Elheru Aran wrote:LadyTevar wrote:For one thing? He'd not marry
Not only is this characteristic of Batman, it's a fairly sensible move as it gives him options in the future-- he can use the enticement of having a powerful in with the King (assuming he sees his way towards filling Robert's historic role as becoming King of Westeros) as a way to make alliances with the various Houses.
That and that marriage in a pseudo-medieval shit hole like Westeros is basically legally sanctioned sexual slavery (often with girls below the age of consent). Bruce's morals would rebel at such a match.
That leaves the problem of heirs, though.
Could he adopt some noble kid he considers suitable into his house? Which, come to think of it, is basically what he did with Robin (aside from the nobility).
On the other hand, it can hurt him as until he *actually* marries someone, he won't *actually* have that kind of pull, and if he decides to NOT do what Robert did and become King-- I honestly can't see him going that way, it's simply too visible of a position-- he won't have more pull than what House Baratheon normally does. Which, mind you, is pretty generous as it's one of the paramount Houses of Westeros.
While actual political office is something that Bruce, to my knowledge, has never held or shown interest in holding, he is, of course, no stranger to juggling a high-profile public persona with his secret vigilante crusade. Playboy CEO of one of the world's great corporations (with a tragic backstory for the media to latch onto) is not a low-profile position.
But a king may have less freedom to come and go as he pleases unnoticed, since he'll be constantly surrounded by the usual feudal retinue.
On the other hand, a lot of the things that could potentially expose him in our/his world (an independent judiciary, the paparazzi, voice/facial recognition software, etc.) is not going to exist in Westeros or any of its neighbours.
Still, I don't think Bruce could operate as Batman for long while sitting on the Iron Throne without Varys figuring out something was up. Nor do I think that he would want to sit on the Iron Throne. His life is entirely about his crusade against crime, especially to save Gotham, aside from occasional interruptions by what personal attachments he has. Its likely (depending on the version, anyway) that he fears taking on the role of judge/executioner, which he'd have to if he was a king or even a lord.
Perhaps he could be convinced to sit on the throne if he believed it was the only way to bring justice to Westeros, but I think it would change him- and that's presuming he could even break out of his usual patterns enough to do it.
Although, all this raises an interesting question: If he were removed from Gotham, and had no immediate way to get back, and if this situation persisted for a prolonged period of time, what would Bruce do with himself? Would he even continue his crusade now that such a huge part of his motivation was gone? Most likely he'd devote all his energies to getting back home, and failing that... I don't know.
Probably he'd stay Batman though. He probably doesn't have a clue how to be anything else at this point.
And he won't have the same hang-up over Lyanna Stark that OTL Robert did. It's quite possible that without him flying into a rage over Rhaegar kidnapping her and only pursuing formal inquiries with Aegon Targaryen's court, the war that topples the Targaryens may not happen or will happen in a different form.
I can't see the Starks letting it go regardless, especially after Ned's kin got offed by the Mad King.
Bruce could just say he's sitting it out (probably earning the life-long enmity of House Stark, although I doubt they'd win without his assistance), but its a hell of a choice for him, because either way, people will die because of him.
Either he fights at Ned's side, and people die, if not by his hand, then as a consequence of his orders. Or he backs down, and the Starks probably get crushed in a lopsided war while the Mad King keeps killing people.
Though, dealing with the Mad King would probably be something he'd do regardless. With the insanity, dragon fetish, huge fortress, and stash of wildfyre, Aerys could reasonably be considered the medieval equivalent of a super villain.
But I doubt Bruce would handle it the way Robert did, leading an army against Aerys. More likely he'd try to employ his tried and true methods: Acting alone, or with a small group of trusted, capable confederates, he'd try to take down Aerys's regime with surgical strikes. He'd probably go after Lyanna first (save the innocent victim) and take our the King's Guards protecting her, and Rhaegar if he's their. Disable the King's Guards (though given the points raised about realism and mediaeval health care, unintended deaths are likely), free Lyanna, bring Raegar to Ned's camp trussed up like a turkey to face the closest thing their is to legitimate Justice in Westeros.
Strike two would be infiltrating King's Landing and trying to capture Aerys and spirit him out of the city as a captive. With him as a hostage, they could demand the Targaryens negotiate terms.
Not a realistic strategy in real life, I suppose, but that's how Batman operates, and how it would likely go down if it were a Batman story.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver
"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.
I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
