#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?

[mr-culper]

In general, the brothel scene was brilliantly film. I especially liked the shooting angle from above, because Aemond looks like death there.

I really like how they did it. Although for me this whole scene was, as it's said, too much, a bit thick. Well, I don't know, but it was hard for me, I felt uncomfortable watching the brothel scene from the beginning to the end. And yet milk. Oh, Christ.

But then I thought maybe it should be uncomfortable.

We had grown accustomed to watching someone being killed, tortured, maimed in TV series. Game of Thrones has rape scenes. Outlander has rape scenes, and they are filmed in remarkable way. Several women were raped there, at least one child, – on top of that then his hand was cut off after some time, – and one man. And the scene with the male character, oddly enough, is the worst of all: he was in prison at that time, he was tortured, abused and raped. The scene is truly monstrous, awful and nightmarish, but I watched it, and you know what, it didn't really scratch me. I mean, I was like: well, ahh, that was terrifyingly, what next? let's continue to watch next. And my gut tells me that I wasn't the only one who thought so.

That is, now, for some reason, we – humanity – take a calmly view of very scary things. Or very indecent ones. In TV series, there are explicit scenes of torture, explicit scenes of sexual content, which are also generally inappropriate to show, yes, some other 'too much' moments... and that passes for normal. However, as soon as one shows a scene where a character is just lying on someone's soft lap, trying to abstract their mind, and all this is so vulnerable, tender and fragile, that people say: we feel uncomfortable!

So, watching someone being raped or murdered, or how captain Flint struck Singleton across the face with a cannonball and beat him to a bloody mess – this is normal for us, but watching a person who is vulnerable, open and seeks solace – is no.

We, the audience, are so unprepared to face our own vulnerability that we feel uncomfortable seeing it in someone else.

We are ready to meet with any expressions of violence against other people, against ourselves, because life is dark and full of terrors. One reads the news items every morning, there is an endless chain of murders, explosions, riots, arson attacks, terroristic acts, and some other villainies happen all the time. It has even start to wear thin! We have become so accustomed to it that at some point one sits and says: ah, someone was blown up here again, something fell there, something was burned out, someone was shot, those built a trebuchet and bomb their neighbors across the border, someone was flayed alive. In general, nothing new. You just sit and think: okay, things are getting worse every minute, but overall, it's possible to live, just live on, we are constantly faced with all this, so, darling, just keep yourself alive, please...

And then they show us Aemond in a brothel, and we are not ready for it. We feel uncomfortable, because we begin to feel vulnerable ourselves.

In Black Sails, in Season 3, John Silver says an absolutely wonderful phrase: I cannot look weak, I cannot feel weak, I cannot be weak.

I totally agree.

We are all obsessed with... well, not all of us, but many of us, I know people like that, I am that person myself... with not being weak, not looking or feeling weak, with being strong in any situation. I'm obsessed with self-control as well. Maybe that is why Aemond is so like-minded for me, not only because of fierce embitterment contained in both of us, but also because of the idea of controlling our own feelings.

I used to be very wishy-washy in my previous life. Now I'm a kind of reasonable person, but before... I'm very ashamed of who I had once been, because I complained about my life, I was spineless, weak, neither fish nor fowl. It really pissed me off, I hated and despised myself for it. At some point, I realized: I must to grab myself by the balls (figuratively speaking), clench my fists and jaw, stand out the cords of my neck and become a strong person or do something of that kind to stop despising myself. So yes, I'm obsessed with the idea of ​​self-control, with being someone who solves problems, neither creates ones nor suffers from them.

And maybe for me, and maybe for many others, it was uncomfortable to watch the scene with Aemond and Sylvi for this very reason, because all of that is such an exposure of the human soul that you just unable to bear it.

I really like the House of the Dragon screenwriter's innovation in this regard. The brothel scene hit us where it hurts the most. Well done. I'm delighted. They did this scene so great. I love it showed Aemond from his vulnerable side, from the side of a person who is also worried, being emotional over, but is trying to somehow solve all this in other ways. It doesn't mean Aemond does nothing. He does what no one else does – he thinks. He takes a break and reflects.

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.

Other posts about that.

[maryaandmorevna]

What is it in Aemond’s personality that you characterize makes him a good yandere?

Ohhh I am so happy you gave me this question dear anon. So I truly believe Aemond could/would be dark!, obsessive (and possessive omg) due to several factors.

I know people will disagree and he probably would not act like this in canon (or maybe he will? idk what they will do with Alys).

Please don't come to this post just to criticize me, we all have different interpretations of a character! I fully respect good/soft/kind Aemond depictions. Still, I intend to keep Aemond a villain in A Song of Swan and Dragons, so...

He is an intensely emotional man. YES, despite trying to pretend he's a cool, cold glacier who is pragmatical to the bone, Aemond's emotions run deep. He is deeply attached to his mother, and their fallout even makes him run to the brothel (something his right and proper rule-following ideal of himself would never do otherwise. that's for nasty weaklings like aegon). He is temperamental, as fiery as archetypal Targaryen, and ruthless. The way he slowly but surely pursues strength and respect (and what he believes should belong to him, power) makes me think he'd pursue his object of desire/love/affection with the same unrelenting tenacity.

Aemond is a perfectionist and a control freak. That's a recipe for possessiveness in my opinion. He seeks control over his environment, emotions, and everything else due to feeling inadequate (he lacks an eye and he is a spare/second son).

Again, deep down his feelings of inadequacy and rejection are only masked (not erased) by acquiring Vhagar and becoming a proficient warrior. He gave me the impression of a lonely kid since Aegon and Rhaenyra's kids seemed to be in cohort while he alone had no dragon and was mocked for it. Aemond is lonely and insecure and that would make him clingy as hell once there's true trust/connection (yes I know that sounds ridiculous, clingy is such a non-Aemond word). One of the reasons I wanted a pretty, desirable OC was that Aemond would not just want anyone. Arranged marriage aside, if left to his own devices, he will have the court's darling, the-girl-everyone-thinks-could/would-be-future-queen just because he's driven by the idea that nothing should be above his reach. He could've tried claiming any hatchling on Dragonstone, but he didn't. He rather risked his life and went after Vhagar.

Aemond has no balance, he's all-or-nothing, and his actions all kickstart the war, and many tragic/major things happening after. Maybe in love he'd be the same? He is of extremes, his feelings consume him to the point normal, balanced person would consider it obsession.

That man cannot LET GO. His thirst for vengeance against Lucerys and others who slighted him? If he falls in love, he doesn't know how to fall out of it the normal way. Even if his love vanes it doesn't disappear, it just means he will hate and obsess until the earth cracks open and swallows him.

[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.

[hellbrainrot]

The writers are crafting Daemon and Aemond's arcs as a Hero's Journey.

Daemon's Season 2 arc was essentially this, and next season once Aemond arrives at Harrenhal he will start his.

Interviewer: "When you're processing House of the Dragon, what are some other big mythologies that you're thinking of when you're making sense of this story?

Ryan responds by naming "The Hero of a Thousand Faces" by Joesph Campbell and Arthiuan Mythology as key influences.

— Ryan Condal on Season 2 of House of the Dragon | House of R

Geeta Patel also references the "Hero Journey" in regards to Daemon:

“When he gets to Harrenhal and all these crazy things start happening, he’s the first guy that’ll say, ‘This is weird. These are crazy.’ He’s that guy. He’s a realist. He’s a scientist. He doesn’t believe in all that stuff,” Patel shares. “In that moment where he’s with Rhaenyra, he is being chosen to be heroic. He’s always thought heroism is violence. I think in that moment, he needed to actually be heroic in a greater way. Ryan and Sara always wanted this to be a moment where he’s humbled by how small he is in the greater scheme of things, and he is called to action. That’s why he becomes a hero. That is the simple definition of a hero’s journey. It’s the first point.”

This type of narrative arc echoes a deeper pyschological theme often discussed in mythology-- the confornation with the "shadow" self

"A key stage in the hero’s journey is the confrontation with the shadow – the dark, repressed aspects of the psyche that we deny or project onto others. Jung believed that facing and integrating the shadow was essential for psychological growth and maturity"

"Carl Jung saw the hero’s journey as a metaphor for the process of individuation and integrating the conscious and unconscious selves"

Ewan has multiple quotes where he talks about his shadow side:

["In season 2, what's been exciting for me to explore is that shadow side, seeing that vulnerability behind the facade, you know, this hard exterior that he manufactured over the years. You know, have a little peek behind it, see if that kid is still the neglected bullied boy, and explore the nuance on the upcoming episodes," he said."] -- Ewan Mitchell

[“I made a very conscious decision to really just push for the villain in season one,” he says. “But now you’re going to see all that shadow side. What I love about Aemond is that he has an ambiguity. He could be looking at someone thinking about how he wants to cook them a meal and take them on a date or he could be looking at someone thinking he wants to make them the meal and take Vhagar [his dragon] on a date.”] -- Ewan Mitchell for Esquire

And lastly the reference to the Season 2 trailer where Larys says the quote  “The enemy without may be fought with swords, the enemy within is more insidious” (he says this directly to Aemond in Season 2 of Episode 6) followed by the scenes of Daemon in Harrenhal and Aemond lying in the brothel madam's lap, seem to emphasize the internal struggles both characters are facing.

The enemy within is often the shadow, the repressed and rejected parts of ourselves that we avoid.

Both Aemond and Daemon are grappling with their shadow sides, which drives them to be act recklessly and become dangerous forces within their respective factions.

The internal enemy is more insidious because it’s subtle and deeply personal. It operates on a level that , in order to overcome it , requires self awareness and introspective growth---a transformation. 

I'll break down each step of the Hero's Journey and explore how it aligns with Daemon's transformation (which I believe is still ongoing):

The Call to Adventure – Blood and Cheese Aftermath

Daemon sets Blood and Cheese in motion, but when it backfires, he flees to Harrenhal. His journey begins with an attempt to escape responsibility, but his stay at Harrenhal forces him to confront it.

First Vision--Young Rhaenyra sewing Jaehaerys’ head -- (Season 2 Episode 3, The Burning Mill)

Instead of facing his mistakes, Daemon isolates himself at Harrenhal, refusing to admit his guilt. The vision shows his subconscious blaming himself for abandoning Rhaenyra and making her clean up his mess.

Refusal of the Call – Daemon resists confronting his past and responsibilities.

He refuses to send a raven to Rhaenyra , too proud to admit his mistakes.

Second Vision – Rhaenyra’s Accusation & Decapitation --(Season 2 Episode 4, The Red Dragon and the Gold)

Rhaenyra Targaryen: It's been said that Targaryens are closer to gods than to men... In my eyes, you were a god, Daemon Targaryen. The Prince of the City, the Lord of Flee Bottom. I was an innocent. You exploited me and abandoned me. You sullied my name at court. You empowered my rivals. You tried to make my ruin. You put me on that throne. And you love me, and you hate me for it. You created me, Daemon. Yet you are now set on destroying me. All because your brother loved me more than he did you."

Rhaenyra in the vision tells Daemon that he “created” her but is now destroying her.

She accuses him of exploiting her and setting her up for ruin.He reacts by killing the vision of Rhaenyra, symbolizing his initial rejection of his guilt.

Instead of reflecting on his role in her suffering, he lashes out, further proving his unwillingness to accept responsibility.

Supernatural Aid – The visions and Alys Rivers guide Daemon through his internal struggles.

["The higher mythologies develop the role in the great figure of the guide, the teacher, the ferryman, the conductor of souls to the afterworld. " ]-- A Hero with a Thousand Faces Chapter I: Departure, Section 3 : Supernatural Aid

["Protective and dangerous, motherly and fatherly at the same time, this supernatural principle of guardianship and direction unites in itself all the ambiguities of the unconscious—thus signifying the support of otir conscious personality by that other, larger system, but also the inscrutability of the guide that we are following, to the peril of all our rational ends" ]-- A Hero with a Thousand Faces Chapter I: Departure, Section 3 : Supernatural Aid

The Supernatural Aid understands that the hero has to go through tough trials and tribulations and will push them to a spot where they are uncomfortable. Though the transformation process may be painful, these figures see comfort and discomfort as essential for growth.

Alys Rivers is a mysterious woman with foresight and is linked to Daemon’s visions. She is a seer with knowledge beyond ordinary understanding.

Third Vision – Aemond’s Manifestation Leads Him to Alys -- (Season 2 Episode 4, The Red Dragon and the Gold)

Daemon follows what appears to be Aemond but finds himself in Alys’ chambers.

Alys gives Daemon a potion, which results in his visions continuing even when he's awake-- blurring the lines between reality and the subconscious. This symbolizes a forced awakening by Alys, making it impossible for Daemon to continue ignoring his struggles.

Symbolism: Aemond serves as a mirror to Daemon (both are ambitious, second sons, and unpredictable warriors).

Crossing the First Threshold / Belly of the Whale– Daemon fully enters his subconscious and past traumas.

This stage of the Hero's Journey often personifies unconscious fears, repressed desires, or unresolved conflicts.

["With the personifications of his destiny to guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the "threshold guardian" at the entrance to the zone of magnified power. "]

These guardians are often symbolic of the hero’s fears, societal constraints, or unresolved issues that keep them from advancing on their journey or transformation.

Fourth Vision – Laena Confronting Him About Their Daughters-- (Season 2, Episode 4, The Red Dragon and the Gold)

Laena’s ghost asks, “Have you looked after our girls?”

Symbolism: Daemon has neglected his daughters, proving his inability to balance power and family.

His estrangement from his daughters can be seen as Daemon neglecting his familial duties, something that prevents him from fully embracing responsibility.

Road of Trials

So far each vision that Daemon receives is a part of his psyche

Guilt over Jaehaerys.

His role in shaping (and hurting) Rhaenyra.

His failure as a father.

His unresolved need for power and validation.

["ONCE having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he must survive a succession of trials"  --- Hero Journey The hero is covertly aided by the advice, amulets, and secret agents of the supernatural helper whom he met before his entrance into this region. Or it may be that he here discovers for the first time that there is a benign power everywhere supporting him in his superhuman passage."]-- A Hero with a Thousand Faces Chapter II: Initiation, Section 1 : Road of Trials

During this stage is where the supernatural helper (Alys) aids him on his trials.

["But I’ll cross you no further. I’m sure your tactics are, after all, approved by the queen"]-- Alys (Season 2 Episode 5 , Regent )

If Daemon's actions harm the innocent or are seen as overly brutal, it could tarnish Rhaenyra's cause once again and make it more difficult to gather the support he needs.

She is subtly guiding him toward a different tactic, where instead of raising an army through fear and violence, Daemon should focus on a more thoughtful and judicious strategy.

Meeting with the Goddess/ Woman as the Temptress – Daemon's Vision of his "mother" (Season 2 Episode 5 -- Regent)

["The remembered image is not only benign, however; for the "bad" mother too —(1) the absent, unattainable mother, against whom aggressive fantasies are directed, and from whom a counteraggression is feared; (2) the hampering, forbidding, punishing mother; (3) the mother who would hold to herself the growing child trying to push away; and finally (4) the desired but forbidden mother (Oedipus complex) whose presence is a lure to dangerous desire (castration complex)—persists in the hidden land of the adult"]-- Chapter II: Initiation, Section 2: Meeting with the Goddess

["And the testings of the hero, which were preliminary to his ultimate experience and deed, were symbolical of those crises of realization by means of which his consciousness came to be amplified and made capable of enduring the full possession of the mother-destroyer, his inevitable bride. With that he knows that he and the father are one: he is in the father's place."] -- Chapter II: Initiation, Section 3: Woman as the Temptress

["You were always the strong one. The finest swordsman. The fearless dragonrider," he imagines his mom telling him during this twisted encounter. "Your brother had great love in his heart, but he lacked your constitution. Viserys was unsuited for the crown, but you, Daemon, you were made to wear it. If only you’d be born first. My favorite son."]

Symbolism: A disturbing vision where Daemon seeks validation through power and intimacy, exposing his unresolved trauma and ambition. It tempts him with the idea that he was the rightful heir.

But after hearing "My favorite son" Daemon reacts with a look of horror and confusion. Although part of him desires the validation and recognition that the vision provides, another part of him recoils from it.

His reaction could signify that he’s aware, on some level, that the type of validation he’s seeking is unhealthy and unsustainable.

After this scene, in the same epiosde, Daemon says this to Alys:

Daemon Targaryen: "She cannot succeed, Alys. Even if I willed it to be so. The people who support her will not be led by her. They look to a man for strength. Who’s better suited to it? The Hightowers with their scheming? Or Viserys’s first true heir? When I take King’s Landing… Rhaenyra is welcome to join me there and take her place by my side. King and queen… ruling together" ]

Alys Rivers : "It’s a pity, don’t you think, that you never knew your mother?"

Alys knows that Daemon had a vision about his mother and saw how he reacted to it. Her response to his words is a subtle nudge for him to remember the vision and how he responded negatively she knows uggesting that Daemon’s ambition for power and control is tied to his emotional needs.

After her words, there is a brief pause in Daemon's actions, and the expression on his face shifts. Alys uses her understanding of his unconscious to subtly prompt him to reflect more deeply on his words.

Atonement of the father-- (Season 2 Episode 6 -- Smallfolk & Season 2 Episode 7-- The Red Sowing)

Sixth Vision-- Viserys on the throne

Daemon Targaryen: Brother?

Viserys Targaryen: Did you say it?, “The Heir for a Day, " Did you say it?

Daemon Targaryen: You can’t possibly still be angry about this.

Viserys Targaryen: My family was just destroyed.You should’ve been at my side.But instead you chose to celebrate your own rise.Laughing at me… laughing with the whores and lickspittles.And everything I’ve given you, you’ve thrown back in my face!I have decided…

Daemon Targaryen: Don’t.

Viserys Targaryen: …to name a new heir. You are to return to Runestone and your lady wife at once, and you are to do so without quarrel, by order of your king.

Daemon Targaryen: No!Open the door! Open the door. Please. Please. Please

We start to see the further cracks in Daemon's psyche that are pushing him to confront his issues with his brother.

This vision is where Daemon is getting all of his failures thrown back in his face directly from someone who he sees as his father figure; Viserys words expose Daemon's shadow - the darker aspect s he prefers to ignore and run from--his selfishness, the abandonment of his family, and his deep insecurity about being replaced as heir.

Daemon's desperation to return t his brother and explain himself offers a self-realization for Daemon.

Following this vision, we see Daemon go through an emotional breakdown.

Within the same episode,it leads to the this stage where he opens up a bit to Alys about his issues with Rhaenyra.

Daemon Targaryen: She never even wanted it. The crown. She spared it no thought.

Alys Rivers: Well, that's perhaps why your brother gave the crown to her. Perhaps those who strive for it are the least suited to wear it.

Daemon Targaryen: Don't lecture me!

Alys Rivers: Viserys never wanted it himself, if you recall. It came to him, and he did his best. It's not a prize to be won, but a burden to bear

"It is in this ordeal that the hero may derive hope and assurance from the helpful female figure, by whose magic (pollen charms or power of intercession) he is protected through all the frightening experiences of the father's ego-shattering initiation. For if it is impossible to trust the terrifying father-face, then one's faith must be centered elsewhere (Spider Woman, Blessed Mother); and with that reliance for support, one endures the crisis—only to find, in the end, that the father and mother reflect each other, and are in essence the same"-Chapter II: Initiation, Section 5: Atonement of the father

During the Atontment of the Father Stage of the Hero's Journey the hero often receives guidance from a female figure , who aids them through their ego shattering initaiton.

Alys plays this role for Daemon , helping him navigate his inner turmoil.

In this exchange, her words “Viserys never wanted it himself, if you recall” seem to echo his subconcious, touching on parts of him that are still in denial or that haven't been fully confronted.

Deep down Daemon knows that his brother never truly desired the crown.

Aftering their converstation it leads us to his:

Seventh Vision –Where Daemon Comforts Viserys Over Aemma’s Death

Symbolism: Daemon holds Viserys as he cries, a moment where Daemon acknowdgles that he should have been there for his brother.This is a pivotal moment for Daemon, both as a character and in terms of his relationship with Viserys.

He acknowleges his past failures and missed opportunites to be a supportive brother

Eighth Vision – Viserys Telling Him the Crown is a Burden - (Season 2 Episode 7-- The Red Sowing)

Daemon realizes that ruling isn’t the ultimate prize—the burden of the crown destroys those who wear it.

This is a turning point—Daemon no longer resents Viserys but understands the weight of his choices.

"And then that opens the door for Daemon sitting with old Viserys and Viserys literally offering him the Crown. The thing we all think that Daemon has always wanted, although I say its a little more nuanced than that, I think he just wanted Viserys to say "It could be yours" so he could say, "No, no, that's too much responsibility.--(HOTD: Official Podcast: S2 Ep. 8: Ryan Condal on the Season Two Finale )

"Really to us, the major scene is that challenge that Viserys gives him with the crown, "Do you want it still?" Because that's really where he has to make the choice" (HOTD: Official Podcast: S2 Ep. 8: Ryan Condal on the Season Two Finale )

Apotheosis (Enlightenment)/ The Ulimate Boon (The Reward)

"When the envelopment of consciousness has been annihilated, then he becomes free of all fear, beyond the reach of change." --- A Hero with a Thousand Faces Chapter II: Initiation, Section 5 : Apotheosis

The final vision of the prophecy is Daemon’s moment of enlightenment.

"The idea was that [Daemon seeing Aegon’s prophecy] was the reward for the journey he went through." (HOTD: Official Podcast: S2 Ep. 8: Ryan Condal on the Season Two Finale )

Ninth Vision – The Prophecy (His enlightenment and Ultimate Reward ) —(Season 2 Episode 8--The Queen Who Ever Was)

After all his trials, he's rewarded with seeing the vision of the prophecy that Viserys was obessed with.

He realizes that his destiny isn’t to rule, but to serve the greater cause of House Targaryen’s survival.

This moment aligns his purpose with something greater than himself.

 Symbolism: [“He can have a role in this , it’s very important .. even if it's not the top role and he can have a major role in the future of the Targaryen dynasty as Rhaenyra's  king consort and as her justice and as her hand and the leader of her massive dragon host to put her on that throne”] -- HOTD: Official Podcast: S2 Ep. 8: Ryan Condal on the Season Two Finale

["And he now sees something bigger out there , and he wants to be apart of it"]

Final Thoughts:

Daemon was forced to confront the emotional wounds he caused by coming to terms with his role as a father, brother, and husband. A promising aspect of Daemon's upcoming arc in Season 3 is that his journey in the Hero's Journey appears to be ongoing. It seems like we will see more of what he's learned from this experience next season. Ryan has hinted that that Rhaena will have an "impact" on Daemon. Given the direction in the book, it's almost certain that she will get Nettles's role, and they will explore the dynamic between the two.

Also, considering Aemond's character and the fact that he's heading to Harrenhal next season, it makes me think that we will see him undergo a similar process, though I don't think it will have the same story beats as Daemon's. (I will make a separate post about my predictions with the structure of the Hero’s Journey in mind)

[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.

[rickrifft]

[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

[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.

[lchufflepuffcorn]

Hi omg, I love your dragon!hybrid Targaryen stories. I was just wondering if you could do one for Aegon? Or like include him in one of the hcs and like explore the idea of them being like jealous?

How Dragon!Hybrid Targaryens deal with their jealousy.

Hey anon! I'm glad you like those stories; they're very dear to me, too! Thank you so much for your ask! I’m not super into Aegon as a whole character, but I find that there’s a way to integrate him into the story.

And your jealousy idea would be exciting, especially with Dragon!Hybrids. 

I used those who (I think) would be most prompt in being jealous in the first place and explained why the others don’t feel jealous, per se. (Everyone except Laenor and Laena.)

Warnings: 16+ for Aegon (obviously), description of gaslighting (Daemon), jealousy (somewhat mild but still).

Original Masterlist

Dragon!Hybrid Masterlist

Aegon: His jealousy comes from a deep insecurity and the feeling of not being enough. And I don’t think he deals with his jealousy very well. Either he enters fits of anger or cries about it, then fucks you mercilessly, because that’s basically all he knows to do. 

Brutal movements, hips hitting hips, deep warmth inside your body, his hand holding yours over your head, his lips leaving marks on your skin. Desperation in his movements, pleas for your love. 

“Please, please don’t leave me.” Between groans and moans and sighs, Aegon cannot keep his voice down. 

Anger and despair and loss. All the things he feels when he watches you interact with everyone else that’s not him. He lets his free hand run free from your neck to your hips, leaving bluish marks for remembrance of him in the morning. 

“You’re mine.” Snarled into your neck, as he tugs your hair, make your back arch so as to meet his frantic pace. Drunk mumbling about enemies taking you away and teary comments for his mother never to know about you. 

You’re his secret, his peace. 

Aemond: Aemond would kill a bitch. Not cut, kill. His jealousy comes from his lack of actual appreciation and possessions. He’s scared that somebody better could take you away from him. 

“Aemond, there is no need to draw your sword…” You tried to softly reason with him, hands grasping at his, trying to hold said sword in place. Aemond’s face is cold and closed off, his eye strained on the injuring party, who stands a good amount of space away from the both of you. 

“Pray tell, Qelos, why I shouldn’t?” He humours you, his tone freezing, back straight as an arrow. He never lowered his gaze from his now mortal enemy. The other party shivers, and you can’t help but look their way for a second. A mistake, and you feel Aemond take a step forward. 

“Enough, husband,” you hiss, looking to his face, eyes going from his own purple iris to his eyepatch. “You cannot fight all those who spent time with me. Lord Maxwayl only wished to offer his congratulations.” You tell him in a low tone, hands still grasping around his on the hilt of his sword. 

There’s no fear in your gaze, only anxiety. A diplomatic miscommunication of this size wouldn’t be a good thing for the Greens. And Aemond knows this. He lowered his gaze to meet yours, and finally, his shoulders relaxed, and he smirked. 

“Very well. Thank you, good lord, for your words; we are very happy.” He acknowledged the fearing lord with a predatory smile. Promises of violence are still present in his face, a warning for the next time he touches what is his.

Baela: Baela is well-educated and balanced. She’s not prompted to be jealous. Why would she? Her name and position are very advantageous. She’s had a very good education in many fields of study. Her Rider would be crazy to even consider another option. 

And she would come and get you anytime. 👀

Daemon: He’s not jealous; you’re jealous. Will not fight with you about it. What do you mean you think he did something to the squire that helped you two days ago? Oh, you mean the one who saw your ankles by accident? Nope. He definitely didn’t do anything to him. 

“I promise, Byka Azantys. I have done nothing to your help.” His smirk makes your blood boil. You know, know that somehow he’s done something, organised the disappearance of your favourite little squire. A promising little boy with stars in his eyes. 

“I don’t believe you.” You argue, crossing your arms over your chest, taking a step to put distance between the two of you. His smirk grows bigger, and your teeth clench with a white-hot anger. 

“I can’t make you change your mind, but my words are true. Now come, enough of this childish dispute; I’ve missed you terribly.” He takes a step closer to you, his hands taking their place on your hips, thumbs running against the material of your clothes, as if to soothe you. And you let him. 

A small purring noise escaped his throat as he tugged you closer to his chest. He dipped his neck to kiss yours. You knew it was to change your mind and you didn’t fight him. You didn’t really want to know what he did to that squire after all. 

Helaena: Helaena is not jealous. She’s just happy to have someone that listens to her, that makes her feel safe. In her mind, your relationship is not one to be jealous of; you’re her rock, her peace, and her shelter. 

Jacaerys: He’s jealous of the time you spend with others. He’s very protective of your time together and will blatantly refuse to accommodate others when they want to invade his peace. 

“Leave.” He grumbled from his position, face nuzzled in your chest, not even considering for a second that your naked bodies intermingled might be embarrassing for some parties in this discussion. 

“Your presence is requested at a council meeting.” Rhaenyra’s voice float’s through your chambers, and if you want to liquify and disappear in the bedding, Jace could not care any less. His wings flutter into existence, covering your body and his as he raises his head to glare at his mother. 

“We’ve just left a council meeting three hours ago.” He counters, curly hair unkempt and messy from your previous activities. You blink, and the smoke you thought was escaping his mouth is gone, but the smell of sulfur still lingers around you. His mother tries to reason with him, calling out his name, not unlike a plea. 

“Jace…”

But he shakes his head, resting it against your chest once more, eyes closing. “It’s late, and I made a promise to stay here tonight, Mother.” His tone is without appeal, and Rhaenyra glances at you before nodding. 

“Very well, but you must come to the council tomorrow.” She warns before closing the door behind her. Jace only grunts his response, kissing the skin that’s closest to his lips.

Rhaena: She’s not jealous; she’s disappointed. Her lack of capacity to shift makes her feel a little less than her sister and stepbrothers/uncles/cousins. But she is more one to talk about her feelings than make a scene, take her anger out on you, or gaslight you about it. 

The silence in her chambers is broken only by the crackling of the fire, which was alighted for your comfort. The both of you are currently occupied with books, a usual occupation for the nights you spent together. But Rhaena cannot find the concentration she needs to read even a single page of her book. 

“Do you love me?” She asks unprompted, breaking the silence like one would break a wall of ice, her heart suddenly thumping with worry that she just did something awful. You put your book down, gazing up, surprised, as you look in her direction. 

“Of course I do. Why do you ask?” Now it’s your turn to ask, leaning to catch her hand with yours. It’s colder than hers, and she worries about the temperature of the room for a moment before answering you. 

“It’s just… didn’t your family send other proposals for your hands?” 

That was your private letter. And Rhaena is not one to read private letters, but it was open, there, for her to see all of the little words written on the page. You sigh. 

“Of course, but that’s usual. I’ve already sent my answer. I will not give you up, my love.” You smile at her, running a thumb over her hand gently. She nods. 

“But you could’ve chosen anybody else.” It’s your turn to nod. 

“Yes, and I chose you.” 

Rhaenyra: Rhaenyra is not jealous. She’s possessive and territorial, but that comes with the dragon spirits. (I spoke about it here, and here). 

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