game of thrones - Did Catelyn Stark start the war in Westeros?

In the book "A Game of Thrones", there was the Catelyn PoV chapter that ended in her calling upon men in a tavern that Tyrion Lannister has just entered to arrest him so that he could be tried for conspiring to murder Bran (and her, inadvertently).

The question is this: was this the action that started the war in Westeros? Yes, there was much political tension in the land at the time, and things were surely moving into place for war, but what I would like to know is there any evidence in the book/canon material that indicates that things would not have progressed as volatility as they had if not for her actions?

Answer

Why stop at Catelyn? Let's go further:

Catelyn arrested Tyrion based on Littlefinger's accusation WRT the dagger the assassin used to attempt to kill Bran.

That assassin was hired by Joffrey, who did so to please his father, sort of: to mercy kill the crippled Bran.

Bran was crippled due to his fall, but he was actually pushed by Jaime because Bran caught Jaime and Cersei in the act.

The Lannisters are at Winterfell because Jon Arryn got murdered.

Which was the work of... Petyr Baelish.

If you want to read a long, in-depth analysis of who's responsible for the War of the Five Kings, read Den Of Geek!'s "Game Of Thrones: The 9 Characters Who Started The War".

Now, about your question: "is there any evidence in the book/canon material that indicates that things would not have progressed as volatility as they had if not for her actions?" I'd say that if this hadn't happened, then Littlefinger would have engineered something else. But him pointing to Tyrion as the source of the dagger certainly looks like him attempting to stir up an incident.

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