@The Immortal Watch Dog
I think Ned’s behavior is less due to being raised Southern and more due to being raised by Jon Arryn
He's larping true enough
He's a good administrator, (I think his overturning Aegon V's laws gets used against him too much-as its a modern criticism). And as a military commander-he's not inept or stupid, just not a genius. As it is, Tywin was apparently preparing for war before hand-with sellswords at Casterly Rock(and few westermen at the tourney in AGOT). He also considered Stannis a threat "from the beginning". So to pull out my Tywin apologia hat-Tywin saw Cat as operating under husband's authority, the latter who was preparing to conduct a coup and depose Cersei(which Ned was). How much Tywin knew is unclear. But he may have felt that Ned's friendship with the king, Jaimie fleeing KL, and Tyrion as a hostage, alongside Cersei and Robert having a bad marriage-meant that political intervention was no longer possible-he was concerned about Arryn intervention as well IIRC. So...maybe he felt, "I have to attack now before the anti Lannister coalition is too strong to defeat". But its unclear. What he knew and what he did not. Even if he thought, "Stark is conspiring with Tully and taking over-I have to act now"(which is a very charitable interpretation), he should have used diplomacy to demand a trial for Tyrion and brought to bear all that sweet Lannister gold. Because...even if he did foresee some anti Lannister conspiracy, his actions didn't really forestall it or disrupt it. Just ensured he would have the animosity of at least two houses, if not the crown.
His actions all but empowered it which is my point. When you go the Mongol, Roman or Assyrian route, its strategic brutality and tactical savagery. What Tywin Lannister did was the equivalent of an aspie reeing at a Macdonalds due to lacking the appropriate sauce.
Was it though? Jaimie smashed Piper at the Golden Tooth and Riverrun was under siege, he only sent out Clegane after the Whispering Wood(when he was in a weaker position).
None of the Clegane's are especially loyal and it's a family known for mental instability. Putting him out there, against foes who're lead by a guy he knows has a deep political beef with him over the use of the Mountain is..bad optically.
Ah I forgot, he sent Gregor out before hand-but that was plausible deniability(well not really). With the aim of capturing Ned. Which could have been disastrous
If the guy had gotten caught...y'know he'd say "Yeah Tywin told me too! But fuck it! I'd have done it any way!"
Same as when he confessed to butchering Elia and the Targs.
Attacking the King's Banner-his objective seems to have been, "lure out Ned, capture him and then trade him for Tyrion". Robert would probably be furious, and if Robert moved to crush him, that would be the end. But Tywin likely thought the King would not get involved. Trade Ned and say "sorry your grace, I've got men hunting Gregor who went off on his own-here take some gold as compensation".
Robert who was already chafing under the Lannister influence and was not in any way happy about placing Jaime in a position over Robin?
(I do not believe Tywin intended to literally fight Robert)-which goes beyond pride to a level of self delusion that I think is just...not there in the character.
I do not believe Tywin was thinking at all, I don't believe he actually sat down, took a breath and thought about what he was doing until Tyrion threw that cup on the floor and called Adamm or whoever it was a tard for thinking they had a snow balls chance in a dragon pit of unfucking this mess.
And the moment he did I believe Tywin just shrugged and went "fuck it, can't roll back the clock, lets try and make something out of this and uhh they all deserved it for defaming my grandkids!" Because Tywin Lannister is less the Hammer of the Scots and more Vito Genovese.
Brilliant, opportunistic and calculating, but not a Luciano or a Lansky, much less an augustus or an Ieyasu as the fans often make him out to be and ultimately a thug who thinks with his balls 30% of the time.
After Robert and Ned's death though the objective changed, peace with Stark and Tully was no longer possible, and Robert's brothers had risen against his grandson. The first objective was-"payback, trade, make peace, save face", the second objective was "I've got a war to win".
And Tywin, had he ridden straight for the Red Keep and appointed Ser Kevan in charge of marshaling the power of the west would have prevented it from coming to that.,..Perhaps not Robert but Ned? Yeah absolutely.
Even so, Tywin's biggest flaw is he makes decisions to avenge his pride, "no injure go unavenged", which destroys one enemy but creates two more.
No, Tywin is a neurotic thug, he makes decisions based off an irrational fear that not smashing toddlers against a wall will magically result in the destruction of his house because his daddy was kind of a cuck. This extends to every facet of how the man governs the westerlands...
There are other Westerosi leaders who were brutal, savage, cruel and objective enough to know when it was time to smile and laugh and party and when it was time to spike toddlers and when you condemned such actions and when you passively tolerated them.
Tywin was never one of them. Fundamentally he would have been remembered as a depraved idiot had he not been such an astounding bureaucrat.
That worked. Due primarily to him having the bulk of the westerlands behind him. It didn't create new enemies-because no one really cared to fight for Ellyn Reyne or Walderan Tarbeck. I personally think the way he handled the Reyne-Tarbeck rebellion was brutal but effective. But then again, a major theme in the series is life is not a song-Tywin is living in his own song. The Rains of Castamere. Where he smashes his enemies and toasts grim celebrations at their destruction and the awesome power of House Lannister. It didn't work all the time.
the problem was less how he handled it...And more that he learned the wrong lesson from handling it.
It was standard practice in the hundred year's war and thirty years war.
Sperging out wasn't standard practice.
Slaughter was.
Big fucking difference.
Tywin treats it emotionally. The Assyrian kings did not. And that is why it doesn't work.
An Assyrian description of the Rains of Castamere would be hilariously dry though.
"
His women I did have raped, their breasts my hulking thugs did remove, dogs were fed their meat. Their halls I did surround, the rivers I compelled to be dropped upon them. Their children I had drowned, their mines I did flood and their wealth I did deprive from the world forever to avenge Lannister honor"
It would basically be a dark vs dark story. People might be rooting for Stannis early, or Renly.
It'd be an interesting fic though, because I don't think anyone of that era would be prepared to address someone whose response to a demand to surrender would be "Joffrey Waters, when I take the Red Keep I will hang you by your entrails on the palace heart tree"
As opposed to...how the North fought then.
Cregan turning the Boltons loose in the Westerlands for example..And probably making a deal with the Iron Born...