Robb Stark

[Sir Tywin]

Anyone know why he was never betrothed before the war started? He was of old enough to be and or possibly married, heir to the north and has strong family ties to the Riverlands and to the Vale (to a small extent) he should’ve had multiple offers. 

 

Even if Ned couldn’t have arranged a betrothal to a family like the Tyrells, I’m sure there are other strong families in other regions that he could’ve arranged. 

 

Or did he and I am just not remembering?

[Targaryen Restoration]

The North is the backwoods of Westeros.  Maybe it's the distance from other great houses.  Catelyn would want Robb to marry a girl from a family with substance.  Read that to mean "wealth" and power.  

[Ylath's Snout]

No you are right about Robb not being betrothed.

Looking at it from the outside it is a part of the set up needed for The Red Wedding.

In-univers I like to think that Ned had a hard time letting go of his kids considering he lost his whole family (well Benjen isn't dead but NW isn't the same as having him in Winterfell or even in another castle) before he turned twenty.

[Arthur Peres]

Brandon and Catelyn would get married in the early 20, so did Cersei and Robert.

Robb still young. He still had a time and Ned and Catelyn would probably let him choose his bride as long as it was a suitable candidate.

Edmure, Asha, Arianne, Wyllas, Oberyn, Renly, are all older than him and not even betrothed.

 

[Ylath's Snout]

13 minutes ago, Arthur Peres said:

Edmure, Asha, Arianne, Wyllas, Oberyn, Renly, are all older than him and not even betrothed.

Edmure, Arianne and Renly not having a match is pretty goofy IMHO. Two of them are undisputed heirs to realms and the last is prince.

Maybe you could excuse Arianne from that list as Doran seems to have some kind of plan but given their medical technology or rather lack thereof holding of for that long on getting with the baby making is a pretty risky move in a feudal society.

GRRM repeating a goof doesn't make it less goof.

[Angel Eyes]

2 hours ago, Targaryen Restoration said:

 Catelyn would want Robb to marry a girl from a family with substance.  Read that to mean "wealth" and power.  

Well, let’s think here. For some reason, I think that there would be some resistance to having a lady from the South as a Lady of Winterfell. Ned’s marriage to Catelyn was a rare occurrence, and Jorah Mormont’s disastrous marriage to Lynesse Hightower is still in recent memory. Though a marriage to Margaery Tyrell wouldn’t be bad, since Winter is Coming and an alliance between House Tyrell and House Stark could be economically beneficial. 

I wonder what a marriage between Robb and Arianne would be like, in the interest of peace with Dorne after the death of Elia Martell and her children.

Though a family with substance isn’t always a good thing; Sansa being betrothed to Joffrey was a terrible idea considering his abusive behavior towards her. 

Now from the North? There’s two Manderly daughters, Meera Reed, Alys Karstark, the Greatjon has daughters, and a couple Mormonts.

[zandru]

1. Robb wasn't even "a man grown" when Ned left for King's Landing. Afterwards, Ned was busy.
2. Robb, with Cat's help, was serving as "the Stark in Winterfell", and could be considered busy. Note how Robb went on tour of the North (a really big place) to introduce himself to the many bannermen and tribes, trying hard to be a good lord.
3. Ned, and thus Cat, were concerned that the Lannisters were trying a power grab and that war was on the horizon. Not really a good time for some kind of big celebration; also, maybe a good time to figure out who your enemies actually are.
4. Catelyn found herself zipping all over Westeros and the Riverlands, once she put two & two together and figured out the Lannister involvement in Bran's fall and attempted assassination; in addition, Littlefinger put her on the wrong trail which ended up plunging the 7 kingdoms into war.

So maybe lots of reasons.

[Bernie Mac]

3 hours ago, Angel Eyes said:

Well, let’s think here. For some reason, I think that there would be some resistance to having a lady from the South as a Lady of Winterfell. Ned’s marriage to Catelyn was a rare occurrence

Not that rare. Ned, his great grandfather Lord Willam, his great great grandfather Lord Beron and his great great great great grandfather Lord Cregan all had Southern wives. On top of that his mother's only sister and grandfather's only sister both married Southern men, while Lyanna was promised to one, and both of Ned's daughters to two other Southern men while none of Robb's men were visibly outraged at his marriage to another. 

 

Whatever issues the North had with marrying Southerners at the beginning of the Westeros era no longer was an issue for the last century. 

[Ylath's Snout]

4 hours ago, Angel Eyes said:

I wonder what a marriage between Robb and Arianne would be like, in the interest of peace with Dorne after the death of Elia Martell and her children.

That match would be dynastically kind of a mess. Both of them are first-in-line heirs to their respective kingdoms so either they would have to make some kind of pact to sort out claims and what kingdom they would rule. (Commuting to/from the North to Dorne and vice versa trying to rule both seems like a "tiny" stretch.) Whoever wound up on the opposite end of the continent would have to do a great deal of adjusting to the culture and climate.

That said both of them are lookers that like good looking people so assume there would be an attraction. If them question ever came up I think they would reach an agreement on how to deal with a bastard as Robb's shame over Jon's treatment might make him amicable to Arianne pushing for a Dorning treatment of any bastard.

The two big sticking-points I suspect would be if Arianne wanted to take paramour, I think Robb would have a hard time swallowing that idea.

Also how would they react to Maybegon and/or Dany showing up? Arianne would have some familial obligations to Aegon if he is who he says he is buuuut on the other hand there would be all that Targ-Stark baggage mucking things up.

[Giant Ice Spider]

We know Rickard Karstark attempted to wed Alys to Robb a bit under ten years before the start of the books, and Maege Mormont tried to wed one of her granddaughters to Robb in AGOT. Ultimately, however, it comes down to plot convenience.

[BlackWhiteCavias]

2 hours ago, Bernie Mac said:

Not that rare. Ned, his great grandfather Lord Willam, his great great grandfather Lord Beron and his great great great great grandfather Lord Cregan all had Southern wives. On top of that his mother's only sister and grandfather's only sister both married Southern men, while Lyanna was promised to one, and both of Ned's daughters to two other Southern men while none of Robb's men were visibly outraged at his marriage to another. 

 

Whatever issues the North had with marrying Southerners at the beginning of the Westeros era no longer was an issue for the last century. 

 

 

House Royce (Lorra Royce married to Beron) and house Blackwood ( Melantha married to Willam and Alysanne married to Cregan) are not as southern as most other houses, both are first men houses and at least house Blackwood kept the Old Gods (possibly house Royce did the same, but I don't see a confirmation of this on the wiki either way). 

[Kandrax]

2 hours ago, Bernie Mac said:

great grandfather Lord Willam, his great great grandfather Lord Beron and his great great great great grandfather Lord Crega

Cregan and Willam's wives are Blackwoods, while Beron's is Royce. These two houses are one of last followers of old gods below the neck.

[rotting sea cow]

9 hours ago, Sir Tywin said:

Anyone know why he was never betrothed before the war started? He was of old enough to be and or possibly married, heir to the north and has strong family ties to the Riverlands and to the Vale (to a small extent) he should’ve had multiple offers. 

 

Even if Ned couldn’t have arranged a betrothal to a family like the Tyrells, I’m sure there are other strong families in other regions that he could’ve arranged. 

 

Or did he and I am just not remembering?

It is part of the overall characterization of Ned and his trauma about the events during his youth. He wanted his children to remain being children. Hence his shock about Sansa betrothal, Robb still training with wooden swords, etc.

 

8 hours ago, Arthur Peres said:

Edmure, Asha, Arianne, Wyllas, Oberyn, Renly, are all older than him and not even betrothed.

Of all of them, only Edmure is a really weird case and can only be explained that being unbetrothed is necessary for the narrative. Wyllas to certain extend too.

[Ylath's Snout]

32 minutes ago, rotting sea cow said:

Robb still training with wooden swords, etc.

Well, yeah training with wooden sword makes perfect sense for practise. They a weighted by filling the inside with appropriate amount of lead to make them balance and weight the same as a real sword.

Going at each other with sharp steel during training is just begging for injuries.

37 minutes ago, rotting sea cow said:

Of all of them, only Edmure is a really weird case and can only be explained that being unbetrothed is necessary for the narrative. Wyllas to certain extend too.

Ehh Arianne is 22 and her father is in poor health so remaining single at her age is at least pretty weird. More so after Vis gets golded.

Maybe GRRM should have put in an engagement for Edmure/Rodd that fell through because the bride-to-be died of some disease or accident? It'd be a better explanation than the nothing we get in out books. Especially considering that ol' Hoster "Matchmaker" Tully is Edmure's dad.

[rotting sea cow]

19 minutes ago, Ylath's Snout said:

Well, yeah training with wooden sword makes perfect sense for practise. They a weighted by filling the inside with appropriate amount of lead to make them balance and weight the same as a real sword.

Going at each other with sharp steel during training is just begging for injuries.

Jon immediately started training with blunted swords upon arrival at the Wall and all would-be knights are training in a similar way. I'm not discussing that wooden swords makes more sense in our world but in Westeros wooden swords are for children. Robb got mocked by Joffrey because of that.

 

19 minutes ago, Ylath's Snout said:

Ehh Arianne is 22 and her father is in poor health so remaining single at her age is at least pretty weird. More so after Vis gets golded.

This is well explained in AFFC. Yeah, there is the time between Viserys death and Aegon arrival to explain but then you have Doran dithering about important things. You could somewhat explain it that Doran was waiting to see the end of the war to see how to use Arianne's hand to forge some alliances. As long as things look unstable, forging an alliance might be seen risky if ends up betting to the wrong horse.

 

19 minutes ago, Ylath's Snout said:

Maybe GRRM should have put in an engagement for Edmure/Rodd that fell through because the bride-to-be died of some disease or accident? It'd be a better explanation than the nothing we get in out books. Especially considering that ol' Hoster "Matchmaker" Tully is Edmure's dad.

Robb is OK I think, it is explained well by Ned attitudes towards his children. Edmure's case is truly difficult to explain, specially given Hoster Tully obsession with marriage, as you say.

[Ylath's Snout]

2 minutes ago, rotting sea cow said:

You could somewhat explain it that Doran was waiting to see the end of the war to see how to use Arianne's hand to forge some alliances. As long as things look unstable, forging an alliance might be seen risky if ends up betting to the wrong horse.

Oh I buy that. It's just that the Vis deal must have seemed like a long shot before he got golded. Robert seems to have been well liked for the peace he kept if nothing else amd a combination of Dronish and Dothraki trying to take over Westeros seems like a recipe for uniting the other kingdoms to chase them off.

[rotting sea cow]

41 minutes ago, Ylath's Snout said:

Oh I buy that. It's just that the Vis deal must have seemed like a long shot before he got golded. Robert seems to have been well liked for the peace he kept if nothing else amd a combination of Dronish and Dothraki trying to take over Westeros seems like a recipe for uniting the other kingdoms to chase them off.

Indeed, this was a major problem for all plotters (incl. Varys). But, well, Doran knew nothing of Varys/Illyrio plot to use the Dothraki but also you touch an important aspect of Doran plans. Dorne couldn't fight Robert alone and Viserys needed to find an additional army. Doran never provided any kind of assistance to Viserys (too afraid of Robert I guess), neither in funds nor in counsel, making the last Targaryens siblings easy prey for Archons and Magisters, spiders and cheesemongers.

And here, you have people claiming that Doran is a master plotter....

[John Suburbs]

20 hours ago, Sir Tywin said:

Anyone know why he was never betrothed before the war started? He was of old enough to be and or possibly married, heir to the north and has strong family ties to the Riverlands and to the Vale (to a small extent) he should’ve had multiple offers. 

 

Even if Ned couldn’t have arranged a betrothal to a family like the Tyrells, I’m sure there are other strong families in other regions that he could’ve arranged. 

 

Or did he and I am just not remembering?

You don't want to rush the marriage of your heir. First, his wife will become the next lady of your house, so it's a decision that must be made carefully. Secondly, your heir's hand could become crucially important for political/military reasons, so unless there is a clear and compelling reason for him to marry, it's better to wait.

[Rufus Snow]

14 hours ago, rotting sea cow said:

Edmure's case is truly difficult to explain, specially given Hoster Tully obsession with marriage, as you say.

Perhaps Tom O'Sevens' song was more popular than we realise 

[JaneSnow]

Aren't males probably married older than females because they hit puberty later?