#aemond targaryen character study

[crimsoncold]

AEMONDSA: A crack ship with unexpected depth and appeal

A treatise (in four parts) on the intriguing parallels and complementary contrasting of Aemond and Sansa and the subsequent allure of them as a romantic pairing in Fanfic

- from the perspective of a sansa-stan, jonsa + sansa-centric multishipper, and someone who is generally Targ critical

Now while my general stance of "ship and let ship/don't worry so much about what other people in fandom focus on or ship/etc" still stands i wanted to do a little write up on what I've found so appealing about this particular crack ship.

Not to justify it (again fandom and shipping in general is just about enjoying/thinking about fictional characters and scenarios... no one needs to justify why their imagination likes to think about two characters interacting romantically) but because there isn't a ton of metas addressing the interesting parallels between these characters and the appeal of them as a ship so I wanted to make one so the handful of people who do ship it get to see some more positive engagement/responses to this pairing.

I just unexpectedly ended up loving this pairing so much and I always have a particularly strong urge to contribute to fandom content on the rare pairs/crack ships that I like....So here have a deep dive into the parallels, and contrasting but complimentary aspects of Aemond and Sansa, and the unexpected appeal of Aemond x Sansa as a pairing in fanfiction...

PART 1: MY EXPERIENCE WITH ASOIAF/GOT & HOTD FANDOM AND WHY AEMONDSA IS A PLEASANT SURPRISE

So I'm going to be drawing from both book and show elements when I consider and compare Sansa and Aemond's characterization and plot arcs (particularly since this tends to be how they are handled in fanfic- which all have differing combinations of book or show canon for both characters)

(this is a HOTD S2-free zone though... HOTD's writing has certainly not improved and it's inconsistencies even compared to their past writing and characterization of many characters including Aemond has made such an absolute mess so for this post I'm ignoring the worst part of HBO's attempt at making hotd fanfiction i.e. S2- and I am basing my understanding of Aemond on a combination of what can be gleaned from book canon and s1 because that was what initially interested me AND because that is what the aemondsa fanfic I've read has also been based on)

Now Just to set the scene for my journey as a stark fan, jonsa shipper, and generally targ critical person to become an appreciator of aemondsa...

GOT had a steep decline in quality in the later seasons and HOTD despite the incredible effort of the actors/sfx people was not particularly good to start with in terms of writing/storytelling...yet disappointing or poorly written shows are not without their appeal for participating in fandom and reading/writing related fanfiction, particularly when there is a handful of interesting characters-looking at you stark kids who suffered through the writing of GOT's later seasons and HOTD's team green-that fans want to rescue from the terrible writing/butchering by the showrunners and to explore alternative stories/endings for them... sometimes it is even one of the most appealing sort of set up for fandom/fanfiction to take over and fix things.

I was already a huge Sansa fan, and she was the original draw for me towards asoiaf/got fandom and fanfiction, and while jonsa has been and remains my favorite pairing for her I've always been open to dabbling in various other sansa pairings/crack ships.

(While the parallels don't take the exact form as the ones between Sansa and Jon- and obviously aemondsa isn't accompanied with the incredible foreshadowing and potential that jonsa is- this pairing still feels similarly compelling due to the sheer amount of parallels between the two characters and for the fact that its a ship that is appealing and seems quite fitting without fanfic writers having to stray too far from canon personalities/back stories to make them work as a romantic pairing- beyond you know the obvious aspect of them being alive at the same time)

When HOTD first came out and before i discovered Ameondsa was a thing I was staying away from HOTD fanfic for the most part despite my interest in a few of the characters

HOTD's most predominant focus in both it's fandom and fanfiction seemed to be Rhaenyra/Team black/ Daemyra centric- all of which I was at just personally not drawn. Aemond (hot dramatic anime antagonist transported into hbo's HOTD and personal favorite of mine) centric fics unfortunately tended towards shipping him with various TB characters or TB OCs but both as a concept and due to the handling/set up these fics were generally not appealing to me (more on this later).

Furthermore hotd fandom itself seemed to be shaping up into a new edition of targ stan centric fandom- specifically a new "team black only" brand of stanning... which is definitely not something I am interested in.

Being someone admittedly anti targ/targ critical in general who just happened to be more intrigued (and sympathetic) to the greens in HOTD it did seem that the bulk of hotd fandom was probably going to a similar if even more extreme form of what I encountered with targ-stan segments of the GOT fandom as a sansa-stan/jonsa shipper (ie. Less posts/fanfic that i would personally agree with or be interested in from these fans and potentially hostile and unpleasant responses or takes from the majority of these fans)

As a result of my general avoidance of hotd (i.e. the very pro targ/pro TB fanfiction that hotd fandom offered) Aemondsa, already an extremely rare pair and crack ship, wasn't even a pairing on my radar until one of the authors i was subscribed to started a hotd time travel fix it aemondsa fic...I have an appreciation for well written crack ships, and I am willing to give most pairings or fandoms a chance when I'm already a fan of either the story's main characters or of the author specifically ...but I was actually incredibly suprised how compeling Aemondsa was as a pairing in this story..as well as how much I enjoyed the other Aemondsa fics that I checked out afterwards..it seemed this was a niche segment of hotd fandom that i was going to absolutely obsessing over.

There was a lot of depth to them for a crack ship, which was achievable without altering their personalities and backstories very much from canon (dont get me wrong I love crack ships even ones where people and the plot are altered significantly to make a ship feel possible but there is something uniquely compelling when characters fit together without having to be too ooc) so I just wanted to write a bit about what is so fascinating about this ship since it's such a new rare pair that hasn't accumulated a massive audience or a ton of discussions or write ups yet.

PART 2/4. THE SURPRISING AMOUNT OF PARALLELS BETWEEN SANSA AND AEMOND (FANDOM, PLOT-WISE, but most of all regarding FAMILY)

(Uh ....Brace yourself? this section ended up way longer than expected)

For me the initial appeal comes down to intriguing Character parallels between Sansa and Aemond which fanfic at least offers the opportunity to explore in a story format ....

On a surface level they are (in the shows particularly) both intelligent and underdog figures with fantastic little sassy moments - true queens of dealing out backhanded and cutting compliments, or being unapolegetic critical towards some of the flawed and extremely privileged individual's they encounter who are used to receiving only coddling and fawning worship.

Both characters seem to get shit treatment, sometimes from the fandom other times due to the terrible choices/handling by the writers/showrunners.

Both were characters I personally found interesting and sympathetic despite how fandom- some of it for aemond and a significant amount of it for sansa- had deemed these essentially young and still innocent characters worthy of being reviled and harmed for the ways the adults in their lives had set them up for failure or abuse. Forever dismayed by the way they (unlike certain fan favorites) were somehow never deemed by fandom as deserving of sympathy for the horrible things that happened to them, and how notably they never recieve the same feverent forgiveness/understanding/support for their more dangerous or dark actions the way other characters did

Looking at the difference in fan responses to show!Arya or Dany compared to Sansa- though when it comes to the sheer amount of violence, destruction, and murder or the act of threatening their kin obviously despite what Sansa-antis say Sansa is the only one who should not even be part of the discussion, and how Dany or Arya always recieves excuses, sympathy, forgiveness, or outright praise from the core audience for their more questionable actions while somehow Sansa is deemed as the unforgivable, dangerous, evil, traitorous, and foolishly reckless character

How Aemond (and all of TG really) are set up and considered by TB stans to be unworthy of their house/rightful inheritance and the ones most at fault for the onset and destruction caused by a civil war... never victims mistreated or endangered by the more privileged and powerful members of their family... just the people who only ever deserved what was inflicted on them by TB for the crime of being forced to wed a disgusting and neglectful King or for being threats to Rhaenyra's family or throne simply by existing? How the morally questionable or violent actions of Rhaenyra, her sons, or more particularly her uncle-husband will always be seen as either justifiable, in the right, excusable, or literally worthy of praise the way Aemond's and his family's actions will never be viewed by this core audience

I think about how much like segments of asoiaf fandom bash Sansa by deeming her too southern/too Tully/Too Catelyn-like to be a real Stark (unlike her "truly northern" siblings) their are also segments of hotd fandom that have chosen to see Aemond and his full siblings as only Hightowers who are wrongfully stealing from TB/the "true Targaryens"

But there were even more striking parallels when it came to their characterization and plot.

Both younger (non heir) children, presented as being intelligent, incredibley dutiful and studious, with a very close relationship to their mother, in a sort of intense people pleaser manner - trying their best to excel at all the skills/duties that their parents/society deems necessary for their position and sex because that is the way they receive acceptance, attention, or praise from their family/the adults in their life

Aemond and his studies, his apparently dedication and success in training with the sword despite his own disability, his determination and recklessness to finally become a dragon rider like the rest of his Targaryen family- as it is what is expected and what he has long been mocked over by some of his targ kin, how despite his own ambitions and the way he thought himself particularly suitable for rulership he remained the dutiful and loyal younger brother who served as regent for his gravely injured older brother but did not attempt to stylize himself as King and steal Aegon's throne.

the way that Alicent seems to be the only family member he allows himself to be vulnerable with, the one with whom he turns to for consolation and comfort, Alicent being absolutely devastated and incensed over the loss of Aemond's eye and the lack of punishment for the assault on his person, the only one to demand recompense, the only one to raise a knife to the blacks when she is denied, how Aemond is the one person who tries to console his mother in the aftermath, how despite having just lost an eye he is the one who actually tries to sooth his mother to bring a stop to the increasing and dangerous level of tension and conflict that had erupted between the blacks and greens at driftmark, Aemond's own longstanding protectiveness of and devotion to his family- most especially his mother- that lasts until his own demise.

Sansa and the way she thrives and enjoys the type of world and training that is more of a noble woman's or specifically her mother Catelyn's domain- unlike her wilder other siblings she is generally a steadfastly proper and gentle girl- no doubt a comfort to her mother not just because she is generally so well behaved but in the fact that unlike her siblings she is not shown to be obviously or very publically close with Ned's illegitimate child- who for Catelyn would be the literal personification of Ned's infidelity, the disrespect and humiliation he puts her through by raising him in their house along side their children, and her deep seated fear that he loved and will prioritize another woman and her child more than his own wife and family.

Sansa is the child who seemed to love all things "southern" the most (though undeniably despite how Sansa is looked down upon for her love of romantic stories and song her other siblings also certainly enjoy legends and tales of Knighthood or Southern Princes and warrior Princesses) and to be fascinated by the environment her mother is from, the one who is drawn to and practice her mother's faith in addition to keeping to the old gods,

How Catelyn though she truly grieves letting her daughter go seems to accept it not just because her belief that Sansa would excel as a princess and future queen but because she thinks Sansa would thrive simply through getting to experience the south...Catelyn seems to grasp the things Sansa dreams about and unlike many other family members she does not view Sansa and her interests with the same condescension, dismissal, or disdain.

Catelyn loves all her children immensely but there is something so tragic and beautiful in her love for her daughters, the desperate lengths she is willing to go to to ensure the saftey of both of them while the lords/males in her family have already given them up as a lost cause and inevitable and necessary casualties in their war for vengeance and northern independence

Despite this affection though there is a lot of pressure on both of them... almost to the point that their treatment by the adults in their lives has a bit of a "parentification" dynamic- a manner that sometimes puts the onus on them to be a support and a comfort to their mother amid any tension in the family/marriage (Aemond) or to be the perfectly behaved role model or minder for their less dutiful siblings (Sansa)

Sansa, in everyone's eyes a lady at three and a queen destined to be, the determined effort she puts into excelling at being studious, accomplished, proper, and ladylike, how much she tries to exemplify the behavior praised and exemplified by her mother and her septa

set up by the adults in her life as a go between for the stark sisters...used as the benchmark for their demands and expectations of Arya, being held up as the bar for perfect, proper, and praise worthy behaviour that Arya is presssured to also attain, the daughter who gets censured on the few occasions she acts out while her younger sister typically gets away with her poor behaviour (at least when it comes to their parents)... Sansa isn't just under the pressure of the exacting expectations for a lord's daughter she also experiences the stress of being put in the position of exemplar for her wild untractable younger sister.

Aemond, apparent dutiful student in many areas expected as a child of nobility, who is expected to support Aegon in his rulership and war and (in the show) even takes responsibility for trying to keep his older brother in line, the one who after losing an eye takes the effort to comfort and console his mother's grief and rage when their father does nothing in response to an attack on Aemond other than threaten and intimate his wife and his children with Alicent in order to support his firstborn daughter, who becomes the human equivalent of not just a wrecking ball but a literal weapon of mass destruction sent out on behalf of the advancement of his family or later to enact terrible bloody vengeance on his family's behalf, his life his purpose and his death is all for his family's sake more than his own.

They put so much effort into being well behaved, to reach the exacting standards for a child in their position, setting an example for the less obedient/well behaved sibling(s) all of which in turn adds to significant strain or conflict between said sibling.

Sansa and Aemond are the sibling expected to and determidly striving to live up to the high expectations that the adults in their life put on them and to survive the extremely dangerous and high stakes scenarios they are put in (as a lord's daughter, prince's betrothed and future queen, a hostage and target for the machinations and ambitions of others, the older sibling, a ruling lady, and elected queen; a prince, dutiful son and brother, ruthless and dutiful defender of his family, and regent)

Meanwhile they have other siblings who struggled to meet said expectations or have given up attempting to all together (Arya, Rhaenyra, or to some degree Aegon)

Siblings who must from the perspective of Sansa and Aemond (who are still young, inexperienced, and have had a great deal of conflict with said siblings) seem to flaunt all expectations free to rebell, flaunt the rules, and generally ignore the high pressure expectations that children from their class face.

Undoubtedly frustrating since, much like their more rebellious siblings have failed to sympathize with the more responsible ones, Ameond and Sansa too have not (yet) been able to recognize the ways their less successful/dutiful siblings also suffer under the highly restrictive expectations of their class and position even if they do not choose or succeed in conforming to them.

They see that despite how they may excel in studying, striving and succeeding in their roles, and ultimatley exemplifying the high standards they were raised to it is these other siblings who seem to get rewarded (experiencing in their eyes at least what appears to be more freedom, less pressure, minimal censure or punishment for their misbehavior... while simultaneously receiving the bulk of the reward in terms of their inheritance, the attention they recieve, or even with regards to the amount of affection given by some of the authority figures in their lives, i.e. their fathers)...

To them it must seem that these siblings get to be not just easily forgiven for their mistakes and misbehaviour, but accepted as or outright adored simply the way they naturally are, whereas dutiful and non problematic children like themselves tend to be overlooked or underappreciated, and quickly criticized on the rare cases they misbehave... the acceptance and affection they recieve appears far more conditional on them behaving well according to the expectations of their family or various instructors/minders... whereas the affection their siblings receive, from say a certain parent, is show to be rather unconditional

Seriously they both give me such severe "easy" (i.e. overlooked) and "gifted" child trauma vibes... how much of their behavior is simply in their nature and how much is what they conform themselves to to make the adults around them proud... because as the quieter child or apparent outsider amindst their family/siblings this is the only action that comes natural to them and gets them some (hard earned) attention/praise in a rather large and loud family they otherwise seem a bit lost in... how much of their striving to succeed is dependent on the sincere belief/understanding that their saftey and potentially the future, saftey, and wellbeing of their family depends on it.

They both have a far more distant relationship with their fathers who favoured another sibling- a sister over them... father's who either didn't seem to know how to connect with them - Ned- or never really bothered to try- Viserys...

while i do believe Ned loves his children and they adored him in return i feel its obvious that he neglected in preparing any of them for the true dangers and realities of the world away from the satey and protection of winterfell and their Stark family, and he absolutely dropped the ball on keeping either of his daughters safe and supervised when he took them along into a very dangerous situation in kingslanding

Furthermore Ned never quite seemed to connected with or pay attention to Sansa they way he did with Arya... just something about the fact that when he follows the orders of his king/supposed best friend to kill Sansa's direwolf (the very symbol of their house) it is in replacement for Arya's Direwolf who was allowed to escape the cruel wrath of the Queen and Prince...and how he continues to fail Sansa in the aftermath

It's something about the gifts he gives his very angry and traumatized daughters to comfort them after- in lieu of truly trying to actually connect with and console both of them or to even properly mediate their increased fighting.

Arya (in the show and book) is given lessons with a "dancing" master who teaches her swordplay/water dancing, she was so excited and she always wanted to be outside learning to fight like her brothers got to, in this moment to her understanding she is not just seen by her father she is accepted and supported (a careful reader may see that Ned's attitude appears to be slightly condescendingly indulgent on the matter of her learning swordplay... but Arya gets the chance to do something she loves all the same)

Meanwhile (in the show) to try to console Sansa Ned gives her... a doll? (Honestly I can't recall any equivalent gift from Ned to Sansa in the books? the mention of her possibly getting harp lessons in Kingslanding was actually a promise Catelyn made to her on Ned's behalf rather than his own effort... and was something that Ned didn't actually ever arrange in the books)

But is this doll meant to be an appropriate gift to make up for the death of her direwolf? Is this gesture enough to comfort her and make amends after Ned killed her direwolf (notice its not exactly as spectacular, meaningful, or comforting a gift as arya's "dancing lessons"... certainly there is no indication that he has any particular understanding of Sansa or has given much thought into her talents, interests, or personality beyond the most shallow perusal)

In the aftermath of Lady's death Ned does nothing to truly protect Sansa or keep her away from the obviously dysfunctional and dangerous family he has promised her away to.

Yet he can take the time to comfort and have a frank conversation with Arya about how important staying together and supporting eachother as family is- especially when they are amongst dangerous people who mean to harm or separate them- and the specific importance her and Sansa will have to one another as sisters who share the same blood... further explaining how just as they will need eachother Ned needs them as well

Ned has no such comforting or distinctly meaningful exchange with Sansa... he doesn't explain the reality of the Lannisters/Joffrey/Robert (i.e. the truth of the people he has agreed to give his young daughter away to despite the fact that he either personally has no respect for most of them or has not been around them long enough to know anything about their true nature)

Yes it is the risk to his daughter that makes him willing to falsely confess to treason, yes eventually he decides its best to send his daughters back to winterfell, yes he finally wants to break the betrothal and he makes a beautiful promises to make her a match with "a high lord who's worthy of [her], someone brave and gentle and strong" ... but he is much too late to get both of his daughters away from the lannisters/kingslanding, way too late in his attempt to keep them safe, and he fails to handle Sansa with age appropriate respect and frankness and to actually tell her how dangerous things are in kingslanding and why joffrey (false prince -bastard born of incest) is such an ill suited match.

Maybe if he had put any effort into explaining things to her...or simply spending time with her, speaking to her, trying to understand her, comforting her amidst the loss of lady and the increased fighting with Arya, or doing literally anything other than just neglecting her and her saftey Sansa would have actually trusted his decision and seen it as him wanting what was best for her.

Maybe if he had been more proactive and focused on his daughters well being he wouldn't have brought both of them south after the altercation over their direwolves... or maybe he could have been successful at getting both his daughters out of kingslanding before everything went to hell.

Its almost like the whole point of the Ned/Arya/Sansa and the Ned/Cersei/Sansa dynamic isn't to show that Sansa is a naive girl who betrays her family for the lannisters but is instead to show that when you neglect your child emotionally they will turn elsewhere for comfort and will be particularly vulnerable to being manipulated or abused by other adults... its almost like this part of A Game of Thrones is more about the way even someone like Ned- a man who does strives to do what he thinks is right and a parent who does loves his children- can still fail.

Ned's treatment of Sansa is specifically intriguing, though i don't know if it will be addressed specifically since her relationship and dynamic with Ned is one that much like Robb ended with his tragic and unjust murder (leaving behind a grief stricken Sansa helplessly longing for the return of her family and home, grieving with a near devotional regard for her lost father and brother)... Sansa will never get to confront or reconcile with them over the many ways she was let down and left unprotected by her male relatives- and who knows if a traumatized and grieving Sansa will ever even recognize and admitt to herself the ways the people who she loved the most failed to live up to her expectations of them... how clearly that despite their love for her she was rarely their first priority ... how they both seemed to fail to follow their family mottos ... the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.... family before duty or honor... she was family yet duty and honor came before her in Robb's eyes... she was part of a pack but through Ned promising her to a marriage in the south, in him taking her and Arya away to kingslanding, in him failing to prioritize her saftey until they all were practically already on the chopping block, and in Robb abandoning any hope or plan of rescuing her she truly was abandoned by them ...to be a lone wolf without a pack to help her survive

Then there is Viserys who at the very least had a much stronger regard for Rhaenyra than all the kids by his second wife ...but can also quiet easily be accused of outright neglecting and mistreating them

The lack of guidance holds true for all his children really but with Rheanyra at least it is accompanied by an (ultimatley harmful) spoiled indulgence that he offers only to his eldest daughter- covering up her obvious blunders and threatening anyone who would speak the truth of her questionable actions and her children's legitimacy including his own wife and sons ... going against traditional succession not because he wants to promote first born succession/succession by "merit"/or treating daughter equal to sons in terms of inheritance or anything like that but because of guilt and unashamed favoritism.

Viserys refuses to give to his son what westeros society at least would deem as Aegon's birthright, while also failing to make arrangements for any his non-Rhaenyra children to have a future and saftey separate from the throne.

He doesn't arrange matches with other kingdoms and give them allies, protection, family, independence, or a power base independent of the crown/hightowers instead leaving them dependent only on the crown, vulnerable targets to be handled (i.e. no doubt killed on the orders of Rhaenyra and/or her uncle husband Daemon) as living they would remain the most significant threat to the legitimacy of their rulership.

Viserys looks the other way when Aemond specifically is permanently maimed by Rhaenyra's son...his only action after his son loses his eye is to threaten his second family, to intimidate them into staying quite on the topic of the legitimacy of Rhaenyra's children before he deems the matter concluded... as if the worst part of that altercation was Aemond calling them bastards rather than say four children ganging up against one and how one of these children attacked using a knife and cost the other their fucking eye?

That for Aemond more than anything must cement his understanding of his father's feelings about Aemond and his full siblings and mother. To Viserys they simply matter less than Rhaenyra and her children.

In fact their well being or saftey matters less than even an offense made to Rhaenyra's reputation... which shows Alicent and her children without question that they are in danger from the blacks and the King will do nothing to prevent the blacks from trying to severely physically harm Aemond or his siblings, and in fact that there will be no punishment for the blacks when they succeed in doing so.

A civil war between the blacks and the greens was inevitable... Viserys actions of protecting and favoring Rhaenyra while also not ensuring she is instructed on and practices/proves her ability to rule, willfully ignoring that she violates her own vows and that she passes off her obviously illegitimate children as trueborn heirs, of permitting her not just to inherit (and position her illegitimate son as the next heir to) what most considered the birthright of her brother but also for her to steal the birthright of her own cousins by supplanting them with her other bastard and demoting them to being simply their brides/consorts, him keeping her as heir not just after he has multiple trueborn sons but also after Rhaenyra gets remarried to the exact violent bloodthirsty man that so many feared and Viserys himself had previously removed as his own heir in favour for Rhaenyra.

Viserys doing all of this while still choosing to remarry and have MULTIPLE children with his new wife... the neglectful and disrespectful way he treats his second family... all of this ensured that the death of some (if not all) of his children, via either assassination or in outright civil war, would always have been inevitable.

There is so much hatred, fear, distrust, and tension between Viserys' family members... and not only did he fail to intervene or improve things he was the one most responsible for it ....so much of the environment Alicent lived in and Aemond and his full siblings were raised was permeated by not just a sense of deep injustice (particularly in Aemond's case with his treatment by not just the blacks but his own father) but also an undercurrent of desperate fear over what will happen to them and their family in the wake of a brewing succession crisis

The mommy, daddy, and sibling issues are so strong with these two and I'm so obsessed with how the complicated family dynamics and tragic family losses that Ameond and Sansa experience echoe one another in so many ways...there is just so much love, grief, rage, unpacked trauma, and hurt in them and I am always obsessed with stories that allow the narrative or characters to address such trauma.

PART 3/4. THE CONTRASTING AND COMPLIMEMTARY ASPECTS OF THEIR STORIES (SUFFERING AND GRIEF)

They were both were so young when they became targets of the wrath and dislike of powerful and corrupt "Queens"

Sansa who loses her direwolf at the demand of Queen Cersei, a queen who after long being abused by her own husband sees a perhaps more extreme form of that sort of violence in her own mad son being directed at Sansa, who rather than expressing or experiencing compassion or sympathy instead takes the chance to revel in the destruction of Sansa's innocence, to mock and emotionally abuse Sansa when she has lost her father and her only protection in Kingslanding, leaving her a hostage of war at the mercy of a violent and corrupt royal family

Aemond who after losing his eye to an attack instigated by Rhaenyra's children receives no apology or recompense...instead his own sister asks for her mutilated little brother to be tortured sharply questioned due to the offense he caused by accusing her sons -accurately mind you- of being bastards... Aemond and his siblings who were never truly ever treated by Rhaenyra as her siblings only ever the offspring of Alicent and thus obstacles and threats for her (and her uncle's) right to the throne.

Both were physically harmed or tormented by (or with the approval of) young members of royalty, with very little being done to intervene, stop, or punish those involved despite their own highborn status- which would generally deem them unacceptable targets for such abuse.

Young Sansa a hostage but still a high born daughter descended from two of the seven ruling houses in westeros, The Warden of the North and the Lord Paramount of the Trident, and niece/cousin to the rulers of a third kingdom, the Lord Paramount of the Vale. Who while under the "care" of the crown is tormented, stripped, and beaten in open court at the behest of a mad boy king... forced to look upon the severed heads of her father and household, forced into being an unwilling child bride to the house of her family's enemies, who is molested and threatened with sexual assault on multiple occasions

Prince Aemond son of the King who is mocked by his brother and nephews (or his king and father in the books) over the fact that he hasnt yet claimed a dragon, and when this makes him reckless enough to approach and claim the largest dragon in existence the torment doesn't stop it gets dangerously worse as the tension between the children of the blacks and greens escalate to the point of a violent confrontation between Aemond and his nephews and cousins... and the resulting loss of of his eye when one of his attackers brings out a knife. None of the children who banded together to attack Aemond would face any consequences, only Aemond himself and his mother and older brother would censure and outright threats from their King Father and Older sister. Whose earliest sexual experience- done at the behest of his older brother- was implied to be at the very least coerced, traumatizing, and humiliating- if not outright non consensual on his part.

Both Sansa and Aemond face a terrible sort of loss when they begin losing their family members to mass civil war ...often in a manner that is distinctly horrific or against all laws of decency in the 7 kingdoms

her father Ned unjustly executed for treason and whose decapitated head is displayed and used to torment her, her younger sister Arya gone missing for years and long thought dead, her home sacked and younger brothers Bran and Rickon supposedly murdered by her family's ward- a boy who grew up alongside the stark children- the burned/mutilated heads and bodies of two young boys being being put on display at winterfell, her older Brother and Mother slaughtered when their traitorous allies and bannermen men break sacred guest rights at a wedding, both their bodies desecrated in a mockery of their houses... Robb decapitated his direwolves own head placed ontop of his body while his enemies parade his remains around, her mother Catelyn's throat slit and her body dumped naked in a river and left to rot.

(In the show) Rickon being cut down before his siblings eyes by a madman who betrayed their house and had tortured Sansa herself, her "half brother" Jon betrayed and murdered by his men and later sent off into a lonley exile away from his family and home for the "crime" of taking out an invader who had just committed mass murder... Sansa being left to rule the north all alone with many of her family members long dead and the surviving ones being set on a path away from the north/winterfell while she is left to handle rulership in isolation

Aemond who after commiting the first Kinslaying of the "war of dragons" by attacking his own assailant and nephew Lucerys proceeds to lose all of the family that he loved.

Starting with the tragic murder of his innocent young nephew at the behest of his elder sister/uncle- who arranged for his mother Alicent to be attacked tied up and forced to bear witness to the gruesome murder of her grandchild,

His sister Helaena -who plead for her life to be taken to spare her son- forced under the threat of the rape of her young daughter to choose which of her young sons will be murdered. Only for all of them to be traumatize further when they kill Jaehaerys and leaving Maelor the son she "chose" to die to survive with the message that his own mother wanted him dead... the emotional torment this caused the whole family but most of all his sister who refused to eat, bathe, or look upon her remaining son due to her immense feelings of guilt

his older brother Aegon who has lost his son and heir, and whose sister/wife is in a grief so deep she cannot care for their remaining children, who is attacked and maimed but survives to live on in total agony,

the murder of Maelor, Aemond's remaining nephew at the hands of a mob

Aemond's last stand, sacrificing his dragon and his own life to take out his Uncle (the biggest threat to his family and the orchestrator of Jaehaerys' brutal murder)

The many tragedies that continued after Aemond's own death- his sister's eventual suicide, the death of his younger brother Daeron, his oldest brother outlasting all of his siblings and his own two sons only to be taken out by poison once the war is over, his mother spending the last of her years in confinement until she passes from sickness,

His niece Jaehaera, after the loss of her entire family, married off as a child in the name of "peace" and dying young and alone- of suicide or murder

There is just such fascinating potential when two characters would have so much mirroring grief and trauma ...there is such an undercurrent of helpess rage, guilt, and grief to them in their youth and a undoubtedly a feverent desire for either vengeance or justice against the many people who harmed them or slaughtered their family...

And here is where things begin to differ between the two in interesting ways

with Sansa who has these violent wishes/impulses but is not in a position to see them fulfilled herself- her desire to push Joffrey to his death even at the cost of her own life, her wish that someone will throw Ser Meryn Trant down and cut off his head, her hope that various people will fall/be unhorsed...

Sansa who recieves a direwolf, Lady, the very symbol of her house and potentially a companion that would have offered a connection that was an extension of her own soul only for Lady to be cut down so quickly and unjustly... Sansa who loses not just the connection/companionship she recieved from Lady but also the protection such a bond would offer her ... she is left vulnerable in so many ways and has no promise of reuniting with her own direwolf later on... that will never be a comfort or form of security offered to her after all the danger and trauma she experiences

While Aemond, who spent much of his young life similarly helpless to act or respond to insults and assaults on his own person or immediate family, (that his father/king either never deemed worthy of interference or punishment... that is when it wasn't the King himself who was the perpetrator of such offenses) unlike Sansa experiences a change of fortune in the form getting to bond with the symbol of his house

He gains (and gets to keep until his own death) a bond with a different sort of mythical beast companion... a dragon and as a result recieves all the potential for power and destruction that comes with being a dragon rider

By claiming Vhagar Ameond is the closest he will ever be to untouchable, not just from the harassment he personally experienced from his family but with regards to how grave and dangerous a threat/target he had now become for the blacks during the dance of dragons

Aemond now a dragonrider of the largest living dragon, a child and later teenager who is in control of the narrative equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction, and he is no longer held back from acting on his anger once the rule and interference of his neglectful father king is over,

he is in control of the most massive beast of pure destruction and unlike Sansa, who for now in the books- or for much of her story in the show- remained an unprotected hostage or pawn in the hands of those who mean to harm or use her... who handles her trauma very internally as she is not in a position to fight back, and must rely on her words, intelligence, and ability to read and strategically interact with people as a way of defending and keeping herself safe, Aemond is now in the position to enact every bloodthirsty impulse of revenge he ever experienced

He was held back from enacting vengeance only through his own will, which ultimately proves not enough- he commits the first kin slaying and soon the actions of each side escalated into a horrific bloodbath where nobility and small folk alike suffered or die en masse

While Aemond's story may be one of family devotion and loyalty, mistreatment, injustice, and suffering that ends by showing the terrible outcomes of revenge and uncontrolled cruel brutality Sansa's story feels like one where grief, rage, and mistreatment exist but where family, love, compassion, kindness, justice, and integrity will win out in the end.

Sansa was certainly developed into a more discerning strategic and ruthless figure in the show but justice, duty, and forgiveness were still very prevalent in her storyline

she does have ramsay killed in a fittingly horrific manner, but she later holds a public trial for littlefinger- who was responsible for much of her familys suffering, the death of her father, and her own torment and rape- before she has him executed,

She feels compassion and forgiveness for theon the man who had betrayed her family and drove her young brothers out of their home, who only after experiencing significant torture himself became devoted to protecting the remaining starks and was able to find the courage to disobey his own torturers in order to help Sansa escape,

She possessed a concern for other people that few ruler do in asoiaf/got... speaking up against Joffrey's cruelty even as a powerless hostage, being the person concerned with the more practical matters of caring for and feeding their people during a harsh winter- a notable development in comparison to say everyone else just focusing on battle tactics and the upcoming battles (as though feeding an army is not an essential part of warfare), and the invader who just burned westeros' food stores en masse and now expects others to feed not just her armies but also demands that her dragons be fed "whatever they want"

I think in the books however that despite Sansa's internal grief and rage and her burgeoning political acuity there will be a gentler end to her arc where her own innate sense of duty and her (now more discerning) sense of compassion will win out in the end when she takes back her name, identity, and birthright ... that she along with her surviving family will have justice administered in the name of their lost family and people... efficiently bringing down righteous and necessary judgement on those that harmed and betrayed them rather than simply dealing out some form of mass, bloody, cruel revenge on her enemies (I'll leave that for lady stoneheart) ... and that a satisfying ending for her and the other starks will balance them realistically addressing the dangers and betrayal they faced with their own personal resolve to hold true to the values imparted to them by their parents.

... yet after all her suffering (and the frustrating lack of trust, consideration, or support she was given by her own family in the later GOT seasons) there is something darkly appealing to the idea of her getting (not a hero precisely) but a ruthless and devoted sort of monster to support her and bring down unholy vengeance on her various tormentors

PART 4/4: THE RESULTING DRAMATIC AND EMOTIONAL APPEAL OF AEMONDSA FICS

This after their many parallels and complementary contrasts is what intrigues me the most...the interplay of a potentially wary, cautious, traumatized but still duty and justice oriented person and a companion or lover who is comparatively more ruthless, unhinged, capable of atrocities, and who is more equipped to dole out violence en masse... (guys the pipeline from dark jon/dark jonsa to aemondsa just makes so much sense)

the question in Aemondsa fics of what will win out in the end- the shared grief and rage or them both controlling/channeling such impulses into strategic righteous fury and justice is always fascinating... and most of all the idea of Sansa (after all the trauma mistreatment and grief she has experienced) attaining the interest and eventual devotion of someone who despite being capable of monstrous actions is also incredibly loyal, devoted, and ruthless in the pursuit of their loved ones interests ("I want you to put out your eye ... plan to make it a gift if it to my mother" indeed) is just as appealing as the idea where an isolated, lonely, traumatized, grieving, and dangerously angry young man like Aemond gets to find acceptance, affection, companionship, and belonging with an intelligent strategic but more importantly an exceptionally compassionate person like Sansa.

Its just a dynamic far too intriguing to ignore especially for someome who already loved Time Travel/Reincarnation Fix IT AUs in fanfiction

While emotional catharsis and Sansa returning home and having the dreams she had wrote off as impossible be fulfilled (i.e. building a loving partnership and marriage, having children with someone who loves and wants her more than her claim itself, reuniting with her family) is something I love- and what I want to happen in canon (hence my otp being Jonsa)- there is always an interesting/guilty pleasure aspect of fanfic where Sansa (or the Starks in general) get to wreck terrible bloody victory and vengeance on those who betrayed and butchered their family and people (not really the ultimate message or point of the book but definitely emotionally satisfying in fanfic)

Just like there is a sort of appeal that exists in hotd fanfic that is sort of the opposite ...ones that alter the violent senseless and tragic trajectory of the dance of dragons... to either change the course of a brutal civil war or prevent it all together

and the Aemondsa pairing's time travel or reincarnation fics provide an opportunity to explore both of these diverse dynamics.

Sansa will always deserve the world... in canon and in fanfic i want to see all her dream and hopes come true whether it is with a truly good and just partner with whom she gets to build the life and home she always dreamed of or through her getting her very own devoted monster who would do anything to keep her safe from the scores of people who wish to misuse or harm her

and I always wish that hotd fanfiction offered more Aemond centric fics with a love interest that you know actually likes, sympathizes with, or understand him? He feels too tragic a character for me to want him to experience the typical hate and love (enemies AND lovers) treatment he tends to get in fanfic... its not really satisfying for me seeing his typical pairing up with whatever team black character (or really TB character rewrite) or some Daemon's or Rhaenyra's daughter OC that is the frequent choice for aemond centric fics...him being portrayed as some impusive awful and villainous love interest who changes sides and abandons his family just to be with his lover/obsession feels so out of character in a way that erases the best, most compelling, and sympathetic parts of his canon personality, motives, and actions.

Luckily Aemondsa fics seems to be a pairing that offers everything I like in Ameond or Sansa centric fics....

In conclusion Aemondsa is surprisingly compelling and versatile dynamic in fanfic and I think that is why I've become such a fan of Firesteel/Aemondsa fanfiction (in a way I'm NOT at all a fan of the actual HOTD show writing lol)

I'm a proud support of crack ships/rarepairs and I'm always willing to add to the fandom appreciation of pairings that gets less attention or fandom related works... so expect to see the occasional Aemondsa fanart/fic recommendation post from me amongst my typical jonsa content (in fact expect one in the next in a day or so)

Otherwise I just hope established Ameondsa fans (or people who haven't ready any aemondsa fics but are fans of either character/curious about this pairing in general) have enjoyed seeing me fangirl about these two characters/this crack ship and feel inspired to check out or even make their own Aemondsa content!

-Crimsom Cold

[venmondiese]

THE KINSLAYER

based on nightwish's kinslayer aka aemond's theme ✧ gifs: /feodor-dostoevsky // jeonwonwoo

AEMOND COULD HEAR THE LOUD NOISES FROM THE BROTHEL. He could smell the filthiness from it. He could feel it deep in his bones. He could sense it in the depts of his soul.

Aegon was much more careless than he was. As if he knew that he was doomed, destined to the seven hells, he left himself enjoy the pleasures of terrenal life, hedonistic natures for a doomed man.

Aemond wanted to be correct. When he was a kid, he dreamed of great things. Second sons often got nothing. And he wanted to be someone.

His own grandsire, Baelon, could have been someone. He was to be King, if the stranger didn't take him to soon. He would have been King. A second son.

Jaehaerys was a second son. Maegor was a second son. Even Aegon the First was second to his sister Visenya. Yet it was destined for him to be the ruler.

He thought of himself as worthy. He really did. Aemond Targaryen, rider of Vhagar. It was not something to be taken lightly. Vhagar, ridden by Visenya, Baelon, Laena. All of them were second best too.

It wasn't killing Lucerys what bugged him. He could not care less for the bastard boy. It wasn't making Rhaenyra suffer, though it wasn't how he planned it. She wanted him tortured, she wanted him to be sharply questioned when he just lost an eye. She ran away, with her impecable kin, secured on Dragonstone.

He made a mistake. He felt the power of what the Velaryons boys did when they bullied him. He was worthy. He was a Targaryen. And Vhagar was backing him up.

But sometimes, he didn't think losing an eye was worthy. Hidding it to not scare ladies at court. Cut the eyelids open so he could incrist a sapphire, like Symeon Star-Eyes. He learned how to chop men with a long staff with blades at both ends, just like the legendary hero did.

He wondered if he just wanted to feel something. If he just wanted to feel as someone special, worthy again. If he did, maybe they would admire him, or even care for him. Did they not?

Aegon had his own mess. Helaena had her own mess. Daeron wasn't even near King's Landing. His mother was busy ruling as his father was busier rotting.

"It's okay, my prince." The female voice says, in an attempt of soothing him as her hand caressed his forearm, and he sighed, his head on her lap as he looked into the room.

Brothels, even dirtiest, could have bedroom for the highlors attending. Aemond's naked chest was warm due to the fire, but not thanks to the physical intimacy.

It was a vain attempt of comfort. Aegon had invited him, to cheer him up and to celebrate his new title as King.

'Celebrate what?' He thought. 'I just started a war'

It haunts his dreams. The knowledge of what he did. The burden, the burning.

Kinslayer.

He found himself doomed. Haunted by a hateful nature inside him. It stirred, it boiled deep on his soul. Kinslayer.

A war between kin. The first drops of blood om his hands, tainting his very soul.

It felt good, at the beginning. He tried to rationalize it. A mistake. Vhagar lost control.

Because she did.

Right?

She had to. Because he didn't. It was... teasing. The power of being on Vhagar was just his arrongace, his vanity acting. Not him. It wasn't him. It couldn't be him.

He couldn't even look at his mother on the eyes. He could less look Helaena, hearing her horrified little scream as she found out.

His eye hurt. The emptiness of it, the wound that never fully healed. He couldn't even cry properly, not even for makind or his own doom.

'You lost one eye. How could you be so blind?' His grandsire said.

A need to understand. But there wasn't a need to forgive. He won't do that, for he has no reason. His mother called the war a curse from Gods themselves. She prayed, and prayed. But there wasn't any sense or truth to be followed. He even started to doubt if this was about ruling the realm.

"Do I have to pay you?" He asks, slightly unsure. Vulnerable, even. He hated it.

He was not used to this. Using a whore for comfort. Aegon laughed when he excused himself, asking for a whore, and he even congratulated him, a loud cheer all over the table.

Now he laid naked, curled up as his head rested on her lap. Warmth. Cosiness.

"No, my prince. The King has it covered"

The King. It was Aegon. The same Aegon who bullied him, and used to mock him. His big brother. Now, he was the King. It was his biggest fear, and another curse.

Was this a curse for his own ambitions? For wanting what wad the destiny of his elders? For preparing to rule even if he wasn't even acknowledged in his father's mind?

He sighed. His hair loose, the eyepatch lost somewhere on the room. He felt the touch over his cheebone, going up to move his hair to his back, her hands caressing his hair and head, in a soothing manner as she didn't speak more. He prefered silence after his vulnerable moment.

Being with a whore felt like meeting an old friend. It scared him, it bugged him in the wrong way. But who else can he turn to? The Gods have abandoned him to his luck, and with good reason.

He would prefer having a wife do it. He wondered that if he had one, she would be gentler than this, cozier than this.

He craved the love. He never tried to actively persuing a lady at court, so he had no wife. He couldn't go back to Floris Baratheon, he knew he cannot. Not as a Kinslayer.

He liked to picture his wife as beautiful lady. He does not imagine especifics, he is not demanding on that sense. He imagines her beautiful as the maiden herself, gentle and caring. Not judging him, even if his new curse made him a monster. If he had offsprings, would they love him? Afraid of his lost eye?

He realised that he has to thank the Gods. For not having a wife, or offsprings to pass the curse on. To share the madness with them.

Praying was in vain, for who would hear him? A slayer of his own kin. The blood of his sister was on his hands. Of her little son, that he murdered.

He had prayed to the Father. For him to save a place for Aemond. There are no gods. Not by your side.

He soon realised, he was as well doomed. Second son, kinslayer, murdered of his own nephew, on the skies mounting their dragons. Just as Maegor The Cruel did.

He won't become an acknowledged second son. He won't be worthy, he won't be remember greatly. He won't be a hero, unless he dies greatly. And he knows it. He lusts for this game, and he falls for every lie of it.

He looked at the flames, as if they could answer something to him. As if they could show him what was ahead of him. How he has to act. How he'll die.

A war was yet to come, and he knows he'll fight it. For he has nothing else to lose. He curses the Gods. How was he supposed to know?

[ink-bender1022]

I want to read helaemond fanfictions

But not the type where Aemond is this dark mysterious, dangerous guy and Helaena this innocent girl and they have those generic dark romances that you can find everywhere

No, I want a character study on both of them

What makes them have this affinity that Phia and Ewan talked about

Aemond is cruel and he lashes out when he feels little. But hi is craving love and intimacy. The scenes with his mom, you can see he wants her approval so bad, he does what he thinks is best but that only make him more cold and distant. In the rooftop scene we can see that he hesitates to touch Helaena, maybe not to scare her because of the scene they had before. He's genuinely scared and he really wants her support, we can see that he gets hurt when his rejected.

Aemond is a bad person, but he's insecure, so I don't really agree when he's portrayed as this alpha male, fifty shades of grey type of guy in fanfiction

As for Helaena, the way the people write her is so generic. This character has so much potential, she's a dreamer and she's 'autistic coded' or at least 'neurodivergent coded', and some people write her as more like a self insert :/ it makes me frustrated

She's the kindest of her siblings and she also wants to be loved, she wants to fit in more with her family, just like Aemond, that's why people see potential in them, because they could find some comfort in each other

Of course the events of blood and cheese make everything more complicated but at the same time this drama makes for such a good premise. Aemond having done something horrible feeling even more guilty when Helaena pays the price

And it's not like I expect this to be explored in the show; Aemond is scared and it's only gotta get worse

I don't wanna shame fanfic writers or anything, I'm happy people are passionate about this ship to write something. I have no right to complain, because I'm not a writer. However, their relationship has so much potential for an unique story with an unique dynamic, it makes me frustrated :/

Anyways, thank you for reading my thoughts, antsy fanfic recommendations are welcomed :)

[andreadesantis3806]

The saddest thing about Aemond trying to force Helaena to take up fight? He is right. Who will indeed protect her if she cannot protect herself? Their mother? Their mother whose allinations are at a questionable place? Aemond? Aemond who now knows he is not longer the ultimate power in the play? That the enemy has now forces that can take down both Vhagar and him easily? Aegon? Who lies broken in his bed?

He is Aemond Targaryen, the same little boy who lashes out when he is desperate, when he is not in control, when he uses force, cruelty and impulsiveness take hold when he is humiliated.

And also something you will notice, whenever it is Aegon coming to talk with Helaena, she either ignores him or frowns at him. But when Aemond came in, she was normal, considerably more relaxed and casually saying what she was about to do.

It just says that it is not usual for Aemond to be cruel to Helaena. She is not used to his cruelty towards her either. He is desperate, he is outnumbered, he is angry, he has had the upper hand taken away from him and the only semblance of power he has on his side is Helaena and Dreamfyre. But she refuses to help him, refuses to fight. He can no longer protect her, he is still desperately trying to claw out ways to preserve their families' dignity.

He considered himself something akin to a God, a perfect Targaryen and righteously someone worthy to be Daemon's equal. He had claimed Vhagar, which put him on bigger pedestal. The largest oldest dragon of the world, had allowed him, HIM to ride her. He had the power and his ego he thought would never be crosed.

Now some random hobos claim two of the other biggest dragons in their family, the mounts of Jaehaerys and Alyssane not to mention. He was faced with the same gloom back in his childhood when his 'bastard' nephews had hatched dragons and not him. Now three bastards just as easily as him lays claim to Vermithor and Silverwing?

He is desperate, he is angry, he is scared.

Aemond is not a fool, as well read and capable he claims himself to be, he surely knows that anyone with Targaryen blood in their veins can ride dragons. Blood of the Dragon runs thick. Those people are bastards, but they are STILL targaryens. They are made common because the royals deemed to ignore them. Thus even when he says its a sin, a blasphemy that Rhaenyra has allowed commoner mongrels to fly on dragonback, its clear that it comes from a point of fear.

Then when he talks to Helaena alone, without their mother, he is softer again, more mindful of his tone and words, almost apologetic, but he is still steadfast in his desperation. Thus the tears in his eyes. He is not used to feeling not being in control for a very long time; the last time being when he was a child.

Helaena confirms his end, that his cruel endeavors are still for naught and no matter how much he deems himself higher than most people, he will still meet his end as a kinslayer, and criminal.

He attempts a weak power move saying he could have her killed. A frail attempt at gaining back his dignity. Helaena just digs in deeper saying it wont change a thing. He will still fall.

When Aemond is mocked, humiliated or insulted, it hits right on his missing eye. He lashes out and does not have the pride in him to show remorse, even if he feels it.

In fact, Aemond was right about a lot of things, a lot of harsh truths that were left to simmer and boil over. He was right about Alicent being angry even if it was her that urged the council to crown Aegon. He was right in s1, in the background talking to Aegon that they now must break bed and play natural even when there is everything wrong. He is right now that Helaena is needed now more than ever at a time when their family is threatened.

[mr-culper]

I love the way House of the Dragon showed three so different types of men visiting brothels.

The first type is Daemon. Remember how in the first season he got a big all-male company and sparkled in the center of the party. Maybe, by the way, with such a large and noisy company, he tried to compensate for his yearning for attention, approval, and love, which he would ideally like to obtain from Viserys, but I would not undertake to say something like that for sure here. Maybe. Maybe it was his way of dealing with the fact that he lacked his elder brother's love. Maybe not.

In any case, it was not upmarket; it was rough, simple and sincere, in a common place. It immediately became very noisy around him: a lot of laughter and chatter, a lot of gambling, a lot of alcohol, and even more women. Probably, sometimes Daemon went down to the lower levels, which he showed Rhaenyra, and tried things for what people are usually exiled to the Wall in Westeros, but there was nothing fancy about his amusements. Daemon just had fun: openly, loudly, in a big way, without the least regard for the consequences. He did not deny himself anything, but at the same time, his amusements were more or less within permitted limits. He forced no one as opposed to Aegon. However, he did not have any special elevated taste as opposed to Aemond.

There are people who drink only some rare and astonishing wine, aged in elven barrels for at least thousand years, made from grapes that were cut at the time of the full moon and all that. And there are people who drink ale made from hops harvesting right around the corner on the side of the road. In this regard, in his choice of brothels, Daemon is one of those who drinks ale. He likes simple, understandable amusements, easy of attainment, and he is a sociable fellow who, perhaps, tried to compensate for some of his problems in that way, but nevertheless.

The second type is Aegon, who painted the town red, but in his own creepy, twisted manner. Well, he is not the Marquis de Sade, of course. De Sade is the case of the book Ramsay Snow, who did unimaginably terrible things (in the book he's even worse, much worse than in the series), or it's the case of Heke, who raped corpses, or Belthasar Bolton, who built himself a tent out of the flayed skins of one hundred people. Aegon is nothing like them, he is not a sadist in the full sense of that word. But there is something very unwholesome about Aegon. His concept of red lines, of what is permissible, – if he ever had one, – is very vague. He liked to watch children's ultimate fighting, he could easily not notice how he raped someone, he was into some kind of wild stuff, he went to dirty places of debauchery. Nothing was beneath his dignity. And Aegon was often extremely promiscuous.

I think… I may be wrong, but I think he enjoyed bringing other people on his filth. Sometimes he went out on his own, and sometimes he had a company, but his company, by contrast with Daemon's one, was always small. And while Daemon comported himself as a first among equals, more or less like an equal with his men – maybe that's why they loved him so much, because he treated them well – Aegon acted like a leader of some little, ragged band of robbers. Just as it had in episode 3 of season 2, when they come to the brothel and Aegon starts taking the piss out of Aemond and, in the capacity of a leader, tries to make his lackeys laugh. And it's not the first time he's done this. During his childhood, he drew Jace and Luke on to do all sorts of vile jokes. So Aegon deliberately makes those around him accomplices to his offending amusements.

In general, Aegon's desire to bolster self-esteem at the expense of other people, at the expense of his brother in particular, just like Daemon's, may be a manifestation of his attention seeking. Alicent doesn't really love him, so he probably tries to fill the hole inside him in that way. Maybe by humiliating others, Aegon stopped despising and hating himself. Look, I am certainly not a psychiatrist, but I have such a version.

Then the show gives us the third type of man visiting brothels. It's Aemond. And this type is entirely different from the previous two. We have already said: the brothel is clean, comfortably and well furnished, there is some soft music in the background, no noise, no violence. And Aemond definitely went in there alone. He has no need for a company. At all. He has no need for anyone's approval of his actions. He has no need to be a leader or a first among equals. It seemed to me that the people around, who were also in the brothel at that moment, did not exist for him at all. And Aemond does not visit the brothel for fun, unlike with Daemon and Aegon.

He's just lying on Sylvi's lap. They do nothing, he's just lying, they are just talking. Maybe something happened there before, but Sylvi is dressed, and they are not in a private room: there's a common hall for guests, and they are both behind some kind of curtain and that's it. There are some candles in their space; everything is so romantic and elegant.

But the funny thing about this whole situation is that all three of them – Daemon, Aegon, and Aemond – visited brothels to solve their psychological problems. But even funnier thing is that they all have more or less the same problem: they are not loved in return.

Actually, no, hell fucking no, it's not funny, it's truly sad and even tragically.

That's an excerpt from the new episode of the Tea & Rum podcast about Aemond's first brothel scene. To find more episodes go to Boosty.

[prettymuchteddy]

An Analysis of Aegon Targaryen ll's relationship with family from my fic that no one asked for

(Obviously, this is my take on Aegon based on my own fic, also kind of spoilers if you haven't read)

For the first 13 years of his life, Aegon really couldn't care too much about Helaena, he just saw her as his weird little sister. There were moments of love such as when he handed her a beetle in Driftmark but those were few and far between.

"He passively stretched out his hand, demonstrating a black beetle. Helaena looked as if she wanted to jump in place. She excitedly took the creature from Aegon’s hand and caressed its shell. (1)"

However, something happened in Driftmark that changed him forever. Aemond lost his eye. And Aegon failed to save his brother because he was drunk.

Aegon seemingly understood and put down his goblet. “Very well, but I’ll be drinking some fine wine later tonight. (1)”

Up until that point, Aegon tolerated his siblings but now his own carelessness had resulted in Aemond being hurt. His protectiveness toward his siblings was triggered that night.

"Aegon’s face darkened. His shoulders tensed as he clenched his jaw. Aemond had rarely seen his brother so upset. “That’s not fair! Jace called Aemond a Green!” Aegon suddenly spoke out. (2)"

Now as a grown man, Aegon has stopped drinking. He is married to Helaena and they have twins. He loves his children but retains feelings of self-hatred that sometimes come out in his interactions with them.

"Jaehaerys who was born first had Helaena’s lilac eyes. Meanwhile, Jaehaera who was born next had his eyes. The color was just a shade darker, but he could tell from the moment he saw her. He didn’t know what to feel when he saw those eyes. Her smile was her mother’s, but he regretted that his blood gave her his eyes.(3)"

He loves Jaehaera but she unfortunately inherited his eyes and he hates that. He adores his daughter and despises that she took on his features. He doesn't see himself in the greatest light and her looking like him crushes him because he feels she shouldn't look like him. Jaehaera is sweet, innocent, and good which Aegon feels he is not.

His relationship with Helaena is also complex. Given that he was raised alongside her and surrounded by the traditional Targaryen beliefs, he was aware that siblings married but he didn't think they would. Aegon has always seen Helaena as his little sister in the non-Targaryen way. Even after they married (for reasons I can't spoil yet) Aegon still sees her as his sister, not a romantic partner. Due to his protectiveness following Driftmark, he will sometimes display what others think are romantic gestures.

"With his other hand, he cupped her cheek.(3)"

"Aegon took her hand and cradled it.(3)"

However, he simply does these things platonically. In the example of his holding her hand, he knows Helaena likes certain physical gestures. And with his touch of her cheek, it's his trying to snap her out of her dragon dreams because she goes into a dissociative state. While they clearly have evidence of their consummation, Aegon can't see her as his wife. The idea of her being his wife is simply a title to him. While he realistically does recognize that they are married, to him she's his sister first. An example of this is when they briefly talk about their wedding.

“That child may have grown but he still cares about his little sister.(3)”

He purposely calls her "his little sister" and not "his wife". It could be seen as a way of him putting a distance between them but that's not the case to Aegon. To him, loving Helaena as a sister is more meaningful than loving her as a wife and this goes into Aegon's own issues with the idea of romantic partners in general.

When he was thirteen years old Aegon and his family were forced to flee King's Landing, effectively becoming traitors. Since then, he has been running for six years of his life only surrounded by his two brothers, younger sister, and mother. Due to this, he’s never truly developed a bond with someone outside his family. If he ever possibly began to care for someone romantically it wouldn’t have lasted. Aegon knew that because of how often his family has to move around he didn't try to develop any other relationships. To him, love was never a realistic option. Helaena is the closest he’ll ever have to that type of bond but as previously mentioned he doesn't feel that way with her. Despite this, he takes his marriage with Helaena seriously.

“I promised you that when we took our vows.(3)”

In conclusion, Aegon is a complicated person and things will only get more complicated when the dance begins. No one asked for this but I love explaining characters.

Citations even though I wrote this 🕺

(1) A Targaryen Type of Madness Part 19

(2) A Targaryen Type of Madness Part 19 Continued

(3) The Madness of Dragons Chapter 2

[marsconer]

i’m team green but not in a i want aegon to be king way, in a they are so fucked up. love it.

[barbswo]

I have to ask, considering Aemond is one of my favorite povs in 'Tides'...what have you been thinking of him in season 2?? Up until last episode it seemed like he was just moping in the brothel ever since Luke died..

Uhhh fasten your seatbelts people, we are in for a rideeeee.

I literally thought about it yesterday when writing the next chapter—that now that I have all this new information and images of Aemond in my head, it’s kinda hard to shake them off and go back to my Aemond, Aemond we all grew to love over the course of 300k+words of ‘Tides’... Because the show is definitely going down the villain route for him, and while I personally don’t have an issue with that, it’s just so... Different?

Okay, I’m rambling, back to your question.

To get it out of the way—and MASSIVE SPOILER in case someone reading this hasn’t watched the show/last ep yet—Aemond burning Aegon had me shaking fists at my TV screen at 4AM. I suspected it was coming, as the writers were building the whole brotherly feud since season 1, and I still. was. so. pissed. And I have no love for Aegon, but after they painted Aemond as this strategic mind behind Cole’s campaign, I expected our smart guy to be actually smart, and burning his brother’s dragon when their side already lacks them... Yeah, great planning.

Of course, I get that in Aemond’s head, he thinks that he rides the largest dragon of all and by extent is invincible and doesn’t need anyone else to win the war, and that his emotions get the best of him, but—“This war will not be won with dragons alone, but with dragons flying behind armies of men.” What dragons, Aemond dear? Plural? Are you sure? Counting that the show already mentioned Daeron twice, we might actually see him on screen, but as for now the greens have Vhagar and Dreamfyre, and unless they armor-up Helaena and make a second Visenya out of her, I don’t think Aemond understands the repercussions of his actions.

I feel like everyone and their mother is shouting atop of their lungs that Aemond is the one true Targaryen, that he respects his ancestors, he never skipped a High Valyrian lesson on duolingo, Aemond this, Aemond that, but excusez-moi—he had already. Killed/wounded. Three dragons. The sacred sygil of his house. And he didn’t give a f4ck. And I think that he saw Cole planning to cut Meleys’ head to drag it to King’s Landing and just went “meh, not my problem, not my monkeys, I am regent now and that’s all I care about.” Gr-r-r-r.

But to be honest, I actually expected to be far angrier with him than I actually am. Because Aemond isn’t just a plain villain. He is complex, and I do love him for it. His weird attachment to that madam clearly indicates that our boy has serious mommy-issues; he has no friends (if you don’t count Cole, and I never count Cole); his big brother won’t stop bullying him even after Aemond had bested him in everything but getting the crown (which still isn’t good enough reason to unalive Aegon, but this is Westeros and I get it); and he, apparently, does “regret that business with Luke”, which I think is the most sincere thing that came out of his mouth this season.

Aemond has an odd relationship with every person in his life, even his family, and I believe that makes him who he is. He is a circus tiger that has been caged his whole life, and now he broke through the bars and is—understandably—lashing out. War brings out either the best or the worst in people, and in show-Aemond’s case, it’s definitely the worst. Which makes sense, counting what we know about him from canon.

I wish I could say that I trust the writers of HoTD to do their thing, but I really don’t. I do hope they won’t butcher the story and its characters, though.

So I guess I still have very mixed feelings about show-Aemond? All his contradictory character traits make Aemond an incredibly interesting person—and yep, it helps that he literally put the SLAY in kinslayer, because MAN is he gorgeous. Ewan was born to play him, and I’ll never stop saying that, because every time he talks about his character, I pause everything I’m doing to just... listen.

Anyway. Thanks for coming to my TED talk, I’m off to gym now. See you guys soon.

[valinoar]

some sketches

[imaginarianisms]

when helaena gets genuinely angry & upset & Actually Raises Her Voice quite literally Everybody shits themselves bc she's just a genuinely sweet kind warm loving person so if you make her mad you'd have to have Fucked Up Real Bad

[fruitageoforanges]

aegon and aemond on their wedding night in my fic

[faeriexqueen]

The Tower That Falls

Title: The Tower That Falls. Fandom: House of the Dragon. Characters: Aemond Targaryen, Lucerys Velaryon Pairings: Lucemond (if you squint.) Rated: Mature. Words: 5.3K+. Tags: Character Study, Canonverse, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Incest, Hints of Lucemond (Please see AO3 for full list of tags and warnings). Chapters: 1/1. Summary: For the first time in his life, Aemond felt truly hollow.  Excerpt:

Luck never seemed to favor Aemond as a child. Looking back, he might have guessed it would be the case; he wasn’t the first born with the expectation to rule, or even the last born that might have been doted on. He was somewhere in the middle, with no real sense of where he belonged, what he would become. He was a Targaryen, but he had no true role. No mapped out future. No dragon. That had been the most severe failing. To be without a dragon, the egg chosen for him having gone cold with no chance of hatching. It might not have been the most egregious turn of events if it weren’t for the fact that dragon hatchlings were often the markers of true Targaryen blood, with every single one of his siblings having been able to claim a dragon of their own. All destined to be dragon riders and carry on their family’s legacy. Aemond was simply not a part of it.

Read on AO3.

[rhaenyra-daemon]

He loves when Daemon takes him in his marriage bed. He loves how whenever the rare occasion arises Rhaenyra seeks Aemond out herself in the morning.

"I am patient, little brother," she nearly spits at him. "But know your place."

"I do," he stands on the threshold, looking down at her. On her. "Do you not know yours?"

Pairing: Daemon x Aemond

Title: let me crawl inside your veins

Rating: M

Length: 1,6k

Tags: cheating, jealousy, dubious consent

You can read it here.

[mr-culper]

Another very interesting point is when exactly Aemond had started visiting the madam. Before the second season, he had been in a brothel only once – at thirteen, when Aegon dragged him there. And he didn't came back there again during many years. In the first season, Aemond had not yet visited brothels. When he and Criston were looking for Aegon after Viserys's death, Aemond again met the same woman he was with at thirteen; she recognized him and invited him over some time or other. He didn't answer her then, but, perhaps, he made a note of her offer for the future.

He probably availed himself of Sylvi's invitation after killing Luke, returning to King's Landing, and confronting his mother. Alicent had accused him of starting the war (when she has usurped the throne), and that – both Luke's murder and Alicent's accusations – could have been the breaking point for him.

Maybe he fell into disenchantment with his mother. In the first season, they had scenes together that showed there was love and a certain level of trust between them: Aemond held her hands, Alicent felt that she could rely on him. In the second season, their relationship appears to be broken. In a conversation with Criston, Aemond openly despises Alicent for being so two-faced. By the way, maybe he saw this since his childhood, maybe this side of her character bothered him for many years by that time, but out of love for his mother, Aemond deliberately overlook every her faults.

However, when Aemond killed Luke, that changed everything. He has passed a certain point of no return. The second, probably, in his life. The first one is the loss of his eye. After that, he can no longer turn a deaf ear to certain things as before. He still loves Alicent, but now he looks at her and her actions in the light of reason, but not in point of love. And he also holds deep resentment toward her. Aemond does not even call her 'mother' in that conversation with Criston, he calls her by her name. That's it, they really stopped being close. The ultimate defeat of the maternal figure has happened in Aemond's mind.

But he still wants love and having someone on his side, especially now, when everything around is engulfed in flames of the war and betrayals. Aemond wants some comfortable space, at least for a little while. That is when he remembers the madam and visits her brothel.

That's an excerpt from the new episode of the Tea & Rum podcast about Aemond's first brothel scene.

To find more episodes go to Boosty.

P. S. After listening to the episode, one of my podcast subscribers wrote to me and we had a heart-to-heart discussion about the scene with Aemond in the brothel. I really liked one of her many wise comments on this subject:

“It is worth remembering the conventionally medieval setting assumes that it is absolutely natural for a man, especially a powerful one, to visit brothels, and a person who grew up in such an environment will have this attitude anchored in him in any case, even if he has no need for doing something of the kind. And the fact Aemond refuses this attitude for some time, but eventually visits a brothel anyway, but still does everything in his own way – it's a cool indication a character is thoroughly developed.”

That conversation made me think about at what point I started thinking of Aemond primarily as an asexual character (I'm talking about Aemond in the show, not the book).

So many years had passed between the time he went to a brothel at thirteen and the time he goes there the second time. Aemond hadn't been going to a brothel all those years. It was literally his entire adolescent period. You'd think that a man (women too, but men especially) would have hormones running wild, and it would seem logic suggests that he would have visited brothels during this period, but Aemond did not. He simply didn't have that part of life, the sexual one. This is what made me think Aemond may be asexual.

Even when he comes to Sylvi as a mature adult, he does whatever he wants in the brothel, even drinks milk there, but he doesn't fuck. (Or maybe he fucked, but they just didn’t show that, which is doubtful.) It's more than likely Aemond merely undressed, lay down and curled up. That's all. Because even when Sylvi tries to kiss him, he turns away. It's like he is not interested in it, he has no need of it, he doesn't like it.

I have no idea how they're going to film the arc with Alys Rivers, it will be very interesting to watch. However, even knowing that in the book Alys will have a child with Aemond, I still think of him as asexual. Along with that, he could have not had sex all these years for some of the following reasons:

• Aemond despises Aegon (who fucks a lot) so much that at some point he began to despise the idea of ​​having sex as well;

• He got a childhood trauma during his first brothel's visit (again, possibly because Aegon forced him to sleep with the madam);

• He has learned to suppress all his feelings, emotions and desires from an early age, and this so strong self-control also affected his sex life (or lack thereof);

• Or (which is most likely cause, in my opinion) Aemond simply had no time to fuck between fencing and reading.

That's also possible, why not? :D

But now he's already finished his training, became an adult. Now he is free to do whatever he wants: fucking, drinking hot milk, usurping the throne, burning his enemies' castles, all that stuff, you know.

I like one may launch guesses about Aemond one after another without stopping. He is such an ambiguous guy, I love that trait in him.

[belovedbastardremus]

I couldn't just leave all of that in the tags, they took the words right out of my mouth.

The Green family dynamics are so interesting because like, Viserys is the father but due to his decay he seems more like the grandfather, whereas Otto is the Grandsire but seems to fill out the role of a father more, not only to his daughter but also her children, so he and his daughter are a mother/father unit but in some situations Alicent is treated like a sibling to her children (by Otto) and then you have the obvious Helaena/Aegon happening (siblings who are also husband/wife and mother/father to their children), but at the same time it seems like Aemond is the one trying to be the family's protector and attempting to step up as patriarch, with some of the scenes between him and Alicent giving off the vibes of equals rather than Mother and Son (like when they discuss Aemond finding Aegon) and his relationship with Aegon seeming like he's the big brother and not the other way around, in this essay I will-