Renly não queria remover Joffrey inicialmente
Renly queria consolidar sua influência no tribunal, aliando-se a Eddard Stark e assumindo o papel de controlar Joffrey como uma marionete bem parecida com o modo como Aegon III era controlado por seu conselho de regência (Fato: Sua graça, Aegon III demitiu toda a regência conselho no mesmo dia em que completou 16 anos).
Da AGOT, vemos as propostas de Renly para Eddard Stark:
“My lord, I have thirty men in my personal guard, and other friends
beside, knights and lords. Give me an hour, and I can put a hundred
swords in your hand.”
“And what should I do with a hundred swords, my lord?”
“Strike! Now, while the castle sleeps.” Renly looked back at Ser Boros
again and dropped his voice to an urgent whisper. “We must get
Joffrey away from his mother and take him in hand. Protector or no,
the man who holds the king holds the kingdom. We should seize
Myrcella and Tommen as well. Once we have her children, Cersei will
not dare oppose us. The council will confirm you as Lord Protector and
make Joffrey your ward.”
Ned regarded him coldly. “Robert is not dead yet. The gods may spare
him. If not, I shall convene the council to hear his final words and
consider the matter of the succession, but I will not dishonor his
last hours on earth by shedding blood in his halls and dragging
frightened children from their beds.”
Lord Renly took a step back, taut as a bowstring. “Every moment you
delay gives Cersei another moment to prepare. By the time Robert
dies, it may be too late... for both of us.”
Como ficou evidente nesta conversa, Renly pareceu acreditar que Joffrey era de fato o verdadeiro rei e herdeiro de Robert. Ele não compartilhou nenhuma dúvida sobre ele, sua única preocupação era o que Cersei faria depois da morte de Robert. Ele parece estar genuinamente preocupado com sua posição e, possivelmente, com a vida.
Então ele não queria remover Joffrey, ele queria remover Cersei da possível posição de poder, tomando conta de seus filhos.
A ignorância de Renly sobre o parentesco de Joffrey
Stannis e Jon Arryn não confiaram em Renly com suas investigações. Ao contrário de Varys e Petyr Baelish, Renly não era muito inteligente quando se tratava de intrigas judiciais, então é improvável que ele soubesse.
Mas ele era mais esperto que Eddard Stark e sabia que Cersei se moveria imediatamente para encher a corte com seus partidários e remover todos que pudessem ser uma ameaça à sua influência, entre eles a família e os amigos de Robert.
Ele confirmou que não sabia quando ele ofereceu Eddard para tomar conta de Joffrey. Mais tarde, ele confirmou isso na frente de Catelyn quando disse que não teria chamado seus banners se Eddard fosse regente em vez de Cersei.
Então, novamente, quando ele conheceu Stannis, ele mostrou novamente que ele não sabia sobre o Incesto e ele não acreditou em Stannis:
Renly laughed. “You must forgive Lady Catelyn, Stannis. She’s come all
the way down from Riverrun, a long way ahorse. I fear she never saw
your little letter.”
“Joffrey is not my brother’s seed,” Stannis said bluntly. “Nor is
Tommen. They are bastards. The girl as well. All three of them
abominations born of incest.” Would even Cersei be so mad? Catelyn was
speechless.
“Isn’t that a sweet story, my lady?” Renly asked. “I was camped at
Horn Hill when Lord Tarly received his letter, and I must say, it took
my breath away.” He smiled at his brother. “I had never suspected you
were so clever, Stannis. Were it only true, you would indeed be
Robert’s heir.”
“Were it true? Do you name me a liar?”
“Can you prove any word of this fable?”
No entanto, conhecer Stannis levou-o a reconsiderar suas opiniões sobre Joffrey, embora ele não tenha admitido na frente de Stannis:
“Do I?” Renly shrugged. “So be it. Stannis was never the most
cherished of brothers, I confess. Do you suppose this tale of his is
true? If Joffrey is the Kingslayer’s get-”
“-your brother is the lawful heir.”
“While he lives,” Renly admitted.
Então, por que se proclamar rei depois?
No ACOK, ele disse a Catelyn que a única razão pela qual ele se proclamou rei era Lannister segurando Joffrey:
“On the night of Robert’s death, I offered your husband a hundred
swords and urged him to take Joffrey into his power. Had he listened,
he would be regent today, and there would have been no need for me to
claim the throne.”
“Ned refused you.” She did not have to be told.
“He had sworn to protect Robert’s children,” Renly said. “I lacked the
strength to act alone, so when Lord Eddard turned me away, I had no
choice but to flee. Had I stayed, I knew the queen would see to it
that I did not long outlive my brother.”
Renly não tinha delírios sobre sua cunhada, mas por medo de sua vida e de sua própria ambição, ele se recusou a se curvar a Stannis ou Joffrey e se proclamar rei depois de forjar uma aliança com High Garden.
Do ACOK:
“It would seem that you are the one who has forgotten Stannis,”
Catelyn said, more sharply than she’d intended.
“His claim, you mean?” Renly laughed. “Let us be blunt, my lady.
Stannis would make an appalling king. Nor is he like to become one.
Men respect Stannis, even fear him, but precious few have ever loved
him.”
“He is still your elder brother. If either of you can be said to have
a right to the Iron Throne, it must be Lord Stannis.”
Renly shrugged. “Tell me, what right did my brother Robert ever have
to the Iron Throne?” He did not wait for an answer. “Oh, there was
talk of the blood ties between Baratheon and Targaryen, of weddings a
hundred years past, of second sons and elder daughters. No one but the
maesters care about any of it. Robert won the throne with his
warhammer.” He swept a hand across the campfires that burned from
horizon to horizon. “Well, there is my claim, as good as Robert’s ever
was.”
Renly acreditava que agora que ele tinha o poder, ele não precisava se curvar a Joffrey ou Stannis. Ele poderia ser um rei por direito próprio. Essa foi a base de sua afirmação eventual, embora ele pretenda que foram os Lannister que o forçaram a fazê-lo.
A alta opinião de Renly sobre si mesmo
Renly sempre foi o mais sério dos Stags. De acordo com seu Meistre Cressen:
Even as a boy, Renly had loved bright colors and rich fabrics, and he
had loved his games as well. “Look at me!” he would shout as he ran
laughing through the halls of Storm’s End. “Look at me, I’m a dragon,”
or “Look at me, I’m a wizard,” or “Look at me, look at me, I’m the
rain god.”
The bold little boy with wild black hair and laughing eyes was a man
grown now, one-and- twenty, and still he played his games. Look at me,
I’m a king, Cressen thought sadly.
Ele costumava acreditar que ele tinha o que era necessário para ser um rei melhor do que Stannis e Robert e ele estava determinado a provar isso:
“Though it’s a fool’s law, wouldn’t you agree? Why the oldest son, and
not the best-fitted? The crown will suit me, as it never suited Robert
and would not suit Stannis. I have it in me to be a great king, strong
yet generous, clever, just, diligent, loyal to my friends and terrible
to my enemies, yet capable of forgiveness, patient-”
“-humble?” Catelyn supplied.
Renly laughed. “You must allow a king some flaws, my lady.”
Por que Ned estava esperando que Renly o ajudasse?
Ned não estava inicialmente certo sobre o que fazer com o irmão mais novo de Baratheon. Ele sabia com certeza que Jon Arryn e Stannis não confiavam em Renly com o que quer que estivessem investigando nos bordéis de King's Landing.
Da AGOT:
Jory went to the wardrobe. “Lord Renly is brother to Lord Stannis as
well as the king.”
“Yet it seems that he was not invited on these rides.” Ned was not
sure what to make of Renly, with all his friendly ways and easy
smiles.
No entanto, Renly foi uma das duas testemunhas que Robert escolheu ao assinar o decreto para a nomeação de Eddard Stark como Lord Regent and Protector:
King Robert did not seem to miss her. He bid his brother Renly and
Grand Maester Pycelle to stand in witness as he pressed his seal
into the hot yellow wax that Ned had dripped upon his letter. “Now
give me something for the pain and let me die.”
Eddard nunca pensou que Renly fugiria na hora da necessidade, quando o destino da dinastia Baratheon estaria em jogo. Ele também contou com ele para honrar sua obrigação como testemunha do último decreto de seu irmão.
“When Lord Renly arrives,” Ned said.
Varys gave him a sorrowful look. “I fear Lord Renly has left the
city.”
“Left the city?” Ned had counted on Renly’s support.
“He took his leave through a postern gate an hour before dawn,
accompanied by Ser Loras Tyrell and some fifty retainers,” Varys told
them. “When last seen, they were galloping south in some haste, no
doubt bound for Storm’s End or Highgarden.”
So much for Renly and his hundred swords. Ned did not like the smell
of that, but there was nothing to be done for it.
Depois, quando Eddard foi preso, ele pensou que Renly compartilhava a culpa:
He damned them all: Littlefinger, Janos Slynt and his gold cloaks, the
queen, the Kingslayer, Pycelle and Varys and Ser Barristan, even
Lord Renly, Robert’s own blood, who had run when he was needed most.
Então a razão pela qual Eddard contava com Renly era porque ele era o próprio irmão de Robert e seria esperado que ele protegesse o trono de sua dinastia, mesmo que a pessoa que o escalasse fosse seu irmão mais velho.
No entanto, Renly deixou o Porto Real antes de aprender a verdade e nunca teve a intenção de se curvar a Stannis, apesar do erro de cálculo em nome de Eddard.