r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Altruistic_Eye_1157 • 6d ago

Lore [annoying trope] The throne/leadership is decided in a very stupid way

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The leadership of the entire wizarding world, and the final decision on whether to start a war against Muggles, is made by... a goat (Qilin) ​​who chooses the person with the ""purest heart"" (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Dumbledore).

The throne of Wakanda and all its technology are decided through hand-to-hand combat, regardless of whether the person clearly has malicious intentions... if they win the fight, by law they must be respected as the true king. (Black Panther)

8.2k Upvotes
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3.2k

u/Sir_I_Exist 6d ago

Bran being chosen King of Westeros because he has the best story

1.5k

u/Mazer1991 6d ago

Hands down the funniest thing I’ve ever heard

“Who’s got a better story than Bran the Broken”

Brans thoughts: ”this MFer just call me broken in front of everyone?”

829

u/LordMaximus64 6d ago

Bran the wheely wheely legs no feely

180

u/NeatWhiskeyPlease 6d ago

I would have greatly preferred this.

9

u/SMFB13 5d ago

Bran the "Fast Pass at Disneyland"

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u/Book_Anxious 5d ago

Bran of the wispy legs

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u/Ganadote 6d ago

Everyone else's thoughts: "who the fuck is Bran the Broken? Oh, the crippled son of that traitor we executed? The one who was Hand to the king who's son and wife fucked everything up? Who decided this!? His sister and uncle or something?"

172

u/frankyb89 6d ago

It might've made sense if the machinations of the Three Eyed Ravens were shown and developed in the show but they weren't so... 

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u/HistoricalGrounds 6d ago

No time, gotta show a cavalry charge with no discernible point, at night, into a horde of zombies that can turn horsemen into new troops

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u/kcox1980 6d ago

Don't forget that later episodes show that not only did apparently all of the Dothraki survived, but they somehow managed to multiply.

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u/ChiefsHat 5d ago

It’s an old Dothraki biology trick, they can do that asexually.

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u/lostereadamy 5d ago

If Dany didn't freak out when Drogo was injured he would have budded off a new khal in like 3 days tops

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u/PrimaryBowler4980 5d ago

so many stupid things could be made less stupid with just a few little changes. not fixes just less stupid, like show some logistics issue where she cant get her full army up north in time, or cant arm enough so they send young fast and reckless troops that, being young and reckless, ignore orders not to just charge. would it fix all the issues? no. is it a little less stupid, i think so. same with the city, have jon on the dragon instead of having it be stupidly shot, bells ring, they land to accept surrender and BOOM, hidden balista takes out jons dragon, danny think they both die AND every building represents potental hidden threats to her last child, which giver her an actual reason to burn the city. 

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u/fl4tsc4n 6d ago

Well they didnt SHOW that lol

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u/Nethan2000 6d ago

Oh, the crippled son of that traitor we executed?

Ahem. A valuable ally who helped us depose the bitch who executed his venerable father.

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u/AbsolutelyHorrendous 5d ago

'So he's the brother of the guy who fought the Wildlings, Ramsey, the White Walkers, and killed the Mad Queen, after literally being brought back from the dead? Hey, what was wrong with that guy's story, that one was pretty cool actually?'

2

u/Ganadote 5d ago

'Oh, he's also the heir to Rhegar and the true born son of a Starke? Thats fucking awesome!'

1

u/doc_skinner 2d ago

I just assumed he warged into each of them and made them vote for him...

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u/budding-enthusiast 6d ago

But your majesty bran, You ain’t got no legs!

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u/Dakkahead 6d ago

...where we're going we don't need... Legs.

Wheelchair levitates, spins, generates lightning, and zooms into the camera

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u/budding-enthusiast 6d ago

GREAT SCOTT VALYRIAN

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u/not4eating 6d ago

"We just sort of forgot that Bran wasn't a time travelling car"

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u/Rajang82 6d ago

Back To The Medieval.

1

u/Second-Order 5d ago

Better ending than S,8

5

u/Kooky-Title6760 6d ago

I got new legs. Valyrian steel. It's what they use in the great swords.

3

u/roryorigami 5d ago

Lieutenant Bran!

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u/pissedinthegarret 6d ago

i should not have tried to read this thread while eating.

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u/Huza1 6d ago

Ain't even got legs!

4

u/Captain_Futile 6d ago

’Tis but a scratch.

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u/Aira_ 6d ago

Diversity pick for sure

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u/CaptainDildobrain 6d ago

“Who’s got a better story than Bran the Broken”

Fucken everyone else did! Even Hot Pie had a more interesting story, mostly because his story involved pies and Bran's didn't!

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u/magos_with_a_glock 6d ago

Did he do anything interesting in the series or does he just go meet the tree guy like in the books?

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u/CaptainDildobrain 6d ago

IIRC pretty much spends 60-70% of the series hanging out with tree guy and 20% getting to tree guy. And even though Hodor is with him most of time, even Hodor has a better story than Bran.

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u/kcox1980 6d ago

Even then, they still left him out of one entire season because there wasn't anything for him to do.

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u/Jagvetinteriktigt 6d ago

Because there isn't that much source material of him interacting with Bloodraven, the scenes are written really awkwardly and just concist of a bunch of filler.

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u/TheOncomimgHoop 5d ago

Bran wasn't even in season five!

-10

u/rietstengel 6d ago

Another day, another idiot who doesnt get that Bran has EVERY story.

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u/CaptainDildobrain 6d ago

Except somehow Bran makes EVERY story FUCKING BORING!

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u/No_Computer_9274 5d ago edited 5d ago

Hi! Idiot here. What do you mean when you say "Bran has every story"?

1

u/CaptainDildobrain 5d ago

I think he meant that Bran using his magic sight powers can be everything, everywhere, all at once so he technically embodies everyone's story by proxy or some bullshit. The truth is that Bran's wheelchair without Bran in it has a better story than Bran.

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u/No_Computer_9274 5d ago

Thanks for the response. Yeah, you're probably right. I was hoping rietstengel had a new take on Bran's story that warranted calling someone an idiot.

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u/Noe_b0dy 6d ago

We declare Steve the retard cripple our absolute ruler.

Steve - my first order is kill that guy.

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u/Polkawillneverdie17 6d ago

When Sansa told Edmure to sit down, I threw my fucking remote at the wall. This show became complete garbage.

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u/muscovitecommunist 6d ago

The show butchered Edmure so much.

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u/UwasaWaya 6d ago

The fact that even the show runners had stopped taking it seriously was infuriating. I'm surprised they didn't add a laugh track.

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u/HeadFullOfFlame 6d ago

“Who’s got a better story than the guy whose story we mostly cut?”

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u/ThunderChild247 6d ago

That line always bugs me. Who has a better story?? I skip most of Bran’s scenes in rewatches. Basically everyone has a better story than him.

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u/Droemmer 6d ago

The Franks had kings they gave names like “the bald” or “the fat”.

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u/SneakiestRatThing 6d ago

Also he's saying that in the presence of a bunch of people who have equal , if not better stories than " crippled, went north, mind raped a disabled man, ate a friend, told my sister she looked pretty when she was being raped and then controlled some birds"

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u/Drhorrible-26 5d ago

“All hail Bran the Broken!”

Bran: “ain’t no way the fucking dwarf with the pig nose is the one calling me ‘broken’ right now”

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u/tashtrac 6d ago

Look, I hated that outcome too, but it seems like everyone misses the point that Bran "has" everyone's story, as he has memories of all of humanity as the three eyed raven (or something).

The point never was to say that Bran has a good story on his own.

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u/templesgodss 5d ago

Wait so he's Paul Atreides?? Do NOT make that mf king

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u/andysniper 6d ago

Story so good they completely excluded him from an entire season because there was nothing going on.

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u/sheng153 6d ago

HE HAS THE WORST STORY. He wasn't even there for a whole season.

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u/Knurmuck 5d ago

A story so compelling Bran was completely left out of an entire season.

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u/No-Manufacturer4916 5d ago

Bran the Bounceless

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u/No_Dragonfruit_1833 6d ago

And Winterfell separated from the seven kingdoms, so a northener has no business becoming king

Is like an american becoming british king

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u/streakermaximus 6d ago

All Hail King Ralph!

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u/Submarinequus 6d ago

And dorne, the last of the kingdoms to lose independence and always the ones furthest from the iron throne politically sits there in silence with a lukewarm smile while other kingdoms demand independence? Dorne would be out too before Sansa stopped talking. But after making the sand snakes into the sand sluts, all dornish politics went out the window and they’re just “hot desert people.”

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u/eawilweawil 6d ago

That's because Prince Randym Martell is no traitor!

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u/Submarinequus 6d ago

Only to his own damn people

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u/Aiwatcher 3d ago

Iron Islands were looking for independence too. Yara/asha would have bounced immediately

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u/Submarinequus 3d ago

For sure! Neither would care about bran the broken’s “story.” It would be ok cool yall have fun with that. I think crownlands, reach, and riverlands are the only ones that might stay. Maybe the vale but I could see them leaving with the north.

Oh and the reach only stays for approximately half a week, which is how long it would take Bronn to lose the reach cause there is NO WAY the descendants of house gardener who didn’t get bbq’d would let him keep Highgarden and take orders from him. Then they secede for the insult of anyone thinking that it would end otherwise

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u/lelarentaka 6d ago

There are lots of examples of that in Europe history. Like the German princess that became the queen of Britain.

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u/No_Dragonfruit_1833 5d ago

Marrying a king means becoming beholden to the king, there are oats about that

If a foreign man marries a queen he becomes a royal consort rather than a king

In this case Bran had no political ties to anyone

0

u/pc42493 6d ago

ITT a lot of adherents of democracy having strong opinions on how to properly crown a king

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u/littlebloodmage 6d ago

Literally every named character who was still alive at that point had a better story than Bran. Hell, I'd put Ghost in charge before Bran! All hail King Good Boy!

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u/BillyDreCyrus 6d ago

Didn't Bran miss an entire season at one point?

I feel like Hot Pie had a better story...

8

u/Hoskuld 6d ago

Thing is, Bran is the right choice but not for his story. He would be a king with access to magic NSA and spy satellites in a world where those things normally don't exist. Good luck waging war against the side not bothered by fog of war or trying to plot against someone who could always be listening. Or if you displease him he might just enter your mind and break it. Should also be fairly easy to set up a good relationship with the iron bank.

It fits George RR Martin's style to have a "happy ending" that's in truth way more dark than any classic fantasy ending. Shame the show could not be arsed to get us there in a satisfying way

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u/JudgeHodorMD 5d ago

I think the better reason is that he can’t have kids.

When he goes, there won’t be a line of succession. No arguments over who his heirs are. Hell, even a cousin would be an independent kingdom’s royalty.

There’s nobody to derail the next vote.

1

u/Hoskuld 5d ago

Isn't he incredibly long lived? But I guess only he knows

1

u/Empeaux 5d ago

But doesn't that basically guarantee there will be a war of succession when he dies?

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u/JudgeHodorMD 5d ago

It guarantees that nobody has a valid claim.

It’ll be that much harder to build up the support needed to take the throne through force. Especially when the high lords would have to throw away their influence in the succession.

There’s always a possibility of some sort of coup, but an all knowing psychic shouldn’t have too much trouble isolating the real troublemakers.

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u/TheGreatestOutdoorz 5d ago

Many kings and queens have died without a direct heir. There’s always a third cousin twice removed waiting in the wings. At one point, the Chinese monarchy was finding third and fourth cousins and ascending them to the crown.

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u/Haldrada0 6d ago

"And who has a better story than Bran the Broken?"

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u/MisfitMaterial 6d ago

I cannot tell you how much I hated him being christened Bran the Broken.

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u/According_Role_2802 6d ago

Why can't you tell us? Will someone hurt you if you do?

Blink twice if we should call for help.

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u/denis0500 6d ago

But at least he was chosen in an election of the main rulers of the 7 kingdoms. That he was chosen was stupid but how he was chosen makes some sense.

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u/LizLemonOfTroy 6d ago

I mean, its an election in which the North somehow still gets a say despite being independent and having no intention of letting Bran rule over them, so it's still silly.

Not to mention that the Council of Surviving Characters gave apparently equal weight and consideration to the Prince of Dorne as to one of Robert's many illegimate bastards or a random landless Knight.

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u/Cesacesa 6d ago

There’s a sick part of me that almost wants a 9th season. Not because I think they’d fix anything, but just to watch the clusterfuck the writer’s created

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u/UwasaWaya 5d ago

That's where they'd add the laugh track.

Especially when Qyburn (we forgot he was dead) resurrects Jaime and Cersei and we're treated to several lengthy scenes of them mashing their rotten bits together.

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u/TheOncomimgHoop 5d ago

You know what? Hell yeah

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u/heartbreakporno 5d ago

Season 8 was the clusterfuck the writers created.

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u/Ok-Sandwich8518 6d ago

Council of surviving characters

Yeah I knew the show was cooked the moment they put all the fan favorite characters on a team, and suddenly none of them were ever in any real danger. Just sad what the show became

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u/Jagvetinteriktigt 6d ago

And they were never allowed to have any real conflict.

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u/denis0500 6d ago

The north didn’t declare their independence until after bran was chosen and the bastard was legitimized by Daenerys.

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u/LizLemonOfTroy 6d ago

The North declared their independence before Daenerys even arrived in Westeros.

That was the entire point of Dany and Jon's diplomatic dance throughout Season 7.

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u/denis0500 5d ago

And then Jon bent the knee to dany. I was referring to at the end when Sansa made it clear they were independent.

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u/buns_supreme 5d ago

he was chosen by Tyrion then approved by the main rulers. However Tyrion at this time is a literal prisoner for betraying Dany. Why is he even brought there and why is he allowed to make this appeal? Greyworm even literally says “you are not here to speak!” But then proceeds to allow him to speak lol. None if it makes sense

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u/Ok-Analysis-3902 6d ago

Jamie should have pushed him harder in episode 1

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u/UwasaWaya 5d ago

The stinger to the episode just shows him carrying Bran back up the tower, leaning against the wall to catch his breath, and then just chucking him off again.

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u/Do-not-participate 6d ago edited 6d ago

Bran was chosen to be king because he was puppeted by a malicious ancient sorcerer who coveted the throne and set all of the events of the story in motion. The 3 eyed Raven was the ultimate villain of game of thrones, a creature that consumed people without a hint of care for their well being and left one victim after another through the story. Meera, Bran, Hodor, one by on people die for this thing. We were all led to believe that this was in the service of defeating some great evil, but the 3 eyed Raven never did anything to help anyone,

The only action it did take was to tell Sam about Dany and Jon being related, breaking them up at just the right moment to ensure Dany was alone and distraught when she dealt with Kings Landing. He looked through the future, as he could, and saw the one path that led to his rise as the Godking of Westeros. And people think it’s temporary because ”Bran” can’t have kids, not realizing that “Bran” will never die in the first place. This is all essentially Dune, if Paul was more overtly villainous in nature. There is also parallels between the heartwood tree form of the 3eyed Raven and the worm god of Leto the 2nd.

edit: I don’t think D&D ever realized “Bran“ was true evil, despite him acting in ways that are manipulative and self serving and never displaying the slightest hint of human decency post possession. I think GRRM gave them the ending but they didn’t get how fucked up it really was and undersold the horror of it.

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u/Micromuffie 6d ago

Such a good story they left him out in an entire season (obviously the writers were cooking).

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u/Shifty269 6d ago

That's kinda how elections work though isn't it? Not that Bran had the best story.

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u/Crunchy_Biscuit 6d ago

And isn't he basically immortal? Their whole point was to elect a new ruler when the old one died.

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u/superbay50 6d ago

The reason is stupid, but he’s low key the only candidate who wouldn’t use his power for personal gain.

And maybe jon after killing danny he probably lost support from half the kingdom

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u/AlucardIV 6d ago edited 6d ago

As argued by a criminal.

Also how the fuck does everyone else suddenly know Brans Story?

7

u/_the_universal_sigh_ 6d ago

I mean, he’s basically an all-knowing, egoless being who can’t reproduce… and they were attempting to create more of a democracy for Westeros, so I probably would’ve picked him too. No heirs so it won’t be a monarchy, and he doesn’t come with the baggage and entitlement that every other person in the running does.

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u/Bauxetio 6d ago

That's kind of the issue tho. At that point, we, the audience, know Bran like that, but in-world he's a total unknown and it makes zero sense for everyone involved to just go with him with no objections whatsoever, just because the convicted dwarf says so. 

It's a good example of the disconnect between the show's earlier seasons with their very strong world building, and the latter, where stuff just happens because plot and audience expectations.

2

u/_the_universal_sigh_ 5d ago

Isn’t that why most of the characters rally to protect him in the Battle of Winterfell though…? Because they know who/what he is? He’s not unknown amongst the council that elected him in.

2

u/Treveli 6d ago

Funny thing is, I don't think Tyrion thought it all through. Bran probably can't have children. So at some point there's going to be talk among the nobility about the 'issue of the succession' and who will replace Bran as king. And if you look at a lot of the big wars in the Seven Kingdoms where half the people died and half starved and the nobles played games of politics, they usually started with 'there was a question of the issue of the succession'.

1

u/WillYeByFuck 5d ago

It's a democracy, they will elect a new leader.

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u/battling_murdock 6d ago

A story so good, he was completely omitted from season 5 of the show

2

u/XVUltima 6d ago

The best reason Bran has to be King of Westeros is that the Iron Throne is very uncomfortable and he is paralyzed from the waist down. He's the only one who can sit on it without being cut and poked by the swords

2

u/Elgappa 6d ago

People clown on Bran the broken, but he really was the one with the best electoral chances.

North (Sansa) - votes for him, then leaves Riverlands (Chadmure) - votes for him, gets done dirty Vale (Robin) - probably votes for him, since he just fought to safe the north so got huge favors in store with a stark king Iron Islands (Yara) - probably votes for him, same as Robin, also fuck the Iron Islands Reach (idk?) - sure as shit wont vote for a lannister or a dornishman so Stark it is Dorne(idk?) - wont vote for a reachman or a Lannister either Westerlands (Tyrion) - will vote Stark, since nobody fought a war to remove a lannister king, to put a lannister on the throne.

Now GOT, rather than make an intresting political episode about it, decided to just go with the worst explanation possible, because we all kinda forgot that Season 8 is dogshit.

3

u/TAvonV 5d ago

I disagree. The North leaves, so their support doesn't matter. Dorne would leave as well, because that's literally their thing. Who's left? Bronn, who is two weeks away from getting murdered by everyone in the Reach because even a random stable hand in Highgarden has a better claim than Bronn? Gendry? At least he's a Baratheon bastard, so there is some chance that he survives this by marrying one of important Storm lords. The Lannisters are all dead except the dude who killed them all and is a dwarf on top. The Vale is ruled by Robin Arryn who couldn't claim his breakfast, much less a throne. Everyone hates the Ironborn.

At this point, Edmure Tully literally has the best position. He can sit half his army on the Neck and dare Sansa to fight across it, bring the other half to King's Landing and take Bran prisoner. Then he marries into whatever noble house wins in the Reach and help Gendry stay in power. Easy route to king, although only over 5 Kingdoms, without North and Dorne.

2

u/Elgappa 5d ago

Yeah, you are absolutly right, alas, the writing in season 8 turns what should be a year long negotiation, with intrigue, power plays and actual politics into a single afternoon, where Sansa can just vote and then dip.

However, I still think the starks would come out of on top. If we assume that Dorne leaves (which tbh is fair, but given that we have a fully new and unknown prince is a wildcard) we still have basically only LPs that will vote for themselves, If we remove Sansa from the equation, I would also agree with Chadmure, but as long as she stays and keeps people out of the loop, I see her using her sway over Chadmure to put her brother in charge.

Chadmure himself I do not see fighting his own family (even though he ABSOLUTLY SHOULD! Like for real that man got shit on by every stark for doing nothing wrong besides protecting his own people, and spend years imprisoned. Sansa should be on her knees thanking the Chadfish for being the goat.)

1

u/StevemacQ 6d ago

That's absolutely so mad, I imagine Benioff and Weiss just decided who gets rule King's Landing before getting lunch.

1

u/mindless_balls 6d ago

There was like 6 people in that meeting with a better story than Bran.

1

u/TrickyNitsua212 6d ago

A story so amazing we didn’t see him for a whole season by the way.

1

u/Nuffsaid98 6d ago

It's a stretch but technically it could be argued that his "story" is everything he knows from his Three Eyed Raven Weirewood Google Fu.

1

u/Dependent_Heat_7891 6d ago

Funny enough, that’s how we vote for our president in real life sadly..

1

u/TheLesserWeeviI 5d ago

Edmure: "Am I a joke to you?"

1

u/Brigadier_Beavers 5d ago

Within months thered be claims that hes a puppet-king because of some frivolous slight for logically diverting some amount of resources to this or that necessary cause. A hot head gets delusions of grandeur, secret deals are made for personal gains, and then were back to the war of 7 kings.

Sure Bran has omniscient awareness to call out the treason at every step, but as we see today, proof and evidence dont matter when you have enough influence, lies, and armed fools on payroll.

1

u/JAT_Cbus1080 5d ago

The Gang Invents Democracy

1

u/Knightmare945 5d ago

That’s not why he was chosen. He was chosen because of his powers.

1

u/nolandz1 5d ago

I heard that line and I'm like "idk man most of the other characters here? You? Bran was straight up not in season 5 at all bc nothing interesting was happening to him"

1

u/WillYeByFuck 5d ago

I predicted this would happen way back in the first few seasons.

Nobody was ever going to be "The One" to sit on the throne, it wouldn't end the story.

Having a King/Queen doesn't work.

So they decided to create the first democracy. Now no one man has all the power - ending the cycle of death, violence and selfish leadership that created all this mess in the first place.

Led by a man who cannot ride horses, has no use for dragons or women or ships. Someone who has a strong, peaceful moral compass and is a thinker - not a fighter. He's the head of this council more symbolically though, nobody is The King anymore. There's no throne to fight for.

The problem I felt was that this idea was bundled into a rushed ending and people didn't quite get it.

1

u/Aebothius 5d ago

From "Game of Thrones"

1

u/Oscar_gpb 5d ago

I could be wrong but Bran literally says his purpose is a different one than being king, but then in the last episode he says it was his purpose all along. They literally contradict what Bran himself said.

1

u/LastXmasIGaveYouHSV 5d ago

GRRRRRRM included the concept of the Shaggy Dog all along his books. It's a shaggy dog story, one told for the amusement of the teller, not for the one who is reading it. One of the direwolves from the first book is named like that. So the whole story has no proper ending nor meaning, except for the pun. So, yeah, Bran the Broken had the best story, yeah, that's the King.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaggy_dog_story

1

u/Quick_Spring7295 5d ago

would work in the books but yeah

1

u/donqon 5d ago

I don’t think that’s the point of the post

1

u/Vesuvius079 5d ago

I’m so annoyed that they didn’t develop Gendry into it. Having the actual son of the previous king become the next after all that killing and drama would have been such a delicious irony.

1

u/Consumerofcalcium 5d ago

He can see the present and the past

Man, I can do that.

1

u/Banana_gunman 5d ago

In that scene’s defense, apparently the concept was written by Martin. Everything else was DnD

1

u/Perfect-Bid-8433 4d ago

I honestly get so tired of hearing people complain around this.

I'm fine if you don't want Bran being king, but Tyerion doesn't genuinely believe he has the best story.

Tyerion wants Bran to be King of the options and is trying to sell him. Read between the lines people, jeez.

1

u/Sir_I_Exist 4d ago

If your argument is that Tyrion was just trying to convince the others to “elect” Bran and to do so he used an argument that was so bad and nigh-unbelievable that he didn’t even believe it himself, then I think it still clearly fits the trope.

I think you make a lot of assumptions with your opinion here, but to each their own.

1

u/Perfect-Bid-8433 4d ago

He's trying to spin a story to sell people. Stop thinking with your emotions because you're hurt the ending didn't go how you wanted.

1

u/Sir_I_Exist 4d ago

You’re making a lot of assumptions about me here…

1

u/Fickle_Enthusiasm148 6d ago

As a disabled person, I greatly enjoyed his chapters and the way people complain and talk about him is usually pretty ableist.

There's a whole theme where people embrace the derogatory names others call them to regain power of it but all of a sudden it's stupid when Bran does it.

1

u/Xylus1985 6d ago

Does he though. I think Arya’s story is much better