#tyland lannister and aegon iii come again

[befooremoonrisee]

jaime lannister the hand without a hand of a cripple king truther

[synchodai]

When I say Tyland Lannister is my favorite character...

I am being 100% dead serious. Here is why I prefer this seemingly average nobleman over the many many many fan favorites in Fire and Blood.

Tyland Lannister is a second son in a story about second sons. Whether his feelings on this are as strong as Aemond's or Daemon's, we never know for sure in the books, but it's obvious that he's subservient to a mirror image of himself who only has more authority because of a few seconds separation between twins. It's a great display of both the arbitrariness and rigidity of succession.

His initial role in the Dance is as the master of coin for the greens. He's depicted as a typical Lannister: charming, comely, and cunning. He did what any savvy accountant would do and divided the crown's treasury amongst different allied regions for safe-keeping, ensuring that if King's Landing were sacked, their enemies wouldn't loot their coffers dry and they'd still have plenty of gold for their war efforts.

And of course, King's Landing gets sacked. Tyland is put in the black cells and ordered to be tortured by Rhaenyra to extract the gold's whereabouts. Winter is coming, people are starving and rioting, her army is dwindling, so she desperately needs that gold. Tyland is gelded, maimed, disfigured, and blinded but the torturers get nothing out of him.

Mind you, this man has been a rich, pampered bureaucrat all his life and he endured all that without breaking. When Aegon II releases Tyland from those cells, he has no fingernails, his eyes have been gouged out and/or sewn shut, this man who was once known for his good looks doesn't look human anymore — but he still manages to maintain his wits so much so that he plays an important role after the Dance.

Even with Rhaenyra dead, there are still armies raising their banners for her eldest surviving son, Aegon Trois. Tyland tells Adult Aegon to kill Child Aegon because obviously, the latter threatens the former's claim and Tyland's understandably angry over what his mom did. Aegon Dos is like, nah, I'll keep the boy hostage instead — that'll keep the armies at bay more than outright killing him.

So Tyland volunteers to go to Myr to hire sellswords for Aegon 2 since their armies are pretty much kaput after six years of this civil war. Tyland is blind at this point I remind you — there is a huge chance this man will never get to go home again. But he does it anyway, because even after years of fighting, he keeps his unwavering loyalty to the monarch he declared for.

Aegon II dies while Tyland is in Myr, and Tyland goes back to Westeros just in time to see Cregan Stark use his powers as the new Hand to marry Aegon III and Princess Jaehaera to unite the green and black sides. Cregan dusts off his hands, says my work here is done, warns the boy king not to trust anyone, then leaves for the North for everyone else to sort this mess out.

Now comes the part where Tyland shines as a character. He becomes the Hand of Aegon III and when you see his policies detailed in the book, it's clear that his goal is focused on repairs and renumerations. After what happened to him, he has every right to be spiteful and bitter against the blacks, but instead he "claimed a curious failure of memory, insisting that he could not recall who had been black and who had been green." He abolished the heavy taxes imposed on the smallfolk, sent out gold to lords whose holdings had been devastated during war, and set out to rebuild the Realm's granaries and fleet. Cleaning up is a tedious, unglamorous job — and because of his monstrous appearance and former allegiances, Tyland was looked upon with distrust.

And yet, while other regents grasped for power and tried taking advantage of the 13-year-old King Aegon III, Tyland seemed to be different. If he wanted power he could have married his twin brother's widow and convinced the boy-king to route more resources towards Casterly Rock and the Westerlands. But he didn't.

Instead, he genuinely seemed to be a father figure to Aegon III.

Tyland Lannister, blind and crippled, had always treated the king with deference, speaking to him gently, seeking to guide rather than command.

And for that, many lords saw him as a weak Hand. But Aegon, who cared for very little and never laughed and was always sullen, seemed to care for Tyland.

When the plague ravaged King's Landing, Tyland dutifully prioritized it over quashing the Ironborn raids at Lannisport. He was the last person to become afflicted with the Winter Fever, and the king sat by his Hand's side during his final hours. When the council starts discussing who should be the new Hand, Aegon (the boy who rarely ever speaks) says:

I would have Lord Rowan as my Hand. Ser Tyland thought well enough of him to offer him my sister’s hand in marriage, so I know he can be trusted.

This boy trusted Tyland, the man who only years ago wanted him dead.

So it's easy to imagine that this man saw Aegon III as the boy he was responsible for, as the son he could never have because of what the war had done to him. Tyland Lannister was a broken man who despite losing everything, his king and his brother and himself, kept a broken Realm and broken boy together when everyone else swarmed like vultures just trying to pick at carcasses.

What motivated this man's loyalty for a boy whose mother mutilated him? Did he regret pushing for the death of an innocent child and this was his penance? Did this man who gave everything for his cause think that this boy was something that could still give all that sacrifice and tragedy meaning? Was the mercy and kindness he afforded an apology for the horrifying trauma that scarred this boy — did he feel responsible for his mother's downfall and the failure to save his uncle? Did his disfigurement and blindness allow him to let go of the man he once was and become someone capable of seeing the folly of pride and power?

Here is his obituary in Fire and Blood:

Ser Tyland Lannister had never been beloved. After the death of Queen Rhaenyra, he had urged Aegon II to put her son Aegon to death as well, and certain blacks hated him for that. Yet after the death of Aegon II, he had remained to serve Aegon III, and certain greens hated him for that. Coming second from his mother’s womb, a few heartbeats after his twin brother, Jason, had denied him the glory of lordship and the gold of Casterly Rock, leaving him to make his own place in the world. Ser Tyland never married nor fathered children, so there were few to mourn him when he was carried off. The veil he wore to conceal his disfigured face gave rise to the tale that the visage underneath was monstrous and evil. Some called him craven for keeping Westeros out of the Daughters’ War and doing so little to curb the Greyjoys in the west. By moving three-quarters of the Crown’s gold from King’s Landing whilst Aegon II’s master of coin, Tyland Lannister had sown the seeds of Queen Rhaenyra’s downfall, a stroke of cunning that would in the end cost him his eyes, ears, and health, and cost the queen her throne and her very life. Yet it must be said that he served Rhaenyra’s son well and faithfully as Hand.

Tyland wasn't extraordinarily badass, noble, or even skilled. He was an excellent politician but no way the best. But I think that's what makes him compelling to me — that he's this down-to-earth depiction of a POW, a war veteran by all accounts, trying to pick up the pieces and slowly glue what remains of the Realm and himself back into something vaguely human.

We tell so many stories about the glory, the tragedy, and the losses of war. But I think it's important and beautiful to tell stories of those bravely and optimistically choosing to keep living in the aftermath as well.

[horizon-verizon]

Did book!Viserys force Rhaenyra to marry Laenor or did Viserys allow Rhaenyra to choose a husband of her liking like he did it on the show?

*EDITED POST* (4/13/24)

In the book/canon lore, Viserys *forces* her to marry Laenor even though she is reported to have said she loved her uncle/his brother Daemon.

In the following, I will show how he does and why some might think he doesn't.

1.

He does not allow her to pick a husband at all, never once, in the entire account ("A Question of Succession"):

*[there was an edit here with an idea I do not agree with anymore]*

These lines seal it:

Long before any man had reason to doubt her innocence, the question of selecting a suitable consort for Rhaenyra had been of concern to King Viserys and his council. Viserys even talked of wedding Rhaenyra to the Prince of Dorne, as a way of bringing the Dornish into the realm. The best choice, king and small council finally agreed, would be Rhaenyra’s cousin Laenor Velaryon. King and council had neglected to consult the princess

Both Rhaenyra's tour & Viserys choosing Laenor happened after whatever happened b/t Rhaenyra & Daemon happened AND before the final interaction b/t her & Criston Cole. All those lines emphasize that Viserys is the final authority on who Rhaenyra will marry, not her AND he was actively considering people without her input. Even if she went around looking for a candidate, again, he was considering options himself while/before she was AND he threatened her ascension when she argued against Laenor, which directly contradicts her choice. Even if she picked a man, he'd also be the one to say "yes" or "no."

And in the book, do we ever hear of anything like the show marriage tour, where the lords--old and young--all line up, present their entire portfolio of assets-lineage-family history, & Rhaenyra rejects them? No. People were throwing themselves at her, but they weren't presenting straight-up suits for marriage.

2. Court Politics, Chilvaric Romances & Courtly Love

You may ask about this section in particular:

Great lords and dashing knights fluttered around her like moths around a flame, vying for her favor. When Rhaenyra visited the Trident in 112, the sons of Lord Bracken and Lord Blackwood fought a duel over her, and a younger son of House Frey made so bold as to ask openly for her hand (Fool Frey, he was called thereafter). In the west, Ser Jason Lannister and his twin, Ser Tyland, vied for her during a feast at Casterly Rock. The sons of Lord Tully of Riverrun, Lord Tyrell of Highgarden, Lord Oakheart of Old Oak, and Lord Tarly of Horn Hill paid court to the princess, as did the Hand’s eldest son, Ser Harwin Strong. Breakbones, as he was called, was heir to Harrenhal, and said to be the strongest man in the Seven Kingdoms.

and think that this is book!Rhaenyra going through candidates for marriage the same as show!Rhaenyra because so many men run towards her and some make their sexual interest in her obvious. All these men are trying to get the attention of the highest ranked and acclaimed prettiest girl/woman of the realm (ego) and/or impress themselves onto her memory to gain later political benefits. But, they are not formally presenting themselves as actual suitors. this isn't like the Maiden's Ball that Unwin Peake arranged for Aegon III.

The king's, princess's, and a lady's "favor" are not just proposals or suits of marriage, they are requests for attention, approval, allowance, or recognition of acts/rank/resources/etc., i.e, non-marriage ties. a way to show others they were recognized by their supreme authority or those related to/associated with them, which comes with its own enhancement of reputation.

Knights and lords ask ladies for their "favor" before they go into the lists to joust as a sort of "blessing" from a high-ranked lady. Doesn't mean they are married or even in love. Though it is also a way that a lord/knight might express their chivalric-courtly devotion to their lady love in the "courtly" manner/exercise (people didn't actually do these things as a practice, this was a literary collective invention).

In medieval Europe, the courts became a place where women held power and men treated them with respect, in terms of regarding as someone with power, even if it was something like that of the pure Virgin Mary. The woman in this relationship held the power as the man doted on her. For the most part, these relationships were not sexual, as people of nobility were also extremely religious and would not commit the sin of adultery (the Church's tenets had far more influence over European people's public habits than later during the Renaissance and Tudors). The Westerosi Red Keep court, like in medieval Europe around the 1100s-1300s, was a social hub of gossip and entertainment. We know that Viserys's reign was the most prosperous one aside from Jaehaerys, and Viserys had many feasts and balls and stuff. Lords traveled to KL and the Keep to be a part of the court and accrue influence, attending the royal family.

In chivalric tales with courtly love storylines, the knight and his lady love are always NOT married--in fact, in chivalric romances and romance tales, the idea is that the two lovers shouldn't be married to each other: usually, the knight is not married, and his lady love/beloved is the one married since marriage was not for love but politics and the idea was to have a knight devoted to country, king, and the high lady who at first rebuffs him and then acquiesces. The performance itself is supposed to express the participants' noble/aristocratic capability of love and intelligence. and since Andals passed down the chivalry and court culture to imbed itself into Westerosi (not North) culture, Frey's response to Rhaenyra has that layer that would enhance & inspire his feelings of admiration, but which GRRM is subverting since Frey absolutely had no chance and showing the real politics behind why he had no chance, thus the reaction to the Frey's actions and subsequent "the Fool" moniker.

That Viserys was not allowing Rhaenyra to look for or choose AND that Rhaenyra was not visiting several places for the singular purpose of finding a husband in formal arrangements is even more obvious with that Frey kid who asked for her hand so "openly" was called "Fool Frey". That is not what she went to the Riverlands to do NOR how that would go if she/Viserys were looking for a King/Prince Consort candidate.

Viserys likely sent her on this tour because he wanted to gather more good PR for her and strengthen the "Realm's Delight" reputation. Show off her beauty and expected grace, remind people to whom they pledged their loyalties. Get them familiar with her noble subjects. And it was pretty effective...since many esp in the riverlands (almost all the houses) where she visited rose up to fight for her.

3.

I mean, a woman/princess get to choose her husband? SHE sits as men FORMALLY PRESENT themselves to her like that Maiden's Ball in the last chapter of F&B?

That event, the various and most entertaining moments would have been recorded and recorded well (or better). Only Rhaena Targaryen--the Queen Dowager & Black Bride--had a similar opportunity. (A royal progress with an impromptu proposal is NOT the same thing as an organized suitor-presentation event). Similar and not the same, bc Rhaena nor Rhaenyra never had a formal lineup of men physically presenting themselves like in the show while having had no authority actually using something against her to make her choose a specific somebody(ies).

And even at the Maiden's Ball, Aegon was being pushed towards Myrielle Peake through the long, hot, insufferable hours enclosed in the hall PLUS the "mysterious" attacks or other stuff whittling down his options. At the time, Unwin Peake had a lot of power over the preteen king and had for a long time. It's only through Baela, Rhaena and Alyn Velaryon's intervention and plot with Daenaera that Aegon's saved form more of Unwin. Can we say that even though Aegon was given options of who to marry, that he had free will to choose who to marry? Once again, Viserys wanted Laenor and had him in mind for ever and refused Rhaenrya Daemon.

4.

This is what marriage and consent looks like in Westeros:

It's very clear that the reality is that the betrothed persons' consent wasn't all that important to their parents/hosts/guardians when said authority figures had a pressing desire for the marriage to exist.

5.

Just to clarify for the show:

In HotD, he still forces Rhaenyra to marry Laenor. She never wanted it, Laenor never wanted it. We understand that from episode 4, that she doesn't want Laenor, which makes Viserys tell her to marry him forcing her.

Just because he allowed her to pick at first, doesn't mean his actions later are not forcing her. If it was against her will, then he was forcing her.

Viserys at first allows Rhaenyra to choose her own husband/decide on who the King Consort would be because of that argument they had back in episode 3 about Viserys "wanting her to be happy", that she was "very angry and alone", and the already-present desire to solidify her ascension/claim. Thus him pressing for marriage after she said she didn't want to be married. In that argument, she also pointed out how he didn't go with the candidate that his council or Corlys wanted (Laena Velaryon), that he got to choose and had much more room to choose. And because he didn't choose Laena, his relations with Corlys and the Targ House's relation with house Velaryon also took a dip: personal and political problems he created.

So Viserys' intentions and motives for getting Rhaenyra married AT ALL (like most political marriages the authorities over the marrying persons have) aren't pure or totally considerate of what their kids/wards want. There is the inescapable element of Rhaenyra being a fix-it piece for the Targ-Velaryon relations Viserys caused himself OTHER THAN:

shoring up her claims through the shared Valyrian heritages the 2 houses have

Laenor being her 1st cousin once removed (close ties)

Laenor being a dragon rider

the Velaryons having their fleet

their reputation and ranks

"make up" after Rhaenys being passed over for him in the GC by "combining" families and ensuring Velaryon blood would become royal through Rhaenyra and Laenor's kids

So in both the canon and in the show, he always preferred her to marry Laenor, especially with how quickly he chose him for her after the Flea bottom incident. His need to retie w/Corlys, placate, and make up for his choosing Alicent is the same for F&B, as he also presented Laena as an option and refused her for Alicent there. In the book, he had no intention at all of letting her choose in any capacity. But even in the show, he's obviously using the fear of Rhaenyra's reputation against her choosing, as once again he doesn't even contemplate Daemon as a choice.

[wakeofvultures]

j for neither snake nor dragon 🤞

J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic]

Okay, yeah, I should have seen this coming! Anyway, this will be a really long ramble that is not very well organized.

There is certainly an AU in the works where everyone in the Greens live (except Otto and Criston because we needed some war casualties), so you will have to be satisfied with a description for now.

This AU fic would probably be tagged Angst with a Happy Ending if that is any indication of the contents. I think the prologue actually might be posted on this blog somewhere.

Basically, Elayne saves Helaena from jumping, and Rhaenyra being in a slightly better mood that specific day incidentally saves Elayne from the chopping block. Elayne gets sent to the Black Cells instead.

Aegon finds her there thanks to Tyland Lannister informing him that someone else was in the Black Cells.

The Civil War basically wraps up while Elayne recovers.

Aemond and Elayne get to resolve their unresolved emotional issues where Elayne thinks that her platonic husband abandoned her to marry someone he actually loves while she was a prisoner.

Helaena gets to surprisingly be a little mad at Aemond for the above emotional conflict. Protective! Helaena is sweet. She's still distraught about everything, but after losing Elayne and then finding her again, this jostles her into a bit of action to be protective of both Elayne and Jaehaera.

Aegon is just happy everyone is alive honestly.

Daeron's recovering from the war somewhere probably. (Since he currently has not appeared in the show, idk what to do with him)

I debated about having the dragons die here, but I decided that Dreamfyre and maybe Vhagar get to make the author's life easier due to politics.

We probably get an in-text Helaena and Elayne Valyrian wedding.

There's a subplot about Larys being a dick to Elayne. (Since I am basically spoiling the fic at this point, he's the reason that it took the Greens awhile to realize she was in the Black Cells)

The middle part is not super planned out, but the ending is the Greens trying to resolve the aftermath of a civil war.

House Tully except for Elayne gets to take the Black (RIP Kermit and Oscar). Most everyone else on the Black side is executed or taking the Black, but Aegon III specifically is forced to take the Black first and they hold all others in King's Landing before sending them North. Rhaena and Baela get to be Silent Sisters. (I debated keeping Rhaena and Baela around to explore their characters more, because they deserve it! But I feel like the Greens would land on the more pragmatic side of sending them away and having them take vows.)

Now, at the end of the fic, we have A Situation, because Jaehaera is Aegon's heir now. There are whisperings of further strife because well, Jaehaera's a girl. Aemond at this point has a son with Alys Rivers but uh... do the nobles dislike placing the son of a bastard woman on the throne. Elayne and Aemond probably eventually have the kids I imagined they'd have, Aerion and Daenys.

Aerion is probably heir to the throne according to most nobles.

I'm a little unsure how I want to resolve this issue, because everyone involved would probably not want to marry Aerion and Jaehaera given that they are practically siblings given their weird family situation, and Aegon is not down for another round of incest. He hates the idea. Elayne knows its the most pragmatic solution but also hates the idea.

I think it would be really funny if these guys literally fought a war invalidating the female claim to the throne and then put Aegon's daughter on it. True hypocrisy, love that for them. Honestly, they probably just end up putting Elayne and Aemond's son on the throne to avoid Targaryen in-fighting in future generations.

Alys' son/descendants gets Harrenhal for however long the curse and cosmic forces allow.

Elayne's daughter/descendants gets Riverrun.

The events of Westerosi history is henceworth changed (because Butterfly Effect) and we probably never get the Game of Thrones events. If we did however, I imagine Robert's Rebellion goes completely differently because House Tully is likely still closely tied to House Targaryen (while Aegon and Elayne were committed to the not doing anymore incest, I feel like there would at some points still be an effort to "keep Valyrian bloodlines pure" and House Tully and Strong would be good contenders for future Targ marriages)

Anyway at the end of this hypothetical fic, there is probably a historical excerpt to see how Elayne is remembered in Westerosi history. She would be markedly more documented than in Neither Snake nor Dragon

—

My stumbling block for working on this AU is that I don't want to get attached to my own interpretation of Alys Rivers, and then have her show version be completely different (I already expect this possibility with the Muppet Tullys and perhaps in some way with the Greens).

I've tried cutting Alys' appearances in the fic down to a minimum but it feels strange to do that!

—

Anyway, there is also The Elayne Survives the War but Ends up Dying of Winter Fever AU in 132/133 AC. It is always a thought that I think about for how absolutely unfair it is. It's such a terrible AU timeline.

-

[wild-as-a-winter-storm]

HOTD season finale thoughts! 

Okay, so more Lannister content, yay! It was fun seeing Tyland’s stuff in essos, so sad remembering what’s to come for him though! 

Ooh aemond looking down on a burning sharp point! More ordinary people being destroyed by house Targaryen’s civil war! This is what it's about!

Oh dear, poor Jace! Ulf saying exactly the wrong things to him (though in fairness he doesn’t realise it). Ulf is generally really fun though, “Silverwing’s a goer” haha 

Another amazing Aegon and Larys scene, loved it! “Aegon the Realm’s Delight” haha (Tom Glynn Carney’s acting has been so good this season) 

Criston and Gwayne’s scene was actually really good, and no one's talking about it!

Daemon’s weirwood vision gave me a little bit too much of a GOT ick but there were some cool elements, seeing Bloodraven, the blood going down Daemon’s hands, him falling. The best Daemon thing for me though was him and rhaenyra’s reunion and him bringing his army to her side, great scene!

Corlys renaming his ship after rhaenys <3 

I actually really liked the scene with aemond, alicent and Helaena! Aemond’s a cool character, and I quite enjoy seeing him having these more horrible moments. 

Ooh and “I was happier before I was queen!” You know alicent was thinking “me too!” 

And then the scene with just Helaena and aemond was interesting too, I liked her standing up for aegon and holding aemond accountable for what he’s done and not being pushed around by him into doing something she doesn’t want to do! Also Helaena looked beautiful in that scene haha. One thing though, was that what she said about the god’s eye was a little too obvious imo. I don’t mind her giving away little bits of foreshadowing but that was going too far. 

Exciting that rhaena finally found sheepstealer, that was something I’d been hoping for for a while, though at the same time it is a shame that nettles is all but confirmed to not be in it now.

And finally, time to address the alicent and rhaenyra meeting… first of all, it's funny, at the beginning of that scene I was thinking why is daemon not in that bed with her, there’s no way they’re not fucking after that reunion! but then I realised this is probably not that night, it's later on, and she is in fact on dragonstone, haha. 

And also a nitpicky thing… why is rhaenyra in that hairstyle in bed? That is not a do that people would sleep in, and it is far too neat for someone who’s just got out of bed. 

But onto the more important things. The acting was amazing in this scene, Olivia and Emma are great together and there were some cool moments- I liked seeing Alicent biting her fingernails again like when she was young, and just generally rhaenyra’s attitude towards her was fun (she is FINALLY wanting her brother’s head, yes!!). But in general, a lot of the things they were saying just seemed so silly, particularly alicent. And the question of “why are you here??” did feel like the key one. This meeting would not happen. They are at war. (I have more thoughts about this specific element but I think I'm going to save them for a separate post).

And Alicent would never give up Aegon, just as Rhaenyra would never give up one of her sons if Alicent asked that of her. And it felt like a diminishing of Rhaenyra (and Daemon’s) accomplishment in taking King’s Landing if it’s going to just be because Alicent gave it to Rhaenyra.

And it was an interesting place to end it- on the one hand, I am glad that Jace isn’t gone yet, but on the other hand, as I said, the battle of the gullet would have been a good point to end this season, and I am still attached to the idea I had of one of rhaenyra’s sons dying at the end of each season (Luke, then Jace, then Joffrey) and finally for the forth, one of her sons becoming king. (Aegon iii). 

I did like those shots at the end of the different parties ready to go to war, they looked stunning, but again it does kind of go against the fact that the war should already have started ages ago. Including, of course, the shot of the Hightower force and tessarion… it was what I was kind of expecting, actually, that they would give us a glimpse of tessarion without showing or casting daeron. I was keenly watching the rider on her back though!

And I am already eagerly awaiting season 3, despite having some problems with this season. There was a lot I liked too, and there’s going to be a lot of exciting stuff, it'll be really interesting to see how they handle it! 

[aegor-bamfsteel]

About Jaehaera I do not think she shoud have been the mother of the children of Aegon III. The point is that it's a punishment for Alicent that her royal line becomes extinct. But I did dislike that she was killed for this to happen and I would have preferred if Martin had not married her at all to Aegon III, instead having her be forced to become a septa, which would fit with actual history, many women seen as "troublesome" were sent off to monasteries.

I think the source of our disagreement comes from different opinions on who “won” the Dance. You seem to think it’s a complete Black victory, so the Blacks can punish the remaining heir of the Green cause by sending her to a motherhouse (which can’t happen, as there’s still a faction behind her who would take it as an act of war to have their heiress disposed). I see it as more of a stalemate, with both sides exhausting themselves to the point only children and regents remain; the Greens technically won as Aegon II is an official king and the crowning female rulers was dealt a major blow, but then the Targaryen dynasty continues in the male line through Daemon (and Rhaenyra). We see with complete victories (such as post First Blackfyre or Robert’s Rebellion) that the losing houses gets land/privileges/children taken away, with no one from that side being in any position of power in King’s Landing. That’s clearly not the case at the end of the Dance, as Green supporters serve in the Kingsguard (Willis Fell, Marston Waters) or as regents/Small Council (Tyland Lannister, Unwin Peake) even after Jaehaera’s death.

“it’s a punishment for Alicent that her line becomes extinct” she wasn’t even alive to see Jaehaera fall, having died a few months before. I’m not exactly sure why Alicent is the one who gets “punished” (by whom? The author?) by the complete death of her descendants, yet Rhaenyra and Daemon’s live on despite them committing atrocities (torture, child murder, violation of due process). Plus, while sometimes characters in the story want the sins of the parents to be exacted on the children, it’s clear that the author thinks otherwise. In any case, Jaehaera living would’ve actually made Alicent’s grief stronger, because by the laws of Andal succession, she should’ve been ruling queen, but because of the war partially regarding female inheritance, she can’t and instead her male cousin (the son of her father’s rival) is heir over her. Incidentally, that’s the reason why so many of the prominent Green Houses—Lannister, Peake, Hightower, Baratheon—either have only female heiresses or are being run by female regents after most of the men were killed in the Dance; GRRM is undermining their claim regarding female rulers and inheritance.

Realistically, there wasn’t going to be any other option than Jaehaera as queen consort because again, the Green faction wants Aegon II’s children to inherit after him, and if she has to marry his heir—since he died without male issue—so be it. Although I agree that GRRM shouldn’t have killed her. I hate the idea that she committed suicide, because he never handles that issue seriously, and with a 10 year old girl it’s possibly worse. I don’t like the idea Unwin Peake killed her, because he’s a Green supporter and killing the last member of his faction for a shot at his only heir maybe being the new queen is stupid (but GRRM made Peake such a 1D villain of course he’s implicated in that as well. I remember people suggesting Corlys as the culprit before F&B came out and tbh that makes more sense considering the way the Targaryens treated the Velaryons before the War). I would’ve liked her to be a mother to the Aegon III kids as it gives the conflicts some kind of continuity instead of just feeling like an isolated incident about why there’s no dragons or many female claimants anymore.

[astradrifting]

GRRM really created so many parallels and foreshadow using the DoD characters that honestly we could just figure the asoiaf ending by analyzing it. My favorite is the Aegon III-D@ny parallels, the fact that one of his closest allies was a face-scarred Master of coin Lannister who ended as Hand to Bran' parallel character just make it so obvious its funny.

Oh my god I didn’t even realise Tyland Lannister was initially on the greens’ side! I’m not super fond of Tyrion ending up as Hand, but you’re right that it’s so obviously meant to reference him. There’s so many parallels that it’s a little crazy. I don’t want to say that the second Dance will end exactly as the first did, it’d be a little too neat if history repeated entirely, but you can see so many echoes of it even in the show’s bastardised ending.

“The broken, shattered realm suffered for a while yet, but the Dance of the Dragons was done. Now what awaited the realm was the False Dawn, the Hour of the Wolf, the rule of the regents, and the Broken King.”

(TWOIAF, Aegon II)

I’m not sure what the False Dawn is going to parallel to, it refers to the period of time after Aegon II’s death but before Lord Stark got to King’s Landing, when people thought that peace had finally come. It kind of brings to mind the War for the Dawn, though personally I think that the threat of the Others will be resolved before the Dance is over. The Hour of the Wolf is obviously about House Stark’s rise back to power, and the Broken King is Bran - though if he actually becomes known as Bran the Broken I might end up committing violence ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. 

The parts about Lord Corlys Velaryon are why I’m so hopeful that Jon’s book ending will be completely different from the show’s. He’s arrested for Aegon II’s death by Cregan Stark, even though Cregan had previously declared for Rhaenyra, because as TWOIAF puts it, “to kill a cruel and unjust king in lawful battle was one thing. But foul murder, and the use of poison, was a betrayal against the very gods who had anointed him.”

Corlys didn’t deny his guilt, and expressed no regret. “What I did, I did for the good of the realm. I would do the same again. The madness had to end.”

Cregan Stark declared him to be guilty of murder, regicide, and high treason, and he was sentenced to execution. But many spoke in his defence, even people who had fought against him in the Dance. Baela and Rhaena Targaryen, Corlys’ granddaughters and Aegon III’s half-sisters, convinced Aegon to issue an edict pardoning Lord Velaryon, which Alysanne Blackwood then convinced Cregan to let stand. Lord Velaryon was pardoned and even restored to his offices and honours, made one of the king’s regents and given a place on the small council.

Corlys’ words definitely could be Jon’s as well, a much more in-character declaration post-D@ny’s death than the drivel GoT tried to feed us. I was worried for a bit that this would be how Tyrion is let off scot-free, but Baela and Rhaena, who were vital to his release, are such obvious Arya and Sansa stand-ins, and they’re certainly not going to expend any effort in helping Tyrion. So Corlys’ circumstances more likely lays the groundwork for how Jon will be freed and remain in political power, while Tyland frankly inexplicably becoming Aegon III’s Hand after he was in favour of brutally killing him parallels Tyrion managing to fail up, as a way of reconciling the old regime with the new one.

This makes Tyrion becoming Hand more palatable IMO. Either Jon and Tyrion both should have been punished or neither should have been punished, not the travesty where Tyrion gets everything he’s ever wanted while Jon is exiled to a Watch with no purpose and a Wall that’s already half-collapsed, so what exactly can it protect against? I suppose they were afraid of seemingly rewarding Jon for killing d@ny, especially if pol!Jon had been revealed, but most people noticed how nonsensical his ending was, and it just led to ‘Bloodraven/Bran is the real villain’ takes anyway.

(Side note: Asha/Yara basically still being loyal to D at the end annoys me so much, and made no sense. Jon did more to help save her by giving Theon that pep talk than D@ny did. Maybe it was a leftover from her taking Victarion’s role in the story, but in no reasonable world is anyone going to listen to the Ironborn who brought the Fire threat over in the first place.)

Of course Tyland Lannister isn’t actually Hand for long, given that he dies barely two years later from Winter Fever, feared and hated, alone except for a maester and King Aegon. It might be an indication that Tyrion will face a similar fate, that he’ll die after he’s seemingly won, exactly what he threatened Cersei with:

“A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid."

(ACOK, Tyrion XII)

So that I can stop talking about Tyrion, here’s some facts about Rhaena and Baela that are obviously meant to reference Sansa and Arya, so much so that it feels a little bit like GRRM is winking and going “See what I did there? Huh? Huh? Did you see??”:

- their descriptions: “Rhaena was slender and graceful; Baela was lean and quick; Rhaena loved to dance; Baela lived to ride...” + “Baela was wild and willful”, “more boyish than ladylike”, and kept her hair cropped short as a boy’s

- Rhaena spent most of the Dance in the Vale, where she lived in relative comfort as the ward of Lady Jeyne Arryn. Baela was a dragonrider and so moved between Dragonstone and Driftmark, but was captured on Dragonstone when Aegon II descended upon it

- Rhaena was favoured to be queen after her brother, considered more qualified than her wild sister

- Baela liked to spend time with “unsuitable companions” she would bring to the Red Keep - including a comely juggler, a blacksmith’s apprentice whose muscles she admired (!!!), a legless beggar, a pair of twin girls from a brothel, an entire troupe of mummers once

- After her brother’s regents tried to marry her to a lord 40 years older than her, Baela escaped the Red Keep by climbing out of a window, trading clothes with a washerwoman, then walking right out of the front gate. She ran away to Driftmark and married her supposed cousin (though more likely he was her half-uncle), the legitimised bastard Alyn Velaryon, which might have had me worried about j0nrya if Alyn weren’t best known for being a daring sailor who went on many voyages, including sailing the Sunset Sea, until he was finally lost at sea during Aegon IV’s reign. Alyn’s mother was also called Mouse, for being “small, quick, and always underfoot.”

- another fun fact about Alyn: he’s a bad haggler, and had to agree to a high ransom and many concessions in order to get Prince Viserys returned to Westeros. This automatically disqualifies him as a Jon stand-in, because as we all know, Jon Snow can haggle like the best of fishwives.

- My absolutely favourite detail that has my jonsa heart singing - Rhaena was more dutiful than her sister and would have married a man that the king and council chose, saying that as long as he was “kind and gentle and noble, I know that I shall love him.��� She was able to marry her first choice, whom the regents didn’t immediately approve of but that they ultimately accepted  - Ser Corwyn Corbray, the brother of the Lord Protector of the Realm, a second son (!) whose late father had gifted him the Valyrian steel sword Lady Forlorn (!!!)

And as a treat for @istumpysk, some similarities between Rickon and Viserys II!

- the youngest child of their family

- separated from their older brother after they were forced to flee their home, trying to get to safety while their other brothers and mother were at war

- worshipped their oldest (half-)brothers, but were closer to the brother nearest their age

- spends the war stuck on an island, populated by people closely linked to their family’s origins - Skagosi are descended mostly from the First Men, while Viserys was on Lys, where the blood of Old Valyria still runs strong

- sought by/held hostage by a powerful and wealthy family, who will treat them well but whose intentions are dubious

- will be brought back from exile by an upjumped bastard/commoner from a port town who was raised to lordship and became their monarch’s chief admiral

- after they are returned, long after the wars and crises, is happily welcomed as the heir to their older brother’s throne (shhhhh just let me have this, let the baby live)

Thanks for the ask!