Two questions about bastardry if you’ll oblige. Firstly, is Catelyn’s fear of Jon’s children vying for control of Winterfell reasonable? Secondly, in AGOT Ned vehemently declares that Jon, as a bastard, would be shunned at court but we don’t really see that level of prejudice throughout the series; is this something GRRM decided to tone down a bit?

Broadly, yes. It’s a bit exaggerated – Catelyn does after all have three sons whom Ned has all claimed as his own, so a Daemon Blackfyre scenario is not likely – but there havee been cases where bastards have challenged or surplanted their trueborn kin (looking at you Ronard Dondarrion né
Storm, you cunning so and so).
I’m not sure how to view that comment, because I think you could see it from a number of angles. One answer is that Ned, wanting to keep Jon’s secret, does not want an entire court’s worth of gossips and conspirators wondering who the mother is. Another might be that Ned, not being familiar with King’s Landing politics, has overestimated the prejudice – it could well be the case that Jon would be sneered at behind his back or by the Lannisters, but a Hand’s favored bastard son is not a bad person for a courtier to cultivate. A third might be that court ettiquette follows the monarch – given Cersei’s murderous dislike of Robert’s bastards, she might have set the standard that bastards period are not welcome at her court. And finally, it might be an example of early installment weirdness.

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