#but ive hot nothing more to addafterfighting for my life to post it

[ride-thedragon]

A critical analysis of Rhaenyra's motherhood.

Now I'm really happy that the show gave a critical lens to this with episode 7, but it's been established since S1. It was just that her fans and people who don't like Alicent made it extremely hard to give this criticism other and compared her to Alicent even though they aren't in the same circumstances. This is going to be a critical look at Rhaenyra’s motherhood, so if that will make you upset, move on.

Her relationship to mothers.

Rhaenyra doesn't have a real mother figure throughout her life. We see that she feels the need to take care of her mother at 14, probably because she saw Aemma go through it before. When her father kills her she's scared by it and it changes her.

We then see her lean into Alicent, but by the time she's trying to gain a sense of normalcy, her friend is going to marry her father. I know a lot of people hold out hope for that deleted scene, but I like the way they keep it in the show. Rhaenyra doesn't empathise with Alicent because of what happened with Aemma. She becomes a mother, and without much thought, Rhaenyra sees her as the king's wife and baby maker.

With Rhaenys (we will return to it) she doesn't seem to see her in that light. Rhaenys is a caution for who she isn't and wouldn't be. She's too young to realise the freedom Rhaenys has from her position.

There are no other prominent mother figures around her either, and Rhaenyra continues to see motherhood as a trap or slow death in a sense, a way to lock a woman up and bring her down.

How she becomes a mother

Rhaenyra does like sex. She's grown, and even though Daemon will burn in hell for risking her life like that for his own gain with her first sexual experience, Rhaenyra clearly likes sex, she likes the enjoyment and connection, the desire and want.

But she is a woman in feudalism, so she is looked down on because of it. When she has to get married after not finding that in any partner she was presented with, she specifically made the arrangement with Laenor that their sex was out of duty and obligations to make heirs while they could both seek out pleasure.

Rhaenyra and Laenor do not have a healthy or good relationship. Joffrey is murdered by Criston without punishment, and Laenor does his duty, but Rhaenyra finds no joy in it. People like to act as though Rhaenyra would've had to sa Laenor to have his kids but that's not what she says.

Rhaenyra is young and likes sex. She wants to have sex and feel desired. Laenor is gay and traumatised but still doing his duty like they discussed. Rhaenyra seeks out Harwin because she wants to enjoy sex and because sex with him is more enjoyable and what she wanted she gets pregnant.

By this point, she has the risk of the child being Harwin's, but why would she care? The child could be Laenor’s, and if not, he should provenly still look Valyrian.

The child does not look Valyrian, but she is now the mother of that child. She can't say he's a bastard because that's treason, so she passes it off as Laenor’s. This trend will continue and worsen with time.

All of her kids.

Jace.

This ine shocked people recently but I wasn't shocked. Rhaenyra has harmed Jace arguably the moat in all of this. He's her heir while she's fighting this war. Anything they do and any harm she puts herself in that could cost her her life, the Lord of the Realm will be asked to bow to a bastard. He's fully aware of this.

Jace is in constant question of himself, and Rhaenyra can never answer him. The first time he asks if he's a bastard she kisses him and doesn't answer, when he says he should be grieving Ser Harwin, she tells him it wouldn't be appropriate after her non answer and sends him to comfort Baela. She marries Daemon and has true boen Valyrian children by him, risking his life because his biggest protection outside of Rhaenyra was 'kilked' in a way that facilitated that union.

She tries and fails to betrothe him to Helaena, and after she engages him to Baela when she should be looking to allies to support her claim because she can't risk him marrying a non Valyrian.

Now, she keeps putting herself at risk in order to satiate her desires for peace and reunion while he is terrified not just to lose his power but to lose his position. Then she coddles him so he can't prove himself because Luke died. She dismisses and avoids his concerns six years later, just as she did when he was 10, something we see him do to Luke.

Now she again chooses herself before him when it comes to the Dragonseeds, calling into question his biggest legitimacy outside of her. Her right is her priority, and she chooses it over the potential harm it will cause to him. I also don't think she would've done it without that scene with Viserys in episode 8.

Luke.

Rhaenyra is really reckless with this one. She doesn't stop with Harwin. She doubles down because she believes it grants Jace viability if he and all his brothers look alike.

So when the heir to house Velayron doesn't look Velayron, people are rightfully upset. But again, thanks to Rhaenyra and Laenor protecting them, Luke doesn't realise he is a bastard until he's fully confronted with it. Then Rhaneyra, on two separate occasions, chooses to add fuel to the fire. With the boys and Aemond, Luke goes unpunished and protected because of Rhaenyra and her appeal to Viserys. This is something that festers in Aemond.

With the Velayrons who all suspect foul play with Rhaenyra and Laenor, when she kills Vaemond without answering him, she gives room for Luke to question why she didn't have an answer and in his mind, he should've just given the seat up. But he is Rhaenyra's son and she has fixed the situation by wedding him to Rhaena so he doesn't have to worry. She will always be there.

She isn't, though. He's sent away on a mission where he confronts the two things she willingly chose to ignore, Aemond and his bastardy. This leads to Luke's death.

Joffrey.

My baby boy hasn't done anything wrong and is fine, but the show willingly chooses to ignore any mention of his engagement to the Manderlys isn't a great sign that she won't choose to simply marry him off as well to fix the bastard problem.

Aegon and Viserys (and legally Visenya)

These kids genuinely harm Jace specifically. If they decide to be the heirs, more men would stand behind them because they are true born. That's a decision Rhaenyra made because, again, she thinks these boys will be raised outside of that conflict because of her. She is at the center of it.

Again, it's the question of sex and how much she truly thinks she can protect her kids from each other. Especially since Jace treats them like a segregated line, he won't cross.

Baela and Rhaena.

Show Rhaenyra isn't a mother to these girls. She's adultified one while parentifying the other and never offers comfort outside of her own gain. She is not a mother. She hasn't put herself in that position. You can argue she doesn't have too but she should have. Now, she is using them to her benefit in place of herself and what she can't do. Baela is the dragonrider, and Rhaena is the mother despite her protest. These girls aren't daughters to her. She doesn't give them the benefit of loving them enough to hear them.

It's not her responsibility, but she dies understand the position she is in and uses it when it benefits her.

With a focus on Rhaena for a moment as well, they let her claim seasmoke when they thought Laenor was alive in Essos. She risked her life trying to claim a dragon they understood would kill her. I really do hope that they didn't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

Is she a good mother?

No. She isn't a good mom. It's not a bad thing. She loves her kids because they are hers. She protects them because they are hers. We see a clear contrast with Laena's girls and how she sympathises with them. She, however, doesn't offer them comfort. She sends Jace to do it. Rhaenyra’s kids are an extension of her. She loves them dearly and will not see them questioning who they are. Because she did and hated it. Her kids are legitimate through her. They hatched her dragons egg, and she loves them. It is enough for her, but she has doomed them from the start. They will never be safe, and they are sure to have a sucession crisis amongst themselves. Being loving is important, but she doesn't recognise the responsibility she has to them. Even in episode 7 of seaon 2, we see the same pattern. Ultimately, she comes first. To their detriment, but she loves them. Welcome back, Viserys Targaryen.

Conclusion

I don't think there is a good mom I house of the dragon. And Rhaenyra isn't the place to start to disprove that. Alicent isn't a good mom, Rhaenys isn't a good mom and Laena, even though she is the closest we come to it, isn't a good mom, I'd say she's the best out of the bunch though. Laena is certainly the most normal mom, though. Laena is the best mom. Thank you for coming.