The unspoken reason Robb marries Jeyne Westerling after they have sex is because he doesn’t want to be like his father, right? He doesn’t want to knock someone up in the middle of a war and wind up with a bastard, making no one happy — not the dad, not the mom, not the kid, not the Frey wife, not the Frey wife’s legitimate kids.
Robb loses the war he’s fighting to avenge his father because he doesn’t want to be like his father.
Yeah but I mean, I kind of always read that decision as Robb trying to be the way Ned taught him to be and put honor first. Otherwise, he could easily just walk away and say I don’t have to hold myself accountable for what I did because it was out of grief and I’m a man with privilege, oops. But he didn’t.
I agree with what you’re saying, I’m just saying I always interpreted it a little differently in the sense that I don’t think Martin was trying to make this an ironic moment, but rather give both Robb and Ned the same tragic flaw. I don’t think Robb ever defined Ned by his “mistake” with Jon. If anything, I believe he acted out of a desire to keep his potential son from having to live the way he watched his half-brother live. And now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to sob over Robb/Jon feels some more.