#i rewrote like four times aksjdjd just thinking about like. how the viserys and helaena relationship might shake out

[atopvisenyashill]

I saw a fic with this premise and I’m curious on your take: Helaena is the only child of Viserys and Aemma. Rhaenyra is the only daughter of Alicent and full sister to Aegon, Aemond and Daeron. How does the story change?

Hmmmm.

So I think this depends mostly on how Viserys & Helaena get along. Viserys’ stubborn pride & love for rhaenyra is based on a few main things. I think the fact that her egg hatched was seen as a huge sign, losing Aemma, and his relationship with Daemon being so tense. If we assume Helaena still bonds with Dreamfyre, then her egg doesn’t hatch - that Might be taken as a sign BUT I think Aemma (at least show Aemma) would point out that if Viserys’ bond with Balerion was seen as a sign, then Helaena’s with Dreamfyre should be seen as one also. We know Helaena in the book (i’m ignoring the show for that one) loved to ride Dreamfyre, and Helaena taking to Dreamfyre as easily as Rhaenyra takes to Syrax is likely to endear her to Viserys. And of course, eventually, Aemma will die because Helaena is still a girl. Does Viserys still dig in his heels here?

Well...it depends on how stable Helaena is. I do think part of Viserys' own determination to keep Rhaenyra as heir is both how much Rhaenyra wants to stay heir (as in, she looks to him for validation) and how much Rhaenyra attempts to rise to the occasion. Honestly, I think no matter what, Viserys is going to get pissed off about the "heir for a day" comment, and probably take Helaena down to see Balerion's skull and attempt to tell her the prophecy. If we go with the show and Helaena is a dreamer, she's bound to be receptive and if she is receptive, and gives answers Viserys is looking for, he will name her and nothing short of Helaena asking to be unnamed or having a breakdown is going to make him change his mind.

As for how Helaena herself deals with it...I do think it would make her a little crazy because she can see all the ways its going to go wrong and can't stop it no matter what she does. On the other hand, I think a Helaena who has had responsibilities put on her and a parent who has more faith in her ability to withstand it would mask better than the one we have in canon. I do think she'd be just as suspectible to Daemon grooming her though - the visions are likely to make up for whatever lack of anger & paranoia issues that differentiate her from Rhaenyra but I think they would have a much more Laena/Daemon esque relationship in that I don't think Daemon is as destructive of an influence on her personality because Helaena herself does not wish to be a man or heir in the same way that Rhaenyra does so she's not trying to emulate him so much (in a mirror to Laena in that like - she already has two parents lmao she didn't need Daemon to be her father, whereas Rhaenyra very much sees Daemon as a sort of protective and paternalistic force in her life) and that in turn probably makes Daemon's obsession with her a fair bit healthier on his end - which isn't to say that he doesn't still have a fixation on her, because he absolutely would, because she still represents Daemon getting back into the family. I actually think it's not unlikely that she does still resort to having a bastard child when she marries Laenor, but a) the child is probably born later than Jacaerys is, likely closer to Lucerys' age and b) because she can see the future, she probably isn't going to choose Harwin or any sort of permanent lover at all, but rather just try to have a silver haired child to ensure the line. Given Helaena's "oddness" and the way it can manifest as a sort of rude frankness, I think it's not unlikely Helaena turns to Rhaenys over this, even given that Helaena is likely to see the Velaryons as political rivals still (the way Rhaenyra - and her father - do) which might help in the long run.

With Rhaenyra as Alicent's daughter and Aegon's wife however. I think she's likely to be worse honestly lmao. I think she struggles a lot with her place as nothing more than a brood mare and I think she chooses to lash out at Helaena, the same way that Rhaenyra lashes out at Alicent over Viserys. If Helaena doesn't have children for several years, you can bet Rhaenyra is making a comment about it. Probably the stories in canon about Rhaenyra's ~lusts~ turn into like, bawdy Alyssa-type stories about her really enjoying fucking Aegon, and Aegon's ~lusty wife. Probably Helaena winds up garnering some sort of frigid, Selyse esque reputation in contrast to this - well of course Laenor can't get it up, his wife is too cold in bed, yada yada, and Rhaenyra is probably quite hostile about that as well. I think Alicent would struggle with Rhaenyra for a daughter - having a girl that is very improper, and not in the Helaena way where she can be infantilized but in a much more angry, in your face way is going to chafe a lot with the "but look at my perfect heir and his perfect sister-wife" thing. Not unlikely to me that Rhaenyra and Aemond wind up pretty close and fixated one each other. I do think where the Velaryons and Helaena get a leg up is that imo, this is a situation wherein the greens are going to be very outwardly, tackily hostile and Helaena isn't going to be hostile or tacky back the way Rhaenyra does - she's just going to freak out and shut down. Maybe this makes her look worse but I think Rhaenys and Corlys (and Laenor) are smart enough to captilize on like "look at how they mistreat her, they're so cruel to our future queen" but I don't know if Helaena wins a lot of allies if she's considered "unstable."