Let's say you're a stormlord and Robert has just revolted, your lord or your king, whaddo you do?

[TheGreyKraken]

Madness exaggerated? I mean Aerys burned his warden of the north alive, Aerion killed himself trying to become a dragon, Viserys said he would let 40,000 Dothraki rape his sister, should I keep going? Is that enough?

Viserys was mad, Aerion is madder, and Aerys is the maddest of them all. :drunk:

[StannisBamfatheon]

Maybe monarchies are the problem, not the Targaryens or any House. Any family that is allowed to be kings over somewhere will always have a few members with entitlement issues.

Fair enough friend, but if there is one house any of us should look up to I would say it's probably the Starks.

[TheMysteriousOne]

Fair enough friend, but if there is one house any of us should look up to I would say it's probably the Starks.

Agreed.

But..even they had a few bad eggs...

[Daario's*before*Snows]

Fair enough friend, but if there is one house any of us should look up to I would say it's probably the Starks.

Except we only have witness to one adult Stark head of house. House Lannister might look honorable if it was only Kevan.

[Tony Soprano]

Out of what? 40 Targaryens. There's characters from other Houses far and wide in Westeros who are just as mad. Also, there's always a ruler in any dynasty who will always push their power too far and be considered 'mad.' Plus, I think that most of the Targaryen 'madness' comes from the fact that they've been taught all their lives to look down on other people and to think of themselves as better than other Westerosi because of their dragons, their features and royalty. That kind of feeling of entitlement isn't always very good.

Most of those 40 Targaryens were terrible rulers, though. Maybe they weren't all mad, but they were inept. I can only name about 5 Targaryen Kings who were good rulers, who were loved by their people, whose reign was relatively peaceful.

Maegor the Cruel was called such for a reason. He was the first tyrant to ever sit on the Iron Throne.

What was The Dance of the Dragons, if not madness? Thousands died and the Realm was left desolate because of the ego of a Targaryen. Aegon Targaryen won, becoming Aegon II. And he then fed his sister to his dragons. Isn't that madness too?

Aegon III thought Dragons were repulsive, and their death is his fault. Aegon the Dragonbane destroyed the living weapons that brought together the Kingdom he ruled, forged the Throne he ruled from. That was part madness, part folly, part ineptitude.

Do I need to say anything about Aegon IV? The man that cause the Blackfyre Rebellions, the worst civil war in Westerosi history, just by uttering a few words on his deathbed?

We now come to Aerys II, the man who liked to see people burned in their own armor just for laughs. The paranoid tyrant had to be overthrown, and so did the Targaryens.

Viserys and Daenerys wouldn't make good rulers either. The Targaryen madness was a dominant trait in the former, and the latter is as inept a ruler as they come.

[SerBrightflame]

I would raise my banners and march as quickly as possible to the Crownlands. If the Trident ends end with Rhaegar dead, I will immediatly remove myself, my tresuary, family, and a group of hand picked men to Dragonstone, and rescure Viserys and Daenerys with Willem Darry. I am not sure after that. Maybe die in exile, a drunkard?

[Fire Eater]

I'd go with my liege lord Robert. He would come after me if I didn't answer his summons. He already had four of the Seven Kingdoms on his side.

[TheMysteriousOne]

Most of those 40 Targaryens were terrible rulers, though. Maybe they weren't all mad, but they were inept. I can only name about 5 Targaryen Kings who were good rulers, who were loved by their people, whose reign was relatively peaceful.

Maegor the Cruel was called such for a reason. He was the first tyrant to ever sit on the Iron Throne.

He was a tyrant, but was he proven mad? No. He was called mad because he brutally ended the Faith's Rebellion against the Targaryens. He was a tyrant, a lot of kings are. I don't even agree with hereditary monarchies for this reason.

What was The Dance of the Dragons, if not madness? Thousands died and the Realm was left desolate because of the ego of a Targaryen. Aegon Targaryen won, becoming Aegon II. And he then fed his sister to his dragons. Isn't that madness too?

What is the WOFK if not madness?

Aegon III thought Dragons were repulsive, and their death is his fault. Aegon the Dragonbane destroyed the living weapons that brought together the Kingdom he ruled, forged the Throne he ruled from. That was part madness, part folly, part ineptitude.

Not proven that Aegon III killed the last dragons, many believe that the Maesters poisoned them. If he really killed them, why would he try to bring them back? And even if he did kill them, can you blame him for hating dragons? They ate his mother.

Do I need to say anything about Aegon IV? The man that cause the Blackfyre Rebellions, the worst civil war in Westerosi history, just by uttering a few words on his deathbed?

Aegon IV was an idiot, yes, but Daemon can also be blamed for the war for not bowing down to his rightful lord. I also think that the WOFK is the worst civil war in Westerosi history.

We now come to Aerys II, the man who liked to see people burned in their own armor just for laughs. The paranoid tyrant had to be overthrown, and so did the Targaryens.

Aerys was mad, yes, but can you show me how House Baratheon or how any other House is better? In any family that is hereditary monarchy will always have a few crazy people and some people with entitlement issues.

Viserys and Daenerys wouldn't make good rulers either. The Targaryen madness was a dominant trait in the former, and the latter is as inept a ruler as they come.

Daenerys has time to learn, and I can't say that I approve of everything that she's done but she does genuinely care about the slaves and her subjects. Viserys was mad, although it can be argued that he became mad because of his situation not because of the Targaryen trait.