“If Daemon wanted to get rid of his step-sons he would do it right after Aegon III’s birth”

If Rhaenyra thought Daemon was a serious threat to her sons she wouldn’t have married him. We don’t fully know the ins and outs of Daemyra’s marriage but we do know Rhaenyra. The honest truth is she’s more likely kill her husband and feed him to her dragon if she got even a whiff of a threat to her kids than turn a blind eye whilst he pulls an Alicent Hightower.

Daemon knows that, he entered this marriage fully aware any son he has isn’t going to become King. So he cut his losses and accepted Baela and Rhaena as the future Queen Consort and Lady of Driftmark.

𝐌𝐚𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐞𝐧

ESTJ

Slytherin

Neutral/Chaotic Evil

King of Swords Reversed

Scorpio Sun, Aries Moon, Capricorn Rising

Better known as Maegor the Cruel, he was the only son and offspring between Aegon I and his sister-wife Visenya Targaryen. The two conquorers were married out of tradition, not love, and bedding Visenya was out of duty for Aegon. Therefore, conceiving was much more difficult for Visenya, as every night Aegon spent with her, he then spent ten with Rhaenys. 

  However, Rhaenys was only able to produce one babe as well, Aenys I Targaryen - the older brother of Maegor. Who was the complete opposite of him. It was Aenys’ line that continued the Targaryen dynasty. 

 There is a lot to be said about Maegor, as he did a lot in his lifetime. Most of it was awful, as he was a man who was quick to anger and slow to forgive. When Aenys died, Maegor decided that the Iron Throne was his, and so he took it. 

   Raised on Dragonstone with his mother, away from his brother, father and step-mother/aunt, Maegor was soon known as the Prince of Dragonstone. Born large, as he grew he was described as ‘bull-like.’ Even in his youth, Maegor had a love for violence. 

  It was rumoured that Maegor killed animals while young. He had received his first sword at age three, and took to swordplay with ease. On his thirteenth name day, his mother gave him the ancestoral sword, Dark Sister. 

   Even though there were several hatchling dragons, Maegor never bonded with one. And when his sister in law, Alyssa Velaryon teased him about being dragon-less, Maegor replied that there was only one dragon worthy of him. 

  His was the fearsome and battle-ready Balerion, the Black Dread. His father’s dragon.

When Aegon died, and Aenys was crowned as King, he gave Maegor the other ancestoral sword, Blackfyre, and said they would rule together. And therefore, Aenys named Maegor as Hand of the King. 

  Maegor remained unmarried until the birth of his niece Rhaena. Visenya proposed that Maegor be betrothed to her, however, many disapproved and the High Septon put forward his daughter, Ceryse Hightower, as his bride. 

 Maegor and Ceryse married, and the day after his wedding night, Maegor boasted about conveiving an heir. He in fact, did not. And try as he did, Maegor never made an heir, even though he had six wives; Ceryse Hightower, Alys Harroway, Tyanna of the Tower, Elinor Costayne, Jeyne Westerling, and his niece Rhaena Targaryen, the last three of whom are known as the Black Brides.

  However, he did not marry all of them at once. Well, not the first three anyway. His marriage to Alys Harroway caused a lot of uproar and Aenys gave Maegor a choice - set Alys aside or go into exile for five years. Maegor chose the latter and left with Alys on the back of Balerion to Pentos. He took both ancestoral swords with him, even though Aenys told him not to. Septon Murmison replaced Maegor as Hand. And in 41 AC, Aenys named his eldest son, Prince Aegon, Prince of Dragonstone.

  There were positives to Maegor’s actions, especially during his ruling. He thwarted the ever-growing power of the Faith of the Seven (claiming that the strictures of the Faith did not rule the blood of the dragon), and created the Red Keep (although he had all the builders executed so the hidden tunnels would remain a secret). 

He also squashed any and every rebelliion in the other Houses, making everyone fall into line. 

 When Aenys died, Maegor came back from exile and claimed the throne. He killed Aegon, Aenys’ son, and his dragon Quicksilver. Afterwards Maegor was known as "Maegor the Cruel" and a kinslayer throughout the realm.

  Before his death, Maegor had done some horrible things to his kin. The majority of which was so the line of succession would stay true to him and his children (although no babe survived). 

   Maegor ruled for six years and sixty-six days and died without an heir. He had three stillborn children by his six queens, all malformed. He was succeeded by his nephew, King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, the youngest son of the late King Aenys I.

my mind has not been silent since you.

prints + merch + commission info

THE EMPRESS

Rhaenyra is officially Heir

I almost was not going to redesign Rhaenyra's official Heir ceremony costume from the show, because I kind of like that one. If the cloak fabric didn’t wrinkle so under its own weight it might have been perfect.

While redesigning it I decided the thing to do was to push the Byzantine inspiration even farther. The shape, the mantle, and the crown with strings of pearls. Before you ask: yes, this took a solid amount of time to do with all those details in there. I wanted to use richer golds, loads more gems, and huge amounts of expensive fabric for this very formal, very important occasion. The crown even has a little dragon on it.

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram, tiktok or check out my coloring book available now \ („• ֊ •„) /

https://linktr.ee/ellen.artistic

Queen Rhaenyra I and Prince Daemon’s sons: Aegon and Viserys. | the fact that their two sons are going to be kings…also aegon with a bowl cut is canon. (i see that viserys is a copy of rhaenyra and aegon is daemon’s)

🔮 alys ❤️‍🔥

(let’s assume that dragon necklace is a gift from aemond i can’tttt)

Nettles & Sheepstealer

Those are your last words?

Here's the OG pic:

Yeah I like Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire a bit too much

I don’t understand the fandoms love for Daemon, by all rights he should be as hated as Joffrey was. Not only did he do almost everything Joffrey did, he also did worse. Even Tywin wouldn’t hold a candle to his cruelty. I understand liking a villainous character, I do too with Cersei and Tywin, but I’ve never went out of my way to whitewash their characters. I love them because they are villainous and practically irredeemable, if team black stans liked Daemon for his villainous actions before and during the Dance of Dragons I wouldn’t have any problems with it. But the fact that they go out of their way to defend him killing Rhea Royce because “he was forced into a marriage he didn’t like!!!!” As if she wasn’t too. And the fact that they defend him sending Blood and Cheese to psychologically torture Haelena and kill Jaehaerys due to “a son for a son it’s only right” when they despise Alicents moment of madness when her son was denied justice, makes me want to hurl.

It’s alright to like villainous characters, it doesn’t make you a bad person if you like them. But you know what makes you a moronic person? Whitewashing everything that makes a character compelling because you want to like them without seeming like a ‘bad person’. Your opinion on a character does not determine your own morality, it doesn’t make you better or worse than someone who hates them. But what it does, when you erase their entire identity as a rouge to make them more palatable to you, is make you seem moronic, stupid, and lacking any critical thinking and reading comprehension skills.

Rhaenyra is a compelling character because she is entitled and spoiled and lacks any political experience, she shows how badly Viserys fucked up when he tried to compensate for his guilt of murdering Aemma. Alicent is a compelling character because she is a mother who is trying her best to protect her children from the reality that if Daemon took the throne for Rhaenyra, he would kill all of them because they are a threat. She is even more of a compelling character in the books because of her ambition and cunning and want for her family to rise far above the ‘station’ of being a noble house in the Reach (as if house Hightower aren’t the oldest house in Westeros who could trace their lineage back to both the Garth Greenhand the high king of the first men and the Andal Kings that came afterwards). Daemon, for all that I dislike him as a character, is compelling for his ruthlessness and shortsightedness in his pursuit of the throne. He didn’t raise an army for Viserys because he thought he was a competent leader, he did it because it raised his own standing within Westeros, he groomed Rhaenyra not because he loved her, but because having him in her good graces means that he stood a better chance of being king after she was named heir. His ruthlessness is compelling. Taking it away to make him into a ‘malewife’ or a ‘loving father’ or a man who is lacking any ambition beyond wanting a valyrian wife is taking away his agency. It makes him seem like a Gary Sue who only wants the throne because his brother said Rhaenyra was heir. It makes it so that he is so completely white bread like that not even I, someone who loved the more morally bankrupt characters in ASOIAF can find him agreeable in any way shape or form.

Daemon is a fundamentally morally bankrupt character and he should stay that way. If you like him you should acknowledge and accept that he is one of the ‘bad guys’. Just as Cersei fans acknowledge and accept that she is fundamentally a morally bankrupt person who is selfish to the extreme. We like morally black characters because they are morally black. To make excuses for their actions is to take away their agency which makes them unlikable and very hate-able.

Daemons actions aren’t justifiable, blood and cheese would never be justified. A son for a son is akin to the visceral disgust the fandom had to Alicent when she asked for Lucerys’ eye, yet I bet when season two comes out and Blood and Cheese happens we’d see Daemon fans applauding and trying to justify it as ‘not that bad’ and ‘team green deserved it because of Aemond’s actions’ when little Jaehaerys, a boy of 6, was as far removed from the incident as can be. It would be akin to Team Green saying that due to Jaehaerys’ death, Aegon III or Viserys II deserved to have their head cut off in front of Rhaenyra.

Let morally bankrupt characters be morally bankrupt. You aren’t morally bankrupt because you like said character, it’s a fictional story loosely based on Empress Matilda. It’s not that deep. Like the characters you like without trying to justify their actions. They might be monstrous but you aren’t because you like them. It’s not a measure of your own character because you like said character. But it is a measure of your intelligence when you try to change said character’s entire personality to make it so that they are more digestible to you and everyone else.

🐉 Visenya Targaryen 🗡️

Targaryen Family Tree

“Visenya, eldest of the three siblings, was as much a warrior as Aegon himself, […] carried the Valyrian longsword Dark Sister, and was skilled in its use“

Known children: Maegor

It really must dig into team green's craws that a woman founded the Oldtown Bank, Samantha Tarly. who also had an arguably incestuous 13 years-long relationship, then marriage, with their Lord Lyonel Hightower. (He had been her stepson as she married his father, Ormund, before Roddy the ruin killed him in the Dance.) they had 6 kids together before they married even, after the High Septon to condemned them died and there was a new one who finally approved them.

daemon being the author's chosen epic rogue antihero will never not be funny considering how terrible he comes off as in canon. for my final act of redemption i will groom this fifteen year old before murder suiciding my dark shadow nephew above the castle of doom and death. george you say trust the process and yeah you kinda killed it with jaime and theon. but gimme something i can work with man

then the storm broke, and the dragons danced.

prints + merch

QUEEN OF SWORDS

The Wedding of Rhaenyra and Daemon

I need all the love for this one because I super-focused on it for over half a day without pause. What sleep schedule? I had the unstoppable urge to draw these two menaces. If you want me to make more things like this the endorphin rush of positive feedback will need to be stellar XD. Second bird with this stone is that I actually drew an unprompted man for the HotD series. Can’t be getting too predictable with only pretty ladies.

For this redesign I wanted to reference and build off of Rhaenyra's Heir outfit. So while it's not exactly the same they should feel like they are pulling more from the "ancient Valyerian" (Byzantine-esque) fashion than the styles that Alicent is currently wearing in court. Extra points if you an spot the references to Empress Theodora (again + her Emperor). Oh and because I make the rules in these redesigns: Corlys is Black and Rhaenyra isn't Hollywood sized. I can pull from the books and the show as I please! So I wanted to include her long single plait (styled after a previous Queen) and her generous curves in these post-time jump illustrations.

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram, tiktok or check out my coloring book available now \ („• ֊ •„) /

https://linktr.ee/ellen.artistic