Eddard Stark as a king?

[Khal Shaggydog]

I still dont understand how Jon Arryn didnt see the wisdom of sending Jaime Lanniser to the Wall for kiling Aerys, and executing Gregor and Amory Lorch for the Targ kids, to cement the lasting peace with Dorne. They had Tywin by the nuts at this point, and by offering him the Robert/Cersei marriage, it keeps Tywin loyal. That also would allow Jon to bring the Martells back into a more calm peace, and if they really distrusted Tywin, they could leverage Oberyn to get his revenge on Tywin himself.

You would also think that Robert, being how he was, would have been more of a tournament hoster than he was - so that he could see his old buddy, cruise the kingdom for wenches, and get out of KL a bit. But we wouldnt have a story without the long decay of Roberts rule, so thats kind of that.

I think we probably give Jon Arryn too much credit as a politician, since he barely smoothed over the Dorne situation, he gave Tywin and hte Lannisters way too much access, and he failed to bring the Daynes or the Hightowers into relevance when they were two of the oldest families that lost significant members during RR. As it stands, he left Roberts rule wide open to dissent from many angles.

[LordQorgyle]

The Daynes weren't a powerfull family, far from that, and the Hightowers themselves never wanted to participate in the government since the Dance

If Arryn had send Jaime to the wall he would have angered the most powerfull lord in the 7k for nothing since Dorne's problem wasn't with Jaime, since the only thing he had done was kill Aerys and the Dornish were mad about Elia