Top 5 worst kings?

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

So I'm bored and would like to hear your opinions on this.

IMHO:

1. Aegon IV - caused a rebellion etc. widely considered to be the worst Targaryen king.

2. Aerys II - the Targaryens lost the throne because of his madness, though Rhaegar shares a large part of the blame.

3. Joffrey I - made the war worse than it had to be, though his mother's actions actually caused it because of Littlefinger's meddling. He was stupid and sadistic and he's only in third place because he died before he had ruled for that long.

4. Robert I - bankrupted the realm and didn't do much ruling at all.

5. Aerys I - I don't know much about him but he seemed to be a weak ruler, letting Dagon Greyjoy do all that raiding.

ETA: this is rulers of all Seven Kingdoms, with or without Dorne.

[R'hllor's Bastard]

The Night King.

I think Robert wasnt that bad, Id put him even with Tommen, in that doing nothing is better than being a cruel maniac.

[Valyrian_Goddess]

1. Robert

2. Joffrey

3. Aerys II

4. Baelor

5. Maegor

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

The Night King.

I think Robert wasnt that bad, Id put him even with Tommen, in that doing nothing is better than being a cruel maniac.

Sorry, forgot to mention the "whole Seven Kingdoms" bit but other (haha, I made a joke) than that, good choice.

I know that he wasn't that bad, but I don't know much about the Targaryen kings.

[Igziabeher]

1. Aegon IV

2. Aerys II

3. Baelor

4. Joffrey

5. Maegor

I don't think Robert did such a bad job overall. Outside of 1 Greyjoy rebellion, the 7 kingdoms were fairly peaceful for 17 years.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

1. Robert

2. Joffrey

3. Aerys II

4. Baelor

5. Maegor

How come you put Robert above Joffrey?

[The Titan's Legitimate Son]

1 - Joffrey the Bastard - he killed Ned (you bastard), beat up Sansa (bastard), was a shit commander at Blackwater or Major Douchebag as I call him and is generally an arsehole of astronomical proportions. All in all, I well written wanker!

2 - Does Cercei count? Basically the King in all but name.

3 - Aerys II Dickface

4 - I'm too bored to think more.

[Philip Baratheon]

Not ranked:

1. Aerys II - his madness and barbaric cruelty are what cost him and his family the Iron Throne.
   
2. Joffrey - a "vicious idiot" in Tyrion's words. An apt description, a horrible person whose mad call for Ned Stark's head plunged his realm into a wholly unnecessary conflict.
   
3. Aegon IV - fond of excess, had all those bastards, legitimizing them, giving some of them ancestral swords that typically denote the Crown Prince. The result was a revolt in his successor's reign and further ones over the following decades.
   
4. Daeron I - he conquered Dorne and was full of vigour. Problem was that his campaign was ill thought out and cost him 40,000 men including his own life as they were driven out.
   
5. Baelor or Maegor - I can't decide this one. Baelor was loved by the smallfolk but Tyrion views him with contempt. Certainly was a little loopy but I don't know if we know enough about his reign. Maegor was tyrannical and brutal in a conflict, that to be fair to him he didn't start, but he was a strong ruler if that counts for anything.
   

[Valyrian_Goddess]

How come you put Robert above Joffrey?

Because Joffrey is just a kid and because Robert's an idiot and wiped out an entire Dynasty just because his stupid girlfriend was gone

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Not ranked:

1. Aerys II - his madness and barbaric cruelty are what cost him and his family the Iron Throne.
   
2. Joffrey - a "vicious idiot" in Tyrion's words. An apt description, a horrible person whose mad call for Ned Stark's head plunged his realm into a wholly unnecessary conflict.
   
3. Aegon IV - fond of excess, had all those bastards, legitimizing them, giving some of them ancestral swords that typically denote the Crown Prince. The result was a revolt in his successor's reign and further ones over the following decades.
   
4. Daeron I - he conquered Dorne and was full of vigour. Problem was that his campaign was ill thought out and cost him 40,000 men including his own life as they were driven out.
   
5. Baelor or Maegor - I can't decide this one. Baelor was loved by the smallfolk but Tyrion views him with contempt. Certainly was a little loopy but I don't know if we know enough about his reign. Maegor was tyrannical and brutal in a conflict, that to be fair to him he didn't start, but he was a strong ruler if that counts for anything.
   

I agree with many of your points and I'm considering swapping Robert and Aerys I in my list for Maegor and Baelor. However I'd like to pint to that the war had already started when Ned Stark was killed. Joffrey just made it worse.

[Jaime's Wench]

My knowledge of Targaryan history is limited (must read Dunk and Egg!) but...

1. Aerys (Jaime was right to slay him - evil, crazy man!)

2. The Begger King Viserys. (Hey, he spent his life thinking he was king and hanging out with the few people who believed he was, so he might as well go on my list)

3. Joffrey (for obvious reasons)

4. Robert (brill at becoming a king, not so brill at running a country, though he at least chose wisely in Jon Arryn)

5. Renly (I loved him, I really did ... but he didn't take his war campaign all that seriously, and he was killed by his brother before he was able to prove his worth)

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Because Joffrey is just a kid and because Robert's an idiot and wiped out an entire Dynasty just because his stupid girlfriend was gone

Robert removed the Targaryens from power because the king wanted his head and he thought that the crown prince had kidnapped and raped his betrothed. Also the king killed his best friend's father and brother and called for his head too. Ample reason to start a war IMO and besides the point because Robert was not king at that point in time. Joffrey however was cruel to everyone, ignored his advisers and had his betrothed stripped and beaten, not to mention killing small folk unnecessarily and worsening a civil war.

[Keirut]

1. Aegon IV

2. Joffrey I

3. Aerys II

4. Baelor I

5. Robert I

[Stormcloak]

1) Joffrey I - Before his bastard birth was even known his terrible leadership provoked 4 Kings to rise against him, he did nothing to seek peace, kept King's Landing and his throne only through luck and much cleverer allies, threw away his only chance of making peace with the Starks.

2) Aerys II the Mad King - Provoked a rebellion that ended his dynasty, alienated his strongest allies and almost killed everyone in King's Landing out of spite. I only place him below Joffrey because somehow Aerys left a treasury overflowing with Gold.

3) The Night's King - Turned the Night's Watch against the Realm, sacrificed to the Others and forced the Stark's and WIlding's to make peace just to bring him down.

4) Harren the Black - Infamously cruel, exploited the Riverlands to build Harrenhal then cowered in it when Aegon the Conquerer came for him and his dynasty ended with him.

5) Aegon the Unworthy - Did nothing good for the Realm in his life and laid the foundations for the Blackfyre rebellions

6) Maegor the Cruel - Infamously cruel and incapable of dealing with the Faith Militant

7) Daeron I - Led an unprovoked war with Dorne out of pride, lost 40,000 men and his own life trying to hold what he'd conquered

8) Balon Greyjoy - Twice tried to take a crown and paid for it in his people's blood, couldn't see beyond his barbarian culture or his pride, refused to ally with the Starks

9) Euron Greyjoy - Failed to make peace, followed in his brother's footsteps but increased the risk, gambled on dragons he's never seen while provoking war with the Reach when the Redwyne's have power at sea to rival his even if he'd kept the Iron Fleet.

10) Aenys I - Such a weak king the Faith rose against him and he could never deal with it.

11) Aerys I - Another weak king, couldn't control the Greyjoys and left the Starks to deal with it.

12) Renly Baratheon - Divided his house during a rebellion and gifted common enemies with a chance.

13) Robert Baratheon - He wasn't a cruel king, he chose the right hands, fought well in two wars and then gave the realm peace but he did build up massive debts, allowed his court to become incredibly corrupt and failed to raise his heirs properly or even be sure that they were his.

14) Brandon the Burner - Threw away the Stark's strength at sea and they never recovered it.

[Artos Stark]

Are we talking real kings or are ones that crowned themselves after Robert's death included?

[Lord of Handle]

Couldn't boil it down to 5, but anyway...

Ultimate fuck up tier:

Joffrey. He would have been so screwed if he didn't have Tywin Lannister and eventually the Tyrells backing him. He may just have been a big kid, but it's not like he was going to grow out off being a vicious (sadistic, petty, arrogant) idiot.

Aerys II. He let Tywin rule because he was to incompetent to do it himself. He could even sit on the throne without hurting himself. But that's not what puts him in ultimate fuck up tier. It's the fact that he was vengeful, paranoid and cruel enough to have Brandon and Rickard Stark killed the way he did.Not to mention he wanted to burn down King's Landing just to spite Robert. Need I say more?

Criminally incompetent tier:

Aegon IV. Had pretty much the same faults as Robert, and probably even to a greater extent. If anything he cared even less for the realm, and though Bob was hardly the sharpest tool in the shed, he wasn't retarded enough to try and build dragons out of wood and iron and use them against his enemies.

Robert I. Turned a blind eye on the slaughter of Elia and her children. Trusted LF and Varys. Did nothing to make his marriage to Cersei work (mostly not his fault, but anyway.) Generally took very little interest in the affairs of the realm and threw dragons out left and right.

Excessively warmongering/violent/cruel tier:

Daeron I. Attacking Dorne for no other reason than to "finish the job" and eventually squandering everything he had achieved losing 40k men in the process.

Maegor I. For all his cruelty his achievements are indeed few and far between.

[Artos Stark]

I would have include the failed kings that popped up after Robert's death as some of the worse. Stannis has all but lost his kingdom he lost everything, Renly died before his kingdom even got off the ground, Robb was assassinated and Joffery was a complete waste of space.

The Mad King destroyed a 300 year old dynasty through his stupidity, and Viserys was just a joke.

[Garlan Marius]

Did nothing to make his marriage to Cersei work (mostly not his fault, but anyway.)

*braces for coming onslaught*

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

The Targs had some real winners.

Guy who lets the Faith walk all over him? Check.

Guy who engages in widescale torture and brutality? Check.

Guy who disobeys his father's will and helps start a civil war? Check.

Guy who loses 40,000 men conquering Dorne and then doesn't keep it? Check.

Guy who turns out to be a religious fruitcake? Check.

Guy who fathers bastards everywhere and helps starts another dynastic conflict? Check.

Guy who decides to just read a lot and conduct no actual governance? Check.

Guy who is a sadistic pyromaniac and ultimately brings down the dynasty? Check.

And that's without the obvious answer of Joffrey.

[Brandon Martell]

Robert I. Turned a blind eye on the slaughter of Elia and her children. Trusted LF and Varys. Did nothing to make his marriage to Cersei work (mostly not his fault, but anyway.) Generally took very little interest in the affairs of the realm and threw dragons out left and right.

I don't think anyone, not even Robert, trusted Varys and LF (except poor old Ned). Robert needed them both and so it was a good idea to keep them on his council.

I really can't get all the hate on Robert. Sure, he didn't care about ruling and got the realm in debt, but he's not comparable with all the other cruel and mad kings.

I would say Joffrey was the worst king ever, but he didn't have that much power and because of that he didn't really do things as bad as Aerys. If he had grown up, I think he would've turned out worse than Aerys.

But he didn't, and so my vote goes to Aerys.