This analysis explores the character of Rob Stark in "A Song of Ice and Fire" by examining his actions and decisions from a hypothetical point-of-view, highlighting his journey from a young lord to a king thrust into war, ultimately emphasizing his adherence to honor despite strategic losses.
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Rob Stark is indisputably one of the
most important characters for the first
couple of books of A Song of Ice and
Fire but doesn't have any chapters from
his point of view he doesn't get a voice
let's Rectify that
hi everyone this is Robert welcome to in
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Rob Stark doesn't have any chapters in A
Song of Ice and Fire from his point of
view George RR Martin has said on
several occasions that he wishes he had
included some POV chapters but instead
we see his story through others eyes
mostly Catelyn and bran but they are
hardly unbiased accounts so what did the
story look like from Rob's perspective
there are obviously spoilers here for
the books and TV show
at the start of the story Rob is just 14
years old he is the oldest son of Ned
and Catelyn Stark and brought up to
understand that he would be Lord of
Winterfell one day that is quite a
lonely upbringing knowing that no one
can truly understand what you must
become but he finds peers and friends in
Theon Greyjoy a ward of his father and
the only living son of Balon Greyjoy and
Jon Snow a bastard son of his father he
thinks so around his age but not a
threat and the three of them form a
friendship group of sorts as the story
of A Song of Ice and Fire starts Ned has
taken Rob John Theon and bran off to
witness the execution of Garrett a
deserter from the Night's Watch it's
evidently not the first time that Rob
has seen this kind of thing judging by
the way he talks to bran about it and
it's a useful heads up about how much
Ned's morality and worldview has rubbed
off on his children and particularly Rob
this will be very important later on
it's on the way back from that that Rob
discovers the direwolf pups yes Rob does
we often think about this encounter from
Bran's perspective or John's but in the
books it's very much a Rob LED thing he
finds the dead direwolf mother looks for
and discovers the antler in her throat
picks up the pups gets bran to pet one
announces that they will keep them
persuades his father by offering to
nurse them
it's a shame that we never get to see
the development of the relationship
between Rob and gray wind from his
perspective because their bond seems to
develop at least as quick if not quicker
than his siblings do
pretty soon though the main plot kicks
in and King Robert Baratheon arrives at
Winterfell with his family and retinue
Rob obviously plays the dutiful Elder
son and as an aside this may even be the
first time he ever met the man he was
presumably named after Robert Baratheon
anyway the bigger personal issue that
arises here is that Rob meets Joffrey
and they don't get on it spills over in
the practice yard where the Stark and
Lannister children are being trained
Joffrey tries to challenge Rob to a
jewel with steel but the Winterfell
Master at Arms wisely intervenes and
Joffrey takes this as an opportunity to
mock Rob
not that these tensions get to play out
any further in Winterfell Ned heads
South to become hand of the king leaving
Rob in charge of Winterfell
responsibility at a young age although
Ned ensured he had plenty of advisors there
there
Catelyn his mother maester Lewin sir
Roderick and so on although cat's input
was much diminished after cat gets
increasingly focused on bran in his coma
and then after the assassination attempt
she decides to head to King's Landing to
tell Ned what she's learned but Rob
steps up he deals wisely with Tyrion
when he passes through Winterfell
letting him carry on his way unmolested
compare this to how his mother reacts to
Tyrion not much later in the story Rob
could have pushed the whole continent
into war much earlier but decides not to
he visits distant holdfasts to show his
face and with Theon rescues bran from
the wildlings and makes the decision to
spare OSHA's life again a big decision
that will help the Starks hugely in the future
future
when the devastating message comes that
Ned has been imprisoned and called a
traitor in King's Landing Rob again
steps up calling the banners and one by
one the northern Lords and armies arrive
at Winterfell bringing new challenges
with them Mage Mormont says that he is
too young to rule ruse Bolton and Robert
Glover both want command of the army
Lord Kerwin wants Rob to marry his
daughter great John Amber challenges his
authority to his face each challenge is
dealt with efficiently and fairly by Rob
in doing so he repeatedly name checks
his father my father would never do such
and such or my father always said such
and such it's clear that Rob is taking
Ned as his role model to an extreme and
eventually the northern Lords and the
people start to respect and honor him as
they did his father when they March
South he is in Undisputed charge
which from a casual read sounds like Rob
was a bit of a natural at leadership
perhaps he was but he didn't feel it one
of the low-key saddest parts of these
chapters is how Rob would visit bran
sometimes late at night again we never
get Rob's POV just Brands and we read this
this
bran heard his brother SOB the room was
so dark he could not see the tears on
Rob's face so he reached out and found
his hand their fingers twined together
on the outside Rob was doing everything
he had to do standing strong resisting
challenges being the model of a young
Lord determined to stand up for his
family but inside he was a 15 year old
boy who had just lost his father his
mother had ridden off South months ago
his friend and supposed half-brother
John had gone to the wall both sisters
were gone it's a story of someone thrust
into responsibility too young while
still dealing with heartbreak it's
tragic and we only get to see it in
patches anyway he heads South at the
head of his army this was against
maester lewin's advice who wanted Rob to
stay in Winterfell and give command of
the army to one of the experienced Lords
but Rob insisted his father would not
have done that so he wouldn't either
at the risk of over psychoanalyzing this
Rob's insistence on doing as his father
would have done seems to be his coping
mechanism he can keep going as long as
he keeps doing what his father would
have wanted
that's Mount Kalin the Army stops to
regroup at this point cat rejoins Rob
and we see things from her perspective
she still sees Rob as her young son but
has to accept his new Authority he can
be her son in private and he does turn
to her but in public he cannot be seen
to be taking the lead from his mother
and at moat Kalin he faces a strategic
decision there are two Lannister armies
facing him in the riverlands one on each
side of the wide green Fork River should
he hold his currently very defensible
position commit all his forces to take
on one of the armies or split his forces
he decides as was his position
throughout the war to go on the
offensive the bulk of his slow-moving
infantry will keep heading down the
King's Road under Roose Bolton's control
to meet tywin's masked Force hopefully
the Lannisters will think that that is
all of the northern Army meanwhile a
smaller but more mobile force will cross
the river at the Twins and rides to the
aid of the besieged River Run trying to
catch Jaime's Army by surprise this is a
great move making Roost Bolton head of
the main Force may have had longer term
consequences but he probably was the
only northerner able to go toe-to-toe
with tywin's force and emerge with most
of his army intact and taking brynden
Tully the Blackfish with him to riverrun
was a master stroke without his
expertise and knowledge of the area the
ruse would have been rumbled much earlier
earlier
but of course in order to get over the
green Fork they would need to negotiate
with Walder Frey who owned the only
Crossing that far north Rob decides to
send his mother to negotiate on his
behalf trusting to her greater
experience and understanding of how the
phrase operated
it's hard to say whether cats could have
got a better deal she certainly thinks
she got the best deal she could and will
defray was certainly a tough negotiator
but still time was against them and what
emerged was a very high price to pay
regardless from Rob's perspective she
presents him with a take it or leave it
deal from Walder Frey the central part
of which is that he must marry a Fray
Rob will have grown up knowing that who
he marries will probably not be his
decision his parents had never met
before they were wed for example so
although this will have been an
unwelcome development it will have been
understandable to him like his father he
decides to just suck it up and hope that
the marriage turns to love in the long run
run
which leaves Rob free to head to
riverrun and try to catch Jaime by
surprise which he does the actual Battle
of the Whispering Wood is a huge
personal success for Rob he and gray
wind now huge and battle-ready charge
into their opponents the damage they do
gets recorded by bards and starts
creating a legend the young wolf he can
become his direwolf with his direwolf by
his side he is unbeatable and so on
Rob follows his victory at the Battle of
the Whispering Wood with another at the
Battle of the camp scattering the
remaining Lannister's besieging River
Run and forcing Tywin to retreat back to
harrenhal all in all a very impressive
start to the war by Rob and he sets
himself up in riverrun
it's there that the news comes that Ned
has been killed on Joffrey's orders this
obviously ends any hope that the war
might be stopped anytime soon and brings
us right back to that initial clash
between Rob and Joffrey this is now personal
personal
and this is when Rob is made King it's a
small but important point that he
doesn't seek it or seemingly want it and
we obviously never get to hear exactly
what he thinks about it but suddenly he
is not just acting Lord of Winterfell
but King in the North in his own right
and King of the Trident and he has to
act like it Rob takes a moment or
several weeks in truth to work through
what to do next to be fair to him it is
a complex situation but eventually he
decides to send out a series of
emissaries Theon will go to his dad
balong Greyjoy to try to get the iron
Islands on side Catelyn will go to
Storm's end to try to strike a deal with
Renly Baratheon and cleos Frey will go
to King's Landing to see if the
Lannisters are willing to Parlay it's
fair to say that none of these
emissaries met with any kind of success
indeed theon's arrival at Pike just
provoked an ironborn attack on the North
cat arrived just in time to see Renly
murdered by a shadow assassin and cleos
Frey was virtually laughed out of King's
Landing not much diplomatic luck for Rob
there and while the emissaries were gone
he lost a crucial part of his support
network as well so he's left with the
Strategic decision of what to do with
his forces Tywin is encamped in
harrenhal and perfectly placed to block
any attack on King's Landing from either
of Rob's forces can rob draw him out the
only way that seems possible to him is
to launch an attack on the Lannister
heartlands the Westlands might that
Force Tywin to abandon his position if
Tywin does Head West then Ruth Bolton's
forces further Up The King's Road could
move South so Rob strikes West his
direwolf gray wind finds a goat track
that can get his Force past the
formidable golden tooth and he takes out
Lannister supporter after Lannister
supporter the Battle of ox cross
destroyed a new Lannister Army being
trained just three days from lannisport
ashmark and the Crag follow and Stark
forces head out to lay waste to
Lannister Holdings but and this is in
many ways the turning point of the war
Tywin Lannister does not budge instead
focusing on securing an alliance with
the tyrells to save King's Landing from
an attack by Stannis meanwhile Rob was
wounded in the battle for the crack the
home of house westerling
there are lots of opinions here about
Rob Stark winning many battles but
losing the war and that is undeniably
true but from his perspective he was
actually making strategically sound
decisions he wasn't to know about the
shadow baby that killed Renly and freed
the tyrells to switch sides or Tyrion
making King's Landing extremely
defendable or even Theon turning on him
and attacking the north he can't really
be blamed for any of that but it
happened and he found himself alone free
from the influence of his father mother
maester Lewin or anyone in his family or
close friends and injured
and that's when Jane westerling comes
into the story on the show she was
called Talisa and came across very well
from an associate background healing
people and genuinely falling in love
with Rob but in the books she is Jane
westerling daughter of a lord captured
by Rob earlier in the war and a mother
who is probably in League with the
Lannisters there is a theory here that
Jane's mother set up all that followed
which is quite convincing on some levels
at the very least it is a complicated
situation Rob captures the Crag Jane's
home but is injured she nurses him back
to health well he learns about how one
of his best friends Theon has murdered
his two brothers bran and rickon and
Winterfell has fallen and somewhere
along the line the two of them sleep
together taking her maidenhead which was
a big thing in those days so Rob feeling
honor bound marries her on the spot
history turns on moments like this
moment and this moment is about Rob's
honor I'm sure that Rob thought about
what his father would do even then but
the phrase just thought about the broken
promise for Rob to marry one of their
own they withdrew their support
putting his strategic head back on Rob
here has no option but to abandon his
position in the west and head back to
relative safety in riverrun of course
all this happens off camera as readers
the first we hear of it is with ire at
harrenhal where the phrase are all
screaming about betrayal and Roose
Bolton rather symbolically sets out to
hunt wolves Arya hasn't got the foggiest
idea of what it all means but in
retrospect we do
the first we hear about Rob is when he
returns to riverrun a chapter we get
from catelyn's perspective in the
meantime a lot of things happen edmure
Tully Keen for some Glory defeats the
Lannisters as they try to cross the red
fork preventing them from heading west
and confronting Rob so instead the
Lannisters head Southeast getting back
just in time to save King's Landing from
stannis's Attack this was a win for
edmure but strategically inept the whole
point of Rob attacking the Westlands was
to draw the Lannisters back out west and
now edmure had prevented that
Catelyn broken by news of bran and
rickon's deaths they obviously aren't
really dead but she thinks they are
releases Jaime in an effort to get her
daughters back the northern Lords didn't
take well to this Ricard karstark in
particular he sent soldiers after Jaime
and Brienne and even executes some
Lannister prisoners in retribution Rob
has no option but to execute Ricard
carstark which makes an enemy of the car
stocks as well as the phrase
then Rob learns that ruse Bolton has
ordered the attack on duskendale his
soldiers committing what we might today
consider war crimes and told to do so in
his name the attack on duskendale is
often overlooked in studies on the war
of the five Kings but it's very
important it pushed Rob to a slightly
insular position just weeks earlier he
had been heralded as the king in the
north by everyone now all those who
heralded him seemed against him the
phrase thought him an oath breaker Roose
Bolton and the main bulk of his army had
committed an atrocity in his name the
car Starks hated him and even his own
mother had gone against him
Rob's reaction was to retreat into
himself the only people who seemed to
understand him now were his new wife and
in-laws as always though his Instinct
was to go on the attack he persuaded
edmure Tully to marry Roslyn Frey in an
effort to get the phrase back on side
it's a fair move one of walder's
daughters would still marry one of the
Lord's Paramount
little does he know that Walder Frey and
Bruce Bolton are by this time dealing
with Tywin Lannister to betray him
Rob's plan is to head back North to the
twins to marry off edmure then further
north to get rid of the ironborn who are
holding so much of his lands basically
he has accepted that his campaign in the
South has come to an end he has
overextended and needs to head back to
secure his heartlands if he succeeds
then he basically seeds the South to the
Lannisters but perhaps ensures that the
North and riverlands remain his
we all know what awaits Robert the twins
but before that he makes a decision that
will probably be very important in the
last two books he decides that he needs
to name an heir he believes that his
natural-born brothers bran and ricken
are both dead Arya is missing and Sansa
is now married into the hated Lannisters
so he almost certainly we never 100 see
this in the books but all the
indications are there that he names John
as his Heir as Lord of Winterfell and
King of the North even though John is
technically a bastard and Catelyn his
mother is against it expect this to be a
big issue in the Winds of Winter
he also sends Mage Mormont and gelbert
Glover into the neck to get Howland Reed
on side again expect this to be
important in The Winds of Winter
Rob himself leaves his new wife at
riverrun and heads North with his army
to the twins we see what happens from
catelyn's perspective edmio Tully and
Roslyn Frey are married but then we have
the Red Wedding Feast Rob and his mother
Catelyn are killed the Starks are
deposed and the boltons take over as
wardens of the North
I'm sure that the Starks will get their
revenge in the end but for Rob his time
is done gray wind is killed too and
Rob's body is paraded around with his
wolf's head
so how do we assess Rob's role in The
Song of Ice and Fire I think we should
treat him sympathetically accepting that
George RR Martin never gave us his point
of view he probably was more connected
to his direwolf than many of his
siblings he definitely tried his best to
do as his father would have done on the
world stage on his own terms he acted
With Honor yes he won many battles but
lost the war but him losing the war was
more to do with tywin's strategic
Mastery edmure's lack of understanding
and his own need to cling to his
father's honor as a coping technique for
his own loss as it was anything else
should we damn him for that personally I
think not
Rob did not want to go to war and when
he had the chance he tried to secure a
piece but pushed into a corner he always
won whatever battle was put before him
Rob Stark may not have been one of the
most obvious Heroes of The Song of Ice
and Fire perhaps because we never got to
see the world from his point of view but
ultimately he was a good man overtaken
by events bloody events I hope that
Westeros history judges him kindly
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