#and i don't know what the fuck balon was doing naming his son after a Stark king who fought AND WON!!! a war against the Ironborn

[lycorim]

Iron Islands naming conventions are soooo funny because on one hand you have the most viking-ass names that ever did exist you've got Stygg you've got Gelmarr you've got Harl Jorl Qarl you've got Ragnor. A good number of them overlap with Freefolk names (idk what to do with that information either). But then a small handful would better fit in a Jane Austen novel with how fucking posh they sound in isolation. This is a post about Tristifer Botley.

[king-of-kings1]

Robert Baratheon - the one character fandom does not understand properly.

Okay, I've seen many arguments regarding asoiaf in almost all over the internet. Any network, any platform, name anything there will be some arguments between the fans. One of the most important and common fanfight I've ever seen is, Robert vs Rhaegar, morality one i.e who was the better man.

I've seen heavy arguments from either side, claiming the fav man is the best but I chose to stand on the neutral perspective and see who really is a better person and this will be my analysis of it.

So Robert Baratheon and Rhaegar Targaryen, two of the great names in the entire ASOIAF series. The fight between them extends in the fandoms in a long line. Obviously everyone can admit the Robert was the better warrior but who was the better human being?

Many fans seem to misunderstand Robert and tends to paint him as some heartless monster and a drunkard who is obsessed with a girl who does not loves him, who smiled at the corpses of children, who abused and raped his wife, who wanted to kill some innocent Targaryen children who had nothing to do with Rhaegar or Aerys. You see, these points are all the ones which comes round in a circle again and again to say that Robert was a bad human being but trust me, Robert is not bad, I would not even say him as a faulted character.

Robert is probably one of the only characters who was designed by his past trauma along with his brother Stannis. Robert comes off as a jolly man, easy to laugh and loving fun at every turn but the truth is, he has much sadness pressed up in him than his fun-loving attitude. When he was still a little boy he sees his parents die before his own eyes. Yes, that's right. He stands in some tower with Stannis and watches his father and mother die right before his eyes. Though there is no mentioning how the brothers reacted to it physically, one could easily imagine how it should've felt to watch your parents die right before your eyes and you could do nothing to save them. Imagine yourself in that position and how would you feel? Now that's where Robert finds hate towards the Targaryens for the first time because Steffon and Cassana Baratheon took the voyage only on Aerys' orders to find Rhaegar a bride with valyrian blood. See that, the names Aerys and Rhaegar comes in the death of his parents.

Then Robert was sent to be fostered in Eyrie and his time at Eyrie was his best with Jon Arryn becoming a very strong father figure to him and Ned as a brother from another mother. But still, he was young and was likely affected by the dreadful past memories (look how long years Ned was affected with the trauma of the war). So he turns to alcohol and women to help him forget like any normal man in his place would do. So no, he did not choose to be a drunkard or a playboy, he was forced to by his tragic past.

Then he is betrothed to Ned's sister, and is so happy of the fact that he and Ned will soon be brothers bound by blood but then again Rhaegar comes to shit on that like the same way he did with his parents and how do you expect him to behave? To smile and brush off as if nothing had happened. And then Aerys calls for his head and the head of the man he considers as his brother, he would normally be like, Well, Fuck you, asshole. You killed my parents, your son shits on me and my house's honor and now you want to kill me and my buddy, that's not how its gonna be. Fuck you, fuck your son, fuck your family. You can't blame him for that.

He has every right to be mad at the Targs. One way or another all the bitter things happened in Robert's life is connected with the Targaryens.

And he is just happy to build the realm back to glory with the woman he loved but then the last blow strikes with Lyanna's death. Lyanna's death completely destroyed him and all the plans he had for the realm. So yes, Robert loved Lyanna, whether it be the idea of her or anything else, Robert loved Lyanna and was not obsessed with her. The first thing he does after reaching Winterfell is to visit Lyanna, he even chastises Ned for burying her in such a cold dreary place and says that even in death she deserved better, better in such a manner that no one ever had before. Ned genuinely believes that Robert truly loved Lyanna. Did Robert truly knew Lyanna? We don't know, but the truth is Lyanna never wanted to know Robert, not the other way around. She just makes her own idea of him and never even tries to give him a chance. What a stupid does that? She doesn't likes his boyish ways but did she ever asked him to change that? How could she know he could never change without even giving him a chance?

He fights the war, because his life and the lives of all the others he'd loved is in danger. He fucks up Rhaegar, fucks up Aerys but really has nothing to do with Elia and her children's deaths because the deed was done before even he came to King's Landing. Yes, it was wrong that he laughed at the bodies of Targaryen children, but come on, look at it from his pov it shall feel right for him. And tbh, it was Rhaegar who left his wife and children there in the first place so he is responsible for their deaths more than Robert.

Coming back from that we'll compare the best and worsts Robert and Rhaegar. Rhaegar is really good. He is the perfect prince of Westeros and the small folk loved him. But what he did with Lyanna is inexcusable and make the entire realm turn against him and root for Robert. He leaves his wife and children in the grasp of his father.

Now some like to say Robert was no better to his wife than Rhaegar was to his. For them, Robert whispers the name Lyanna in Cersei's ear, yes, and that's because he was drunk with grief over Lyanna. He raped her, okay that thing is inexcusable but what about Rhaegar's approaches with Elia? The princess had a fragile nature and Rhaenys' birth was hard for her that it troubled the maesters that she might not be able to survive another birth. But Rhaegar who is so obsessed with the prophecy gets her with child again within a few years. Who is to say that Rhaegar never forced Elia? And it might've been the wine which made him force himself upon her because Robert immediately feels sorry for hurting her. And what about all of Rhaegar's public insults to Elia which Robert never does to Cersei? Robert had a chance to set aside Cersei and take Margaery as his queen by the hands of Renly, but no he never did that. He knew his wife hated him, was cold to him and still he never once tried to set her aside for another woman.

And Robert is a better king than Rhaegar. Now most like to say that Robert was a bad king and how he spent the realm's money in unwanted things. Say what you will but Robert was a better king than Rhaegar ever would've. The first and foremost duty of a king is to protect his kingdom and his people. While Rhaegar caused a war for his stupid prophecy and burned his kingdom down Robert did the exact opposite. Rhaegar stayed in the stupid tower when the war he started was raging across Westeros. But when Balon Greyjoy attacked his kingdom and threatened the peace of his people Robert takes action at once, defeats Balon and takes his son hostage to prevent any further wars. He holds the peace in his realm after two wars, Two Bloody Wars.

And yes, he gives up his hate for the Targaryens in his deathbed and gets his orders to kill Dany back.

Robert is a great character who is loved by his people, so much that they cheer for the douchebag Joffrey over Ned just because they think him to be Robert's son. Even Ser Barristan while in Dany's service regards Robert as his king and feels bad for failing him. He is such a character that Ned feels something dies within him when he hears about Robert's death, who else could make Ned feel that way.

So here it is, the end: Robert Baratheon is a good man and better than Rhaegar.