Remember that dragons only died out roughly 100 years before GOT. After that time, House Targ combined their houses through marriage to Storm's End (Robert's great grandmother was a targ) and Dorne. Before this time, it was not common for the major houses to intermarry, so it's not like there was a big alliance to overthrow house targ. Beginning after the war of the ninepenny kings (blackfyre rebellion part 2 in the stepstones) Jon Arryn, Rickard Stark, and Hoster Tully began to plot together using marriages and wards to form an alliance. See this essay for further explanantion: http://towerofthehand.com/blog/2012/01/05-southron-ambitions/index.html (don't forget to set the scope so it shows up). By marrying Lysa to Jon Arryn and Catelyn to Brandon (original plan before rebellion), the three houses would be combined. Next, Lyanna was pledged to Robert to combine them with Storm's End. It isn't certain yet, but this threat may have been behind Aerys killing Rickard and Brandon, and his insanity due to paranoia. I think the Lannisters were playing both sides of the fence with Tywin trying to marry Cersei to Rhaegar and Jamie was sent to Riverrun to get to know Hoster's daughters in hopes of a marriage. In the end, I think the dragons dying did begin the downfall of House Targ and it took a hundred years for it to finally come to a head with Aerys killing the starks and Rhaegar and Lyanna breaking her betrothal to Robert. I am curious to see if Summerhall played a role as well, and I look forward to the future Dunk and Egg Tales to shed light on what happened there.
one thing I missed was Jaime being sent to Riverrun to aquaint himself with the Tully girls. I thought they were both spoken for (Brandon & Jon Arryn) and Jaime was made a member of the Kingsguard when he was like 15. also, I think Aerys killing Brandon and Rickard had everything to do with Brandon riding into King's Landing and saying he was going to kill Rhaegar.
That shit is insane. I would take a damned class in "Westeros History: Aegon the Conqueror to Robert the Usurper"
He was 12 or 13 when he was sent to Riverrun. He reminisces about it in Book 4 I believe right before he treats with the Blackfish. You're right on Brandon. I mistakenly thought he came to King's Landing because Aerys had his father. It was the other way around. Perhaps the reaction to R+L was negative because it fucked up Rickard's plans with the Arryns, Barratheons, and Tullys.
See reading stuff like that write up makes me think that there's no way GRRM really knows what he's doing. I don't mean that in a bad way but when he got the idea for this series did he really create these backstories in his head and then just drop hints here and there? I mean did he really think of these alliances that happened before the time frame of the book and just keep it in mind? Lost had a group of writers and they were just throwing stuff on the wall with no idea how to bring all the little hints and plot points together but GRRM is this genious with all this stuff in his head?
I disagree. when you watch him speak he responds to the questions like a historian would. if there is any question in his mind he always refers to his "notes". I'm sure there are some holes here and there, but I really believe he has course of events in Westeros mapped out somewhere.
Do you think he had all that together from the beginning or fleshed some of it out later? Doesn't really matter that much but I think about how George Lucas changed stuff up in Star Wars after the first one
I'm sure he had the broad strokes laid out when he was starting and has continued to fill in the specific details since. With all the work he's put into it by now it likely is an extremely detailed reference.
As he has said on many occasions, the story grows with the telling. He originally envisioned a trilogy, and has the fates of all the main characters figured out along with the main plot lines. The lesser characters' fates change as he writes to fit the story. I'm sure he elaborated on the back story with the Blackfyres when he published the Dunk and Egg tales beyond what he originally considered before GOT, and made it fit with what he wants to do down the line. Not to mention, he is definitely throwing some red herrings out there that will make many theories look retarded if and when the series finishes.
Fleshed it out From what I heard, he had planned to kill off Arya in SOS and his wife loved the character so much she talked him into keeping her alive. So that is an example of a piece of the story he is having to integrate into the larger story after he began.
Thought it was game of thrones back when the first three books were suppose to all be game of thrones.