so i've spoken before abt how jace might've insisted on postponing his and baela's wedding till after the dance (despite ample opportunity/mutual desire) bc his love for her wanted to give her a ceremony without death looming over it. and that his fear for her compelled him not to wed and inevitably bed her when the tragedy of three harrowing labors might take what should be a joyful time away from them and - even more than that - take his beloved baela from him.

but what if, and bear with me for a moment, what if beyond rhaenyra and laena and rhaenys - all three women robbed, in some way shape or form, of a queendom - jace's thoughts took him to another targaryen ancestor, robbed of her birthright, burdened with the loss of her husband, and left alone to defend and protect their children from usurpers? maybe i'm just spitballing but what if jace's nights during the dance were haunted by the memory of rhaena targaryen, black bride, queen of the west, queen of the east, and whose ghost yet haunts the halls of harwin's his father's home at harrenhal?

what if he sees his baela, bold and brave and so beautiful, and knows - gods willing - he'll make her his queen. what if jace sees her and wants so many things for her but not one of those things is to make a rhaena targaryen of her. rhaena who was queen of the west and queen of the east but never ruled as queen of westeros in her own right - and, in trying to spare baela of that fate, jace dies anyway.

and she becomes a bit like rhaena regardless: robbed of her love and her crown.