#i mean the way meleys looked at her before dying

[caffess]

Rip to the only reasonable Targaryen and her poor dragon

[backjustforberena]

how do you picture show rhaenys and corlys as a young couple? do you think their beginnings are similar to the book?

We don't know what their beginnings are in the book. Haven't a clue. We don't know how/when/why they first met, we don't know any details of the courtship, we don't have any quotes or gossip or any idea of it at all. The earliest thing we have of these two characters, as a couple, is when Princess Rhaenys flies over to the Shield Islands to tell her grandfather that she's marrying Corlys and would like his blessing. Then we skip to the wedding, if I remember rightly. The information is pretty threadbare.

I mean, obviously, the big thing that is different, that we can at least be certain of, is the age gap. Corlys and Rhaenys in the book have a big age gap. Corlys and Rhaenys in the show don't. That's going to impact how they might have acted being a "young couple" in love. Corlys wasn't young in the book.

I picture them as very much like what we see in the show. I think it's just without a lot of that history, a lot of that stuff that comes from being married for years, and a lot of the baggage and loss that came to them during their marriage. We have Steve Toussaint saying that there were two scenes that showed glimpses of Rhaenys and Corlys being how they were like when they were younger, in Season 02. Or, at least, what they are like when they don't have masses of stress like war to get in between them. Those would be the bed scene in Episode 02 and, then, also the picnic scene in Episode 03. Steve's also said that, when he thinks of the relationship, the scene that keys into that and showcases it, to him, is the scene in Season 01, Episode 05, where Corlys and Rhaenys are talking about having betrothed Laenor and they're in one another's arms.

So, from that, I gather that there would have been a playfulness. There's honesty, there's an indulgence. There's a lot of affection and they enjoy each other's company. There's an idea that they are only themselves when with each other, which is quite a delicious concept to think about when you're then taking that back to a time when they are courting and getting to know one another. Having this marvellous discovery of finding a person that you don't have to put up a front for - especially for Rhaenys, having grown up in court! Corlys has this wonderful habit of trying to make Rhaenys smile and doing these low-key romantic things like holding her and feeding her food and telling jokes.

And I always think about how, really, at the start of their marriage, the sky is absolutely the limit. The realm is at peace, Rhaenys is the heir's heir with nothing to stand in her way of ascending the Throne one day, Corlys is building his house up better and better to become one of the richest, with a Fleet at his back. They're young, they're bold, they're carefree - they've got their passions in Meleys and the Sea Snake. They've got their own little kingdom at High Tide and nothing in the way of a really fantastic life together where they, basically, rule the planet and have a little tribe of kids before dying of old age when Rhaenys has achieved world peace and Corlys has achieved all of his ambitions as well. GDI, you Myrish assassin. You ruined everything.

Eve and Steve have also come up with a sort of idea of how they met and why they are attracted to one another and so that features in my thinking quite a lot. The idea that Corlys was unique amongst his peers: he was a bit rough, a bit wild, and an adventurer. Eve says he probably just strode into this big ball that Rhaenys's parents were hosting, looking like a "rock star" and Rhaenys was immensely attracted to the idea of a self-made man and it was "no contest". And vice versa, Corlys sees Rhaenys and wants her. No one else. Even if he's punching above his weight, he's got to give it a go.

And then add all of THAT to what we have in the show, which is Baela saying that Corlys made Driftmark what it is and became rich and did a lot of these voyages and things for Rhaenys. Again, Steve said something in a podcast where he imagines Rhaenys, flirting, saying that if Corlys wants her, he's going to have to earn her. And god love him, Corlys loves a goal. He went for it and he got it. They both got what they wanted: each other.

So, you know, how can you not kind of take that and run with it?

[backjustforberena]

I love the way you say she is a dragon-rider before anything else because that's such a nice way to look at it. Before anything else, and outlasting anything else, she was a dragon-rider. It's the constant in her life. Her other accolades can be made irrelevant or even negative (like being a Targaryen Princess) but to be a dragon-rider is always a good thing, a thing to be proud of, a thing to fear, a thing to take power from. It is always a part of her and her reputation and the implications are fierce. It's a blessing.

RHAENYRA: If dragons begin fighting dragons, we invite our own destruction. Fear of it is in itself a weapon. The Greens will make the same calculation. BROOME: The value of a sword is not within its scabbard.

And Meleys has to be that sword. And that's why Rhaenys glares at him: not just for the callous way he wants to burn Green strongholds, which would only incite a similar response from the Greens and would absolutely mean a loss of innocent lives. Rhaenys would be only too aware that, now that Daemon has left for Harrenhal, the dragon who will be fighting other dragons is hers.

Vermax and Moondancer are young (and ridden by her teenage grandchildren), Syrax and Rhaenyra cannot be risked because that's the monarch. It's her. She's the only one that can do it - and, as we know, she is the one to do it.

"Sending Meleys into war isn't just sending a weapon, you are asking Rhaenys to risk the potential loss of part of her very soul."

LOVE THAT!!!! And it concurs with something that Eve says, "She truly believes that the end justifies the means, even if it means sacrificing her own humanity in the process" - I love the idea that participating in dragon warfare is a sacrificial act even before it becomes a literal sacrifice for both Rhaenys and Meleys. That chimes for me.

And you can also read your statement two ways. A loss of a part of her very soul as in literally losing Meleys and Meleys dying in the conflict. But also something even before that. Losing a part of her soul or morals or humanity by using Meleys in such a way as well. Putting her in that scenario.

Meleys is capable of more than aggression. Meleys has feelings and empathy and is humanised. She is an individual being, not simply an extension of Rhaenys or a tool for her to use. There is conscious and consistent thought about her wellbeing. That bond is everything to Rhaenys. It's something she risks her life for. It's something she lives for. And it's central to Rhaenys, with that battle, and also broadly in terms of her character - that he dragon is part of her and her dragon is so much more than a weapon:

"the core of any Targaryen is a dragon."

"My dragon and I have a tender bond [...]"

"[...] her only ally and her only friend is Meleys."

"I think, at that point, her own fate means less. It’s what’s going on with Meleys that’s agony."

"[...] knowing that there was nothing she could do, feeling that it was her fault and that she’d somehow let down Meleys."

"you see the dragon respond and they’re taking care of each other in that moment."

"[...] feeling that somehow she’d let her down or betrayed her in some way..."

"I felt like Rhaenys was saying help and Meleys just says, “you’ve got this.” That moment of connection felt really important."

"The poetry of her literally coming to an end in the sky on her dragon and letting go into eternity is perfect."

In a series that puts quite a lot of stock in the idea of religion, prophecies, gods and touchstones, it doesn't escape me that Rhaenys looks like she's praying here:

I really like the idea that Rhaenys gets just... steamed whenever someone dehumanises Meleys or trivialises her - treats her as a pawn or just an asset.

So instances like when Meleys is imprisoned by the Greens just for what she is and what she could mean for the war, when Daemon just counts Meleys amongst the fighting dragons for Team Black, or he tries to order Rhaenys to take her "mount" and fly with him, or whenever ANY of the men on the Black Council say they should use dragons, send dragons, press their advantage (dragons).

All of those times, I feel like Rhaenys is, to various degrees, outraged.

I think whenever Rhaenys councils against dragon warfare and the bloodiness of it and when she responds to suggestions of attacking with dragons (like side-eying Alfred Broome and wishing his head would catch fire) or the inevitably of it... it's with a personal stake.

Because it's not just unleashing hell. It has specific implications and a specific role and specific risk for a creature that Rhaenys loves.

When they talk about sending dragons to war, it's sending Meleys to war.