What if... Robert had married Lyanna

[Dhampire]

I've been wondering for a while. How would have the Robert/Lyanna marriage been like? I mean, she was loyal, beautiful and brave, but also stubborn and impulsive. And maybe she wouldn't have endured Robert's lust

[dolorouseddwasright]

Maybe Lyanna running away with Rhaegar was a proactive response to Robert. She knew he would never be faithful to her so she decided to avoid the issue alltogether by avoiding the marriage. That way she didn't have to figure out a way to deal with his infidelities. That being said, if they had married I don't think she would be like Cersei. I think Lyanna would have told Robert flat out that he better not be cheating. After that didn't work I'm not sure. Maybe she would have resigned herself to it or she may have just run away then. But I do think part of her running away with Rhaegar was due to knowing Robert could never be faithful.

[Spastic Plastic]

Robert would have smashed her head in. She was independent, spirited and easily angered from what we know. Like an older version of Arya. I don't think she would meekly stand by while Robert cheated on her.

Their marriage would be worse than that of Robert and Cersei.

[moondoggie]

It could be said that Robert's infidelities were caused by his marriage with Cersei. It isn't what he wanted. He was in love with Lyanna, and his feelings may have been strong enough that he did not need to go out making bastards as he did with Cersei as his wife. Also, he would have wanted to do right by Ned, his best friend. Cheating on her or hitting her would have caused Ned to want to beat down the king. Bad news there. Then again, while I did believe Robert loved Lyanna, I never saw evidence that Lyanna loved Robert. She probably did what she did not because of Robert's proclivities, but because of her own willfulness.

[MineIsTheFury]

In this alternate universe did she run away still with Rhaegar or did that just never happen and they got married? If she never ran away(or was kidnapped, however you believe the story went) then Robert probably wouldn't be king, he'd be the lord of Storm's end and Aerys would probably still be king(possibly Rhaegar). But I think he would be less of a skirt chaser, I think a large part of his infidelity was his unhappiness with Cercei, but I think regardless of who he married he would have stepped out eventually. Lyanna knew it and I got the impression that she was sort of indifferent about it or at least had accepted it. But Robert was so infatuated with her it probably would have been years before he was tempted and it would have happened maybe a couple of times before Lyanna told him to cut his crap. What happens after that though...tough to say...

[MyDogIsNamedDanerys]

There is a bit where Lyanna is describing Robert (don't remember to whom). She talks about about how he was a dear friend, but she felt he was unsuitable for marriage because he "wouldn't keep to his bed". So Robert was already showing his whoring ways, and Lyanna was wise enough to know that he wouldn't stop for anyone, including her.

As for Cersei being the cause of Robert's infidelity, I don't think so. As I remember one of the reasons Cersei began to hate Robert was how quickly the whoring began after they were married. Also the violent drunk sex and calling her "Lyanna".

I think Lyanna wouldn't have married Robert unless she absolutely could find no other way out. I think she would probably have run away as soon as possible afterwards.

[Datepalm]

Robert was already bedhopping when he was engaged to Lyanna. He took time out from fighting a war to save her, this love of his life, for a roll in the hay with a couple hookers at the Battle of the Bells, and thats just what we know of directly. Classy as always, Robert.

[Lady Blackfish]

She talks about about how he was a dear friend

Mrmm, what she says is "Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man's nature." Ned was saying how Robert might be a player now, but once they were married he would change, because he was so in love with her. Lyanna was skeptical.

I think the marriage wouldn'tve been quite so bad as Robert & Cersei's, but Lyanna wouldn'tve been happy with the whoring and all that. She might have endured it or she might have carried on an affair of her own or she might have tried somehow to get him to change simply out of having no other recourse. Maybe she would have run away. And I still think it's possible that Robert might've knocked her around a bit here and there when his temper got the best of him (honestly, Robert is not the model of self control).

[Raskolnikov]

Robert was and always had been a horndog. His whoring was not the result of his marriage to Cersei. I don't remember the exact detail, but Someone (Ned?) said/thought about something like Robert fathered his first bastard back when he wasn't much older than Someone Else (Gendry?).

[The SmilingKnight]

Yeah! And i remember someone else saying something about someone too!

So there! That settles it.

Whatever it is.

:leaving:

[Dhampire]

I think everybody agrees Robert would have been a horndog anyways, as he had already had some bastards when he got married. But maybe he wouldn't have been the fat, drunk, cynical king he turned into. Lyanna would have cared about him, tried to direct himn

[Snowmelter]

Robert would have smashed her head in. She was independent, spirited and easily angered from what we know. Like an older version of Arya. I don't think she would meekly stand by while Robert cheated on her.

Their marriage would be worse than that of Robert and Cersei.

And then Ned would raise the North and the Riverlands and march on kings landing to avenge her. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Datepalm]

I think everybody agrees Robert would have been a horndog anyways, as he had already had some bastards when he got married. But maybe he wouldn't have been the fat, drunk, cynical king he turned into. Lyanna would have cared about him, tried to direct himn

Why? She dosen't love him, she dosen't trust him, and its not entirely clear if she ever even particularly liked him. I suppose that had she found herself in the situation she would have treid to make the best of it, but why exactly does she own it to him to become this strong nurturing presence that would guide him along? She was not the nurturing, giving, responsible type either. Neither of them was sophisticated enough to make a political marriage of conveniece while respecting each other, and Roberts infatuation here seems to have given him a sense of entitlement to her.

[Jon Blackfyre]

Rhaegar would have become King, Robert and Lyanna would have some children, Robert more than Lyanna, and the whole fricken world would have been doomed.

Dany wouldn't have awoken the dragons, Jon wouldn't be alive (R = L = J) and the Others would have swept the race of men from the face of Westeros. All in all it'd be a much more boring story.

[Darklich528]

If Lyanna was in love with him back then it might have had a completely different outcome.

As it is now, if Lyanna was forced to marry Robert then she would just take a man of her own on the side. Done. At least they would seem to get along in public unlike Robert & Cersei.

Also, I don't think Robert would ever hit Lyanna. As I recall, in their years of marriage he hit Cersei once (if ever...? Can't remember) and regretted it after. And he hated her guts.

[Lady Blackfish]

Once or twice before what Ned witnessed, Cersei says. Anyway, I don't think it's inconceivable that Robert would catch on some time in 15 years that Lyanna didn't love him back, and while she might not have been as mean to him as Cersei, well it would really surprise me if Robert wouldn't be frustrated by the lack of reciprocation. If anything I'd guess he is nearly incapable of believing that Lyanna could have ever been with Rhaegar through her own choice. Maybe he'd feel worse about it afterwards, maybe he'd be overtly apologetic instead of the half-muttered apologies he has for Cersei, but in the right argument under the right circumstances, yeah I could see him losing control.

[Liadin]

I think it would have been better than Robert/Cersei (not saying much). If Lyanna had laid down the law about cheating, Robert probably still would have done it some, but not openly or as much.

It really depends though. We don't know if she would have cared for Robert enough to make him happy, or how she would have navigated a political marriage. She probably wouldn't have had somebody else's kids, meaning there's a better chance Robert would have been attached to his legitimate offspring (apparently he had good relationships with his bastards, but not Cersei's).

Or maybe her body was never made for childbirth and she would have died with the first baby anyway. Tywin would have suggested Cersei as a replacement, and the same things would have happened, except that Robert would have had a true heir, whom all the Lannisters would be trying to murder at every opportunity. And that would be our book.

[undertow]

The big difference is that Robert RESPECTED Lyanna, while Cersei was just a hunk of meat that came part and parcel to the throne. He may have had the momentary lapse in faithfulness, but he'd try to keep it a secret. Lyanna wouldn't be the happiest person in the world, but the kingdom would be at relative peace. If Robert ever tried to smack Lyanna around while he was in a drunken stupor, he'd be begging her and Ned's forgiveness when he sobered up. If Ned ever needed to lay the smackdown on Robert, I think he'd just accept it. He'd still be a crappy king and husband, but he'd be significantly better than he was with Cersei.

[Liadin]

The big difference is that Robert RESPECTED Lyanna, while Cersei was just a hunk of meat that came part and parcel to the thrown. He may have had the momentary lapse in faithfulness, but he'd try to keep it a secret. Lyanna wouldn't be the happiest person in the world, but the kingdom would be at relative peace. If Robert ever tried to smack Lyanna around while he was in a drunken stupor, he'd be begging her and Ned's forgiveness when he sobered up. If Ned ever needed to lay the smackdown on Robert, I think he'd just accept it. He'd still be a crappy king and husband, but he'd be significantly better than he was with Cersei.

I'm not sure he respected her. He was obsessed with her, but he barely knew her. Sure, 15 years later he seems to idolize her, but how much of that is just because she died and he wound up in a crappy marriage?

[Yakman]

Who knows?

But it is important to note that Robert wasn't a bad chap when he was a young man. Yes, he had a dalliance with a girl in the Vale. But Lyanna wouldn't have tried her darnedest to break him like that bitch Cersei. She had the Wolf in her, just as Robert had the Fury. It may well have been a happy match.

No, Robert wasn't Rhaegar--who was handsome, soulful, mighty, and brilliant. But Robert was close enough. No, he didn't play the harp, or joust at tourney or compose beautiful songs or have violet eyes and long silver hair. But no man in the realm could have faced Robert when he wielded his warhammer, and while everyone loved Rhaegar, I doubt that the Prince of Dragonstone could have made them laugh as heartily as Robert Baratheon, or be as filled with cheer by his jokes or have loved him like Robert's enemies turned allies did.

They are different men, Robert and Rhaegar. But both were Great Men, who stood above all their peers. It was a shame that they had to meet each other in the Trident because of the villainy of Aerys and the--it is important to remember this--the folly of Rhaegar.

Lyanna was the love of the two Greatest men of her generation. Methinks that we ought to count her lucky, at least in that regards.