Instances of Didn't Think This Through among characters from the fantasy universe of George R. R. Martin.
- Game of Thrones:
- Catelyn Stark's Mama Bear tendencies sometimes drive her to rash actions.
- She arrests Tyrion for the attempted murder of her son because she was told the assassin used his dagger but is stumped when Tyrion asks the obvious question of who would be dumb enough to arm an assassin with their own blade.
- Although Jaime was in mortal danger and Catelyn couldn't trust anyone else, the odds of Brienne successfully escorting Jaime through a war zone, conducting a prisoner exchange, and returning with two girls without backup were very low.
- Balon Greyjoy's main flaw as a ruler. In the first Greyjoy rebellion, he rebelled on the assumption (not without cause) that Robert had not reconciled with his former enemies and that his rule over the Iron Throne was still not widely accepted and he hoped to capitalize on the instability and secede from the Seven Kingdoms. However, his refusal to court allies and build alliances meant that the Greyjoys could never find support from the mainland and by attacking the Riverlands and burning Lord Tywin's ship at Lannisport, he made himself a threat to all of Westeros. Hence, he brought ruin on himself and allowed Robert to strengthen his regime by invading the Iron Islands. In Season 2, he proves he hasn't learned his lesson and tries the same thing again. He had no real strategy except for killing Starks and their bannerman and although he is more successful this time it only lasts until the other factions actually turn their attention toward him in Season 4 when the War of the Five Kings ends, at which point the Ironborn prove unable to hold the castles they've taken. By Season 6, his invasion has failed completely and the Ironborn have gained nothing at all.
- Theon Greyjoy:
- His taking and occupying of Winterfell - a landlocked castle located far inland - during his father's second rebellion. This would be a tactically sound move for any other faction opposed to the Starks, but not so much for the Ironborn, whose power largely derives from naval might.
- His faking the deaths of Bran and Rickon after they managed to flee Winterfell following his taking of the castle. It's done to cover up their escape - and Theon frames it as Bran and Rickon being punished for defying him - but it also leaves Robb Stark and the rest of the North's nobility baying for his blood, and makes him look like a complete idiot to his allies, who see it only as him throwing away the best two sources of leverage the Ironborn had on Robb over wounded pride.
- Robb Stark:
- Talisa flat-out points out to Robb on their first encounter that he's raised an army to overthrow the king with no idea what would happen afterward if he won.
- Instead of marrying Roslin Frey to keep the Freys on his side for the war effort, Robb marries Talisa out of love. Instead of putting aside his honor and simply holding him hostage, he executes Rickard Karstark.
- This is Lady Olenna's appraisal of the deceased Renly's bid for the throne since he had an older brother and no legitimacy, so he should have stayed well out of the game. Granted, it's in the Tyrells' interest to speak this way when they are supporting those who consider Renly a usurper.
- Brienne of Tarth:
- Brienne embarks on a quest to protect the Stark girls with a Lannister-customized sword, a Westerlands squire, and a southern accent. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?? The problems with this are demonstrated when she tries to "save" Arya Stark ...who believes nearly her whole family is dead or prisoner of the Lannisters.
- Brienne decides to fulfill her oath to kill Stannis instead of protecting Sansa. Of course, Stannis dying will keep the Boltons in control of the North meaning Sansa continues to be in danger. She manages to rescue Sansa just in time from Bolton men after Sansa escapes on her own from Winterfell, but it was a close-run thing and had it not been for Theon, she and Pod would have failed.
- Cersei Lannister, oh so very much. There are almost too many instances to list where she schemes to achieve some short-term goal or petty vendetta, with no thought whatsoever given to the long-term consequences. She considers herself to be an expert at the game in the same vein as her father Tywin, but Tywin himself told her "you're not as smart as you think you are."
- When Tyrion demands Trial by Combat when accused of killing Joffrey, Cersei rather shrewdly chooses The Mountain as her champion, believing no-one would fight against him on Tyrion's behalf. However, she fails to consider Oberyn Martell, the only man in King's Landing who wants to fight Ser Gregor, declaring himself Tyrion's champion. Worse still, her daughter, Myrcella Baratheon, was currently residing with the Martells in Dorne. When the Red Viper is slain, Myrcella's life is essentially forfeit.
- In Season 5, she fails miserably at her father's level of scheming, trying to manipulate the extremist Sparrow sect into doing her dirty work. Pity that she overlooked the fact her cousin Lancel, who had been privy to all her own dirty dealings — including her Twincest with Jaime, which even the sexually liberal Dornish would condemn, never mind what is basically the Westboro Baptist Church without the abrasive rhetoric — was a member. There's also her lack of concern for antagonizing House Tyrell, who the royal family are now wholly dependent on for their food supply.
- In Season 7, she confides in Jaime that she has no intention of honoring her word to Jon and Dany to help them fight the Night King and his undead forces. She instead intends to sit back and let the two sides destroy each other while she fortifies her defenses and numbers with the Golden Company. Jaime immediately points out that this means either the Jon/Dany alliance wins and then they immediately march south to finish her off as they'll have realised her deception, or the Night King wins, takes their forces into his undead army and becomes something Cersei has no hope of outfighting. This was particularly bad because her sitting out the fight was all they asked for; she offered to contribute troops she had no intention to send just to make it a betrayal for its own sake.
- In Season 8, while sitting out from the War of the Dawn is a good choice for her to conserve her forces, letting Euron kill Rhaegal and the Mountain execute Missandei only contributes to Daenerys' fury and madness. As a result, the entire Lannister and Ironbron armies and the Golden Company are obliterated while King's Landing has been burnt to the ground with its citizens being slaughtered by the Unsullied and Dothraki. This is the only time Cersei experiences true utter defeat leading to her demise once the Red Keep collapses on her.
- Ramsay Bolton, to the point of this being his Fatal Flaw.
- Sansa reminds him that if Fat Walda has a son from Roose, Ramsay is nowhere as well positioned to inherit as he thinks he is; he is a bastard legitimized by another bastard (Tommen), whose questionable legitimacy was the whole damn point of the war.
- Murdering his father, stepmother, and half-brother to become head of House Bolton and Warden of the North has three major problems. First, Roose had been able to uphold the Boltons' dominion over the North despite Ramsay's impulses due to his pragmatism and political savvy in maintaining the support of the Lannisters and the Northern houses, qualities that Ramsay lacks. Second, killing Walda ruined the Boltons' alliance with the Freys, who control one of the most vital routes in and out of the North, and at a time when the Boltons are in desperate need of allies. Come the very next episode and we already see the start of issues. Smalljon Umber points out that Ramsay's Chronic Backstabbing Disorder means no one will ever trust him again. The result is that the Umbers refuse to pledge fealty, and House Bolton's hold on the North is shakier than ever. And third, he doesn't have an heir, so if he dies before producing one, House Bolton is extinct and it's his own damn fault.
- This is what finally seals his downfall in "Battle of the Bastards". Ordering his archers to fire on the clashing Stark and Bolton cavalry regardless of losses on their side means he has few troops to counterattack when Littlefinger arrives with fresh reinforcements from the Vale. He also did not anticipate a giant to break Winterfell's gate when he hunkers down for a siege. Finally, when Sansa lets Ramsay's hunting dogs into his cell, she reminds him that he had not fed his hounds in over a week, a result of Ramsay deliberately starving them so that he could feed Sansa's older brother Jon to them, and they are very, very hungry.
- Jaime is incredibly impulsive. The problem being that many of his spur-of-the-moment actions either don't further his cause or outright make his problems worse. To wit:
- Attacking Ned Stark and his men did nothing to free Tyrion from Catelyn Stark.
- His murder of Rickard Karstark's son in a poorly thought out escape attempt only made many Stark bannerman all too eager to kill him.
- He freed Tyrion, only for the latter to use the newfound freedom to murder their father.
- His attempt to bring Myrcella back from Dorne wasn't well thought through either, and ends in failure.
- He's called out on his impulsiveness In-Universe more than once. Notably by Cersei and Bronn.Cersei: You're a man of action, aren't you? When it occurs to you to do something you do it. Never mind the consequences.
Jaime: I like to improvise.
Bronn: That explains the golden hand. - He charges at Daenerys, who is protected by an actual dragon.Tyrion: Flee, you idiot.
- Rhaegar Targaryen's love affair with the already engaged Lyanna Stark (Rhaegar was already married with several children, as well). The country was torn into civil war and his own House was all but destroyed. Pretty much everything that goes wrong in the current timeframe of the series is traceable to this one event.
- Tyrion Lannister:
- In Season 6, he attempts to forge a truce with the Great Masters of Slaver's Bay to help pacify Meereen in Dany's absence. He thinks he had achieved that, only for them to decide to invade Meereen later on, requiring Daenerys to save them with her dragons.
- He plans devises an attack on Casterly Rock in Season 7 to deprive House Lannister from their valuable resources. While the Unsullied force sent to besiege it is successful, it turns out the castle has no strategic value (since their gold mines have dried up) and they have been lead to a trap by House Greyjoy. To make matters worse, the only reason his army managed to take Casterly Rock was because the Lannister bulwark has long since moved to the Reach and besiege the stronghold of their Tyrell allies, leading to Tyrion's side losing a massive chunk of their army.
- To be fair he couldn't have known about the mines and being set up for a trap; however, he arrived in Westeros with a large fleet, a disciplined army, the largest cavalry force in the world, half of the country either neutral or in support, and three flying weapons of mass destruction. He could have taken the capitol and won the war in a week. Instead he divided his forces in a scheme to "save lives" and assumed nothing would go wrong. Instead of a short decisive war it dragged on for months with catastrophic casualties for both sides.
- Ellaria Sand never considers the consequences of her actions in attempting to avenge Oberyn's death. Killing Myrcella just gives Cersei a more justified reason to go after her while murdering Doran and Trystane Martell and taking over the leadership of Dorne leaves more problems. When Euron Greyjoy ambushes their ship and kills two of her stepdaughters, she and her own daughter are captured and delivered to Cersei who poisons the latter and forces the former to watch her die and rot for the rest of her life. In the end, not only does Ellaria destroy one of the great Houses of Dorne but also leads the region into a power vacuum.
- Catelyn Stark's Mama Bear tendencies sometimes drive her to rash actions.
- House of the Dragon:
- Otto Hightower's plan to get the dragon egg back from Daemon apparently forgot to take his massive fire-breathing dragon into account.
- King Viserys had high chances to be aware that a Succession Crisis like the one that happened that was solved peacefully with him being chose to succeed Jaehaerys could happen again, and he chose Rhaenyra as heir eventually and never relented on his promise. And yet, he remarried and fathered boys, which ended up a surefire way to brew a new succession crisis.
- Viserys decides to announce his decision to marry Alicent at a small council meeting, rather than talking with Corlys Velaryon in private first and letting him down as gently as possible. The result is one publicly snubbed and seriously pissed off Corlys. And it's evident that Viserys' announcement deeply hurts Rhaenyra as well, who likewise could have been told this in private first but wasn't.
