What were King Egg's Reforms?

[SaffronLady]

20 hours ago, sifth said:

Egg was probably a good king. Not going to lie, finding out that Tywin destroyed all of his reforms, just gave me another reason to hate him.

Pragmatically speaking, keeping them in place may be too expensive for the crown. Until Baelish the golden goose comes around, that is.

[sifth]

2 hours ago, SaffronLady said:

Pragmatically speaking, keeping them in place may be too expensive for the crown. Until Baelish the golden goose comes around, that is.

More likely, Tywin is just being Tywin. By that I mean he's an evil bastard, who wants more money.

[SaffronLady]

1 hour ago, sifth said:

More likely, Tywin is just being Tywin. By that I mean he's an evil bastard, who wants more money.

Give him the benefit of doubt.

[sifth]

1 hour ago, SaffronLady said:

Give him the benefit of doubt.

I would if it was Ned, or one of the more honorable characters, we were talking about.

[SaffronLady]

25 minutes ago, sifth said:

I would if it was Ned, or one of the more honorable characters, we were talking about.

Fair enough.

[Lord Varys]

Jaehaerys II already started to abolish some of his father's reforms, most likely because they were very much opposed by the lordly establishment.

Tywin is later also praised for doing away with them completely, which makes it even more quite clear that the nobility hated those reforms as a class.

I'd not be surprised if mostly honorable lords opposed those reforms. Chances are not so bad that Egg's most fervent opponents might turn out to be a younger Jon Arryn and Edwyle Stark. (In that context it is actually noteworthy that Edwyle's sister Jocelyn married into the lesser branch of House Royce of the Vale. Could turn out to be a marriage contract made at a time while Jon Arryn was the informal leader of the anti-reformist agenda. Keep in mind that Jon's first wife was one Jeyne Royce who could have been a sister to Jocelyn's husband Benedict Royce.)

Gerold and eventually Tytos Lannister were not only Targaryen men but, at least specifically Gerold, Egg men. Ditto, one imagines, the Laughing Storm prior to the Jenny affair.

We should also assume that the betrothals made with the Tyrells, Tullys, and Redwynes were not attempts to turn determined opponents of Egg and his policies into supporters - hard to imagine if their own class interests were at stake - but rather to forge ties with very influential houses who had been, so far, neutral on the question of reforms.

If that is (loosely) accurate, then the two remaining great houses spearheading severe opposition to Egg's reforms would indeed be the Starks and the Arryns - with the spurned houses eventually using the rejection of their children as a pretext to also join the opposition.

Of course, it is also possible that some mid-tier lords rose to prominence and influence while championing the opposition to Egg's reforms. It is also possible that opposition only took up steam later and was actually led by members of the spurned families (aside from the Baratheons who were pacified with the Rhaelle-Ormund match), namely the Tyrells, Tullys, and Redwynes.

But I do get a feeling that there is a good chance that the Starks and Arryns wouldn't be happy with a king trying to curtail their ancient rights and privileges.

Dorne should stay out of the whole affair, I think, as the union made it clear that Dornish law would always prevail in Dorne, meaning the Iron Throne wouldn't have to right to implement changes there. Not to mention that Dorne is a more progressive society in many aspects, anyway.