#;; and valyrian-adjacent names fought on nyra's side BUT THIS IS NOT WHAT THIS POST IS FOR

[kaerinio]

on daenerys' fertility - pt. two of three tw: child loss, fertility, pregnancy

pt. one ; pt. three.

𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃

it's interesting that blood magic sits at the center of daenerys' perception of her own fertility. and how this perception arises without any true knowledge of the fact that blood magic, particularly valyrian sorcery, seems to go hand-in-hand with fertility and reproductive health outcomes in house targaryen. as the targaryens lean more into assimilating to andal values, the magic, which is deeply tied to the women of the house, dwindles. as the house begins to favor sons over daughters, it dwindles. as the men of the house begin to stake claim/ownership over the women and begin robbing them of all autonomy, it dwindles. when the kings begin locking targaryen women in towers, it dwindles. when the house passes over the first princess daenerys, then rhaenys, then rhaenyra as heirs to the throne, it dwindles. the targaryens are the only tie the world has to valyria, specifically its magic and the dragonlords. and very specifically, targaryen women are the ties to valyrian sorcery, as we see in rumors of targaryen women, like visenya and shiera seastar, practicing "dark arts".

honing in on the targaryen family and their loss of power, we see that, as time goes on, they, as a family, begin to diminish with massive blows arising from the family cannibalizing itself for the sake of andal values ( as opposed to valyrian values, which place strength of various forms at the forefront, no matter one's gender identity; after all, sexual and gender identity are both fluid in terms of dragons ). and, as the targaryens stray further from valyria, we see that their dragons perish, as well: literally and figuratively. in a figurative sense, the dragons are further and further separated from valyrian norms once the targaryens begin giving them non-valyrian names. the dragons of old are named for valyrian gods. names like silverwing, dreamfyre, sunfyre, etc. break away from this tradition, and because names are so important in magic, we can think of this as a severing of power. we also have a full-on civil war, which once again, is brought on by a deep subscription to andal values, break out that kills just about all of the targaryen dragons. additionally, as time goes on and traditions are lost and dragonkeepers are introduced ( during the rule of jaehaerys ), eggs are kept out of the cribs. and the house suffers; the targaryens need that tie to the dragons and to valyrian sorcery to survive because there are remnants of valyria within them.

loss of power ties directly to targaryen women and their historic struggles with conceiving children who live and survive. as the targaryen women are punished and oppressed by the men of the house,d as the house becomes further and further assimilated into andal values, so are they punished by the power they once wielded. if we think of valyrian power/magic as a personified form, think of it as a greedy thing that wants to survive; it devours worship in the form of its desires, values, memory being expressed, for its physical body is no more. valyrian power/magic favored the targaryens when it gave daenys the dream. it favored the targaryens when it enabled their survival, when it gave aegon and his line the prophecy and duty to save the world, and yet, the favored ones have not only forgotten this entity, but they have essentially ruined its memory. if it cannot survive, why should they? and if the house has forgotten itself . . . and the women have released their autonomy, why should the house continue? valyrian sorcery/magic punishes the targaryens through the women.

but, daenerys — — — who is the prince that was promised, who is destined to save the world, who was born unknowingly through valyrian sorcery ( the storm she was born during is the marker of this; rhaella's death pays for her life ), who is, in a way, favored by this magic, who listened to the traces of sorcery in her blood, who cuddled the dragon eggs close and felt her son reach for the eggs child-to-child, who saw the auras emanating off of them, who felt that they were more than stone, who cherished them, who sought to restore her house in the only way she knew how, who, during a march west to reclaim the family's home, unwittingly sacrificed her baby to restore her husband, who was supposed to aid in this reclamation, and upon understanding prices and the balance of magic, brought dragons back into the world ——— enters the scene. she, heir to her house, changes everything.