If someone defends Rhaenyra’s usurpation because of tRaDiTiOn, they better be waving a Maegor banner proudly.
I’m being serious.
So many people in this fandom care about the tradition of Westerosi inheritance and act like yelling about it justifies team green’s actions. They never seem to take into consideration what it means.
This post is inspired by my allergy to inconsistency and hypocrisy. Here we go.
The only consistent tradition of Targaryen succession is the ruler choosing their own heir. Sometimes that aligned with Westerosi tradition, often it did not. And it started with the very first heir. So either you admit Maegor was the rightful heir over Aenys, or you admit he wasn’t because Aegon the Conqueror said so.
Let me explain.
Visenya was Aegon’s first wife. In Westerosi tradition, Rhaenys would be considered at best a mistress and her children out of the succession or, at the least, behind Visenya’s children. The lords accepted the validity of Aegon’s plural marriage because they didn’t have the power to oppose the Conquerors, simple as. Tradition didn’t matter in the face of dragons. It is not a genuine argument and hasn’t been since the creation of the Crown itself. House Targaryen’s exceptionalism went beyond incest and dragons from the start, and accepting Aenys as king shows the nobles accepted this when it was convenient.
So I’d like team green to be consistent. Is the king’s word law, a la Aegon choosing Aenys as his heir? Or is this a break from tradition that was only corrected when Maegor killed his nephew and took the throne?
It gets messy from here. Maegor, as we know, didn’t have a child, so he chose his great-niece, Aerea as his heir. Jaehaerys was still alive, he could’ve chosen him. Heck, that might’ve eased like a drop of the tension between him, Jaehaerys and Alyssa Velaryon. So if you’re a tradition truther, Maegor was the proper king but then chose an untraditional heir. Hmm.
Then we get to Jaehaerys, and a tradition truther might think YES, THAT’S OUR GUY. But he’s really not.
Yes, he stopped considering his eldest living child, Daenerys, as his heir after Aemon was born. But then Aemon died.
Aemon did, however, die with an heir. Her name was Rhaenys. In Westerosi tradition, she’d inherit after him, because a daughter inherits before a brother. Now, I know the lords do all sorts of things to circumvent this (see Alys Karstark), but that *is* Westerosi tradition.
Did Jaehaerys follow tradition? Nope. He picked his second oldest son, Baelon.
Some might say there are logical reasons for this. Baelon was a warrior, older, and had grown sons. Rhaenys was like 18, married to an ambitious lord not named Targaryen, and at risk of dying in childbirth (Baelon was named heir in 92, Rhaenys had her first child in 92). HOWEVER, we see with Jeyne Arryn becoming Lady of the Vale while still a *toddler* that Westerosi tradition doesn’t set aside claims merely because such concerns exist. In fact, in ASOIAF, some Lannister married an f-ing BABY to lay claim to her lands because *she* is the acknowledged inheritor.
You could argue that it matters more when it’s the Crown, and I’ll concede that while pointing out you’ve made my argument for me: isn’t that a good reason for the Crown to do what it wants instead of following traditions that hamstring it?
If you’re a tradition truther, however, you should be in a rage and insisting Rhaenys inherit, and you should be outraged by what was done to her at the Council of 101 after Baelon dies. Her claim wasn’t even considered, Laenor’s was—ya know, her toddler son who got his claim *through* her.
So then Viserys takes the throne and continues the Targaryen custom of choosing his heir. And the tradition truthers of the fandom rise up and boo, and they cry “duty and sacrifice! What about tradition!?”
Just admit that the lords of Westeros, Alicent, her merry band of greens, and the fans that make excuses for them didn’t and don’t care about tradition unless it suits them, and they only become vocal about it when a woman stands a good chance of inheriting over a man.
Viserys never wavered in his choice, the realm knew it and so did the greens. This is precisely why Rhaenyra had far more support than her brother, and why the argument that the realm wouldn’t accept her is bs. The realm DID accept her. Because they understood something many in this fandom struggle to
There was only one consistent tradition of royal succession between the Conquest and the Dance: the ruler chooses their heir.
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by the way i can completely tell the pjo tv show is still finding its feet and there are certainly flaws but the fact i can also see the black sails/rick riordan writing quality peaking through this early is blowing my goddamn mind.
the emphasis on themes of violence and foreshadowing the central conflict of hate begetting hate within families? being cast aside and mistreated by your parents and having to choose revenge (luke) or to break the cycle and forge a new path (annabeth)?
medusa paralleling with annabeth but more than that paralleling with luke as a victim trying to recruit percy in a rage against the gods and killing those that stand in her way. echidna showing more love to her children than the gods do to theirs. foreshadowing the complexity of the gods and the different sides of the kronos war with the early introduction of a jaded but good hearted hephaestus contrasted with rage incarnate ares and the cold violence of athena against the tumultuous irresponsible love of poseidon.
yes they’re changing a lot but also thinking about how much this adds to the story and how much i’ve been reconsidering the themes and events of books i’ve read dozens of times over the course of 12 years is mind blowing to me. like this show is killing it and if i don’t get 4 more seasons catch me face down in the ocean
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