Tony has always only trusted himself.
Sure, people are great sometimes, and he tries to trust them. he really does. but when he’s really in danger, he always calls out to his own creations for help. He only trusts the things he’s built.
Because Tony Stark has been stabbed in the back enough times to never let anything he didn’t make himself have his back
But when he starts noticing odd gaps in his memory, and starts noticing patterns that don’t match up, he starts wondering if he can even trust himself.
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Dany’s vision of Rhaegar in the HotU
So, I want to beat an already dead and over-beaten horse, and talk a bit about Dany’s vision of Rhaegar in the House of the Undying.
Now, I want to preface it by saying that I know this subject has been talked about thousands of times and it’s boring and tiring to talk about the same shit over and over again, but I just saw “Rhaegar is a prophecy-obsessed groomer/rapist” discourse on my twitter feed and thought I’d toss my two cents in.
Firstly, let’s look a bit at this vision as it appears in the books, shall we?
Viserys, was her first thought the next time she paused, but a second glance told her otherwise. The man had her brother’s hair, but he was taller, and his eyes were a dark indigo rather than lilac. “Aegon,” he said to a woman nursing a newborn babe in a great wooden bed. “What better name for a king?”
As we can see here, Dany, on her quest to find her children, stumbles upon this little moment long past. The text tells us that the three people shown here are Rhaegar, his wife Elia, and their son Aegon.
“Will you make a song for him?” the woman asked.
“He has a song,” the man replied. “He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire.” He looked up when he said it and his eyes met Dany’s, and it seemed as if he saw her standing there beyond the door.
This passage specifically has been interpreted numerous times. The text tells us that Rhaegar thought that his son, Aegon, was The Prince that was Promised. However, Rhaegar looks up when he says the prophecy, and looks directly at Dany, as if talking to her.
This to me reads as not-very-subtly being told the answer to the prophecy. Dany is TPTWP, as the author tells us through vision-Rhaegar. Thus, she is made aware of the prophecy, part of which we can find in the title of the book series.
I’ve seen the theory that Rhaegar seeing Dany was a time-space continuum bubble, of the present looking at the past, or, for Rhaegar, the present glimpsing at the future. How I see it, however, is that when he says those fateful words, and looks up to meet his sister’s eyes, he becomes both the gods’ and the author’s channel to make Dany and the reader aware of the answer to the prophecy. He sceases to be just a vision of the past and becomes the gods’/R’hllor’s voice, informing Dany. He tells her about the PTWP prophecy, because she is TPTWP!
Thus, when he continues with this,
“There must be one more,” he said, though whether he was speaking to her or the woman in the bed she could not say. “The dragon has three heads.”
we can infer that he’s saying this to Dany, because the gods want her to know this (and the author wants us to know this).
Mind you, these are visions, not just excerpts from the past/present/future. The conversation as it’s shown might not have taken place exactly like this, if it ever did. With how abrupt the cut from Rhaegar saying this to him going and playing the harp, I think he’s never said those words himself. Again, I believe that, in that moment (given that “There must be one more” and “The dragon has three heads” do not tie at all with the PTWP prophecy), it’s the gods using this vision of him to tell Dany (and the reader) an important message.
I shall say it one more time, just to be perfectly clear: IT’S NOT RHAEGAR TALKING ABOUT THE THREE HEADS AND A THIRD CHILD, IT’S THE GODS!
“There must be one more”, because Rhaegar has three children, not just two. Dany is fated to meet Rhaegar’s third child (and very probably fall in love and marry said third child, but that’s another overly-beaten, dead horse), and we as readers have been getting clues about who this child is since book one.
In no passage is it stated or implied that Rhaegar sought to have another child. He doesn’t go on and say, “When the maester has cleared you, we shall try for a third.” or “Because you can’t get pregnant again, I shall look for another woman to bear my third child.” The theory that he wanted another one, presumably a girl, to name her Visenya, is just that, a fan theory.
“The dragon has three heads. There are two men in the world who I can trust, if I can flnd them. I will not be alone then. We will be three against the world, like Aegon and his sisters.” (ASOS, Dany VI)
It’s clear (or it should be) that “the dragon has three heads” it’s specifically for Dany to know that there are two people out there whom she can trust and with whom she shall stand “against the world, like Aegon and his sisters.”
It’s not about Rhaegar thinking that his children are “the three heads of the dragon”. It’s about Dany. You would think it’s obvious given that it’s her chapter, but whatever.
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Irondad fic ideas #117
One day, May receives a threatening letter at work. It says, "Do you know who your nephew is?" and contains, crushed into the page, a dead spider.
Horrified, May calls Tony Stark. Plans are set in place immediately to move the Parkers into Stark Tower for protection while Tony tracks down the people who sent the threat.
Peter is at school during the chaos of getting May to the tower. He only learns what's happened when he's called out of class. When he gets to the office, it's Tony waiting there (with the very stunned school secretary) to pick him up. He has his nanotech housing unit on.
Tony explains once they're in the car. Peter freaks out until Tony promises that May is already safely at the tower with Happy and Pepper. Only then does Peter notice that Tony's hands are shaking too.
All of this was not what the villains wanted. Their plan had been to scare May into abandoning Peter. They didn't know that she already knew who he was, and they definitely didn't know that the Parkers were close to Tony Stark.
An abandoned and homeless Peter would have been much easier to kidnap. Now, they will have to step up their game.
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A Different Homecoming
It took effort not to grab Stephen’s hand—to make sure he was still there—as Tony stepped off of the plane. He didn’t, didn’t even look back as he strode forward to where Pepper and Happy stood beside the car, the sun too warm where it beat down on him.
He tried for a grin, even as he knew the expression was a swing and a miss as he took in Pepper in front of him, her eyes red, her hair just a little less put together than normal, her appearance just a little worn. “Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long lost boss?”
Pepper tried for her own smile, but it was just as weak as he suspected his own had been. “Tears of joy. I hate job hunting.”
“Yeah, well vacation’s over.” He looked back at Stephen. He looked tired, haggard. He looked how Tony felt. “Come on,” he said, voice going softer. “Get into the car.”
Stephen nodded, and Tony pushed him gently into the car, following after him and letting Pepper slide in and close the door behind them.
He could see the way Pepper watched Stephen; he wondered just what Rhodey had told her, what message he’d had about the man that Tony hadn’t let out of his sight since they’d escaped that cave.
Though at least that was mutual. Stephen was just as disinclined to let Tony out of his sight as Tony was to let Stephen out of his.
Trauma, Rhodey had called it.
Tony thought it was closer to a mix of trust and desperation. But then, maybe that was what trauma was, holding desperately to the only things left you could trust.
“Where to, Boss?” Happy asked him, voice almost gentle in a way that felt strange from Happy.
“To the hospital,” Pepper ordered.
“No.” Just the thought of it made Tony’s skin crawl. Of strangers’ hands touching him, of their eyes on the reactor in his chest.
“Tony,” Stephen’s voice was quiet, but no less firm for it. “You need a doctor.”
“You’re a doctor,” Tony protested. He grabbed Stephen’s hand, bringing it up to rest on his chest right over the arc reactor. “And you’re the only one I trust with this.” Yinsen had died on them, Stephen was the only one he had left.
A complicated look crossed Stephen’s face. Reluctance, because Stephen, unlike him, did trust doctors. Understanding because Stephen knew perfectly just how vulnerable Tony was right now. “Fine. For now.”
It was as much of a win as Tony was likely to get.
“Tony.” This time it was Pepper’s turn to be remonstrating. “You have to—“
“I don’t have to do anything,” Tony snapped, flinching a little at his own tone. He clenched at Stephen’s hand where he was still holding it. “We’ve been held captive in a cave for three months. I don’t have to do anything.” Pepper pursed her lips but nodded. “But there are three things that I want to do. I want an American Cheeseburger.”
Stephen sighed. “Tony.”
Tony ignored him. Because if anyone would convince him to change his mind, it was Stephen. Right now Tony didn’t want to be convinced to be ‘rational’, he just… he needed this.
“I want someone to find out what happened to a doctor named Christine Palmer—”
Stephen stiffened at that It was his turn to tighten his grip around Tony’s hand to the point where it almost hurt. Tony could only silently pray that Stephen’s best friend was still out there somewhere, safe and sound. The two of them had been together, a short stint with doctors without borders, when Stephen had been taken. The question of her fate had haunted Stephen almost as much as the captivity had.
“—And I want you to call for a press conference.”
“A press conference?” Confusion colored Pepper’s tone, but Tony didn’t have the energy to try to explain everything to her.
“Yes.” He doubted it would be hard to organize, the media would be frothing at the mouth to get ahold of him. They weren’t going to like what he had to say, however.
But that sure as hell wasn’t going to stop Tony from saying it.
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