paxamericana:

4+ way civil war immediately breaks out in westeros as soon as the credits roll

Looking back on the completed arc of the story

And remembering the reading that ASoIaF was GRRM’s critique of fantasy as fix-it fanfic of feudalism as seen from liberal democracy, that sees as failures of egalitarian morality what were really successes at realpolitik

It’s an entirely viable conclusion that the default state of Westeros is grubby, violent conflict, and that the only thing that had been holding this back was a Pax Targaryen that only lasted as long as the rulers maintained an absolute supremacy in death-dealing capacity (the dragons) plus whatever delay it took for rival regime entrepreneurs to recognize, coordinate around, and exploit its decline