#bastards in westeros

[tell-them-the-north-remembers]

Cersei murdered several of Robert's bastards (some in their cradles) and sold one of the mothers into slavery but sure, Cat is evil for not wanting Jon to sit with them at a feast. What a horrible woman for... just trying to ignore the bastard her husband brought to their home and said would be raised here with their own children 14 years ago???

[alicent-archive]

"But the Rhaenyra and Alicent sept meeting is fantastical because Rhaenyra's smarter than that–" Rhaenyra Targaryen has never thought anything through in her entire life let's be serious.

[artypurrs]

Art by the amazing artist @deyonside of lord bloodraven brynden rivers thank you so much 🫂

[sunny12th]

love the idea of young griff announcing himself as rhaegar's kid, jon snow also raising his hand like "same here according to my time traveling brother and my dad/uncle's bestie", and aurane waters just jumping on the Claiming Targ Heritage train immediately. and dany "i am so desperate for family i dont even care at this point" collecting them all and forcing everyone to attend family game night on dragonstone

[legolasofmirkwoodforest]

All I want in Fire & Blood 2 is for more info on Sheira Seastar. Like she was a sexually promiscuous, unmarried, probable witch in Westeros, yet she seems to have largely been respected and even a little feared at Court. You're telling me a Maester *isn't* going to spend an entire chapter trying to figure out how the fuck that happened?

[kataraavatara]

one of the silliest arguments I’ve seen is “If Jace is allowed to inherit, then other bastards will want to inherit over their trueborn siblings!” What? Rhaenyra’s first three boys have the last name Velaryon, not Waters. Regardless of your personal beliefs on their parentage, officially and legally, they are trueborn because they have the last name Velaryon and have been acknowledged as such by all relevant powers, including Aegon the Second. He erased Rhaenyra’s queenship from the court records but didn’t have the Velaryon boys be posthumously declared bastards and be referred to as “Waters.” They’re trueborn sons with bastard accusations and rumors, not acknowledged bastards. They’re not the equivalent to someone like Jon Snow or Edric Storm. Like at all…

[chippedcupwrites]

The archer looked at him a long while before he said, "You're Joffrey's dog." "My own dog now." - A Storm of Swords

[alicentflorent]

People are unironically saying the Targaryen’s are pro bastard rights (citing Rhaenyra, Jace and Rhaenys as prime examples) Honeys, have you not heard of the dornish? House Martell?

[aeriondripflame]

begging for more interesting worldbuilding conversation fr. like i wanna know what the zodiac equivalent is. do people flex that they were born under the warrior or the maiden’s star? let me know about the essos-westeros spice trade. what about valyrian epics? were they influenced by earlier ghiscari literature? what about the art. where are all the art movements in westeros.

[helenofsparta2]

I will die on the hill that any adaptation of Aegon's, Rhaenys' and Visenya's conquest and reign, which does not imply, that both Aenys and Maegor could be bastards, is not an adaptation worth making

[dinastiatargaryen]

[milfsoup]

even if jon snow wasn't a bastard he would have no claim to the iron throne because the law of the targaryen monarchy was abolished.

the only thing he would be able to claim would be dragonstone and even then that's part of the new royal house (baratheon), whose placement gives credit to cersei's rule (as dowager queen and regent) more than it does anyone else

also, daenerys' claim is only being laid down by force. kind of like opening a new account with no connection to previous users. the only way in which jon snow could get to claim anything is through brute force, which he doesn't have and isn't interested in using

nevermind that this premise was probably created only by the writers trying to merge aegon's path in the books with jon. even if jon snow wasn't a bastard then, aegon would be the elder brother. who, again, has to claim the throne through either force or diplomacy (targaryen government and dynasty no longer in place). i don't think he'll be quick or strong enough to be able to stand in a position where he has to negotiate with daenerys to not get burned alive though.

[artypurrs]

Art made by wafflecaramel on etsy of bloodraven & seastar

[horizon-verizon]

I’m of the mind that Nettles was Daemon’s bastard daughter and he was afraid Rhaenyra might still want her dead for fear she might try to put herself forward as a claimant after losing her sons. And Daemon wanted to spare Nettles, but he knew doing so would cause an irrevocable breakdown in his marriage, because Rhaenyra was already spiraling at that point (that’s why he didn’t tell her that Nettles was his daughter, Rhaenyra was consumed by paranoia and lost faith in Daemon, she wouldn’t believe him). So he sent Nettles away, then went on a suicide mission to bring down Aemond and Vhagar (of course Daemon killed himself, he can’t choose between his wife and his daughter, there is no option left besides death), hoping he could at least let his last act be taking out Rhaenyra’s strongest rival and (to his mind) secure the throne for her once and for all. Because he still loved her, he just knew she was broken beyond repair at that point and they weren’t going to live happily ever after and rule together.

There was no way Nettles would ever expect to or get enough people to support her for any attempt to seize the throne for herself. And as a bastard of an officially unknown parent, she has no claim to the Throne, esp not before the then living long line of legitimate children Aegon III, Viserys II, Rhaena, Jaehaera, and Baela.

Plus, Daemon seemingly got to know her very well enough AND Nettles is not a Daemon Blackfyre figure, eager to rebel for power and to prove her legacy.

I say "seize" and not "claim", bc again she has no claim nor a relevant/strong argument for one.

Sure to the rest.

[gudvina]

not to be the one but if you understand the risks of people accusing your children of being bastards (rightfully so), you should also understand the risks of having bastards in the first place.........

[sincerelyourswhistledown]

Hurting myself with this but oh well.

The Dance of the Dragons ending with most of the Targaryens dead. Aemond is King and he marries Lucerys to keep House Targaryen going. However, by this point Aemond already has a bastard child with Alys. Lucerys gives him children but none of them could rival their older half sibling that their father dotes on so much. Nevermind that the child was a bastard, Aemond treats them like how Viserys treats Rhaenyra. Lucerys and Aemond’s children grow up neglected by their own father, with only Lucerys loving and protecting them.

Since the Greens do win in this, most of the Lords support Aemond’s favouritism since they don’t like Lucerys. Although they can’t do anything about the marriage, they can influence Aemond’s bastard into going against Lucerys and his brood.

Aemond’s bastard grows up hating Lucerys and his children, believing he should be the heir and not some weaklings born from a Black. His hatred grows even more when all of his half-siblings’ dragon eggs hatched and his doesn’t.

Don’t get me wrong, Aemond does love Lucerys and their children in his own emotionally constipated way but his grudge over his entire family dying in the war stops him from seeing the divide he’s created by choosing to recognise and favour his bastard child. (Viserys-coded)

Aemond only realises the mess he’s created once he’s sitting on the ground watching a wailing Lucerys cradling their dead children to his chest.

The bastard child is killed and Lords are burnt but it’s too late. Lucerys is inconsolable and House Targaryen is once again left in tatters by the same man who vowed to never be like his father.