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Was The Mad King So Mad After All.


NedStark2013

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Yes setting Starks on fire seems a bit mad and cruel but look in all the goings on in the game of thrones. Is it wise or madness to just simply kill those you think could be a threat. I mean the Starks threatened him and he responded likely thinking it be a good message. In the Game Of Thrones maybe its best to just burn the hydra so it can't have so many heads. What I mean is in the Game Of Thrones there is too many Hydra heads after the same thing.

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But they weren't hydra heads. They were people.

Whilst you can probably make an argument that Aerys might have needed to kill Brandon, the madness lies in the fact he felt he needed to kill all these other people on top. Every lord that accompanied Brandon, regardless of whether they were from the North, the Riverlands, or the Vale, was also executed, save for Ethan Glover.

Then Aerys decided he needed to kill Ned and Robert, who had zero to do with the incident, putting himself on the wrong side of the Starks, Tully's, Baratheons and Arryns. I'm guessing if they had been served up, he'd also have wanted to kill Stannis and Benjen next. This is a person who has lost the ability to process his emotions rationally, and doesn't realise that willy nilly executing high lords isn't going to stop a rebellion, it's going to start one.

Pile on top of that the fact Aerys got aroused by the act of burning people, and that he planned to destroy King's Landing. Aerys was mad.

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He was right in believing there was a conspiracy against him because, well, there was one. If anything, the intermarriages between Houses Baratheon, Tully, Arryn and Stark, plus the Lannisters wanting in, point in that direction. Appointing Jaime in the Kingsguard and going to the Harrenhal tournament were good calls. He failed to accommodate Cersei and thus trying to ingratiate with Tywin, but there is the question if he could accommodate Cersei without alienating the far more reliable Dornish.

His abuse of his wife, burning of Rickard Stark, execution of the nobles accompanying Brandon, execution of Brandon (instead of keeping him hostage), demand of Ned and Robert's heads, letting his nails grow and attempt to destroy King's Landing, on the other hand, point towards the idea that he was, indeed, mad.

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His reign started off very promising, but the defiance of Duskendale changed him. Once he became mad there was no going back and his actions were such that some of the more respected Lords of the realm sort to overthrow him.

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I am sure Dany feed by Viserys the lies of Targ betrayle will have this view that he was betrayed and Murdered. But would she want the throne if finds out he was a monster and stopping him was the only way.

I am not convinced she is Aerys daughter. I think her mother and Barristan had a thing. Its not the first time a body guard loved a queen likely.

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I am sure Dany feed by Viserys the lies of Targ betrayle will have this view that he was betrayed and Murdered. But would she want the throne if finds out he was a monster and stopping him was the only way.

I am not convinced she is Aerys daughter. I think her mother and Barristan had a thing. Its not the first time a body guard loved a queen likely.

But Barristan loved Ashara Dayne

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Yeah, he seemed pretty mad to me after Duskendale. As Barristan pointed out, Aerys rot began with Varys's whispers(or something to that effect). Probably why Varys didn't want Tywin to enter KL, Varys manipulating Aerys was probably easy as hell for the Spider since he was mad at that point. Easy pickings

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Actually if he really was crazy, why not let Brandon fight his son? He went to Harenhal because he thought it was a pretext for Rhaegar to gather support for ousting Aerys himself from all the other lords gathered for the tourney. It seems like a win win from his angle. Brandon wins, that's one less traitor and the other lords won't move against Aerys without Rhaegar to lead them. Rhaegar wins and it would seem his loyalty to his father is proven. He could also demand Rhaegar return Lyanna as a compromise to appease Lord Rickard.

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Killing every person you think is a threat is mad, even if he wasnt a threat. And dont forget that they were highborns, meaning he was carelessly provoking the Lords who have the most powerful armies. If thats not mad then its just extreme incompetence. I doubt it though since it is said that he started ok.

Whether Varys did something to feed him paranoia I dont think we can answer that unless we know when was Varys hired by Aerys after Duskendale

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Did he know fire kills almost everyone? It does not kill Dany, could it kill him?

What do we know of Lyanna's willingness to stay with Aery's son? His allowing or forcing her to stay with him makes quite a bit of difference.

Another thing about Aerys we have heard he did not seem to tolerate looting smallfolk from troops who supported him in the war.

I'm not saying he wasn't somewhat crazy but his madness is overstated in the eyes of some and underwelming to others.

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Probably it was a mix of a genetic tendency, a fear of being deposed, the actual experience of being held prisioner by his vassal and someone constantly whispering in his ear.

After all it is not the first case of a monarch gone mad for fear of deposing(Herod,D. Maria the Mad of Portugal,etc).

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His fingernails are enough to convince me of his madness.

:agree:

This was my first thought. And yeah, not only was the killing excessive, but he was clearly indulging his pyromania and getting off on it. I'm sure that Varys was gaslighting the hell out of him but there are definitely signs that his madness was something internal to Aerys too, like trying to blow up KL.

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