon did.

[Mal Malenkirk]

Menelaus and Agamemnon didn't show up to the gates of Troy by themselves and demand Paris' death.

Because Priam was not their king and they were not tied to him by an implicit social contract. Well, that's for Menelaus. Agamemnon did not give a shit about Paris or Helen, he wanted Troy.

[LordStoneheart]

Because Priam was not their king and they were not tied to him by an implicit social contract. Well, that's for Menelaus. Agamemnon did not give a shit about Paris or Helen, he wanted Troy.

So is Brandon provoking them a smart move because they were his king and prince?

[Ramsay's Penguins]

Ride to the Vale, gather a small army in secret (or as much secrecy as possible) sail to DragonStone via Gulltown and take Aegon, Elia, Rhaenys captive and ask Rhaegar to return my sister or heads start rolling.

Good one. Or incite civil war between Aerys and Rhaegar, and promise my support to Rhaegaf at Lyannas return.

[redroverman]

Ride to the Vale, gather a small army in secret (or as much secrecy as possible) sail to DragonStone via Gulltown and take Aegon, Elia, Rhaenys captive and ask Rhaegar to return my sister or heads start rolling.

I like this idea, but im not sure how much (if any) naval power the Arryn's have. The Royal Fleet would wipe the floor with whatever came out of the Vale.

And I doubt you could just sneak into Dragonstone and whisk the royal family out. It's a pretty formidable (Valyrian) stronghold, I doubt it has any blatant weaknesses that could be exploited like the Red Keep.

That means you'd need to go with a full assault, which again, gives the Royal Fleet time to react.

[Pod The Impaler]

I'm Brandon Stark, and Rhaegar wants to bang my little sister, hmm ? I kidnap Aegon and Rhaenys, declare it a fair trade.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

If my theory is correct, Brandon is more of an idiot than we believe. Kinda.

In TWOIAF, Rhaegar travels to the Riverlands with six men. We know he then parted to Dorne with two of them (Dayne and Whent) and probably Lyanna. If the other four men are the three known friends of Rhaegar (Mooton, Lonmouth and Jon) and Lewyn Martell, or any other KG, they likely returned to the RK or to their lands, meaning, they headed east, to KL.

So, why Brandon decided to look for Rhaegar in the RK if everybody knew he lived in Dragonstone? The moron followed the wrong group :dunno:

[not in the face]

Send Rhaegar a raven saying "...I do have a particular set of skills..."

[Frances Bean Corbray]

By side-scrolling my way through each floor of the castle, collecting items and stomping the guards to death by jumping on them, if I remember the prevailing damsel-rescuing media of my childhood correctly.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

Scenario I would have loved.

"RHAEGAR PREPARE TO DIE!".

"I can't fight you. I'm a Prince. My KG will fight in my name"

"Bring it on, emo boy... I'll defeat who ever you send to me. He will die in your name for the crime of dishonouring my sister!".

"And you will die for what you did to mine"

...and Arthur kills Brandon.

Fin.

[aguy]

First, I join up with Rickard, Jon and Hoster, and we try to come up with a plan. We might try to persuade Tywin to help us, since he has a known grudge against Aerys. I try to keep Robert calm, so he doesn't get killed, and we both go to King's Landing, where we tell Aerys what Rhaegar did, and ask for Lyanna back. We might try and convince him that Rhaegar is plotting to dethrone him, and swear that we'll be on his side, and suggest that he make Viserys or Aegon his heir, if Rhaegar doesn't return Lyanna.

If none of this works, I leave, pretending to be on good terms, and try and recruit the Dornish, since they'll also be unhappy. If all goes well, it'll be the North, Vale, Riverlands, Westerlands, Stormlands and Dorne(if we manage to save Elia and her kids), against the Crown/Rhaegar. If not, we'll make Robert king, and the Rebellion will have Tywin's support from the beginning if I manage to convince him to spare Elia and Rhaenys (Aegon needs to die)

[Lee-Sensei]

@Barty Where would you get your army though? Rickard's Lord of the North so Brandon can't call the men without him.

@Lord Stoneheart Agamemnon was a smarter more patient person than Brandon and Menelaus took his marching orders from him. Plus, I doubt he cared much for Helen as a person. Brandon had every right to be angry.

[Barty]

@Barty Where would you get your army though? Rickard's Lord of the North so Brandon can't call the men without him.

@Lord Stoneheart Agamemnon was a smarter more patient person than Brandon and Menelaus took his marching orders from him. Plus, I doubt he cared much for Helen as a person. Brandon had every right to be angry.

Jon Arynn - Wasnt Jon Arynn's heir one of Brandon's closest friends and rode with him to KL??

[Barty]

If my theory is correct, Brandon is more of an idiot than we believe. Kinda.

In TWOIAF, Rhaegar travels to the Riverlands with six men. We know he then parted to Dorne with two of them (Dayne and Whent) and probably Lyanna. If the other four men are the three known friends of Rhaegar (Mooton, Lonmouth and Jon) and Lewyn Martell, or any other KG, they likely returned to the RK or to their lands, meaning, they headed east, to KL.

So, why Brandon decided to look for Rhaegar in the RK if everybody knew he lived in Dragonstone? The moron followed the wrong group :dunno:

I think Rhaegar deliberately misled Brandon. Made him think that he was with the group going to KL. Maybe Brandon thought Rhaegar wasnt going to Dorne since Dorne is probably mad at him too.

[Barty]

I like this idea, but im not sure how much (if any) naval power the Arryn's have. The Royal Fleet would wipe the floor with whatever came out of the Vale.

And I doubt you could just sneak into Dragonstone and whisk the royal family out. It's a pretty formidable (Valyrian) stronghold, I doubt it has any blatant weaknesses that could be exploited like the Red Keep.

That means you'd need to go with a full assault, which again, gives the Royal Fleet time to react.

Yup - forgot the royal fleet. Maybe if the Arynn fleet can catch them of guard and burn them like the GreyJoys did with the Lannister fleet?? But probably wouldnt work - the Royal fleet is pretty strong.