#elaena targaryen (before aegon i)

[horizon-verizon]

The Targaryens were of pure Valyrian blood, dragonlords of ancient lineage. Twelve years before the Doom of Valyria (114 BC), Aenar Targaryen sold his holdings in the Freehold and the Lands of the Long Summer, and moved with all his wives, wealth, slaves, dragons, siblings, kin, and children to Dragonstone, a bleak island citadel beneath a smoking mountain in the narrow sea. At its apex Valyria was the greatest city in the known world, the center of civilization. Within its shining walls, twoscore rival houses vied for power and glory in court and council, rising and falling in an endless, subtle, oft savage struggle for dominance. The Targaryens were far from the most powerful of the dragonlords, and their rivals saw their flight to Dragonstone as an act of surrender, as cowardice. But Lord Aenar’s maiden daughter Daenys, known forever afterward as Daenys the Dreamer, had foreseen the destruction of Valyria by fire. And when the Doom came twelve years later, the Targaryens were the only dragonlords to survive. Dragonstone had been the westernmost outpost of Valyrian power for two centuries. Its location athwart the Gullet gave its lords a stranglehold on Blackwater Bay and enabled both the Targaryens and their close allies, the Velaryons of Driftmark (a lesser house of Valyrian descent) to fill their coffers off the passing trade. Velaryon ships, along with those of another allied Valyrian house, the Celtigars of Claw Isle, dominated the middle reaches of the narrow sea, whilst the Targaryens ruled the skies with their dragons. Yet even so, for the best part of a hundred years after the Doom of Valyria (the rightly named Century of Blood), House Targaryen looked east, not west, and took little interest in the affairs of Westeros. Gaemon Targaryen, brother and husband to Daenys the Dreamer, followed Aenar the Exile as Lord of Dragonstone, and became known as Gaemon the Glorious. Gaemon’s son Aegon and his daughter Elaena ruled together after his death. After them the lordship passed to their son Maegon, his brother Aerys, and Aerys’s sons, Aelyx, Baelon, and Daemion. The last of the three brothers was Daemion, whose son Aerion then succeeded to Dragonstone.

Fire and Blood, by George R.R. Martin pg 4-5

[the20thangel]

A Calling to the Past

Summary: Request! Targaryen!reader. The reader has a similar vibe to when Rhaenyra comes back bloodied from the hunt and Harwin Strong gives her the love eyes. However, in this case, it's the reader and Benjicot. Benjicot Blackwood has it down hard for a woman covered in blood.

Word Count: 1.8K

(this is an x reader fanfic but just with a name)

Note: This is the last of my current requests that I have taken. Requests are closed, as I will focus on my series now. Thank you all for your patience, and I hope you enjoy it.

Kingslanding was filled with noble houses from all across the realm. All were coming to celebrate the coronation of their new Queen, Rhaenyra. King Viserys, knowing that his health was not improving, decided to step down from the throne and pass it off to his heir. Of course, since it was still King Viserys, he planned a five-day celebration for the coronation, creating a massive spectacle everyone wanted to participate in—tourneys, hunting games, feasts, masquerade balls, and lastly, ending with the glorious coronation day. They were currently on the second day of the celebration, and Princess Elaena was exhausted. 

She did not do well with so many people being in Kingslanding. She preferred the comforts of the calmness in Dragonstone. But of course, being the twin sister of now heir Prince Jacaerys and Crown princess herself, it was her duty to entertain the many lords and ladies who walked the Red Keep. Princess Elaena was ever bit the beautiful Targaryen princess people expected. Her lovely white hair, which usually flowed freely, was tied to a braided bun today. She had deep violet eyes and beautiful dimples that accented her pearly smile. Everyone wanted to make the princess laugh or grin just to glimpse of her dimples. 

As the Princess arrived in Kingswood, she glanced at the many houses preparing for the day's hunt; she saw Lannisters, Tullys, Celtigars, Baratheons, and even Starks. All were here for her mother, which brought a smile to her face because until recently. Eleana worried that a war was brewing inside her family, one of Blacks and Greens, but the gods—she did not know which ones—decided to smile upon them, and thankfully, her mother's succession to the Iron Throne was smooth.  

Walking into her mother’s tent, Rhaenyra saw her daughter's clothes; instead of gowns like most of the ladies, her daughter was wearing her usual dragon-riding clothes. She smiled, knowing what her daughter’s plan was. 

“I see that you will be partaking in the hunt with your brothers,” Rhaenyra inquires, meeting her daughter and pressing a sweet kiss on her forehead. Their bond was strong, and Eleana cherished these moments with her mother. 

Eleana smiled no matter how old she was. She would always enjoy her mother’s affection. 

“Why, of course, I fear I would grow bored if I had to wait here with the rest of the ladies and gossip over tea. No, I’ll let Uncle Aegon do that,” smirked Eleana as she and her mother shared a quiet giggle between them. Aegon did love to gossip. 

Rhaenyra shook her head as she expressed good luck to her daughter, telling her to show those lords how to hunt. Eleana smirked and bowed to her mother, going to find her brothers eagerly awaiting her to start riding off toward the woods. Prince Jacaerys and Lucerys smiled at their sister. They would hunt with their step-father Daemon, Baela, and Uncle Aemond. Daemon nodded to his stepdaughter before signaling to the other lords that the hunt was commencing and riding off into the woods, with the princes and princesses following soon after. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Benjicot tried to stifle a yawn; he had forgotten how long and boring some of these hunts could be here, away from Raventree Hall. His father fondly shook his head at him, understanding his boredom, but Benji needed to get better at concealing his emotions. 

At the front, Jace and Eleana also stifled their yawns. They had been riding for two hours with only a few hares and deer being caught. All of the lords had yet to have any luck with elks or boars. Eleana briefly turned her back to the lords behind her, hearing how they boasted their hunting skills with puffed chests. Rolling her eyes, she faced forward again. Men and their egos, she thought. 

Suddenly, Daemon raised his hand, halting the party; as he looked around, he heard rustling in the trees. In the distance was an elk grazing in the grass, perfect for hunting. Eleana grinned as she reached for her bow; she took an arrow, nocked it, and pulled her arm back, aiming towards the great beast. She glanced at Daemon, who grinned, nodding his head, giving her permission to strike. Looking back at the elk, she exhaled slowly, releasing her tension, when a young knight from house Lannister shouted. 

“Look there, it's an elk!” causing the animal to stiffen, seeing the party and running away.  

Eleana growled as she released her arrow, seeing it miss the beast and hitting the tree behind it. With a dark glare, she turned to the young man.

“Yes, good ser, thank you for shouting the obvious. The next time you decide to shout like that, I will gladly hang you upside down as bait for a boar.” threatened the princess as she rode off toward the Elk. 

Daemon and the princes began laughing at Lannister’s pale face, which caused the rest of the lords to join in the teasing. 

“Well, then, perhaps we should divide into smaller groups. I will take a few of you men, and the princes will take another and meet up with my stepdaughter,” proposed Prince Daemon. 

 As the lords separated, Lord Samwell pushed Benjicot to follow the princes and princesses, expressing how he might have more fun with those closer to his age. Benji nodded as he moved to the other group, following the young dragons. 

Jacaerys nodded to the heirs of house Blackwood and house Tully as they rode to meet with Princess Eleana. Finding her off her horse, letting the animal refresh itself from the small creek. The rest of the group followed, allowing their horses to drink water. 

“Eleana, if you were going to threaten a Lannister, you should have just brought him to your dragon.” taunted Aemond, laughing at his niece’s sneer. 

“Hm, well, maybe he should have kept his stupid mouth shut; we lost a perfect elk because of his idiotic screeching.” countered the princess, rolling her eyes at her uncle’s taunting. 

Benji pretended to cough to cover up his laugh from the princess, and the prince’s bantered. Unfortunately, it backfired when the princess stared at him with an eyebrow raised in confusion. He gulped as the dragon princes and princesses looked at the young heir. Their eyes were daunting with different shades of purple. Luke, being the ever-sweet prince, decided to take pity on him and explained their stepfather’s plan to his sister. Eleana nodded, asking for the names of the new people in their group. 

“Oscar and Kermit Tully, and I’m Benjicot Blackwood, but you may call me Ben or Benji.” Benji shyly introduced himself as the Tully brother bowed to the royals. 

Eleana smiled subtly, “Well, my lords, as long as you don’t make the same mistake as the Lannister, you are very welcome to our group.” 

The young Lads grinned at the princess as they continued their way through the woods, conversing with each other quietly so as not to make any loud noises to frighten the animals they were hunting for. As they rode for another hour, they took a quick break to ease their legs from riding so much. As they stretched their aching bodies, they suddenly froze when they heard rustling from the trees. As they all hurried to reach their weapons, Luke yelled a warning to Benji, who turned quickly to see a different Elk, a buck, running towards him and loudly screaming. As he reached for his dagger, a blur of white passed him. Eleana quickly released an arrow on the buck’s neck, changing its course. The Elk grunted as it turned to the young people, who all braced themselves for it to attack. As the Elk screeched again, running to Eleana and Benjicot, Aemond, and Jace ran towards it, only for it to swing its antlers, smacking both princes to the ground. Benji braced himself, taking out his sword, as Eleana nocked another arrow, letting it soar to the Elk’s leg as it buckled from the pain. Benji placed himself before the princess and stabbed the Elk, trying to stop it from falling on them. The Elk wailed as it fell only inches away from the princess and lord. 

Huffing, Eleana smiled at Benji. “Well done, Ben. You managed to kill the Elk.” She praised him, chuckling as the heir of Raventree Hall blushed. 

“Only because you injured it first, princess, but what caused the Elk to react that way…” pondered Ben when he was roughly pushed away. 

A Boar ran from the trees and bulldozed his way to the group. Eleana, seeing the boar, pushed Benji out of the way as the boar tripped her and tried to attack her with his tusks. Ameond quickly ran and stabbed the boar, causing blood to drip onto the princess. As the prince took out his sword, he kicked the boar away from his niece, and Lucerys and Baela stabbed it, ensuring the beast was dead. 

Jace pulled his sister up from the ground, checking for injuries as the Tully brothers did the same for Benjicot. Benjicot waved off his friends as he went to the princess to ensure she was alright. Besides being bloodied with boar’s blood, the princess had no injuries as she and Ben both expressed their concerns to each other. Blushing at speaking simultaneously, Benji lowered his eyes and expressed gratitude to the princess. 

Eleana, cheeks red, smiled bashfully at the lord as she comforted him, “I’m fine, thank you. I apologize for pushing you. I just saw the beast coming so fast towards you, and I didn't have time to fully think about my actions.” 

Benjicot waved off her apology, “If it weren't for you, my princess, I would have been seriously injured. Thank you.” Grinning, as the princess’s blush worsened. 

As the rest of the group gave knowing glances, they started to pack their supplies and return to the camp, noting how a certain raven lord and princess stayed towards the back, quietly conversing with each other. Many gaped at the group once they reached the camp, impressed that they brought back an elk and boar. The royal family thanked the lads, inviting them to their table during the feast as they returned to their tents. 

As Benjicot returned to his men, he glanced back at the bloodied princess. As he smiled widely, he thought about how gorgeous she looked. Elaena, seeing the heir to Raventree Hall grinning at her with a soft nod, returned a dimpled grin. She liked having his attention to her. Unbeknownst to them, Rhaenyra was staring at the scene before her, feeling like she was watching a flashback. One of a similar bloodied princess and a dark-haired man nodding his approval. She wistfully smiled, remembering her sworn shield. She carefully made a note of the House Blackwood banner. She and Lord Samwell might need to have an interesting conversation soon after her coronation.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

hello, I've sort of migrated here from Twitter. If you have the time I was wondering if the things I got from twitter/tiktok are correct.

In the books valyrian's are the only people in world who can bond with dragons?

In the books Targs are immune to heat/fire and sickness because their blood is magic?

Hightower's tower was made with dragon fire despite it predating Valyria?

There are other buildings around the world in asoiaf which also used dragon fire but also predate Valyria and their dragons?

Someone told me on tiktok that the OG asoiaf dragons went extinct and Valyrian magicians bred other magic creatures together until they got their version of dragons?

thank you for any help 🙏. I want to get around to reading the books but it's kinda daunting because there's so many of them and they're long and I'm a slow reader 😭

Hey, welcome to Tumblr! (Hope you survive the experience.) Sure, I can answer your questions (certainly better than tiktok and twitter lol sigh), but I do definitely recommend reading the books! Some people find it easier to go with audiobooks (I personally don't, since auditory processing isssues make me tune out in five seconds, same with podcasts, sigh), and that might be a big help for you? But anyway, answers below...

1. Yes... um... it's a question. It's stated that Valyrians are the only ones that can bond with dragons, and furthermore, only ones from the dragonriding families of Valyria. (This is part of the "Doctrine of Exceptionalism", which I'll describe later.) The "dragonseeds" who rode dragons during the Dance were supposedly bastards or descendants of bastards of Targaryens (I'll get to the details in a moment), and we have the example in the current books of Brown Ben Plumm, who Dany's dragons adore, and he is an extremely distant (by like 120 years) descendant of Elaena Targaryen and Aegon IV Targaryen.

However, the dragonseed and dragonrider Addam of Hull, per the histories a bastard of Laenor Velaryon (son of Rhaenys Targaryen), was almost certainly actually the bastard of Corlys Velaryon, and the Velaryons were not a dragonriding family. Though it's possible that one of the pre-Conquest Targaryen ladies married into House Velaryon, so it's not that exceptional. The greater problem is the dragonseed Nettles, of no known background, called out by the narrative as looking distinctly un-Valyrian (she's brown, and note the Velaryons are white in the books), who tamed her dragon by feeding it sheep until it started to like her. Many theorize that while Valyrian blood makes it easy to bond with dragons (due to likely blood magic/genetic bonding with dragons in ancient times, as they claim to be descended from dragons), it is still possible to create that bond the hard way, as the early Valyrians were once a mere tribe of shepherds who discovered dragons nesting in a local chain of volcanoes. The full answer is one of the greater mysteries of ASOIAF, and will hopefully be resolved in later books. (Along with whoever the riders of Dany's other two dragons will be.)

2. Per GRRM, Targaryens are not immune to fire, but they do have some heat resistance, and enjoy things like hot baths and hot weather. The only one actually immune to fire was Dany, and specifically only during the miracle of her dragons' birth. (During her taming of Drogon right before she rode him the first time, she received burns on her hands.) Many Targaryens have died or been injured by fire, including Viserys Targaryen (Dany's brother and his "golden crown"), Aerion Targaryen (he drank wildfire because he thought it would turn him into a dragon. It didn't), Rhaenys Targaryen the Queen Who Never Was, Daeron "the Daring" Targaryen, Aegon II Targaryen, and Rhaenyra Targaryen.

As for illness, the "Doctrine of Exceptionalism" was a religious precept that King Jaehaerys I worked out with the Faith of the Seven, to give the Targaryens an exception on the Faith's anti-incest stance. It stated that Targaryens were different, exceptional, special people, closer to gods than men, because of their unique silver-gold hair and purple eyes, because they alone rode dragons, and because they never got sick. "There was fire in the blood of the dragon, it was reasoned, a purifying fire that burned out all such plagues." However, only a few years after Jaehaerys made this agreement (and married his sister Alysanne), their 7-year-old daughter Daenerys died of the Shivers, a severe-flu-like epidemic. (This put great doubt in their heart, but did anyone do anything about it? lol no.) Their daughter Maegelle later died of greyscale, and their son Baelon died of appendicitis. Later Targaryens have died of other epidemics, of the pox, of tuberculosis, and other diseases.

However -- some Targaryens have shown surprising resistance to illness. Aegon III sat with many victims of the Winter Fever epidemic, and never showed any symptoms. Dany herself cannot recall ever getting sick. (She is not immune to being poisoned, though.) There may be something specifically connected to being a dragonrider (though Baelon was one), or more specifically being a potential Prince That Was Promised? Again, this is connected to the greater mysteries of ASOIAF, to be resolved later.

3 & 4. The base of the Hightower -- not the tower itself, but its first level -- is an ancient fortress made of fused black stone, which is similar to Valyrian construction made by melting stone with dragonfire (such as the castle of Dragonstone, the walls of Volantis, and the Valyrian roads). However, it predates the Valyrian empire by millennia, and is plain without decoration, unlike how the Valyrians would twist the melted stone into artistic forms. There are also other ancient structures in the world, the Five Forts on the eastern border of Yi Ti, that are also made of this fused black stone in this plain style. Some maesters also think the Hightower fortress's labyrinthine design is similar to the Mazes of Lorath, also ancient structures, made by a vanished giant not-quite-human species (called the Mazemakers) in pre-history. GRRM has said "there were dragons everywhere, once" (there are indeed records of dragons in Westeros before Valyria, and dragon bones found in far distant places in the world) and the truly ancient Asshai'i histories claim to have taught the Valyrians the secrets of dragons, so there's a theory that there was a dragonriding culture long before the Valyrians who left behind these fused black stone structures. (More on this in the next answer, and you can see an older theory post of mine on the subject here. Also note I am certain this culture was not the Great Empire of the Dawn, they're unrelated.) One more great mystery!

5. Yeeahh... this may be true. Or it might not be. Septon Barth (Jaehaerys's Hand of the King, and a great researcher into the origins of dragons, with theories that made maesters call him crazy and the Faith burn his books) apparently theorized in his Unnatural History that the Valyrian dragons may have been created via bloodmagic, possibly by breeding wyverns (flying reptiles that do not breathe fire), possibly with firewyrms (wingless/legless earth-boring creatures that do breathe fire). There's also (as I said above) Valyrian legends that claim they found dragons nesting in the Fourteen Flames, but ancient texts from Asshai claim that dragons first came from the Shadow (the mountains around Asshai), and an ancient nameless people brought them to Valyria and taught the Valyrians the magic needed to control them. And there's a myth from Qarth that there used to be another moon that cracked open like an egg and millions of dragons came out. We do not yet know the true answer.

GRRM recently said "Septon Barth got most of it right", but what is "most"? Was there an incredibly ancient vanished species of dragons that the original Valyrians re-created? Did these Valyrians somehow breed these new dragons with themselves to make them easier to control? What we do know is that occasionally Targaryens have had monstrous dragon-like stillbirths. We do know that very rarely a dragon egg has hatched a "broken thing" that dies quickly, or a monstrous wingless wyrm that attacks its cradlemate, with no known reason why. We know that in the ruins of Valyria since its Doom, there are apparently mutated creatures that can lay eggs containing "worms with faces" and "snakes with hands" in human flesh, a horrific experience witnessed by Septon Barth that sent him on his path. It's a great great mystery, and there will apparently be an answer one day.

BTW, many of these huge mysteries were introduced in The World of Ice & Fire, if you want to read just one book. However, TWOIAF is not a story like the actual books, it's a history/geography book, and if you want more than lore, if you want addictively enjoyable characters and amazing dialogue and a truly excellent story, again I highly recommend reading the main books. The lore and the mysteries are very interesting, sure, but they're not what's really kept me in this fandom for 13 years now, you know?

[prettymuchteddy]

A Question

Summary: A question brings up old feelings and pain

Pairing: Aegon the 3rd Targaryen x Jaehaera Targaryen

Warning: Mild angst, small spoilers for Fire and Blood/HOTD

Words: 743

A/N: I wrote this one exactly one night apart from my previous Aegon x Jaehera fic and again at 1 AM

The drawing room was quiet. In the corner, a small child sat on the floor kicking her feet in the air while reading through her book. Elaena suddenly looked up at her with her shy lilac eyes. “Did you ever have a dragon mama?”

Jaehaera paused. Her hand froze right above the quill she had gone to reach. A beat of silence passed.

“Father had a dragon, did you?” Her daughter asked with the innocence of the five-year-old child she was.

“I did,” Jaehaera answered.

Elaena smiled, her arms tightening around the egg she held. “What was it like, having a dragon?”

Jaehaera gave a sad smile. “It was a feeling like no other. The bond one experiences with a dragon is a powerful thing.”

“Did you ride your dragon?” Elaena inquired.

Jaehaera dropped her hand to her side. “No, I never got to.”

Elaena tilted her head in confusion. “Why not?”

“I was too young at the time.”

Elaena glanced down at her egg and then back to her. “What was your dragon’s name mama?”

Jaehaera could still remember the dark scales and small horns of her dragon when she last went to the Dragonpit, before it was destroyed. “Morghul. His name was Morghul.”

Elaena had yet to notice the sad tone in her voice and pet her egg. Jaehaera cleared her throat, pushing down whatever emotions threatened to come out.

“Why do you ask, my love?”

Elaena frowned. “Papa doesn’t like talking about his dragon.”

“Your father loved his dragon, it is just a bit painful for him to talk about the subject,” she assured.

Elaena hugged her egg tighter. “Do you think he’ll be mad if my egg hatches?”

“No, my love, of course not.”

Jaehaera reached out and pushed away a strand of golden hair. Her daughter smiled.

Her husband was in his office reading documents when Jaehaera walked in. He lifted his nose out of the papers when she sat across from his desk.

“I looked at the lords’ petitions and wrote an answer to the Lady of Storm’s End. Then I was interrupted by Elaena.”

Aegon gave a rare smile. “What was our youngest up to now?”

Jaehaera shifted her gaze away from him. “She asked me about when I was younger and when I had… a dragon.”

She could almost hear his fingers tighten around the paper. She could hear the moment his hands set down the documents. Despite what many thought, her husband didn’t fear dragons, it was something deeper than that.

“Elaena only asked because she was curious about what it was like to bond with one, to fly with one, those things.” Jaehaera intertwined her fingers. “She wants one.”

“I’m aware,” Aegon responded without any particular emotion.

Jaehaera sighed. “Forgive me, I probably didn’t help the matter. I told her that having a dragon was unlike anything else in this world.”

“I’ve known that Elaena has wanted a dragon for a while now…but is she the only one?”

Jaehaera looked up at her husband. “What do you mean?”

Aegon’s features were serious, but his eyes were gentle. “Jaehaera, I’ve married to you long enough to know the sadness in your eyes.”

She wearily chuckled. “Says you.”

“The Dragonpit was destroyed but the Dragonmount wasn’t,” he stated. “I can have them bring you an egg if you wish.”

While his words were true, her husband looked uncomfortable. The idea and its implication made him uneasy.

Jaehaera shook her head vigorously. “No,” she stated firmly.

“Jaehaera, what about what you said?”

“I didn’t lie. Having a dragon is unlike anything else in this world, however, there was only one dragon for me. It was Morghul. He is gone now, and I will never ride the skies but that is fine with me because he was the only one, I would ever choose to take flight with.”

Aegon stared at her.

“I know you feel the same about Stormcloud.”

Aegon lowered his gaze though he reached out his hand to grab hers. Jaehaera took it. He brought it up to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

“I’m sorry for bringing it up,” she apologized.

“We’re the house of the dragon, it was inevitable,” he said.

“You would truly have given me an egg?” She asked incredulously.

“If it made you happy, then yes. On the condition it stayed outside.” He kissed her knuckles again. Jaehaera intertwined their fingers together. She was content with where they were.

[goodqueenaly]

I had a new thought about the Quickfinger story we hear mentioned briefly in “The Sworn Sword”. I had always imagined that Quickfinger was merely trying to steal any (or all) dragon eggs available or accessible to him and give them instead. The benefit to Daemon Blackfyre would have been obvious, I think, in both immediate and potential symbolic power. Only Targaryens (and a very limited number of historical Velaryons) could be given dragon eggs, and only Targaryens (and, again, a small handful of Velaryons) had proven their (assumed) Exceptionalism by riding dragons. Daemon Blackfyre, possessed of a dragon egg or eggs, would now make himself equal to any of his trueborn Targaryen king, just like every other prince born to a Targaryen monarch. What’s more, if he could hatch a dragon, then Daemon might have seen his claim be supremely strengthened: even diehard Targaryen loyalists might have wondered whether the hatching of a dragon for the dragonless Daeron II’s rival meant that the gods had bestowed their favor on the Blackfyres instead. 

However, I could see where Quickfinger’s mission - from Daemon Blackfyre himself or a Blackfyre agent - may have been more specific in its intended target (without losing any of that assumed general benefit, of course). We know that the future King Aegon IV was given a dragon egg in infancy, and while we cannot confirm Princess Daena was as well, the fact that her younger sister Elaena had a dragon egg of her own strongly implies, I think, that Daena was given a dragon egg as an infant or young girl. In turn, I wonder whether Quickfinger was sent to obtain not just any Targaryen dragon eggs, but particularly the eggs of Princess Daena and/or King Aegon IV (to the extent either or both were still extant, of course). As far as Daemon Blackfyre may have been concerned, either or both of these eggs were his rightful inheritance, as the only son of his mother and the eldest (acknowledged, legitimated) son of his father. Daemon did not claim the throne in right of his mother, and his would-be regal dynasty was a new political creation rather than a strict continuation of the royal House Targaryen, but Daemon’s appearance and propaganda certainly emphasized his doubly Targaryen heritage. He who had first been held out by Daena as her ostensibly fatherless son, teased as the pseudo-product of Daena’s Targaryen parthenogenesis, was then at 12 acknowledged by Aegon as his own son, in a way almost post facto fathered by Targaryen king (complete with the unsubtle phallic imagery of Aegon IV presumably using the sword Blackfyre to dub Daemon, then passing the sword to him); in turn, as Daemon grew older, "Daemon's friends and supporters often remarked on how much he resembled Aegon the Conquerer", with "all the hallmarks of his house". To receive the dragon egg(s) of one or both of his parents would be perhaps, for Daemon (and again, at least in his own mind and/or the minds of his supporters), to complete that confirmation of his specific Targaryen ancestry: he, unlike the no-good-very-bad Daeron Falseborn, supposedly the unlegitimated bastard of two Targaryens, had every legal right (again, so Daemon might have thought) to the dynastic property of his Targaryen parents - that is, their dragon eggs.

I do also like to parallel this potentially specific thievery with two other moments in Targaryen history. In 48 AC, after young Jaehaerys Targaryen was proclaimed king at Storm’s End, his sister Rhaena “mounted Dreamfyre and flew to join him”, taking with her “Blackfyre, stolen from the king’s own scabbard as he slept”. Just over eight decades later, at the dawn of the Dance of the Dragons, Ser Steffon Darklyn abandoned the new King Aegon II’s Kingsguard and defected to Rhaenyra, and with a small party “brought … a stolen crown: a band of yellow gold ornamented with seven gems of different colors” - that is, “the crown King Viserys had worn, and the Old King Jaehaerys before him”. Whether Daemon intended so or not - and again, we don’t know how much he even knew of, much less orchestrated, the Quickfinger plot - he had, like Jaehaerys and Rhaenyra before him, attempted to benefit from a potent symbol of Targaryen royal authority being stolen from (in the minds of Daemon, as well as Jaehaerys and Rhaenyra, notwithstanding the actual accuracy or inaccuracy in each case) an illegal usurper to be presented to the “rightful” monarch. Just as Rhaena had presented young King Jaehaerys with the sword of his royal grandfather, and Ser Steffon had presented the would-be Queen Rhaenyra with the crown of her royal father and great-grandfather, so now Quickfinger would, as Daemon or his faction may have hoped, present “King” Daemon with the egg or eggs of his father and/or mother, investing him with the symbolic legitimacy of these familial draconic artifacts.

[sweetestpopcorn]

Hi 🍿! I just realized how religious the post-dance targ family is. Like I know Maegelle joined the faith but it seems like she was the only one so into it. At least she was the only one in her generation. But the post-dance targ family had three! (Not to mention Bealor who is a little bit 🤨) Do you think this has to do with the greens? I mean like their line died out but their whole mindset went on and influenced the Targaryens. Or are there any other factors you think lead to this situation?

Hi there and sorry for this huge delay :)

Why are you even considering the Greens when neither Baela, Rhaena, Aegon III, or Viserys II were influenced by them or spent any time with them except Baela and Aegon III when they were captive? Yes, they influenced politics in Westeros... to the extent that they solidified something that was already a practice of House Targaryen and an established custom that was only interrupted by King Viserys.

Nonetheless, please let's not pretend that any of the Greens was the thing that turned House Targaryen religious or introduced the Seven to the Targaryens because that is a blatant lie if I ever saw one.

Cases in point:

Rhaenyra is shown to value the faith of the Seven. She makes Jace and Luke swear on the Seven-Pointed Star. Aegon II - a green - shows no such behaviour so you could make an argument that she was more religious than him. She also seemed to have a particular notion regarding marriage, and vows taken.

Rhaena (Daemon's daughter) was said to pray for her second dragon egg day and night hoping it would hatch.

Jaehaerys understood the importance of religion even making a septon his Hand. Furthermore, he was quite conservative and did not take it at all kindly to know his daughter Saera had lovers prior to being married referring to her as a wh0re.

Alysanne is also shown to be quite religious, wanting to bathe in the sacred waters of Jonquil's Pool, and saying that the Mother loved her children more than she did -> using it as explanation of why so many of her children had died.

Septon Eustace had once been Queen Aemma's confessor.

Both Maegelle and Rhaella (or Aerea depending on what you believe) became septas.

The Targaryens followed the Faith of the Seven post Conquest, and even before the Conquest there was a sept in Dragonstone.

I make no secret that I am not a person who cares about religion, I don't and am mainly against it. I can however, from an objective viewpoint understand why people at times cling to it, and it has much to do with hardship, with pain, and with a desire that the unfixable can be fixed. With faith.

The children of Aegon III and Viserys II were born in a time of great vulnerability of House Targaryen, to parents who had experienced war, significant loss, and deep trauma. Many of the siblings were said to cling to each other - e.g., Aemon and Naerys, Daena and Elaena; examining their lives it is quite clear to see why they sought after comfort in religion. Just consider Naerys, she was born sickly, her mother left when she was a baby, she was raised by a father more concerned with ruling a kingdom than caring for her, learned about the downfall of their House and their dragons, was forced to marry a brother who abus€d until she died and had many miscarriages... what else but her Faith and her love of her brother Aemon and her son would keep her going?

There is also a possibility that perhaps there was some hope or faith that the gods could intervene and help to bring their dragons back. Let's remember how Rhaena (Daemon's daughter) prayed that her egg would hatch as I mentioned above.

But we do see an example of clinging to something else, in Daeron, for instance, who thought that it was through conquest and military prowess that they would regain their power.

Baelor was a... special case I would say, and without a doubt he had some severe mental illness.

In any case in the AU where we get Fire&Blood 2 I am sure many of these issues will be further explored. And impossible as it may seem, it is still more likely to happen than redacted being good or giving justice to anything we saw in Fire and Blood.

Here's to hoping and to stop giving the Greens importance they don't have in 2024.

All the best!

[thaliajoy-blog]

List of Targaryen women who were/could have been heirs to the iron throne or rulers in some independant way for a lil art project.

Gonna focus a little bit more on this from now on and we'll see for the tarot card 😅.

- Rhaena Targaryen : at a time when the iron throne's inheritance rules weren't clear, Rhaena Targaryen was several times considered as a potential heir to her father ; after her birth, and after the demise of Maegor. It's kind of a technicality but whatever ; she was her father's oldest child, and she also could have been a regent to her daughter Aerea in other circumstances.

- Aerea or Rhaella Targaryen : both put there due to the heavy suspicion that they were swapped. Aerea was the official heir to two kings, Maegor & Jaehaerys I, and she should have been the heir of her father Aegon (the Uncrowned). Rhaella was considered the true heir by Rogar Baratheon, to counter Jaehaerys & Aerea's claims.

- Daenerys Targaryen (I) : Never officially called heir, but as the firstborn living child of Jaehaerys & Alysanne she would have unoficially been the heir until her brother Aemon was born.

- Rhaenys Targaryen : "The Queen that Never Was", arguably had the strongest claim in accordance with andal law to succeed Jaehaerys on the IT but the Great Council of 101 did not validate her claim (and even put it lower than that of her own son's).

- Rhaenyra Targaryen : Officially the heir of her father, even after her brothers were born. Ruling queen of Westeros (a contested title).

- Jaehaera Targaryen, last living child of king Aegon II (title also contested). Though never officially heir and in some way passed over for her cousin & husband Aegon III, she would have been the more natural heir for her father.

- Baela Targaryen & Rhaena Targaryen : technically heirs of Aegon III before his brother Viserys II returned. Baela was the oldest & most natural heir but the council of regents did not like the idea of her being queen & prefered Rhaena, so who was the actual heir is a bit complicated.

- Daena Targaryen (plus Rhaena & Elaena ?) : Sister of Daeron I and Baelor I, but passed over in the succession when they died, in favor of her uncle Viserys II. Considered by some to have been the most natural heir of her brothers.

- Aelora Targaryen : Official heir of her uncle Aerys I after her twin brother died.

- Daenora Targaryen : Aelora's younger sister, passed over in the succession (possibly because of her age as well as her gender, despite the precedent set by her sister) in favor of Maekar, her uncle.

- Vaella Targaryen : claim dismissed by a great council, despite being the most legitimate candidate by andal law standards (only child of Maekar's eldest son).

- Daenerys Targaryen III : last known living Targaryen after her brother's passing and as such, last Targaryen heir to the Iron Throne. Queen of Meereen by conquest.

Bonus :

- Visenya & Rhaenys Targaryen : Consorts of Aegon I, but said to be the queens to have wielded the most power & in the history of the Seven Kingdoms (sat the Iron throne in the absence of their husband).

- Alyssa Velaryon : not a Targaryen by birth, but she was the consort of Aenys I Targaryen & the main regent for his son Jaehaerys I.

- Alysanne Targaryen : consort of Jaehaerys I, said to have had a great amount of influence on the governing of the realm.

- Saera Targaryen, her claim was mentioned during the great council of 101 I think ? Her sons tried to put their own forward on account of her being their mom so it should count for something.

- Daella Targaryen, daughter of Maekar I. Actually older than Aegon V, her brother, so take that as you will ?

Links to other art projects :

1) Asoiaf Tarot deck

2) Asoaif ladies + special swords

3) Asoiaf OCs list !

[dreameddragons]

thoughts on a f&b jaehaera lives au

jaehaera and and aegon iii stay married all their lives but have no children together. open question of whether their marriage was ever consummated (no). aegon immediately names viserys his heir once he shows up again and definitely uses this as his excuse whenever someone asks why he doesn't have kids.

post-dance trauma means jaehaera and aegon can barely even stand to be in the same room with each other for literally years but they eventually settle into a kind of wary coexistence. i think they do eventually come to like, tolerate each other but they're most content just leaving each other alone

because child king aegon is scandalously not impregnating his child bride cousin there's def a push from people around him (cough unwin peake) to get him to set jaehaera aside/dissolve the marriage and marry someone else bc obviously if aegon just had the Right Woman it would fix him. daenaera velaryon is def brought to court for this (she's not really aware of it bc she's like. well probably a bit older than canon but still A Child) and ends up becoming basically a lady-in-waiting to jaehaera. arguably jaehaera's only real friend for her entire life besides her dragon.

viserys still marries larra but their kids in this instance are daeron baelor daena elaena and rhaena. popped out in VERY quick succession idk maybe some of them are twins (daeron & daena being twins would be a fun dynamic i think especially after daeron's death/if daena and daeron were supposed to be married to Restore The Glory Of House Targaryen. and then daeron gets himself killed in dorne before they're even married & daena is married off to her little brother baelor etc etc)

larra still leaves shortly after her youngest kid is born and goes back to lys. after receiving word that she died or idk just telling everyone that she's Definitely For Sure Dead Marriage Over/finagling some way to get the marriage dissolved on account of her being an unpopular dreaded foreigner viserys remarries to daenaera. HUGE rift with jaehaera here bc she never warmed up to viserys and she sees it as viserys stealing her sole friend and confidant daenaera/sees daenaera as abandoning her for viserys. i think adult jaehaera is perceived as being very withdrawn & cold and unfriendly by other people (except daenaera) & capable of holding a grudge forever. refuses to even speak to viserys or daenaera after this until probably after viserys dies

anyways viserys & daenaera's kids are aegon iv naerys and aemon. causes some changes to timeline/succession so it's aegon iii -> viserys ii (briefly) -> daeron i (dies in dorne) -> baelor the blessed (locks up his sisters, dies from fasting) -> aegon iv. meat grinder generation bc after aegon they're all killing themselves trying to achieve their version of Restoring House Targaryen until aegon iv who just genuinely does not care but still manages to fuck everyone over anyways

no idea when/how jaehaera dies but i think she definitely outlives both aegon iii and viserys ii by like, several decades probably. last survivor of the dance carries the scars for her entire life none of the next generation want to acknowledge her or what she lived through while they're setting up the stage for the next targaryen civil war. ghost from the last iteration of the targ self destruction cycle looming in the background well past her time. i think the later years of her life are the closest to happy she ever gets tho because she no longer has the constant political panopticon of being queen and people finally just leave her the fuck alone. she and daenaera both end up as pushed aside forgotten dowager queens and it's the most freedom either of them has ever had in their lives and it only cost watching basically their entire family kill themselves for the second time.

[aurorasilverthorne]

Fire & Blood AU ___________________

Characters Part #3:

Aegon Targaryen

The firstborn son of Viserys Targaryen & Alicent Hightower. Brother to Aemond & Helaena. Husband to Rhaena Targaryen & father to their only living son Jaehaerys Targaryen. Regrets abdicating the iron throne. Never loved his wife. Acts more like a friend than a father to his son. Is the rider of Sunfyre, a male dragon with gold scales, orange frills on his neck & body, pale pink wing membranes, & bright amber eyes.

Rhaena Targaryen

The second child & younger daughter of Laena Velaryon & Daemon Targaryen. Late wife of Aegon Targaryen & mother of Jaehaerys. Died of infection after giving birth to her only son. Rider of the dragon Sheepstealer, a male with muddy reddish brown scales.

Helaena Targaryen

The only daughter of Viserys Targaryen & Alicent Hightower. Sister to Aemond & Aegon. The wife of Vaemond Velaryon & mother to Shaeira. Rider of Dreamfyre, a she-dragon with light blue scales & silver markings. A pacifist & prophetic dreamer who wants to live a peaceful life.

Shaeira Velaryon

The only daughter & sole child of Helaena & Vaemond. Rider of the dragon Morning, a young female with pink scales & black crests & horns. Is like her mother in both personality & in the fact she's a dragon dreamer.

Vaemond Velaryon

The younger brother of Lord Corlys "The Sea Snake" Velaryon. Husband of Helaena & father to Shaeira. The admiral of the Velaryon fleet. Has been dubbed "The Lord of Salt & Sea." An ambitious man sick of living in his brother's shadow. Is one of the few who knows about & truly believes in his wife's prophecies.

Laena Velaryon

Daughter of Corlys & Rhaenys. Twin sister to Laenor. Late wife of Daemon. Mother to Baela & Rhaena. Rider of Silverwing, the she-dragon with silver scales. Died in childbirth along with her unborn babe due to complications.

Daemon Targaryen

The younger brother of Viserys Targaryen. Husband of Laena & father to twins Baela & Rhaena. Uncle to Rhaenyra, Helaena, Aemond, & Aegon. The second rider of Caraxes the Blood Wyrm after his own ncle Aemon & before his niece's eldest son Jacaerys. Died by his own hand to ensure his family wouldn't contract greyscale after he'd caught it defeating Craghas Drahar "Crabfeeder" during the battle for the Stepstones.

Rhaenys Targaryen

The wife of Corlys. Velaryon. Mother to the late twins Laena & Laenor. Grandma to Baela, Jacaerys, Lucerys, & Rhaena. Great grandmother to Vaemond, Elaena, Visenya, Jaehaerys, & Aerion. The aunt of Shaeira. Rider of Meleys, the female with scarlet scales, greenish yellow eyes, & copper horns.

Corlys Velaryon

The Lord of Tides & Lord of High Tide on Driftmark. "The Sea Snake." Husband of Rhaenys, father to the twins Laenor & Laena. Grandfather to Baela, Jacaerys, Rhaena, & Lucerys. Great grandfather to Elaena, Visenya, Vaemond, Aerion, & Jaehaerys. Master of the royal fleet. Sailed to many places far & wide & brought back rare treasures from his voyages. Displays them in The Hall of Nine. Is determined to earn his place in the history books.

___________________

Disclaimer: I do NOT own House of the Dragon or any of its characters.

Reminder: Shaeira is my OC. She belongs to me. The image of Shaeira was made by Bing Image Creator. If anyone uses her or the image in fanart or fanfiction, please remember to credit both the Bing Image Creator & me as her creators. Thank you.

Part #1: https://www.tumblr.com/aurorasilverthorne/758175401181872128/characters?source=share

Part #2: https://www.tumblr.com/aurorasilverthorne/758186985867345920/characters-2?source=share

Part #4: https://www.tumblr.com/aurorasilverthorne/758227678086283264/blood-fire-au-characters?source=share

Part #5: https://www.tumblr.com/aurorasilverthorne/758449181436362752/fire-blood-au-characters?source=share

[rynnthefangirl]

In regard to JL&J vs. A&V, I wonder if the fandom animosity has anything to do with Viserys II being the absolute worst.

He forces his daughter to marry his rapist son and then steals his niece’s throne, using Rhaenyra as evidence to why women shouldn’t rule.

In contrast we have dashing Prince Jace who dies fighting for his mother’s claim and goes down in history as one of the greatest kings Westeros never had. George’s own words btw.

No one can say Westeros was better off with Daemyra’s son on the throne instead of Jace and most of us can agree that Rhaenyra’s definitely cursing Viserys II from the grave.

The ideal ending was King Jacaerys I Targaryen, the tragedy is that we end up with King Viserys II Targaryen.

Boy oh boy, you activated my Viserys II and Aegon III defense protocol.

First, to be clear I 100% agree King Jacaerys I would have been amazing, and (along with Queen Baela) one of the best monarchs Westeros would have ever seen. Westeros was robbed, and FUCK the Greens for that.

But Viserys II the absolute worst? Not even close.

First, the Daena issue. Viserys gets a lot of shit for this, but let’s look at the reality. He has just spent 14 years trying to protect the realm from the follies of his nephews, Daeron the Warmonger and Baelor the Religious Zealot. Now he has two options. Option 1. Let Daena take the throne. Daena was said to idolize her brother Daeron (the violent war monger who got 50,000 men killed to stroke his ego), and likely sympathized with the anti-Dornish (read: racist) faction at court forming since Daeron’s failed conquest. Viserys’ own great grandchild is half Dornish, and the peace with Dorne was hard won — does Westeros need a Queen who may threaten to break that peace? How many more will die if Daena decides to avenge her brother? Daena also has been locked in isolation for 10 years— while obviously she should not be punished for that (and I cannot stress this enough, FUCK Baelor), you do have to wonder what kind of effect that may have on her psychology. Now I love Daena, I truly truly do, but there were a lot of red flags as to what kind of Queen she would be. Had Elaena been next in line (and her competence that we later see been known to Viserys), I think it could have been a different story.

Option 2. Take the throne himself. Viserys II is arguably the most competent statesman House Targaryen ever produced. He has buckets of experience running the realm, and truly put the good and prosperity of westeros above all else: above his ego, above his vanity, above his ambition. I don’t believe for one second that Viserys is some devoted male primogeniture advocate that believes women shouldn’t rule: but I think he (correctly) saw that he was more suited to the throne than Daena was. The major downside of Viserys is that his son and heir is awful. BUT Aegon’s flaws would have appeared to be excess lust and gluttony, something he was already indulging in as a prince, and theoretically would not have been so bad for the Realm as a whole if he had just sat back and let the council do the ruling for him, as Viserys likely expected he would. Like Robert Baratheon. And after Aegon, the next in line is Daeron, who at the point of Viserys’ ascension had already been shown to be smart, kind, capable, honorable, wise— all the makings of a great king. Viserys probably figured the realm could tolerate a decade or so of Aegon fucking around while the small council and Hand ruled, to be followed up by an ideal heir, Daeron. This is also all assuming that Viserys was not planning to disinherit Aegon and make Daeron his immediate heir; he may have simply died (or been poisoned) before he had the chance. By contrast, Daena has no true born children yet, so there is no telling how good or bad her heir might be. Would Viserys flip the coin on if her son would be Maegor come again, or go the way he knew had a competent heir one generation down?

I hate to see another Targaryen woman screwed out of her birth right, but please understand how vastly different this was to what Aegon II and the Greens did. This was not just “oh women shouldn’t rule, male primogeniture is great, fuck my mother Rhaenyra” or “oh I’m a greedy asshole who wants the throne and will screw over my own family to get it”. Viserys is simply a practical man who deals with reality the way that it is, not the way that he wishes it to be.

I also think it is worth considering another thing— from what we know about Viserys II, he deeply loved and was utterly loyal to his brother Aegon. I think it’s fair to say his love would extend to his brothers children. He served Daeron and Baelor faithfully… and they both died young, struck down after their personal follies were amplified to a horrifying extent by the absolute power they wielded. Perhaps Viserys worried that power would drive Daena to a similar fate as her brothers, and felt that he was protecting Aegon’s beloved daughter from herself. Now is that incredibly patronizing? Yes. But it may not have been entirely incorrect, and would be coming from a place of love and good intentions.

At the end of the day, Jace is amazing, but he never had to face the same difficult choices that Viserys II and Aegon III did. He was in a war where the goal was simple : win, and protect your family. But what do you do when forced to choose between your mother’s legacy (not her life, her legacy) and peace for your people? When the choice is ego and pride over safety and stability? When to preserve the future, you must let go of the past? Jace died at 15, before he ever had to face such decisions. At age 13, Viserys stood his ground against the Kingsguard, holding out against a secret seige for 18 days and using his courage and wit to undo all of Unwin Peake’s schemes. No part of me doubts that 15 year old Viserys would have jumped on his dragon and rushed to save a little sibling from the the Battle of the Gullet, dying for his family. Jace and Viserys simply cannot he compared. Jace is forever 15, forever flawless and forever brave and forever our perfect would be king. He will never make a mistake. Viserys had to grow up and realize that not everything is as black and white as sending Sandoq the Shadow to protect your lady wife. It’s kind of like what Maekar said to Duncan after Baelor Breakspear died: anytime anything went wrong, people would say “Baelor would not have let this happen, but the Hedge Knight killed him”. Would Baelor have been a phenomenal king? Absolutely. But it’s hardly fair to assume he could and would have fixed any issue that ever went wrong in Valarr’s (or as it would be, Aerys’) reign.

Now— the Naerys issue. I am not going to defend this one as I defended him ascending the throne over Daena. I love Viserys as a character, and rarely do I love characters because I think they are wholly good. Viserys doomed his own goddamn daughter to life of misery and endless marital rape. That cannot be denied. In truth, Viserys II is much the same as Jaehaerys I. Both great men, great kings… and absolutely godawful fathers.

I will offer some context about it though. Because Viserys did not marry 36 year old Aegon to 33 year old Naerys. He married 18 year old Aegon to 15 year old Naerys (and as to the age thing, this was a normal time for Westerosi women to marry, and Viserys in particular is going to have a messed up view on the matter considering that he was married at 12 and seemed to have developed a kind of fucked up Stockholm-esque love for 19 year old Larra). Now, the accounts make it seem like the extent of Aegon’s awfulness did not become truly apparent until he got a bit older, and the mistakes he made were written off by court and realm as the follies of youth. I think one of Viserys’ biggest mistakes and worst characteristics is that he allowed himself to get so caught up in his duty to his brother and realm, that he utterly neglected his own children. They weren’t living in a massive war as he and his brother did in their childhood, so what guidance did they truly need? I think he felt that Aegon had the lust and gluttony that many spoiled rich kids would have, and that time and stern discipline would set him straight. I don’t think he was paying enough attention to see that Aegon was a burgeoning sociopath. Viserys probably thought that sweet, dutiful Naerys would be a good influence on Aegon, and help shape him into a better person. I think it also was a politically motivated match, some classic oldest son-oldest daughter incest to show the realm that the loss of the dragons did not mean House Targaryen was abandoning its ancient customs.

Again, I truly am not trying to say Viserys was in the right here. He should have cared for his children enough to see how fucked up Aegon was and that he was putting his daughter in an incredibly dangerous situation. If Naerys hated her father and cursed his name and never forgave him, she would be so fucking right to do so. But Viserys in truth reminds me a bit of Maekar— I think he was (either through negligence or stubborn willfullness) ignorant (at that point) to his sons true depravity. Maekar thought Aerion (clear born psychopath, broke Tanselle’s fingers, tried to kill Duncan, threatened to castrate his little brother, threw a cat down a well, drank wildfire, Aerion) was a promising young man who just needed a shove in the right direction— until Aerion’s monstrosity got his Uncle Baelor killed. In the same way, I think Viserys saw Aegon as lazy and gluttonous and lustful… but someone who could still be put on the right path. Then by the time it became clear that that wasn’t the case, and he doomed his daughter to marriage to a rapist sociopath, it was too late. Divorce does not exist in Westeros.

The tragedy was not King Viserys II. The tragedy was King Daeron I, King Baelor I, and King Aegon IV. The worst thing Aegon III and Viserys II did was fathering these absolute fuckfaces. But their sons being the absolute worst does not make them the absolute worst. Even the best most noble and amazing person can be cursed with a psycho as a son. Aegon V, lord protector of smallfolk, had none other than Mad King Aerys himself as a grandson. Had Jace ascended the throne, I promise at some point that corruption and rot will rear its ugly head— whether in his sons, grandsons, great-grandsons, etc. Not because it’s endemic to House Targaryen, but because it’s endemic to humanity and having absolute power be inherited to every first born son no matter what is a terrible idea.

At the end of the day, I stan and love ALL of Rhaenrya’s children. Jace, Luke, Joff, Aegon, Viserys— every single one. I won’t deny Viserys is the worst of them, but he also lived the longest, and as such of course is going to have more fucked up shit to his name than literal children who died fighting a war. My original post was calling out Aegon and Viserys “fans” who shit on the Velaryon boys, and I stand by that. I’ll go to war for the Velaryon boys. But I’ll go to war for Daemyra’s boys too, the broken kids who had to pick up the pieces of their broken realm in the wake of the most catastrophic war westeros ever saw, who never asked or wanted any of it. They did their best.

Edit: I’m now realizing this may have come across as aggressive overkill considering that it is genuinely very fair to criticize Viserys. Apologies Anon😅 I’m just really passionate about him and Aegon III (they are my favorite Targs) and this gave me an excuse to talk about a lot of the thoughts I’ve been meaning to make posts about.

[simpingland]

The queen's horse with no name || Ser Harwin Strong x Targaryen!reader

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Request: I wanted to ask if you can make a Harwin Strong x Targaryen reader story but instead of being the second born daughter she's the first born and the heir to the throne and you can base it on that scene where Rhaenyra comes back all bloodied and stuff

Thank you

She hated the carriage, she absolutely hated it. She felt stupid on it, all the rumbling, the smell of being so surrounded of more horses, the darkness and how fucking slow it was. Her father, King Viserys hurried her to join, along with her younger sister Rhaenyra, the heavily pregnant Alicent and the damn baby Aegon. No, it was an absolute "no".

"Father, may I fly there?" asked Elaena.

"Fly there? Are you out of your mind, Ela? Get on the carriage right now" said Viserys.

"What about I ride my horse?"

The King looked at her with denial eyes. Her sister tried to help.

"Father, I think you should let her take the horse, or she will take the dragon without your consent and you know that" Rhaenyra looked at Elaena and her begging frown.

"Elaena, you can't control your horse enough to ride it alone"

"Well, there's about one hundred men following us, i wouldn't consider that "riding alone". Well, father, i do control my beautiful Kyrax, I'll change my clothes in a mo--" She was cut by Viserys.

"Alright, alright, ride your damn horse...you better behave, Elaena, this hunt is an opportunity for you" the King entered the carriage, and Rhaenyra smiled at her sister, but she didn't return it.

"Cheer up, my princess, no lord would dare to approach you once they see your horrible riding"

"Oh, you are such a funny girl, Rhaenyra..."said Ela, faking a smile. "The lords will found you so charming, you won't be able to find time for your dear Ser Cristan..."

"Well, the real winner of the hunt will be the one who gets Ser Jason Lannister's marriage proposal" answers Nyra.

Both girls laughed before going separate ways. Elaena ask for her horse to be prepared. The ostler couldn't hide his confused face (also a terrified face) as the request.

"I'm not that bad, alright?...It's not my first time..." she said to the poor boy. That was true, but the fact the Elaena didn't even named her horse spoke a lot about their bond. It was a beautiful one, all brown, the shade of cinnamon and strong as the King's horse. It was a proper horse for the future Queen, maybe she should give the animal more attention.

It was easy to catch the royal family's carriage, the horse picked up a very fast pace, maybe a exaggerating fast pace, Eleana pretended that she chose that, ignoring the worring glances of Ser Harrold. She dared to knock one of the windows and her sister wasted no time of showing her little silver head to see her older sister embarrassing herself.

"Have you tamed the beast already, Ela?"

"Of course...she was already tamed" the words left her mouth and the horse started to walk the opposite direction, creating a sudden distant between the Targaryens. Rhaenyra laughed.

"YEAH, I CAN SEE THAT" screamed Rhaenyra, the only way for her voice to reach her.

"THAT WAS MY WILLING...HE SMELLS AEGON'S SHIT"

Rhaenyra closed the window, laughing shamelessly to the future queen. Hope she's bored as seven hells, wished Ela. Every men accompanying the family kept an eye on the princess, she kept on losing control of her horse, sometimes she would gallop so fast that Ser Criston rode on her rescue, other times she would jog so slowly that it was Ser Harrold the one waiting for her. The road was starting to feel eternal and the beautiful braids of Elaena started to fall apart. Good thing it was Rhaenyra the one who know how to braid them back.

They finally arrived, at least the carriage did, because Elaena was still a few feet behind, trying to hurry the creature. She could hear the lords clapping at her baby brother, praising the incredible wonder of keeping him alive...or being born a man. To be fair, that accomplish couldn't be done by Elaena, she'll give him that. Meanwhile, she got her horse to run fast, maybe too fast. The bond was so inexistente that the princess started to ride in circles instead of stopping.

"WHOA! WHOA..." soother a male deep voice "pull the reins firmly but slowly, my princess, tell him to stop"

"I'VE ALREADY TOLD HIM TO STOP" yelled the princess, frustrated and blushing with anger.

"He feels your discomfort, he's confused" the men got closer to the horse and continued to calm the horse. Elaena didn't even look who he was, but give it a try to pull the reins tighter, and finally, the horse stopped. She took a moment to go down, breathing out her frustration. "Let me help you down, my princess".

She got down alone, without even responding, it was then when she finally looked at the men. Handsome, brunette, fur coat, half ponytail, big and wide.

"Thanks for offering help, Ser Harwin"

"Everything for the princess" he couldn't hide a smile, offering, as if he didn't ended up helping her.

She nodded back when Ser Harwin gave her the formal bow. He was known as "breakbones", a funny nickname for the first son of one of the most intelligent man on court. She had spoke little to him, well, she has barely interacted with him. Elaena didn't expected to be the kind of man who knew how to treat horses. He was the type of men that only needed to raise a bit his voice to make thing fall on his feets. But he had approach her, patiently smoothing her horse and smile at a rejection.

She entered the biggest camp, to his family, trying to ignore the man behind her, who obviously walked the same direction, where his father probably waited for him too. She didn't expected all eyes on her, stupid expectation know that she thinks about it more. Not only was she the future queen, she had made a fuss with her graceless entrance on the stupid horse, she was late and her hair made her look like she just woke up from a nightmare. Nothing was going on her way that day. Her father scolded her with his eyes, Rhaenyra didn't laugh, because she could see Ela on the verge of tears, and Alicent did her the favor of speaking loudly to the reuniting court, giving an early "thank you for coming" speech and made it more interesting by announcing the possible names of the future baby. So when Elaena walked to her family, less eyes followed her, Harwin's were one of the few.

"You and your pigheadness" said Viserys. It was a terrible word to make yourself look angry, but both girls knew he was really upset. "I hope you enjoyed the ride, at the very least"

She said nothing, she couldn't lie about it. Rhaenyra took her sister by the hand and discreetly took her out of the camp, sitting her to fix her braids.

"I'll confess to you, the carriage was exhausting. Aegon did in fact shitted himself the moment we got out of the Red Keep and it smelled like shit the entire road. Father couldn't stop talking about future suitors...And Alicent...everyday I find it harder to stand her" Rhaenyra finished her job, expecting to make her older sister laugh, but she only smiled sadly. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, thank you, sister" said Ela, entering the camp again.

Viserys stopped his oldest softly. He was in the middle of a conversation with the Hand, Otto.

"Ela, how would you like to participate? On the hunt?" he said.

"I'm not sure why I must" she absolutly hated hunts.

"Because you are my daughter... The Princess. And you have duties" he hardened his look.

"As I am ceaselessly reminded" she hardened her voice.

"You wouldn't need to be reminded if you ever attended to them"

"No one's here for me" and she turned her back to her father.

The lords were having dull conversations, or disgusting conversations, Ela couldn't choose which one was a better option, so she got closer to the woman's chatting center.

"My Lord husband says that no King has even been able to tame the Stepstones for long. It's an inhospitable place suited only for savages" spoke Alicent. She just entered the circle when Joselyn Redwyne centerded the attention back to her, Rhaenyra by her side as well.

"Perhaps the Princess can give us some insight" said Redwyne

She chucked at the little discretion of the mature lady "Oh, I'm not sure how I could. I've never been to the Stepstones"

"Your dear uncle is the great mind behind this war...is he not?" Insisted the lady.

"I wouldn't know. I've not spoken to Daemon in years" Ela was beggining to lost her patience again.

"Since you supplanted him as heir" her dog started to eat her cake and even with that, Elaena could still feel the humiliation. "What about you, Princes Rhaenyra? It is known that you had a closer relationship with Prince Daemon"

That was a comment worthy of a trial, an insinuation and everyone could notice, by the venom tone she used to said the words. Before any of the girls could responde, Alicent put curtesy over violence.

"Daemon made his choices, Lady Ceira. The Princess was more suited to the role" and she then smiled to Elaena.

"He's made a mess and the King must put an end to it. Send fleets and men and clear out the Triarchy for good". Insisted the woman.

"But the crown is not at war" said the princess.

"The crown... is at war, Princess. Though your father refuses to admit it, we've been dragged into it by your uncle and The Sea Snake". Thats the thing about good manners, they don't work for long.

"And how have you served the realm of late, Lady Redwyne, by eating cake?" Responded Rhaenyra.

"The Royal discussions and relationships of a family who is not your own is none of your concern, Lady Redwyne. I hope that you keep your circle of "friends" away from rumors or misinformation, for your own good". Elaena left the camp, the entire chating group silence.

A bit of fresh air will do no wrong, and she was willing to enjoy it. She caught a glimpse of Ser Harwin, he caught her looking and, for the hundredth time on that day, she mentally curses herself. He was enjoying a beer, alone, while a few more men spoke beside him. He slowly got closer to her, but said nothing.

She couldn't bear it. It's not that it was awkward, it was just weird, to have a high born lord close to her stay silent. All her septas lessons on manners flashing her mind.

"May I help you, Ser?" She side-eyed him.

"Oh, no, no, princess. I just wanted to see what you find so fascinating, admiring the view" she know realized, that she stopped in that spot suddenly, like she has been nailed to the floor. He was acting as if he didn't noticed how fucking weird the princess was acting. But he had noticed and she noticed that he noticed her. "A beautiful creature...your horse" spoke Harwin. She must have guess, he was a bit of an asshole too.

"I can't even come up with a name for it" she spilled.

"Well, my princess, that is a primary thing for bonding"

"You have any suggestions, Ser?" She asked, sarcasm in her voice.

"Laps" he said, a smile on. "I named my first horse "Shitter" because he left shits at every corner we rode".

"Well, Ser Harwin, I'm not naming my horse after an annoying trait, I'm not twelve years old..." even tho I ride like like one... she thought.

"It was the suggestion that came into my mind. It worked for me..." said Harwin, he know that the princess was close to throwing a tantrum, and the last thing he wanted was causing it. Maybe, he wondered, I should shut up at this very moment. He wasn't good with words and he found it hard to express himself, you just can't go around spilling your raw thoughts to the future queen...but how was he supposed to tell her that she had the biggest balls on the Realm... He just can't greet her with "Well my princess, you have the damn guts every single time..." it wouldnt be proper (but why tho?). So he did what it was supposed to be done to show respect, he kept silent.

"I ride a dragon, you know?" She was now losing it. Harwin looked at her, and she turned to him. "All this fucking people, with their fucking carriages look at me because I can't control my fucking horse... and they dare to look at me as if a was a fool, a mediocre one even..."

"My princess, I'll have to dis--" Ser Harwin was rudely interrupted by a Lord, Jace fucking Lannister, no less.

"Princess Elaena, how stunning you look today" he greeted, exaggerating his bow. Ser Harwin didn't wish to leave the princess but he was about to when she included him in the conversation, a clear yell for help.

"Thank you, Ser...?" she looked at Harwin.

"This is Ser Jason, my princess, a Lannister" answered him "his twin is on the co--"

"Tyland, yes" he interrupted again, clearly irritated "he serves Your Grace at King's Landing...my twin".

"An identical one" said Ela.

"Well, yes...some think us identical..."

"The princess does thinks that to..." said Harwin, testing him.

"Well, you must be right, princess, but i keep my hair as the traditional style on Casterly Rock, long as the lions..."

"Very pretty and shiny, sure it must be soft too..." interrupted the princess, mocking the high Lord as well.

Jason unsuccessfully forced a laugh "indeed, princess. The water in Casterly Rock is clear as the sky on a spring morning, sweet as a kiss and it purifies the body as the gods themselves" Ela shoot a side look at Ser Harwin, he corresponded with a side smirk, doing their best not to laugh "a pity my brother came out of our mother after me...but he wasn't destined for ruling one of the biggest hou--"

"How can you be sure they didn't switch you when you were babies" interrupted the princess again. Jason Lannister could not believe the conversation but he couldn't tell the princess to cut the shit up.

"Yes, thats right, princess, as identical twins it was very easy for the septas to confuse you both at least once or twice... maybe you were the second son" continued Ser Harwin, the Lord was definitely infuriated but the princess was clearly on his side, nothing could be down in front of her. "The gods may have chose the rightful heir the first but parents are human and confusion is a very human trait".

"Well, princess, I believe myself the rightful heir because I'm naturally fit for my role. Tyland, a good man, is certainly the biggest bore on court and the most spinless--"

"I keep Ser Tyland a great appreciation" said Ela "an honorable man, one of the best at court. Dont you agree, Ser Harwin?"

"I certainly do, my princess. He has a talent to speak the truth when must needed it, always informed and a great adviser " followed Harwin.

Jace had giving up, "Well, princess, I'm sure he is great at serving the King, but I can assure you...a first born heir will be better to serve a queen outside the meeting room". There it was, a shameless and straight proposal.

"Good luck finding a queen willing to lower herself for a long, pretty and soft hair...she has a wonderful water to drown herself if needed" and with that, the princess left, not before nodding goodbye to both men. Only one of them was smiling while bowing. Ser Harwin couldn't hide it as he saw the princess storm out, walking away. He was about to follow her when his father called for him at a short distance. His father must have seen everything, and if not, sure did his brother Larys, who sure would tell Ser Lyonel. He know what he would say, if the princess says goodbye, she want you out of her way. He directed himself towards them, pitying princess Rhaenyra, who didn't see Ser Jason looking at her, willing to propose again.

Ser Harwin ate with his family, he kept silence, an idea wondering his mind. What's the ideal man for a queen? Not only a simple queen, a Targaryen, the ruling queen, with one of the most terrifying creatures on her side, her most loyal partner. Who is worthy of fathering her children? A man could only wish, surely his father would say that...but a man can also fight, and ser Harwin was a fighter for what he believed, for what he respected.

The princess entered the camp a while later. Her father, who sit on a chair with a bottomless glass of wine, called for her, quite loudly, people turning. Ela went to met him fast, not wanting to anger him more, she connected the dotts when she saw Ser Jason on the camp as well, dangerously close to his king.

"Father, I hope you respect my choice of staying here..."she spoke softly "im not even skilled enough for hun--"

"I though we have taught you some manners, Ela..." he was angry and you could hear that. "You have insulted one of the highest Lords in Westeros...a future queen..."

"What insult have I directed to him, father? I really want to know...only words of appreciation have been given to him by me" she said a bit more strongly.

"Don't act fool, Elaena. You have mocked ser Jace's proposals. A very good one, and you sure know it was"

"Is that what I am to you? A prize to proffer about to the great houses?"

"You're of age, Elanea. And Jason Lannister is an excellent match" he said, Rhaenyra came to his father's side.

"He's arrogant and self-serious." Said the youngest.

"Well, I thought you might have that in common" he scalded her. Rhaenyra lowered her head. "Since you came of age, Ela, I've been slowly drowning in a lake of parchment flung from every corner of the realm. Marriage proposals, all. And I have tried often to discuss it with you, but you've refused me at every turn"

"That is because I do not wish to get married".

"Even I do not exist above tradition and duty, Elaena! You have always known your fate. All this fooling around...What would your mother think of you? She, who sacrificed herself for her duty?"

Elaena was trying to hold the tears in her eyes when Otto announced that the hunt was about to begin. Everyone saw, everyone heard. It was now Jason who smirked while Harwin looked at the princess with worry.

The princess then ran away, with her horse and Rhaenyra following. It was to late for Viserys when he noticed the two horses missing, and Ser Criston was the one guard commanded to follow them. Ser Harwin tryed to clear his mind, focusing on the hunt. He was sure Elaena was going to be alright, even tho, he hoped to hunt down any danger that appeared before it could attack his princess.

When Rhaenyra finally cought his sister, she gave Criston the order of keeping distance, giving them both privacy. By the lake, Elaena got down of her horse and stared at the water. Rhaenyra didn't need to say a word to console her sister. Ela started to cry, heavy tears. She whined on her little sister's shoulder when Rhaenyra offered it to her. Both knew what was going on, Ela just needed to suffer it a little more loudly, she was granted a good cry too. They decided to stay away until the next morning, talking about unimportant things, forgetting for a bit about the crown.

"Father is right" said Ela, "mother wished for us to become mothers"

"I do believe we'll find ourselves involucrated with a little aegon of our own sooner or later, im afraid" joked Rhaenyra.

"Oh, Rhaenyra, at least you can joke about it"

"Don't you dare think father would allow me total freedom just because I'm a second born. All i have for me is every thing you refuse to have"

"Thats a terrible thought"

"Its the truth, Ela..." she smiled "Ser Jason told me he would be willing to build me a dragon pit in casterly rock...so if you marry a mediocre lord then the good ones will come for my hand"

Ela laughed "a Targaryen princess with influence on court but not directly on the throne and therefore not in direct danger or heavy work...sounds tempting". They both laughed, and Elaena remembered something "You think a Strong would be willing to take the shadow of a king consort?"

"I hope you don't mean Ser Lyonel..." chucked Rhaenyra "you would be the most popular on his list of wifes, that's for sure"

"No, you stupid...i mean...Ser Harwin" she looked at her sister, who give her a perverse smirk "I just asked myself how would be like to ride on the second best beast wondering Westeros, that's all"

They both exploited in a fist of laughts, never minding poor and confused Ser Criston, who was to invested in the gossiping to notice the wild boar storming close. The girls screamed when it came, unluckily, Ser Criston had been thrown away by the creature, and it ran to the girls. The closer one was Elaena and she only could push it away. It was Rhaenyra the one who crossed the animal with Ser Criston's sword. The board cried in agony and the sisters caught their breaths, tightening their hands. Suddenly, the animal started to move and scream again and this time it was Elaena who pushed Rhaenyra aside and stabbed the animal. She cried in frustration and pressed the knive so hard and so fast that the blood almost showered her completly. She thought of the looks of doubts, of the disappointment on her father's voice, on the battles waiting for her and her enemies laughing at her. She let go of her anger as she made sure the beast couldn't come back to harm her or her sister. She cried until it didn't move. Rhaenyra looked at her sister but let her relax alone, and instead attended poor Ser Cristan.

The morning came with a sun and a white stag on the road back. The Targaryen girls admired the beautiful creature and smiled thinking that it survived the royal hunt. The stag looked at Elaena and she felt her fate as queen strengthening. They let the stag go peacefully, continuing they walk to the camp.

Ser Harwin spent the morning skinning some of the rabbits that came from the hunting. A mediocre one, if you asked him. No white stag was found and the King had is mind elsewhere. He had hold the brown stag for the King, wishing to put an end to the endless afternoon. They give the animal a graceless death and Ser Harwin found himself doing whatever it took to mind his own business instead of searching for the princesses.

"What did you spoke about with the princess yesterday, brother?" Asked Larys sitting beside him.

"Nothing worth mentioning, Larys...we just admired the view of the forest"

"You must have found it astonishing...you have kept quiet ever since she left your side" of course Larys had noticed, he knew his brother like the back of his hand. "The King does listen to father's advise, Harwin, maybe you could present yourself, ask father to favor you".

"Father favors Leanor Velaryon. And I'm sure the King would like the match, they'll make pure valyrian kings"

"Well, the Velaryons are quite crossed with the King, asking for their heir to stand under the shadow of a queen could be taken as an insult, more after the King's marriage with Alicent" all the woman talk of Larys was being beneficial for once, he thought Harwin stopping his peeling. "Also, it's our Father, you are his son, and I'm also a proper heir for Harrenhal, a little slower but still valid. Father loves us, I'm afraid"

Harwin tried to pay no mind to his brother, he found the idea illusional, so he kept doing his work. Horses started to get closer to the the camps and people stopped to look at the arrivals of the three. Three horses, two princesses and the knight. Ser Criston walked behind, Rhaenyra walked fast, hair and clothes full of dirt, walking her horse aside. The princess Elaena's horse was carring a big, dead boar. Harwin looked for the princess herself, she was walking slowly, covered from hips to her head of blood, her beautiful face also stained. Her expression was a mixture of harshness, of triumph and greatness. She looked at Ser Harwin, who nodded at the princess, showing her his respect and admiration. He was astonished, as everyone else, but it was Harwin's smile that showed her that the respect was pure, was true, and it was her's.

She couldn't help but smile, she smiled back at him right before passing her father, the boar left in front of his table.

The hunt was done, it was time to go back home and the question appeared again in the air. Was the princess willing to get in the carriage. No, definitely not. Everybody went back to their bussines moments before biding the royal family a proper goodbye, it was Elaena the one who interrupted Ser Harwin.

"I have decided for a name for my horse, Ser Harwin" she spoke.

"I'm glad to hear that, my princess" turned Harwin "may I know it?"

"Laps...he's named Laps" she tried not to blush. "A very childish name, thats for sure, but appropriate for a rider like me".

"You, my princess, are a dragon raider... Kyrax is a name proper for a dragon...no shame in not mastering a horse when you can ride on the air"

She smiled at the mention of her beloved dragon, not many cared to remember the name. "Well, I guess it is special to see a dragon raider losing control of a stupid horse..."

"No, my princess, the thing is that, it is special to see the future dragon raider queen walk by".

They looked at eachother right in the eyes, glips of light on both, he looked down, she looked up. Quiet, nothing else to say. She looked at herself in the reflection of his eyes, the pupils expanded but even there she could tell they were green. He looked into the violet eyes his now princess. She standed there, smiling truthfully and lovingly before carising his hand. She turned then, heading to her horse. She looked back, wanting to catch a last glipse of Ser Harwin, he found his eyes still fixed on her, he bowed softly to her and she nodded, smiling with her eyes. A silly grin appearing the moment she gave her back.

He was going to stand by her side, no matter the shadow, the blood or the fire. She believed in her, he was fighting for her.

[atopvisenyashill]

i have decided to break down all the wild potential female line claimants to the iron throne thru the targaryen line because why not let’s go:

obviously there's our "modern" targaryen daughters: daenerys, rhaella, shaera, and rhaelle. that one is easy to explain in part because it's mostly incest, lol. it goes like so (mind you, i'm cutting out male siblings that don't inherit for now) -

Aegon V + Betha Blackwood -> Jaehaerys II, Shaera, Rhaelle (also Duncan & Daeron)

Jaehaerys II + Shaera -> Aerys + Rhaella -> Daenerys

Rhaelle + Ormund Baratheon -> Steffon Baratheon. Steffon + Cassandra Eastermont = Robert, Stannis, and Renly.

so rhaella & shaera's lines are the same as their brothers, and rhaelle is the grandmother of the baratheon kings, which means like the targaryen main line, all of their lines will be dead or illegitimate as well (rip myrcella, tommen, shireen, aegon vi, and daenerys tho).

that leads you up from aegon v to maekar’s daughters, and since we are at a time period where no main character was alive, i made a little graphic to explain easier. let's start with daeron ii (since he's maekar's father anyway) and work backwards:

there’s several ladies in this grouping: rhae, daella, aelora, daenora, and vaella. we know ‘recently’ a targaryen married the evenstar, and timeline wise, it can only be Rhae or Daella, likely to selwyn’s grandfather. which means claimant number one is selwyn & brienne as king & princess of dragonstone claimant. hell yeah.

there’s two “dead end” branches next. maekar has a granddaughter, vaella, but given she’s described as “simple” it’s likely she never married. daeron & myriah, meanwhile, had no daughters but their son rhaegel had two, aelora and daenora. aelora married her brother aelor but aelora killed herself several years after aelor died (it’s a wild story but not relevant). no children. daenora married into maekar’s line tho, to aerion brightflame and had a son, maegor targaryen, who was passed over for aegon v. we do not know if he married or had kids bc it’s not listed and it’s not like there’s a cadet targaryen house anywhere so if he did marry, probably all daughters.

even further back is aegon the unworthy who had one daughter: daenerys. yes that’s right, our second claimant for king and princess of dragonstone is doran and arianne martell (and then, haha, elia and aegon vi AGAIN, love nobility family trees). and then technically, because the martells are normal and don’t die off every two generations, probably a few offshoot martell cousins. and a reminder that minus mysterious maegor, we have no living male line descendants potentially hanging around either. but back to the targ line.

viserys ii had naerys who married aegon iv so their line is the same. aegon iii, his brother, had three daughters.

daena has daemon blackfyre and given that he was legitimized, you could make the argument that the blackfyres have a claim lmao, so any female line daemon kids could be fair game. then you have elaena targaryen who had several legitimate children: viserys plumm, & robin, laena, jocelyn, and joy penrose. that’s right my esteemed readers our third claimant for king and prince of dragonstone is phillip & dennis plumm!

*loud boos bc they’re not even a great house or a house that used to be kings, they’re just some random nobles in the westerlands* shut up i’m not finished!!

through elaena, the only targ pulling her weight out here to populate the family tree, we have our fourth claimant as well: Old Penrose of the Parchments for King on the Iron Throne!

there’s no reason laena, jocelyn, and joy did not marry but we have no info on them so just know if they married some random landed knight, we also have some random dude walking around the stormlands who could be the next king of westeros.

then we get JAEHAERYS but to keep with ignoring men in this post, i entitled it “alyssa’s line.”

baby visenya, who was a stillbirth & jaehaera, who died before having children, are the two “dead end” lines from the dance. before them is viserys, who had helaena but helaena’s heirs are aegon ii’s heirs.

now, jaehaerys had daenerys, alyssa, saera, viserra, daella, and gael. daenerys died before having children as did viserra. gael & saera had no legitimate children. that leaves alyssa and daella. daella had aemma arryn, who married back into the targ family tree to have rhaenyra. alyssa also married back into the family tree and had three sons, viserys, daemon, and aegon. aegon died as a baby, we know viserys, but daemon had two daughters with laena velaryon: baela and rhaena. laena herself is also a distant claimant through the female line - aemon, jaehaerys’ first born son, and jocelyn baratheon had rhaenys, the queen that never was, who had laena. through baela we get our fifth claimant for king of westeros, the literal toddler montereys velaryon! rhaena is kinda tricky - she had no children in her first marriage, and six daughters in her second to garmund hightower but he was the third son and his oldest brother had six kids so it’s not likely the hightower line descends from rhaena however it would be really funny if it did so for the sake of making myself laugh i give you our sixth claimant to the seat of house targaryen, king leyton hightower and prince of dragonstone baelor breakwind. this puts a lot of people in the running tbh, bc leyton has a million kids. his daughters marry and have kids with an ambrose, a tyrell, a cupps, and a redwyne (and a mormont but jorah and lynesse have no children).

(it would require all the hightower male heirs to die [not likely, there’s three of them] AND mad maid malora as well to get to alerie but king and queen mace and alerie tyrell with willas as prince of dragonstone is so fucking funny to me. hey daeron how olenna’s ass taste now.)

before jaehaerys, we have aenys, who had rhaena the boss bitch & alysanne. alysanne’s line is jaehaerys’ obviously, and rhaena married her brother aegon the uncrowned. they had two girls, aerea and rhaella, but neither lived to see adulthood. maegor never had living kids, which brings us back to aegon, who had only sons, and visenya and rhaenys, who married their brother.

i actually had a point to this which is that there is just no one sitting on that fucking chair at the ending because there is no one left alive to sit on it that the lords would choose. they’re not crowning a penrose or a plumm and they’re certainly not crowning my girls arianne and brienne however hilarious i think that would be. i think “westeros breaks up along weird new borders” makes sense just due to that alone - the north will push for independence (maybe parts of the riverlands will want to stick with the north), dorne isn’t likely to be thrilled about some random ass king, the iron islands is…the iron islands, so the only kingdoms that might actually want to stick together are the stormlands, the reach, the crownlands, the vale, and the westerlands, but also, all of these bitches hate each other right now & a lot of them are gonna bite it so who knows.

anyways tldr female line targaryen claimants include these wild choices for King & Heir:

Selwyn and Brienne of Tarth

Doran and Arianne Nymeros Martell of Dorne

Any female line Blackfyres

Phillip and Dennis Plumm of the Westerlands (so minor we don’t even know where their seat is lmao)

Old Penrose of the Parchments

Montereys Velaryon of Driftmark

Leyton and Baelor Hightower of Oldtown

Through Leyton, who has a whopping 10 children, we have House Ambrose, Cupps, Redwyne, and of course, the fat flower himself, House Tyrell as claimants eight thru like, fifty.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

While the pre-Aegon I targs receive almost no focus in any published material, how do you think it may have changed in precedent at the Great Councils if there was a ruling Lady of Dragonstone in the ancestry? When I first read F&B, I almost thought there would be a retcon with the Valyrians to be Salic / Agnatic and that would factor into the precedent of the great council of 101. There’s also a pro-daemon argument for agnatic seniority up to Daemon that I would’ve loved to have GRRM explore

Oh, but there was a ruling lady of Dragonstone:

Gaemon Targaryen, brother and husband to Daenys the Dreamer, followed Aenar the Exile as Lord of Dragonstone, and became known as Gaemon the Glorious. Gaemon's son Aegon and his daughter Elaena ruled together after his death. After them the lordship passed to their son Maegon, his brother Aerys, and Aerys's sons, Aelyx, Baelon, and Daemion. The last of the three brothers was Daemion, whose son Aerion then succeeded to Dragonstone.

And we know that Elaena was a Lady in her own right and not just her husband's, because Aerys and Daemion and Aerion had wives, but they aren't spoken of as "ruling together". Therefore Aegon and Elaena's situation must have been with her on the same level as him. But alas, that didn't seem to help much with later succession arguments.

I suppose there might be an agnatic seniority argument, but I can also see that they specifically factored in female heirs and "a daughter before an uncle" of male-preference primogeniture:

As the glad tidings of Rhaena’s birth spread across the land, the realm rejoiced…save, perhaps, for Queen Visenya. Prince Aenys was the unquestioned heir to the Iron Throne, all agreed, but now an issue arose as to whether Prince Maegor remained second in the line of succession, or should be considered to have fallen to third behind the newborn princess. [...] The boy, named Aegon after his grandsire, was born to Lady Alyssa and fathered by Prince Aenys. [...] While many still debated whether Prince Maegor or his niece, Rhaena, should have precedence in the order of succession, it seemed beyond question that Aegon would follow his father, Aenys, just as Aenys would follow Aegon.

BTW, if you're interested, you can see an essay by an actual lawyer stating that the precedent of the Great Council of 101 was no legal precedent at all.

But anyway, you're not the only one who wishes F&B had gone into far greater detail about various legal and social decisions of the Targaryens. @goodqueenaly has gone into it at length, in particular about the politics of matchmaking, and the lack of it in F&B...

[jonquilspool]

c. 175 AC, targaryen family gathering

daena: [glaring at naerys] look at her sitting there all holier-than-thou, rubbing those beads. i think she's doing another one of her fasts. bread and water bread and water. pathetic. if i ripped off her dress how many ribs do you think we could count? all 24?

elaena: leave her alone, it's not her fault she's so... strange. besides, aemon would kill you before you managed to touch her

daena: her beloved brother. look at him, he's staring at her like she's a hunk of meat and she doesn't even realize.

elaena: i don't think naerys realizes most things honestly. i would be impressed if she had any thoughts that weren't ripped straight from the seven pointed star.

septa rhaena: aemon was in the keep's sept last week lashing himself and crying. i was trying to pray but he kept whimpering naerys's name

daena: howwww is aegon their brother

elaena: didn't you say aegon cried his first time with falena?

daena: yeah. but he got better

[ceoofhelaegon]

Idc how popular/unpopular this opinion is but Helaegon in the show deserves to be portrayed as a complex relationship and not as Aegon/Naerys 2.0 that this fandom desperately want.

Not to be offensive to anyone but saying that A*mond/Helaena are the original Naerys and Aemon is a braindead take

Received similar asks and I thought it was better to reply to both at the same time…so here we go:

Aegon IV:

Aenys was weak and Maegor was cruel and Aegon II was grasping, but no king before or after that would practice so much willful misrule.

—writings of Kaeth in Lives of Four Kings

'Fire and Blood' were the words of House Targaryen, but Dunk once heard Ser Arlan say that Aegon's should have been, 'Wash Her and Bring Her to My Bed'.

—thoughts of Duncan the Tall

Naerys: I have done my duty by you, and given you an heir. I beg you, let us live henceforth as brother and sister.

Aegon: That is what we are doing.

—Naerys and Aegon IV Targaryen

Nine mistresses:

Falena Stokeworth

Megette

Cassella Vaith

Bellegere Otherys

Barba Bracken

Melissa Blackwood

Bethany Bracken

Jeyne Lothston

Serenei of Lys

Other:

Daena Targaryen

Elaena Targaryen (rumored)

Daughters of Lord Butterwell (rumored)

Many others

Aegon II:

“When his grief had passed, King Aegon Il summoned his loyalists and made plans for his return to King's Landing, to reclaim the Iron Throne and be reunited once again with his lady mother, the Queen Dowager, who had at last emerged triumphant over her great rival, if only by outliving her. "Rhaenyra was never a queen," the king declared, insisting that henceforth, in all chronicles and court records, his half sister be referred to only as "princess," the title of queen being reserved only for his mother Alicent and his late wife and sister Helena, the "true queens." And so it was decreed.”

“Though Blood and Cheese spared her life, Queen Helaena cannot be said to have survived that fateful dusk. Afterward she would not eat, nor bathe, nor leave her chambers, and she could no longer stand to look upon her son Maelor, knowing that she had named him to die. The king had no recourse but to take the boy from her and give him over to their mother, the Dowager Queen Alicent, to raise as if he were her own. Aegon and his wife slept separately thereafter, and Queen Helaena sank deeper and deeper into madness, whilst the king raged, and drank, and raged."

I was going to put Aegon II’s lovers here but we don’t know them, he’s alleged to have 3 bastards, and none of them are confirmed.

Aemon:

Arianne: And the Dragonknight? The noblest knight who ever lived, you said, and he took his queen to bed and got her with child.

Arys: I will not believe that. The tale of Prince Aemon's treason with Queen Naerys was only that, a tale, a lie his brother told when he wished to set his trueborn son aside in favor of his bastard. Aegon was not called the Unworthy without cause.

—Arianne Martell and Arys Oakheart

Not every man has it in him to be Prince Aemon the Dragonknight or Symeon Star-Eyes...

—Wyman Manderly to Davos Seaworth

When he was born they named him for a hero who had died too young.

—Samwell Tarly recalling Aemon's namesake

Aemond:

Prince Aemond Targaryen, also known as Aemond One-Eye and Aemond the Kinslayer…

One-eyed Prince Aemond, nineteen, was found in the armory, donning plate and mail for his morning practice in the castle yard. "Is Aegon king?" he asked Ser Willis Fell, "or must we kneel and kiss the old whore's cunny?"

Helaena:

"Helaena was a pleasant, happy girl, and all agreed she would make a fine mother. And so she did, and quickly."

Naerys:

She almost died in the cradle and was sickly for most of her life, finding most physical activity to be very taxing. She ate but little and was painfully thin, almost emaciated.

She was also devout in her faith, and often found solace in the pages of The Seven-Pointed Star. She would have become a septa, had her father allowed it.

Aegon IV DESPISED Naerys, he disrespected her and by extent his own trueborn son because of that.

No matter what gaslighting the show tries to do, or other greenies that hate our Aegon…Aegon/Naerys/Aemon will NEVER be Aegon/Helaena/Aemond and in the words of Tywin Lannister:

Is not an opinion, it’s a fact!

[imaginarianisms]

something something daenerys being all the targaryen queens & female relatives before her & being all of them at once & not just another aegon or rhaegar, yes, they are a part of her, yes, she is aegon the conqueror come again, yes, she is as noble as rhaegar, but she is also rhaenys targaryen who was kindhearted, graceful, playful, curious, impulsive, given to flights of fancy with a mischievous nature, loved bards, singers & the smallfolk & who loved to fly more than anything in the whole world & visenya targaryen who was a harsh, austere beauty & a sensual, passionate, stern, serious & unforgiving woman & was known to dabble in dark sorcery, play with poisons & use blood magic & dress as comfortably as she does in armor as she does in silk & she was a dragonrider & a warrior. she is also the amethyst empress, valaena velaryon, alyssa velaryon, the good queen alysanne targaryen if she'd only had the opportunity to wield power in her own right alongside jaehaerys i as she was kind, gentle, loving & loved all her subjects lowborn & highborn alike & was well loved throughout westeros as she loved her women's courts & was also skilled in hunting, archery & was known for her charity & she would've been sent to the citadel had she been born male, rhaena targaryen the black bride of maegor i, who was initially more comfortable with animals than people, who was deemed the queen in the west while remaining at casterly rock in the westerlands & later the queen in the east while holding dragonstone & was furious when betrayed & scornful of those she did not trust & was said to love other women, saera targaryen who made a kingdom in her own right & was significant in volantis, viserra targaryen the primadonna girl, aemma arryn, rhaenyra targaryen the half year queen who tried to do what daenerys her descendant did but could not due to the misogyny of the realm, helaena targaryen the dreamer, daena targaryen the defiant, elaena targaryen who was shrewd & intelligent, larra rogare, naerys targaryen the devout, myriah martell, dyanna dayne, princess daenerys of dorne who saw no difference between highborn & lowborn, shiera seastar, the star of the sea who was the most beautiful woman of her time in westeros to the point where duels were fought over the right to sit beside her, men killed themselves when falling from her favor & poets outdid each other writing songs about her beauty, she spoke many languages & was a seductress & a witch who held a large arcana library, betha blackwood who was said to be willful, rhaella targaryen her mother who was always said to be mindful of her duty, forced to marry her abusive brother & died giving birth to her, & so many other girls & women who were overlooked simply on the basis of their gender. all of these women's blood is in daenerys' just as much as rhaegar & aegon's is. daenerys targaryen is the justice & vengeance of all the grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters, nieces, cousins & granddaughters who were overlooked in favor of their male relatives, their grandfathers, fathers, their uncles, their brothers, their cousins & grandsons simply on the basis of being girls & women in a world that denied them freedom.

daenerys targaryen will finally break that cycle & break that wheel that tied so many of these women to these fates that bound them, used them, abused them & murdered them, she is the daughter of house targaryen that gets to not only survive, but live, thrive & conquer in a way her female ancestors & even her male ancestors could only dream of doing; she will do what no other targaryen in her lineage let alone any valyrian has ever done before, raising not just one but three dragons, drogon, rhaegal & viserion, riding her own dragon drogon, conquering & laying waste to the cities of essos, rectifying the sins of old valyria by destroying the slave trade, uniting all of the unsullied & dothraki under her banner & many different peoples, armies & cultures together, & taking back her birthright & playing a great role in saving the world from the others & their wights, & after bringing fire & blood to westeros, she will ensure a new golden age, she will surpass all of them, & she is the best that house targaryen could ever ask for.