Game Of Thrones: 20 Stupid Character Decisions With Terrible Consequences
19. Bran Breaks His Promise
In the same episode, Bran is chastised by his mother for climbing amongst the rooftops and towers of Winterfell's old keep. "How many times have I told you? No climbing!" She makes him promise, which he does, that he won't climb anymore. She picks up on his tell: "Do you know what? You always look at your feet, before you lie." They laugh it off and everything is OK. I think both characters know that she will soon be scolding him again in the future. No one doubts that Bran will climb another tower, as he has done many times over, but it remains his decision to do so, despite Catelyn's warning of the danger. As with many a young child, the thrill of both the risk of the sport, and the risk of incurring his parents wroth is too much for Bran, and so he climbs his final tower. Like a gambler on a winning streak, or a partygoer who believes they are sober enough to drive, Bran consciously weighs the risk of it all going horribly wrong against his hubris, and as with all who take such a gamble, eventually, you lose.
18. Viserys Buys An Army Of Superstitious Barbarians
The first of two fatally stupid decisions on Viserys part: he agrees to trade his sister's hand in marriage to that of a barbarian tribal leader, on the assumption that he will, in return, engage the service of the tribe's warriors (a force he believes to be ten-thousand strong), and use them to invade the Seven Kingdoms that were once his family's. There are so many things that Viserys blindly assumes in this 'deal' that it is no wonder he ends up dead a few episodes later. To begin with, Viserys has no understanding of Dothraki culture whatsoever. None. Lets get that clear right from the start. Khal Drogo is the leader he trades Daenerys to, but Drogo and his khalasar are just one of several in the region. Drogo is a leader by virtue of his strength, and any number of circumstances could unexpectedly arise to remove him from this position. For all Viserys knows, there could be another, equally strong khalasar poised to attack them and kill Drogo; or one of Drogo's own men could turn on him and assume leadership. The point is that the entire 'contract' hinges on the wellbeing of Khal Drogo, without him; there is no deal (if there ever was). Viserys understands Westerosi culture: where a hereditary successor would be duty bound to uphold the alliances of their father. In the Dothraki case, no such social contract exists. The other major problem with buying a Dothraki army to invade Westeros is the nature of the Dothraki warriors themselves. The Dothraki are a highly superstitious people, and as Illyrio Mopatis says at Daenerys' wedding: Drogo will launch the invasion "When their omens favour war", in other words, when they damn well feel like it. This also doesn't take into account the Dothrakis' mortal fear of ships and sailing. How Viserys plans to get ten thousand Dothraki screamers to cross the Narrow Sea is anybody's guess. Finally there's the invasion itself: Dothraki are marauders, they fight in the open fields, with numbers and speed against weaker opponents; it is a raiding tactic, not very effective in a prolonged siege war, which is what Viserys will face when he lands in the Seven Kingdoms. All-in-all, Viserys has just struck the worst bargain he could have possibly conceived, and it's not like he couldn't have done his research, if he wasn't a vain, pitiful, loathsome, twit!
