6. "He involved the Starks (specifically Ned) purely out of spite, IMO." In response to In response to 2
He was in love w/ Catelyn and Ned got her. He knew Ned wouldn't let shit go and would likely get his fool self killed. Then he could probably make another play for Cat.
What kinda backfired on him was Rob getting so much support so fast and fucking over Walder Frey to the point of getting his fool self killed.
I think he calculated all this shit to get control of the Vale and Winterfell, but things went faster than he expected he started improvising.