#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?