Robb Stark (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
needsnoheadsman) wrote2019-05-31 05:39 pm
needsnoheadsman) wrote2019-05-31 05:39 pm
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asgardgenesis app.
OOC INFO;
Player Name: Effy
Contact Info:ineffabilities, ![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
robbstark, Discord: foggytealeafs#7641
IC INFO;
Character Name: Robb Stark
Canon: A Song of Ice and Fire (books)
Canon Information: A Song of Ice and Fire on Wikipedia, ASOIAF on A Wiki of Ice and Fire
Canon Point: A Storm of Swords, post-Red Wedding
Age: 16
God Houses:
Personality:
The first thing you should know about Robb Stark is that he is honorable. Or at least, he values honor and loyalty very much, to the point where it could be considered a folly. He grew up in a family and a society where honor and duty were Very Important, especially for someone of his status, and this fact was impressed on him from a young age. Ned Stark, his late lord father, was one of the most honorable people Robb knew, and thus Robb tries his very best to follow his father's example, having been raised to follow in his father's steps as Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. He's dutiful, has a good sense of right and wrong, and, after having been crowned king, tries his hardest to carry out his duties as one, especially to the bannermen who put their trust in his abilities to lead them in a troubled time such as the Clash of the Five Kings. He knows fully well that his responsibilities as king are much bigger than the responsibilities he might've taken as lord of Winterfell, and does his best to live up to those expectations despite the fact that doing so is weighing heavy on him.
He applies those strict standards of honor to others as well. If you've proven yourself to be a trustworthy person to him, then all's well and good, but if you break that trust, as with the examples of Lord Karstark, one of his own bannermen, murdering two unarmed, defenseless prisoners in their cells or Theon Greyjoy taking Winterfell and allegedly killing his brothers, then Robb will take your head himself. The key word there is "himself": like his father and the rest of the Starks, Robb believes that "the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword". He'll do it, if he has to, but he won't take any joy from it. He'll lead armies and kill people in battle and execute traitors if he has to, but it'll weigh on him. Torturing prisoners of war, as Roose Bolton suggests, is out of the question, even to obtain valuable information that could turn the tide of the war—if he feels as if he can't do it himself, then he won't ask anyone else to do it for him. He won't lie about what he sees as his own failings or his own mistakes either, giving Edmure Tully "a look that chilled" at Edmure's suggestion of holding back information about the murders enacted by Rickard Karstark, and usually believes in at least being honest with the people he cares for about his decisions, despite knowing how they will see it, as seen when he tells Catelyn about his plan to make Jon Snow the heir to the kingdom, knowing fully well his mother's less-than-favorable view of his bastard brother.
He is, however, sixteen. By Westerosi standards, he might be a grown man capable of making decisions for a whole kingdom, but the truth is, he's a kid that's been thrust into a leadership role soon after his father's death, and in a time of war as well. He's expected to make the hard decisions, expected to be the hope of the North, expected to do what is right for the North and do right by his bannermen and the people he makes contracts with, such as the Freys. He's bound to make some huge mistakes out of impulse, among them being bedding and wedding Jeyne Westerling sometime during A Clash of Kings when he had promised to marry a Frey girl. Not only that, but he's emotional—he's not the type to overdo it or throw a tantrum, but he is a teenager, and though he can keep up the kingly mask around his bannermen, people he cares for can see through the cracks. Given that he doesn't have his own POV chapters in the books, we often rely on POV characters adjacent to him, such as Bran and Catelyn, to show us Robb at his most vulnerable. It's no coincidence that Bran's the one who sees him shaken and scared after the Greatjon of Umber waves his sword around in the Great Hall of Winterfell, in AGOT—Robb is outwardly cool and collected when the incident happens, and even gets in a good line about the Greatjon only meaning to cut his meat once he's sicced Grey Wind on the guy, but in the privacy of Bran's room, he confesses to being scared that the Greatjon would kill him, and to wishing that Eddard Stark, Bran and Robb's father, were still there. As king, Robb can't afford to be vulnerable, especially not in front of his men. As a boy, though, he needs to be, and he's caught between those needs.
He values his family quite a lot. The reason he went to war in the first place, after all, was because the Lannisters had taken his father and his sisters hostage, and he pardoned his mother after he learned she'd freed Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer and a very important hostage, and told him to bring back Robb's sisters. Hell, his grief after learning that his former best friend Theon Greyjoy had supposedly killed his brothers led to Jeyne offering him comfort. He cares for his family, though sometimes he puts something else above them, as in ACOK, when he refused to trade Jaime for his sisters, fearing that his bannermen wouldn't take it very well. He regrets it later on, though, even saying that he should've listened to his mother and traded Jaime for Sansa, at least. After his canon point, most likely he'll be very protective of them, and very regretful of some of the decisions he made, especially in regards towards them. Around his family and his closest friends, he feels far more free to let himself be vulnerable—Catelyn, Edmure and Brynden the Blackfish are the only ones who hear his doubt-filled speech about kingship and its difficulties, and he visits Bran once to talk to him about his own private fears and doubts.
In a world like Westeros, trusting people who you very obviously should not trust is not going to end up well for you, and yet, like his father, Robb does it anyway—he trusts Theon to hold to their friendship and not decide to side with the Greyjoys, Theon's actual family who he hasn't seen in years, and ends up losing Winterfell for it. He trusts the Freys to hold to their promises (granted, after he's broken his) and ends up dead for it. He even trusts Roose Bolton, whose house has a flayed man for a symbol, and guess who steps up to stab Robb in the heart at the Red Wedding. Robb, as demonstrated, is not always a very good judge of character—he applies those strict standards of honor to others, yes, but he usually defaults to trusting someone until that trust is broken. Robb might not believe the best of everyone he meets, he's grown far too fast in the midst of a war for that, but he does display an inclination towards believing that they'll at least respect societal standards such as the guest right and loyalty towards their liege lords, and does his best to follow those same standards as well and make amends when he believes he's wronged someone. While this would go better in any other world, unfortunately this is Westeros and Robb's last name is Stark, so that belief goes very, very poorly for him.
Most of what I've talked about there is Robb as a king. And while, at the very least, he tries his best to be a good king, he's still a boy, and that's what this part is about: Robb, before all this went down, had fun, and he still can. Sure, most of the time he's pretty serious, but if you're family, or someone he cares for very much, he'll let down his guard (see: him and Theon making fun of Roose Bolton's voice on occasion). He'll crack a few jokes, play a few pranks (see: that time he and Jon teamed up to scare Arya and Rickon in the crypts of Winterfell), and generally just be a teenaged boy, if one who's had to become a lot more serious and responsible since becoming King in the North. The other side of this is that Robb can sometimes let his emotions get the best of him and decide his actions for him—he almost tries to fight Joffrey with live steel when the prince makes fun of him in A Game of Thrones, having to be held back by Theon Greyjoy, who also does not have a great track record with good decisions. As said before, he's caught in between the crushing responsibilities of kingship in the middle of a war and the turbulence of adolescence in a medieval fantasy setting, and doesn't always manage to balance both with grace. This ends up costing him, which is a shame, because honestly—looking at the other candidates for king in Westeros, Robb is one of, like, two candidates who has some morals.
In summation, Robb is a decent person who, much like his father, can be prone to horrible judgments of other people's character, and is a teenaged boy thrust into a position of heavy responsibility at a fairly young age, in the middle of a war. All those tactical errors outside of the battlefield piled up and led to his early death, which is most definitely going to weigh on his mind once he comes into Asgard.
Writing Sample: TDM thread featuring Claire Fraser, Jeyne Westerling, and Roslin Frey
Player Name: Effy
Contact Info:
ineffabilities, IC INFO;
Character Name: Robb Stark
Canon: A Song of Ice and Fire (books)
Canon Information: A Song of Ice and Fire on Wikipedia, ASOIAF on A Wiki of Ice and Fire
Canon Point: A Storm of Swords, post-Red Wedding
Age: 16
God Houses:
Heimdall, at least to me, seems like the best fit for Robb, as he values loyalty and honor in others and strives to be a loyal, honorable, just man himself. He holds tight to a code of honor that his father, standing firmly by those beliefs and values instilled in him even if they seem incompatible with the world that he lives in, and explicitly states his desire to be a good king, "as honorable as Father, strong, just, loyal to my friends and brave when I faced my enemies". The problem is that he can stick a little too rigidly to that code of honor and believe that other people will at least cleave relatively closely to that same code, which can lead to some terrible misjudgments.
Mimir is another house that Robb might find himself attracted to, because he's surprisingly very good at battle strategy even at his young age. Notably, he's said to have won almost all of his battles, having defeated seasoned battle veteran Tywin Lannister and his forces in the field every time they've met, and had to be killed at a wedding where no one expected a fight. Outside of battle strategy, however he can be known to be somewhat impulsive and hot-headed, not entirely giving his actions more thought when caught in the midst of a strong emotion, so he can embody both sides of Mimir's house very well.
Personality:
The first thing you should know about Robb Stark is that he is honorable. Or at least, he values honor and loyalty very much, to the point where it could be considered a folly. He grew up in a family and a society where honor and duty were Very Important, especially for someone of his status, and this fact was impressed on him from a young age. Ned Stark, his late lord father, was one of the most honorable people Robb knew, and thus Robb tries his very best to follow his father's example, having been raised to follow in his father's steps as Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. He's dutiful, has a good sense of right and wrong, and, after having been crowned king, tries his hardest to carry out his duties as one, especially to the bannermen who put their trust in his abilities to lead them in a troubled time such as the Clash of the Five Kings. He knows fully well that his responsibilities as king are much bigger than the responsibilities he might've taken as lord of Winterfell, and does his best to live up to those expectations despite the fact that doing so is weighing heavy on him.
He applies those strict standards of honor to others as well. If you've proven yourself to be a trustworthy person to him, then all's well and good, but if you break that trust, as with the examples of Lord Karstark, one of his own bannermen, murdering two unarmed, defenseless prisoners in their cells or Theon Greyjoy taking Winterfell and allegedly killing his brothers, then Robb will take your head himself. The key word there is "himself": like his father and the rest of the Starks, Robb believes that "the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword". He'll do it, if he has to, but he won't take any joy from it. He'll lead armies and kill people in battle and execute traitors if he has to, but it'll weigh on him. Torturing prisoners of war, as Roose Bolton suggests, is out of the question, even to obtain valuable information that could turn the tide of the war—if he feels as if he can't do it himself, then he won't ask anyone else to do it for him. He won't lie about what he sees as his own failings or his own mistakes either, giving Edmure Tully "a look that chilled" at Edmure's suggestion of holding back information about the murders enacted by Rickard Karstark, and usually believes in at least being honest with the people he cares for about his decisions, despite knowing how they will see it, as seen when he tells Catelyn about his plan to make Jon Snow the heir to the kingdom, knowing fully well his mother's less-than-favorable view of his bastard brother.
He is, however, sixteen. By Westerosi standards, he might be a grown man capable of making decisions for a whole kingdom, but the truth is, he's a kid that's been thrust into a leadership role soon after his father's death, and in a time of war as well. He's expected to make the hard decisions, expected to be the hope of the North, expected to do what is right for the North and do right by his bannermen and the people he makes contracts with, such as the Freys. He's bound to make some huge mistakes out of impulse, among them being bedding and wedding Jeyne Westerling sometime during A Clash of Kings when he had promised to marry a Frey girl. Not only that, but he's emotional—he's not the type to overdo it or throw a tantrum, but he is a teenager, and though he can keep up the kingly mask around his bannermen, people he cares for can see through the cracks. Given that he doesn't have his own POV chapters in the books, we often rely on POV characters adjacent to him, such as Bran and Catelyn, to show us Robb at his most vulnerable. It's no coincidence that Bran's the one who sees him shaken and scared after the Greatjon of Umber waves his sword around in the Great Hall of Winterfell, in AGOT—Robb is outwardly cool and collected when the incident happens, and even gets in a good line about the Greatjon only meaning to cut his meat once he's sicced Grey Wind on the guy, but in the privacy of Bran's room, he confesses to being scared that the Greatjon would kill him, and to wishing that Eddard Stark, Bran and Robb's father, were still there. As king, Robb can't afford to be vulnerable, especially not in front of his men. As a boy, though, he needs to be, and he's caught between those needs.
He values his family quite a lot. The reason he went to war in the first place, after all, was because the Lannisters had taken his father and his sisters hostage, and he pardoned his mother after he learned she'd freed Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer and a very important hostage, and told him to bring back Robb's sisters. Hell, his grief after learning that his former best friend Theon Greyjoy had supposedly killed his brothers led to Jeyne offering him comfort. He cares for his family, though sometimes he puts something else above them, as in ACOK, when he refused to trade Jaime for his sisters, fearing that his bannermen wouldn't take it very well. He regrets it later on, though, even saying that he should've listened to his mother and traded Jaime for Sansa, at least. After his canon point, most likely he'll be very protective of them, and very regretful of some of the decisions he made, especially in regards towards them. Around his family and his closest friends, he feels far more free to let himself be vulnerable—Catelyn, Edmure and Brynden the Blackfish are the only ones who hear his doubt-filled speech about kingship and its difficulties, and he visits Bran once to talk to him about his own private fears and doubts.
In a world like Westeros, trusting people who you very obviously should not trust is not going to end up well for you, and yet, like his father, Robb does it anyway—he trusts Theon to hold to their friendship and not decide to side with the Greyjoys, Theon's actual family who he hasn't seen in years, and ends up losing Winterfell for it. He trusts the Freys to hold to their promises (granted, after he's broken his) and ends up dead for it. He even trusts Roose Bolton, whose house has a flayed man for a symbol, and guess who steps up to stab Robb in the heart at the Red Wedding. Robb, as demonstrated, is not always a very good judge of character—he applies those strict standards of honor to others, yes, but he usually defaults to trusting someone until that trust is broken. Robb might not believe the best of everyone he meets, he's grown far too fast in the midst of a war for that, but he does display an inclination towards believing that they'll at least respect societal standards such as the guest right and loyalty towards their liege lords, and does his best to follow those same standards as well and make amends when he believes he's wronged someone. While this would go better in any other world, unfortunately this is Westeros and Robb's last name is Stark, so that belief goes very, very poorly for him.
Most of what I've talked about there is Robb as a king. And while, at the very least, he tries his best to be a good king, he's still a boy, and that's what this part is about: Robb, before all this went down, had fun, and he still can. Sure, most of the time he's pretty serious, but if you're family, or someone he cares for very much, he'll let down his guard (see: him and Theon making fun of Roose Bolton's voice on occasion). He'll crack a few jokes, play a few pranks (see: that time he and Jon teamed up to scare Arya and Rickon in the crypts of Winterfell), and generally just be a teenaged boy, if one who's had to become a lot more serious and responsible since becoming King in the North. The other side of this is that Robb can sometimes let his emotions get the best of him and decide his actions for him—he almost tries to fight Joffrey with live steel when the prince makes fun of him in A Game of Thrones, having to be held back by Theon Greyjoy, who also does not have a great track record with good decisions. As said before, he's caught in between the crushing responsibilities of kingship in the middle of a war and the turbulence of adolescence in a medieval fantasy setting, and doesn't always manage to balance both with grace. This ends up costing him, which is a shame, because honestly—looking at the other candidates for king in Westeros, Robb is one of, like, two candidates who has some morals.
In summation, Robb is a decent person who, much like his father, can be prone to horrible judgments of other people's character, and is a teenaged boy thrust into a position of heavy responsibility at a fairly young age, in the middle of a war. All those tactical errors outside of the battlefield piled up and led to his early death, which is most definitely going to weigh on his mind once he comes into Asgard.
Writing Sample: TDM thread featuring Claire Fraser, Jeyne Westerling, and Roslin Frey