#whereas rhaenyra is breaking laws and customs left and right from the start

[lemonhemlock]

What do you think of Rhaenyra and Stannis parallels? They both claim that they’re the rightful queen/king and everyone else is a traitor, fire obsessed lover, the bastards around them, etc.

I think you could strike up parallels between literally anyone if you set your mind to it, even if you randomly pick two strangers off the street. But it doesn't mean those parallels would have symbolic value. Such is the case of Rhaenyra and Stannis.

The main difference between them is that Stannis is the legal king of Westeros after Robert's death, while Rhaenyra simply isn't, according to Westerosi law, which Stannis himself is quick to point out. Moreover, I don't think Stannis would necessarily welcome a comparison to Rhaenyra at all. 😅

Stannis thinks everyone else is a traitor because he is also very inflexible in his application of the law, he's always going to prioritize the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law, which is why he cuts Davos' fingers off, even though risked his life to keep Storm's End supplied while it was under siege. The term 'claim to the throne' in Stannis' case is a little misleading: it's not that the law isn't on his side, it's just that he is militarily incapable of seizing the accoutrements of power and defeating his rivals, which is why his lawful title is demoted to ~claim. He is, in effect, ousted/usurped by the Lannisters via lies, wealth and military alliances.

It's very important that Cersei's treachery holds enough plausible deniability that allows her allies to discard the truth, allows them to place their own interests over the proper inheritance pattern because they can easily argue in public that they are respecting the proper succession laws. I've argued this before, but it is very important that Cersei's children look like her and that Jaime is her twin, which makes it only natural if her children look like him as well. So, in that regard, they could be Robert's children, just favouring their mother's side. Robert's grandmother was a Targaryen after all, so blonde children are not out of the question. And wouldn't it be just so convenient for scheming Stannis to make up such lies in order to usurp his brother's crown? This plausible deniability is completely absent from Rhaenyra's situation with her three eldest children. Cersei's lie was just better and it paid off.

But I digress. I'm not sure Melisandre is meant to be any Daemon stand-in. Their purposes and means are entirely different, even if the fire priests and dragons will come to interact in some way. Daemon does what Daemon will, his interest is Valyrian supremacy and his personal advancement, while Melisandre's objectives are more ideological: she thinks she is performing a collective good by aiding against the great Other. Stannis, advised by Melisandre, goes North to fight against the white walkers; Rhaenyra, advised by Daemon, continues her fight for the throne till the very end.

As for bastards.... Stannis has none, while Rhaenyra has three. The bastards surrounding Stannis are meant to test his morality, what kind of morally reprehensible acts is he willing to commit in the quest for gaining the crown, which is where Melisandre's blood sacrifice proposals come into play. Whereas the dragonseeds are more of a vague concept of Targaryen bastardy (no direct lineage can be ascertained for sure) and are there to make the Dance of the Dragons more exciting by providing additional air battles.