# Game of Thrones 3.06 "The Climb" 5/5/2013 No Spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 6, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-06-the-climb-5-5-2013-no-spoilers/657592 "2013-05-06T02:09:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-06-the-climb-5-5-2013-no-spoilers/657592/321 "2013-05-10T14:14:11Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > While undoubtedly there were hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle Ages who lived mundane lives full of farming and dysentery without ever having their village burned down by marauders, Evil Captor is right about Medieval warfare and politics being even nastier in real life than it is in Game of Thrones. I’m not entirely sure it’s physically possible to read an entire book about the history of the Byzantine Empire without vomiting at least once. > > There are several different themes one could draw from Game of Thrones, but a major one is clearly that feudalistic monarchies are a ridiculous and terrible form of government. The fact that someone with no redeeming qualities like Joffrey could wind up in a position of supreme authority is an indictment of the system. It’s not just that Joffrey isn’t the best person to be king, he is literally the worst person possible to make king. In a situation where there are enemies who want to conquer you all around, the best person to be king is the best leader of an army. That is why it made sense for Robert to be king. The problem is when Robert dies then the only way to find out if his succesor is the best at leading an army is to have a civil war and let the winner be king. That is untenable so hereditary monarchs make some sense, because it avoids a civil war and hopefully leadership ability may be passed on from the father. The best situation is a republican form of government, but that requires the military submitting to civilian authority which was relatively rare in history until a few centuries ago. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-06-the-climb-5-5-2013-no-spoilers/657592/322 "2013-05-10T15:51:41Z")
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time.” - Winston Churchill ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-06-the-climb-5-5-2013-no-spoilers/657592/323 "2013-05-11T03:56:59Z")
(I don’t know if these have been posted.) GOT [Mothers’ Day cards](http://www.happyplace.com/23803/game-of-thrones-mothers-day-cards) GOT episodes on [Facebook](http://www.happyplace.com/23726/game-of-thrones-facebook-recap-season-3-episode-6) ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-06-the-climb-5-5-2013-no-spoilers/657592/324 "2013-05-11T04:30:20Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > (I don’t know if these have been posted.) > > GOT [Mothers’ Day cards](http://www.happyplace.com/23803/game-of-thrones-mothers-day-cards) > > GOT episodes on [Facebook](http://www.happyplace.com/23726/game-of-thrones-facebook-recap-season-3-episode-6) Hodor Mother’s Day, everybody. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-06-the-climb-5-5-2013-no-spoilers/657592/325 "2013-05-12T17:13:32Z")
[3.07 thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=16282616) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-06-the-climb-5-5-2013-no-spoilers/657592/326 "2013-05-12T18:12:57Z")
> [@Shooby](#): > > Joffrey had a terrible upbringing in terms of emotional/mental development, with a father who ignored him and a mother who pandered to his every whim and megalomaniacal impulse. That’s about it in terms of sympathetic aspects to him, though. Plus don’t forget he’s the product of incest so he may have a touch of madness from it. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-06-the-climb-5-5-2013-no-spoilers/657592/327 "2013-05-12T18:48:47Z")
I can’t believe that one generation of incest could be blamed for psychopathy. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-06-the-climb-5-5-2013-no-spoilers/657592/328 "2013-05-12T19:06:46Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I can’t believe that one generation of incest could be blamed for psychopathy. Well Tywin also married his first cousin, so Joffrey has a lot less ancestors than most of us. Interestingly (if you’re a nerd like me), while we often think of monarchs being descended from a long line of first cousin marriages, that didn’t become established habit in Western Europe until after the Middle Ages. Western European Medieval society considered first cousin marriages incestuous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-06-the-climb-5-5-2013-no-spoilers/657592.md?page=16)