Ture, but Renly realized this and would surround himself with smart people.
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Which Game of Thrones characters would make the best president?
- Thread starter Bor Gullet
- Start date
Tywin is a ruthless, evil bastard, but he's the only one that is shown to actually know how to run a nation.
Idealists and do-gooders are great in theory, except all the ones listed above constantly fuck everything up.
Idealists and do-gooders are great in theory, except all the ones listed above constantly fuck everything up.
He'd surround himself with corrupt people. Sure, there'd be good, but a Renly rule would just be Ronald Reagan. A figurehead that elites could sway and control. There'd be peace, likely a decent economy. But rampant corruption and a even larger divide between rich and poor.
OP
OP
I mean... he's not necessarily evil(By Westeros Standards)? He's just family first. He does what has to be done, but the 20 years he was hand were some of the best Westeros had seen.
He absolutely has the most impressive Resume.
I'd choose Daenerys, but season 7/8 happened.
I'd also choose Bran, but we know absolutely nothing about who he is by the end of the show as his character became a blank nothingburger. His powers give him the highest potential though.
Bruh there's an in-universe song about how evil he is
What is this revisionist nonsense about Tywin that we keep seeing? Did the show sanitize him that much and I just kinda forgot? Did Charles Dance's irresistible charisma just hypnotized everyone to the point of forgetting what an irredeemable monster Tywin is?
No. He's himself/family name first. He gives no fucks about the well-being of his family members (certainly not Tyrion but tbh he doesn't care about Jaime or Cersei either), only the glory of his name and the power it brings.
The Rains of Castamere is not a song about him being evil. It's about you don't' fuck with him. The Reynes rebelled. He put them down.That's how politics works in Westeros. Sure it's harsh, but all the options do things that are harsh by our standards. Ned might be the most moral, but he'll still lop the head off of a frightened teen for breaking the law. I'd choose Ned but he has no talent for intrigue or politics, which imo would fuck him in our current political climate.
And yeah, I didn't mean family first as in his individual family members. Lannister. The family name.
He ruled well and wisely for 20 years as hand. He knows war, he knows politics, he knows intrigue and how to manage a lot of moving pieces.
I assume Jon doesn't want it, or I'd probably go with Jon.
How about Renly? I have suuuuper vague memories about early EoT, but I remember people considering him the best outcome?
Honest question: has Tywin ever been "evil" to KL citizens, or only to people he had direct business with (ie. other Lords and their retainers)? Like, even someone as Tywin wouldn't purposefully fuck up his own country this much.
Honest question: has Tywin ever been "evil" to KL citizens, or only to people he had direct business with (ie. other Lords and their retainers)? Like, even someone as Tywin wouldn't purposefully fuck up his own country this much.
Tywin literally sacked King's Landing lol. What happened to Elia and her children happened to hundreds of smallfolk across the city.
They made show Jon dumb as fuck after his resurrection but he's the only one who sees the real existential threat facing humanity, is trying to get people to work together and think of practical solutions. He let the free folk cross the border because the danger they were facing.
Yet now his family literally controls the seven kingdoms and beyond.
This thread has revealed to me that a lot of people don't understand the game of thrones. Ned literally won.
Tywin is the best at realpolitik, which is what it all boils down to in the end. So if we take "best" to mean "the most effective" it would be him. Ned and Jon would be *nicer* but they'd just get bogged down like they did in the books and backstabbed. Though less literally this time.
I always thought the series made a big point out of the fact that all of them are terrible rulers one way or another.
Insane that so many people are still falling for Tywin's projection of competence, when it was basically a front for his cruelty and craving for power. Even in the show the Lannisters are in massive debt and hanging on by a thread after his supposedly amazing leadership. Tywin is just another Cheney.
Tywin any day of the week.
Got shit done.
Put the family first.
Banks didn't fuck with him.
Given that all rulers would be Republican, not Democrat, Tywin would be the most effective.
Got shit done.
Put the family first.
Banks didn't fuck with him.
Given that all rulers would be Republican, not Democrat, Tywin would be the most effective.
Tyrion, hands down. While the later seasons show that he's not the kind of person you'd want in charge of military campaigns, he has shown that he's a competent administrator who can be trusted with the boring daily tasks of running a kingdom. Which is what you want in a president most of the time. He's also a believer in pragmatic incrementalism that's necessary to court moderates and swing voters. He also has the empathy and morals his dad lacks.
The question in the OP is 'who would make the best president', not 'who would make the country go to shit so somewhere down the line maybe one of their descendants can fix the mess they've made'
He certainly wouldn't be the best leader but he would be the most realistic to come to power out of the bunch.
He knows how to politic.
It's clearly Stannis. Stannis was intelligent, justice-minded to the point of alienating nobility, and a proven leader. And yeah, he's a huge dick and totally sucks, but... Tywin? Are people serious? You might as well make a Koch brother president.
or like, some gold-loving psychopath who's obsessed with his family name and will kill anyone his own children included to further it
or like, some gold-loving psychopath who's obsessed with his family name and will kill anyone his own children included to further it
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The conflation between show and book versions of characters isn't helping. Book Renly was a selfish narcissist who wanted to be king because he could. Also Tyrion unleashed a bunch of mountain clans on the people of the Kingswood and didn't give a fuck. My vote would be for book Jon or Dany, who are both deeply compassionate, intelligent, radical thinkers who want to make the world better and cast away old oppressive power structures. (It's almost like they deliberately parallel each other or something idk) They'd both need to be a bit older and more mature ofc. And Jon needs to work on using his words so he doesn't get stabbed again
I don't agree with people voting Tywin. His approach may hold together a single kingdom built on serfdom / feudalism for a time, but essentially being a dictator operating from behind the curtains of power never works out in the long run. Especially when that person is so ruthless they care more about glory, pride, and name than anything else. I think this was shown in the books / show.
I voted Ned Stark. While his "honor and justice above all" approach lost him his head in the books / show, this would actually work in a democracy like ours given the right leader (not Jon Snow....). He was also noble and, while not a scholar, wasn't an idiot either.
The rest are all fascinating to think about but would fail for some of the same character flaws that ended Twyin and Stannis.
Bobby B, I mean, cmon. And Bran really doesn't come off as a leader at all.
I voted Ned Stark. While his "honor and justice above all" approach lost him his head in the books / show, this would actually work in a democracy like ours given the right leader (not Jon Snow....). He was also noble and, while not a scholar, wasn't an idiot either.
The rest are all fascinating to think about but would fail for some of the same character flaws that ended Twyin and Stannis.
Bobby B, I mean, cmon. And Bran really doesn't come off as a leader at all.
Ned: "I understand the protesters grievances with the police, but law and order must be respected. Therefore I'm instituting martial law."
Jon: *after coming back from a meeting with Putin* "I've just been ensured that he had nothing to do with any sort of hacking, and I've promised him the state of New York as a sign of our new friendship. I didn't want it."
Bobby B: CNN's Wolf Blitzer - "BREAKING NEWS: The president has just been found passed out in a Las Vegas hotel room with 7 prostitutes and various drugs following a 24 hour manhunt after he suddenly went missing during a scheduled rally in Nevada."
Dany: *nukes Kentucky after Mitch McConnell blocks her supreme court pick*
Jon: *after coming back from a meeting with Putin* "I've just been ensured that he had nothing to do with any sort of hacking, and I've promised him the state of New York as a sign of our new friendship. I didn't want it."
Bobby B: CNN's Wolf Blitzer - "BREAKING NEWS: The president has just been found passed out in a Las Vegas hotel room with 7 prostitutes and various drugs following a 24 hour manhunt after he suddenly went missing during a scheduled rally in Nevada."
Dany: *nukes Kentucky after Mitch McConnell blocks her supreme court pick*
Stannis isn't a fundamentalist at all. He's probably the least religious option in the books. HE only uses religion a a means to an end.
The North isn't some village. Ned managed to keep the Boltons in hand for 14-17 years. Ned knows politics quite well. His only mistake was showing Cersei mercy because of his PTSD from what happened to Elia's kids.
Ned knew exactly what needed to be done, he just didn't have the stomach to do it. He's different to someone who is completely blindsided because they don't know what the situation is.
He's an idealist in a different way to book 1 Sansa. Sansa didn't know. Ned knew and didn't want to do it that way.
Am I the only person with this read on Ned? Does it make a difference when the result was the same? Perhaps not.
He's married and fucking a hot sorceress. He is a sexist, but he is no incel.
Dany "I will start a war of conquest because i'm the heiress of the old king and that makes the kingdom mine" Targayren?
The radical thinking of a single-minded obsession with conquering a faraway land she's never seen and of burning all non yesman advisors
You do realize I implied she would burn people alive with her dragon, right? What's a little bit of self-confidence and ambition next to that?
Putin seems to be a very similar character like Tywin come to think of it (disclaimer: I only read the books).
Her political rule has been a complete and utter failure.