The targaryen ruled 130 years without dragons. And the most capable kings were all targaryen. After them it was a decline for the throne. Robert, joffrey, tommen, cercei were all sith ruler .

I see targ stans are investing in high quality air to fill their heads lol

But anyways. “The most capable kings were all targaryens”. You know who else were targaryens? The worst rulers of Westeros. Robert, Cersei, Joffrey, and Tommen aren’t even close to the worst kings and queen to rule. And bringing them up as evidence to show that the targaryens are good is so disingenuous.

Maegor the Cruel, Aegon the Unworthy, The Mad King Aerys, Rhaenyra (yes, I know that’s controversial), and Daenerys (yes, I know that’s even more controversial) are all far FAR worse than anyone you mentioned.

Maegor killed his wife and her entire family. He was a usurper (apparently it’s good when the targs you like do it lol), a kinslayer (also a thing only good when it’s targs you like doing it), raped and tortured many people, wiped out entire houses, killed any and everyone that he saw in any way as deserving, and created a huge war with the faith of the seven.

Aegon the unworthy was corrupt and lazy and legitimized his bastards leading to the blackfyre rebellions that led to endless bloodshed for 5 generations.

Aerys was so bad he had a rebellion staged against him that ended his family dynasty. He burned fathers and sons together. He tortured people and burned them alive. He abused and raped his wife when he would burn people alive. He wanted to kill the entire city of kings landing.

Rhaenyra (who like it or not went down in history as one of the worst rulers) known as maegor with teats taxed her people to starvation. She had daily executions. She had knights inquisitors hunt down and punish people.

Daenerys burnt down kings landing, was complicit in the rape and enslavement of hundreds, ruined city economies so badly slavery was a better option, then profited from said slavery, abandoned the people she conquered (no doubt ensuring they will be enslaved much more harshly after supporting her), raped a “free” slave that she admits still acted like a slave because that’s all she knew, oh yeah and again, SHE BURNT DOWN KINGS LANDING. And this is after the people you listed.

And this isn’t including non Targaryen rulers that ruined lives like the blackfyres. Or rulers that are bad but weirdly beloved like Aegon I who basically conquered people by threatening to kill them and everyone they loved, subjugating a country for hundreds of years.

The best rulers I admit were Targaryens. But that’s because they were the only rulers save for 4 people. Of those four, two were bad and two were incompetent. Not nearly the sadistic “mad” people I described above. And funnily enough, as soon as a Targaryen came back to power…things got worse again. Funny how that is.

Oh and by the way. Going with the histories of Westeros. Guess who is among the best rulers according to small folk Aegon II and Alicent. Seethe :)

Thoughts on the Alysanne is Maegor's daughter AU? I feel like it has some interesting potential, and it vastly recontextualizes different parts of Jaehaehae (I do not like him sjsjsjs) and Alysanne's relationship (such as Jaehaehae's treatment of their daughters) but I wanna hear what you think about it!

I’ve touched on this a bit before but since you actually want to hear my thoughts, allow me to present to you my Jaehaerys Is The Goddamn Worst, And Alysanne Annoys Me Too: An Essay lmao but my answer is basically “yeah all of what you just said.”

I think it makes Alysanne much more palatable (to me) as a character because as she stands, she just fixates on forcing her daughters through these fucked up marriages at too young an age bc it traumatized her to be married and pregnant at 15 too but she’d never admit that being a willing participant in her own kidnapping by her brother-husband was the single worst thing that ever happened to her, and because Alysanne doesn’t want to admit it (and Jaehaerys would never see it as wrong or a mistake) F&B really shies away from delving into the fact that Alysanne is as deranged of a mother as Cersei is. So as she stands, she’s very flat to me because she’s presented very flatly and inconsistently. She’s so in love with Jaehaerys, she’s maritally raped by Jaehaerys, she’s a loving and doting mother, she forces her daughters into marriages when they’re the same too young age she was, she accuses her teenage girls of being scheming whores then gets angry when her husband accuses their teenage girls of being scheming whores, and worst of all we are just told “Maegelle tells them to make up so they do” so we don’t know why Alysanne gets over all of this. What is the point of riding a dragon when you never use that dragon to protect your daughters from unwanted teen marriages? We’re just not given a good enough justification for why her behavior is so weird and frustrating towards her daughters.

Make her Maegor’s daughter though…most of her behavior as an adult makes more sense. Like a worse version of Rhaenyra’s childhood almost - a father desperate for a son, but lowkey obsessed with his daughter, who makes all his hang ups about his parents the problems of every woman around him, except Maegor is out here blood sacrificing and torturing and starting wars and forcing babies on wives he discards quickly and brutally. Then here comes Jaehaerys on a white horse green dragon to save her from the horror her life has become, and he loves her so much he runs away with her even though Alyssa says they shouldn’t marry because people won’t like it. And they have beautiful children, and a beautiful marriage, and build a beautiful kingdom.

Then her pregnancies start getting dangerous. Gaemon, then Valerion, die. Alysanne thinks of the shriveled up mutants she called brothers, if Maegor’s taint has passed to her. Her perfect husband ignores her no, and forces Gael on her. Alysanne remembers that he said nothing to Rogar when Alyssa died, merely wept. Then her daughters start to die. Daella, Alyssa, Viserra, all within a few years. Then Jaehaerys makes Saera watch as he murders her boyfriend, calls her a whore, and says Alysanne cannot follow Saera to Lys. Alysanne thinks of Maegor torturing the Harroways over Alys’ presumed infidelity. Jaehaerys says he’s sorry, and her daughter badgers her into forgiving him, and she remembers how she helped Jaehaerys badger Alyssa into forgiving Rogar. Not two years later, Jaehaerys passes over Rhaenys. Alysanne thinks of how she was never enough for her father, how she felt so superior to Rhaena banished to Dragonstone and resented by Aerea, yet there she is dragging Gael away from court because she can’t stand to be with Jaehaerys. How her father was surrounded by dead women and dead babies and how Jaehaerys is surrounded by his own dead daughters, but surely she did the right thing, surely Maegor was worse, surely the realm is better off? Is he right to pass over Rhaenys? Is she enabling a man just as monstrous as her father? She will never decide, because Maegelle will guilt her about keeping Gael isolated at Dragonstone, and Alysanne will do as she’s told, just like Rhaena, and Alyssa, and Jeyne, Elinor, Ceryse, Alys, and Tyanna, just like every one of her daughters.

I do get why Alysanne is Alyssa & Aenys’ and not Maegor’s. The weird Targ babies, the line not descending from Visenya, Jaehaerys and Alysanne being held up as the perfect Targaryen couple specifically because they are brother and sister and dragon riders. I do even think canon Alysanne is likely traumatized by her time as a hostage on Dragonstone, and the ensuing war, and the trauma bond that caused with Jaehaerys, and it makes her idolize Jaehaerys, and then he isolates her at Dragonstone so he can swiftly and safely marry, groom, and knock her up. It’s not like,,,, a fun time, and it’s enough to make anyone crazy and weird about their daughters, but I think having her father be Maegor makes Alysanne herself much deeper because it gives her, as the most beloved Targaryen queen, a blood tie to the most hated Targaryen king, and a marriage to the most beloved Targaryen king. It fits better with a lot of the themes of the main series (again, imo) - forcing the spotlight on the outsiders to see how the affect the story from behind the scenes. The fall of Aegon’s sons, and The Long Reign, not told from the PoV or to serve the PoV of any of the kings or princes, but of the queen that tied them all together.

Saying that Aegon the Usurper was recognized as the rightful king because he kept his title in histories, is like saying that Maegor was a legitimate king for the same reason.

Everyone knows that Maegor was a usurper. There is no debate. His older brother’s children lived, and yet he sat the throne. And despite that, he remains listed as King in histories. Jaehaerys, for some reason, didn’t bother taking that title away upon his ascension, even though it was fairly easy. There was no risk of reopening wounds or threat of another civil war, the way it was after the Dance (hence Aegon III taking no action to legitimize his mother’s rightful rule and taking away his usurping uncle’s title - all for the sake of peace. Heartbreaking and unfair but necessary in order to move on).

Both Aegon and Maegor’s mothers plotted to usurp the legitimate heir for selfish reasons. Both had to pay the price for it, meaning the non-continuation of their lines.

It’s history repeating itself.

And just like it was with Maegor, Aegon the Usurper had no heir to succeed him and no legacy.

GRRM practices poetic justice and is unforgiving when it comes to usurpers.

House of The Dragon Hot Take #11

House Targaryen is an allegory for colonization. From the very start of their line they have taken things that aren't theirs. Whether it be people, land, kingdoms, and lives. Until Aegon I, Visenya, and Rhaenys came around and waged war against everyone in Old Valyria and the neighboring kingdoms, House Targaryen really wasn't all that important. They weren't even the most powerful house in the kingdom because it wasn't their kingdom until they tore it away from the rulers and killed the people who disagreed. Same with what they did with Dorne for years. House Targaryen is full of colonizers, blood purists, and terrorists of all kinds. While this is not me saying I hate every Targaryen character, I am saying that it's important to know that they are a realistic representation of colonization because:

They came in > They stole the land and the throne > They killed the people that disagreed or tried to defend themselves > Their families took over until their house finally died out.

The fact that Visenya proposed to marry Maegor and Rhaena to “settle the matter of succession” is a vital detail in understanding the Targaryen/Valyrian right of primogeniture. It meant that without a doubt to anyone there, Rhaena was going to succeed her father since she was the first born regardless of any other children (sons) that will come after. And by marrying Maegor to the heir of the Iron Throne, they could rule together and any child that comes from them will unquestionably be the heir to the throne.

The fact that after Aenys’ death, Aegon the Uncrowned was championed as heir & not Rhaena has everything to do with them bowing to Andal customs to avoid more strife since it was their Valyrian tradition of sibling marriages that upset the kingdom in the first place HOWEVER it was established by the Conquerors themselves and then reiterated by Aenys’ rule alongside his brother and also Visenya wanting Rhaena and Maegor to marry and rule together, that there is no sole ruler in Targaryen/Valyrian tradition so regardless Aegon was going to be king and Rhaena queen and they would rule together there wasn’t any one is subservient to the other. They just paraded Aegon around as heir to gain the support of the kingdom.

And Rhaena knew it too. She told Alysanne that she & Jaehaerys already have her crown, they will not have her daughter too. “Queen Rhaena grew ever more resentful that her own claim to the Iron Throne, and that of her daughters, had been disregarded in favor of that of “my baby brother” (as she was wont to call Jaehaerys). She was the firstborn, she reminded those who would listen, and had been a dragonrider before any of her siblings, yet all of them and “even my own mother” had conspired to pass her over.”

Everything points out to women inherinting over men if they are the first born of their parents in Valyrian culture.

Very good points, anon. There's also the "Aegon had to marry Visenya for duty" thing. Aegon was crowned, but Visenya (and Rhaenys) was as much of a ruler as he was. I stand by my theory that Aegon allowed Andal customs to get to his head.

In my opinion Rhaena and Maegor should've been wed first, it would have set precedent for a woman heir and a royal consort not to mention joined the bloodlines of Visenya and Rhaenys.

At this point, I just wish certain individuals in this fandom would read the damn text instead of making nonsensical or false claims about Aegon III’s inheritance because Fire and Blood clearly states that he inherited the throne through Rhaenyra.

Despite her name being erased from the line of succession, King Aegon III is listed as Rhaenyra’s heir, not Aegon II’s, and gets his title from her. As stated by the text, “Aegon III, Rhaenyra’s son”.

Similarily, Viserys I is also listed as King Jaehaerys’ grandson and heir, not Prince Baelon’s son, and Jaehaerys himself was listed as Aenys son and heir, not Maegor the Cruel’s, who reigned before him.

The paradox of the Dance is that although Rhaenyra was not recognized as the Queen, they still rely on her name to crown her son by calling him her heir and placing him in the line of succession.

"History doesn't remember blood, it remembers names," and history sure as hell remembered that Aegon III, Viserys II, and every other Targaryen King descended from Rhaenyra Targaryen.

Chapter 1 Takeaways from F&B:

One-gon was boring as hell & super cringe & Rhaenys was probably happy every time he was with Visenya instead of her bc I know that man had the lamest stroke game. Visenya, likewise, really appreciated that he preferred Rhaenys. So overall, no one but him was having a good time (assuming he was capable of that, bc he sounds like a sad sack). Weakest link in the incest polycule. Absolutely milquetoast man. -3/10, good for Rhaenys for fucking those bards. If HBO didn't scrap the Conquerors show I hope they make him the saddest, gothest boy who I can make fun of. Make that man Worse Hamlet (Bolognalet, if you will).

Aegon's landing is the Westerosi origin of the "and everybody clapped" joke within the universe of asoiaf. The maesters had to work so hard to make that man look like a cool gigachad & the whole trio look wanted. Stop calling him "Aegon the Dragon," they all had dragons & his sisters were way cooler about that! Stop saying everyone tried to marry into his crusty family, I know the Westerosi Lords had better standards for their kids!

The Conquerors sucked so much that they literally only won because they had sentient nukes. Absolutely hilarious. An act of the gods had been required to take out my Belligerence King Argilliac.

I am still obsessed with Argella Durrandon. I have nothing but respect for my Storm Queen, & her soldiers can choke.

I'm never going to stop finding the conquest sad. Three entire noble lineages got completely destroyed (I can't say I'm crying over Harren Hoare, but it's still tragic in a way) so that everyone else could just...give up. That's what it reads as: everyone else (save Meria Martell) giving up so they wouldn't get barbecued & risk the lives of their people. It's really, really sad that Lame-o Aegon 1 decided he was the solution to a problem he didn't want to tell anyone else about, & decided to just conquer a whole continent about it. #SeparateTheKingdomsAgain

Stan Meria Martell. Not only because she was an absolute icon & kept her kingdom unconquered, but because she didn't cringe out of her skin/probably kept a semi-straight face when Rhaenys threatened her. What a queen princess ❤️

The only Maester Conspiacy™ going on, is the one to kiss Targ ass & try to make all their cringefail kings look cooler than they are in order to keep from getting killed & having the whole order dismantled by one (1) butthurt Valyrian who's upset his grandpa didn't get called the right title or have the correct amount of smoke blown up his ass.

I cannot compare Aegon with Rhaenyra because I may say bad things about Aegon II but no one can deny his bravery and resilience. He fought in frontline,loved his dragon & brothers and never ordered executing his own allies. Rhaenyra had an teenager Nettles fighting HER war, Nettles was risking her life on the Gullet for HER war meanwhile Rhaenyra was eating cakes. How was Nettles rewarded? With Miss Maegor ordering Nettles's unfair murder out of tyranny. It's clear Rhaenyra secretly loathed her and look down on her for her colour skin at the same time she used Nettles as disposable weapon for her benefit. Hipocrisy at it's peak

I agree with you. I mean it's controversial cause people think women=good and men=bad, but I think it says something that the show had to use one of Mushrooms tales to make Aegon look bad while they've gotten rid of some of Miss Maegor’s unsavory deeds(cough Ser Vaemond cough).

Aegon starts out a mess but he steps up while Missy Anne starts out a cute albeit spoiled child and then turns into a monster. Nettles is the final nail on the coffin showing that. She literally shows how fair she’s come in her ability to discard someone in the most brutal fashion who has done nothing malicious and is the least deserving of her ire, but people don’t want to talk about it.

So... something I absolutely need to talk about ; It's all the “ASOIAF” / “Fire and Blood” fans complaining about misogyny (especially for Laena, Nettles, or even Sansa, or Alicent from what I saw), but conveniently calling Rhaenyra by her nickname “Maegor with teats”, in the first degree.

A name, which I remind you, was given to it by the people, solely because it increased taxes. And why did she increase taxes ? Because the Greens have emptied all the coffers, leaving nothing behind. And being in the middle of a war, Rhaenyra had to find a solution to have money.

You're not telling me that this is comparable to all the atrocities that Maegor has committed ? If ?!

Even in terms of war crimes, the Greens did worse than the Blacks team. There was no equality between the two during that war !

This nickname simply reflects the fact that people will naturally be quicker to judge a sovereign woman, much more severely, than a male counterpart. So the existence of this nickname itself stems from misogyny.

So by using / endorsing this nickname, you are validating the misogyny done to the character of Rhaenyra. Quite simply.

Which is hypocritical, and that irritates me.

Even more so when these same people try to make people believe that the war / story of the dance is about Rhaenyra and Aegon II being two people who are not worthy of the throne and made a mess to still get it...

But no.

It's about Rhaenyra having her throne stolen, something plotted against her as soon as she was named heir as a child of 7 / 8 years old, simply because she is a woman !

I'm tired of people spitting on my queen for saying stupid things.

Obviously there are imbeciles who attack the characters of the books that I cited with misogynistic remarks, but Rhaenyra is also, sometimes moreover by the fans of these same characters who ironically complain of misogyny. And that's what annoys me.

You can't complain about misogyny towards the female characters you like, then denigrate a female character you don't like with misogynistic remarks or call her by a nickname that refers to the misogyny that this character is a victim of.

Calling it now they are going to omit Maelor completely and have Blood and Cheese be solely about Jaehaera and Jaehaerys. They are gonna force her to choose between her son and her daughter's life and the narrative will paint the picture of how misogynistic the Greens are instead of it being an impossible choice meant to destroy Helena's spirit

"Ser Otto Hightower believed that Prince Daemon Targaryen would be a second Maegor the Cruel if he would ever ascend to the throne, and at the start of the civil war his daughter Alicent claimed that Daemon would be "as cruel and unforgiving as Maegor ever was" as king consort. Daemon's wife, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, came to be considered a grasping, cruel, vindictive woman, and was dubbed "King Maegor with teats" by a wit in King's Landing."

Lmao daemon and rhaenyra never came even close to the depravity Maegor comitted.

Maegor Usurped and killed his nephew. Forced several women to marry him, including his niece, killed 2 of his wives, tortured one, slaughtered all the builders of his castle, purged house Harroway, had his nephew Viserys tortured, demanded princess Rhaella's death, raped an innkeep's daughter, and much more.

The worst thing daemon ever did was Blood & Cheese. That was deplorable and gross and I won't justify or excuse it. Other than that what did daemon ever do to make people think he'd be the 2nd Maegor? Hate the wife he was forced to marry at 16? Whore? Drink? Explore Kings Landing and live amongst the smallfolk? Viciously punish criminals as Lord Commander of the Gold Cloaks to protect his brothers subjects? Make insensitive comments like "heir for a day"? Allegedly took rhaenyra's virginity?

Rhaenyra? Well, idk if she's done anything even close to as bad as Blood & Cheese or anything maegor did. Choose not to rape her gay husband for children? Had children with someone actually interested in women to have heirs? Marry her uncle? What?

And please don't come onto this post whining about what they did during the war. These comments were made before war even broke out. Many of these rumours were spread prior to the Dance; most of them were made during the Green Council and before.

It's the height of irony that Daemon and Rhaenyra are compared to Maegor, considering its the Greens (specifically Otto, Alicent, and Aegon), who are more like Maegor with the simple fact that they're Usurpers (taking Rhaenyra, the previous monarchs lawful heir's throne) and started the Dance in the first place.

If we really compare:

Maegor - Aegon II (Usurped the lawful and chosen heir, Rhaenyra)

Visenya - Alicent (organised for her son to usurp the rightful ruler and installed him as king)

Aegon the Uncrowned - Rhaenyra (rightful heir usurped by family memeber and subsequently murdered by said family member)

If Jaehaerys was all about minimizing the power of Targaryen daughters but marrying them off to less-than-ideal suitors (love that idea), how do you think that applies to the match of Rhaenys and Corlys? Does it, even? Or does it need to, given expected Rhaenys's station at the time? He says she couldn't have picked a better man.

And, also, do you think this can be applied to Daemon's match with Rhea?

LETS DIG INNNN okay this got so longgggg but i was trying to be fair while also discussing like, so much sex crime-

So like the post said re: Alyssa & Baelon’s marriage, I think there's some interference from Alysanne here. Especially early on in their marriage, before she's made it clear that she can in fact live without his ass, I think we have several cases where he's ~indulging~ Alysanne's more romantic ideas about what ruling should look like and what being a targaryen should be about. Giving her wins that ultimately don’t cost him much (before she starts asking for things he doesn’t approve of).

I think by the time Rhaenys marries Corlys, Jaehaerys has already written her off as a potential heir, but if he denies her marriage to Corlys, that risks not only pissing off Corlys - who imo already has A Whole Thing about being Just As Valyrian As The Targaryens, so he will take offense - but also tips Alysanne off to the fact that he has no intention of letting the crown pass to Rhaenys or her sons. He knows this is a sore spot for her because she insisted that little Daenerys be considered crown princess and heir over Aemon, and Jaehaerys already brushed her off about that. So if he tries to marry Rhaenys off to like, a Tully who already has three heirs or some random Darry, Alysanne is going to argue that Rhaenys deserves a much loftier match given her status, and get really paranoid about why Rhaenys is getting a shitty match. I think he's trying to put off naming Baelon as his/Aemon’s heir for as long as possible because he knows it's going to be a fight, especially given that Alysanne is usually the one in charge of marriages, and this has precedent (that marriages are the Queen's domain - Visenya and Rhaenys made marriage matches as well).

But also. I think (and I can't believe I'm gonna do my man Ned dirty like this) that like Ned (bleh), Jaehaerys learns the "wrong lesson" from his sister. Rhaena married extremely beneath her and that caused major problems for her, so Jaehaerys is making sure that Rhaenys doesn't marry far beneath her as well. Because see, Rhaena spends much of her life miserable, without a direction in life, without even a castle to her name that she can hide out in. Everything that is hers is actually Jaehaerys' and it eats away at her until the day she dies. Beyond that, keeping Rhaena on as a guest is expensive because people want to see her, because she comes with her own household, and because she has a whole ass dragon that needs to be fed. So even if she wanted to live off the goodwill of others, that goodwill runs out quick due to logistics. She only gets Harrenhal because Maegor Towers is sickly and the last of his line, and even then, it's not really hers - it belongs to the crown.

I think Jaehaerys looked at how unhappy she was and what a huge pain in the ass it was, and figures he needs to give Rhaenys a consolation prize in a way he doesn’t need to give to the younger daughters, bc they never had a chance to inherit. Rhaenys has assumed the crown will pass if not to her then to her son, as has Alysanne, and I think its likely Aemon and Jocelyn also assumed that the crown would pass to Rhaenys' eventual son. Jaehaerys can’t just deny her all the trappings of being crown princess/mother to a king and expect her to take it lying down. And to be clear, I do think there’s some emotional aspect to this - I think he did feel guilty over stealing Rhaena’s crown and throne even if he felt he was doing it ~for the good of the realm bc Aegon had died. When Rhaena makes her “you are rhaenys i am visenya i have always known this” comment, she nails the dynamic, but I think Rhaena being the ~rejected bride~ does hurt Jaehaerys - she deserved, in his eyes, to grow old with their brother and have the power of a queen consort. BUT. At the same time, he’s a raging violent misogynist who believes Alysanne is the only exception to her gender, that it is simply right and natural that a woman only derives power from her husband. It’s why Baelon gets to claim Balerion when he’s young, but Alyssa is barred until her wedding. A dragon is a responsibility, a realm is a burden, and in his eyes Alyssa Velaryon, Rhaena, and Visenya all failed to live up to the challenge. So yes, he wants something good for Rhaenys - he wants her to have a happier life than Rhaena did, and he’s willing to gamble just like he did with the Baelon/Alyssa marriage, and indulge Rhaenys and Alysanne in giving her a dragon and a husband who could back her claim because she needs something to keep her calm when he inevitably usurps her, in contrast to the way Rhaena had absolutely nothing to distract her from her misery. And his gamble pays off is the thing - he neutralizes her dragon and her husband bc Corlys is off fighting still when the announcement is made, and Rhaenys is heavily pregnant and probably not really riding Meleys. He figured - bc of his love for Alyssa, Alysanne, and Rhaenys, however goddamn deranged and ultimately meaningless that love is - that he could move the pieces enough to get the outcome he thought was best and he was right!

For Daemon's part, I do think this is part of why Alysanne ships him off to the Vale yes. Notable to me that every marriage match does have a seat of their own, even if it's not an important one, unlike second son Androw Farman - Daella would have gotten the Eyrie, Viserra would have gotten White Harbor, and while none of Saera's matches were lofty they were all heirs with nice enough seats. But Daemon would run into a similar problem where it would be too expensive to keep him around if he marries some random noble lady living with her dad, but if he marries too high up that’s just as bad, so giving him an heiress and then kicking him the fuck out is a good way to deal with him.

BUT. I actually do have a conspiracy theory here that something happened at KL that caused a huge stir within the family and Alysanne dealt with it by shipping Daemon off. What happened? Well...obviously I think Viserys and Daemon got caught fucking lmao, I call myself a Visaemon truther for a reason. I do also think there's a chance that Alysanne suspected Daemon was fucking around with Gael as well - they're only a year apart, they grew up in King’s Landing together, Gael & Alysanne have been back at court a few years, Targaryens love to do that stuff, etc. I’m not saying he IS the father, the timeline is close enough that they could have fucked around but not close enough to have gotten her pregnant - he marries Rhea in 97 and Gael disappears from court in 99. But my other conspiracy about Jaehaerys being the father does kinda fit this too - that Alysanne noticed something was up but suspected the wrong man. I don't think Alysanne would ever want to even entertain the thought that Jaehaerys was raping one of her daughters, even if she realized what he had done to Alysanne herself was rape. Much easier to blame it on/suspect eternal Problem Child Daemon, especially if he's also being groomed by fucking Viserys; he's already an oversexed lecher who seduced gentle, married Viserys away from sweet Aemma, what else isn't he capable of? (and the double tap there of like, hypersexualization of bisexuality + Alysanne’s complete refusal to deal with how unhappy she is with Jaehaerys equals, to me, her constantly punishing her children and grandchildren because she can’t punish Jaehaerys, and proving this point to herself that she couldn’t have been manipulated into marrying him because look, her daughters are marrying the same way as well. And if she suspects even subconsciously that Jaehaerys is raping Gael? And punishes Daemon for ~seducing~ her poor sweet innocent Gael and stealing away Viserys from his sweet innocent wife Aemma? yeah that tracks with how she treats Saera and Viserra).

um tldr i think jaehaerys simply gambled that he could still control the situation when it came to defanging rhaenys, but also knew he couldn’t just give her nothing, if not for sentiment sake, then at least for logistics sake and to avoid a small rebellion, so when rhaenys & alysanne float the match, he can’t say no to it, so he just controls it. and i do think alysanne sent daemon off to the vale in part to defang him as well, yes, in addition to my not insane i’m right conspiracies about exactly what was cookin in king’s landing circa 97-99 ac (it was a lot of sex crimes, that’s what was cookin).

Watching some people dare to say that Aegon III and Viserys II viewed their mother as a pretender truly angers me. Such lies.

Aegon never called his mother a pretender. The fact that neither he nor Viserys fought to have her recognized as the rightful Queen, or have the usurper’s King title removed post-war was in order to keep the peace in the Realm. Both of them sacrificed their personal beliefs because they didn’t want to risk starting another war. They suffered enough in their youth.

It was the usurper who called Rhaenyra a pretender and had her listed as a princess in documents after he killed her. It was his work. Work that unfortunately was not undone after his death, all for the sake of peace and refusal to revisit the subject.

Aegon III and Viserys II were both good Kings in different ways, and didn’t let their personal opinions get in the way of keeping the peace. Besides, Aegon choosing to wear black for the rest of his life is a clear indication to me that his loyalties would always lie with his mother and her faction. And his daughter, Daena (the one who I believe resembles Rhaenyra most in terms in personality) also wore black just like him.

And I remind everyone that Maegor was a clear usurper, and yet Jaehaerys never removed his King title upon his ascension, even though his brother, Aegon the Uncrowned, was the rightful heir. Aegon II keeping his King title means nothing.

I find it soo hilarious that Rhaenyra named her daughter Visenya and Aegon named his son Mae(l)or

to be fair, Rhaenyra had this idolisation for Visenya (hence the name) and while she was a controversial figure, she had more pros than cons. Though it's still rather bold to name her firstborn daughter like this and 100% respect for it.

Aegon had me wheezing with Maelor because there's no way he didn't do it on purpose. I feel like there was definitely a push from otto/Alicent when it comes to the first names (given how people in asoiaf use them) so firstborn son was forcefully named jaehaerys after the wise old king (as a sign of power that his son will follow the same path) and I headcanon Helaena coming up with the twist of its female form Jaehaer-a to be all cute and make her twins match.

Meanwhile with Maelor, Aegon had the opportunity to wilful and unruly and forced down his choice, instead of whatever other name his mother and grandfather had in mind.

Reddit dude bros really need to touch the books instead of just reading fanfics

They act like Cannibal was important during the dance or was known to fight tamed dragons… meanwhile cannibal in CANON:

“The largest and oldest of the wild dragons was the Cannibal, so named because he had been known to feed on the carcasses of dead dragons, and descend upon the hatcheries of Dragonstone to gorge himself on newborn hatchlings and eggs.”

“Cannibal had been known to attack smaller dragons in the past, though seldom so savagely.”

…. He is like the hyena of the Dragonstone dragons😐

Not hating the dragon(I love all of them even the fucked up ones), but these guys need to stop using Cannibal of all dragons to downplaying Syrax,Caraxes,Meleys and Vermithor

on twitter everyone is losing their mind about the alleged aegon the conqueror prequel and the supposed pitch about aegon being a "drunken lout" or something. but like

even if that was the case, they seemed bothered by the idea of aegon being interesting. like, most of the criticism of a supposed pitch that we have no information about besides one tiny tidbit with zero context. it's merely the idea that aegon i is anything less than "the most disciplined" of the targaryen kings or something. but aegon i is easily the most boring of the aegons in the story because he has no actual personality. i mean this so very genuinely.

aegon ii even with the small amount of characterization that he recieves in fire and blood, at least he had some defining traits and flaws, a character arc, and a downfall. aegon iii as well is a child at the end of fire and blood and got more characterization than the grownass aegon i. aegon iv is a terrible person, but we know so much about him and his actions and his relationships to other characters. aegon v is a main character of the dunk and egg stories.

meanwhile, aegon has no personality.

i saw the description, and being charitable, it could make sense for his character based on his supposed dream in house of the dragon.

mostly because i envision him as prince hal in this pitch. if you don't know, "prince hal" refers to the media critisim of the characterization of young henry v in shakespeare's plays henry iv, in which he is characterized as wayward youth who enjoys the company of petty criminals and wastrels. that is until his ascension in henry v in which he becomes this great warrior king who conquerors the french crown for england during the hundred year war.

basically the plot of netflix's "the king" with timothée chalamet (you know, the movie everyone in this fandom uses to make edits of book!jon snow, and fun fact, dean charles chapman aka tommen and tom glynn-carney aka aegon ii feature in this movie too).

so, i would imagine aegon the conqueror as a youth on dragonstone. his father, aerion, is ruling still and aegon is unmarried. perhaps he is like prince hal, with no real purpose in his life, just living his life up on the island with no responsibilities or burdens.

and then one day, he has his dream. of the white walkers, of the long night, of the prince that was promised. and perhaps it's this horrible dream that causes him to realize that he needs to end his past behavior and begin planning for the future, to prepare for the threat in the north. like how rhaegar found the prophecy and then decided that "it seems i must be a warrior", aegon will decide "it seems i must be a conqueror". and that's when we get him visiting westeros for the first time, ordering the painted table be made, etc.

or perhaps it's because of this dream that for a time he becomes a wastrel. much like his descendant, daeron the drunken who was also burdened with the gift of prophecy, who drank and whored to cope with the trauma of his visions. perhaps, aegon also sought to run from the burden of destiny in wine and ale. until he changed his mind and began his plotting of the conquest. maybe at the behest of his sisters, rhaenys and visenya, to not ignore his dream.

idk, but either of these would have the potential for character development. the idea that his mysterious (aka personality-deprived) characterization in fire and blood was due to a calculated transformation by aegon the conqueror to preserve his own mysticism. that he has not always been this person history views him as, but rather it was someone who he needed to become because he believed that he was required to by destiny.

perhaps i should have prefaced this post with the fact that i hate aegon the conqueror. and a show about the conquest is a terrible idea of a lot of reasons (a blackfyre rebellion show would be much better. honestly who do i have to pay to get a dunk and egg show?)

but this was the weird reason that fans latched onto that derives from the same problem a lot of stans had when hotd came out. which is that most characters in fire and blood are very bare bones, if they have any characterization to begin with. and readers fill in the blanks with their headcanons. but when adapted, the writers had to fill in the gaps themselves, and then fans get made when that doesn't match their headcanons. which to be honest, i do the same.

but until an actual synopsis is dropped, the outrage about aegon the conqueror's character assassination is ridiculous.

you need a character first to assassinate.