#illyrio

[racefortheironthrone]

Do you think that the baby swap actually happened? I prefer the theory that the baby swap did not actually happen, and that Aegon is the son of Illyrio and Sera (posited as a female-line Blackyre) - the baby swap does not explain why Elia would choose to protect the swapped baby with her life while leaving Rhaenys alone, nor Illyrio’s extreme fondness for the boy.

For almost a decade now, I've been an advocate of the double-swap theory, which I think does the best job of reconciling the actions of both Varys and Illyrio.

That being said, I think there are two perfectly cromulent explanations for Elia's actions in this theory: the first possibility is that Elia didn't realize that a baby swap happened very shortly before her death, and the second is that she did know, and that (just like Gilly in AFFC/ADWD) she was willing to endure suffering in order to ensure that her son would live.

[leomitchellart]

'Magister Illyrio murmured a command, and four burly slaves hurried forward, bearing between them a great cedar chest bound in bronze. When she opened it, she found piles of the finest velvets and damasks the Free Cities could produce . . . and resting on top, nestled in the soft cloth, three huge eggs. Dany gasped. They were the most beautiful things she had ever seen, each different than the others, patterned in such rich colors that at first she thought they were crusted with jewels, and so large it took both of her hands to hold one. She lifted it delicately, expecting that it would be made of some fine porcelain or delicate enamel, or even blown glass, but it was much heavier than that, as if it were all of solid stone. The surface of the shell was covered with tiny scales, and as she turned the egg between her fingers, they shimmered like polished metal in the light of the setting sun. One egg was a deep green, with burnished bronze flecks that came and went depending on how Dany turned it. Another was pale cream streaked with gold. The last was black, as black as a midnight sea, yet alive with scarlet ripples and swirls.  "What are they?" she asked, her voice hushed and full of wonder. "Dragon's eggs, from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai," said Magister Illyrio. "The eons have turned them to stone, yet still they burn bright with beauty." 

A Game of Thrones, Chapter 11, Daenerys II

[wyattabernathyus]

[jays-asoiaf-reblogs-and-archive]

Art by Jota Saraiva

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

Thinking about poor, doomed Young Griff and how it’s not even important if he is or isn’t Rhaegar’s real son. Because what makes him a fake goes beyond blood - it’s really down to intent and experience. He’s a poor rich man’s Aegon V, but like without the organic hero’s journey.

He’s a lab experiment pretty much. However well intentioned he is, there isn’t much indication that his journey has been authentic. Varys and Illyrio are trying to recreate Aegon V with a fake...literally down to the “let’s hide his hair” scheme. They even gave the boy Aegon’s freaking name (it’s a king’s name after all so I can’t blame them). But they missed like the biggest, most important lesson of all. Aegon V CHOSE to go out. HE made himself, no one else did. His journey was organic as it was derived out of his own autonomous decisions, not manufactured down to the smallest detail (does YG really know what it means to starve and be homeless and hunted?). And there was no promise of a reward (I.e., kingship). Egg didn’t know that he’d be king and even after his dad rose to the throne, there were a ton of people ahead of him. FFS he’s called Aegon the Unlikely. Bro just woke up one day and was like “ay wouldn’t it be nice to actually experience this realm from the perspective of a disenfranchised person?”

Meanwhile, our poor Young Griff is being made to go through all this with the expectation that it’s all going to pay off when he becomes king. BUT (big but!), who’s to say that he actually gets it? Like does he really get why he needs to see how this horrible feudalistic society preys on the smallfolk and makes corpses out of them? Wait, does he even know or recognize that the system needs changing? Like did Varys and Illyrio just tell him “people poor” and leave it at that? Why are they poor Young Griff? How did they get there?! Do Varys and Illyrio even get it? Do they understand that Aegon V was a radical change maker?

How hollow is it that it’s not Young Griff making the conscious decision to actually try and see how his subjects live. He’s not making the conscious decision to be a change maker, no matter what Varys and Illyrio say. People in this fandom will talk about how Young Griff will be the perfect king but…perfect for whom? In what way? In a series that critiques this entire system, what about YG screams that he’s going to actually tackle some of the systemic issues that need tackling - the systemic issues that Aegon V tried to tackle after organically going through his own journey?

WELLLLL….isn’t it cool that Jon and Dany are the true heirs to Aegon V’s legacy not because of blood, but because they actually get to the heart of Aegon V’s journey? Say what you want about them but they are radical as it gets (Jon at the Wall and Dany all over Slaver’s Bay). No one manufactured them. No one told them they had to care about people. No one told them they had to do this lab experiment to become king/queen. They actually did their own thing, while themselves being disenfranchised (GRRM identifies both as outsiders). And without the expectation of a reward (like Jon is literally told that his entire life will basically amount to nothing).

And it’s even better that they were unlikely. Young Griff is meant to happen - well someone is pulling the strings to make sure he works. He’s taking the role of someone who was always meant to be king - for Rhaegar’s son was meant to be king. But Jon and Dany are actually following the Aegon V blueprint because they weren’t meant to happen. Jon is a second son who is presumably a bastard with a contentious claim, and Dany is a daughter who was never meant to survive being sold off to slavery let alone rise to queenship. Neither one of them was meant to be on the throne. No one told them to do the things they did. No one took them and placed them in the positions they’re in. They rose to the occasion by themselves and made changes by their own volition - just as it was with Aegon V. And what makes it even better is that just as Aegon V was chosen to be king, so were Jon and Dany (Jon was literally elected into office and basically won over the wildlings while Dany was dubbed “mhysa” because of her actions in Slaver’s Bay).

[carcrash-white]

Cersei shenanigans I'm manefesting for TWOW:

Genna Lannister regency.

Fucked up love affair with Tyene Sand.

Not taking The Aegon cause seriously at all.

Making Illyrio Master of Coin.

Minor diplomatic incident when she refers to Illyrio as Prince of Pentos, implying he's going to be sacrificed at the first sign of trouble.

Making the worse marriage offer ever (Euron) asked to leave Kings Landing

Being accused of killing Grand Maester Gormon (did this one).

Being accused of killing the High Sparrow (didn't actually do this one).

Thinking the mutiny against Jon Snow was her doing.

Major diplomatic incident when she congratulates the mutineers against Jon Snow.

The Faith using Lanncel at her trial by combat thinking she'd never let Robert Strong obliterate her cousin.

Getting Robert Strong to obliterate her cousin.

Choosing Nymeria Sand as hand to spite the Tyrells (female Dornish bastard) unaware this is the worst decision she made since blowing off the Iron Bank.

Pushing Margarey of a cliff.

Having Tommen see her push Margarey off a cliff.

Not taking Mycella being disfigured well at all.

Moon of 5 Kings Version 2

Sacrificing Illyrio at the first sign of danger.

Leaving to Casterly Rock to wait for this Aegon bussiness to all blow over :)

[visenyaism]

ASOIAF terrible fathers bracket day 1:

jaime lannister vs jaehaerys i targaryen

rhaegar targaryen vs. doran martell

balon greyjoy vs. tytos lannister

ned stark vs. viserys i targaryen

[cassynite]

The projected early dynamic between my character Yukina and @new-austin's character Illyrio for an upcoming game lol

[first-of-her-nxme]

First I like the theory of jaqen=aegon even many people won´t believe it . second I have couples of questions for you :

.How can we believe that jaqen face is true (the one arya saw half white half red) because many people assuming that is not true .?

.why jaqen is working alone to get his dragon , without the help of varys or anyone , he doesn´t have fellowship like danny ?

and last, I think danny and brienne have seen a similar vision about a man and a girl stand alone in a fallen city does this indicates something ? and i´m so sorry about my questions hhhh.

thank you

Thank you :) I just wanted to say again that I wasn't the person who guessed that Jaqen was Aegon. Many people before me realized that. You can find some old discussions on westeros.org and other message boards. I don't want to take all the credit for it. However, everything I write here about Jaqen's journey is my explanation. People have all sorts of ideas of what happened. I often disagree with them so what you see here is mine.

But to the point.

You probably noticed that A Song of Ice and Fire is written a bit like a crime story. The series begins with a mysterious death of Jon Arryn and then Ned Stark starts his investigation. Then, the "detective" himself is murdered and the chain of deaths continues. Ned's death was the result of the unfair trial but following victims died under even stranger circumstances. You remember Joffrey and Tywin, to name but a few. We also get the prophecy of the Valonqar who is supposed to ruin Cersei's life. Some people accuse Tyrion but then we get Mercy chapter where the true killer is revealed: he is hiding in Tyrion's shade and his name is the Stranger. Interestingly enough, we have already met the Stranger who first introduced himself as Jaqen H'ghar, who is a professional killer and a very important person in Arya's life. So this is a crime story where the characters and the readers are supposed to find the real killer. In crime stories, authors always introduce the killer very early but they usually present him as a person not involved in the main plot so out of suspicion. And so it happens that GRRM also introduced Jaqen and his work quite early. And we tend to believe that he is a random criminal locked in the black cells. We see his true face like in the classic detective book and then GRRM starts messing with us and gives Jaqen a new face and then another. So this is the first reason why this face is real: it's how things work in crime stories.

Another factor is GRRM's description of Targaryens on his Not a Blog. Back in the days when the comments were still allowed, GRRM used to respond to his readers. He talked about the Targaryens's fine chiseled aristocratic features and then he described Jaqen in almost the same words in the books "slender, fine-featured...the handsome one". In addition to his beautiful face, Jaqen has white Valyrian hair. GRRM makes him tall and slender too. Jaqen is supposed to be a criminal and yet he has the manners of the aristocrat. He is clever and educated, he speaks High Valyrian. If he is a Targaryen, he doesn't need another face - he already looks like a Targ.

Then we see the resemblance to the weirwood tree. Arya observes that Jaqen seems like a tree where he is standing next to the weirwood. His hair is the color of weirwood: Valyrian white and blood red like the song of ice and fire. And like you mentioned, the image of the weirwood that looks like a young man with a girl by his side appears later in the books, in Brienne POV. There is too much of importance to this face to dismiss it as fake.

There is also a notable reference to Jaqen and Bloodraven in the prologue to A Clash of Kings when the maesters at Dragonstone receive the raven. The raven that arrives is white as snow and larger than any hawk, with the bright black eyes that meant it was no mere albino, but a truebred white raven of the Citadel. The "mere albino" is Bloodraven. Jaqen also has white hair but is a true born Targaryen and the rightful king and more powerful than Brynden. Perhaps Jaqen has black eyes like Elia. Jaqen is also a student at the Citadel later in the books so he is "the reaven of the Citadel". When the raven starts to talk he is very polite, he bows his head and calls Shireen "Lady" which mirrors Jaqen's courtesy towards Arya in Harrenhal where he calls her "My Lady of Stark". It is so symbolic that GRRM is using a raven to make a reference to Jaqen because of what we later learn about Bloodraven and the magic of weirwoods. And here in the prologue we learn that he is more powerful than Brynden, the last greenseer.

A reader needs to work a little to understand Jaqen's role in the books but this is GRRM's intention. It's supposed to be a big mystery. Like he has always been saying, he laid out breadcrumbs for us to pick up and get the true meaning behind the story.

Next part of your question: the fellowship of Jaqen or the lack of it. When we talk about Varys I think that he might be helping Jaqen. We should remember that it is Illyrio who has the gold to buy the army and it was Illyrio who took Jaqen in after Rhaegar had lost the war. I think that Illyrio decided to get rid of J/Aegon after Serra gave birth to a boy who looked like a Targaryen prince. Illyrio in the books is a carbon copy of Aegon IV so he must be one of the King's successors. He is not a legitimate Targaryen and so he can't push his claim but he got his hands on Rhaegar's son and then he got a boy who looked a lot like Aegon. So, he swapped the boys and decided to raise Young Griff like Rhaegar wished his son to be raised and make him the king. I think that he told Varys to get rid of Aegon, to kill him or sell into slavery but Varys took the boy to Braavos and left him with the Faceless Men. Please, remember that Illyrio stole all the things that used to belong to Aegon. He has the boxes filled with the boy's clothing, the silver, the armor of his guardians, the court clothes. He might have had Aegon's dragons's eggs too but he gave them to Daenerys. So now Aegon has to earn his dragon himself. He was robbed and abandoned, that's why he is alone. I still think that Varys is secretly rooting for him and might turn sides when Young Griff dies. You may be interested in re-reading the prologue to A Feast for Crows for the reference to Aegon the Conqueror and Jaqen. There is a mention of Aegon's single-dragoned conquest of Westeros. Now, Jaqen comes to Oldtown to learn how to hatch his dragon's egg and he is surely dreaming of conquering Westeros with his dragon like Aegon I did it.

The last part of your question, the symbolism of weirwoods. Yes, yes and yes: the weirwood that Brienne sees symbolizes J/Aegon and Arya. It means that they are connected to the powerful weirwood magic. They will join the old gods someday. Their souls are immortal and they will live together in weirwoods for eternity.

I'm sorry but I can't remember which Daenerys's vision you have in mind. It would be great if you could find the quote from the books, thank you in advance!

I apologize for the long answer. There is just so much book material to explain.

Thank you for another interesting question :)

[asoiafreadthru]

A Game of Thrones, Daenerys III

The knight gave his heels to his mount and started off again.

Dany rode close beside him.

“Still,” she said, “the common people are waiting for him. Magister Illyrio says they are sewing dragon banners and praying for Viserys to return from across the narrow sea to free them.”

“The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends,” Ser Jorah told her.

“It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace.”

He gave a shrug. “They never are.”

Dany rode along quietly for a time, working his words like a puzzle box.

It went against everything that Viserys had ever told her to think that the people could care so little whether a true king or a usurper reigned over them.

Yet the more she thought on Jorah’s words, the more they rang of truth.

[thesunwillshineonusagain757]

𝗧𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗧 𝗔𝗨- 𝗔 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗢𝗙 𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗘

So this is the second entry on the next book for West Essos. For those who don’t know this is the city where Daenerys is at the start of game of thrones. I actually liked this a lot, but it’s kind of very complicated to do it so it might not be a daily series anymore like once or twice a week so tell me if you guys like it. I liked doing this a lot and next year I plan on doing this again. So Merry Christas to everyone ( because in my country we celebrate 24 and 25 ), and happy New Year.

WEST ESSOS. BRAAVOS. MYR. VOLANTIS. LYS. TYROSH. STEP-STONES. QOHOR. LORATH.

[goodqueenaly]

It's like poetry something whatever but also comparing and contrasting Ned and Illyrio in their approaches to Jon and Aegon, respectively.

(Obviously, this post is based on the ideas that both Jon is the biological son of Rhaegar and Lyanna and Aegon is the biological son of Illyrio and Serra, as well as the notion that Serra was herself a descendant of the Blackfyres.)

Ned’s outlook for Jon centered on embracing Jon as his son, to the absolute exclusion of his birth identity. Whatever Lyanna’s exact dying words had been to her brother, Ned certainly seems to have interpreted the promise as one to keep Jon safe, without the revelation of his biological parentage. From the first, Jon would know himself only as Jon Snow, with all the implications the name carried; with Jon’s surname designating his (ostensible) bastard status and his first name reflecting his (ostensible) father’s own personal history, Jon’s identity would be wholly defined by and linked to Eddard Stark. Yet Ned would not merely craft a surface-level identity for his sister’s son; he himself would actively, indeed fiercely embrace his own role as Jon’s “father” in more than just assumed genetic paternity. Far from fostering Jon with a pliable aristocratic family elsewhere, Ned installed Jon in Winterfell even before the arrival of Catelyn and their own son and sternly defended that position to his new wife. Jon would grow up as an undisputed (at least to Ned and the Stark children) member of the family, educated by the same maester, trained by the same master at arms, present for the same hunting trips and political responsibilities. Never would Ned hint that Jon belonged, at least by ancestry, to the royal dynasty which had ruled Westeros for three centuries (and dominated in Valyria for millennia prior); Ned would treat Jon only as his son, relying on the firmness of his decision and Jon’s own Stark appearance (inherited from Lyanna, but easily attributable to Ned himself) to maintain the assertion.

For Illyrio, however, his son Aegon has represented not the chance to accept a paternal role but the opportunity to invent a grandiose dynastic destiny for him. We cannot know, at least for now, if Serra sought a promise from Illyrio regarding Aegon’s future, or if Illyrio himself believes that he is acting as Serra would have wanted, but it seems highly improbable that Serra asked that her son be raised to believe that he was in fact the child of the last Targaryen crown prince, and take the Iron Throne as such. Illyrio’s decision to do exactly that may therefore represent a sort of betrayal, perhaps spiritual if not actual, to Serra’s (again, I think probable) Blackfyre origins, and a distinct contrast to Ned’s choice with Jon: aware that Aegon’s female-line Blackfyre credentials would earn him little if any political support in modern Westeros, Illyrio has instead appropriated a false identity for his son that Ned saw in truth for Jon but rejected - that is, the boy as the son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, a would-be heir to this father’s legacy. If Illyrio raised (or, perhaps more accurately, oversaw the raising of) Aegon as a young child in his own Pentoshi manse (evidenced by those musty children’s clothes and Illyrio’s old knowledge of Aegon’s favorite candy), such (relatively) hands-on rearing I think ended rather early: Varys brags to the dying Kevan that “Aegon has been shaped for rule since before he could walk”, and (politically charged boasting aside) Aegon’s extensive education certainly suggests Varys may not be exaggerating too greatly here. Illyrio, unlike Ned, not only found (alongside or thanks to Varys, of course) a willing, indeed eager Westerosi aristocrat to act as the hidden Aegon’s foster father (with that figure even giving Aegon a name derived from his own, likewise fabricated, alias), but clearly specified that the disguise was to remain a surface-level illusion: Aegon is well aware that he is (so he believes) a Targaryen prince, and that his life on the Rhoyne is no more than a secret training ground for his eventual Westerosi royal inheritance. Where Ned remains the central figure of Jon’s life - not only as his (again, assumed) father, but the only parent he knows - Illyrio functions little if at all in the thoughts of Aegon: he is the faraway benefactor whose chests contain the gold to fund his expedition, the unseen planner whose schemes are derided by Tristan Rivers. Each boy may have inherited his mother’s looks, but where Jon’s Stark features only underline the connection between himself and Ned, Aegon’s Valyrian appearance only serves to enhance Illyrio’s argument that he is, in fact, Rhaegar’s son.

[new-austin]

Working on a paper doll of Illyrio

[jays-asoiaf-reblogs-and-archive]

Art by Jota Saraiva

[jedimaesteryoda]

Serra was Illyrio’s second wife, a sex slave from a pleasure house in Lys, and likely Aegon’s actual mother. She was a Blackfyre in the War of the Roses parallel of Margaret Beaufort, likely Daemon IV’s daughter sold into slavery after Maelys’s coup. 

Serra’s story sounds much similar to Daenerys’s: a young girl of Targaryen blood in Essos whose (proclaimed) royal father was deposed by a distant cousin, and then sold into marriage as part of a plan to take the Iron Throne. 

She did succeed in having a living son unlike Daenerys, but she never got to see him grow up as Illyrio states about her tragic death:

"A Braavosi trading galley called at Pentos on her way back from the Jade Sea. The Treasure carried cloves and saffron, jet and jade, scarlet samite, green silk … and the grey death. We slew her oarsmen as they came ashore and burned the ship at anchor, but the rats crept down the oars and paddled to the quay on cold stone feet. The plague took two thousand before it ran its course." Magister Illyrio closed the locket. "I keep her hands in my bedchamber. Her hands that were so soft …"

I think just as he doesn’t mention the actual details of her identity and the reason Illyrio married, he also may have been fibbing about her death. The best lies have bits of truth, the truth being the grey plague likely may have happened at the time. Note, he mentions that a plague came to Pentos, yet he doesn’t state that Serra herself got sick. 

At the end of the chapter, Tyrion sings a song by Symon Silvertongue threatening to reveal his secret about the sex worker who became his mistress, Shae. Shae herself (understandbly given her situation) betrayed him, and he would end up killing that very woman with the gold hands of the Hand's chain.

"A Braavosi trading galley called at Pentos on her way back from the Jade Sea. The Treasure

For she was his secret treasure

"I keep her hands in my bedchamber. Her hands that were so soft …"

For hands of gold are always cold, but a woman's hands are warm

Just where was the galley headed? As Illyrio said, it was on its way back to its home port of Braavos, a historical refuge for escaped slaves. 

Cutting off body parts with the tongues removed for little birds is part of Illyrio and Varys’s modus operandi, but it must be noted that the cutting off of one’s hands is the common punishment for thieves. What did Serra try to steal?

The thing of most value to Illyrio and Varys: Aegon.

While Illyrio and Varys were all in on the plan to crown Aegon, just what were Serra’s thoughts on it? The plan involved taking her young son from her for perhaps indefinitely to be raised by strangers to pursue the Iron Throne, a quest that has only resulted in death and disaster for her family.

Serra may have tried to run away with an infant Aegon to Braavos. Illyrio’s house slaves may even have helped her escape. Of course, Varys and Illyrio found out and stopped her, killing the crew on the ship. They would have been undoubtedly mad that she almost undid years of planning, and she likely threatened to reveal their secrets as a desperate last attempt. By that point, she had given birth to Aegon and fulfilled her part in the plan, so they didn’t need her anymore. 

They likely killed Serra, and Illyrio kept her hands as a memento. Serra was used a brood mare for her house's cause and when she tried to exercise some agency, she was murdered.