#jon arryn

Sweetrobin art, I’m so excited!!!!! Look at my sweet boy. I personally really love Robert Arryn, I find him to be so cute and it makes me sad that so many people, mostly show watchers, see him as some cheap version of Joffrey. Robert Arryn is a 6 year old in AGOT that has stress induced seizures (most likely epilepsy) and learning/developmental delays. Personally, I’m of the opinion that these delays are expressed by genuine disability rather than being coddled, though Lysa’s infantilization of Sweetrobin exacerbates the problem and keeps him from improving. But he is very coddled and spoiled which impacts his behavior and makes him entitled. Still, he isn’t excessively cruel, he is deeply disturbed by the murder of his father, the nature of which his mother has twisted im his young mind, and the subsequent murder of his mother, whom he was very codependent on. Currently, he is a very frightened boy, and that is not his fault. He doesn’t understand very well how to be a good lord, but it seems his instincts are to be generous. Still, he doesn’t know who to trust because of all the morbid things filling his head, namely that people are waiting on him to die (which is true). Currently, because of his age and delays, Robert Arryn is one of those lords whose success completely lies in the people surrounding him.

CW for pregnancy (miscarriage and stillbirth) and infant loss in the next paragraph.

In AGOT, we learn early on that Jon Arryn has been Hand of the King for the entirety of Robert Baratheon’s reign, and therefore the entirety of Robert Arryn’s life. Robert has been living in King’s Landing with his mother and father, though due to the numbers and locations we are given for Lysa’s stillbirths and miscarriages, they also lived back at the Eyrie for some durations of time. Sweetrobin was born sickly, which was to be expected as all of his full siblings and his one half-sibling were not born alive. I am a birth worker irl and I’ve seen some confusion over miscarriages and stillbirths, which to me is relevant here, so excuse me as I ramble. A miscarriage is the end of a pregnancy from the beginning to 19 weeks (though in modern times, some people do deliver babies at 17-18 weeks that are born alive and live for an hour or so, in which case I would definitely consider that to be a perinatal death instead of a miscarriage) and a stillbirth is the end of a pregnancy from 19 weeks to 40 weeks, or I suppose longer if you don’t go into labor at 40 weeks. This distinction is important because in Lysa’s case for two reasons, her only psychology and mental break, and also to confirm paternity of Robert Arryn. When you have a stillbirth, especially one late term, it is entirely possible and even probable that had labor been induced earlier, the baby would have been born alive and given proper medical care that would ensure its survival. Most miscarriages are a result of some genetic issue that renders the embryo or fetus incompatible with life, but once we get to a stage in pregnancy where an end to it would be considered a stillbirth, it is more likely a physical issue like a problem with the placenta or not enough amniotic fluid, or respiration on meconium, that ends the life of an otherwise perfectly healthy fetus. This is not always true, but it is often true. Therefore, part of Lysa’s mental state could be the trauma that her children might have been perfectly healthy had she delivered them earlier, which is what I posit happened with Robert Arryn. This also could give her feelings of personal responsibility, like if she had been in control there everything would be fine, so she must control her living child to keep him safe. Regarding Robert’s paternity, there’s no bastardy rumors on him in universe, but lots of people have theorized that because of his siblings not being born alive, Robert must be the son of Littlefinger. Part of it seems to stem from a misunderstanding of what infertile means. If Jon Arryn was infertile, he would be incapable of impregnating anyone at all, which we’ve seen with two of his wives, he has. He may be sub-fertile and have problems with his genetic material, but that would also make sense with Sweetrobin being sick and possibly born early. Jon Arryn’s offspring were capable of developing at least halfway through pregnancy multiple times, and from that information, I feel the most likely explanation is that Sweetrobin was simply delivered before whatever ended the other pregnancies got to him as well. That does raise an interesting question on if that labor was spontaneous or if Lysa did something to induce it, to “save him”, which would have worked but also left him disabled, but of course there is nothing solid to back that up and pure speculation.

Had to break that up into two paragraphs because it became a bit of a tangent, but whatever the case, Robert Arryn is sick and his mother is very overprotective of him. She breastfed him for 6 years, which to be fair to her given my knowledge on breast milk as a birth worker, probably did aid his health, but certainly hindered his social skills. I also don’t think she was doing it for his health, but to keep him reliant on her. We don’t really know anything else about his life prior to AGOT other than he was bullied by Joffrey in King’s Landing. There’s not any information on how involved Jon Arryn was in his son’s life. We know he was physically there in the same location of his son, but we also know he was very preoccupied with trying to keep the realm together under the reign of Robert Baratheon. Unfortunately, in many ways, Jon seemed to choose Robert Baratheon, who was his foster son, and the realm, over his biological son’s well-being, though given it was all of Westeros in the balance and Jon may have felt he was the only one who could keep the King semi-in check, it is not as simple as which Robert he loved more. Still, Jon did nothing to curtail Lysa’s abuse (though of course, Lysa did not mean to abuse Robert, she simply was not well herself) on Robert and let him be hindered from developing for years. Jon was an old man, around 80 years old, but he still in a position of power in this patriarchal society, so while Lysa had the direct hand in keeping Robert feeble, Jon is also responsible for not stopping it. While Jon lay dying, he called for Robert. We know he meant Robert Baratheon, but everyone else did not know if he meant the King or his son. Whatever the case, Sweetrobin was not allowed to see him. Lord Arryn’s last words were “the seed is strong”, which of course is referring to the Baratheon’s all having children with black hair and Cersei’s children being bastards. Lysa thought, quite reasonably, that he was referring to his own son. He was the only child that had lived, after all, and he had fought his illness thus far. Jon’s last words being about his son and a reassurance that he would live would be sweet, but alas, Lord Arryn was preoccupied. It breaks my heart a little, but that’s beside the point.

Falconry was a popular hobby among the nobility throughout history, and is likely an important hobby to House Arryn. Their sigil is a falcon, after all. Jon taught Ned and Robert falconry, but I’m not sure he ever got around to teaching Sweetrobin. I wish he had :/ this how this piece came to be. Someone needs to teach him NOW! And I asked for him and father to have matching outfits too. RIP Lysa, you would have loved putting your entire family in matching clothes.

My hope for Robert in the future is that he will NOT DIE, that Littlefinger will be ousted (I don’t think he’ll die yet) as guardian and Yohn Royce will replace him. Robert has no hope as long as Petyr Baelish is in control of him, as he’s being drugged and getting sicker and Baelish is banking on Hardyng. Lord Royce seems to be one of *very few* people that is interested in the life and wellbeing of Sweetrobin. Yohn served Jon loyally and is the only person I can think of that can be trusted to keep Robert Arryn well. I also think him more sympathetic to the Starks, so Jon will have an easier time getting the Vale’s help in preparation for the Long Night. This might also be the key for Alayne’s reveal and delivering her back to Jon (or Rickon, I suppose, if he’s found an a faction against Jon is placed, but I really just don’t see Jon openly fighting against Rickon, if anything it would against the regent Wyman, which again, I don’t think is happening). This is all more Yohn’s decisions rather than Sweetrobin’s, but considering that people’s opinions on Sweetrobin have already been formed based on sinister forces controlling him, my hope is the opinions will swing the other way when kinder forces surround him. Given Robert’s eagerness of the story of the Winged Knight, I do feel that he wants to be a good and just knight, he only needs to be guided. He’s a small child, after all. Hopefully, his nature can be exemplified perhaps even in a moment when Alayne is revealed, that Robert’s instinct even before being told to do by Yohn will be to help her, because he loves her. I just feel that he’s painfully misunderstood, it makes me feel like I’m going insane to see a child such as him be labeled as sadistic or bad-natured. At any rate, if he survives, it would make sense for him to be one of the members at the Great Council that potentially instates Bran as ruler. After all, if we’re to believe that that is where the story will end, the people making that decision would more than likely have some sort of connection to him. That’s all just wishful thinking, however. Robert’s fate looks grim as of right now. But Harry Hardyng is not that sympathetic in the sample Winds chapter, so it would make more sense to me if Sansa’s arc has him having a hand in her death rather than an inadvertent hand in Robert’s. It’s my opinion that there is a reason that many claimants left in Westeros are weak or disabled: Doran with his gout (though I think he will die), Willas crippled in his leg, Bran paralyzed, Tyrion with dwarfism, and Robert Arryn with his seizures. He obviously has a soft spot for an underdog or those people otherwise doubt.