Most overrated house

[OberynBlackfyre]

I think a lot of Houses are overrated, but if we are going purely by "fan speculation" then it would be

-Starks: I love them, but fans of theirs think they are incapable of doing any wrong.

-Lannister: obvious reasons

-Targaryens: I love them, but can't keep treating them like they are a major power when Dany is leading them....

As for some of the others mentioned, I see people repping people of House Martell but not ALL of House Martell in general. Same with the Tyrells.

Most underrated? Tully and probably Greyjoy

[OberynBlackfyre]

hey let's conquer a continent the size of Argentina, and then divide 90% of the land to 5 extremely powerful families and then only keep 10% (which is not the most fertile or defensible) for ourselves! yes, that ought to ensure the stability of our dynasty. After all we got dragons so who cares about realism and balance of power?

But seriously, its a error in writing for Martin. He wanted to describe a war of roses-esque scenario where the lesser lords have accrued too much land and power and therefore are threats to the monarchs and can play kingmakers. But in history the powerful English magnates accrued power over many centuries and little by little. It's not like the five houses of Westeros where the Targs came and basically said: O I'll let you have 1/6 of the country and you can raise and retain armies at will. Yes like that won't be a recipe for disaster at all.

I guess if you want to argue sort of "in-universe" you could say that indeed the Targs had dragons so they didn't care about mortal armies and power bases. But you would think that after the dragons died, they would smarten up and move to destroy or at least reduce the influences of the other houses? I mean what is the point of have a separate Stormland or The Riverland? Why not just absorb it into the crown territories and hand out little pieces to minor lords?

I don't think many people thought of that simply because they saw the whole storyline of the Targs pretty much play out before them. Dragons or not, people got used to a Targaryen dynasty....plus the people of Westeros obviously respect the power that Aegon had by right of conquest, since even the maesters and the religion accepted him and his line as King. Plus I don't see how people want to paint the Targaryen line as ONLY barbaric, crazy kings. Some were actually good, and really intelligent politically. People STILL talk of Baelor the Blessed, why? Because the smallfolk loved him. But some people still talk of Daeron II, because he was good politically. Just like they talk about Maegor because of how cruel he was.

[Ingelheim]

The Arryn. I mean, they have done nothing, never.

[Philip Baratheon]

House Dayne.

They've barely appeared in the series outside of flashbacks and vague mentions of the past but they seem to crop up an awful lot in fan theories, that put what seems to me a disproportionate amount of importance on a minor house that has had only the smallest tangible impact on the series. I will be upset if Dawn is Lightbringer, or if some woman is secretly Ashara Dayne, or some other thing.

[Fat Mac]

The Arryn. I mean, they have done nothing, never.

They are almost as old as the Starks, and were amongst the first Andal conquerers in Westeros.

Jon Arryn started a rebellion that toppled a three century dynasty, and crushed all Vale lords that opposed him. The Vale forces theoretically counted for 1/4th of the main forces, probably more.

And their lack of participation in the series events have escalated them into one of the most powerful forces in Westeros right now. Definitely not overrated.

[northernshe-wolf]

Lannister, sadly. I really love the house, but they're so overrated.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

The Targaryens in a walk.

"Oooh look at us, we held power for 300 years!"

Call me when they can survive and hang onto power in Westeros for 3,000, 5,000, 8,000 or 10,000 years like the Starks, Arryns, Martells, Lannisters, Daynes, etc.

I'm also not buying this magical dragon blood bullshit — it's a house of unchecked inbred nutcases, peppered with the occasional sane person, who managed to piss away the main basis for their power in less than 150 years.

[Jamie Lannister]

House Greyjoy, the masters of petty harassment and bad decision making.

[Magic 8 Ball]

House Upcliff of the Vale.

[rivergirl]

The Targaryens... get me a soapbox.

There is no such thing as magical sparkly special beautiful world-conquering dragon blood. Aegon was not a "dragon," Rhaegar was not a "dragon," and Daenerys is definitely not a "dragon." They do not have special powers, they are not fireproof and can by no means literally give birth to dragons or morph into them. They are just like everyone else, but inbred.

I don't understand why Valyrian features seem to make the Targaryens on par with gods. Do you see anyone harping on about how the Starks must be magical and treating them like they're the Children of the Forest because they're from the North? Nobody says "oh, Arya has the Stark look features like the First Men... clearly that means she has the right to rule Westeros (and Essos and wherever else she feels like going) because she has Wolf Blood. She's special.

Greyjoys are not krakens. Starks are not direwolves. Targaryens are not dragons. The family just has some weird, egotistical habit of referring to themselves as mythical creatures and thinking that their blood is superior to everyone else's. If there's anything "special" about the Targaryens, it's that they tend to be insane... because they're inbred, not because of some magic "dragon" gene.

[a white raven]

Most overrated house for me is Greyjoy.

They lost the Riverlands to the Tullys and now they`'re stuck with just harsh, far away Pyke. Their rebellion didn't go so well and they don't have any loyalty for each other.

[*Ceallach*]

The Targaryens in a walk.

"Oooh look at us, we held power for 300 years!"

Call me when they can survive and hang onto power in Westeros for 3,000, 5,000, 8,000 or 10,000 years like the Starks, Arryns, Martells, Lannisters, Daynes, etc.

I'm also not buying this magical dragon blood bullshit — it's a house of unchecked inbred nutcases, peppered with the occasional sane person, who managed to piss away the main basis for their power in less than 150 years.

Tell us what you really think AM? :cool4:

I think the Lannisters (really, you "tricked" someone out of their home and slaughtered whole families? well a special "Clap" for you) and the Arryns. I know they won some huge battle a while ago, but What have they done lately? if Jon hadn't fostered Ned and Robert, would he have even got involved in any of this now?

[otherbeef]

i don't think any of the Great Houses are overrated, they are great houses for a reason, they have power, money, strength, and/or influence. saying one is overrated is basically saying they are at worst the 7th most powerful family on the continent (unless you are talking about say the Starks or Tullys in their current state, but then nobody would argue that they are still great and wouldn't be overrated)

[otherbeef]

"Oooh look at us, we held power for 300 years!"

Call me when they can survive and hang onto power in Westeros for 3,000, 5,000, 8,000 or 10,000 years like the Starks, Arryns, Martells, Lannisters, Daynes, etc.

they still ruled over the entirety of Westeros for 300 more years than any of those Houses. Everyone else ruled over small kingdoms at most one-seventh the size the Targs did.

although i would say they might be overrated in that the were only a middle of the pack House in Ancient Valyria, they have so much arrogance i wonder what they had to say about the noble families that ruled above them...

[Guardian of the Lhazareen]

Will have to disagree with you on this one :P The reeds, manderlys and Mormonte are extremely overrated for me

The reeds have a castle that cannot be found and inhospitable land making in neer imposible for any invadung army to conquor them,

manderly has 50 war ships, is RICH, can raise 5000 spear in dance had 100 landed knoghts and 12 petty nobles and all the lands east of the knofe under his sway basicaly, his walls are strong, by all mean one of the most powerful second teir houses,

I don't think anyone ever rated the mormonts... they control bear island

[Guardian of the Lhazareen]

Redwyne.. Not as in the novels though, but amongst fans.. Some actually spoke of 20.000 men from Arbor...

In novels, always the bad one.. Vale and Westerlands are almost the same, with shape, size, a city, some towns, but Lannisters can call like 30k (not including the sellswords they got with money) but Vale, 20.000....

And Tyrells are overrated so much that I don't get why they never conquered Westeros on their own.. Renly rallied 90k men and something like 20k of it were Stormmen, and the rest 70k was without Redwyne force, so all together, 80k Tyrell bannermen, they can conquer the Westeros on their own... or at least south...

they have a fleet of over 1000 ships, that means that they would only need 20 men to a ship (it is definaltly much higher than this) to make a force of 20,000

[Fat Mac]

they still ruled over the entirety of Westeros for 300 more years than any of those Houses. Everyone else ruled over small kingdoms at most one-seventh the size the Targs did.

Not necessarily true. The Starks have held on to at least 1/3 of a continent for 8,000 years almost unopposed, occasional Bolton rebellion aside.

The Storm Kings once had an empire that at least stretched from Storm's End to the Neck. This is the Stormlands, a relatively poor and unpopulated region. That is very impressive in it's own right. They did this all without dragons. Targaryens without dragons are nothing. Other houses have something to show.

[Guardian of the Lhazareen]

Incest has nothing to do with madness plus few Targaryens practiced incest

bassed on book evidence, the biological laws Martin has created for his universe clearly show how incest and madness are related, the whole coin thing is the best example. IT DOES

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

they still ruled over the entirety of Westeros for 300 more years than any of those Houses. Everyone else ruled over small kingdoms at most one-seventh the size the Targs did.

The North is a hell of a lot bigger than "one-seventh" the size of the Targs' overall kingdom, kiddo. And the Starks have held it for 8,000 years. And I'm supposed to be impressed by the Targs' 300? Puh-fucking-lease. You don't get brownie points for screwing up just because you screwed up on a much larger scale than anyone else.

[LoyalStarkBannerman]

Most overrated house for me is Greyjoy.

They lost the Riverlands to the Tullys and now they`'re stuck with just harsh, far away Pyke. Their rebellion didn't go so well and they don't have any loyalty for each other.

I think you mean House Hoare? House Hoare held the Riverlands before FIRE AND BLOOOOD came to the shores of Westeros and decimated Harren the Black and all his sons.

I don't really see anyone hyping up the Greyjoys that much, though. As far as I'm concerned, the Greyjoys are neither overrated or underrated. Everyone knows the Ironborn get stomped when confronted by a real army.

Anywho, I think the most overrated house is Targaryen. Others in this thread have already voiced the reasons for that much better than I could hope to do.