r/asoiaf

- Is asked to join the war by Jace

- Aura farms for a bit then doesn't send any armies south

- Jace dies

- All of the last serious dragons die at Tumbleton

- Rhaenyra dies

- What's left of the Green forces is comprehensively defeated on the Kingsroad

- Now, after sitting around doing absolutely nothing the entire war, Cregan and his host FINALLY march south

- Reaches Kings Landing and immediately starts aura farming and threatening to destroy the peace Corlys created

- Acts like he was the difference between victory and defeat in the war

- Boasts about how he came through for his bro Jace and his Queen (may I once again remind you he did absolutely nothing all war)

- Acts like some sort of "justice at all costs" type by arresting a bunch of randoms who may have been involved in Aegon's murder

- Immediately goes back on that and lets them all take the black

- Makes one ballsy arrest (Corlys) then immediately frees him in exchange for some Riverlands sex

- Leaves

- Is forever remembered as some sort of 'Ned Stark meets Stannis' style badass

You can't deny the Stark surname did a LOT of heavy lifting for Cregan's reputation.

N + C = J

Joffrey was poisoned by EVERYONE at the wedding except Cersei, Sansa and Tyrion.

Ned Stark lives as a pigeon in KL

Craster's daughters weren't actually his daughters, he was just getting cucked every time.

fAegon = Rhaegar + Cersei

I think revealing it was Brandon rather than Ned who "dishonoured" Ashara, that seems to get a lot of people mad for some reason.

So far we have as confirmed - Daenys, Daeron the Drunken, Aerion, Egg, Aemon, Daemon II Blackfyre and Daenerys and then, semi-canon if you take HOTD seriously - Aegon the Conqueror and Helaena. Also I think Shireen is probably a dragon dreamer as well but unconfirmed.

It seems odd that there is such a massive gap in the Targaryen tree between the last known dreamer and the generation of Daeron/Aemon/Egg/Daemon II where it's like every other kid is a dreamer. And then another gap until Daenerys (and maybe Shireen). Unless there's a magical reason for the timing of these dreams showing up, it's possible there are other dreamers who we just don't know about yet - any guesses?

if Varys did try to swap Rhaenys here‘s how it would go:

Varys buys a random kid and gives her to Elia.

kid runs around the Red Keep yelling “I want my mommy! I hate this black cat! I don‘t know you, you’re not my mommy!”

random person in the red keep: “Rhaenys is sure acting weird.”

Yes, that’s why it’s hard to swap a toddler, because toddlers can walk, talk and have personalties.

Inspired by this discussion about wives and their reactions to bastards and this post I made about Catelyn recently, I decided to make a political analysis of bastardy as an institution. Because apparently I love the sound of my brand new Reddit inbox exploding.

I write this post because in both threads, there were implications that wives have personal prejudices against bastards, which causes them to shun their own husbands' bastards. Additionally, in the latter, there was some discussion about whether Catelyn's dislike and shunning of Jon Snow was in any way comparable to Ned's hostage-ship of Theon, and that argument seemed to center on mistreatment of children as a personal evil versus an institutional evil (along with rather creepy takes on Tyrion and Sansa's wedding night, ewwww).

Although the aforementioned argument tends to frame Catelyn's dislike of Jon (and other bastards to an extent) as a personal failing as opposed to Ned's custody of Theon as an impersonal, institutional failing, my argument is that the social status of bastards is as much an institution as the taking of hostages, the patriarchal system of Westeros, and the nobility that upholds the feudalistic society of the Seven Kingdoms, and is in fact intrinsically entwined with those institutions.

So, without further ado, let's begin!

What is an institution?

Merriam-Webster defines an institution as "a significant practice, relationship, or organization in a society or culture." In a political science sense, this refers to "formal rules, informal norms, or shared understandings that constrain and prescribe political actors’ interactions with one another. " Institutions can be enforced by state or non-state actors (such as religious authorities, economic entities, or just groups of people) so long as they are acting in a political sense. Examples of institutions include laws, legal systems, political agreements, and behavioral norms.

And before I get angry comments about "defending" institutions, this definition is a morally neutral one. Institutions merely help uphold a certain political system and are only as perfect as the systems they uphold.

Part I: Feudalism

According to Belgian medievalist François Louis Ganshof, feudalism is a legal system in which is defined by classes defined by birth and familial relationships. In the Ganshof definition, the nobility class own and control the land, while vassals are granted the land and the lord's protection in exchange for services, usually of a military or economic variety. At around the same time, Marc Bloch coined the term manoralism, which refers to the relationship between the nobility that own the land and the peasantry or serfs that work the land.

The Seven Kingdoms is a rather textbook example of feudalism, with its rather decentralized government, which allows the nobility to wield a lot of power. This means that the class system is an institution as it prescribes the use of power through the nobility and defines their political, military, and economic relationships with their vassals and the peasantry.

Additionally, since power is wielded by the noble class, there is a strict delineation between classes, with power and class status being maintained through birth and familial relations, which brings us into...

Part II: Marriage

In a feudalistic society, power amongst the nobility is maintained through alliances and blood ties. This is facilitated through marriage, another institution that is very important in Westeros. We can see an example through the STAB alliance during Robert's Rebellion- Hoster Tully, who was the head of the only house to not have a personal grudge against the Targaryens, became bound by blood to the Starks and Arryns, keeping him committed to the cause.

This also demonstrates the status of women as tools to cement these alliances (more on that in a sec). A lord, like Hoster Tully, is much more likely to fight for the Starks and Arryns when his daughters are Lady Stark and Lady Arryn respectively. Conversely, Hoster Tully, who has the power to seal or decline the alliance will only agree to bear the cost of an alliance (which in the case of a rebel group could potentially be great), in exchange for the expectation that his daughters will have the power and prestige that comes with being the wife to a Lord Paramount and that his grandchildren will eventually rule such wide swathes of land.

This contract agreement is also why betrothals are a big deal, with broken engagements leading to rebellions (like Lionel Baratheon's) and massacres (the RW). It's also why although women have more social mobility in this system, it also serves to keep the upperclass, with nobles only marrying nobles (which is another reason Aegon V's son Duncan marrying Jenny of Oldstones was such an insult. Not only is he breaking a contract with one of his father's lieges, but he's bringing a commoner into the noble ranks).

Bastards are seen to threaten this institution since it undermines the aforementioned agreement and class system. If a millkmaid's son can end up ruling his father's lands, then there is no reason for any other noble to agree to marry his daughter to said lord- it's a similar reason why nobles with children are less desirable marriage candidates, with the additional caveat that raising a common-born child to nobility threatens the feudal system that Westerosi society depends on. By sidelining bastards through the stigma of bastardy, the political action of marriage is thus constrained between its parties to only allow for advancement and alliances of the noble class.

This institution is also enforced by the Faith of the Seven both through its stigmatization of bastards (likely to deter their conception, for all the good that does)...

>"Everyone knew that bastards were wanton and treacherous by nature, having been born of lust and deceit" (ASOS, Jon VII)

...and their taboos against incest and polygamy (can't make alliances with your own siblings, and having multiple wives muddles succession).

But the bastardy stigma isn't only there to uphold and constrain the status of marriages, it also maintains the status of...

Part III: Women

Westeros is a patriarchal society, where the men generally have power over women. ^(Citation not needed) This also means that wives are subservient to their husbands and are expected to obey them, even if their husbands are brutes, and do not get a say in the decisions their husbands make.

>"She had pledged to obey" (AGOT, Catelyn II).

The system of bastardy is at its core a tool of the patriarchy. Husbands can sleep with whoever they want, and sire whatever bastards they want, while wives are expected to remain chaste under fear of disgrace and scandal at best and death at worst. The fact that there is a system of bastardy, with acknowledged bastards being given last names depending on regions shows how pervasive this double standard is.

Additionally, the presence of a bastard is seen as a grave insult and humiliation to a wife, to the point that even during a succession crisis for the Hornwood, there's hesitation to name Lord Hornwood's bastard son heir.

>“That would please the Glovers, and perhaps Lord Hornwood’s shade as well, but I do not think Lady Hornwood would love us. The boy is not of her blood” (ACOK, Bran II).

Women do not get a lot of power over what their husbands do. They cannot act against their husbands for humiliating them with infidelity and a public bastard without the threat of abuse of mistreatment, and they cannot leave their husbands without being separated from their children and the ensuing rejection by society. In short, although a modern woman would resent her husband for infidelity, a Westerosi woman cannot. However, she can resent the fruit of her untouchable husband's betrayal- she can resent the bastard. And many Westerosi women do. And although bastardy emphasizes the status of women in the Seven Kingdoms, the stigma against bastards, in a weirdly ironic way, preserves and protects it from being ruined.

Of all the bastards we meet in the books, very few are raised in their father's seat and treated equal to their trueborn siblings:

• Larence Snow, bastard son of Lord Hornwood is raised in Deepwater Motte, not the Hornwood.
• Edric Storm is raised in Storm's End, not the Red Keep.
• Falia Flowers is treated as a servant.
• Ramsey was not brought to the Dreadfort until Domeric was killed.
• Alyn and Addam of Hull were not acknowledged by Corlys Velaryon until his wife Rhaenys was dead.

And this makes sense. Raising a bastard as an equal is a sort of quasi form of legitimization, and thus in addition to insulting a wife by bringing living proof on infidelity into her home, it also insults her by threatening to displace her children. In short, bastardy is a way to protect a woman's honor and (limited) rights by stigmatizing children that are not hers. It also upholds a woman's status as a political tool, thus allowing the exclusive transmission of power between her house and her husband's.

I think it's very interesting that the places within Westeros that don't have the traditional view on bastardy are either extremely progressive for women in comparison (like Dorne or Bear Island) or even more misogynistic than the rest of Westeros (The Iron Islands and the Twins). In the former, this makes sense because women are not subject to the sexual double standard of fidelity and marriage, and thus can give birth to bastards of their own. In the latter, this also makes sense because there is even less respect given to a wife and her honor that bastards can be flaunted without care.

And that's all the examples we have of the bastard/wife relationship. There's absolutely no other relationship between important characters that would be relevant in any way to this analysis. And even if there were, it's so uncontroversial and standard that it's not even worth mentioning.

Yeah, right.

Part IV: The case of Cat and Jon

Hoooly smokes, is this a can of worms.

The relationship between Catelyn and Jon is a culmination of all these institutions rearing their ugly heads, leading to a result that is just as ugly.

Here are Cat's feelings on the subject:

>"Many men fathered bastards. Catelyn had grown up with that knowledge. It came as no surprise to her, in the first year of her marriage, to learn that Ned had fathered a child on some girl chance met on campaign. He had a man's needs, after all, and they had spent that year apart, Ned off at war in the south while she remained safe in her father's castle at Riverrun. Her thoughts were more of Robb, the infant at her breast, than of the husband she scarcely knew. He was welcome to whatever solace he might find between battles. And if his seed quickened, she expected he would see to the child's needs.

>He did more than that. The Starks were not like other men. Ned brought his bastard home with him, and called him "son" for all the north to see. When the wars were over at last, and Catelyn rode to Winterfell, Jon and his wet nurse had already taken up residence" (AGOT, Catelyn II).

So, in a nutshell, Catelyn's not personally offended that Ned cheated on her. She's offended that in bringing Jon to Winterfell (before her and their trueborn son, I might add) and publicly acknowledging him, he's disgracing her marriage and by extension, humiliating her.

Cat repeats this sentiment later on.

>"She might have overlooked a dozen bastards for Ned's sake, so long as they were out of sight. Jon was never out of sight, and as he grew, he looked more like Ned than any of the trueborn sons she bore him. Somehow that made it worse" (AGOT, Catelyn II).

It's not Jon's fault, but he is the perfect storm of characteristics that undermines Catelyn and her marriage.

1. He's being raised in Winterfell equal to his siblings.
2. Catelyn is forced to be around him.
3. He looks like Ned, which gives him an additional legitimacy because he's unquestionably (in-universe at that point in time) Ned's son, which is an advantage that Cat's own kids don't.
4. and 3) have historically been things that started succession crises and were used as justification for Daemon Blackfyre to usurp his brother.

>"Reversing the colors of the traditional Targaryen arms to show a black dragon on a red field, the rebels declared for Princess Daena's bastard son Daemon Blackfyre, First of His Name, proclaiming him the eldest true son of King Aegon IV, and his half brother Daeron the bastard" (AWOIAF, "The Targaryen Kings: Daeron II")

And yes, this is all Ned's fault, but Catelyn is not in a position to be angry at Ned for this because as nice a guy Ned is, he's in a position of power over Catelyn, and he has no problem using his authority as her husband and lord against her.

>"The Lady Ashara Dayne, tall and fair, with haunting violet eyes. It had taken her a fortnight to marshal her courage, but finally, in bed one night, Catelyn had asked her husband the truth of it, asked him to his face.

>That was the only time in all their years that Ned had ever frightened her. 'Never ask me about Jon,' he said, cold as ice. 'He is my blood, and that is all you need to know. And now I will learn where you heard that name, my lady.' She had pledged to obey; she told him; and from that day on, the whispering had stopped, and Ashara Dayne's name was never heard in Winterfell again.

>Whoever Jon's mother had been, Ned must have loved her fiercely, for nothing Catelyn said would persuade him to send the boy away" (AGOT, Catelyn II).

This is in context of Ned becoming furious to the point of scaring Catelyn when she asks him the reasonable question whether Ashara Dayne is Jon's mother, which is important because Jon having a highborn mother could afford him more support if he rose up against his siblings (especially since at this point, Catelyn's only son is Robb, which means that if something happened to him, the North, which has never been ruled by a woman, would have to choose between a bastard son or a trueborn daughter). It's also said that this was early in her marriage, so Catelyn does not know Ned enough to know if he would beat or abuse her for displeasing him.

She's also worried that Ned might have loved Jon's mother because he might be more likely to legitimize the son of a woman he loved over a wife he did not, just as Aegon the Unworthy did.

Ultimately, while the treatment of bastards is very unjust and cruel (especially when seeing it through Jon's eyes), it is not a personal failing by the scorned wives that perpetuate this injustice, but rather the very institution of bastardy in conjunction with the feudalistic, patriarchal institution, which sets the victims of this society against each other. Bastardy as an institution constrains the ability of the lower class to mobilize upwards while prescribing the norms of political marriage and women as political objects and tools for power.

There was a theory on the general forum website way back which claimed that Lazy Leo knows that Alleras is actually Sarella, Oberyn’s daughter. The claim was that Leo is purposefully baiting Alleras by repeatedly calling him a lord’s son despite Alleras’ denial. The one I’m sceptical on is the claim that when Leo claims he sees naked women, he’s hinting that he’s seen Sarella bathing with her Sand Snake sisters.

Does Leo know, or is he just being a bigoted oaf?

The fake leaks from last week have me thinking a little bit about The Wall coming down. The faker had a bit of an anti-climatic take, where the army of the dead assault The Wall and break through a small hole rather than something like the Horn of Winter or an ice dragon taking it down.

Narratively, I think The Wall has to fail because the Night's Watch fails to defend it. We have five books of the Watch warning the realm that they need supplies and men. The Watch used to be flush with both, but they were down to only hundreds to defend a huge stretch. Add on Jon's betrayal and things look even more dire.

If some Deus Ex Machina magic brings down The Wall, then all of this narrative was for nothing. Euron blowing a horn or an ice dragon would succeed even if every great house sent a thousand men. No payoff.

I also think that this failure has to happen soon. Jon can't come back to life, peace out and immediately see it fail because of his lack of leadership. I think the dead have to attack relatively early in TWOW and start to break through, kill all of the traitors, and the survivors retreat toward Winterfell. Right now would be the best time - Stannis' men are gone, the Watch are in chaos, the wildlings are probably fighting with everyone else. Or maybe The Watch just ceases to be as a result of the chaos, so the magic of The Wall no longer holds the dead back.

Maybe Stannis burns Shireen in response to the dead breaking through. Castle Black is under assault. Melisandre does some magic to push them back after Shireen, accidentally resurrects Jon. Something something smoke from the burning castle fulfills the prophecy.

One of my favorite little world-building things in the books are the various regnal nicknames given to the various monarchs. In particular, I like the trend started by Aegon the Uncrowned of giving King Aegons an “Un”-tag. It’s a fun way to frame each Aegon as somehow missing a piece that prevents them from being Aegon the Dragon. Just for fun, I designated each major Aegon Targaryen such a title. Feel free to spitball ideas

Aegon “the Uncrowned” (Canonical) - A dashing and martial king reminiscent of Aegon the Conqueror. It’s just… he gets eaten by the Conqueror’s Dragon.

Aegon II “the Unbroken” - He’s known as “the Elder” but that sucks balls. I decided to go with the Unbroken as a semi-ironic epithet. Though he was crippled following the Battle of Rook’s Rest, he is not broken by Rhaenyra, surviving the collapse at King’s Landing and eventually getting to feed his half-sister to his dragon.

Aegon III “the Unsmiling” - For a fairly unremarkable king (to historians) he has a ton of nicknames. Dragonbane is certainly cool, but doesn’t fit the vibe. He’s more of a deadbeat than a dragon “bane.” He’s also known as “the Unlucky,” which certainly makes sense, or “the Unhappy”which is quite underwhelming. I decided to go with the Unsmiling since that’s what’s unique about him.

Aegon IV “the Unworthy” (Canonical) - Yeahhh.

Aegon V “the Unlikely” (Canonical) - Reflects the way he came to be king. Rather than rising up and taking the throne like Aegon I, kingship falls into his lap, possibly with help. I would *speculate* that King Egg’s biggest weakness is a related issue. He struggles to kill the boy and let the man be born. Unlike his namesake, he can’t fully translate his vision into action. He’s a steady hand and he mostly has a good head on his shoulders, but he doesn’t accomplish all that much lasting change because he can’t wrangle his family and secure those alliances. At Summerhall, he tries to retrieve that missing piece and become the House of the Dragon again, with fatal consequences. He’s a foil to his cupbearer Tywin Lannister, an expert conservative political strongman who has a stranglehold on House Lannister. He is also responsible for undoing Egg’s reforms, although unlike Aegon, Tywin is killed by his family rather than the other way around. He’s also a foil to Jon Snow, another idealistic Targaryen who has leadership fall into his lap, with external scheming involved. He is idealistic, level-headed, and loses the political game because of mistakes made in furthering his ambitions.

Aegon VI “the Unready” - Another dashing Aegon-like, but this time I think he’ll get his crown. He has all the winds at his back, except for the fact that the Dragon Queen is going to arrive at King’s Landing sooner than he would probably like.

Real as in alive in the modern day.

I've always felt like robbs power had been brittle and reliant on victories and results. He was 14-17 and thrust directly into war before he could even begin to consolidate his power in the war and I get that. But I always felt like robb lacked the intense following and reverence men like tywin, robert, randyll, stannis and other military leaders got. Like really, even after humiliating and defeating the lannisters so completely and massacring 3 hosts he was still never respected in the south or by tywin which I dont understand why.

Then the north gets raided by ironborn, his brothers die and winterfell gets captured, karstarks start pulling back and we really see this. How shakey robbs power had always been and that he was not given the deference you'd except for a genius tactician like robb.

Even robert, he had been away from the stormlands and fostering at the vale for quite the while, and his defeat at ashford and storms end getting besieged didnt effect him quite like it effect robb. Tywin lost battle after battle, even at the hands of edmure, westerlands themselves got pillaged by robb and his position never became shakey.

What could be the reason for this? What did robert and tywin have that robb stark lacked?

I personally think it will be Jon and Sansa. Or Arya and 'Catelyn stark'

What is the consensus in the fandom about who will be the third head of the dragon? I don’t like the tyrion targaryen theory, but if not him who?

Okay, so I've been down a Lyonel Baratheon rabbit hole for the last few hours, but I think I've actually landed on a timeline that makes sense, and I need to throw it out there to see what you guys think.

The main issues that kept bugging me:

The Tourney at Storm's End: Baelor mentions he fought in a tourney at Storm's End 'nine years past' {from 209} to celebrate the birth of a grandson of the Lord Baratheon.

Ormund is called 'the heir', not 'the son': Ormund Baratheon is referred to as Lyonel's heir, but never explicitly as his son. I have wondered if Ormund was actually a nephew or cousin.

I think both of these can be explained by something pretty simple: Lyonel had a son who was born in around 200, said son fathered Ormund, and then died before the rebellion.

Here's how I think it shakes out:

The grandson of 200: That baby whose birth Baelor attended? That's Lyonel's son. Lyonel himself would have been a grown man at the time. Say, late twenties at Ashford in 209. That fits perfectly with how he's described and drawn.

Andal succession tradition: Daughters come before nephews. If Ormund was just a nephew, Lyonel's daughter, the one betrothed to Prince Duncan, would have been the heir presumptive, but the text treats Ormund as the clear successor who eventually marries Rhaelle. I think the cleanest explanation for this is that Lyonel's son {Ormund's father} was the original heir, he died, and Ormund inherited his claim.

Ormund's age: Rhaelle was born in around 229, they marry in 245, and Steffon pops out in 246. So Ormund had to be old enough to father a kid by 246, meaning he was born by at least 229, though probably earlier. A birth year around 225 makes him a contemporary of Jaehaerys II {born in 225}, which is a nice little parallel since Jaehaerys later makes Ormund his Hand.

Lyonel versus Dunk in 239: If Lyonel was born in around 179 or thereabouts, he's sixty when he faces Dunk in single combat. Dunk's about a decade younger. That's totally reasonable for two absolute units who've been swinging weapons their whole lives. Barristan was out there carving people up Harpies at sixty-plus.

My working timeline, just for fun:

179: Lyonel Baratheon is born.

200 AC: Lyonel's first sonis born. Big tourney at Storm's End. Baelor Breakspear attends.

209 AC: Ashford Meadow. Lyonel is thirty, laughing his ass off and knocking crests into the crowd.

220-224: Prince Duncan is born. Lyonel's daughter is born around the same time.

225: Ormund born to Lyonel's son.

Sometime before 237: Lyonel's son dies. Ormund becomes the heir.

237: Betrothal of Duncan to Lyonel's daughter.

239: Duncan breaks betrothal. Rebellion. Trial by combat. Lyonel yields to Dunk at age sixty.

245: Ormund marries Rhaelle.

246: Steffon Baratheon born.

I feel this ties up the loose ends without making anyone a geriatric superhuman. It also makes Lyonel's rebellion hit a little harder: He's a guy who already buried a son and then watched his daughter's future get trashed by a prince's whim. The Laughing Storm had plenty of reasons to stop laughing for a bit.

Now, I'll admit: the twenty-ish year gap between Lyonel's son {born in 200 AC} and his daughter {born sometime in the early 220s} is a long stretch between kids, especially in Westeros, but it's not unheard of: Alyssa Velaryon gave birth to Jocelyn Baratheon at forty-seven, Alysanne herself birth to Gael at the age of forty-four, and Rhaella had Daenerys a full twenty-five years after Rhaegar. Lyonel's wife could have been a similar case: a healthy son early on, a long gap, and then a surprise daughter later in life.

Of course, there's another explanation that fits just as neatly: Lyonel could have remarried. It's entirely possible his first wife, the mother of his son born in 200 AC, died at some point in the intervening years {childbirth, illness, other causes}, and Lyonel took a younger second wife who gave him the daughter that was later betrothed to Duncan. That would make the daughter his child by a second marriage, while Ormund remains his grandson through the son from his first marriage. It's a clean way to explain the generational spread without relying on a late-in-life miracle baby.

Oh, and one more thing that makes this timeline feel even sturdier, in my opinion: Royce Baratheon. He was born in 131 as the posthumous son of Borros Baratheon. If you do the generational math, Lyonel born around 179, his dad in around 155, and his granddad Royce at 131, you get clean twenty-four year gaps between each generation. That means Royce is almost certainly Lyonel's grandfather, and the Lord Baratheon who threw the 200 tourney for the grandson was Royce's son.

Anyway, that's my likely wrong theory. If anyone has a different way of squaring these dates, I'm all ears.

>“You offer me empty lands and desolations, yet deny me the castles I require to reward my lords and bannermen.”
“The Night’s Watch built those castles …”
“And the Night’s Watch abandoned them.”
“… to defend the Wall,” Jon finished stubbornly, “not as seats for southron lords. The stones of those forts are mortared with the blood and bones of my brothers, long dead. I cannot give them to you.”
“Cannot or will not?” The cords in the king’s neck stood out sharp as swords. “I offered you a name.”
“I have a name, Your Grace.”
“Snow. Was ever a name more ill-omened?” Stannis touched his sword hilt. “Just who do you imagine that you are?”
“The watcher on the walls. The sword in the darkness.”
“Don’t prate your words at me.” Stannis drew the blade he called Lightbringer. “Here is your sword in the darkness.” Light rippled up and down the blade, now red, now yellow, now orange, painting the king’s face in harsh, bright hues. “Even a green boy should be able to see that. Are you blind?”
“No, Sire. I agree these castles must be garrisoned—”
“The boy commander agrees. How fortunate.”
“—by the Night’s Watch.”

Stannis pulling out "Lightbringer" to compare cocks with a "green boy" because his manhood felt threatened by some words is also funny on its own but:

>He had to laugh. This is too absurd. Tyrion would mock me unmercifully if he could hear me now, comparing cocks with this green boy.

Two books before this brittle king gets giga-mogged once again by a seemingly blind Jon Snow:

>Maester Aemon smiled. “Your Grace,” he said, “before we go, I wonder if you would do us the great honor of showing us this wondrous blade we have all heard so very much of.”
“You want to see Lightbringer? A blind man?”
“Sam shall be my eyes.”
The king frowned. “Everyone else has seen the thing, why not a blind man?” His swordbelt and scabbard hung from a peg near the hearth. He took the belt down and drew the longsword out. Steel scraped against wood and leather, and radiance filled the solar; shimmering, shifting, a dance of gold and orange and red light, all the bright colors of fire.
“Tell me, Samwell.” Maester Aemon touched his arm.
“It glows,” said Sam, in a hushed voice. “As if it were on fire. There are no flames, but the steel is yellow and red and orange, all flashing and glimmering, like sunshine on water, but prettier. I wish you could see it, Maester.”
“I see it now, Sam. A sword full of sunlight. So lovely to behold.” The old man bowed stiffly. “Your Grace. My lady. This was most kind of you.”
[...]
Maester Aemon was lost in thought as Sam helped him down the narrow turnpike stair. But as they were crossing the yard, he said, “I felt no heat. Did you, Sam?”
“Heat? From the sword?” He thought back. “The air around it was shimmering, the way it does above a hot brazier.”
“Yet you felt no heat, did you? And the scabbard that held this sword, it is wood and leather, yes? I heard the sound when His Grace drew out the blade. Was the leather scorched, Sam? Did the wood seem burnt or blackened?”
“No,” Sam admitted. “Not that I could see.”
Maester Aemon nodded.

EDIT: Some people in the comments have dared to accuse me of doubting the honor and integrity of good Maester Aemon, so I would like to remind people that, even though he had some kind words for the brittle king about his magic sword, few have ever actually accused the man of being kind. I think he might even have quite a bit of sass to him, he grew up in King's Landing or something.

>As Rykker filled it for him, Bowen Marsh said, “You have a great thirst for a small man.”
“Oh, I think that Lord Tyrion is quite a large man,” Maester Aemon said from the far end of the table. He spoke softly, yet the high officers of the Night’s Watch all fell quiet, the better to hear what the ancient had to say. “I think he is a giant come among us, here at the end of the world.”
Tyrion answered gently, “I’ve been called many things, my lord, but giant is seldom one of them.”
“Nonetheless,” Maester Aemon said as his clouded, milk-white eyes moved to Tyrion’s face, “I think it is true.”
For once, Tyrion Lannister found himself at a loss for words. He could only bow his head politely and say, “You are too kind, Maester Aemon.”
The blind man smiled. He was a tiny thing, wrinkled and hairless, shrunken beneath the weight of a hundred years so his maester’s collar with its links of many metals hung loose about his throat. “I have been called many things, my lord,” he said, “but kind is seldom one of them.” This time Tyrion himself led the laughter.

It was "most kind" of Melisandre to show him a sword "So lovely to behold" though, the ruby on its hilt is even almost as beautiful as that on her necklace.

So, it seems that Catelyn is one of the most controversial characters in the series, receiving the most vitriol of any character that is unambiguously "good" (by which I mean consistently on the right side, not necessarily 100% moral). And while there are reasons given for that, from what I've seen, many other characters who commit the same sins don't get half the hatred. So let's dive in and try to examine why Catelyn is so uniquely hated.

1. Her treatment of Jon

This is the big one. She's extremely cold towards a child living in her home and seems to blame him for Ned's infidelity, to the point where Jon fears her and feels like she's begrudged him every bite. Plus the "It should have been you" line is extremely cruel. By modern standards (though we cannot accurately project modern standards upon Catelyn due to the fact that her view on Jon is shaped by the patriarchal society in which she lives in which she does not have the option of blaming Ned), this is unambiguously child abuse. And most modern people understandably see child abuse as unforgivable, which is why we hate every character in the ASOIAF world that mistreats a child.

Except we don't.

Ned has kept Theon as a hostage since he was a young child, and Theon knows full well that if his father rebels again, Theon's head is going to be forfeit. Not only that, but Ned also makes Theon carry Ice to executions, with both parties knowing (and Theon explicitly fearing) that one day, Theon will be on the receiving end of one of those executions.

Tyrion willingly marries and molests Sansa, despite knowing full well that she's terrified of what he can legally do to her.

Sandor Clegane gleefully murders Mycah, and still has no remorse for it.

By modern standards, all of these are acts of child abuse much much worse than anything Catelyn does. Yet none of these characters receive nearly as much condemnation for their actions as Catelyn does for hers.

2. Her arrest of Tyrion

From the information Catelyn had, her arrest of Tyrion was the best option in a basket of options that sucked. First of all, she gets a message from her sister written in code saying that the Lannisters murdered Jon Arryn. In this setting, Lysa is committing treason by sending such as letter, as she's directly implicating the Queen. Catelyn thinking Lysa is deliberately lying or crazy would be such a stretch for her at that point, so she obviously takes Lysa's message seriously. Then she realizes that Jaime had something to do with Bran's fall (as he did not join the hunt that day) right after someone tries to assassinate said son- all suggesting that Bran saw something that implicated the Lannisters (which he did), and the Lannisters therefore wanted to silence him by killing him twice (at least half true). She then decides to go south to King's Landing to investigate incognito (where she still has some power, being the Hand's wife), where she encounters Littlefinger, who's known her since she was a girl, who then tells her that the knife belongs to Tyrion Lannister, thus "confirming" what Cat already reasonably suspects.

Cat gets a lot of flack for trusting Littlefinger here, but considering that Ned and Tyrion also trust Littlefinger to their detriment (Ned's arrest after Robert dies and the Purple Wedding respectively), and that unlike in the show, Book!Littlefinger is a lot more unassuming, it's not that much of a black mark on Catelyn, and not something that deserves such vitriol. Especially since Littlefinger was like a brother to her, and that he loved her once. Yes, he lost a duel for her hand, but considering that it was ages ago, and he greets her kindly, she's got no reason to think he'd hold a grudge. (Sidenote: she doesn't completely trust him, but he "earns" her trust by bringing Ned to her and "helping" her find the owner of the dagger).

Cat also doesn't arrest Tyrion until he catches her in a suspicious position. She can't claim to be visiting her sick father because she's in disguise and with one guard- very odd for a lady of Cat's standing. As far as she knows, if she lets Tyrion go, then he'll tell his family that the Starks are onto them. By arresting him, not only do the Starks get a head start, they also have a hostage against the Lannisters. Although we know Tyrion's family hates him, the Starks don't. She also doesn't expect Tywin to start blazing the Riverlands because as far as she knows, Ned is still Hand and Robert is King, so they won't allow him to do so. She brings him to the Vale because she could easily be ambushed en route to Riverrun, Winterfell, or King's Landing, and she suspects that Lysa has additional evidence against Tyrion because Lysa was the one who gave her the initial accusation. Her plan only backfires because of circumstances outside her control and knowledge like Lysa being batshit insane and putting Tyrion on trial against her explicit wishes.

3. Her release of Jaime

Alright, this one isn't one of Cat's best moments. But I was surprised at how much vitriol she got for this one too. Cat is far from the only character to make bad decisions based on emotion. Ned tells Cersei about his plans to tell Robert about her children. Robb sleeps with Jeyne and marries her to preserve her honor. Tyrion works with his horrible family for a chance at a modicum of approval. When Cat releases Jaime in the books, it's right after she's heard that Bran and Rickon are dead. Also, at this point, Tyrion has promised Sansa and Arya's release for Jaime's release openly, and Jaime is about to be killed anyway by Robb's men.

And Catelyn knows that her decision wasn't rational as well. She fully understands how insane it is, yet she goes along with it because she's desperate to save at least one other child when all of them are dead as far as she knows. It's not a wise decision, but it's the only way she could possibly ever get her daughters back.

In conclusion, while Catelyn Stark is a very flawed character, it feels like she's overhated. Whether it's due to inconsistent use of modern vs Westerosi norms in judging characters or whether it's because all of her actions are based on what she knows, not what the readers know or whether she's a very real character in a Medieval fantasy world full of lords and kings and dragons or whether she's a woman (because that does matter, no matter how much y'all swear it doesn't), she gets criticism for things that the fandom lets slide with other characters.