That would be really problematic for the Lannisters – Oberyn’s got diplomatic status, arresting him would be an open declaration of war, and Myrcella’s a hostage in Dorne. 

Not well, but House Lannister would be more difficult to deal with than the Rogare Bank in Lys – it’s a powerful military sovereign, its vassals are quite cowed and loyal, it’s rather far away, and there aren’t convenient rivals to support. 

My guess would be that they’d have to resort to more indirect methods – providing support to the Riverlands, Reach, etc. to build up anti-Lannister forces and contain the Westerlands, pay the Ironborn bonuses to raid Lannisport commerce, and wait for an opportunity like the War of Five Kings to get the House declared traitors.

Well, Theon might not take the castle in that scenario. With Arya and Sansa in Winterfell, it’s more likely that Catelyn would have returned to the North, and she’d never send all of the troops away from Winterfell with four of her children inside. 

This is the big mystery to me. At the very least, you’d expect a boom chain across the Saltspear.

It wasn’t just the hair. It was also who was in the castle when Bran fell.

Actually, that’s a brilliant idea, and I’m jealous I didn’t think of it first. 

unmarried. Ned could have negotiated possible marriages for Robb and Sansa with his bannermen’s heirs? Example, Robb/Wynafryd Manderly or Alys Karstark AND Sansa/SmallJon Umber or Brandon Tallhart? Last time, Starks married South it resulted in the death of 3 of them – why would Ned want to risk that again? Wouldn’t it have more safer to marry his children into the family of people he knew respected & valued him? This reminds me of what Lady Dustin tells Theon about … tbc …

“The Freys may not care for what your master does to her [fArya] but what do you think goes through their minds [Northern lords] when they hear valiant Ned’s little girl’s cry?” I also thought that Ned didn’t like the previous experience of fostering children out so why allow the Southern betrothal for Sansa? If Ned really wanted to spoil Sansa & her dreams of going South a possible fostering in Riverrun or Runestones would have being much preferrable than bringing her to KL, b/c she tbc…

Yikes, folks. These super-long questions are getting a bit tricky to answer. Might I suggest the About page on my WordPress site?

But to get to the substance of your question – Ned’s behavior wrt his kids is a bit strange. I think we have to look at it in context of a man who lost almost his entire family violently and very suddenly – father, brother, sister, possibly his mother, then his only remaining brother takes the black – and who probably had a major problem with the idea of his kids going anywhere. Hence no fostering, no squiring, no nothing.  

We also need to keep in mind that Sansa marrying South was not his idea – it was Robert’s, and Ned had to be talked into saying yes. 

To add insult to injury, Robert also marries daughter of the man who sack the city through betrayal and deceit, and kept the young Jaime in the KG unpunished? Isn’t this a contradiction with Ned’s righteous & honorable personality? Couldn’t Ned say ‘no’ to a marriage between Joffrey and Sansa? I know it could have risen suspicion but could have Ned asked for some time to know Joffrey ‘the boy’ rather than blindly accepting it? Ned didn’t want to rush marrying off Sansa? Thanks. 🙂

Well, I think he did distance himself after the Sack of King’s Landing. But then one of his two remaining family members – the woman Robert was betrothed to and cared about, even if in the abstract – died and I think Eddard needed a friend in that moment. 

I don’t think Ned was thinking they’d get married right away – I think he intended a somewhat lengthy engagement and toward the end was certainly willing to cancel it when he saw what Joffrey was. 

I wouldn’t necessarily make that assumption; Tarly brought the force he had on hand, and he’s not averse to over-doing it to win through overawing them vs. a heads-up fight. 

And yes, they’re stretched thin. That’s kind of the whole point of the Frey and Lannister plot in AFFC/ADWD, that they’ve succumbed to victory disease and are massively overreaching themselves, which will bring about their downfall. 

Take House Frey for example – they’ve only got 4,000 men and they’re trying to take over the North and the Riverlands. They’ve got men at Darry, Seagard, Riverrun, and Winterfell trying to hold it all, but they’re starting to die like flies. Doom is upon them.

Annon part 2: So along those lines: what (if any) parts of the various Weteros Economic Development plans would make other parts irrelevant or ineffective? Punning Pundit

So yeah, there are a bunch of parts in the various plans that would, not exactly make parts irrelevant but would cut into the profit margins dramatically. For example:

• the two major canals (Blue Fork and Mander) would split the traffic between them instead of being able to monopolize. That limits what you can charge, how much commerce is coming into your region, etc. It doesn’t cancel it out completely – if you’re going to trade with the North or the West, the Riverlands canal is probably better; if you’re going to trade with Oldtown or King’s Landing, the Mander canal is better – but the impact will be halved. 

• If the various Land Banks and State Reserve Banks got off the ground before the Lannister Bank did, they could box it out of expansion; and vice versa. Bit of an arms race there. 

• If the Tyrells’ textiles industry gets going before the Martells’ forestalling scheme can come into effect, the Martells are screwed. And there will be other cases of competition in future installments.