![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Moar Game of Thrones
Jun. 15th, 2012 01:33 pmI posted this on the HitFix review of the Game of Thrones finale:
I honestly don't get Stannis's insistence that that's the law [i.e., that Stannis is the rightful king]. By LAW, Vicerys (and now Dany) should be ruling. Their father was the last King, and they were in line after their older brother and his children, all of whom were killed. Robert usurped the throne--although you could make a legal argument that he became the rightful ruler by right of conquest (which was how Henry VII assumed the throne in 1485). Or, if you want to get very technical, notwithstanding Joffrey, Tommen & Myrcella's actual parentage, they were in fact borne within wedlock and Robert is officially their father, and he acknowledged himself as such. That's the law. The real idea, which Stannis is resisting because it undermines his claim, is that after a certain point, power makes its own rules. Joffrey is king as long as the people want him to be king, or as long as he has an army to back it up. If Stannis's army, or Robb's army or Dany's dragons, can rewrite history, that's what will happen. Stannis's tone-deaf insistence on his "rights" isn't going to win the day, especially since he had his brother murdered to back it up.
I honestly don't get Stannis's insistence that that's the law [i.e., that Stannis is the rightful king]. By LAW, Vicerys (and now Dany) should be ruling. Their father was the last King, and they were in line after their older brother and his children, all of whom were killed. Robert usurped the throne--although you could make a legal argument that he became the rightful ruler by right of conquest (which was how Henry VII assumed the throne in 1485). Or, if you want to get very technical, notwithstanding Joffrey, Tommen & Myrcella's actual parentage, they were in fact borne within wedlock and Robert is officially their father, and he acknowledged himself as such. That's the law. The real idea, which Stannis is resisting because it undermines his claim, is that after a certain point, power makes its own rules. Joffrey is king as long as the people want him to be king, or as long as he has an army to back it up. If Stannis's army, or Robb's army or Dany's dragons, can rewrite history, that's what will happen. Stannis's tone-deaf insistence on his "rights" isn't going to win the day, especially since he had his brother murdered to back it up.
