Editing Stupid Evil (section)

===[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]===
The amount of retarded villains in this series is truly staggering. And yet, despite all of the stupid evil committed by them, [[Grimdark|they were able to secure many victories in the beginning]], even if only because the good guys are either more [[Lawful Stupid]] or [[Stupid Good]]. Ultimately however, most of the Lannisters and their allies, including the Boltons and Freys met their ends in spite of their ruthlessness. 

Of course, A Song of Ice and Fire is known for its frequent grey morality, and most Stupid Evil characters have something of an explanation. Even then, you'd be inclined to wonder how far ahead some of them were really thinking, especially in the adaptations - though it's arguably intentional, possibly to demonstrate how [[Not As Planned|a lack of pragmatism fucks people over in the long-term]], especially in a realm so rapidly driven by [[Just as planned|ever-changing politics and schemes]] ([[Skub|or possibly because of bad writing, who knows]]).

'''The Lannisters'''

Lannister-brand parenting and ruling revolves around nepotism, an iron fist and enough money to solve any problem thrown at them. While they enjoy significant successes at first, they also gave birth to some of the most short-sighted sociopaths who rely on their fortune, both material and immaterial, to try and win the Game of Thrones, and all ultimately lose in the end due to both fortunes running short. Examples of the Lannisters' worst offenders:

* Joffrey Baratheon is both very impulsive and sadistic, which is an already disastrous pairing of personality traits to combine with the fact that he's 12 - 15 years old across the books. On the note of not-even-really-excuses, there's also possible mental instability resulting from the fact that he's inbred and his mother is Cersei (more on her in a moment).
** He hires a peasant and gives them a Valyrian Blade to kill Bran Stark - this is one of only a few hundred such weapons in all of Westeros, and an unusual weapon for a common hitman when a common dirk would have sufficed; when that fails, it causes the Starks to suspect the Lannisters. He also kills Eddard Stark to make an example of him, therefore sparking an unnecessary and very costly civil war that went against what his family had planned. Despite that, they still came out on top since they are still standing while the Starks are scattered, due mainly to Tywin and Tyrion being [[Creed|tactical geniuses and strategic masterminds.]]
** He also chooses to ignore his duties and the welfare of his people in favor of satiating his sadistic behavior, even abusing them when they're seeking his help. He regularly abuses Sansa in particular, and threatens to have her killed despite the fact it will reduce her value as a political hostage and (in their eyes) could cause the Starks to kill their political hostage, Jaime Lannister.
** Having no regard for the peasants and working class under your charge is already a bad idea, but is ''especially'' so when there's an impending siege plus a food shortage and tensions are already high. This leads to a riot that causes several deaths when he orders a mass execution after one member of the crowd threw a dung ball at him.
** Even his family isn't safe from his viciousness, occasionally to the point of team-killing fuckery: he has one of his Kingsguard try to murder his uncle Tyrion in the middle of the Battle of Blackwater instead of just simply poisoning him (as Tyrion pointed out) and didn't even wait until after the battle which Tyrion was essential in.  He even calls Tywin a coward. ''Out loud. In front of other people. '''To his face.''''' Luckily for Joffrey they were related, or he would have been struck down. And as what turns out to be a final hurrah at his wedding, he insults his in-laws and his bride at their wedding reception and subjects Tyrion to petty tortures in front of everyone.
*** It should be noted that unlike many other examples on this list, Joff's stupid evil is at the narrative level is the point. A major problem for House Lannister is that their claim to the throne for a good chunk of the series is tied up in a cruel petty sociopathic idiot of a child, so they have to work around him to get anything done. The audience isn't supposed to think "What is Joffrey's latest fiendishly clever diabolical scheme?" but rather "alright, how did that asshat shit the bed this time?"

* Cersei Lannister, while not as dumb as her complete animal of a son Joffrey (low a bar as that is), is a narcissist's narcissist, with all the ultimately self-destructive stupidity that entails; egotistic, amoral, cunning and manipulative (which is definitely not to say wise or clever) and paranoid as fuck.  If she, for any reason, thinks you might threaten her or her children, even for something as minor as telling her her latest idea is a bad one, you're in trouble. At best, she will view you as an enemy and will be a passive-aggressive bitch to you, and at worst she'll have you brutally tortured to death, even if you're one of House Lannister's allies to whom good relations are vital. On top of all that, she's a contender for Worst Mother in Westeros, and her cruelty drove away even her incestuous lover, Jaime Lannister (which happened much earlier into the books than in the TV show).
** She invited Gregor Clegane (see below) to King's Landing at the same time Oberyn Martell is visiting, despite the fact that Gregor is the reason there's bad blood between House Lannister and House Martell, and the Martells know it.
** After Joffrey died, she went out of her way to rig the trial for his death against Tyrion, despite the circumstances ''already'' being against him - this made him more determined than ever to survive, and tipped off Oberyn that Tyrion is innocent of the crime. This led to the duel between Oberyn and Gregor that ruined the Lannister/Martell alliance and ''nearly'' cost the Lannisters their pet beast. 
** She also responded to a satirical puppet show about House Lannister being evil tyrants by having anyone who saw it either fined (up to half of all their money if they're rich) or mutilated (an eye cut out if they're too poor to pay), and then ordering the puppeteers executed. She didn't even mind the play at first - she only took offence because the ending had the Lannisters getting their comeuppance at the hands of a Targaryen. Then, instead of the headsman, she did something worse and handed the puppeteers over to her resident mad scientist for deadly experiments at his request. Ironically, events following this would vindicate the puppeteers for their play (more on ''that'' below).
** Cersei encouraged the worst aspects of her sons; in the case of Joffrey, this is like attempting to put out a forest fire with napalm. Her atrocious parenting, combined with conceiving Joffrey with her brother Jamie AND Robert's own negligence, is the reason Joffrey's such a repulsive asshole. She ignores the numerous acts of cruelty and stupidity of her eldest son, and treats any criticism of him as a personal attack on ''her''.
** She was an overbearing mother to Tommen - her actually half-decent person of a second son - to the point of [[What|trying to make him more like Joffrey]], which inevitably failed and made Tommen a gullible yes-man of a momma's boy. This in turn left them vulnerable to the ambitions of Margaery Tyrell, who tries to drive a wedge between them and threatens her plans to rule as queen regent until Tommen was of age.  Cersei also neglected her daughter Myrecella since the patriarchal nature of Westeros royalty meant she was unlikely to get power... despite Cersei regularly complaining about sexism against women.
** She killed a high septon because he was a cat's paw Tyrion put into power to keep the faith in House Lannister's pocket (being a decent but easily manipulated man), because Cersei's paranoia meant she feared that Tyrion was out to get her and that guy was in on it. This leads to a more competent and devout high septon getting into power with ambitions of his own. She then let him raise his own army, creating another player to threaten House Lannister's precarious position and one unbeholden to politics, which leads to her arrest - though in the books he was smart and played Cersei like a fiddle. In context, Cersei's undoing is a good thing - especially for everyone not allied with House Lannister.
** In the TV show, as revenge for the High Sparrow imprisoning her and Margaery taking her place as Queen (which is partly her fault in the ''first place''), she makes the perfectly rational decision to blow them all to fuck using magical napalm while they were at church for a trial. The end result was: Making the High Sparrow a martyr and driving the followers of the faith into a fervor that fuels uprisings; driving Tommen (who was friends with the High Sparrow and loved Margaery dearly) to commit suicide via jumping out a window; and pushing a pissed Olenna Tyrell to withdraw all the house's support from King's Landing and declare for the resurgent House Targaryen alongside Dorne. Cersei and House Lannister now literally had no major allies left in Westeros sans the Freys, who aren't at all reliable and were being destroyed by Arya and the Boltons when their treachery outstripped the benefits. 
** Unfortunately, she was still one step ahead and easily took out Houses Tyrell and Dorne despite their efforts, using the Iron Bank to buy herself a mercenary force and recruit Euron at the cost of losing Casterly Rock to her rivals (though this was helped by some internal team-killing from Oberyn's widow thanks to the fact the Martell/Tyrell relation are as bad as Stark/Lannister, it's a bloody epidemic in that show).
** Also in the TV show, when Daenerys and her supports come to parlay with Cersei's forces for help against the White Walkers and their zombie armies - showing proof by cutting up a captured zombie with the pieces still attacking - Cersei did the stupidest possible thing and refused to support them for sheer spite, deciding she'd rather "let the dead eat them all". She ignored the fact that this would leave her on the receiving end of a curb-stomp battle from either the aforementioned While Walkers (whose undead army would be bolstered by the dead from Daenerys') or Daenerys' forces AND everyone else grateful Daenerys beat the White Walkers/sick of Cersei. This ultimately comes back to bite her when she kills Missandei and pushes Daenerys over the edge from Lawful Neutral to Stupid Evil as she gives no quarter to anyone in King's Landing and commands the Dorathki, Unsullied and her dragon to rape, pillage and burn down King's Landing and leave no survivors - Cersei and her brother Jamie were crushed to death by the falling rubble. Of course, as will soon be made clear, Danerys was turned into a draconian (hue) powder keg of Stupid Evil herself, but for now we move to...

* Arguably Tywin Lannister: while known for his image of being a deviously competent politician and general, his actions don't hold up to the hype under further scrutiny. His neurotic obsession with protecting his house's reputation leads him to condone and engage in acts of excessive cruelty and brutality that have long term negative consequences, with his patriarchal narcissism ultimately resulting in his death at the hands of his dwarf son.
** One action of his should be noted as a an example of effective ruthlessness as opposed to the petty narcissism he would engage in later: His complete destruction of House Tarbeck and House Reyne in their rebellion. Tywin's father was a generous and good man, which made him a pathetic weakling in the eyes of his vassals. When this sparked a rebellion, Tywin went all in and destroyed the rebelling houses, reminding everyone that he was most definitely in charge unlike his father. Judging by his later actions, this one act seems to have made Tywin believe in his own hype.
** Spurned Tyrion out of spite for his unintentional role in his wife's death - she died in childbirth. He did this for Tyrion's entire life, including annulling Tyrion's marriage to a peasant girl by having her gang-raped while forcing Tyrion to watch ''and later join in'' - this act horrified even Bronn, Tyrion's amoral sword-for-hire who'd kill a baby for the right price, saying in Tyrion's shoes he'd have killed Tywin for that, father or not. All this leaves the only one of his children who was both competent ''and'' legally available to inherit Casterly Rock with a burning hatred for Tywin.
** Sent Gregor Clegane after Elia Martell and her kids, planning for the children's death but hoping to use Elia as leverage against the Dornish; however, he forgot what a monster Gregor is and she dies as a result, with House Martell despising House Lannister, and likely setting in motion a possible (though ultimately ineffectual) poisoning with Widow's Blood by Oberyn Martell (It stops up the bowels until the victim dies of sepsis, which may have been why he was on the shitter when Tyrion killed him).
** Ordered Clegane and the Brave Companions/Bloody Mummers mercenary company to run wild in the Riverlands, causing a major agricultural zone for the continent to drop in productivity during the onset of a winter that could last years. Those affected by the rampages of Gregor and the Bloody Mummers also started to join the Sparrows religious movement, creating more opponents of House Lannister that have deep personal grievances with them (such as a peasant innkeeper whose son was murdered by Gregor's men and whose daughter was raped by Gregor himself).
** Orchestrated the Red Wedding, shredding House Lannister's political image and credibility throughout Westeros - nobody wants to negotiate with someone who doesn't follow the same rules of war as them, like say, honoring a right to hospitality that the entire continent respects. In a bitter stroke of irony, his own grandson Joffrey would be murdered by Olenna Tyrell at his own wedding with Margery to spare her of the same fate Sansa suffered, meaning that everything he did to bring Joffrey to power was all for nothing ''and'' widened the rift between Tyrion by letting him take the fall for Joffey's death, as well as allowing the Tyrells to have an advantage over the Lannisters with help from the Sparrows who as mentioned above, were supported by the Tyrells thanks to the atrocities committed.
** In particular, he berated Tyrion for whoremongering while using prostitutes himself. This is worth noting not merely for the expected hypocrisy, but for the fact that Tywin likely took issue with his ''severe'' lack of discretion more than anything else: what son of a Lannister, much less ''his'' own son, should be so well-known as a skirt-chaser?  Then he was founding banging Tyrion's sugar baby Shae; this last hurrah got him killed, as he mouthed off at Tyrion when the latter had a loaded crossbow pointed at him while he was stuck on the toilet and had learnt of his ultimate betrayal (it also led to Shae's death).  Ultimately, he died with the shameful legacy of being found dead on the toilet with - known only to a few - a dead prostitute in his bed and his corpse stinking up his own funeral, his daughter being remembered as a Targareyn-wannabe (not a compliment), his oldest grandson being a wimpy tyrant and his oldest son being an oath-breaking team-killing sister-fucker...  all while his rivals Ned and Robb were lionized (heh) as martyrs.

* Gregor Clegane is a serial killer with a short temper.  He's gone through three wives who died under suspicious circumstances. There's a high turnover rate among the servants at his keep and even animals avoid his chambers.  Before this, he maimed his brother Sandor and would've killed him if three men didn't intervene, and he's heavily implied to have murdered his sister and father, despite the father doting on him even when his evil started to become apparent.
** The circumstances surrounding him and his brother are as such: Gregor once caught his brother playing with one of Gregor's discarded toy soldiers when they were children. He took the logical next step of holding his brother's face over a fire, permanently disfiguring that half of his face and mentally scarring him; on top of a case of pyrophobia it arguably made him stagnate into a phase of prolonged "adult childhood" from a developmental disorder, based on this and his other actions.
** Before the story starts, it's an open secret that Gregor raped and murdered Rheagar's wife Elia Martell, even though he hadn't been ordered to do so and she was valuable political hostage.  He also killed a baby, and though he'd been ordered to do that, the fact remains that [[Grimdark|he had no qualms about the deed and went so far as smashing his head against a wall]].  This bites him and the Lannisters in the ass BIG TIME later on, though he deserved it.
** After losing a jousting match, Gregor decapitated his own horse, then tries to kill his opponent, Loras Tyrell, and his own brother Sandor when the latter intervenes. Had Gregor succeeded, it's likely the Lannisters would've kissed any hope of an alliance with the Tyrells goodbye.
** The men who Gregor recruits as his hand-picked warriors aren't chosen for their intelligence or resourcefulness, and not even loyalty; they serve Gregor out of fear and desire of plunder, and prize their fighting skills and sadism, essentially raping and torturing random peasants to death for the lulz. This includes the prisoners from the taking of Harrenhal, many of whom were nobility and could have been used as leverage in the war. And due to the atrocities of people serving under his command, they would be partially responsible for the Sparrows rise to power and led by the above mentioned Tyrells no less.
** Arguably when, before killing Oberyn, Gregor shouted a confession to his crime of murdering and raping Elia in front of all of the nobles in King's Landing. This would've put House Martell and House Lannister at open war... if the Martells hadn't been already secretly plotting to destroy them, though this ''does'' push their schedule forward and undermine the Lannister's supporters.
** For all that, there is at least some "justification" as to why this guy is kept around by House Lannister. He's a brutal warrior in every sense of the word who projects an aura of fear, and for all his butchery, raping, rage, and blunt cruelty, he's never threatened House Lannister directly and is (for want of a better word) content to be their pet beast.  It also doesn't help that he's addicted to milk of the poppy (opium in all but name) since he consumed so much to combat the migraines brought on by his gigantism that it no longer works on him and he's always in an addled state.

* Ramsay Bolton is the son of Roose, a cunning general who manipulated and back-stabbed his way into rulership of the North; unlike Roose, Ramsey lacks any strategic foresight and critical thinking, and is totally fearless and reckless with his actions, which Roose correctly points out will be his downfall if they are not curbed. This ends up coming across as more of an informed attribute due to the TV show's writing, but the result is ultimately the same. [[Fail|Shame he didn't listen to his old man, huh?]]
** He killed his half-brother, despite the fact that this also deprived his father of another heir, which in medieval-esque societies is important; the more offspring they have, the more likely the noble family is to survive.
** His savage exploits are known across Westeros, and he continuously pisses off the other Northern lords by hunting down their subjects for fun, partly inspiring half of the Northern Houses rebel against Bolton rule. He chose to flay Ironborn captives alive, despite promising them clemency if they surrendered, along with turning Theon Greyjoy into his personal eunuch slave. This has ensured that the Ironborn will now fight to the death rather than sue for peace, and contemplate a full invasion of the North instead of merely raiding its settlements and pledged loyalty to Daenerys. Unfortunately in the TV Series, thanks to treachery by Euron usurping the throne from Yara, most of the Iron Fleet joined the Lannister who proves instrumental in crushing the Martell's for their previous transgression of fatally poisoning Clegane.
** In the books, after marrying the fake-Arya Stark (who everyone else thinks is the real one) he tortures her, threatens her and [[FATAL|tries to make her do certain things to his hunting dogs]]. This sets off the Northerners' [[Powder Keg of Justice]], causing an uprising against the Boltons that will likely end with Ramsay's and Roose's heads on spikes.
** He sent an assassin after Jon Snow. As Roose pointed out, Jon was the leader of a well-known and politically neutral organization, whose claim to the throne of House Stark was tenuous at best, and would've gone against his vows, a big deal in Westeros. Killing him would almost certainly create a martyr, or at least demonstrate to the other houses that House Bolton has no respect for neutrality.
** The TV version actually murdered his father in the middle of the war, fed his step-mother and infant half-brother to his dogs, and he'd also raped Sansa Stark beforehand after manipulating an arranged marriage between them. Yet he [[Mary Sue|somehow manages more (and often downright insane) successes than his book counterpart]] in spite of acting like little more than a rabid dog raised in nobility (the infamous "twenty good men" scene where trained killers' armor and expertise suddenly become useless against a half-naked Ramsay comes to mind).
** Unfortunately (for him), his fortune doesn't last, as being a team-killing, sadistic fucktard ultimately got his own army wiped out before he was beaten to near-death by Jon Snow, culminating in Sansa feeding him to his own dogs -- who were only hungry enough to turn on him because he'd starved them for a week beforehand in anticipation of feeding them the Starks and in his previous hunts he'd deliberately cultivated a taste for human flesh in the dogs.

* Slaver's Bay (aka ''Stupid Evil: The Civilization''), a neo-Ghiscari settlement, is run by a bunch of decadent slave dealers who do nothing besides wax on about how great the 5 millennia dead old Ghiscari Empire was and leave their society in the Bronze Age... in a world one step removed from [[Medieval Stasis]].
** Of the four cities of Slaver's Bay, two of them, Meereen and Yunkai, believe that a bunch of slaves with spears and shields led by fops on horseback or in chariots wearing linen vests and helmets made to accommodate their stupid hairdos constitute a proper army. After Yunkai gets its ass kicked by Daenerys when she brings a half decent army to the field that doesn't run at the first excuse, they decide that it would be a good idea to raise ''new'' slave armies that are [[What|chained together and fight on stilts]].
** One of them, Astapor, trains Unsullied elite spear slaves who obey any order given to them without question, which they sell and use for defense. The Masters of Astapor [[Derp|agree to sell all the Unsullied they've got to Dany exchange for one of her dragons]], and she then proceeds to have the Unsullied sack their city and kill them.
** Admittedly, the prospect of owning a dragon, especially after they’re thought to be extinct for centuries and being the equivalent of a self-replenishing WMD, is an awfully tempting one given how new Unsullied are made each year. Despite that, it’s ''still'' extremely stupid that they questioned neither the possibility of how they can control said dragon (leading to one Master burning to death seconds after grabbing the dragon’s chain) ''nor'' the sense in selling every Unsullied warrior-slave to the same person and leaving none to defend themselves. They also never considered that the Unsullied, though trained to be obedient, might resent the brutality involved in their training ([[Grimdark|which included castrating them at a young age, sending aspirants into the city tasked with killing babies in front of their mothers to prove they'll follow even the vilest orders, giving them a puppy to care for in their first year then making them strangle it to death as a test of loyalty - killing those who fail this test, and making them take new names each day on pain of death - demeaning names like "black rat", "blue toad" or "red flea" - so they can't develop a sense of individual identity]]), and would seize a chance for vengeance which Dany happily gave them.
** For no particular tactical reason, the leadership of Meereen decided to taunt an oncoming army by having child slaves nailed to mileposts to die along the road - a decision which backfires on them rather spectacularly.

* Daenerys Targaryen of the TV show's continuity takes her newly earned spot in this list with a single but major action, through the sheer power of bad writing. In the second-to-last episode, she reduces the entire citizenry to dragonfire kindling through a series of events that Cersei is somewhat at fault for: Dany was already fixing to blow several gaskets because she was rejected by Jon Snow (who is her nephew and not as incest-willing as Jamie) and got one of her dragons killed (by [[What|completely forgetting about an entire fleet of ships]]), and then Cersei slams the final nail in the coffin of her rational thought by having her close friend Missandei publicly killed. This last act is the impetus for Dany to torch 'em all and let the Seven sort it out, throwing away any and all goodwill she would have gained from  the people of King's Landing, which bears stressing HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THIS, virtually nobody held much love or loyalty for Cersei, and most of the common folk would have loved her had she not then decided to randomly vaporize the entire city instead of just directing her anger towards Cersei.
** Don't get us wrong, signs of a dark, sadistic side to Daenerys were always there with the signpost punishment and other early signs of a "pay evil unto evil" mentality that cast shadows of doubt onto her image as the liberating Breaker of Chains, but up until this moment Danny's "dark side" remained consistent in that she directed her wrath only towards people she saw as being "opressors" or had wrong her personally, while showing a great deal of care for the downtroden. It certainly would have been possible for this side of her to ''slowly'' overtake her "good" side, making her see "opressors" where there are none (and in fact some readers of the books speculate this is where GRRMM is going with), if the signs were developed correctly. But with the way said signs were developed in the show (which is to say, almost ''not at all''), it is beyond stupefying how she went from "Messiah, Breaker of Chains" to recreating the firebombing of Tokyo in the grand span of ''two episodes''. It's no wonder everyone save the Unsullied (who themselves were retconned enough that they might as well be unthinking automatons now - a cruel irony since a big part of their story was slave-soldiers developing their own identities... though Grey Worm had the excuse of being distraught over Missandei's death since he loved her) and Dothraki (who actually enjoy random acts of slaughter like this) turned on her the moment they saw what she has become and got her assassinated... which created its own plot hole as to why the Dothraki and Unsullied didn't try to avenge her.
***Worth mentioning that the ''concept'' of turning Daenerys Targaryen to the dark side wasn't in itself horrible. It could be a big shock while remaining a realistic turn (a girl raised to power in a tyrannical land who moved in a feudal one), and it was a good reminder to [[Dune|not blindly trust the charismatic leader.]] The problem is that execution was absolutely abysmal. She just snaps, kill everyone and turn literally hitler. 
** And no, we're not shitting you: in a televised interview, the showrunners were asked why Daenerys didn't do anything about the Iron Fleet, and Beinoff nervously said outright that [[What|she kind of forgot about them]] (more likely the writers themselves forgot about them).  That is almost (but just barely not quite) ''Dexter'' finale or ''Supernatural'' finale levels of shit writing, wasting such a spectacular crew and cast on them to boot. If GRRM intends to turn Dany evil and kill her off, he knows what NOT to do in ADOS - assuming TWOW, let alone ADOS, are ever finished.

* Balon Greyjoy is the ruler of the Iron Islands, a kingdom whose living had been traditionally built on [[Viking]] raids. Their islands lack resources so they survived by stealing from greener pastures on Westeros. This used to be an effective way of sustaining themselves until Aegon Targaryen conquered Westeros and united many of the smaller kingdoms into larger ones. Balon's father Quellon saw that times had changed, opted to do the smart thing and change with them. Balon threw all this out the window with the belief that actually trying to have a sustainable way of life that wasn't dependent on raiding was a sign of weakness.
** During Robert Baratheon's rebellion, Balon attempted an invasion of Westeros to establish the Iron Islands as a separate kingdom and restore the old raiding ways. The invasion had some initial success since Robert was caught off guard. Balon's success was short lived, the Iron Islands' military focus on raiding meant that they were experts sailors and at fighting on the sea, but suck fighting everywhere else. The other kingdoms with their fortified strongholds, larger better organized armies, and cavalry swiftly crushed Balon's invasion. His first and second born sons were killed and he was forced to swear fealty to Robert Baratheon after the king launched a counter offensive on the Iron Islands and crushed Balon.
** Having learned nothing from his previous defeat, Balon tried the same plan again during the War of Five Kings. Theon came to him with an offer of an alliance from the Starks to mutually fight for independence where the North can have the Riverlands and the Iron Islands can have the Westerlands as common enemies, which he rejects in favor of invading the North while its defenses are at weakest, the absolute dumbest move possible as he attacks fellow separatists against the Iron Throne. Theon warned Balon that his initial success will be short lived since once the armies of the North return they will crush his invasion like last time, and Balon of course doesn't listen. Balon is assassinated, much earlier in the books than the show. In either version his invasion is crushed again.