Michael Manwoody, Elaena Targaryen, Shaera Targaryen, Jaehaerys ii Targaryen

Bethany Bracken, Terrence Toyne, Bonnifer Hasty, Rhaella Targaryen

Jena Dondarrion, Baelor Targaryen, Valarr Targaryen, Kiera of Tyrosh

Roose Bolton, Walda Frey, Lyonel Hightower, Samantha Tarly

Jeyne Arryn, Jessamyn Redfort, Lady Essie, Sylvenna Sand

connections between naerys and sansa?

There’s plenty! She’s very much in a Naerys/Aegon scenario in ASOS & ACOK, where she has no ability to leave the capital, no one doing anything meaningful to protect her, and a King that is obsessed with sexually humiliating her. There’s a lot of romanticism and chivalry surrounding her character and how other people react to her character, the same as Naerys.

But also, Sansa makes the comparisons to Naerys herself, and she does it before she realizes what kind of person Joffrey is! In fact, it starts with her very first chapter where she compares Joffrey interrupting Ilyn Payne & Sandor Clegane to Aemon demanding a trial by combat against Ser Morgil:

A whole day with her prince! She gazed at Joffrey worshipfully. He was so gallant, she thought. The way he had rescued her from Ser Ilyn and the Hound, why, it was almost like the songs, like the time Serwyn of the Mirror Shield saved the Princess Daeryssa from the giants, or Prince Aemon the Dragonknight championing Queen Naerys's honor against evil Ser Morgil's slanders.

She will compare Joffrey to Aemon and herself to Naerys again later, to Ned:

"Father, I only just now remembered, I can't go away, I'm to marry Prince Joffrey." She tried to smile bravely for him. "I love him, Father, I truly truly do, I love him as much as Queen Naerys loved Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, as much as Jonquil loved Ser Florian. I want to be his queen and have his babies."

(lowkey she’s so fucking funny for that “i only just now remembered” comment, idk how ned kept a straight face for it)

She then uses Aemon (and the Cargyll twins) to make Tommen feel better and dunk on Joffrey:

Prince Tommen sobbed. "You mew like a suckling babe," his brother hissed at him. "Princes aren't supposed to cry." "Prince Aemon the Dragonknight cried the day Princess Naerys wed his brother Aegon," Sansa Stark said, "and the twins Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk died with tears on their cheeks after each had given the other a mortal wound." "Be quiet, or I'll have Ser Meryn give you a mortal wound," Joffrey told his betrothed.

Again, there’s a focus on Aemon’s romantic relationship with Naerys because that's what appeals to Sansa. But when people say "Sansa sees the world through stories" it's not just about how she romanticizes or idolizes knighthood, nobility, and chivalry - she thinks through information by comparing it with similar historical events or stories and analyzing it. She clearly sees the problem with Loras protecting Margaery from Joffrey by comparing him to the Toynes instead of Aemon, and Joffrey (once again) to Aegon the Unworthy:

She is so brave, Sansa thought, galloping after her . . . and yet, her doubts still gnawed at her. Ser Loras was a great knight, all agreed. But Joffrey had other Kingsguard, and gold cloaks and red cloaks besides, and when he was older he would command armies of his own. Aegon the Unworthy had never harmed Queen Naerys, perhaps for fear of their brother the Dragonknight . . . but when another of his Kingsguard fell in love with one of his mistresses, the king had taken both their heads. Ser Loras is a Tyrell, Sansa reminded herself. That other knight was only a Toyne. His brothers had no armies, no way to avenge him but with swords. Yet the more she thought about it all, the more she wondered. Joff might restrain himself for a few turns, perhaps as long as a year, but soon or late he will show his claws, and when he does . . . The realm might have a second Kingslayer, and there would be war inside the city, as the men of the lion and the men of the rose made the gutters run red.

She’s also not wrong in her assessment here because the Tyrells (my guess is Garlan and Olenna) are so worried about this outcome they just murder Joffrey and install Tommen; like Bethany Bracken, Margaery is groomed (with all the implications that are included in such a loaded term) to be sexually available to the King because her father wants power and doesn't care if his daughter is sexually abused to get it. Like Terrance Toyne, Loras is considered attractive, skilled, and has several brothers more than willing to start a war to avenge his death. I think it's incredibly intuitive that Sansa ultimately comes to the same conclusion as two seasoned political players like (presumably) Olenna and Garlan come to, and she makes this judgement call very quickly!

And Sansa also hits on a lot of (correct) similarities when she makes these comparisons between Joffrey's court and Aegon the Unworthy's court; Aegon and Joffrey both have wild, violent temperaments while being notoriously difficult to control. It’s not just Naerys that attempts to get Aegon to stop marital raping her; Aemon’s useless tears aside, Viserys does do the bare minimum here in sending Aegon away so Naerys can heal from her miscarriages, Daeron got shitty with the Brackens about being tacky over Naerys' marital rape and ill health, Baelor fasts himself to death over Naerys’ miscarriages, etc etc. All of the “authority figures” around Aegon think his behavior is wrong but Aegon proves stubbornly difficult to control or kill. Joffrey falls along these same lines - Cersei, Robert, Tyrion, Tywin, and even Varys all struggle to get some control over Joffrey but like Aegon, he knows once he’s of age and has that crown he doesn’t have to answer for SHIT and stubbornly resists every attempt to curb his behavior. Joffrey is a hell scenario waiting to happen because like Aegon, he’s petty and petulant enough to pull the stunts Aegon pulls like pitting his true born kids against his bastard born ones and causing another violent succession crisis. I say this as like, the ultimate Joffrey Apologist here, lmaooo, he has reasons for being a nasty piece of shit but the Tyrells are right to look at him and go “oh that’s trouble” because he is a ticking time bomb. And the crazy thing is, it’s not just Sansa who compares Joffrey to Aegon the Unworthy:

"A king can have other women. Whores. My father did. One of the Aegons did too. The third one, or the fourth. He had lots of whores and lots of bastards." As they whirled to the music, Joff gave her a moist kiss. "My uncle will bring you to my bed whenever I command it." Sansa shook her head. "He won't." "He will, or I'll have his head. That King Aegon, he had any woman he wanted, whether they were married or no."

Joffrey makes the comparison himself. He's a piece of work just like his hero and he is directly threatening to rape Sansa the same way Aegon raped Naerys and poor Bethany Bracken. He is directly admitting he is "unworthy" and practically daring all of KL to overthrow him for it because he thinks they'll blink before he does (and he is unfortunately deadly wrong in this assumption).

And when you extrapolate out from there, you can see other, similar patterns between Naerys' life and Sansa's, beyond the Joffrey-Aegon, Margaery-Bethany, Loras-Terrance, and Sansa-Naerys parallels. Tyrion himself aspires to be a sort of Viserys II type player (see: "It should have been called the Lives of Five Kings" rant he gives to Oberyn); a power behind the throne directing his crazy family to do what's right or smart or proper. There's an interesting echo in Viserys taking direct action in sending Aegon away from Naerys and Tyrion stopping Joffrey in his assault of Sansa - like Viserys, he can see the monster in the king he is raising, makes an attempt to stop it, but fails because he underestimates just how dangerous and erratic his little king has become. Like Viserys, Tyrion is suspected of poisoning his own nephew in an attempt to get closer to power and the throne (and Viserys, like Tyrion, is probably innocent - the sort of fasting that Baelor was doing regularly is hard on the body!).

I don't think any of this is coincidental or accidental either, because of that haunting scene where Joffrey destroys the gift Tyrion got him. Here's the scene, excuse the wall of text, but it's important:

He plays the gracious king today. Joffrey could be gallant when it suited him, Sansa knew, but it seemed to suit him less and less. Indeed, all his courtesy vanished at once when Tyrion presented him with their own gift: a huge old book called Lives of Four Kings, bound in leather and gorgeously illuminated. The king leafed through it with no interest. "And what is this, Uncle?" A book. Sansa wondered if Joffrey moved those fat wormy lips of his when he read. "Grand Maester Kaeth's history of the reigns of Daeron the Young Dragon, Baelor the Blessed, Aegon the Unworthy, and Daeron the Good," her small husband answered. "A book every king should read, Your Grace," said Ser Kevan. “My father had no time for books.” Joffrey shoved the tome across the table. “If you read less, Uncle Imp, perhaps Lady Sansa would have a baby in her belly by now.” He laughed … and when the king laughs, the court laughs with him. “Don’t be sad, Sansa, once I’ve gotten Queen Margaery with child I’ll visit your bedchamber and show my little uncle how it’s done.” Sansa reddened. She glanced nervously at Tyrion, afraid of what he might say. This could turn as nasty as the bedding had at their own feast. But for once the dwarf filled his mouth with wine instead of words... [Joffrey gets a Valyrian sword and figures out a name for it, Widow's Wail, it's a few pages, it's not relevant here] Joffrey brought Widow’s Wail down in a savage two-handed slice, onto the book that Tyrion had given him. The heavy leather cover parted at a stroke. “Sharp! I told you, I am no stranger to Valyrian steel.” It took him half a dozen further cuts to hack the thick tome apart, and the boy was breathless by the time he was done. Sansa could feel her husband struggling with his fury as Ser Osmund Kettleblack shouted, “I pray you never turn that wicked edge on me, sire.” “See that you never give me cause, ser.” Joffrey flicked a chunk of Lives of Four Kings off the table at swordpoint, then slid Widow’s Wail back into its scabbard. “Your Grace,” Ser Garlan Tyrell said. “Perhaps you did not know. In all of Westeros there were but four copies of that book illuminated in Kaeth’s own hand.” “Now there are three.” Joffrey undid his old swordbelt to don his new one. “You and Lady Sansa owe me a better present, Uncle Imp. This one is all chopped to pieces.”

God I love that passage so much. There's a lot there but what's relevant is a) both Oberyn and Garlan are trying to get a measure of who Joffrey is, and have some child murdering plans potentially in the works during this scene. Watching Joffrey destroy a priceless tome of history given as a well thought, well meant, incredibly generous (and pointed) gift from his uncle is more than enough proof for either man to decide Joffrey is not worth the headache, and please note Garlan is the only person to call Joffrey out to his face, and Oberyn is a few pages later the only person to acknowledge this was a fantastic and kind gift from Tyrion that Joffrey reacted absolutely deranged towards for no reason. and b) Tyrion is almost literally saying to Joffrey "I can be your Viserys, I can make it so you're remembered as a great king the way Daeron II or Baelor are, or a great warrior like Daeron I, but you have to understand the reason why I'm worried about your behavior" and Joffrey does the most destructive, unworthy thing he can possibly do - he quite literally destroys priceless, useful historical knowledge and wisdom with his bare hands, in favor of senseless, petulant violence. As Catelyn would say, Joffrey's real bride is not Margaery, but the war he's fighting and the crown on his head.

All of this to say - there's a lot of parallels between Sansa's situation in KL and Naery's life and these parallels are drawn not only by Sansa herself, but also by several people around her. However, I hope for better things for Sansa than what poor Naerys got - I hope for an Aemon the Dragonknight that will do more than just cry while she's raped, but actually step into that room and defend her, or else give her the power to defend herself. Despite the long wait for The Winds of Winter, I also think it's likely we will get some sort of Dragonknight, devoted sworn sword for Sansa and this person will help protect her, and Sansa will have agency that Naerys could only ever dream of.

I've never heard anyone talk about Terrence Toyne and Bethany Bracken in any capacity. Their AO3 tag has a single fic in it.

But I think we — the Alicole gang — are the proper people to love and appreciate them.

"Ser Terrence Toyne was found abed with his king's mistress. 'Twas love, he swore, but it cost his life and hers,"

His famous forebear, the dark and dashing Terrence Toyne of whom the singers sang, had been so fair of face that even the king's mistress could not resist him;

A dark and dashing pretty boy, you say? House Toyne, you say, as in the Stormlands? Lady Bethany Bracken, you say, a non-Targ lady stuck in an official relationship with a crappy Targ king?

these guys are at least as much Alicole mini-mes as Aemon/Naerys, and probably more.

"And Ser Terrence Toyne?"

"Bedded the king’s mistress and died screaming. The lesson is, men who wear white breeches need to keep them tightly laced."

I wonder if Aegon IV felt himself hoist with his own petard, so to speak, when he discovered the sexual affair between Bethany Bracken and Terrence Toyne.

After all, while we don’t know exactly when the Morghil Hastwyck accusations happened, I tend to think this even occurred around 174 AC: Yandel mentions that the “accusations came at the same time as Aegon and Prince Daeron were quarreling over the king’s plans to launch an unprovoked war against Dorne”, and later mentions “the king’s plans to invade Dorne in 174 AC”, so it’s not a far leap to suggest that this “unprovoked war” was the same “complete failure” of an invasion.

In any event, Aegon certainly seems to have seen this as a clever means of not only ridding himself of his hated sister-wife, brother, and son in one go, but humiliating them in so spectacular a fashion that their characters could never be redeemed. What would be a worse accusation against so pious a queen as Naerys than that she had committed adultery, betraying (so Aegon would have presented it) her lord husband for the sake of her lust for her brother? What would be a worse accusation against so (outwardly, at least) sterling a knight of the Kingsguard as Prince Aemon than that he had carried out not just a forbidden sexual affair, but a forbidden sexual affair with the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms? Who would dare support the claims of a bastard born of the incestuous affair of a queen and a knight of the Kingsguard? Unfortunately for Aegon’s attempts at petty revenge, however, his accusation scheme was an utter failure. In defending Naerys in a trial by combat, Aemon had vindicated the both of them in the courtroom of the gods. By defeating Morghil, Aemon had proven in the sight of the Seven (and consequently Westerosi legal custom) that the accusations were false and unjust. There could be no court of appeal, no higher power to review the outcome; the gods had given strength to the arm of the just man, so the king had had to publicly acknowledge both their innocence and his son’s legitimacy.

So presuming the Morghil Hastwyck accusations happened a few years before the Bethany Bracken affair, imagine how furious Aegon must have been to face this ironic situation. The woman who had sexually betrayed him (so Aegon would have seen it, anyway) was not the sister-wife he loathed but the young mistress he had doted upon. The Kingsguard who had abetted this sexual betrayal was not the brother he hated but another entirely (perhaps one the king had even liked and trusted), a man whose darkly handsome good looks could not but contrast against the king’s much-deteriorated physical state. Any child Bethany might have borne (if conceived with Toyne) might well have appeared so obviously not fathered by the king so as to make the sexual affair all too apparent (especially compared to Daeron, whose Targaryen looks could neither prove nor disprove accusations about his parentage).

I wonder, then, if Aegon refused any suggestion of a trial, much less a trial by combat, for Bethany and Terrence specifically to avoid any comparison with the Morghil Hastwyck affair. Even if Terrence, as a highborn knight, might have technically had a right to such a request, I could see where Aegon might have refused it out of spite; it would be all too easy for courtiers to draw comparisons between the two events, either to mock Aegon (something like, perhaps, “the gods are punishing him for his false accusations against Naerys by having Bethany and Terrence play them out”) or to question the legitimacy of the new accusation itself (something like, say, “the king made this sort of accusation before through Hastwyck, who’s to say he’s not lying again because he’s tired of Bethany?”). Even worse (in Aegon’s mind), the most obvious choice to defend the king might have been Aemon himself, probably the most physically talented Kingsguard at that time; the last addition Aegon needed on what he might have seen as his personal humiliation was the hated brother he had previously (if indirectly) accused of a similar act defending the crown against a Kingsguard who had actually committed this act.

So I could see where Aegon might have had Terrence quickly tortured and Bethany and her father equally quickly executed. Maybe he would have given out that as the king, the ultimate arbiter of justice in the realm, had witnessed the event happen, there was no question of accusation; the king had, perhaps, effectively condemned the pair as soon as he had caught them abed, passing judgment almost automatically because the evidence was so blatantly before his own eyes. (At least for Terrence and Bethany, though I could see where Aegon would have had the torture of Terrence produce “evidence” that, say, Lord Bracken had conspired with his daughter to help her abet the breaking of Terrence’s Kingsguard vows.)

Show Criston thinking Rhaenyra would marry him after losing her virginity to him is stupid move, considering Kingsguard in the past having been killed and/or castrated for having sex like Lucamore Strong and Terrence Toyne for example. Also, feels manipulative on Criston's part, and sexist for also not considering that girls can get post-nut clarity too and won't magically bond with a guy just by sleeping with him. (Also, the fandom hate for Rhaenyra over refusing Criston's proposal reminds me of the hate Arya got for rejecting Gendry's proposal in Game of Thrones.)

Criston is infantilized just as much as the rest of TG by the fandom. He's not expected to take responsibility for his own actions and the fact that he chose to sleep with a teenager. Somehow, the fandom has decided that a teenage Rhaenyra seduced a man who is her father's age, even though only one source, who was discredited, told that story.

The show decided to go with Mushroom's telling for some reason, but even then, Criston is just as culpable. Rhaenyra was a drunk teenager who Criston had known since she was fourteen. How exactly is Rhaenyra the guilty or even morally questionable party in this scenario? He was more than capable of telling her no, he could have turned around and walked back out her door, but he didn't.

Criston wanted to be a member of the Kingsguard, he knew what the requirements and oaths entailed. He made a choice and it didn't end how he wanted. Boo fucking hoo.

People defending Criston's incel behavior is so ridiculous; reading those metas is like watching an alpha-bro podcast. He literally took Rhaenyra's rejection and used it to excuse killing an innocent man at her wedding, abuse her little children, and to try to get Aegon to assassinate her. Criston is a shitty guy in both the show and the book, end of story.

Not sure if you've done them already, but what do you think the mistresses of Aegon IV would have worn?

I yes I’ve done some Here! That one includes Sereni, Barba, Bellegere, and Mellisa (plus Naerys) so I’ll do some more here (also idk if I’ll do Jeyne since there just isn’t much to go off on for her)

Falena Stokeworth is the first mistress, the first to make a “man” out of Aegon when he was 14. Since she was ten years older than him, she doesn’t wear the frivolous fashions of the younger ladies, though you can still tell she spends excessively on fine fabrics and intricate lace. I think she always held some bitterness ab what happened at the Maiden’s Day Ball, and always tried to dress as “elegant and unassuming royalty” . Plenty of embroidered bodices, silk overskirts, lace collars, puffy under sleeves, etc etc. She almost looks nouveau riche as she tries to fit in with royalty

Poor Meg dressed in common clothes for most of her life. As a blacksmiths wife, she wore the proper clothing for her station and work. Her hair was covered in a cap, her clothing consisted of an old shift, a kirtle, maybe an extra skirt and her apron. All made of rough wool and homespun cotton. When Aegon took her, she suddenly began to dress like a minor noble’s wife. She enjoyed light, gentle colors that she never got to wear when she was a common woman. She likes to make all of her own dresses too, small pleats and puffs, pretty bows, and slimmer skirts than the average noble woman being fancy enough to suit her taste. Once she got sent back, she probably took them with her but never got to wear them again :(

Cassella Vaith was probably a silly young girl when she was taken as hostage during the submission of Dorne, and thus adapted to Kings Landing nicely and enjoyed life there. She enjoyed the fine silks and brocades that the ladies wore, but also incorporated her own culture into her clothes, with thin cottons and looser fitting fabrics that caught the wind. She liked pink and cream and gold, dressing more like a frivolous princess than anything else, because Aegon gives her whatever she wants. Even after she gets sent back to Vaith she still dresses like a young royal mistress, even into her old age, convinced that Aegon is her true love and will call her back eventually

Bethany was probably not as eye catching as her elder sister, and her status as a younger daughter meant she was not given as fine clothes as Barba did when she was trying to become Aegon’s mistress. However she was pretty and young and fresh faced, and her gowns were still suitable for a noblewoman, though perhaps not the fanciest at court. Essentially all of this was good enough for Aegon in his old age, and her style did not change much at court besides the inclusion of more detailing and more expensive fabrics. Bethany was disgusted by the king, and probably did not put much effort into her appearance for him, but did for Terrence Toyne, and this sudden effort for a kingsguard was probably what got them found out and executed

🐅 + loras and/or the other tyrells!!

I think Loras is mostly sober and looks down on those who drink on the job, considering his attitude when he and Jaime are talking about members of the kingsguard. He only ever drinks a little bit of wine since he can only drink so much before getting drunk. I think he definitely glares at his fellow kingsguard members when they drink more than a glass and mocks them when they aren’t around.

He’s the gossiper of the kingsguard and can be quite lewd about it when he wants to. “They cut [Lucamore Strong’s] cock off. Shall I sing the song for you, my lord?” and “[Terrence Toyne] bedded the king’s mistress and died screaming. The lesson is, men who wear white breeches need to keep them tightly laced.” are the words of a master gossiper. Snarky icon.

I also think he’s a good singer and was trained in it alongside Margaery and his other siblings from a young age. He probably likes collecting songs as well and takes note of them when he hears them (see him knowing a song about Lucamore getting his dick chopped off). He and Renly likely got a lot of enjoyment from fun, bawdy songs.

Basically the conversation Loras and Jaime have about the kingsguard of the past are very revealing to his character I think. He’s one for gossip, enjoys lewd songs and possible artwork (Renly kept a collection of pornographic material) as well, and is extremely judgemental. Loras obviously spent a lot of time around Olenna and I feel like people often forget that he is as much Olenna’s grandson as Margaery is her granddaughter. It’s also the Hightower asshole genes coming out to play methinks.

He genuinely thinks highly of his siblings, in my opinion. Considering Loras is so quick to gossip yet only ever speaks highly of his siblings, even claiming Garlan is a better knight than Loras when according to George, Loras is one of the greatest active knights in Westeros, I think it really shows that he absolutely adores them.

About him being a Hightower, I like to believe he finds Hightower mythology interesting but at the same time I think he’d turn his nose up at it. He likes the concept but he feels like the potential of house Hightower isn’t being reached and it’s just kind of a pathetic display. His grandfather, Lord Hightower, likely tried to indoctrinate Alerie’s kids but it never ended up working out for whatever reason. I do think Loras would’ve been a cool ass battlemage type character if such a thing is possible with whatever secret magic the Hightowers have up their sleeves. He’s a battlemage at heart to me.

It’s mind-blowingly obvious that Young Griff isn’t Rhaegar’s son, at that point, Daenerys’s haters are operating on pure bias.

Daenerys has a vision in the House of the Undying where she sees a “cloth dragon swayed on poles amid a cheering crowd”. The cloth dragon is “swaying” on poles amidst that cheering crowd. It’s unsteady, just as Young Griff himself is nothing more than a prop for JonCon, Illyrio and Varys. That’s what a cloth dragon is: a prop for actors. A mere “cloth dragon” will never get real support in Westeros. The cheering crowd is simply a reference to the Golden Company glorifying Young Griff when he calls himself a dragon and accepting his idea to sail West to fight for him.

Quaithe, a mysterious “shadowbinder”, warns Daenerys to watch out for the “mummer’s dragon”, the very same dragon she sees in her vision. Not only does this confirm that there’s a false dragon out there, it also seems to work as a double reference by pointing to Varys (who was a mummer in his childhood). Who is Varys backing ? Young Griff. In other words, Young Griff is a puppet whose strings are being pulled by Varys and Ilyrio.

Everyone around Young Griff is a mummer of sorts. JonCon who is pretending to be a mere sellsword, Septa Lemore a fake septa, and Haldon a fake maester.

Brienne is on the Quiet Isle and learns about a dragon sign that washed up there. The dragon sign was originally black (the Blackfyre sigil) and thrown into the river. By the time it washed up on the Quiet Isle, it had rusted such that it looked red (the Targaryn sigil). A black dragon (Blackfyre) washes up disguised as a red one (Targaryen). Once you get what the symbolism is, you can’t unsee it and it’s so obvious that it’s deliberate foreshadowing.

The Golden Company, originally founded by supporters of House Blackfyre, are famous for having never once broken a contract, but they broke one for Young Griff. “Some contracts are writ in ink, and some in blood.” - ADWD, Tyrion II. Myles Toyne specifically was the one who plotted with Varys and Illyrio and put his name to the contract. It’s worth mentioning him specifically because House Toyne is historically completely at odds with House Targaryen. Myles’s ancestor, Terrence Toyne, was caught in bed with Aegon IV’s mistress, Bethany Bracken, and Aegon IV had them executed. His brothers tried to avenge his death by attempting to assassinate Aegon IV, only to be slain by Aemon the Dragonknight. House Toyne never recovered from this. It’s entirely possible that Myles knew and fought for Maelys and Daemon Blackfyre before they died.

The baby-swap story doesn’t make any sense. It involves “Arbor gold”, used repeatedly in the series as a symbol for lies. The baby swap could only work if Aegon’s face was destroyed, something Varys couldn’t have known at the time. There’s also no reason they even had to do a swap; they could have easily just smuggled out both children and been done with it (which has historical precedent with Larys Strong smuggling out both Maelor and Jaehaera during the Dance of the Dragons).

“Black or red, a dragon is still a dragon. When Maelys the Monstrous died upon the Stepstones, it was the end of the male line of House Blackfyre.” - ADWD, Tyrion II. The emphasis is on the Blackfyres being extinct in the male line. Not extinct, period, but in the male line. This is what led to the theory that Illyrio’s wife Serra, from Lys (and Varys is also from Lys), was a Blackfyre princess and Aegon’s mother. Aegon is a female-line Blackfyre.

This is one of those ask-posts where I don't really have anything to add. but has to be posted for its observations and stating the ignored-obvious-that-nevertheless-needs-pointing-out-bc-stupid-people-exist.

Posthumous Characters GIF Sets → Bethany Bracken

Bethany was groomed by her father and sister expressly to win the king’s favor and displace Missy Blackwood. In 177, she caught Aegon’s eye as he visited at Stone Hedge to see his bastard son, Aegor. By now, the king was fat and foul-tempered, but Bethany delighted him, and he took her back with him to King’s Landing. However, Bethany found his royal embraces distressing. For comfort, she turned to a knight of the Kingsguard, Ser Terrence Toyne. The pair was discovered abed by Aegon himself in 178. Ser Terrence was tortured to death and both Lady Bethany and her father were executed. When Ser Terrence’s brothers sought to avenge his death, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight was slain while defending his brother, King Aegon.

Bonnifer Hasty, Rhaella Targaryen

Terrence Toyne, Bethany Bracken

Ser Myles Toyne, The Blackheart

"In life, Ser Myles Toyne had been ugly as sin. His famous forebear, the dark and dashing Terrence Toyne of whom the singers sang, had been so fair of face that even the king's mistress could not resist him; but Myles had been possessed of jug ears, a crooked jaw, and the biggest nose that Jon Connington had ever seen. When he smiled at you, though, none of that mattered.

Well, I said it was the end of the Golden Company, but I had some more! My second take on Myles Toyne, this time as a younger man, as the standard bearer for Maelys.

I spent forever looking for miniatures that could suit Myles self-described looks, then was pleasantly surprised to see the Golden Company standard bearer has quite a good look - quite a broad jaw and nose, quite squat looking... I also love him holding the banner but keeping a hand on his sword, and a crossbow on his back - it feels very characteristically pragmatic.

I legit love Ser Bonifer Hasty he's sending me whenever he appears on page. "Oh once Princess Rhaella became smitten with a young knight who named her queen of love and beauty but after she wed only the maiden could replace her in his heart" like my dude your place is with Terrence Toyne Maron Martell and Criston Cole what do you MEAN you're still alive and being a boomer on main

Title: Many a Soldier (Shed His Lifeblood on my Blade)  Summary:

“In another world, Sansa prays for courage, for her brother, for all the stories she had once loved and dreamed would come true. The Warrior’s most faithful children listen and follow the sound.” Or, that one where Sansa can see the ghosts of dead kingsguard.

Relationships: Arya Stark & Sansa Stark, Sansa Stark & Regis Grove, Sansa Stark & Willis Fell, Sansa Stark & Jeffory Norcross, Sansa Stark & Ser Orivel, Sansa Stark & Terrence Toyne, Sansa Stark & Rhaegar Targaryen

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Not me thinking about the quiet irony of Maester Aemon telling Jon about the conflict of duty versus love when he was named for Prince Aemon the Dragonknight - the very man in ten thousand who could (at least to some extent) choose duty over love. After all, that Aemon loved Naerys seems to be pretty clear. Naerys “loved Aemon best of her brothers” according to Yande because “he knew how to make her laugh” and “had something of the same piety that she possessed”. It was Aemon who had defended Naerys in a trial by combat against Morghil Hastwyck, and Aemon who would joust disguised as the Knight of Tears in order to give Naerys the crown of queen of love and beauty (rather than it being given to the king’s current mistress). If there were anyone in the world Aemon could be said to have loved, it was undoubtedly Naerys.

And yet - Aemon clearly took his vows of the Kingsguard seriously, vows which inevitably placed him on the side of Naerys’ chief tormentors. Aegon’s strict duty as a Kingsguard was to defend the king’s life and position, no matter how he personally felt about the monarch. Nor did Aegon treat this as an empty promise: it was Aemon who put his body on the line for King Daeron I during his campaigns in Dorne, Aemon who carried King Baelor out of Dorne and watched over him on the way back to King’s Landing, and Aemon who would eventually die defending Aegon IV during an attack of vengeance by the brothers of Terrence Toyne. Whatever Aemon felt toward his father or brother, it was not his place - at least, by a strict and literal reading of these vows - to pick and choose when he would be loyal to the crown and when he would not; his father was king, and then his brother was king, so it was his, Aemon’s, job to defend these men at all times and be ready to die for them if (and eventually when, with Aegon IV) needed.

In the crucible of the Kingsguard, Aemon proved that he could and would choose duty over love. If there were a means within the strict confines of his position to show his love for Naerys, then he would - being her champion in an established Westerosi legal form, or adopting the classic chivalric position of a mystery knight to participate in a tourney tradition. However, if the duty of his position mandated that he allow the hurt of Naerys, then he would do that instead - standing by, as Aerys II’s Kingsguard would around a century later, and guarding the door while the king raped his wife, protecting not the queen but her royal abuser (and, before him, the father who had mandated this union). Fulling embracing that virtue-turned-vice of the Kingsguard, Prince Aemon became the very exception to the rule his great-grandnephew Maester Aemon would describe to his great-great-great-great-great-grandnephew Jon - the man who could successfully resist the temptation of love in favor of the fulfillment of (what he saw as) his duty.

ASOIAF fancasting –> Mistresses of Aegon IV: Ellise Chappell as Bethany Bracken

“Bethany was groomed by her father and sister expressly to win the king’s favor and displace Missy Blackwood. In 177, she caught Aegon’s eye as he visited at Stone Hedge to see his bastard son, Aegor. By now, the king was fat and foul-tempered, but Bethany delighted him, and he took her back with him to King’s Landing. However, Bethany found his royal embraces distressing. For comfort, she turned to a knight of the Kingsguard, Ser Terrence Toyne. The pair was discovered abed by Aegon himself in 178. Ser Terrence was torturned to death and both Lady Bethany and her father were executed.”

Just one example of Aegon the Unworthy’s over-the-top sense of entitlement. We get the feeling that Lady Bethany never had any real choice in her life, becoming little more than grist for Aegon’s atrocity mill.

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