Yes, that's exactly right. Jon Arryn passes in late 298 AL, and the court arrives in Winterfell in early 299 AL.

 

I'm guessing that the very fact that Harry looks like a legitimate Baratheon some how stalls Arryn from snooping around too much, for a few months.

 

Seeing as he is being killed at a different time, maybe it will be a different killer?

 

I still don't quite understand why people think Harry looking like his father would make someone not question Joffrey's patronage, who looks nothing like his father.

 

If anything, wouldn't Harry looking like he does make them question it more.

 

Nuit, the fact that two out of three children takes after their mother is not uncommon. Also let us not forget that the children do possess Lannister traits, it's not like incestous relationships are so widespread that it'd be the obvious conclusion when there is one child that actually takes after the father.

Also, the argument that there are literally zero Baratheon traits in Joffrey; it's really quite hard to tell. It's not like every facial fragment has a distinctiveness, the main 'family traits' you'd expect is hair and eye colour, maybe a significant nose or something akin to that. Not really telling enough that the lack of those traits would suggest another father imho, especially since like I've previously mentioned, one son rather obviously takes after the father.

 

It wasn't only that all the royal children had none of his features.

The thing was that the Baratheon gene overrode everyone else' and gave _all_ his bastards his hair and most of his other features aswell. Which is what Jon found out when he went looking for them.

And Harry does have his mother's eyes.

 

All of the Baratheon brother's are described as tall, broad shouldered, and muscled. Stannis was also noted to have a strong jaw which may be another family trait of House Baratheon. Add together the black hair and dark blue eyes and that's a significant amount of family traits Joffrey and his sister are missing.

Plus for all we know Jon Arryn could've discovered Jaime and Cersei's incestuous relationship some other way. Like a Spider or Mockingbird whispering in his ear or a servant stumbling on to it and reluctantly going to him. He could have possible stumbled on to it himself! Say he went to visit the kings room after a day arguing with Lysa and overhears their lovemaking after the Robert takes advantage of his hand's absence to go whoring.

 

You're playing into Cheddars' response; it negates your argument. The fact that the royal children had none of his traits was the tip-off, the investigation about the bastards proved or reinforced the belief in the hypothesis. Either way, when the premise that none of the children looks like the father is incorrect, the investigation won't occur.

Yes, but Joffrey for example whilst not being described as broad shouldered(though not the opposite either) is also mentioned to be tall. Speculating on which family traits he does have or does not have however is redundant, since you can not prove the majority of the ones you proclaim, all we can reasonably agree on is that he does not look like his 'father'.

However mine and Cheddars, apologies if I'm misunderstanding you, point is not that he or Myrcella looks like their supposed father, but that the absence of the traits is not as suspicious when there exists a sibling which is displaying most, or some if you will, of his fathers traits.

My addition to Cheddars argument was in essence that while Joffrey and Myrcella did not inherit, speaking from a point of view of the public at the time, their fathers traits, they did inherit the mothers. Which would not be unusual had you not performed aforementioned investigation showing that all of the bastards had a phenotype that proved the dominant Baratheon genes.

 

The third, as well as his fifteen other children. Suffice to say our suspicious checker will meet some of those aforementioned fifteen children.

For a Baratheon it's uncommon. It's not about Joffrey being Jaime's bastard - its about him not being Robert's son.

It's not hard to tell at all. He has zero Baratheon traits because he has zero Baratheon blood. Nothing about him is Baratheon, because he isn't a Baratheon.

 

If you have the 'investigator' see the dominance of Baratheon genes as the catalyst of his suspicions; most of my argument is negated. It revolves around the fact that the royal children in your story does not, or rather should not, raise the suspicion it did in canon.

The way I see it, you operate under the assumption that each family has a specific set of traits for every observable characteristic. (A slight exaggeration in the name of making my point). The point is that not all Lannisters, nor all of the Baratheons share every single trait. While you argue that they have none of the Baratheon traits I argue that except from the major obvious traits it's hard to tell if his mouth is a Baratheon or a Lannister one. They are both mouths and unless it's significantly characteristically shaped in a way that most of the family in question are, it's not noticeable.

My apologies if the last paragraph is confusing.

 

Could Joffrey's general disposition and the fact that he's the heir in line for the throne could give the 'investigator' the push to look for some reason to not have him as the next king?

 

I suppose. I'd still argue that the suspicions about his parentage in this story logically would not come from observing the royal children, which would make the choice to intentionally survey the bastards a rather strange choice of methodology.

 

No, no, no. I'm operating under the assumption that sons look like their fathers, in some shape, form, or fashion.

The point you're making has little to do with what I'm saying. It's not about the entire family sharing traits, or there being some sort of Baratheon jaw or nose. It's about Joffrey not looking like his father, whatsoever.

Whatever sort of nose or lips or chin King Robert has, Joffrey doesn't have it. Damn what Stannis looks like, or Renly, or their cousins. Joffrey doesn't look like Robert. At all.

That's what I'm saying.

You can't look at your parents and tell that you have your father's lips, or your mother's eyes and nose? I can.

Amongst other things.

 

Most likely the traits you're describing is more similar to one of your parents than the other, though not identical. This comes from the fact that you do not genetically inherit for example the whole nose. The reason eye and hair colour is generally used as identificators is due to the smaller spectrum that the differ, blue eyes are recessive etcetera. The difference in facial traits usually differs vastly in the family as well, although at a somewhat narrowed spectrum between a parent and a child.

An example; while most if not all of my facial features actually more resembles my mothers than my fathers, people have always said I remind them of my father. Probably due to the fact that we share eye and hair colour as well as a 'hair type'.

The point I'm trying to make(in this regard) is that beyond those key characteristics that defines your features it's generally hard to tell which parent has influenced your appearance.

The main point remains is that without knowing that the Baratheon genes are canonically dominant (which logically comes after meeting a unspecified number of Roberts Bastards) two out of three children looking 'nothing' (which is where the earlier point comes in) like their father does not seem so suspicious.

However, you will do as you please. You are after all writing an excellent story, I can only add my opinion.

 

I thought Jon Arryn wanted to make sure all the bastards were taken care of and that tipped him off. Or was it just an excuse to prove Joffrey was a bastard?

And what does Westeros know of genes anyway? I mean, sure, child looks like parents. But what else?

 

You guys are trying to use genetic laws that work in the REAL world to Westeros.

Jon Arryn's case was the eyes and the hair. Somehow in Westeros, every Baratheon has those blue eyes and black hair. No exception.

The seed is strong...

Those two things a lone was what prompted his murder and thus, plunged Westeros into the War of the 5 Kings we all know.

Depending on how Cxjenious chooses to take this, Jon may need a little more proof since Harry has the black hair, but Cersei's eyes.

It all boils down to what Cxjenious chooses to add and/or remove.

 

The seed is strong...

This little fact a lone is what scared Cersei!