#but it won't change the fact that he was and still is aemond's first abuser

[silver-dragonborn]

"B-but Aegon would never treat his brother like that! He would never do something like this!"

No.

Aegon II has already done something like this and will continue to do something like this because he can. Now that he has a crown on his fat fucking head, he will resume his torment of Aemond because now that he's the most powerful man in Westeros, no one, not even Saint Alicent, can stop him from torturing his family and exposing their humiliations to outsiders like his frat house Kingsguard.

[thesilverlady]

Have they butchered Rhaenyra and Aegon that much? Idk i think i liked them both in the show, but reading people opinions it seems they changed them from the source material especially Aegon. Are they that different from their book characters?

obviously there's no problem if you or anyone else likes the show version. I know many people who do in fact, and while I don't feel the same everyone is valid.

As for the change, well, we don't know a lot of things about Aegon II pre-war to be honest. The things that are mentioned is that he's lazy, folds girls, most likely raped some as well, and protested for a sec against stealing Rhaneyra's throne.

Of course, if we analyze it, we gotta consider the people who report these events, how reliable they are etc. In my personal opinion, I don't think there's any narrator that is just right. I think the truth lies somewhere in the between.

Anyways, back to Aegon, in the show we see he's also lazy, wants nothing to do with the throne, he also rapes girls and he seems against the idea of ruling so you'd think "well, that's not so different" but once you read f&b and consider the context of the world building it's easy to see there's a difference.

first of all, show!Aegon seems to be very isolated. We have seen in asoiaf royals are rarely left alone. Even someone as Aegon, he'd hang out with the sons of the lords that are part of the king's council. They'd drink, go to brothels together, mess around etc. Also Alicent has 0 power over Aegon. Her being verbally and physically abusive is a weird choice (of course her character is also someone entirely different so we shouldn't be surprised), the only person who could be able to push him around is Otto - and even he has limitations.

it just seems hotd doesn't seem to understand the power and privilege people from that upper class are capable of having.

We also have some very few hints of the relationships he had with his family; with Alicent he mostly ignored her, with Aemond they were civil and there was nothing to show they weren't getting along in childhood, with his nephews he was obviously jealous because of the attention Viserys gave them,with Helaena he was neutral and their marriage wasn't the abusive type the fandom has agreed to think of it as.

so yeah, with Aegon the differences are mostly the way they haven't really established the dynamics he has with each family member.

Now when it comes to Rhaneyra... yeah the difference is much more huge. Young Rhaneyra isn't like the wannabe tomboy the show tried to push; she was cheerful, intelligent and incredible charming. her father doted on her and many lords liked her. (I won't get into her romantic relationships because this post will become longer but the portray of daemyra is very different as well).

While I wouldn't say she was as isolated as the show portrayed her, she definitely felt lonely. Alicent had given birth to Aegon, she was pushing her son to be betrothed to Rhaneyra, and she was very antagonistic towards her stepdaughter. So ofc that made Rhaneyra angry and feeling lonely since her father tried to keep neutral ground and please both of them.

Everything changed when Daemon came back from the stepstones and the rest was history.

As for older Rhaneyra (still pre-war), book!Rhaneyra remains a very emotional woman, she acts with her heart and prioritizes her feelings; she doesn't have the need to "prove" something because the throne is hers. She just wants to be happy with the man she loves, build an family and maybe knock down Alicent's smug face every now and then.

She's a "girly girl" and her power move is in her words and the way she dresses and makes statements.

All of these are lost in the show. Young Rhaneyra is just angry, she's constantly insecure about her place but does nothing to show she's capable. Older Rhaneyra loses the fire the younger one has, she's tamer, more silent and more scared. She's just not Rhaenyra at all. There's 0 of her temper, fierceness and her unforgiveness.

I've kinda given up hope that they'll ever turn it around anon. Because I don't see how they could fix it in such a way we'd forget the characterization the two had in s1.

Anyways, I'm sorry this reply became so long 😅 Truth be told I can talk about these characters for hours. I hope I managed to answer your question, and remember, it's perfectly fine if you prefer the show. No judgements from me. I just read the book long ago and am already attached the characters the way I got to know them, so it kinda impossible to just forget their canon selves