Game of Thrones Who REALLY Started The War of the Five Kings

Game of Thrones: Who REALLY Started The War of the Five Kings

Game of Thrones sees five kings go to war over the Iron Throne and control of Westeros, but who was responsible for triggering the conflict?

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In the Game of Thrones, you either win or you die, but who made the first move? On a fundamental level, Game of Thrones comprises two overarching conflicts. One is the battle between the living and the dead, written in the stars many years prior, and the other is the War of the Five Kings, and it’s the latter that dominates the narrative of HBO’s wildly successful TV series.

Game of Thrones chronicles a battle for control of the Iron Throne and, therefore, control of Westeros, but as the game unravels, more conspirators emerge from the shadows and secret motives are dramatically revealed. These events are known as the War of the Five Kings, although the name is somewhat deceptive. The title refers to Joffrey, Stannis and Renly Baratheon, all of whom believed they were the rightful successor to King Robert. The remaining duo are Robb Stark and Balon Greyjoy, who had declared sovereignty over their own realms – the North and the Iron Islands, respectively. But also vying for the throne were the Lannister family, the Tyrells, Daenerys Targaryen and various others, making the War of the Five Kings significantly more intricate than the moniker implies.

In between the beheadings and brothel visits, Game of Thrones doesn’t fully grapple with who triggered the war in the first place. There are suggestions and speculative accusations about which of the many players might’ve started the “game of thrones” and one villain is even put on trial, but the true culprit remains ambiguous. Here are the figures who could be blamed for the War of the Five Kings in HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Littlefinger

The War of the Five Kings was a powder keg of political resentment and family drama… but Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish was the one spotted holding a match. Littlefinger came from humble beginnings, rising to a position of relative power in King’s Landing through his own cunning intellect. Unfortunately for Westeros, Baelish had loftier ambitions and he wouldn’t stop until his backside was gently caressing the seat of the Iron Throne. In the Game of Thrones TV series, it’s Littlefinger who orders the poisoning of Jon Arryn, then Hand of the King, and frames the Lannisters for the assassination. Arryn’s death triggers a domino effect that pits the lion of House Lannister and the wolf of House Stark against each other. Just to ensure the bloodbath happens as intended, Littlefinger makes Tyrion Lannister take the blame for attempting to murder young Bran Stark in season 1.

With no military might or political clout to call his own, Baelish hoped Westeros’ main players would take each other out while he married into power and swooped in to claim the Throne when everyone else was defeated. Unsurprisingly, Littlefinger didn’t anticipate that Bran would gain time-travelling powers and uncover the whole conspiracy.

Cersei & Jaime Lannister

Conceiving children with a sibling is a terrible idea at the best of times, but incest seems particularly foolhardy when married to the king. Cersei Lannister might’ve been Robert Baratheon’s queen, but she fell out of love with him after the pair’s only true offspring was stillborn. Cersei would then bear a trio of children with her brother Jaime, constantly pretending that these blond Lannister doppelgangers were Robert’s. Cersei and Jaime’s love was unquestionably real, and their incest motivated by personal reasons rather than a desire to consolidate political power by keeping a pure bloodline. Nevertheless, the sins of Cersei and Jaime caused unrest within King’s Landing, provoked suspicion in Jon Arryn and gave Littlefinger the fuel he needed to start a war. When Bran Stark bore witness to the rutting Lannisters at Winterfell, Jaime pushed the boy out of a tower window, and this gave Littlefinger another opportunity to stir trouble between houses. In order to protect their secret, Jaime and Cersei later arrested Ned Stark, taking another long-legged step toward war.

Thinking of Cersei and Jaime as equals in starting the War of the Five Kings is a little unfair to the Kingslayer, as it was Cersei who conspired to have King Robert killed in a hunting accident. Had their incestuous secret been made public while Robert Baratheon was still alive, there would be no game of thrones. Cersei’s plot created a power vacuum that she desperately tried to fill with her own children, despite knowing there was no blood claim to the Iron Throne.

Robert Baratheon

Who better to blame for the War of the Five Kings than the very man they were trying to replace? While it’s hardly Robert’s fault that he died, the king can be accused of being a bad ruler. Unfaithful and uncaring towards Cersei, King Robert pushed his queen back into the arms of her brother, resulting in an incestuous line of descendants. Robert Baratheon was little better as a leader, more concerned with his excessive, lavish lifestyle than being a good king. Had Robert paid more attention to his court, he might’ve noticed the rising tensions and brewing hostilities and nipped them in the bud before war could break out.

Arguably, Robert’s folly began with his initial rise to power – a series of events known as “Robert’s Rebellion.” As the famous story goes, Robert loved Lyanna Stark, but Lyanna loved Rhaegar, and the pair ran off like Westeros’ own Romeo and Juliet. Rather than accept he’d been one-upped by a dashing Targaryen, Robert went to war, overthrowing the entire royal family and installing himself as the new king of Westeros. Robert’s entire reign was built on lies and rash action, and it was therefore inevitable that his dynasty would fall before it began. Had Robert not opted to behead first and ask questions later, the truth about Lyanna could’ve prevailed. By all accounts, Rhaegar was a good man, and a kingdom ruled by he and Lyanna sounds like paradise compared to Joffrey’s reign. Rhaegar’s heir wasn’t a bad leader either.

Ned Stark

Some would say the very point of Ned Stark as a character is to demonstrate how unerring dedication to justice and honor doesn’t necessarily lead to good things. In his final days, newly-appointed as the Hand of the King, Ned Stark picks up Jon Arryn’s investigation into Cersei’s children and comes to the same unsettling conclusion. By the letter of the law, Ned does the right thing, promptly informing the next in line to the throne about Robert’s lack of legitimate heirs. While few would suggest that Ned should’ve taken House Lannister’s secret to the grave, his actions perhaps required sharper foresight. By rushing to reveal the truth, Ned not only got himself killed and triggered a war between Winterfell and King’s Landing, but he also prompted the Baratheon brothers to join the fray

Ned Stark might’ve had the best intentions, but he failed to consider the wider implications of doing the honorable thing. If the Warden of the North had been more astute about his situation, he could have identified the snakes in his midst and waited until he was in a stronger position before making any risky moves. Instead, Ned listened to his heart and lost his head.

Joffrey Baratheon

By the time this hateful brat rose to the throne, Game of Thrones’ political landscape was already looking dire, with the Lannisters and Starks primed to take bites out of each other. But the situation wasn’t beyond saving while Ned Stark was still alive in prison. Instead, Joffrey went against all advice and decided to have Ned Stark executed in public in front of his own daughter. Whatever else had befallen the two families, this was the point of no return between the Starks and Lannisters, and Ned’s was a death that many deemed entirely unavoidable – even the infamously callous Cersei.

Were it not for this senseless act of violence, Ned would’ve been made to serve alongside Jon Snow in the Night’s Watch, his ramblings about Lannister incest treated as seriously at Castle Black as Samwell Tarly with a broadsword. Everyone apart from the king himself would’ve been miserable living under Joffrey’s rule, but the War of the Five Kings could’ve been narrowly averted had Ned been shown mercy.

Renly Baratheon

With no heir to King Robert’s throne, the crown should fall to eldest Baratheon brother Stannis, who had the good fortune to be born before Renly. Despite not having a legal claim, Renly Baratheon decided to launch a leadership campaign of his own on the basis of being better than his brother in every way. Undoubtedly, Renly was smarter, more charismatic, more popular, more influential, and had better fashion sense, but the law is the law, and the law held Stannis as next in line. Renly could be seen as hypocritical by responding to news of Joffrey being an illegitimate king by launching a cheeky bid for the crown himself. War would’ve broken out regardless of how Renly reacted to Ned’s news, but the conflict would be very one-sided if Renly and Stannis united alongside House Stark against the Lannisters. It also would’ve been the War of the Four Kings.

“Mad” King Aerys Targaryen

Most of Westeros’ problems trace back to King Aerys Targaryen II, known to his friends as “The Mad King.” The man usurped during Robert’s Rebellion, Aerys was fully deserving of his nickname, slaughtering his own people out of paranoia and reacting badly when questions were asked of Lyanna Stark’s disappearance. As with King Robert’s reign, Aerys being a bad monarch had a far-reaching impact on the Game of Thrones timeline. Suppose that King Aerys wasn’t “The Mad King” but “The Really Rather Reasonable King” – the situation between Lyanna, Rhaegar and Robert could’ve been smoothed over without bloodshed, the Lannisters wouldn’t have felt the need to change sides and Robert would never have rebelled. The only problem concerning the good citizens of Westeros would be the slow march of the dead from beyond the wall.

Who Was REALLY Responsible?

Like many real-world conflicts, Game of Thrones’ War of the Five Kings was the culmination of various mistakes and resentments built up over a span of decades. Before the story begins, both Aerys and Robert erred in ways that changed history for the worse and set an almost inevitable course for war. Similarly, Cersei, Jaime, Joffrey and Renly all made decisions that pushed Westeros closer to the precipice, while Ned’s virtues simply got the better of him. But in all of these cases, war was never the intended outcome. Aerys wanted to keep power and Robert thought he was fighting a noble cause – neither envisioned the War of the Five Kings. Cersei and Jaime would’ve been happy to keep their secret and maintain the status quo, while King Joffrey didn’t plan beyond the next five minutes. Renly, on the other hand, genuinely believed he’d be a superior ruler to Stannis.

The odd one out is Littlefinger. Unlike his rivals, Petyr Baelish planned for war, and coerced events in order to make widespread conflict happen. Littlefinger wasn’t the only participant whose ultimate aim was the Iron Throne, but he was the only character for whom war was the desired outcome. He might not have set up the board, and he definitely didn’t stick around the play the entire game, but when it comes to making the first move in the Game of Thrones, Littlefinger’s prints are everywhere.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/game-thrones-war-five-kings-start-who/

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