#even tho basically repeated what youve said lol

[aerltarg]

My personal favorite headcannon is that the brother that Brynden mentions to Bran that 'he loved' is, in fact, Daemon Blackfyre; of course, the obvious choice would be Daeron 'the Good', I mean, he fought his king against Daemon, and nevertheless, killed him and his heirs, going so far that he went to history as a quenched Targaryen loyalist, always dismantling any Blackfyre insurrection but, wouldn't be more interesting if Brynden was thorn between 'love or duty', as many characters in asoiaf are? He could have he's reasons for loving Daemon: I mean, how couldn't he? the head of the Blackfyre dynasty was the ideal that any bastard could dream of being: was raised at court, being acknowledge by the realm despite his status (maybe for the wrong reasons, as many of his supporters had conniptions with the dornish), being acknowledge BY THE KING. And, I imagine, that being raised at court, and having similar status as Daemon, Brynden could relate a lot more with him than with Daeron, who was the heir and prince, something that he never dreamed of reaching. I imagined that, by the end of the day, Brynden loved and idealized Daemon, and the fact that Aegor persuaded him to rebel against the crown was a dagger to his heart, this and the old adage that so many characters of the books try to follow: "love is the death of duty".

What do you think?? (Pls, bear with my english, this is not my first language g.g)

omg i love this headcanon too!!!

yes, as you've said it's very easy to imagine daeron as the "brother he loved" of brynden. he fought for him, he killed for him, he became kinslayer, he stayed loyal to house targaryen after he died, he served his sons. i also think it's very much likely was daeron who gave brynden the dark sister for all his accomplishments.

yet, however much i love to imagine brynden having friendly relationship with daeron, the concept of "brother he loved" being daemon... just strikes different. and indeed does feel like smth grrm would go after - as you've said, "love vs duty" kind of situation, "human heart in conflict with itself" trope that grrm likes so much. there's even enough basis for this in canon, imo. i rlly like how you pointed it out! bc YES, brynden had more in common with daemon, another king's bastard, than with daeron, the prince of dragonstone. they were even closer in age to each other while daeron was much older. e.g. daeron was already 17 when daemon was born and 22 when brynden was. such a big age gap, esp in the world where ppl are considered 100% adults at 16, doesn't seem to me like a sign of a close relationship. ffs, brynden was very much likely younger than baelor breakspear, daeron's eldest son, and probably younger or around the same age of aerys i, daeron's second son. and yeah, sure, we do know that brynden's mother, missy blackwood, befriended naerys, aemon the dragonknight and daeron himself, yet i can see this only as brynden being kind of a distant little nephew to daeron, not a brother close to heart. and when we have the combination of the age gap AND different social status chances of close friendship go to hell pretty much, imo.

another great bastard who was even closer in age to brynden was aegor. and well... we know they weren't friends for sure lmao. this blackwoods vs brackens thing as addition to everything else ig. it's kinda curious tho that aegor was growing up away from the king's landing while both daemon and brynden were raised at court, and yet in the later years aegor and daemon somehow bonded and bittersteel even managed to persuade daemon to fight for the throne...

i must say i especially love the part of brynden idealizing daemon and feeling betrayed when he got persuaded by aegor to rebel!!! ah, ol' good targ drama, we love it. but personally i'm especially delighted to see this (and adapt this hc pls 😂) bc it reminds me so much of brynden & jon snow parallels that i enjoy a lot! it gives me the vibes of robb and jon: a close brother who has the love of their father while you are otherized and you still love this brother (even if are jealous in some way?). surely, i think there are greater parallels with daeron & robb / brynden & jon aka bastard bros staying loyal to their legitimate siblings despite everything. yet, now i cant unsee daemon & robb / brynden & jon! like yeah daemon got papa's love and was that perfect targaryen prince (except for the name) while brynden was otherized not just bc he was a bastard but bc of his looks as well. yes, jon and robb are the illegitimate vs legitimate kids situation but daemon being all that except for being waters and brynden also being rivers but still far from the perfect prince(TM) imagery gives us so many opportunities to wonder what their dynamics rlly was! bc i believe this basis of being able to relate to each other could make it so super interesting!

agsvxvsh idk if i'm making sense rn so the main point i wanted to lead to. brynden "he had sacrificed his own personal honor for the good of the realm" rivers chose duty and did what he thought right - put an end to blackfyre rebellions, got the kinslayer attire for this and was sent to the night's watch after his last attempt to end blackfyres. he paid for his choice. jon "i am the sword that guards the realm of men, and in the end, that must be worth more than one man's honor" snow chose love. his decision to march for arya is one of the main reasons he got assassinated. he paid for his choice too.

these parallels with jon that only shine brighter when you consider daemon as "the brother he loved" of brynden are one of the main reasons i love this hc! but ofc the whole complexity and potential of their story and situation that you get play the huge role too. it's a very rich concept that i enjoy so so much!