Robert’s Rebellion: Justified or there was another way?

[The Rise of Dorne]

Except in this case the president has much of the military still backing him. Or are you saying arresting Aerys was feasible?

Then we're no longer talking about the US. That's not at all likely to happen. The entire justice system would have to be changed for the president to openly murder someone and not be arrested and for the military to protect him.

So getting back to Westeros. Where Aerys is the justice system, that's why you send a faceless man.

[Wales338]

Treason: Rhaegar come out and die.

Anyway murdering two people or four people doesn't justify going to war. The could have just run away and hired assassins to kill Aerys.

He didn't just murder two or four people. He murdered all the men who went with Brandon and every father as well IIRC. There is no feasible way to arrest or assasinate a King. If you want to replace him the only way to do it is to participate in a rebellion.

[Lady Sansa Stark]

Treason: Rhaegar come out and die.

Anyway murdering two people or four people doesn't justify going to war. The could have just run away and hired assassins to kill Aerys.

Any sane man wouldn't have killed Brandon, his party and their fathers for the ''Come out and die'', but would immediately look for his son and where he keeps his abducted daughter of a High Lord. Since the Mad King ordered those deaths unnecessarily, he was the ultimate aggressor. And, if you care to go back that far, you could say Rhaegar was the aggressor, since he abducted Lyanna. Ned and Robert did not respond to any of this, though, until Aerys called for their heads.

You seem to be overestimating the whole ''run away and hire assassins''-part. It worked so well with Daenerys, see? So then it'll sure work out with Aerys, who has even more and better protection.

[Naathi Prince]

again, if you are going to make these backwards "lets apply modern logic to westeros" argument then go read Harry Potter, you will be a lot happier. Harry doesn't kill anybody on purpose.

[Jon's Queen Consort]

Treason: Rhaegar come out and die.

Anyway murdering two people or four people doesn't justify going to war. The could have just run away and hired assassins to kill Aerys.

But what you say don't work. Two of four? What about Brandon's companions? What about the death sentence on Robert and Ned? How about Benjen (maybe Ned's mother) Stannis and Renly? How about their safety?

[DarkAndFullOfTurnips]

again, if you are going to make these backwards "lets apply modern logic to westeros" argument then go read Harry Potter, you will be a lot happier. Harry doesn't kill anybody on purpose.

Agreed.

[Naathi Prince]

I mean we could even make a game of it, what is the next ridiculous, unheard of, unrealistic course of action for Ned, Bob, and Jon. Next up, instead of raising their banners, they sail to Qarth to hire a Sorrowful man.

[TrueMetis]

Then we're no longer talking about the US. That's not at all likely to happen. The entire justice system would have to be changed for the president to openly murder someone and not be arrested and for the military to protect him.

So getting back to Westeros. Where Aerys is the justice system, that's why you send a faceless man.

I'm sorry your expecting my metaphor to be an exact parallel then.

What Aerys did wasn't feudal justice, it wouldn't have been an acceptable resolution under any justice system.

[The Rise of Dorne]

What would the Faceless Men want to do with Winterfell and Storm's End? The cost is much more than that, usually. If Daenerys wants to hire an FM, she's probably have to sell a dragon.

Plus, if the Faceless Men would accept and get Winterfell and Storm's End, it would be obvious Ned and Robert ordered Aerys to be killed. As Mad as Aerys was, I don't think Rhaegar would thank them for that.

The dynasty had to go since the dynasty did not work anymore. Rhaegar abducted Lyanna, the daughter of a High Lord, betrothed to another High Lord, who were all friends with another High Lord. Then Aerys calls for innocent heads. Clearly, the Targaryens had to go because of this. They can't just do anything they like.

There aren't any Dragons at the time, so the faceless men could hardly ask for one. Winterfell and Storms end are very valuable. If not given directly to the faceless men then they could be sold or borrowed against from the Iron Bank.

Oh come on. Lyanna could have kicked Rhaegar's prissy ass. There's no way he abducted her.

I'm not a fan of the Targeryans, and I would have probably murdered them just for spite, but they didn't HAVE to go. And there would have been other ways besides war to get rid of them.

[DarkAndFullOfTurnips]

I mean we could even make a game of it, what is the next ridiculous, unheard of, unrealistic course of action for Ned, Bob, and Jon. Next up, instead of raising their banners, they sail to Qarth to hire a Sorrowful man.

The obvious answer is that they go the Arya route, go to Bravos to become no one and learn to be assassins. Then hopefully by that time Aerys hasn't done much damage and they can kill him while sparing the smallfolk and live happily ever after!

I would have loved a Ned + Robert chasing cats scene.

[Wales338]

Oh come on. Lyanna could have kicked Rhaegar's prissy ass. There's no way he abducted her.

That was why abducted was in quotation marks. But whatever we suspect you have too look at it from the characters point of view and on what was known. and that was that Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna.

[paytheironicprice]

Treason: Rhaegar come out and die.

Anyway murdering two people or four people doesn't justify going to war. The could have just run away and hired assassins to kill Aerys.

What are you talking about? Run away to where? You're acting as though Aerys would just give up once Robert and Ned were out of reach. Aerys would have continued to murder people no matter what. He was not rational. He was paranoid. He was delusional. If he couldn't get Ned and Robert, he would have gone after Benjen and Stannis. If he couldn't get Benjen and Stannis, he would have gone after the next highest-ranking people in those families or kingdoms, until eventually he was waging war on all of Westeros. Even if Ned and Robert managed to somehow go into hiding, how could they possibly be expected to gather the kind of resources needed in order to hire a skilled-enough assassin to murder the king of Westeros? Not only would running away have served NO PURPOSE WHATSOEVER, it would have thrown the Vale, the Stormlands, and the North under the Mad King's flaming bus. You keep saying that it isn't okay to march thousands of people into war, but how is it any more okay to flee and abandon your people to be targeted by a paranoid, delusional king, who is willing to murder countless innocent people? Aerys was willing to murder the entirety of King's Landing, what makes you think that he would have shown any restraint in, say, marching an army to Winterfell and slaughtering everyone in it, regardless of their ties to Ned Stark? Or launching canisters of Wildfire over the walls of Storm's End? There was no "waiting period" once Aerys called in the hit on Ned and Robert. They had to act quickly and drastically in order to save themselves, their families and the people they ruled.

[Son of a Harpy]

That was why abducted was in quotation marks. But whatever we suspect you have too look at it from the characters point of view and on what was known. and that was that Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna.

You could argue, if Lyanna went willingly, this is really all her fault for not telling anyone.

[The Rise of Dorne]

Any sane man wouldn't have killed Brandon, his party and their fathers for the "Come out and die", but would immediately look for his son and where he keeps his abducted daughter of a High Lord. Since the Mad King ordered those deaths unnecessarily, he was the ultimate aggressor. And, if you care to go back that far, you could say Rhaegar was the aggressor, since he abducted Lyanna. Ned and Robert did not respond to any of this, though, until Aerys called for their heads.

You seem to be overestimating the whole "run away and hire assassins"-part. It worked so well with Daenerys, see? So then it'll sure work out with Aerys, who has even more and better protection.

Yes, Aerys was nuts. No ordering a death is not that same as a war.

Oh come on. Lyanna could have kicked Rhaegar's prissy ass. There's no way he abducted her.

Dany never had a faceless man sent after her.

[Twenty of House Goodmen]

Oh come on. Lyanna could have kicked Rhaegar's prissy ass. There's no way he abducted her.

I'm not a fan of the Targeryans, and I would have probably murdered them just for spite, but they didn't HAVE to go. And there would have been other ways besides war to get rid of them.

So what? Targaryens could just go run off with any other lord's betrothed because they can? Even if she willingly went off with Rhaegar, it was wrong of both of them to do so. There's been just as much shitty Targaryen kings as there have been good, but Aerys was just the last straw.

[Wales338]

What are you talking about? Run away to where? You're acting as though Aerys would just give up once Robert and Ned were out of reach. Aerys would have continued to murder people no matter what. He was not rational. He was paranoid. He was delusional. If he couldn't get Ned and Robert, he would have gone after Benjen and Stannis. If he couldn't get Benjen and Stannis, he would have gone after the next highest-ranking people in those families or kingdoms, until eventually he was waging war on all of Westeros. Even if Ned and Robert managed to somehow go into hiding, how could they possibly be expected to gather the kind of resources needed in order to hire a skilled-enough assassin to murder the king of Westeros? Not only would running away have served NO PURPOSE WHATSOEVER, it would have thrown the Vale, the Stormlands, and the North under the Mad King's flaming bus. You keep saying that it isn't okay to march thousands of people into war, but how is it any more okay to flee and abandon your people to be targeted by a paranoid, delusional king, who is willing to murder countless innocent people? Aerys was willing to murder the entirety of King's Landing, what makes you think that he would have shown any restraint in, say, marching an army to Winterfell and slaughtering everyone in it, regardless of their ties to Ned Stark? Or launching canisters of Wildfire over the walls of Storm's End? There was no "waiting period" once Aerys called in the hit on Ned and Robert. They had to act quickly and drastically in order to save themselves, their families and the people they ruled.

Thank You :agree:

[Jon's Queen Consort]

I'm not a fan of the Targeryans, and I would have probably murdered them just for spite, but they didn't HAVE to go. And there would have been other ways besides war to get rid of them.

Like? Because history teach us that when a dynasty is overthrown the heirs must die.

[Belisarius09]

@OP (and the minority arguing against the rebellion)

Please do not ignore the several very legitimate arguements that have been made. Keep in mind you have asked US what we think, was it justifiable or was there another way.

WE have responded with the likes of

1. Mutual protection and the contract between the lord's and their smallfolk. (the peasants benefit from this)

2. KL was going to be burned. (replying that "they didn't know" is irrelevent, you asked US, not THEM)

3. Slippery Slope, where would Aery's end? Would Rob and Ned be the only people he'd have killed or whould there have been more?

4. Aerys had broken his contract with his people, losing his right to be their leader, by unjustly calling for heads.

5. The cause was just, Aerys was bad and needed to be removed.

No one here is saying that War is a good thing. War is hell, and GRRM does a good job of depicting that war is hell in his books. Its true that smallfolk suffer in war. No one is claiming that thats a good thing. We are answering your original question poised to us asking if the Rebellion was JUSTIFIED. The majority have answered you with something along the lines of points 1-5which I laid out above.

Thankyou. That is all.

[eggs]

Treason: Rhaegar come out and die. Anyway murdering two people or four people doesn't justify going to war. The could have just run away and hired assassins to kill Aerys.

so you believe that aerys should be allowed to do as he pleases? and that while the lords should protect the realm and deliver justice, the peasants should hold no loyalty to them?

[Naathi Prince]

There aren't any Dragons at the time, so the faceless men could hardly ask for one. Winterfell and Storms end are very valuable. If not given directly to the faceless men then they could be sold or borrowed against from the Iron Bank.

Oh come on. Lyanna could have kicked Rhaegar's prissy ass. There's no way he abducted her.

I'm not a fan of the Targeryans, and I would have probably murdered them just for spite, but they didn't HAVE to go. And there would have been other ways besides war to get rid of them.

Yea, give up Winterfell and Storm's End and disinherit your descendants for ages, put the smallfolk under the yoke of the Boltons, great plan!