Want to make Westeros great again?
Don’t look to the coming revolt from the east
In our current age of sophistication – with literacy rates rising above five per cent and a new generation of maesters providing innovations the likes of which the known world has never seen – it is of paramount importance that a good leader provide two things for their subjects: 1) protection from forces who would wish them harm; and 2) a measure of stability. Since the death of Robert Baratheon the Usurper, the people of Westeros – and specifically, those with the misfortune of calling King’s Landing home – have been granted neither by the ruling Lannisters.
Marred by disputed claims to the throne, religious uprisings and a budget too reliant on loans from the Iron Bank, the legacy being created by the Lannister reign is one of inconsistency in all things other than mass destruction. Over the course of four years, we’ve experienced the untimely ends of three heads of state, an attack from Dragonstone and a wildfire explosion so unsparing we may not fully understand the severity of its impact for multiple generations.
This is the political climate that Cersei Lannister inherits after coronating herself the first Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and becoming – officially – the first monarch without a drop of Targaryen blood since the Targaryen Conquest. While we may hope for a better outcome than the previous Iron Throne tenants, it’s impossible to shake accusations that her sons Joffrey and Tommen were mere puppets under her and her family’s control.
Despite these flaws, it is the view of this publication that our current ruler remains our best option.
As rumours spread of the last remaining Targaryen – following the death of Maester Aemon – approaching King’s Landing with an army in tow, it might be tempting to imagine a new ruler (with admittedly old blood) bringing a better life to the people of Westeros. However, to understand what a potential leader could offer, we should first look to her history of ruling.
Such an analysis is not encouraging. Since taking over Meereen by inciting a slave revolt, Daenerys Targaryen has created a political landscape in Slaver’s Bay littered with abandoned promises and policy reversals.
After exhibiting signs of a white saviour complex through her freeing of the slaves in Astapor, and Yunkai, she did little to implement a political infrastructure that would ensure her policies stay in place after her departure to Meereen. In little to no time at all her conquested city states reverted back to a slavery-based economy as she continued her march.
The Khaleesi is happy to embrace a public relations strategy that evokes a person of the people – she literally tosses the broken chains of former slaves around as a visual reminder of her supposed accomplishments – but these stunts do little to ensure a lasting or meaningful impact for her subjects. It’s ultimately just lip service to an ideal that might seem appealing to the masses, but fails to take into account the actual necessity of making difficult decisions to properly rule a land.
The poor people of Astapor offer a prime example of what I’m writing about. The council she left behind to rule was almost immediately overthrown by a former butcher named Cleon, who christened himself His Imperial Majesty. This left the citizenry under the autocratic demands of a brutish dictator, and arguably worse off than they ever were as subjects to the aristocratic rule of the slave masters. This lasted until the Wise Masters – just as they had done in Yunkai – re-established slavery through force.
Meanwhile, in Meereen, where Targaryen had set up her headquarters, the newly freed slaves weren’t much better off than the previously freed people of the other city states. Reports indicate that the mess halls, barracks and refugee centres built to cater to the former slaves were all overrun with crime. The most victimized demographic there were often the elderly who, through the ending of slavery, had lost their livelihood and were too advanced to begin new careers.
Targaryen has also shown little resolve for standing by the policies she introduces. First she eliminated the Fighting Pits of Meereen, then brought them back; only to indefinitely disappear after a fracas at the revival. In her absence, new compromises were reached in the city that basically replicated the system that was in place before – meet the new ruler, same as the old one.
Upon her return from the sabbatical, she used her dragons to burn the fleets of the slave masters while executing their leaders and slaughtering the Sons of the Harpy who stood in opposition against her. The brutality of her actions will remind some of our older readers of the actions of her father, the Mad King Aerys II.
The great irony here is that for the populists suggesting things will be different under Targaryen leadership, the difference they desire will more than likely be a descent into madness and an even greater instability than the one from which we currently suffer.
In order to actually make the Seven Kingdoms great again, it is the view of the Westeros Chancery that we should stick with the devil we know, and not the fiery one en route.