So we know that GRRM needed to have Edmure fight the Battle of the Fords so that Tywin could be present at the Blackwater and put the Stark’s backs to the wall – great example of fingers on the plot scales. Even so, what do you think BookRobb’s reasons were for not telling Edmure his full plan? Hubris? Youth? Disrespect for his uncle?

edgar-allan-poes-sweet-lenore:

racefortheironthrone:

I think both he and Brynden expected that Edmure would obey rather than exceed his orders. 

Which is a singularly dumb command decision. Edmure had the authority to disregard orders if he deemed it necessary, and anyone who knew him could have predicted he would seize the opportunity when he saw it. A commander should know his subordinates, and if Robb wasn’t familiar enough 26th Edmure the Blackfish definitely was. Robb should have either brought Edmure in on the plan or put someone else in his position.

This conclusion strikes me as entirely presentist. Edmure had only ever fought in one battle in his entire life, he was very much a blank slate, and assuming that Robb and Brynden (who, btw, has spent the last 15 years in the Vale not the Riverlands) would know exactly what he would do isn’t good analysis.

I don’t think that “Edmure had the authority to disregard orders if he deemed it necessary” quite holds either. Insubordination is a thing that exists, so does exceeding one’s orders – if your logic holds, than every time an officer disregards orders they must have had the authority to do so. Here’s what we know: Robb and Brynden considered his orders to “hold Riverrun” to be sufficient, and they’re the ones who grew up in Westerosi military traditions.