Quote:
Originally Posted by blankall
The show seems to be doing a lot of things that are nonsensical for dramatic effect.
For example, how many high sparrows were there if they were all killed in that room or enough of them killed to remove them as a threat. Supposedly the Lanisters/Tyrell's commanded an army of 10s of thousands. Why didn't Cersei just outlaw the Faith Militant early on and then massacre them? She was worried about public opinion? But it was somehow okay to take out a large city block with them?
She tried to confront the High Sparrow prior to Tommen joining him with a few hundred troops, but why were things allowed to get that far? If the King can outlaw trial by combat, a centuries long tradition, on a whim, surely he could have outlawed a militant religious fanatical group that was murdering civilians.
I haven't read the books, but apparently they are far more concerned about details and logistics. The show wants the cool imagery.
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I don't think it is quite as far fetched as you make it out to be. Although, I certainly have no problem saying that the show could have provided more context for the faith militant taking over King's Landing and wielding so much power.
As for your books comment, yeah of course there is a lot more detail but I'll attempt an answer at the TV show without referencing them to explain anything.
Why didn't Cersei outlaw them early on?
Well she needed them at first, in fact it was her that helped them gain so much power. The Sparrow and his order had originally started as a backlash against all of the bad #### going on in King's Landing and Westeros. With wars and murder and rape and stuff becoming all too prevalent, people turned to religion to make themselves feel at peace (presumably this is what happened, there was some exposition on this in numerous episodes but very little actually shown to the viewer, just characters talking about it)
Their first act was to take the High Septon prisoner because he himself was a frequent sinner, they arrested him at Littlefinger's whorehouse IIRC.
She figured she could use their growing influence with the people to take out the Tyrells. Margaery and Loras specifically.
Well then why didn't she just have them killed afterwards?
Don't forget she legalized their militant arm, the Faith Militant. We can presume that they were popular with the people, given the crowds that came out to see them and the way the characters on the show described the High Sparrow's followers and popularity.
As per the recent conversations and clips posted of Tyrion and Varys talking about power, I think it is fair to say that if Cersei kills an immensely popular religious leader, she would have a tough time holding on to her power. It may have been the spark that causes the powder keg that was King's Landing to explode.
Yeah but she had a huge army...
Well even if we ignore the above reference to how power works, we can still assume that keeping the peace throughout the seven kingdoms is causing the Lannisters all sorts of problems. They have a siege going on at Riverrun, although the show does seem to indicate that they had a bunch of troops in Winterfell prior to Jaime leaving.
Bottom line is that the Faith of the Seven is a hugely influential organization in King's Landing, even prior to the high sparrow. We saw numerous times how much the population take their religious vows and rituals seriously. To have them all murdered in cold blood by her military force would look bad.
She murdered them all anyway...
Did she? How would anyone know that for sure? If I'm Cersei, I'm instantly running a smear campaign against the Tyrells or the Martells and accusing them of blowing up the Great Sept. With the dirty work being done by Qyburn's little birds, it should be kept pretty hush hush. She can just pretend it was a plot to destroy the entire kingdom, including her and her son. She can act like it was a surprise that she wasn't there and is lucky to not have been killed herself.
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