#as rhaegar’s son if that wasn’t obvious

[highgardenart]

My Targaryen OCs!

valerie, her twin brother rhaegar, lyanna, and jacaerys.

#they’re jon & margaery’s children btw #bc i’m snowrose trash #in a scenario where jon is legitimized #as rhaegar’s son if that wasn’t obvious #oc #asoiaf ocs #original character #a song of ice and fire #game of thrones #asoiaf #fan art #digital art #asoif fanart #got #house targaryen

[kckt88]

Take My Breath Away XI.

Summary:

Vaeryna confesses her secret to an unlikely person, Cregan Stark arrives at the Red Keep and a betrothal is made.

Warning(s): Time Skip, Language, Confession, Anger, Hurt, Deceit.

Word Count: 5434

GREENS WIN - ENEMIES TO LOVERS.

A.N - 14 YEARS LATER!!

A.N - I USED SHORT HAIR DAEMON FOR AEGON III FACE CLAIM.

Tag List - @a-beaverhausen, @ammo23, @immyowndefender,

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the House of The Dragon or Fire & Blood characters nor do I claim to own them. I do not own any of the images used.

Comments, likes, and reblogs are very much appreciated.

“We cannot keep stalling mother, Cregan arrives within the month” whispered Daenerys.

“I-I know, but your father-“ replied Vaeryna.

“-Will be angry, but mother he loves you surely he’ll understand,” said Daenerys.

“I just don’t know Dany” muttered Vaeryna.

“It’ll be ok mother” urged Daenerys.

Since the birth of Daenerys, Vaeryna had slowly began to make plans with Jeyne and Cregan on how best to bring her brother back into the fold.

It had taken fourteen years for this plan to come to fruition, she had made numerous visits with Daenerys and Rhaegar to the Vale over the years under the pretence of visiting Jeyne, but really it was too slowly introduce Daenerys and Aegon, in the hopes the two of them would get along.

Jaehaera had once told her that Daenerys was Aegon’s way home, and a marriage between the two was the obvious solution and the fact that he’d unknowingly lived in the North for years and not caused an uprising.

However, there was of course Aegon and Aemond to deal with. As the only living son to Rhaenyra and Daemon her little brother was a threat to the King’s reign and the fact that she colluded with Cregan and Jeyne for almost seventeen years was bound to anger Aemond.

It had taken forever to convince Aemond to consider a potential betrothal between Cregan’s alleged son 'Aaron' and Daenerys.

Aegon of course, was all for it. He saw the marriage as a way to bring the North back into the fold as Cregan had remained staunch in his support of Rhaenyra and had politely declined all invites to Kings Landing since the war had ended.

But 'Aaron' wasn’t Cregan’s son, he was really Aegon and Vaeryna knew if this was going to work then she would need both Aegon and Aemond on her side. But it was working up the courage to tell them which was proving difficult.

Which was why she found herself hiding in the bushes in the gardens, quite ridiculous really considering she was a woman grown. But it just seemed like the perfect place to get away from the rigors of duty and gather ones thoughts.

Apparently, someone else had the same idea, as a shadow loomed over her.

“I noticed someone stole my hiding spot” said Aegon smirking.

“There’s room for two” replied Vaeryna as she shuffled to the side.

“So, what has my twat of brother done now?” asked Aegon as he sat down.

“What makes you think he’s at fault?”.

“What other reason would there be for you hiding in the bushes” mused Aegon.

“I’m hiding because there’s something I need to tell Aemond and he’s not going to very happy when he finds out” replied Vaeryna.

“Your not with child again, are you? I mean it’s not like he can be angry about that considering how regularly he deposits his seed-“

“-No, I’m not with child again” said Vaeryna quietly.

“Then what is it?” asked Aegon.

Never in Vaeryna’s life did she ever think that she would become close to Aegon of all people, but over the years a friendship of sorts had blossomed between them and they would often spend time talking with one another, of course, Aemond didn’t initially like the idea that his wife was spending time with his older brother, and he would get insanely jealous and sulk for hours on end until Vaeryna put every effort into making sure her husband cheered his miserable face up.

“I-Its Aegon” muttered Vaeryna.

“You do realise I’m sat right here”.

“Not you. My brother Aegon” said Vaeryna.

“What about him?”.

“H-He’s alive” whispered Vaeryna looking around cautiously.

“He died in the Gullet” said Aegon furrowing his brow.

“No, he didn’t. We just let everyone think he did” replied Vaeryna.

“Wait, so your brother didn’t actually die?”.

“No, he’s alive. We faked his death” said Vaeryna.

“We?” asked Aegon.

“My mother sent a letter to the Vale asking for my help, but I arrived at the Gullet too late, most of the Velaryon fleet had been destroyed and the survivors from the Triarchy had moved on, I found Vermax and Stormcloud dead on one of the island outcrops, Aegon was there with Jace” said Vaeryna.

“Y-You were there?” exclaimed Aegon.

“Yes, I was. I managed to get Jace and Aegon back to Dragonstone, but Jace later died in my arms” said Vaeryna sadly.

“H-How did he-“

“Shot by arrows, one hit near his heart and he survived long enough t-to m-make it h-home’” sobbed Vaeryna her breath hitching in her throat.

Aegon wrapped an arm around Vaeryna’s shoulders and pulled her close to him.

“What happened after that?” asked Aegon quietly.

“My father initially came up with the idea to fake Aegon’s death, he figured that it would be safer for him. It was only supposed to be temporary until-“

“-The Blacks won the war” said Aegon firmly as Vaeryna nodded.

“I took Aegon back to the Vale with me and we were told to stay there-“

“-So that’s why you never joined the war, I always wondered why. I mean if Vhagar was our biggest, then the Cannibal was your mothers-you were protecting your brother” said Aegon.

“Yes, but then both my father and mother died, and we were stuck in the Vale, with everyone else believing Aegon was dead, and I was the last”.

“Is that why you agreed to marry my brother?” asked Aegon.

“Yes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I couldn’t risk you coming to the Vale and discovering that my brother was alive, because let’s face it you would have come for me eventually” replied Vaeryna.

“I-Is Aegon still in the Vale?”.

“No. He’s in the North with Cregan Stark” mumbled Vaeryna.

“Isn’t he coming here with his son 'Aaron' to-“ said Aegon the realisation dawning on his face.

“-Yes” nodded Vaeryna.

“Stark doesn’t have a son called 'Aaron', does he?  Because the boy is really Aegon, and your planning to marry Daenerys to her uncle”.

“That was the idea. He’s been in the North for almost seventeen years, he’s no threat to you or your reign” said Vaeryna.

“It doesn’t matter, he’s still the oldest surviving son of your mother, what happens when the Lords that supported her discover that her son lives. We’ve had many years of peace, and whilst I might not be the best King, I will not subject the realm to another war”.

“So, you’re going to have him killed? My brother has committed no crime. He’s spent his childhood in the North, he doesn’t care for the throne, he just wants to come home, please Aegon. He’s all I have left. I can’t lose him” sobbed Vaeryna.

“Obviously Cregan was in on the plan to fake Aegon’s death?” stated Aegon.

“As was Jeyne Arryn” replied Vaeryna.

“My good sister, the Warden of the North and the Lady of the Vale, all guilty of conspiracy against the crown, a crime punishable by death” said Aegon sternly.

“If you desire to punish someone, then you shall punish me alone. I shall not argue, I only ask that my children and Aegon be spared” replied Vaeryna sadly.

“You would sacrifice yourself for them?”

“Yes, I would” confessed Vaeryna as she wiped away the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Aegon’s grip on her shoulder tightened and Vaeryna winced slightly, she desperately wanted to move away, but she couldn’t.

“I will not order your execution”.

“But-“ muttered Vaeryna.

“I-I love you” whispered Aegon.

“What?” gasped Vaeryna.

“Gods not in that way. Aemond would slit my throat, I love you as a sister. I was never a good husband or brother to Helaena, and it fills me with regret everyday that I did not treat her the way she deserved”.

“Oh” uttered Vaeryna.

“I never imagined we would have the friendship that we do, and I know my brother doesn’t like it-but fuck him, anyway what I’m trying to say is that I won’t hurt you or your brother, I love you too much to cause you any pain” said Aegon softly.

“Even though I committed a serious crime?” asked Vaeryna.

“Yes, plus you’ve kept Aegon hidden in the North for the last seventeen years, that’s quite an achievement. Lord Stark must really like you-probably a good idea not to mention that to Aemond though”.

“Cregan is an honourable man, he pledged himself to my mother and when she died, he pledged himself to me as did Jeyne. If you grant the marriage of Aegon to Daenerys, you will have earnt their loyalty and respect” said Vaeryna firmly.

“I’m assuming Dany is aware of 'Aaron’s' true identity?”.

“Yes of course, and Rhaegar also knows” said Vaeryna.

“Oh, seven above, Aemond is going to implode”.

“Now you know why I’m hiding here” muttered Vaeryna.

“I could tell him for you, try and soften the blow a bit” offered Aegon.

“I appreciate your offer” whispered Vaeryna as she grasped Aegon’s hand tightly.

“I mean for all his threats surely; he wouldn’t kill his own brother”.

“Why not? He killed his own nephew and uncle” replied Vaeryna.

“That doesn’t help” exclaimed Aegon.

“No, it does not, I apologize” said Vaeryna.

“Look, he needs to know and soon. Lord Stark will be here within the month, and I’ll need all the time I can get to convince Aemond and the council not to have your brother killed as soon as he steps foot inside the Red Keep” said Aegon.

“Thank you for this Aegon, I truly appreciate it” said Vaeryna as she placed a gentle kiss on Aegon’s cheek.

“If you really wanted to thank me you could always-“ suggested Aegon smirking.

“Don’t push it, besides Aemond would definitely kill you” said Vaeryna.

“Do you think he’s told him yet?” asked Rhaegar.

“You never know, father might be ok with-“ said Daenerys jumping as the door suddenly flew open and Aemond marched into the room closely followed by Aegon.

“OUT!” shouted Aemond.

“But father-“ urged Rhaegar.

“I SAID OUT” yelled Aemond.

Rhaegar and Daenerys cast their mother a concerned look as they hastily left the room.

“Don’t even think of ordering me out of here” warned Aegon sternly as he shut the door.

“Is it true-what Aegon has just told me and the council?” asked Aemond.

“Yes” replied Vaeryna quietly as she glanced at Aegon who offered a slight smile.

“Almost seventeen years and you’ve been lying to my face”.

“I-I’m sorry, please my love” said Vaeryna softly.

“NO. You do not get to call me that, not after what I’ve just been told. All of your visits to the Vale, and your sneaking around with Jeyne Arryn and Cregan fucking Stark” raged Aemond.

“It wasn’t malicious, I was protecting my brother” replied Vaeryna.

“That boy is a risk to my brothers reign, what of the Lord who supported your mother, what happens when they find out that he’s alive?”

“Nothing will happen, Aegon has promised to swear obedience in front of the Iron Throne, he does not wish incite another war. He just wants to come home” said Vaeryna firmly.

“-And you think that’s enough to assuage those loyal to your mother? They will want that boy on the throne, they will whisper and collude until some cunt gets the bright idea to see their plan to fruition” snapped Aemond.

“No, Aegon does not desire the throne”.

“It doesn’t matter what he wants, it’ll be those around him, dripping their poison in his ear until he has no choice” retorted Aemond.

“He will not rise up against the King, no matter what anyone says” said Vaeryna as she subconsciously moved closer to Aegon.

“If you believe that then you’re a fucking fool, it is not just my brother that’s at risk, it is my niece and our own children. What of Rhaegar? He is heir to the Iron Throne; he will be put to the sword” said Aemond.

“NO. STOP” shouted Vaeryna as she pressed her hands over her ears.

“What’s the matter is the truth to hard to handle, your reckless decision could cost our children their lives” snarled Aemond as he advanced on Vaeryna.

“Aemond that’s enough-“ warned Aegon.

“YOUR NOTHING BUT A LYING DECEITFUL WHORE”

“Now wait just a second, she is nothing of the sort” said Aegon firmly.

“How do I know that? She’s been sneaking around behind my back and conspiring with that northern dog, how do I know that she hasn’t been opening her legs for him too, why else would he go to such lengths”.

“Because he is kind and honourable” sobbed Vaeryna.

“Tell me Ryna, how many of my children are his? How many of them are BASTARDS?”

“None of them are his, I have never taken Cregan to bed. All of the children are yours; you only have to look at them to see the truth of it” replied Vaeryna shaking.

“You’ve been lying to me for almost seventeen years, why should I believe a single word that comes out of your lying mouth”.

“Because I am your wife” cried Vaeryna.

“No wife of mine would ever act in such a manner” snarled Aemond.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Vaeryna.

“You have lied, conspired and risked our children-“

“-No, our children are safe” retorted Vaeryna.

“As soon as your brother arrives in Kings Landing, he’s dead. I’m going to kill him myself”.

“NO” screamed Vaeryna.

“You would seriously put the life of your brother over the lives of your own children?”

“Hang on, no one said anything about killing your children your being rather dramatic there brother” said Aegon.

“YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH”

“No, I will not. I am your King, and you will show me respect” said Aegon sternly.

“I will show respect when you deserve it” snarled Aemond.

“You speak of respect when your screaming at your own wife like a damn banshee, maybe if you took your head out of your arse and actually sat and talked her then you might understand why she did this” replied Aegon.

“What’s there to understand, she lied and now I will deal with it-“

“-No please, Aemond I beg you” pleaded Vaeryna her lip wobbling.

“By order of the King you will not lay a hand on Aegon. The boy will be welcomed to the Red Keep alongside Cregan Stark and his men, the betrothal between Daenerys and Aegon will be given my blessing, and you will not interfere” said Aegon sternly.

“Daenerys is my daughter” snapped Aemond as he picked up a vase and hurled it across the room. Vaeryna jumped as the vase collided with the wall and smashed.

“You need to calm down” ordered Aegon as he placed himself in front of Vaeryna.

“No, she lied to me. I won’t have it. I will-“ balled Aemond as he began tearing the room apart in his temper.

Vaeryna clung to Aegon terrified as they wordlessly watched Aemond destroy everything he could get his hands on.

“Aemond. Stop. Please” said Vaeryna as she reached out and placed her hand on his back.

“DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME” shouted Aemond as whirled around and pushed Vaeryna away from him and she landed on the floor with a heavy thud.

“AEMOND” yelled Aegon as he shoved his brother away from Vaeryna who was sat on the floor looking up at her husband, the tears running down her face.

Suddenly Aemond seemed to come back to himself, his face once twisted with rage was now filled with regret and concern.

“I-I’m sorry. Vaeryna. Please” exclaimed Aemond.

“Step away from her. NOW” ordered Aegon as he helped Vaeryna off the floor.

“A-Aemond” sobbed Vaeryna her hands clasped to her chest.

“I didn’t mean too, ābrazȳrys” replied Aemond as he reached out towards her. (Wife)

Vaeryna moved away from his grasp and then fled the room, ignoring Aemond and Aegon’s concerned calls.

Aegon checked Vaeryna’s usual hiding place in the gardens, but she wasn’t there.

“I-Is she there” asked Aemond frantically.

“No” replied Aegon.

“Well Cannibal hasn’t left the-AEGON WHAT THE FUCK” exclaimed Aemond as Aegon tackled him to the ground and punched him in the face.

“YOU FUCKING IDIOT” shouted Aegon.

“Aegon. Stop” gasped Aemond as he grabbed hold of Aegon and rolled him over.

“GET THE FUCK OFF ME” snarled Aegon as he writhed and struggled against his brother’s vice like grip, after a few minutes he managed to wrench himself free and he attempted to punch Aemond again.

“Enough” said Aemond as he attempted to apprehend Aegon once more, but his brother was as slippery as an eel and every attempt Aemond made to subdue him was consistently thwarted.

Eventually the scraping brothers were pulled apart by the Kings Guard.

“You are confined to your chambers until further notice, and I suggest you clean up the mess you made” ordered Aegon as he dusted himself off.

“Brother-“

“-Don’t bother, Ser Colton escort my brother back to his chambers and make sure he stays there until I say otherwise” snarled Aegon as he turned on his heel and stormed away from the gardens.

“Yes, Your Grace” said Ser Colton bowing slightly.

Aemond glared at the Kings Guard but acquiesced and went to his chambers. Now that had calmed down somewhat, he surveyed the damage and cringed.

He’d let his anger get the better of him and worst of all Vaeryna had witnessed it.

Some of the things he’d thrown around the room in his temper were salvageable, but some weren’t, no doubt he would get an ear full off his mother when she found out what had happened, but he couldn’t think about that right now.

After he’d made a decent attempt at cleaning up the mess he made, Aemond sat in front of the fire and thought about Vaeryna and the lie she told. It angered him beyond belief, that she could keep something like that from him, but on some level, he understood why she hadn’t told him.

Especially when his first idea was to kill her brother. Aegon was right he should have sat and listened to Vaeryna instead of kicking off and now she had disappeared, and he was confined to their chambers.

A soft knock on the door broke Aemond out of his reverie, at first, he thought it was his mother coming to scold him for his behaviour but when the door opened her was confronted with the eldest of his daughters.

“Dany” exclaimed Aemond.

“Mother is in a meeting with Aegon and the council” replied Daenerys softly.

“Where was she before that?” asked Aemond.

“With my brothers and sisters,” said Daenerys.

“I should be with your mother in that council meeting”.

“Yes, you should be, but she’s not alone. Rhaegar is with her” muttered Daenerys.

“Good” said Aemond.

“You definitely could have handled that better”.

“I let my anger get the better of me, she lied to me Dany, for the entirety of our marriage, her decision could have placed you and your siblings at risk” explained Aemond.

“If mother had told you from the very beginning, what would you have done?”

“Even though my brother had reclaimed the Iron Throne after the war, his reign was still on shaky ground and the boy would have been a risk” said Aemond honestly.

“So, he would have been killed, and you wonder why mother lied. He’s the only family she had left, Baela and Rhaena don’t bother with her. Imagine how lost and alone she must have felt,” said Daenerys.

“Dany I-“.

“I understand why your angry, but what if the roles were reversed, and all your family had been killed and it was just you and one of your siblings left, how far would you go to ensure their safety?” exclaimed Daenerys.

“So, I just forgive her for lying to me?” asked Aemond.

“I’m asking you to understand the situation she was in, I know all about mother’s first husband and what happened to him-“

“S-She told you?” gasped Aemond.

“You know how close we all are to mother; she is our entire world” replied Daenerys.

“Yes, I know, she’s a good mother to you all” said Aemond smiling slightly.

“Now Imagine how she must have been feeling, of course she was going to do whatever it takes to keep her little brother safe, she even sold herself to the man who killed her own brother and father,” said Daenerys.

“I-I love your mother very much” whispered Aemond as a lone tear trickled down his cheek.

“She loves you too, but mother sacrificed everything for Aegon” replied Daenerys quietly.

“I’ve ruined everything haven’t I” muttered Aemond sadly as he wrenched off his eyepatch.

“All is not lost. You both need time to process what’s happened and then maybe you can talk and try to sort this out”.

“When did my daughter get so grown up?” asked Aemond.

“It happens to us all father” whispered Daenerys as she wrapped her arms around her father and hugged him tightly.

“I love you Issa dōna tala” replied Aemond as he held his daughter close (My sweet daughter)

“Avy jorrāelan tolī kepa” whispered Daenerys (I love you too father).

It had taken almost a month for the council to stop foaming at the mouth and agree to let Aegon the Younger return to the Red Keep.

Some Lords were of the same opinion as Aemond whereas the others were weary of having the boy executed. Even after all these years there were still supporters of Rhaenyra that existed and having her only son beheaded may cause an uprising.

The loyalty of the North was also a contributing factor to the councils acceptance of Aegon, he wasn’t the biological son of Cregan Stark, but he was raised as such and with the North finally back in the fold, the Vale would soon follow.

Of course, they were insistent that Aegon publicly bend the knee and then he would be kept under close supervision for the entirety of his time in the Red Keep.

Which of course Vaeryna agreed to, but she was insistent that even though he was considered a man grown, Aegon would be placed under her care.

Eventually the day arrived for Cregan Stark and Aegon to arrive and the Red Keep was a buzz with activity, the King insisted on having a great feast and everyone was busy making the preparations.

Rhaegar had insisted that he take Dreamfyre to meet Cregan and his men on the Kings Road and escort them to Kings Landing.

Vaeryna was helping Daenerys get ready and the rest of the children were with their father and Aegon.

“Must I wear this” moaned Jaehaeryn.

“Yes” replied Aemond sternly as his youngest daughter Caelee settled herself on his knee.

“But it itches though”.

“Boy cease your whining; this is an important day for us all and you will wear what we tell you too” snapped Aemond firmly.

“Yes father” muttered Jaehaeryn sulking.

“What’s wrong with my father?” asked Vharla.

“Like he said this is an important day and you all need to be on your best behaviour” urged Jaehaera smiling as she finished twisting Vharla’s wild silver hair into a braid.

“Were not the ones complaining” whispered Aerys.

“Oh, shut up” quipped Jaehaeryn.

“No, you shut up” snarked Aerys sticking his tongue out at his older brother.

“Both of you shush up” said Saeryna as she hoisted herself up on Aegon’s knee.

“Where mama?” Caelee as she rubbed her face on Aemond’s shoulder.

“She’s with Dany, remember I said that your sister is meeting the boy she will marry”.

“O-Our uncle?” asked Caelee.

“Yes, mama’s little brother Aegon” replied Aemond quietly.

“But we already have an uncle Aegon” said Aerys cocking his head to the side.

“I know it’s confusing but-“

“-Obviously I’m the best one” said Aegon loudly.

“You’re the King” said Saeryna.

“Indeed, I am little one” replied Aegon.

“Rhaegar will be King one day” said Jaehaeryn.

“I-If Rhaegar is King then that means uncle Aegon is dead, I don’t want him to die” said Saeryna sadly, her little eyes filling with tears.

“Don’t worry kid, I don’t plan on dying anytime soon” exclaimed Aegon.

“Y-You promise” whispered Saeryna.

“I promise” said Aegon as he hugged his niece tightly.

For all the stupid decisions he'd made, Aegon was quite close to all his nieces and nephews. Saeryna in particular was very fond of her uncle and she would often be found trailing after him asking a million questions or simply wanting him to read stories to her.

In his mind, he couldn't change the past, but he could learn from it, especially with his daughter Jaehaera.

Suddenly the roar of a dragon shook the walls of the Red Keep.

“Dreamfyre’s back” cooed Caelee.

“Right, that means it’s time for us to take our places in the throne room and remember children you need to be on your best behaviour or else” threated Aemond as he stood up with Caelee still clinging to him.

“Come on little Princess, it’s time to go to see your grandmother” whispered Ellen gently.

“No-No I want to stay with daddy” cried Caelee.

“Remember sweet girl, you and Saeryna are going to stay with grandma for a little bit” urged Aemond as he passed his struggling daughter to the nanny.

“But uncle Aegon-“ whined Saeryna.

“Best do as your father says, otherwise he’ll get grumpy, and you know we don’t like a grumpy daddy” mocked Aegon.

“He’s already grumpy-mother won’t let him kiss her” said Jaehaeryn.

“Boy one more word-“ warned Aemond.

“He’s right though, surprised you haven’t sprouted cobwebs down there, how long has it been brother?” whispered Aegon smirking.

“Keep talking and I’ll slap that smirk straight off your face” snapped Aemond.

“Daddy stop being a bully” urged Saeryna.

“Yeah daddy. Stop” mocked Aegon.

Aemond took a deep breath and closed his eye, today was not the day to be trying his patience but his moron of a brother seemed determined to rile him up.

“Right Saeryna, go with Ellen and Caelee. Be good for your grandma” said Aemond sternly.

“I will as long as she doesn’t start talking about the history of the seven, it’s boring” replied Saeryna as she took the nanny’s hand and left the room.

“That girl, honestly” muttered Aemond.

“She’s an absolute diamond, and of course my favourite one of your many children” said Aegon smiling as he smoothed down his robes and put the conquerors crown on his head.

“Right, let’s get this over and done with” muttered Aemond.

“Remember, if you act decent today. Your wife might let you back in her bed”.

“Do not talk that way in front of my children” snapped Aemond.

“Oh, come on brother, you’ve been so frustrated of late, you need to get your end away”.

“Aegon” warned Aemond as he ushered Jaehaeryn, Vharla and Aerys out of the room.

“Must you tease him?” asked Jaehaera as she took her father’s arm.

“Oh, my sweet daughter it’s the best part of my day, surely you cannot deny me the chance to have a little fun” replied Aegon smiling.

Everyone in the throne room waited with bated breath for the arrival of Cregan Stark and Aegon.

Vaeryna fiddled nervously with the rings on her fingers as she stood silently next to Aemond.

Admittedly in Aemond’s mind it was nice to be stood next to his wife, since their argument a month ago they had barely spoke, Vaeryna hadn’t even returned to their shared chambers, she had taken to staying in one of the guest rooms, which upset Aemond more than he wanted to admit, as he couldn’t sleep properly without his wife next to him.

They had remained polite in front of their children at mealtimes but it broke Aemond’s heart when Vaeryna would turn away from him and leave him to return to his chambers alone.

Today was important and Aemond was determined to make things right with his wife.

The doors to the throne room opened.

“Lord Cregan Stark, Warden of the North and Prince Aegon Targaryen”.

Cregan walked into the throne room flanked by his men, Aegon trailed behind his face obscured by his grey hooded cloak.

Vaeryna suddenly took hold of Aemond’s hand and squeezed it gently, and in a show of silent support he squeezed back.

“Jaehaeryn, stop fidgeting” whispered Vaeryna softly.

“But mother, I’m too hot and it itches” replied Jaehaeryn.

“Boy, listen to your mother” warned Aemond.

“-But father” moaned Jaehaeryn.

“Brother that’s enough” snapped Rhaegar.

“Welcome Lord Stark, I trust your journey from the North wasn’t too perilous?”

“No, Your Grace it was fine and thank you for inviting us to Kings landing” replied Cregan his deep voice echoing around the throne room.

Vaeryna was nervous as her brother stepped forward and there was an audible gasp when Aegon removed his hood.

His short roughly shorn silver hair tumbled over his forehead, and even though there was slight narrowing to his face, he was the exact mirror image of his father Daemon.

The Rogue Prince come again.

His piercing amethyst eyes never left the King as he lowered himself to one knee.

“I Aegon the Younger of House Targaryen, recognise and pledge my loyalty to you, Aegon of House Targaryen the second of his name, King of the andals, rhoynar and the first men, Lord of the seven Kingdoms and Protector of the realm” said Aegon loudly as he bowed his head.

 The King pursed his lips for a moment before he levered himself off the Iron Throne and walked slowly down the steps.

Aemond kept hold of Vaeryna’s hand as she moved forward slightly.

“Don’t” whispered Aemond his eye never leaving the King.

Vaeryna watched anxiously as the King approached her brother.

“Rise” said Aegon sternly.

Aegon the Younger slowly stood up and was stunned when the King offered his hand.

“I accept your pledge of loyalty and welcome you to Kings Landing”.

“Thank you. Your Grace” replied Aegon as he shook the Kings hand.

“Do not make me regret this.

“You won’t, I can promise you that Your Grace” replied Aegon.

The members of the court who had been stood in silence, began to applaud.

Vaeryna let out the breath she didn’t realise she was holding when her little brother looked at her and smiled.

“Sister”

“Brother” exclaimed Vaeryna as she let go of Aemond’s hand and ran towards her brother engulfing him in a tight hug.

“I missed you so much” exclaimed Aegon as he buried his face in Vaeryna’s silver hair.

“-And I’ve missed you” replied Vaeryna.

“I cannot thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me” said Aegon.

“Your my little brother, I would do anything for you”.

“Daenerys” gasped Aegon his eyes alight with wonder and awe as he caught sight of his betrothed.

“Hello Aegon-” whispered Daenerys shyly.

“-Brother, this is Aemond” said Vaeryna.

Aegon visibly blanched a little at the mention of Aemond’s name and he stood rooted to the spot as his gaze caught sight of Dark Sister resting in the holster on Aemond’s hip.

“Pleasure to me you Prince Aemond” said Aegon politely bowing his head.

“Aegon” said Aemond nodding his head sharply.

Vaeryna and turned to face Cregan who was deep in conversation with the King.

“Lord Stark” said Vaeryna politely.

“Princess” replied Cregan smiling as he wrapped Vaeryna in a one-armed hug, ignoring Aemond’s noise of protest in the background.

“Thank you for everything” whispered Vaeryna.

“Your welcome” said Cregan.

“Oh where are my manners, obviously you know Rhaegar and Dany, but these are my sons Jaehaeryn and Aerys-“

“-Pleasure to meet you both” said Cregan nodding his head.

“-And this is my daughter Vharla, you’ll meet my other daughters Saeryna and Caelee later at the feast” exclaimed Vaeryna.

“-Beautiful, just like your mother”.

“Hello My Lord” said Vharla politely.

“I would also like to introduce my husband, Prince Aemond”.

“Prince Aemond-” muttered Cregan flatly.

“-Lord Stark” replied Aemond through gritted teeth.

“Right, now that introductions have been made, I think it’s time I made an announcement” said Aegon firmly as he retook his seat on the Iron Throne.

The lively chatter in the throne room quickly quietened down in anticipation of the Kings announcement.

“Today has been a great for welcoming back a brother and making new allies, discussions are currently underway with Lord Stark to further solidify the North’s relationship with the crown and to further unite House Targaryen, it is my pleasure to give my blessing for a marriage between my niece Princess Daenerys and my nephew Aegon the Younger”.

The throne room erupted into thunderous applause as Aegon bowed to Daenerys and presented her with a courtship gift, a brooch emblazoned with the Targaryen sigil.

Vaeryna smiled as she recognised the brooch that once belonged to their mother.

After almost seventeen years, she had kept her promise to her mother. Aegon was safe and he was home.

#house of the dragon #aemond targaryen #hotd aemond #aemond x oc #hotd fanfic #aemond fanfiction #aemond fic #aemond x original female character #hotd fic #aemond one eye #prince aemond #aemond #aemond targaryen x oc #house of the dragon aemond #aegon ii targaryen #aegon ii #hotd aegon

[lovelyladyabsinthewrites]

From the Ashes Pt. 16

Pairing(s): Pairing(s): Rhaegar Targaryen x Lannister!Reader, one-sided!Jaime Lannister x Lannister!Reader, Jaime Lannister x Cersei Lannister

Warnings: slow burn fic

Words:

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 3.5  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35

Book Two of Dārilaros hen ōrbar se perzys (Heir of Ash and Fire)

“That’s too cliche.” The youngest Lannister sibling argued. He was a good one, Selmy reluctantly noted to himself as the two of them had already gotten into two arguments. Tyrion, despite his young age, was sharper than any blade and had a knack for making flawless argumentative statements. Each point he made took huge chunks out of any argument Selmy could muster.

“Not cliche, normal. Safe. We want to appear normal if we run into anyone asking questions.” Barristan was a patient man, had always been. Truth be told he actually enjoyed their debates. It kept them busy on an already long journey. “Fathers and sons are seen all the time traveling together.”

Tyrion refused to look the knight in the eyes, something that alerted Selmy to one of Tyrion’s sullen moods. “So are knights and their squires. We can pose being a knight and squire instead.”

Who would believe that Tyrion was his squire though? Incredibly short, even for a young child, it was all too obvious by the naked eye of Tyrion’s deformity. A long torso with short limbs, accentuated by his mismatched eyes. He could never be anyone’s squire.

If he were to tell this child that though, he would feel like a monster. There was no need to say it out loud; Tyrion already knew that in reality he could never be anyone’s squire. He could never be like his older brother Jaime.

Holding his tongue, eventually Selmy agreed to Tyrion’s suggestion. There was no harm in it. Let the boy live a little while he could. “Very well then, but that means you will have to act like my squire, young-”

“Vaiko.” Tyrion interrupts with that oddly loud voice of his. Green and black finally return to Selmy’s face. “Vaiko Hill will be my squire name. I’d much rather be a bastard than. . .” He grew quiet, refusing to finish that thought. There was no need. Barristan Selmy already was aware of Tywin Lannister’s treatment of his two youngest children. The relationship, if you could even call it that, was poor. Even as (y/n) married Prince Rhaegar, Tywin still held that permanent frown. Any other father would have been over the moon.

“Vaiko it is. Where did you get that name from?” It wasn’t a name you heard in Westeros.

In a simple manner, Tyrion replies “I read a lot.”

Nodding, Selmy trains his attention back to the road ahead. It had been a while since they had seen anyone on the main road. They took their chances and leave the safety of the forest. Barristan and Tyrion would need to go back on the established path eventually if they wanted to get passage through the Dornish Marshes. The Prince’s Pass was the only way to safely get to Dorne by land. It went straight through the mountain and led exactly to Starfall.

Passing through the Reach, Selmy and Tyrion saw first hand the horror of war. The older knight had warned Tyrion to close his eyes as they passed through a battlefield. Stubborn just like the Warden of the West, Tyrion refused to look away. This was what he almost enlisted himself to. So young but as he gazed at the carnage, the boy aged a good twenty years. Tyrion would never tell his companion that the site haunted him deep in his dreams. He would deal with the dismembered images by himself. The outcome of war and the deep scars it left on the land. At least it was enough to straighten out Tyrion and any thought of joining Rhaegar.

The mountain chains that separated Westeros from Dorne was becoming more visible as each day passed. Selmy could tell that Tyrion was beside himself with excitement as the boy squirmed on the saddle. Very likely due to the fact that he hadn't gotten to see this much of the world due to Tywin’s embarrassment. The Lord of Casterly Rock was acutely sensitive about having a dwarf for a son. A question came across his mind; since Jaime had vanished months ago with no sign of returning, who would Tywin declare as his successor? The Lannister family was a large one but surely Tywin wanted the famed title of Warden to one of his sons. Who would he choose if not Tyrion?

“Do you even know how to use a sword? A squire at least knows the basics.” explains Selmy to the overtly quiet Tyrion who stretched his neck up to the sky. Such a big world for someone as small as him. A big world where he was all alone. Right now all he had was Selmy.

It only made him purse his lips in agitation. “I wanted to. Begged father. But he said a dwarf has no place on the training ground.” His tone was defensive. Plenty of boys by Tyrion’s age already knew how to correctly handle a blade. Yet another reminder of how captive his life had been back home.

Slowly, he shifts the pressure of the horse reins and veers off the beaten path. His surroundings having changed, Tyrion asks “Where are you going?”

Safely in the heart of the forest, Selmy dismounts his horse and lifts Tyrion off as well. “You should at least learn the basics. We’ll need something for practice.” Barristan pulls a sizable branch, ripping it from it’s foundation. With a satisfied nod, he takes out a small knife and begins to quickly whittle away at the branch.

Tyrion stares nervously at the makeshift sword before looking back up at Barristan. The former captain of the King’s Guard had the starting lines of crows feet near his pale, sad, blue eyes. Thick threads of silver and white are overcoming his once blonde head. “You want to teach me how to use a sword?”

“Of course. It’s a very useful skill to possess.” True, especially during these times of uncertainty and danger. If Tyrion really wanted to be on his own in the world it wouldn’t hurt to know how to defend yourself. And Selmy knew that this kid was already a quick learner and an eager student. He would pick it up fairly fast, although it would take Barristan some time to grow accustomed to Tyrion’s height deficiency.

Switching from his small knife to the quickly fashioned training sword, Tyrion weighed it in his small hands. Tentatively, he takes a firm grip on the “handle”. While Barristan makes his own practice weapon, Tyrion slashes at the space in front of him. One of the most renowned knights in all of Westeros was going to be his teacher. Already his life had been so much better after leaving Casterly Rock. The beginning trek from the West hadn’t been an easy one, but Tyrion persevered all by himself.

He couldn’t stop smiling to himself. Too slow in hiding it, Barristan caught the sight of a happy child. When Tyrion smiled, his eyes were glossy with joy. Like his older sister (y/n). The short time she lived at the Keep, everyone knew of Princess (y/n)’s lovely smile. It made her beautiful. Personally Barristan didn’t think the youngest Lannister daughter was pretty. Plain and unimposing, (y/n) had a square face with bowed lips that were a natural soft pink. Unlike Cersei, (y/n) never wore makeup which would possibly improve her appearance. When she smiled, oh, she didn’t need makeup. Her lips would part in a gleeful laugh, showing off perfect rows of pearls. One could feel the joy by gazing upon her sparkling eyes.

“Mother says that (y/n) smiles just like Johanna did.” Rhaegar had told Selmy one day. (y/n) and Tyrion smiled just like their dearly departed mother.

Shyly, Tyrion inquires “When did you learn to use a sword?”

Thinking as he worked on his branch, Selmy easily replies “Possibly seven or eight.”

He nods, knowing that Jaime probably started at that age as well. Many knights started off young. It was the only way. Learn to wield a blade during childhood before becoming a squire for some lord. Grueling years of hard work; Barristan did not miss them but knew those years were essential to his growth.

“Better to learn now then never.” The old knight offers Tyrion with a small smile. His practice sword was ready. “Now, young Hill, stand in front of me and we shall begin the basics.”

From then on their days were filled with traveling and sword training. Not so bad considering that Tyrion had spent the majority of his life sequestered in the library of Casterly Rock. As Selmy had foreseen, Tyrion was a very fast learner. In the beginning it had been a bit of a struggle. The young boy was top heavy and with the slightest push back, he easily toppled over. The matter wasn’t helped by the fact of his short arms and legs that offered him no stability as he flailed in an attempt to maintain his balance. Easily frustrated by his disability, Barristan would force Tyrion back on the horse for a break and to continue their journey. His mission was not time sensitive, at least Varys didn’t tell him it was, but Selmy wanted to make it to Starfall as soon as possible. With a civil war going on it wasn’t safe to travel. Especially if someone from either side was to spot him and recognize the young boy he was with. Gods did the boy learn fast how to keep his balance and adjust his body.

Within a few more days, the duo was already at the pass to the Dornish Marshes.

Tyrion gazed at the massive mountain chain with trepidation. Once they passed through, they technically wouldn’t be in Westeros anymore. Despite being part of the Seven Kingdoms, Dorne still considered themselves a separate sovereignty.

Through the marshes, their adventure would truly begin.

Sensing the tenseness in Tyrion, Barristan halts his horse. “Are you ready?”

Little hands took the reins from Barristan and urged the horse onward. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Grinning, Barristan let Tyrion take the lead.

64.media.tumblr.com

Taglist:

@boywivlove

@esposadomd

@domoron

@yentroucnagol

#reader insert fanfiction #reader insert #game of thrones fanfiction #game of thrones fanfic #asoiaf fanfiction #game of thrones #asoiaf fanfic #asoiaf fandom #game of thrones x reader #game of thrones reader insert #asoiaf reader insert #asoiaf fic #a song of ice and fire x you #a song of ice and fire x reader #a song of ice and fire fanfic #a song of ice and fire fanfiction #got reader insert #got fandom #got fanfic #got fanfiction

[bloodiedrubies]

A lesson aimed at the apt ears of a son, or a reminder for self, to maintain the fires of Targaryen perseverance? Rhaella @astormofsilk​ was not weak, but legacy of the dragon’s blood did not forge a person out of valyrian steel despite myths and legacy spanning across the centuries. The Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, and his beloved mother was the closest embodiment to the famed crafting metal, for Rhaegar knew more than a child should have known. He carried the legacy of the his family’s name and his destined rise to the throne perfectly well, yet watching the deterioration of his father’s sanity and the love, affection, whatever it had been Aerys harbored for Rhaella was painfully obvious since he was a toddler. He would rule the Seven Kingdoms one day, yet he was hopelessly weak, powerless in the face of his father’s tyranny and wroth. He was frightened, and it must have shown on his handsome features, which became warped with concern and dismay. Could he raise hand or voice against his own kin, the Lord of the realm? Rhaegar reached his hand out and gripped that of his mother’s with a loving, reassuring grip.  The rest of King’s Landing was suffocated with the stench of poverty and death. Up high on their pedestals, in the open courtyard of the castle, the scent of fresh fruits and rose petals surrounded mother and son. It wasn’t right. it simply wasn’t. One day he would take the throne, whether his father wanted it or not. Rhaegar dropped his perfumed head and pressed lips against the flesh of his mother’s hand. He was telling her, it won’t be like this forever. 

Promises in the wind.

#— ♔ ʟɪɢʜᴛ ᴏʀ ᴅᴀʀᴋ ᴡɪɴɢs ‚ ASK RESPONSE. 〉 #ouch. my heart. 〉 #astormofsilk #— ♔ ᴛɪᴍᴇʟɪɴᴇ ‚ PRE-REBELLION. 〉

[hellsbellschime]

Why Will Dany Burn King’s Landing?

Although most fans of A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones understandably aren't keen on revisiting the sloppy final season of the TV series, season 8 of the show is actually home to some of the most interesting indications of where the book series may or may not be going.

Season 8 was largely so confusing because the series was attempting to get across the finish line as fast as possible, but many of the messier aspects of the show were also clearly driven by the fact that Game of Thrones had already significantly deviated from the story that George RR Martin was trying to tell. So, when the time came for the TV series to end, the show had to push its characters into their decided endgames despite the fact that many alterations to their prior arcs now made those endings somewhat nonsensical.

George has already directly stated that the broad strokes of the ending will be the same in the books, but I think it stands to reason that the most controversial aspect of the series end, Daenerys' decision to burn King's Landing, will likely be significantly different within the books.

There are a lot of theories about how Dany's dark, or at least slightly darker, turn is going to go in the novels. Many fans unsuprisingly have come up with speculations that alleviate most of Dany's responsibility for the destruction of the city, but I think the notion that someone else will burn King's Landing or that Daenerys will burn the capitol by accident are extremely unlikely.

I can't envision a world where George RR Martin lets any of his main characters off the hook for the most destructive choice in the entire series, and frankly it has always been completely in character for Daenerys to justify any amount of devastation and destruction if it's in service of reclaiming the Iron Throne. And honestly, despite the fact that Game of Thrones retconned most of Dany's darkest book decisions and characteristics, even within the TV series itself, burning King's Landing was largely a logical extension of Dany's habit of killing anybody who gives even the slightest indication that they might not follow her.

However, it also seems undeniable that the burning of King's Landing is almost certainly going to come about due to different circumstances. And, it seems extremely likely that the omission of one significant character in the books, Young Griff, will be one of the key differences in the destruction of King's Landing and the entire Targaryen dynasty.

While I don't think Young Griff's non-Targaryen heritage is nearly as undeniable as many other fans do, one thing that seems very probable is that regardless of whether or not Aegon is really Aegon Targaryen, Daenerys will not believe that he is the long lost son of Rhaegar Targaryen.

Cersei becoming Dany's greatest rival never really made sense considering how few legitimate supporters she had. But on the other hand, someone like Young Griff, who has spent his entire life training to become the best king possible, seems like the kind of person who will likely win at least a significant amount of support among the lords of Westeros and the common people, who at this point would honestly prefer anyone other than Cersei anyway.

But, if Dany arrives in Westeros and there is a Targaryen who she doesn't believe is a Targaryen already sitting on the Iron Throne with the backing of a multitude of kingdoms as well as the common people, clearly she's going to be pissed. And obviously she's going to have a huge axe to grind with the boy who she believes has usurped her throne.

Dany has always been prone to violence to begin with, but now that she seems to have decided to go full fire and blood, it's not that difficult to figure out how she is likely going to handle Aegon the Sixth. But, I think that the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones may have already explained exactly how that is going to happen.

Like most fans, as soon as any information about the final season of Game of Thrones was released, I thought about what it could possibly be referring to or what it would mean. And one aspect of season 8 that seemed to not quite fit into anything within the rest of the series was the title of the episode "The Bells".

What initially interested me about that name was that not only was it the title for arguably the most important episode in the entire show, but that it referred to something that has a lot of thematic relevance within the books but that has been barely mentioned within the TV series. Bells are mentioned constantly in A Song of Ice and Fire, but they've only gotten a few nods within Game of Thrones. And I was even more surprised that, when the show actually aired, the ringing of the bells didn't seem to be hugely relevant to the episode itself either.

Yes, the bells do seem to trigger Dany's decision to burn the entire city down, but they aren't important before or after that, and when there are so many possible titles that are more connected to the series and the story, it still seems strange that "The Bells" was called "The Bells".

However, while bells are a bit of a perennial theme within A Song of Ice and Fire, I think one particular bell-themed subplot might be the exact history that is going to repeat itself when King's Landing burns to the ground, and I think that Daenerys might defeat Aegon in the second Battle of the Bells.

Jon Connington is another fantastic character who was completely omitted from the TV series, but it's interesting that the most fervent supporter of House Targaryen who was on the front lines fighting for Rhaegar in Robert's Rebellion seems to believe that the war wasn't actually lost in the Trident, but in Stoney Sept when Jon failed to root out Robert Baratheon.

JonCon's perspective on Rhaegar and on the entire war is undeniably warped, and in retrospect House Targaryen's dynasty was always destined to fail. Rhaegar may not have had the violent impulses of Aerys, but a dude who lets the entire realm devolve into chaos because he really needs to impregnate a teenager who is dubiously consenting at best was not going to bring peace and prosperity back to the realm. And in a broader sense, the Targaryen values of isolationism, superiority, subjugation, and consolidation of power seem to indicate that no matter what happened, as long as the Targaryens stuck to their beliefs then they were never going to hold on to the Seven Kingdoms.

But still, it seems incredibly important that Jon Connington believed that the Targaryens lost the Iron Throne in the Battle of the Bells, and it's even more important that he's almost certainly wrong. A Song of Ice and Fire has been pretty consistent in its portrayal of brutality. It has proven to be an effective tool in the short term, but it seems to have disastrous results in the long run. And, given that George RR Martin is an ardent pacifist, it's obvious that JonCon's belief that if he had only been crueler and more violent in Stoney Sept then the war would have been won for House Targaryen is a belief that is bound to be undermined.

The fact that Prince Aegon's greatest Westerosi supporter is so strong in this belief though seems to be an obvious setup for a clash in the future. It seems unlikely that the boy who Varys wanted to be the perfect king would be as brutal as someone like Tywin Lannister, and honestly, most people are not that violent nor do they believe that the only goal is winning no matter the cost.

But, it also seems to be a setup for a clash between Young Griff and Daenerys. After all, while most people wouldn't do absolutely anything to get what they believed was their birthright, Dany absolutely would. She internally justifies every action that she takes in service of getting the Iron Throne, and there doesn't seem to be a limit to the violence that she would excuse if it meant taking what she believes is rightfully hers.

The descriptions of the Battle of the Bells in Jon Connington's POV chapters are all very interesting, and it's telling that even in these few glimpses into his mind, this battle is so vitally important. But, Jon's memories are at their most interesting in the chapter "The Griffin Reborn," when he discusses his failings with Myles Toyne.

Jon tells himself that even Tywin Lannister couldn't have done anything more than what he did, but Toyne disagrees. Blackheart says “Lord Tywin would not have bothered with a search. He would have burned that town and every living creature in it. Men and boys, babes at the breast, noble knights and holy septons, pigs and whores, rats and rebels, he would have burned them all. When the fires guttered out and only ash and cinders remained, he would have sent his men in to find the bones of Robert Baratheon."

And while Myles is undoubtedly right that this is exactly what Tywin Lannister would have done, the particular description of the violence sounds undeniably Targaryen in nature. It literally sounds like fire and blood. And frankly, it sounds pretty close to what Daenerys did in Game of Thrones and is likely to do in King's Landing in A Song of Ice and Fire.

Conceptually, it's actually quite simple. Jon Connington will fight the Battle of the Bells once again, except this time he's going to be on the side of the new Robert Baratheon. If Young Griff is a remotely capable ruler who wins the hearts of the people, then it's entirely believable that the citizens of King's Landing would give him quarter when the dragon queen comes looking for him. And given Daenerys' typical patience level, it seems incredibly likely that Dany would just burn the traitors and find the bones of the usurper in the ashes.

Jon Connington has returned to Westeros operating under the belief that he is going to have to be tougher and more brutal to ensure that Young Griff ascends to the Iron Throne like Rhaegar never did, and to ensure that he's never overthrown like the Mad King was. So then, it would be a pretty perfect twist of fate if everything that Jon believes now winds up being proven wrong and he finds himself and the boy who he has vowed to defend to his last breath relying on the kindness of strangers to hide them from the Targaryen ruler and her armies who are searching for them.

And ironically, Jon will not do what he has set out to do, succeed for the son where he failed for the father, precisely because the enemy that he's facing now will be ready and willing to use the brutality that JonCon originally shied away from in Stoney Sept. If Young Griff and the elder Griffon were actually dealing with a rival who was similar to the younger Jon Connington, someone who wasn't willing to wreak havoc and destruction in order to find their enemy at all costs, then they might have a chance at at least surviving.  

But, because Dany is the type of person who serves up fire and blood to anyone she thinks even might be her enemy, any of King Aegon's protectors will be treated with the brutality that Jon currently believes is necessary to win, and Young Griff will be killed anyway. And of course, while Daenerys will almost certainly win the battle against Aegon the Sixth, her decision to be as violent and swift as possible in order to root out her enemies will also lead to her ultimate downfall and a truly irrevocable end to the Targaryen dynasty.

Thematically, the repetition of past mistakes, the false belief that great violence in service of a supposedly greater good is worthwhile, and the false belief that brutality is strength, all fits in well with A Song of Ice and Fire and George RR Martin's political point of view. But obviously, given that Aegon Targaryen, Jon Connington, and their entire branch of the story was omitted in Game of Thrones, none of this could have ever happened in the TV series. And perhaps the title of the penultimate episode was a subtle nod to the climax that the writers know will be coming in the books.

#got #asoiaf #anti daenerys targaryen #aegon targaryen #young griff #jon connington #asoiaf meta #got meta #my videos

[a-libra-writes]

Hello! Do you write for Rhaegar Targaryen as well? If you do please 💖 and 💎. If not fell free to ignore it. Sorry if it's troublesome😅 Your blog is amazing and I absolutely love everything you write! Thank you for staying with us! Have a nice day!

wow, I wasn’t expecting Rhaegar! I’ll give him a try for these lil headcanons ahaha. Thank you for the kind words!! 💞

💎Marriage HC

In a world where Rhaegar was allowed to choose his own bride, he would be nothing short of devoted. He’s a hopeless romantic at heart, so the courtship was full of poems, songs and secret meetings - and none of that stopped once you married.

He’s always preferred sentimental gifts to material ones - he’ll give you a crown of your favorite flower one day, or think up a new song and sing it to you from outside your window. Some might consider his obvious love foolish, but your dragon prince has never cared what others thought.

There are times when his daydreaming and idealism gets the best of him, and you have to remind him of his duties to the realm. Often members of the small council have quietly asked you to talk sense into Rhaegar, or approached you about a problem directly, especially once you’ve proven yourself as capable.

He’s beloved by the smallfolk, and that love will extend to you, as you both make a handsome pair. If you do similar things to help them, like handing out food and talking with them, your reputation will only grow. Many times the Kingsguard has scolded you and Rhaegar for running off to the steps of the Great Sept to speak with the people.

He understands when his duties take him away from you, but he wishes they wouldn’t. He prefers you two to appear as a pair, given how powerful and popular your union is. Also, he’s a bit needy.

He’s prone to bouts of distraction and melancholy. Sometimes he’ll focus singularly on a subject or cause, and other times he falls into a gloomy mood and isn’t interested in politics. You can’t always pull him out of these moods and have to leave him to his own devices, but eventually he comes back.

There’s a specific  part of you that he’s charmed by - your laugh, or the unusual color of your eyes, or several birthmarks, or a scar. You aren’t sure why he’s fascinated by this thing, but he never fails to mention it in the little private poems and songs he writes for you.

💖 Pregnancy HC

Oh jeez, if you thought the poems and songs were a bit much before…

He’s happy, of course, and not just because this is expected from the both of you. Rhaegar isn’t the sort to be overly protective, even when you’re showing, unless it’s a hard pregnancy and you need the extra support. He doesn’t want to hover and make you feel helpless.

Still, you are carrying the heir to the throne, so he’ll suggest you take it easy and rest as opposed to ordering. To keep you from being bored, especially in the later months, he’ll sit by you and read, play a song, play a game - whatever keeps you amused. He’ll never turn down time with you, after all (and it beats the boring council meetings).

There’s essentially a list of expected Targaryen names, but Rhaegar would understand if you wanted something different. He’d absolutely be the type to go against tradition and go with whatever you wanted, especially if it had a special meaning to you.

He’d be happy with a boy or girl, regardless if the realm wants a son. He just wants you and the child to be healthy.

If you were having a hard pregnancy, Rhaegar would send for different teas and foods from Essos. Maybe something there would help you better than the maester’s medicine, not that he doesn’t believe in their skill, he just wants to try something new to see if it works. He really can’t stand sitting by while you’re suffering.

At the end of the day, what do you want? A specific drink, a specific food? Cuddles, time alone, something new to read, a play to watch or a bard to listen to? You’re getting it. Even if you weren’t the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, if you both were just common folk, Rhaegar would do whatever he could to comfort you.

#rhaegar targaryen x reader #got x reader #game of thrones x reader #libra headcanons #god i was just thinking about what a cool chad he is in the books and the awful actor they picked to play him #looked like viserys 2.0 #also elia deserved better BUT i think he'd be such a sweet S/O to someone he actually chose to be with

[alexa-crowe]

Jaime’s Weirwood Dream

You know what? Let’s talk about Jaime’s weirwood dream. Let’s do this. I’ve heard that people have argued about this but it’s obvious what this dream is getting at.

TL;DR: What happened in it?

Cersei abandoned him to his fate

Tywin abandoned him, too

he confronted his past in the form of Oswell Whent, Jon Darry, Lewyn Martell, Gerold Hightower, Arthur Dayne, and Rhaegar Targaryen

Brienne stood with him

both were naked, symbolizing vulnerability

Brienne is there for him when he needs it, not Cersei, so he goes back for Brienne. She helps him confront his past, solidifying that she’s his future, not his sister.

All passages are quoted from Jaime VI, A Storm of Swords, pages 609 to 612.

Naked and alone he stood, surrounded by enemies, with stone walls all around him pressing close. The Rock, he knew. He could feel the immense weight of it above his head. He was home. He was home and whole.

He held his right hand up and flexed his fingers to feel the strength in them. It felt as good as sex. As good as swordplay. Four fingers and a thumb. He had dreamed that he was maimed, but it wasn’t so. Relief made him dizzy. My hand, my good hand. Nothing could hurt him so long as he was whole.

I just want to remind you all that Brienne and Jaime’s sword fight in his third chapter was an analog for sex. :) And he just revealed that he finds swordplay as good as sex. :) Jaime and Brienne had sword sex. :) It’s literally canon. :)

Also of note: “Nothing could hurt him so long as he was whole.” Jaime places so much of his worth on his hand, to the point that he’s now thinking of it as his savior.

Around him stood a dozen tall dark figures in cowled robes that hid their faces. In their hands were spears. “Who are you?” he demanded of them. “What business do you have in Casterly Rock?”

They gave no answer, only prodding him with the points of their spears. He had no choice but to descend. Down a twisting passageway he went, narrow steps carved from the living rock, down and down. I must go up, he told himself. Up, not down. Why am I going down? Below the earth his doom awaited, he knew with the certainty of dream; something dark and terrible lurked there, something that wanted. Jaime tried to halt, but their spears prodded him on. If only I had my sword, nothing could harm me.

Repetition of the idea that wielding a sword means he can’t be hurt. Jaime believes that his sword hand is the “best part” of himself because that’s what everyone else placed priority on.

The steps ended abruptly on echoing darkness. Jaime had the sense of vast space before him. He jerked to a halt, teetering on the edge of nothing. A spearpoint jabbed at the small of the back, shoving him into the abyss. He shouted, but the fall was short. He landed on his hands and knees, upon soft sand and shallow water. There were watery caverns deep below Casterly Rock, but this one was strange to him. “What place is this?”

“Your place.” The voice echoed; it was a hundred voices, a thousand, the voices of all the Lannisters since Lann the Clever, who’d lived at the dawn of days. But most of all it was his father’s voice, and beside Lord Tywin stood his sister, pale and beautiful, a torch burning in her hand. Joffrey was there as well, the son they’d made together, and behind them a dozen more dark shapes with golden hair.

“Sister, why has Father brought us here?”

“Us? This is your place, Brother. This is your darkness.” Her torch was the only light in the cavern. Her torch was the only light in the world. She turned to go.

Cersei abandons Jaime; she doesn’t stay to protect him when he needs it the most. She asserts that they came into the world together and are meant to die together, yet Jaime’s dream is telling him that, when it comes down to it, Cersei will choose her own life over dying with Jaime.

“Stay with me,” Jaime pleaded. “Don’t leave me here alone.” But they were leaving. “Don’t leave me in the dark!” Something terrible lived down here. “Give me a sword, at least.”

“I gave you a sword,” Lord Tywin said.

It was at his feet. Jaime groped under the water until his hand closed upon the hilt. Nothing can hurt me so long as I have a sword. As he raised the sword a finger of pale flame flickered at the point and crept up along the edge, stopping a hand’s breath from the hilt. The fire took on the color of steel itself so it burned with a silvery-blue light, and the gloom pulled back. Crouching, listening, Jaime moved in a circle, ready for anything that might come out of the darkness. The water flowed into his boots, ankle deep and bitterly cold. Beware the water, he told himself. There may be creatures living in it, hidden in the deeps...

More repetition of invincibility as long as he has a sword. The sword catching fire can be argued as foreshadowing for him (or Brienne) wielding Lightbringer and being Azor Ahai, but the important part here is that “the gloom pulled back.”

From behind came a great splash. Jaime whirled toward the sound...but the faint light revealed only Brienne of Tarth, her hands bound in heavy chains. “I swore to keep you safe,” the wench said stubbornly. “I swore an oath.” Naked, she raised her hands to Jaime. “Ser. Please. If you would be so good.”

The steel parted like silk. “A sword,” Brienne begged, and there it was, scabbard, belt, and all. She buckled it around her thick waist. The light was so dim that Jaime could scarcely see her, though they stood a scant few feet apart. In this light she could almost be a beauty, he thought. In this light she could almost be a knight. Brienne’s sword took flame as well, burning silvery blue. The darkness retreated more.

“The flames will burn so long as you live,” he heard Cersei call. “When they die, so must you.”

Brienne’s sword is now afire as well, fending off the darkness with Jaime’s. She’s with him while Cersei’s being ominous and abandoning Jaime. Him thinking of Brienne as both a beauty and a knight is acknowledging both parts of her character: the traditionally feminine part of her and the warrior part of her.

“Sister!” he shouted. “Stay with me! Stay!” There was no reply but the soft sound of retreating footsteps.

Brienne moved her longsword back and forth, watching the silvery flames shift and shimmer. Beneath her feet, a reflection of the burning blade shown on the surface of the flat black water. She was as tall and strong as he remembered, yet it seemed to Jaime that she had more of a woman’s shape now.

“Do they keep a bear down here?” Brienne was moving, slow and wary, sword to hand; step, turn, and listen. Each step made a little splash. “A cave lion? Direwolves? Some bear? Tell me, Jaime. What lives here? What lives in the darkness?”

“Doom.” No bear, he knew. No lion. “Only doom.”

It’s worth noting that the animals suggested by dream Brienne are the Lannisters’ animal, the Starks’ animal, and the bear that irl Brienne fights in Harrenhal. It’s also interesting that Jaime notices that Brienne is womanly; he’s subconsciously recognizing that she’s a woman, in the same sense that Cersei’s a woman.

In the cool silvery-blue light of the swords, the big wench looked pale and fierce. “I mislike this place.”

“I’m not fond of it myself.” Their blades made a little island of light, but all around them stretched a sea of darkness, unending. “My feet are wet.”

“We could go back the way they brought us. If you climbed on my shoulders you’d have no trouble reaching that tunnel mouth.”

Then I could follow Cersei. He could feel himself growing hard at the thought, and turned away so Brienne would not see.

I find it interesting that Jaime’s instinct is to turn away from Brienne: is he ashamed? If so, that could mean a couple things.

Jaime subconsciously knows that he’s fallen for Brienne and is therefore ashamed that he’s aroused by thoughts of his sister.

He knows it’s wrong and subconsciously believes that Brienne’s too pure to see something so vile.

Whatever the reason, it serves to say that Jaime isn’t happy over this development; it’s not the right time nor the right place.

“Listen.” She put a hand on his shoulder, and he trembled at the sudden touch. She’s warm. “Something comes.” Brienne lifted her sword to point off to his left. “There.”

He peered through the gloom until he saw it too. Something was moving through the darkness, he could not quite make it out...

“A man on a horse. No, two. Two riders, side by side.”

“Down here, beneath the Rock?” It made no sense. Yet there came two riders on pale horses, men and mounts both armored. The destriers emerged from the blackness at a slow walk. They make no sound, Jaime realized. No splashing, no clink of mail nor clop of hoof. He remembered Eddard Stark, riding the length of Aerys’s throne room wrapped in silence. Only his eyes had spoken; a lord’s eyes, cold and grey and full of judgement.

“Is it you, Stark?” Jaime called. “Come ahead. I never feared you living, I do not fear you dead.”

Brienne touched his arm. “There are more.”

He saw them too. They were armored all in snow, it seemed to him, and ribbons of mist swirled back from their shoulders. The visors of their helms were closed, but Jaime Lannister did not need to look upon their faces to know them.

Five had been his brothers. Oswell Whent and Jon Darry. Lewyn Martell, a prince of Dorne. The White Bulle, Gerold Hightower. Ser Arthur Dayne, Sword of the Morning. And beside them, crowned in a mist of grief with his long hair streaming behind him, rode Rhaegar Targaryen, Prince of Dragonstone and rightful heir to the Iron Throne.

This is where Jaime’s dream starts to come together: the future he thought he had has deserted him, leaving the future he does have to confront his past with him.

“You don’t frighten me,” he called, turning as they split to either side of him. He did not know which way to face. “I will fight you one by one or all together. But who is there for the wench to duel? She gets cross when you leave her out.”

“I swore an oath to keep him safe,” she said to Rhaegar’s shade. “I swore a holy oath.”

“We all swore oaths,” said Ser Arthur Dayne, so sadly.

The shades dismounted from their ghostly horses. When they drew their longswords, it made not a sound. “He was going to burn the city,” Jaime said. “To leave Robert naught but ashes.”

“He was your king,” said Darry.

“You swore to keep him safe,” said Whent.

“And the children, them as well,” said Prince Lewyn.

Prince Rhaegar burned with a cold light, now white, now red, now dark. “I left my wife and children in your hands.”

“I never thought he’d hurt them.” Jaime’s sword was burning less brightly now. “I was with the king...”

“Killing the king,” said Ser Arthur.

“Cutting his throat,” said Prince Lewyn.

“The king you had sworn to die for,” said the White Bull.

The fires that ran along the blade were guttering out, and Jaime remembered what Cersei had said. No. Terror closed a hand about his throat. Then his sword went dark, and only Brienne’s burned, as the ghosts came rushing in.

“No,” he said, “no, no, no. Nooooooooo!”

Cersei deserts Jaime, who he’s been trying to get back to for the entire book. Who stands with him? Brienne, who is his future. Who do they stand against? People from Jaime’s past that tell him how he failed. He failed to keep Elia, Rhaenys, and Aegon alive; he failed to protect Aerys; he broke his vows.

Brienne stands with him against the past that’s haunted him for the past fourteen+ years. Not Cersei. Brienne. She’s his future, GRRM really can’t make it any more obvious than he’s doing.

#jaime lannister #asoiaf #asos #brienne of tarth #cersei lannister #tywin lannister #asoiaf meta #oswell whent #jon darry #lewyn martell #gerold hightower #arthur dayne #rhaegar targaryen #brienne x jaime #a song of ice and fire #the kingsguard #robert's rebellion #aerys targaryen #a storm of swords #jaime x brienne

[a-secret-bolton-vampire]

Young Griff, Part 1: The Pisswater Prince

So, I know I haven't done a super deep dive in a while. I kinda got stuck, then binged Sense8, The OA, The Americans, and Dark. It just got hard to write, and I feel into a bit of depression. But I finally managed to complete this, something I've wanted to write about for a very long time. This is part of the Daenerys essays, but the main focus is not on her, but rather the enigmatic Young Griff who appears in ADWD. As he was never seen on the TV show, we have little to no idea of what his future holds. Personally, of all the characters cut from the show, I most wish they kept Young Griff, because his presence is quite interesting. The fandom (and the in-world characters) are highly skeptical of his identity, and think he is destined for major things in the future of the story.

There is no doubt his existence is tied heavily to Daenerys's storyline, although perhaps not the way that is often recognized. This was originally going to just be one long essay, but I uncovered more and more that I found compelling enough to write, and so it became split into two parts. The first part will be about Aegon's role in the story; his identity, what he represents, why he is here. The second part will be about Aegon's future; his next moves in the Stormlands, possible allies, and how he might meet his end.

The Dubious Prince

What's curious is that apparently, Aegon's return has been considered by GRRM for quite a while. A mere 2 days before the publishing of ASOS, in 2000, GRRM was asked a question by a fan:

Fan: I was wondering if you could answer (or take the "fifth") one teeny little question I've been dying to ask for the past year: Are Aegon and Rhaenys, Elia's children, well and truly dead? GRRM: All I have to say is that there is absolutely no doubt that little Princess Rhaenys was dragged from beneath her father's bed and slain.

And then when ADWD is published in 2011, it is revealed that in fact, Aegon isn't dead, but secretly alive. This is something that was actually rumoured in Westeros, according to this entry of Aegon VI in A World of Ice and Fire app:

Rumors persist, however, that it was not truly Aegon who was killed, but some other infant, and that Aegon has been taken away to safety.

Aegon literally tells Tyrion the story of how he was whisked away to safety:

"That was not me. I told you. That was some tanner's son from Pisswater Bend whose mother died birthing him. His father sold him to Lord Varys for a jug of Arbor gold. He had other sons but had never tasted Arbor gold. Varys gave the Pisswater boy to my lady mother and carried me away."

It's certainly a great story, that Aegon return from the dead, living in Essos waiting for the chance to take back his birthright. The fact Aegon is still alive is truly a miracle... but is he? Is this young boy who purports to be Aegon really Prince Aegon, son of Prince Rhaegar and Princess Elia? One of the most pervasive fan theories is that Aegon isn't a Targaryen at all, but secretly a Blackfyre, descended from the Targaryen bastard Daemon Blackfyre who rebelled and tried to become king (the Blackfyres are still Targaryens but don't tell them that).

It's such a popular theory that it is considered all but canon, as much as R+L=J is. Now, time for me to commit heresy: I do not buy this theory at all.

For those not in the know, some have pointed out potential circumstantial evidence of Aegon being a Blackfyre; he's supported by the Golden Company, a sellsword company that was made for the Blackfyres and ruled by them until Maelys died on the Stepstones. Dany sees a vision of a cloth dragon swaying on a pole in the House of the Undying, as the Undying call her the "slayer of lies". There is mention of Maelys being the end of male line of House Blackfyre, but no mention of what happened to the female line. There is a story about an inn that had a black dragon made of iron symbolizing the Blackfyres, and after Lord Darry (a Targaryen supporter in the Blackfyre rebellions) took it off, cut it apart, and threw it into the river, one piece showed up years later on the Quiet Isle, having reddened with rust (potentially symbolizing a Blackfyre returning disguised as a Targaryen). Illyrio is oddly emotional when talking about Aegon. Plus the entirety of the Pisswater Prince story sounds really out there and unlikely.

At first glance, I found this theory really compelling. There is all this subtext and reading behind the lines that you didn't see before, and on some level it makes some sense. Why introduce another secret Targaryen in book 5 out of 7 (8)? It also fits neatly with another theory I will talk about more in depth later. However, while it isn't a theory I think is necessarily 100% inaccurate and completely out there, I think it doesn't account for alternatives, and ultimately is an unnecessary plot twist.

The support of the Golden Company isn't all that suspect when you consider just what's been happening since Maelys died. The male line of House Blackfyre is over (who knows what happened to the female line), the Blackfyres no longer rule the Golden Company, they are gone. The Golden Company was also founded by Westerosi exiles who fled Westeros and supported the Blackfyres. The fact the Golden Company broke its contract with Myr and that "some contracts are writ in blood" more has to do with the fact that these people are mostly descendants of Westerosi exiles and want to return home. The idea of the Golden Company wasn't really to be a permanent thing, it was meant to be a means through which the Blackfyres had support when they invaded again, and when the Blackfyres were installed, those exiled lords would get their lost lands back.

With the Blackfyre cause gone, the only thing left for the Golden Company is home. And that's exactly what Aegon is giving them, regardless of him being Targaryen. The slayer of lies visions are implying Daenerys is going to be confronting people who are in some way not true. Stannis (who is the first vision) is not Azor Ahai. This probably means that the cloth dragon represents a fake Targaryen, and in comes Aegon, out of nowhere! The first issue I have is that the vision has to be literal. Prophecies are very tricky, and the House of the Undying prophecies are extremely finicky. What does slayer of lies mean? Does it mean she literally kills the lies? Is it more metaphorical that she exposes people to the truth? And if Aegon really is a true Targaryen, then why is he the mummer's dragon and considered a lie to slay?

Disregarding the fact Varys was a mummer and he is working for Aegon, even if Aegon is a Targaryen, it's very obvious that they need to do a lot to convince people he is one. He has to play the part of Rhaegar's son, because everyone thinks he is dead. Meanwhile, Daenerys has to do literally nothing of the sort, because she has dragons. She embodies what it means to be a Targaryen, she is about to embrace her house words. As Illyrio tells Tyrion, Daenerys is a true Targaryen. But Aegon doesn't have dragons, so he needs to play up his Targness in some other way. Rhaegar was called the Last Dragon. Viserys called himself a Dragon. Aegon is about to try to take Rhaegar's place. But neither Rhaegar, Viserys, or Aegon are the Last Dragon; Daenerys is, and the lie is that he is the last dragon, and that Dany's existence itself is the way she slays the lie. As Dany thinks to herself after Viserys dies, "fire cannot kill a dragon".

Look at Aegon being someone piggybacking off words and looks for his claims. Meanwhile, Daenerys has all the proof one needs. I think the vision is much more esoteric than literal. While Varys's story is suspect and even Tyrion finds it unbelievable, it's not entirely impossible. Hell, Mance Rayder climbed the Wall and went to Winterfell in disguise as a bard twice. It makes sense for Varys to take away Aegon and replace him with another child during Robert's rebellion, when things were going badly for the Targaryens and plans had to be made in case the worst came to worst.

Another popular interpretation is that Illyrio and his wife Serra are Aegon's real son, but I find this to be incredibly flawed. Not only does Serra not really look much like a Targaryen (blue eyes instead of purple), but Illyrio's somewhat emotional confession that he can't see Aegon before he drops Tyrion off doesn't mean he is the boys father. The idea that you need to be someones parent in order to have a strong connection completely holds disregard for other kinds of relationships. Aegon is implied to have been raised for at least a bit in Pentos. Illyrio probably felt some affection for him and genuinely enjoyed his company.

To me, however, it's not really the alternative explanations for the evidence of a Blackfyre conspiracy that convince me Aegon is in fact Rhaegar's son. It's rather simple; what's the point of yet another secret identity plot twist? Consider how we meet Aegon. We meet him through Tyrion's POV in his third chapter, under the guise of the son of a sellsword named Griff, called Young Griff, his hair dyed blue in honour of his dead Tyroshi mother. Tyrion is immediately suspicious, but he's not entirely sure what's going on. We then get two more chapters of him aboard the Shy Maid, and during that time we are meant to be a little confused and unsure what is going on. It's a mystery of why Tyrion is on this boat and who these people are.

By the third chapter of Tyrion on the Shy Maid, the mystery is finally lifted, and all is revealed; Griff isn't Griff, he's Jon Connington, an exiled lord thought to have drunken himself to death. And Young Griff isn't his son; he's Prince Rhaegar's son Aegon, who was thought to have been killed by the Mountain in Robert's Rebellion. I think it's important to remember that it isn't just Aegon who is thought to be dead. JonCon is considered dead too! Two dead people aboard a boat plotting to retake Westeros. We already had a mystery handed to us, and the plot twist was already revealed. Another thing to consider is how thematically and symbolically important the journey down the Rhoyne is for Aegon. To me I think it makes a lot of sense for Rhaegar and Elia's son to be on the Rhoyne, especially since there is a lot of evidence that he and Dorne will eventually ally.

It's also important to remember that apart from a very few sly people, Aegon being secretly alive wasn't even a possibility on most peoples radar. It truly was something that came out of nowhere. While that can be used as a marker against him being Rhaegar's son, with the complaints of such a large character being revealed so late with seemingly no forewarning, I think that's honestly sort of the point.

Aegon's existence is already so large of a twist that it feels awkward to then put in another plot twist that he's actually a Blackfyre, something that really only has significance to the people who have read the Dunk & Egg novellas and know the history of Westeros very well. Although not entirely the same, it reminds me of "the Others are actually morally grey/the good guys" theories, which are in a similar vein of "George is always subversive and this is classic George". However, while the text does sort of lend credence to this theory being at the very most plausible, I feel it's ultimately an unnecessary plot twist built upon another seemingly unnecessary plot twist to try to justify his late entry and/or his significance (as can be noted, I detest calling him fAegon). The plot for Aegon isn't to be uncovered as this secret conspiracy of another ultra-double secret identity, it's about what his existence does to change the story.

Young Griff, Daenerys Stormborn, and Jon Snow

A large part of why the Blackfyre conspiracy theory is so popular is that it actually does have a compelling narrative link to the series. It's a simple progression; there are hints at a second Dance of the Dragons, vision of a mummer's dragon, a fake Targaryen, boom, Dany and Aegon fight. Dany thinks her claim is the best, but then someone appears who has an even better claim, and she fights thinking there's no possible way he could be real. It's an easy to follow trajectory. As always, people are welcome to disagree with my interpretation, but I think there is a far better reason for Aegon's role in the story; he's more foreshadowing for R+L=J.

For certain, there's more to him than just that, but I think this is something that simply cannot be ignored. He's another Targaryen. Yeah, it's kind of a meme to say X is a secret Targaryen, but I actually see the logic in why GRRM did this. Jon Snow is the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna, and most likely is a trueborn prince. He is the one destined to have an extremely significant relationship with Daenerys. I plan to eventually write an essay on how R+L=J effects the characters and story by itself, but for preface; I don't buy that R+L=J is there just to make Jon have an identity crisis. Something as significant as that is going to have a lot of consequences and reasons to be around, some more than others. I do think there will be people who will learn the truth and at the very least, some people will believe it.

This is where Aegon's appearance becomes more significant. Here is a Targaryen people had no idea even existed, let alone was still alive. It kinda opens the floodgates for the world to question what is known about Robert's Rebellion. It also serves as precedent for the reveal that Jon Snow reveal. One Targaryen we didn't know existed is suddenly here. Is there another nearby? You can't simplify such a complex plot quite that easily of course, but I think it's significant to think about how the Young Griff twist applies to the story as a whole, and specifically RLJ. George maybe thought of this as the initial purpose for Young Griff, but as per usual, he definitely has other reasons to exist.

In fact, Aegon is a perfect foil for Jon Snow. Both are the son of Rhaegar, both are disguised as someone else, both are thrusted into a leadership position at a young age. However, Jon is unaware of his true parentage, while Aegon is. Jon is reluctant to embrace his identity in general (especially as lord commander) while Aegon is embracing his identity to his fullest extent. In a way, Aegon represents what Jon's life could have become in a parallel world. Instead of being taken as Ned's bastard to Winterfell, he is educated and taught his role and origin in Essos as plotting begins for retaking Westeros. Aegon is literally parallel universe Jon Snow.

Aegon is also a foil for Daenerys (who in turn is a parallel to Jon Snow). Daenerys grew up poor, constantly visiting nobles in the Free Cities but never getting anything in return. She was sold as a marital slave to Drogo. Her brother resented and abused her, and anything she learned she learned from Viserys, who was very unreliable. Yet she climbs up and becomes an incredibly powerful figure, and is now one of the most powerful people in the world. In contrast, Aegon was always protected, given safety, care, education, train at arms. In fact, it might be accurate to say that Aegon is actually spoiled. His interaction with Tyrion while playing cyvasse is a good indication of this. After Tyrion defeats Aegon when he follows the bad advice he gave him (making a point to not always trust people), this happens;

Young Griff jerked to his feet and kicked over the board. Cyvasse pieces flew in all directions, bouncing and rolling across the deck of the Shy Maid. "Pick those up," the boy commanded.

This is quite an extreme reaction. It even reminds Tyrion of Joffrey, and I have to agree this is a very petulant, Joffrey-like outburst. I don't believe Aegon is really anything like Joffrey, but both kids were pretty spoiled and given so much safety and care that when things don't go their way they get upset. Aegon is used to having everything given to him, and Tyrion is the first to show that he won't always win. In contrast, Daenerys has suffered some pretty severe losses; Rhaego, Drogo's khalasar, Drogo, Jorah's betrayal, etc. I have a hard time seeing Daenerys react so badly to this the way Aegon did. It also casts doubt on the speech Varys gave to Kevan as he dies that Aegon was molded to be this perfect king. He may have been raised to be that way, but the opposite might be true instead.

In fact, this might really be the true crux and core of Aegon's storyline. He's touted as the rightful king, this perfect prince who has been taught everything he needs, ready to be this hero who returns to Westeros to reclaim the throne. But Aegon is a deconstruction of that trope. He seems to have everything going for him, and is touted as this great king, but the truth is he remains relatively untested. All the privilege he has been given has only made him spoiled. The game of cyvasse he and Tyrion play is a lot more significant than I think it is given credit for, but that will be saved for part two when I go in depth about his future.

Of course, there has been a lot of pushback against the idea that Aegon is spoiled and that he's no different from Jon and Dany and that it should be expected he react like that to losing cyvasse at his age. While the cyvasse outburst doesn't mean he is going to be evil or anything, I think the context about this is important, and there is a lot more stuff I think hints that Aegon is not really the prince Varys believes him to be. Again, this will be saved for part two.

The Dragons Will Dance Again

In 2003, a fan asked George:

Hi, short question. Will we find out more about the Dance of the Dragons in future books? GRRM: The first dance or the second? The second will be the subject of a book. The first will be mentioned from time to time, I'm sure.

This is further supported by a quote by Teora Toland in the first Arianne sample chapter for TWOW:

"It is dragons." "Dragons?" said her mother. "Teora, don't be mad." "I'm not. They're coming." "How could you possibly know that?" her sister asked, with a note of scorn in her voice. "One of your little dreams?" Teora gave a tiny nod, chin trembling. "They were dancing. In my dream. And everywhere the dragons danced the people died."

The use of the language of dragons dancing is very noteworthy, and when connected with the SSM show in-text hints that a second Dance is indeed going to happen. Various theories include that this refers to Jon vs. Dany, Dany vs. Euron, Dany vs. Aegon, or Jon vs. Aegon. The most common theory in the fandom is Dany vs. Aegon, with Dany believing Aegon to be a fake Targaryen and refusing to acknowledge his claim to the throne. Instead of facing Cersei as in the show, Daenerys will face Aegon.

The extension of this theory is that Dorne will ally with Aegon, with an ambitious Arianne marrying Aegon, and a burnt toast Quentyn showing Daenerys's rejection, turning Dorne against Daenerys. When Daenerys invades Westeros, Aegon is to be the perfect prince while Dany plays the role of the evil Mad King's daughter. In retaliation of Dorne siding with a false Targaryen instead of a true Targaryen, Dany will burn the Water Gardens. On a narrative level it kinda does make a lot of sense. In the first Areo chapter, Doran mentions that the blood oranges are well past ripe. He has waited for his vengeance for 17 years, because he's so careful about the cost, but in the end all that waiting will do him in and the second Daenerys will burn the Water Gardens that were built for the first Daenerys.

There is just a slight problem... someone talked about the theory that Daenerys will burn the Water Gardens in the comment section of a NotABlog post, and GRRM very quickly shut it down by saying "the Water Gardens bit... uh no". Not that we needed GRRM to debunk this tired theory, it didn't make much sense in the first place since the Water Gardens hold no strategic value and burning it would mean Daenerys has to do it for no reason other than needless cruelty.

The bigger issue I have is that of Dany and Aegon even fighting in the first place. Despite everything, what a "second Dance of the Dragons" even means is incredibly vague. A Targaryen succession crisis? A Targ succession crisis leading to war? A Targaryen man fighting a Targaryen woman? Does it need to be on the same scale as the original Dance? We have no context other than this and it could mean literally anything. What's more, there is a very often overlooked SSM that kinda puts the dampers on this theory a bit;

The second Dance of Dragons does not have to mean Dany's invasion. Geroge stopped himself short and said he shouldn't say anymore. The response came because of my question of whether the dance would take place in ADWD because AFFC and ADWD parallel.

We will definitely see more of Aegon in TWOW, and we'll probably get to know him better. I'm not going to argue that Aegon appearing in book 5 of 7 is bad writing, because I don't think it necessarily is. Perhaps he won't be as major a character as the fandom believes him to be. However, if Daenerys and Aegon are going to clash, there needs to be time for the characters to interact and establish any sort of relationship. I think the idea that Dany hears of Aegon's existence and immediately thinks he is a fake and goes to war with him completely disregards both Dany's character and how you establish a tragic event like this.

The first Dance of the Dragons was not something that happened on a whim. It was the result of decades of hatred built towards two factions. They weren't always antagonistic to each other, but as the years passed, the blacks and the greens grew to hate each other more and more and more until it took the death of the king that kept them at bay to start a devastating war. Dany declaring Aegon a fake without ever having met him and going to war with him is incredibly simplistic. Also, think about it from Dany's perspective.

Viserys was an abusive asshole to her, yet she still thinks about him and even feels lonely. It's natural to want to have a family and someone to feel close with. Dany is warned about the mummer's dragon, yes, but she is also lonely and thinks all her family is dead, that she is alone in the world. So what would really happen if she learned Aegon existed? For sure there would be intense skepticism, but I think there is a part of her that will at the very least want to believe it to be true. Daenerys is very ambitious yes, but I don't think she would simply refuse to believe someone is her nephew because that means he has a better claim to the throne.

Besides, kinslaying is a huge taboo, and killing someone who claims to be her nephew without being sure is definitely going to not be the best option in her mind. And also, Aegon hasn't done anything yet to earn Dany's resentment, unlike Viserys. There might be some anger at Illyrio, some serious shock, denial even, but at the end of the day, this is one more family member she didn't know she even had. The show portrayed Jon's parentage as being a bad thing for her since he would have a better claim, but I doubt that will be the first thing on Dany's mind. In fact, she thinks to herself what would happen if Aegon was alive:

Five Aegons had ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. There would have been a sixth, but the Usurper's dogs had murdered her brother's son when he was still a babe at the breast. If he had lived, I might have married him.

There is a good chance that the emotions she feels when learning about Aegon will be a precursor to the R+L=J reveal with Jon Snow. Just more reason Aegon is a big step towards R+L=J being confirmed.

Although Daenerys is quite ready to leave Slaver's Bay for Westeros at the end of ADWD, Aegon's existence might motivate her to leave even more quickly and solidify her goal to get the Iron Throne. However, I don't think that Aegon is going to become a new main character. His appearance and his actions I feel are more important than his actual character. And hey, maybe the second Dance will involved Daenerys and Aegon, but I think there is enough reason to doubt it.

Next up; the Golden Company landing, Dorne, and Aegon's game of cyvasse, detailed.

#asoiaf meta #young griff #daenerys targaryen #second dance of the dragons #house targaryen #r+l=j #aegon vi targaryen #house blackfyre #golden company #jon snow #asoiaf parallels

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

theladyofcamelias replied to your post “theladyofcamelias replied to your post ...”

Omg I never thought about the Unnamed Princess of Dorne, Joanna Lannister, and Rhaella Targaryen’s friendship as a political alliance that they came up with all on their own but you are so right. Why does literally no one talk about it in these terms?

Because in the eyes of fandom, men fostering children and arranging marriages is tactical, while women doing it is not. The fact that the Unnamed Princess considered Joanna Lannister a friend meant that she was acting off emotion, while Tywin was a tactical genius. But that is very clearly absurd, because if we stop for even a moment to think why, we can see the reasoning behind her actions, while Tywin’s are just plain stupid.

The Unnamed Princess of Dorne was significantly older than Joanna and Rhaella. She was a ruler in her own name. She wanted an alliance and she was almost certainly the driving force. Obviously it made sense to ally with the Lannisters in the Westerlands, because they have mutual interests! Both the Martells and the Lannisters have a rivalry going on with the Reach and the Tyrells. The Westerlands and Dorne are on opposite sides of the Reach.  It would be a beneficial alliance both in terms of protecting them both in the event of a military conflict and in terms of spreading their influence further/advancing the prestige of their houses. That’s true through their friendship, and it’s true through the marriages Joanna and the Unnamed Princess discussed.

It’s generally accepted that Oberyn/Cersei was an extremely unlikely match, even if Joanna had lived. But the fact that Mama Martell had that idea in her head makes much more sense if we actually consider the women for once.

Tywin believed that Cersei was the obvious match for Rhaegar, but that’s because of his limitless arrogance. Tywin. As I’ve discussed before, it’s not really true. The fandom stance tends to be that Aerys turned down the betrothal because he was paranoid and didn’t want Lannister wealth backing Rhaegar, accepting Elia because she didn’t have as much power behind her. But that’s not it. Partially, maybe, but even people far less paranoid than Aerys would still have rejected Cersei because she would have been a bad bet to hinge a dynasty on. She was a child, and there would still be years before she was ready to marry and bear children. Rhaegar was already an adult that needed heirs immediately so his family didn’t die out. It’s not at all a bad bet that Joanna, even with her own Lannister arrogance, would have realized that that was deeply unlikely. On top of that, even if it weren’t unlikely, it makes plenty of sense that Joanna didn’t want to marry Cersei to Rhaegar, given that that would mean putting her in the same environment as Aerys who had assaulted Joanna during her own wedding, and Martell second son is still a better match than many first sons, especially if it meant a closer alliance with Dorne.

It makes plenty of sense to me that Mama Martell and Joanna intended to tie their families together through their kids, then the first granddaughter to Rhaegar’s son, whoever that might be. As far as we know, Elia was the only woman of an appropriate age and rank to marry Rhaegar. Therefore, it wouldn’t have been a big leap for the Unnamed Princess to assume Aerys would look to Essos, as Targaryens had done in the past. That meant that the balance of power wasn’t going to shift in anyone else’s favour. Her not attempting to marry Elia to Rhaegar would mean she could expand her scope of influence further. A grandchild as Lord of Casterly Rock. Another as Queen. A great grandchild as King in his own right. That would have been a solid strategy. It makes the fact she wanted to marry Elia to Jaime before Rhaegar seem way less nonsensical, too - especially if you consider how at that point, it had not yet become clear the kind of man Rhaegar would be, and that she too might have been somewhat wary of Aerys. That’s where it’s also important to remember that she’s older than Rhaella who probably looked up to her - Rhaella may well have confided in her.

It’s outrageous to refuse to think of these women as actual political players. They had plans and alliances in the works long before Ned went to foster in the Vale, before Brandon was betrothed to Catelyn Tully, before Lyanna was betrothed to Robert Baratheon. None of their actions make any damn sense in universe if we don’t think of them as connected to other actions in a long-ranging plan. I often tend to think of them are Martin fucking up - I wrote a post a while back about how the several years long gap between the proposed Elia Jaime match and Elia marrying Rhaegar seems partially the result of him intending Elia to be a child bride, then scrambling once he realized his math didn’t work - but even if that’s the case, there still needs to be an in universe explanation. The only one that makes any sense to me is that the Unnamed Princess of Dorne was spearheading a calculated alliance.

Even aside from the Unnamed Princess, it does Joanna a tremendous disservice to ignore this. In the text, she’s very much romanticized as everything good about Tywin and a great mother and all that. Much of fandom takes that totally at face value. But in doing so, they ignore that Joanna Lannister was clearly not what anyone would consider a good person. She loved Tywin despite Tywin being a raging misogynist and sadist. This was well after he had his father’s mistress paraded naked through the streets and butchered the Reynes and Tarbecks. We have no indication of her having any objection to either of those things. That does not give me the impression of a woman who would think, “oh, wouldn’t it be lovely if my son married my old friend’s daughter, then we’d be family” without thinking about how it could also benefit her. Also, you know who was thinking along those lines? Robert when he wanted to marry Lyanna and wanted Joffrey to marry Sansa. Not any woman that we see.

#A Song of Ice and Fire #Unnamed Princess of Dorne #Joanna Lannister #theladyofcamelias #replies

[rickon-on-skagos]

Thaw

Pairing: Ned/Cersei

Prompt: Thaw from @asoiafrarepairs Spring Event

+++

From the way her bed was positioned in the room, Cersei could see the down into the yard. She spent most of the day looking out of the window since there was not much else to do since Maester Luwin had prescribed her bed rest for the last month of her pregnancy for both her and the baby’s health. For a while, she had tried to keep herself busy with needlework but quickly grew bored of it. 

She and Eddard had only been married for a little bit over a year but Cersei had quickly grew into her role at Winterfell, enjoying the way Ned trusted her to keep the servants in check. It was very different from what she was used to from Casterly Rock. Her father would have never let her do that, not when there were Kevan, Tygett or Gerion around. She had been there to look pretty and seduce the prince, nothing more. 

It hadn’t worked out how her father had planned. Cersei hadn’t married a prince and not the king, either. The prince had died and the king- the new king Robert Baratheon, First of his name- had married his true love Lyanna Stark. She had ended up with Eddard Stark. Her father had pushed for the match, unsurprisingly since there were almost no other man left that had been highborn enough for a match with her as Stannis Baratheon had married Catelyn Stark and her father would have never married her to Jon Arryn. 

She had been angry. She had raged about having to marry the northern recluse and moving into this sparse land. Cersei had wanted Jaime. She could not be queen but Jaime had been released from the Kingsguard and had come home, back to her just that she had to leave for Winterfell and he had to marry the other Tully girl, Lysa. Cersei had never been more mad in her life. Being in the North had not helped with that. The wedding had happened in the godswood, a place that still made her feel queasy today, and it had only made things worse back then. 

A soft knock snapped her out of her thoughts. 

    “Come in.” She called. 

Her husband looked almost sheepish as he came into the room, carrying a small tray. Cersei sat up a little straighter, one hand cradling her bump as he approached the bed. A delicious smell wafted over to her and her mouth started watering almost immediately. He made to say something but Cersei was faster. 

    “What’s that?” She asked, already reaching for the tray. 

He chuckled at lowly at that, his eyes wrinkling up as the corner of his mouth twitched upwards. 

    “You said you wanted honey cakes so I got you some.” 

The cakes were delicious, sweet and crumbly, just the way she liked them best and she hummed around every bite, even going so far to lick her fingers clean of any residue. With no one but her husband in the room, she thought to let this slip for once. She was pregnant and very uncomfortable, after all. 

    “It’s thawing.” He said, looking out of the window. “Winter is over, a raven from the Citadel arrived today.” 

She watched him for a long moment, took him in and pondered. During the past few months, she had demanded some outlandish foods to fulfill her cravings and every single time, Eddard had gotten it and personally brought it to her. Robert would have never and she doubted Rhaegar would have either. But Eddard had. He also started taking his dinner in her chambers with her, trying to make it every evening and if he couldn’t, he’d send her an apology. It was… nice. 

Cersei did not love Eddard Stark but she stopped being so angry a while back. She had come here with every intend to wage war against the man who hated her brother so much for every day as long as she lived, had expected him to be cold and harsh, cruel-hearted. But he wasn’t. He had not greeted her with open arms but neither had she and it had taken them a long time until she had grown tired of lashing out and he had enough of avoiding her and then even longer for them work out somewhat of a system. 

He had come to her chamber a lot more, afterwards. It had been one of the things she gave him early into her marriage: Laying with Eddard had never been awful. Awkward, impersonal and, at times, stilted and cold but never bad. He had never slept with a woman before her which had been painfully obvious and he wasn’t her Jaime- nobody could ever be him- but he had been careful and patient, taking to her directions easily enough. 

She rubbed her bump, well aware of how he followed the movement, his fingers twitching. 

Cersei would almost call him handsome in this light. Not an almost ethereal beauty like Jaime was or Rhaegar had been or a rugged attractiveness like Robert but Ned was handsome, in a way. He was softer than his solemn face made him look but not weak how she had assumed at first. His eyes were dark grey and by all accounts, he should come off as cold and unapproachable but he didn’t. 

Her father had ruled by fear, making sure everyone knew what would happen when they betrayed the Lannisters but not Eddard. Eddard invited people to the high table during the rare feasts they held in the Great Hall and listened to them, talked with them and shared laughter with them. It had puzzled her- still did, sometimes- to see him rule with kindness and honor instead of terror. Nobody in Winterfell covered in fear at the name of their liege lord and many came to him for counsel, nobody fearing him like they feared her father. 

Eddard was a good man. 

    “Give me your hand.” She said. 

It surprised him, she could see it on his face but he did without asking any questions and she grabbed his wrist, pulling him closer until she could put it on her stomach. She held his hand- rough and calloused- in place and the child did not disappoint, kicking hard and strong. She winced uncomfortable. 

    “They’re strong.” Eddard said, a visible smile on his face. 

    “A strong son.” She agreed. 

She had to give him a son, father expected it of her. Every man wanted sons for their legacy. A long time ago, back when she had been a child and still naive, she had wished for daughters so she could brush their hair until it shone, read them the stories her mother used to read her and gift them dresses, jewelry and puppets for their name days. She quickly lost those dreams once she grew up. Men needed sons, not daughters. 

    “No matter whether it’s a son or a daughter, as long as they are healthy, I am happy.” 

Cersei looked up at him, green eyes meeting grey ones, and she saw the honesty in them and when Eddard leaned forward- obviously having seen something in her eyes, too- to kiss her brow, she didn’t flinch away. 

+++

The snow had not melted away completely when Cersei went into labour. Eddard hadn’t been with her when the contractions started but he was by her side once she was in the maester’s chamber, looking frazzled and worried. He held her hand as she screamed and cursed him to the seven hells and back for making her go through this. 

The air grew hot and stuffy quickly, her sweat-damp hair clinging to her skin as she pushed and pushed. It smelled like blood, too, and Cersei gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. Eddard’s hand was surprisingly cool as he brushed a strand of hair out of her face, whispering encouragement and praise. 

She didn’t know how long it took but her voice grew rough at some point and her breaths were closer to pants. It was the most humiliating thing Cersei had ever experienced. Spread apart and so undignified, she felt exposed and vulnerable and she wanted it to stop. Tears were burning in her eyes but she refused to let them fall, no matter how much it hurt. She was a lioness and lions do not cry. She gasped for air, fingers squeezing tight around Eddard’s hand. 

Cold lips were pressed against her temple and she instinctively leaned into the touch, mouthing words she herself didn’t know what they meant. A wail stopped her and she gasped, immediately trying to sit up just to be pushed down by the midwife. 

    “Let me-” She rasped. “Let me see my child.” 

It was a boy. Her son was small with pink skin, soft tufts of light hair and grey eyes and still screaming when she took him from the maester, announcing his presence loudly and Cersei loved him. 

He was perfect, absolutely perfect. 

+++

The godswood unnerved her still, especially the heart tree with its weeping face. She had rarely been to the Stone Garden in Casterly Rock, never seen a reason to. Something about the northern woods felt different. 

Her shoes sank into the muddy ground and she pursed her lips, her skirts lifted to not drag through the dirt. Spring had fully arrived and most of the snow had melted already, leaving everything wet and muddy. It wasn’t warm, yet, and Cersei wondered if it ever really got warm up here. 

She finally found her husband underneath the heartree, sitting in the shadow of the big tree, their son in his arms. He was talking in a too low voice for her to hear but she could see his lips move, not even noticing her as he was too focused on their son. It did something to her, seeing him taking an interest in their child. She pushed the feeling down harshly, not liking the way her heart leaped in her chest when she saw him sitting in the nursery, rocking an upset Robb back to sleep as if it was nothing. 

    “My lord.” She called out, catching his attention. 

He smiled at her and for a moment, Cersei wondered how she looked to him. She was beautiful, she knew that but what did he think about her? She had to look awfully out of place with her golden hair, her dress that, despite being weather appropriate, had a distinct style that was popular in the Westerland, adorned with complicated embroidery and the heavy golden jewelry she had brought with her. She didn’t look like the northern ladies that had visited Winterfell and she didn’t try to. Cersei was a lioness. 

    “My lady.” He replied as he stood up. 

She crossed the little clearing, passing by the dark pool and when Eddard held out his hand for her, she took it and let him guide her to where he had been sitting. He sat down next to her, Robb still safely nestled in his arm, blinking up owlishly at his father. She reached for him and Eddard gave him to her easily and both of them smiled at their son, soft and unguarded.

    “Maester Luwin was looking for you.” She said, suddenly remembering why she had come to look for him in the first place. “A letter from White Harbor arrived today.” 

Eddard nodded shortly and thanked her, kissing her brow again before leaving, his form quickly disappearing between the trees. She looked down at Robb and smiled when he grasped for her fingers, making some gurgling noises. It almost made her less angry about the letter tucked away in a pocket of her dress but not forgotten. 

She had written her father as soon as she could, telling him about the birth of his grandson and in his response he had not asked about her health, only asked- no, demanded- for another son to secure the line of inheritance. That was all that mattered to him. Eddard was different in that regard. 

Maester Luwin had advised them to wait a few moons before laying together again and Eddard had not pressed but accepted it. She had always heard about him being honorable to a fault but she had not expected him to actually be like that. Not once did he try to sleep with her anyway and she had yet to hear about any secret trips to the brothels in Wintertown. 

Robb yawned and Cersei kissed his forehead. She loved him so much it almost scared her. She didn’t even love Jaime this much and even if he would ride up to Winterfell now and asked her to abandon everything to run away with him she wouldn’t. Because of Robb. 

    “I love you.” She whispered to him. She had never told anyone but Jaime this. “I love you so much, little lion.” 

He just blinked at her, not understanding what she was saying but paying attention anyway and Cersei laughed. He looked a little bit like his father in that moment, she thought. Robb would never feel like an outsider here, the godswood would never be unnerving to him and he would be a great lord, she would make sure of it. 

+++

Cersei gave Robb to the handmaiden along with a few more instructions and once everything was to her satisfaction, she left and made her way towards Eddard’s chamber. Her heart was fluttering in her chest and she didn’t understand why. He was her husband, he had seen her naked several times and she had never been shy about her attractiveness nor sex but when Maester Luwin had told her she was cleared to see after her wifely duties again, something like nervousness had lodged itself into her stomach. It was still there when she knocked on his door. 

He looked a little bit surprised to see her but let her in anyway and as soon as he closed the door again, she stepped into his space. Since he was only a few inches taller than her, they were almost eye to eye when she wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers curling into his long, dark strands. Almost hesitantly, he put his hands on her hips.

    “Cersei?” He asked quietly, a slight frown appearing on his face. 

She licked her lips, taking him in and finally leaned forwards, brushing their lips together in an almost tender kiss. Eddard let her, his fingers flexing slightly and he kissed her back shyly. Cersei had never slept with anyone just because she wanted to except Jaime but somehow, Ned had sneaked his way into her heart. She hadn’t even noticed. 

    “Maester Luwin gave me the clear today.” She said once they pulled apart. “I thought it was a reason to celebrate, my lord.” 

    “Are you sure?” 

She smiled and pressed herself further against him, enjoying the way she could feel his body warmth through their clothes. Her nose brushed over Eddard’s, his breath was hot on her cheek and Cersei felt almost giddy. 

    “Absolutely, my lord.” 

He lifted her up easily, making her first yelp in surprise and then laugh as he carried her over to the bed, carefully laying her out on the soft furs. 

    “Call me Ned, please.” 

    “Ned.” She said, not stumbling over the name despite being unfamiliar with it. 

That night, Cersei did not sleep alone, instead found herself wrapped in a tight embrace, Ned’s legs entangled with hers and her head resting on his shoulder. She splayed her hand over his chest, absently playing with the coarse chest hair growing there. Ned was fast asleep, his hand loosely tangled into her hair, too, snoring softly. 

Cersei closed her eyes, feeling more warm and comfortable than ever before, and wished for a spring to bring her a girl. 

#nedsei #ned x cersei #my writing

[yenslilac]

 Before any of you say anything, I’ve put this in the Sansa tag because I want to reach the Sansa stans to hear what you think! Do you agree with what I’m about to say? Disagree? Have I changed your mind? Are you the same? If you think I’m wrong, tell me what you disagree with! Don’t leave a comment then block me immediately, I’m more than happy to talk about your opinions as long as you aren’t rude to me. This isn’t hate, I genuinely want to know your opinion on this!

Okay. Hypothetical situation here. Let’s pretend Sansa and Jon were together in Season 8. Dany is at Winterfell, as Jon bent the knee, per 7x06. Jon reveals his parentage to Sansa, and wants to tell Dany, as she is his family, and he feels it is important she knows. But Sansa asks him not to. Daenerys has been spiteful and undermines Sansa’s authority, and Sansa is afraid that if Dany finds out Jon is a potential candidate for the throne, She will kill Sansa, in order to wed Jon herself so Dany has no threats to the throne. In this situation, Sansa is in the right - Due to Daenerys’ previous attitude and behaviour towards her, it is likely Sansa will be worse off should this get out. So she begs Jon to just hold onto this secret for a little longer, to keep her safe. Of course he doesn’t, and tells Daenerys. She goes ballistic and orders Varys to begin poisoning Sansa.

 Now, this is a question for the Sansa stans. Would you think that Sansa is the abuser in their relationship (specifically regarding this moment)? She isn’t right? She was afraid she would be hurt and she was right. Jon refused to listen to her, and told Dany, a woman in this situation who was incredibly antagonistic to Sansa. Was he the victim of abuse? If you said that no, Sansa wasn’t abusing Jon, then guess what! 

You can’t say Dany abused Jon in the real show!! 

Sansa was openly against Daenerys in the show. She made clear she wanted the North to be independent, despite Jon, her King, bending the knee. She was undermined by Sansa in front of the public, and it was obvious Sansa did not want to be friends. So when Jon revealed he was the son of Rhaegar, don’t you think Dany would be afraid. Sansa (as well as many others) obviously would prefer for Dany to be gone, and Jon being a good replacement might just fast forward their plans. Again, Daenerys witnessed the dislike of Sansa towards her, she is within her rights to be concerned if this got out. So Dany asks Jon to keep quiet, for her safety, but he betrays his promise and tells his siblings anyway. Because of this, Sansa tells Tyrion, who tells Varys, and we all know how that ended. So why is it thought that Dany was the abuser in this situation? 

#daenerys targaryen #Sansa Stark #jonerys #jonsa #<- i think? is this the wrong tag? #tell me and i'll take it off #politely of course don't yell at me

[mcheang]

Runaway marriage

Another game of thrones AU. I don’t know about you, but my fav Game of Thrones romance was between Rhaegar and Lyanna. Though I admit Rhaegar could have handled the situation better than that! I feel sorry for Robert and Elia, not loved by their fiancée/Husband, and it was disrespectful how they were never informed/warned of any of this beforehand. Still my fav couple though.

Adrien has been betrothed to Lady Chloe of Casterly Rock. God help him. The betrothal came about because his Father owed Lady Audrey for his ascension.

Alas, Adrien’s heart had been won by Lady Marinette of Highgarden. Not only was she an excellent baker and seamstress, something she did to defy the expectations of an heiress, she also disguised herself as a knight and claimed victory at a tourney, winning the crowning laurels and Adrien’s heart.

Adrien could barely see Marinette but sent love letters to her daily. Lady Marinette was very popular. Word spread that her hand would be given to Lord Luka of Iron Islands.

Adrien’s preferment for Lady Marinette was obvious. While he politely listened to information about his fiancé, he eagerly sought for any fact or gossip about the lady of his heart.

The final insult came when he gave Marinette the laurels instead of Chloe.

Personally Gabriel didn’t care. His Son could have a mistress so long as he kept to the arrangement. He had paid his debt to Audrey, so he ignored her complaints.

Sadly, the Lord Roland was not so indifferent. He insisted Marinette be engaged immediately before rumours of her being a Mistress ruined her future.

When word came that Marinette was engaged, it is said that Prince Adrien wept for days on end. He was inconsolable and stayed by his dragon Plagg’s side constantly if only to escape other humans.

Then the Prince came to his senses and resumed his duties.

A month later, Lady Marinette had run away, leaving behind a letter to tell she will leave her inheritance to Bridgette, who ironically was engaged to Prince Felix.

It is said that Prince Adrien rode Plagg, the mightiest Dragon of all, in search of her.

It took some time before the people realized the couple had eloped. (They had planned it all out in encoded letters)

It certainly left many furious, with the notable exception of Luka. He knew the engagement was rushed and therefore took no offence. Rumours whispered that he aided in Marinette’s runaway.

Gabriel sent men after his son but they retreated at the sight of Plagg.

The only other Dragons present belonged to Gabriel and Felix. But Gabriel’s dragon was old and weak, and Felix had no desire to retrieve his runaway Cousin (he so did not want to be related to Chloe)

Accepting defeat, Gabriel spitefully exiled his Son and Marinette. He ignored Lady Audrey’s demand he punish Highgarden, because the family there was popular. Rather, he intended to betroth Felix with Chloe instead.

Yeah; that wasn’t going to happen. A few days after Gabriel announced his intention, he was accused of practising black magic to try to resurrect Queen Emilie. Gabriel was sentenced to prison, along with his Hand Nathalie.

In the absence of a king, Felix ascended to the throne and took Bridgette for his wife.

When Casterly Rock looked like it might wage a war to defend Gabriel’s right, Felix immediately put an end to such rebellious thoughts with his Dragon Cataclysm.

To make peace with Casterly Rock, he offered them special privileges and rights.

Felix and Bridgette kept an orderly reign over the seven realms and life was good.

Meanwhile, Adrien and Marinette were nervous and scared but finally happy to be free of society’s expectations and to be able to be together.

Years later, the couple would be welcomed back home to introduce their first son Hugo.

Note: I admit I feel guilty about what Chloe and Gabriel and Nathalie go through, but this story was inspired by Rhaegar and Lyanna’s tragic romance

#miraculous ladybug fanfic #miraculous ladybug fic #ml fanfic #ml fanfiction #ml fic #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #adrienette #ml au #ml alternate universe #miraculous ladybug au #miraculous ladybug alternate universe

[lucyskywalker]

Right, what if Arya goes to White Harbor first? Idk if it is gonna happen, but if the trigger for her coming back to Westeros is Jon's death, wouldn't it be more plausible if she sails North first, and then, after Ramsay be *uhum*,gently killed and his soul be tortured for eternity in the seven hells, they go to the Riverlands? Bran would be in Winterfell with Rickon, because there should always be a Stark in Winterfell, and who is better to take care of the situation than the three eyed raven? After a few months to recover the army from Ramsay's battle and a bit of the shit winterfell folk had passed, yada, yada, they can go south. Sansa being in the Vale, possibly already killed Petyr and married to Harwin, would she probably meet them? Or maybe, she would try to contact Bran first? It is more plausible, since Sansa do not have the best relationship with Jon and Arya in the books.

It makes more sense, right?

And by Robb's will, Jon is his heir, and will probably be crowned king. And where the crown is ? In the Riverlands.

So, the Vale is helping the North with supriments, the Riverlands serve only the North.

F!Aegon is already trying to conquer the Seven Kingdoms, the Stormlands and Dragonstone is his, while the Lannisters sit with Casterly Rock, Red Keep and the High Garden.

Possibly the realm will be divided during a long time till Dany comes to Westeros with Dragons, what can take a year, or two. We know that she will join forces with the North.

Where to put Dorne, tho? What will happen when they find out F!Aegon is not Elia's son? Treason? Is this what will kill f!aegon? It makes kind of sense, since I do not see neither Doran or the Sand Snakes be happy with someone playing be a part of the family, much less Elia's supposed dead son. What will happen with Dorne?

Would be interesting to see Dorne joining force with the North, because would be like Cercei being trapped in her own game.

Her view that all people out of the Lannister put her in this situation. She made enemies out of everyone, till all she has is the Red Keep.(Because if Tyrion join forces with Dany, I can totally see him coming for Casterly Rock)

I do not see Dorne joining force neither with the North, for obvious reasons(Lyanna/Rhaegar/Jon) or Dany(Quentyn Martell, and I know it wasn't Dany's fault or wish, but it happend, and the Dornish actually do not forget), if F!Aegon be killed/eliminated from the Great Game. Dorne is a Joker card in all of it.

Where the others come? Before or after Cercei is eliminated? In wich side Highgarden will be seeing all of it? Will they betray Cercei, or will Cercei kill Margaery as she did in the show?

I really want everyone against Cercei. Because she always tought to be so smart, but all the time, she was making her own grave.

Im anxious.

#asoiaf #asoiaf especulation #a song of ice and fire

[janiedean]

how is the weirwood dream proof jaime will live?

well, have the entire thing so I’m eviscerating it once and for all.

premise: this entire thing is basically your gateway to 90% of jaime’s issues.

other premise: it’s a weirwood dream so it’s prophetic.

third premise: I’m going off basic dream interpretation symbolism which grrm definitely knows a thing or two about dream interpretation and the likes, and the basis is that your dreams are a wish fulfillment that your subconscious is trying to send you or warnings that your subconscious is trying to send you but that you might censor because you don’t want to face what it is that your subconscious is really telling you, which in this case we have in spades. so, with that stated and going at it from beginning to end. 

He closed his eyes, and hoped to dream of Cersei. The fever dreams were all so vivid …

point one: he hopes to dream of cersei. ie the person he loves/he thinks is his other half/soulmate/that he thought of while imprisoned to find himself a motivation to go on/that he associates with love-comfort-being understood because she’s his supposed half and that’s how it goes. fair enough, he’s had a pretty bad time lately, right? then the dream starts.

Naked and alone he stood, surrounded by enemies, with stone walls all around him pressing close. The Rock, he knew. He could feel the immense weight of it above his head. He was home. He was home and whole.

now, what did we say before about conflicting messages? the basic message here is DANGER DANGER DANGER because he’s naked and alone and surrounded by enemies and walls pressing close which gives a pretty claustrophobic feeling….. but he thinks he’s home. with an IMMENSE WEIGHT ABOVE HIS HEAD. spoilers: his home (casterly) weights immensely on him (with his name attached to it), but he can’t realize that it’s a negative thing because that just doesn’t register - he knows that it should be a good thing so he processes it as such… while his subconscious is screaming danger at him. also surrounded by enemies = pretty much all his life, right? then:

He held his right hand up and flexed his fingers to feel the strength in them. It felt as good as sex. As good as swordplay. Four fingers and a thumb. He had dreamed that he was maimed, but it wasn’t so. Relief made him dizzy. My hand, my good hand. Nothing could hurt him so long as he was whole.

MORE RED FLAGS HERE, as in: he has the right hand. the one he lost before and that he hates to think he’s lost. now, what does he associate it with? sex and swordplay. also: HE HAD DREAMED THAT IT WAS MAIMED. and NOTHING COULD HURT HIM AS LONG AS HE WAS WHOLE. so: his right hand and his swordplay skills are what makes sure he doesn’t get hurt, which is fairly obvious given that jaime’s basic problem solving skill when it comes to anything is trying to kill it and he doesn’t have a flight instinct. also: swordplay = sex, and sex = cersei, so being whole = he has the right hand = he has his swordplay skills = he has cersei = he has his love and he can defend himself = nothing can hurt him. it’s all on the same level.

except that he doesn’t have the hand anymore, not really. but let’s go on. [under the cut because it’s long]

Around him stood a dozen tall dark figures in cowled robes that hid their faces. In their hands were spears. “Who are you?” he demanded of them. “What business do you have in Casterly Rock? They gave no answer, only prodded him with the points of their spears. He had no choice but to descend. Down a twisting passageway he went, narrow steps carved from the living rock, down and down. I must go up, he told himself. Up, not down. Why am I going down? Below the earth his doom awaited, he knew with the certainty of dream; something dark and terrible lurked there, something that wanted him. Jaime tried to halt, but their spears prodded him on. If only I had my sword, nothing could harm me.

now, here we’re in downright creepy territory. he’s just said that nothing can hurt him…. but then he thinks if only I had a sword, nothing could harm me, so it’s not just his right hand now. he needs the sword. he doesn’t have one yet. keep that in mind because that’s half of the point. now, he’s surrounded by dark figures he can’t place who force him to go down instead of up even if he thinks he should go up, and he knows that his doom awaited below, so he knows he’s going straight where something dangerous, dark and terrible lurks there. mind the specific word choice - dangerous, dark and terrible. so even if he thinks he’s whole and safe, he knows deep down that’s not a thing and that he’s being forced to face something that wants him and that’s not a good thing either. which is…… the same kind of split he shows when he thinks that he’s cersei but at the same time behaves the opposite way and knows that she’d hate to see him looking differently from her. also: his doom awaited, which means that he’s sure he’s going to die or that it’ll be his end. and he’s not really processing it, because he still thinks that as long as he has the right hand and a sword he’d be fine. except that no, that’s not the kind of thing you solve by killing it.

“The steps ended abruptly on echoing darkness. Jaime had the sense of vast space before him. He jerked to a halt, teetering on the edge of nothingness. A spearpoint jabbed at the small of the back, shoving him into the abyss. He shouted, but the fall was short. He landed on his hands and knees, upon soft sand and shallow water. There were watery caverns deep below Casterly Rock, but this one was strange to him. “What place is this?”

“Your place.” The voice echoed; it was a hundred voices, a thousand, the voices of all the Lannisters since Lann the Clever, who’d lived at the dawn of days. But most of all it was his father’s voice, and beside Lord Tywin stood his sister, pale and beautiful, a torch burning in her hand. Joffrey was there as well, the son they’d made together, and behind them a dozen more dark shapes with golden hair.

and here we go.

one: the dark cloaks and figures are the other lannisters before him, who at this point we can deduce symbolize his name/legacy that he feels he hasn’t lived up to and who are basically bringing him down to a trial as they shove him into the abyss. he ends up some place he doesn’t know or remember, and let’s remember that jaime’s preferred coping method for trauma is dissociating, so this is most likely a hint to the fact that he can’t recognize a place that his own subconscious is telling him is HIS place, as in….. where his trauma/issues are rooted.

and who is in this dark, dangerous, terrible place where his doom awaits?

tywin, cersei and joffrey. and more lannisters, but those three are the ones that are named.

also, cersei has a burning torch in her hand.

so… according to jaime’s subconscious, his father, cersei and joffrey are in the dark, dangerous and terrible place where his doom awaits.

sounds to me like said subconscious is entirely aware that tywin was a shit to him, that cersei never gave a fuck about him and that he regrets having had joffrey with her because joffrey is who he is, but let’s go on.

“Sister, why has Father brought us here?”“Us? This is your place, Brother. This is your darkness.” Her torch was the only light in the cavern. Her torch was the only light in the world. She turned to go.“Stay with me,” Jaime pleaded. “Don’t leave me here alone.” But they were leaving. “Don’t leave me in the dark!” Something terrible lived down here. “Give me a sword, at least.”“I gave you a sword,” Lord Tywin said.It was at his feet. Jaime groped under the water until his hand closed upon the hilt. Nothing can hurt me so long as I have a sword.

now, this is even more damning. first thing, he asks cersei why did tywin bring them there, so he’s already putting blame on him rather than assuming that cersei has a hand in anything that might hurt him…. but cersei replies that this is his place and his darkness, while holding the only light in the cavern/the world. so, if it’s his darkness and his place, if she’s holding that light, then we can surmise that the light is jaime himself. and what does cersei do?

she turns and leaves him there.

then he pleads to her to stay with him, and she doesn’t (mind that later the text says that he pleaded with rhaegar to have someone else guard aerys with him and he was told no) and he doesn’t want to be left alone in the dark, and he still doesn’t realize that the terrible thing that lives down there is in fact all three of them, and at the end he asks for the sword…… which is the only thing that can help him be safe as we established before, right?

so: tywin gives him the sword, which is obviously foreshadowing tywin giving him oathkeeper later, so PROPHETIC THING #1. and again, NOTHING CAN HURT ME AS LONG AS I HAVE A SWORD. at this point he has the sword and cersei has the light in her hands, and we established that he is that light, right?

As he raised the sword a finger of pale flame flickered at the point and crept up along the edge, stopping a hand’s breath from the hilt. The fire took on the color of the steel itself so it burned with a silvery-blue light, and the gloom pulled back. Crouching, listening, Jaime moved in a circle, ready for anything that might come out of the darkness. The water flowed into his boots, ankle deep and bitterly cold. Beware the water, he told himself. There may be creatures living in it, hidden deeps …From behind came a great splash. Jaime whirled toward the sound … but the faint light revealed only Brienne of Tarth, her hands bound in heavy chains. “I swore to keep you safe,” the wench said stubbornly. “I swore an oath.” Naked, she raised her hands to Jaime. “Ser. Please. If you would be so good.”

first thing that happens: the moment he takes up the sword, the sword becomes alight, so the light that cersei has in her hands is currently in his own as well. if he is the light, we can definitely deduce the message that if before he thought he was her and she was his half completely, now he’s starting to take it back from her even if cersei still has some with her, which means he’s starting to detach himself from her. also, the moment he does it, the gloom pulls back. as in: the moment he starts to reclaim himself from cersei, the feeling of doom and gloom momentarily goes away, but he’s still on guard and he’s not really doing too well - there’s the imagery of his feet being deep in cold water and he’s expecting anything to reach up and drag him down. we can add that water is a primal element and has a lot of symbolism attached to it first of all rebirth and cleansing, but in this case it’s not exactly that - usually deep water or a large quantity of it means your emotions and if they’re turbulent or cold or not cleansing it’s there to symbolize your emotional turmoil and if you feel lost in it it means you can’t control your emotions. except that then there’s a splash from behind him as in someone erupting from nowhere and who shows up?

brienne. first he whirls towards her but then goes like ‘oh it’s only her’ so she’s not perceived as a danger, and… she has chains around her wrists, as in, she’s forbidden from doing anything that she wants, same as she’s been all her life and jaime subconsciously knows that. and what does she tell him instead of ‘well I gave you a sword, your business’ or ‘this is your darkness, not mine’?

I swore to keep you safe, ser, and then she’s naked (as in the bath at harrenhal) ie at her most vulnerable same as him, and she’s pleading him to let her keep him safe.

now, we already know (he told qyburn that she’s his protector) that by this point jaime associates her with being safe/protected regardless of how much he might not process it in depth, but she did keep him safe as much as she could, she kept him alive while they were prisoners, she materially cleaned him up/made sure he’d eat as much as she could when they were prisoners and they’ve shared intimate confessions in the bath at the end of which she caught him/washed him/dressed him, and wow, who is that shows up when he feels alone, naked, his family is deserting him and danger is looming on him?

right, brienne. who can’t do anything until he does something about it, though. and what happens?

The steel links parted like silk. “A sword,” Brienne begged, and there it was, scabbard, belt, and all. She buckled it around her thick waist. The light was so dim that Jaime could scarcely see her, though they stood a scant few feet apart. In this light she could almost be a beauty, he thought. In this light she could almost be a knight. Brienne’s sword took flame as well, burning silvery blue. The darkness retreated a little more.“The flames will burn so long as you live,” he heard Cersei call. “When they die, so must you.”“Sister!” he shouted. “Stay with me. Stay!” There was no reply but the soft sound of retreating footsteps.

so: she asks him to let her keep his oath. the moment she does, her chains fall. then she begs for a sword, and in his own subconscious, he conjures one for her from nothing and he gives it to her (same as he’ll give her oathkeeper later) and the moment she puts it around her waist and takes it out, he thinks that she could almost be a beauty/a knight, and let’s remember he’s dreaming that both of them are naked. and what happens the moment he gives her the sword?

the sword takes flame. so both their swords are burning.

what were we saying about what the light symbolizes here? right, that it’s himself. and what happens? the darkness retreats some more. as in: he gave brienne a part of himself or better yet, his subconscious picked her as the person he trusts with that part of himself.

now: cersei is still there but he hears her, he doesn’t see her. she tells her that ‘the flames will burn as long as you live’ and so he must die when they disappear’, and he still shouts at her to stay with him, but she doesn’t and leaves.

now, at this point you could say ‘so we’re talking about his own life’, but let’s remember that this is symbolizing jaime’s worst fears (being abandoned by his family) while at the same time his own subconscious has placed those three plus his legacy in what damns him and what harms him and defined them as *his darkness* that he should try to conquer. but that’s not all there is to it so let’s go ahead.

Brienne moved her longsword back and forth, watching the silvery flames shift and shimmer. Beneath her feet, a reflection of the burning blade shone on the surface of the flat black water. She was as tall and strong as he remembered, yet it seemed to Jaime that she had more of a woman’s shape now.“Do they keep a bear down here?” Brienne was moving, slow and wary, sword to hand; step, turn, and listen. Each step made a little splash. “A cave lion? Direwolves? Some bear? Tell me, Jaime. What lives here? What lives in the darkness?”“Doom.” No bear, he knew. No lion. “Only doom.”

now: this dream brienne, other than having more of a woman’s shape to her, which is already telling re what jaime thinks of her subconsciously, other than asking him if they keep a bear there (prophecy! bear pit!) asks if there are direwolves (the starks) and cave lions (the lannisters), and calls him jaime, not ser jaime or kingslayer, and again, that’s jaime’s head, so he wants her to call him like that. also, he insists that it’s not bears or lions, but just doom. and we haven’t seen all of that yet.

In the cool silvery-blue light of the swords, the big wench looked pale and fierce. “I mislike this place.”“I’m not fond of it myself.” Their blades made a little island of light, but all around them stretched a sea of darkness, unending. “My feet are wet.”“We could go back the way they brought us. If you climbed on my shoulders you’d have no trouble reaching that tunnel mouth.”Then I could follow Cersei. He could feel himself growing hard at the thought, and turned away so Brienne would not see.“Listen.” She put a hand on his shoulder, and he trembled at the sudden touch. She’s warm. “Something comes.” Brienne lifted her sword to point off to his left. “There.”

she looks pale and fierce, more positive attributes thrown at her. and she says she mislikes the place and he says he doesn’t like it either - well, it’s his head, hello jaime’s self-loathing, we had missed you. their swords are both alight, so she’s helping him keep the place not dark. his feet are wet, and remember what we said before about the water. brienne says that he can climb on her to get out, and he thinks ah sure so I can see cersei, gets hard and doesn’t want brienne to see it… so he doesn’t disappoint her? and why? she knows and she’s in his dream, she won’t judge him for it……. but he still hides it from her as if he’s ashamed of it. a moment later she touches him and she’s warm same as in the harrenhal baths. and she warns him that someone’s coming. she’s pretty much keeping him safe as she had sworn. again, this is all jaime’s subconscious. that’s how he sees her at this point.

“He peered into the gloom until he saw it too. Something was moving through the darkness, he could not quite make it out …“A man on a horse. No, two. Two riders, side by side.”“Down here, beneath the Rock?” It made no sense. Yet there came two riders on pale horses, men and mounts both armored. The destriers emerged from the blackness at a slow walk. They make no sound, Jaime realized. No splashing, no clink of mail nor clop of hoof. He remembered Eddard Stark, riding the length of Aerys’s throne room wrapped in silence. Only his eyes had spoken; a lord’s eyes, cold and grey and full of judgment.“Is it you, Stark?” Jaime called. “Come ahead. I never feared you living, I do not fear you dead.”Brienne touched his arm. “There are more.”

now: he thinks it’s ned coming, and he goes like I didn’t fear you either living or dead…… but didn’t he really, if his judgment hurt him so much that he thinks that’s what he’ll find in the dark, dangerous, terrible place that’s *his darkness*? doubtful, jaime, doubtful. notice how brienne is still touching him and going around him and being supportive. anyway, he’s expecting ned.

he doesn’t get ned.

He saw them too. They were armored all in snow, it seemed to him, and ribbons of mist swirled back from their shoulders. The visors of their helms were closed, but Jaime Lannister did not need to look upon their faces to know them.Five had been his brothers. Oswell Whent and Jon Darry. Lewyn Martell, a prince of Dorne. The White Bull, Gerold Hightower. Ser Arthur Dayne, Sword of the Morning. And beside them, crowned in mist and grief with his long hair streaming behind him, rode Rhaegar Targaryen, Prince of Dragonstone and rightful heir to the Iron Throne.“You don’t frighten me,” he called, turning as they split to either side of him. He did not know which way to face. “I will fight you one by one or all together. But who is there for the wench to duel? She gets cross when you leave her out.”“I swore an oath to keep him safe,” she said to Rhaegar’s shade. “I swore a holy oath.”“We all swore oaths,” said Ser Arthur Dayne, so sadly.

aand we have the jackpot: his doom, along with tywin/cersei/joffrey who left him instead of supporting him through it, is rhaegar and his kingsguard.

because jaime feels still fucking guilty about it, even if he knows he did the right thing and he couldn’t have done much else…. except that his subconscious doesn’t really agree on that. so he’s facing them/his doom and who is with him?

brienne. what does brienne have? a burning sword that’s a part of him that he gave freely to her. what does jaime have? a burning sword that’s the part of him that he reclaimed directly from cersei.

so: he tells them they don’t frighten him, so he sees them as enemies, all of them. and he asks them to duel brienne too, because he knows she would… as she swore an oath to keep him safe, as she says for the third time or so later. like, guys, the fact that jaime is so fixated on brienne’s oath to keep him safe when the entire dream started with him thinking that if he had the right hand then he didn’t need anyone to do it for him speaks volumes about how he sees her subconsciously, because most likely no one actually ever swore to keep him safe from anything (he is the one who keeps people safe/his loved ones safe or that he should do/that he feels guilty for not doing)… except that she did, and she keeps on telling that specific oath…… to every single person that his subconscious sees as dangerous/that he might need to be protected from.

I mean, he’s being fairly transparent here, but let’s go on to the crux of it.

“The shades dismounted from their ghostly horses. When they drew their longswords, it made not a sound. “He was going to burn the city,” Jaime said. “To leave Robert only ashes.”“He was your king,” said Darry.“You swore to keep him safe,” said Whent.“And the children, them as well,” said Prince Lewyn.Prince Rhaegar burned with a cold light, now white, now red, now dark. “I left my wife and children in your hands.”“I never thought he’d hurt them.” Jaime’s sword was burning less brightly now. “I was with the king …”“Killing the king,” said Ser Arthur.“Cutting his throat,” said Prince Lewyn.“The king you had sworn to die for,” said the White Bull.The fires that ran along the blade were guttering out, and Jaime remembered what Cersei had said. No. Terror closed a hand about his throat. Then his sword went dark, and only Brienne’s burned, as the ghosts came rushing in.“No,” he said, “no, no, no. Nooooooooo!”

now: the moment jaime justifies himself for aerys, both rhaegar and his KG brothers start vomiting on him every single thing he has struggled with for his entire life since the kingslaying and that he couldn’t have helped. now, we as readers know that jaime was right, that aerys was dangerous and that he would have never let elia and the children die if he had had a clue, and we also know that it was unfair of them all to leave the seventeen year-old in charge of the entire castle/of the king/of elia and the children. but jaime’s subconscious which has been struggling with it, his issues with his vows and so on for his entire life doesn’t know that, and what happens? the light in his sword (the one that he got from cersei in the passing of the torch) starts going dim every time they bring up what turned him into the kingslayer. it goes dim when rhaegar accuses him of letting elia and the children die and the flames die when his *commander* reminds him he should have died for aerys, and wait, why should he have died for aerys? because he joined the kg. why did he join it? also because cersei convinced him to. what light dies completely? the one in *his* sword that he had been given by cersei…. but not the light in brienne’s sword which is the light *he* gave to her freely.

and then he wakes up and what does he do? goes back to harrenhal to go get brienne.

now: that dream is symbolism for a lot of things including a metaphorical death……. for jaime as the kingslayer/for jaime’s issues/for jaime’s tendency to not deal with his own trauma, not for *himself*, because brienne’s sword is still burning in his darkness and that’s his light as well. it wasn’t just the one that went out.

what happened metaphorically is that cersei rejected him wholly and washed her hands off him as she will do later, he reclaimed himself back kingslayer and all, then he gave brienne some of the light cersei had which still stands for himself and the one he had in his arms that died died when he confronted his kingslaying/his trauma connected to his experience in the kingsguard that he always refused to deal with.

what he did metaphorically is that he took himself back from cersei, gave brienne the best part of him to keep safe and suffered while he had to deal with the fact that he never really got over aerys as he wishes he had.

but that means that when he gets over it fully (and he’s on the good road for it as since he wakes up from the dream other than saving brienne he vows to try to be the person he wanted to be, owns up to his shit, starts detaching himself from cersei and deals with his problems, and if you compare his asos povs with his adwd ones you can see that his emotional maturity [which was about stuck at late teens ngl] has taken a huge damned leap forward) then he’ll have killed/shed his kingslayer persona and probably his kingsguard duties, not that he’s going to die.

because the light in brienne’s sword never went out and that was *his* light, too, and he gave it to her subconsciously in a prophetic dream in which he left behind all the toxic parts of his family/they left him behind as well and had to be without them (mind that neither tyrion nor tommen/myrcella appear in the dream at all) and faced his *darkness* and doom with brienne at his side and she kept the sword with his light burning.

which means he’s definitely going to live.

or at least, he’s going to outlive cersei and die on his own damned terms, but I really think that the dream is about him confronting his trauma and the kingslayer persona he never really wanted, not about his death. because it says nowhere he will die, never mind that the person who says is cersei and his entire storyline is about him distancing himself from her and realizing that she’s completely wrong about the two of them and that he doesn’t want the same things as she and viceversa.

or I mean, that’s my two cents at least.

#jaime lannister #jaime x brienne #asoiaf meta #valyrianscrolls #janie writes meta #otp: i dreamed of you #ch: jaime lannister #ch: brienne of tarth #Anonymous #ask post

[moonlitgleek]

Isn't Rhaegar absolved from his actions due to the fact that the prophecy is true and his son with Lyanna is the savior of the human race? Isn't Jaehaerys II absolved from his since the prophecy was true and TPTWP, in fact, is born of Aerys and Rhaella's line? I know we can mull over how Rhaegar could have done things differently to get his third child, but it seems that it was destiny. With Jaehaerys II, there wasn't even another option but to force the marriage to fulfill the prophecy.

Neither is absolved, no. Because the ends do not justify the means, and destiny is only what we make of it.

So many characters in this series act on the rationale that the greater good merits any number of sacrifices made in its name, which is also often used to justify and minimize blatant atrocities. Varys plays with people’s lives and maims children on the thought that King Aegon will right all the wrongs in Westeros. Mel argues that burning children alive is a necessary price for the survival of everyone else. Rhaegar treats the thousands of lives lost over the course of the rebellion as an acceptable collateral damage for a prophetic enterprise. Stannis is on the path to fall to that same viewpoint of a necessary sacrifice (”we do not choose our destinies” You do, Stannis. You do. You’re the only one who can choose). Robert’s council tries to frame Dany’s assassination attempt in the context of how ending two lives would spare thousands. Tywin tries to spin the Red Wedding as something that spares countless lives that would have fallen if the war continued. Mirri Maz Duur kills an unborn child on a crime he has not committed. Bloodraven may have honed Euron’s magical abilities on the notion that it would be worth it in the end, and he has a history of working on the basis of “the ends justify the means” during his tenure as Hand (e.g, killing Aenys Blackfyre in a breach of safe conduct, letting the Greyjoys pillage and reave as they please because he was too focused on the Blackfyres, etc). Though there is an obvious variance in the overall morality and sincerity between these character, all of them give the same rationale of a necessary evil done in the name of a greater good. If you have to sacrifice a few to save everyone else, if you have to sacrifice one person to save everyone else, it’s a no brainer, right? What is one life opposite everyone else?

The answer is “everything”

Human lives are worth so much more than being means to an end. Putting people on the chopping block for “the greater good” dehumanizes them by reducing them to sacrificial lambs in the name of a higher purpose. But ASOIAF has always advocated for the recognition of the value of life and respect for the sanctity of human life. Though the methods may vary, the text remains loud and clear in its refusal of dehumanizing ideologies, whether the source is human characters like Tywin Lannister, Robert Baratheon or Randyll Tarly, or supernatural creatures like the Others who are the literal embodiment of dehumanization. ASOIAF is about the fight for our common humanity, for recognizing that humanity regardless of things like class or race or which side of a magical wall you were born on. But you can not fight for our common humanity by devaluing people’s lives. You can not use the argument of “doing it for humanity” to disregard the humanity of those being sacrificed. That cold ruthless pragmatism is not the point of this series; the fight against it is. That’s been the point from the first prologue when Wymar Royce stared the abyss in the face and charged at it.

That’s why the support of the narrative lies with characters like Ned Stark and Davos Seaworth who refuse to give into the idea that the cruelty and dehumanization is necessary for the greater good. Through them, GRRM delivers the point that every single human life matters. That saving one person can mean everything. That it’s not naive to think that one life is worth everything. Protecting the one is not inherently inferior to protecting the many. The greater good can just as well lie in saving one person. Which it did in the case of Ned and Jon.

I think it’s pretty significant that Ned had no idea about the prophecy or what role Jon would play when he protected Jon, while Rhaegar who did know made everything exponentially harder. There’s a rather underappreciated irony in the fact that Rhaegar (and Jaehaerys) had little to do with fulfilling the prophecy; in fact, they jeopardized it. They may have orchestrated the circumstances under which Jon and Dany could be conceived, but a closer look shows that Jon and Dany were born mostly in spite of them and their actions. I mean, Jaehaerys married Rhaella off so young it impacted her health and her ability to bear living children. She almost died at Summerhall along with Rhaegar in an ill-fated attempt to hatch dragons, and while that’s mostly on Aegon V, I expect that Jaehaerys was fully on board as well considering the measures he took for the prophecy. Rhaegar impregnated a teenager and left her to give birth in less than ideal circumstances, and spurred a civil war thing that weakened the realm and put his entire family at risk and got a few of them killed. I can only describe their efforts as counterproductive.

But I find it extremely fitting that they ended up doing little and less for the War for the Dawn, because Rhaegar and Jaehaerys embraced the metaphorical cold in their quest to fight it. Jaehaerys reduced Rhaella to an incubator for a savior as if her humanity and her worth are narrowed down to her womb. Rhaegar was willing to see thousands of people die for his vision of what the prophecy required. They allowed themselves to decide people’s worth. Rhaella, Elia and Lyanna mattered only as much as the children they could bear, and those children mattered only as much as their prophetic roles. Rickard, Brandon, their entourage and the rest of the casualties of the rebellion mattered not at all. But that’s not how it works. Rhaegar and Jaehaerys don’t get to decide people’s worth. They don’t get to decide which lives matter more. They do not get to devalue other people’s lives because these lives are not theirs to decide what to do with. Individual lives matter, not because of a prophetic destiny but because of their humanity.

That’s why I don’t see the prophecy as Rhaegar and Jaehaerys’ absolution, but rather their hubris.I get the sense that they acted on the assumption that the prophecy would make everything alright in the end, especially Rhaegar, and so ended up missing the entire point. They got so entangled in their interpretations of the prophecy that they did everything wrong. Got a lot wrong too since Rhaegar wasn’t even trying to get the Prince that Was Promised from Lyanna; I doubt her was even aiming for a boy. Hatching dragons in Summerhall ended on a tragedy. And of course, no one ever accounted for Tyrion. But the prophecy, true as it may be, doesn’t make things go a certain way; people do.

Which brings me to what you say about how it was destiny that Rhaegar acted like he did instead of other alternatives available to him. This argument fundamentally misunderstands a rather significant theme of this series - that it’s our choices that define who we are. Through the political and magical plots alike, individual choice is held up as immensely important to the point where many characters’ existential victory lies in that choice, the clearest case of all is how the three heads of the dragon have to contend with some version of this dilemma.

It all goes back and back, Tyrion thought, to our mothers and fathers and theirs before them. We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us, and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance on in our steads.

Does Dany have “the taint” of madness? Is Jon’s decision to fight his or is it an inevitability orchestrated by prophecy and Rhaegar Targrayen? Can Tyrion break free of the toxic legacy left behind by Tywin? Do they get to define who they are on their own terms or are they beholden to their lineage and their ancestor’s legacy? That’s for them to decide.

“Yet soon or late in every man’s life comes a day when it is not easy, a day when he must choose.”

Maester Aemon lays down the bare bones of this recurring theme in Jon’s arc. Across multiple books, Jon faces the choice of keeping to his watch or leaving several times which only frames the significance of how his destiny as one of the saviors of Westeros lies in him making that choice. Jon’s “chosen one” status has always been linked to him taking control of his future and deciding for himself. It’s him choosing to stay in Castle Black despite his appalled discovery of the reality of the Watch and to take his vows despite his frustration with the appointment to the stewards. It’s him going with Qhorin Halfhand of his own accord. It’s him picking the Wall over deserting for Robb or Ygritte. It’s him making a conscious decision to be the leader of the fight at the Wall over Stannis’ offer of Winterfell. It’s him taking responsibility of the free folk and recognizing that the commonality of being human is what matters. Jon is on the forefront of the text’s central conflict by virtue of his choices.

Dany is also fighting for our common humanity over in Slaver’s Bay. Her arc is basically a hard fought battle for autonomy, whether hers or the slaves’. Dany fights for freedom, for people’s right to choose, for them to be recognized as people not things to be gifted and sold. “Have you asked them?”, she challenges when Xaro Xohan Daxos argues that slaves have no use for freedom because they were made to be used. But Xaro Xohan Daxos doesn’t get to decide others’ fates, neither do the slavers of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen. They don’t get to deprive them of their right to choose. People’s lives do not belong to them to decide what to do with. They don’t get to strip them of their free will or dehumanize them by treating them as things to be used to their satisfaction.

Because that’s what the Others are doing. They are supernatural slavers coming with their ice cold chains and stealing every single choice from humanity, right to the choice of dying. You can’t even die. They will resurrect you and force you to be their undead puppet.Mankind can’t even choose death because they will rip death from your grasp and drag your corpse up to join their army. The real threat in this text is a supernatural embodiment of dehumanization and taking away people’s choice. The War for the Dawn is nothing if not a fight for freedom, for the right to choose and to be human.

So the idea of “destiny” controlling how things go? It goes against the very heart of the series. Destiny is nothing but a series of choices deliberately made by individuals to shape the future. There is no fixed inescapable narrative that they can’t deviate from, or some all powerful cosmic power dictating how they should act. Even in the presence of magical visions, it remains the characters’ choices that decide their future. They get the prophecies but what they do with it is on them because the prophecies do not decide who they are. For all the magical elements and prophetic visions in this narrative, it remains that one of the things that the story emphasizes again and again is that our choices matter. They have meaning and they have consequences. Nothing is inevitable unless we make it so.

And that needs to hold true for the story to have any kind of meaning. Acting as if there is some kind of predetermined destiny that compels people to act in a particular way means that literally no one is responsible for their actions. People were just always meant to do what they did. Everyone is bound with chains of magic, lineage and a mystical force that has free reign to manipulate them. Free will is only an illusion fed to pawns that have no control. And if that’s the case, you can no longer hold anyone accountable. How can you call a person good or evil if no one has the capacity to choose their path? How can you hold anyone responsible either for their heroics or their atrocities? And if there is no good and evil, if honor and corruption get tarred by the same brush, if you have no basis to distinguish between the true knights and the false ones, then the only choice is truly “you win or you die”. Which is bullshit. These are false binaries and are far, far from being the measure of triumph.

ASOIAF has never been a story about the futility of ideals but rather about the fight to hold onto those ideals. About how“the battle between good and evil is fought largely within the individual human heart, by the decisions that we make”.  It all comes down to a choice and to the accountability for that choice. This series is rife with people trying to sidestep responsibility for their decisions, from Tywin maintaining plausible deniability to Robert willfully closing his eyes to corruption and transferring blame onto the next convenient target to Roose cultivating “a peaceful land, a quiet people” to Littlefinger keeping “clean hands” to Barristan Selmy and Arys Oakheart hiding behind their vows to justify their inaction in the face of tyranny. But they don’t get to outrun their responsibility for their own decisions. No one gets off scot-free, not because of vows of obedience, not because of corrupt systems, and not because of some notion of an inescapable destiny. The narrative won’t let them.

You must make that choice yourself, and live with it all the rest of your days.

#asoiaf #asoiaf meta #valyrianscrolls #asoiaf themes #r plus l equals j #the war for the dawn #rhaegar targaryen #jaehaerys ii targaryen #jon snow #daenerys targaryen #the prince that was promised prophecy #Anon asks #ask box

[asoiafdrabbles]

I.44

Doran receives word of Jon Snow's heritage. 

Gen, Arianne & Doran

Arianne stared at the raven scroll before passing it along, fumbling it into Ellaria's hands. "Lyanna Stark's son," she muttered, trying to rap her head around it.

"I'd suspected," Doran muttered, looking even more tired than normal. "We knew the bastard Stark took home was from Dorne and wasn't a Dayne, there weren't many other possibilities."

"You've suspected that there was a Targaryen bastard in the North and you never said anything?" Arianna knew she shouldn't be surprised, her father had kept so much from her and no matter how much he'd slowly been revealing since her supposed cousin came to Westeros, she knew there was much she'd never get told.

He looked pained. "It was not as though there was anything we could do. We couldn't bring him here without causing suspicion."

"And you would have? Brought him here?"

"Because he is Elia's stepson, Aegon and Rhaenys' little brother. How could I leave him to suffer?"

Her father had always had a soft spot for any children but his own, but she supposed she could see the reasoning of that. In another life, the boy might have even grown up in Dorne, carefully insulated from the court politics of King's Landing that would degrade and use him. Just like she'd tried to use Myrcella and fucked everything up.

"They say Lyanna Stark was guarded by three Kingsguard. If just one of them had been with Elia...."

"That's hardly the boy’s fault," Ellaria put in, voice gentle but eyes hard.

Doran nodded, eyes darkening. "Elia was supposed to come here, to Dorne, but Aerys kept her and the children as hostages, instead. I believe she and Lyanna would have been brought together at that point, three Kingsguard for Rhaegar's three children."

"Oh." Arianne deflated. "If they'd been in King's Landing, Aerys wouldn't have let them leave with Elia...."

"None of us predicted what the fallout of the Rebellion could be." Her father's voice was bitter and she knew how for him, in particular, not foreseeing something that in retrospect had been so obvious grated. "We did the minumum we had to, offended by Aerys, some even still upset over the Tourney at Harrenhal, and our princess died for it."

Ellaria set a gentle hand on the arm of Doran's chair, offering her support without touching him and possibly hurting him. "What do you plan to do, now that we know about this child?"

He was a Snow, could have just as easily been a Sand, and Ellaria would wish the best for him as she did all other bastards. Arianne could almost see what it might have been like, a little pale skinned, dark haired boy running around with her uncle's children through the Water Gardens, doted on by Ellaria like she was his mother.

Doran motioned to the missive. "Somehow he's been released from his Night's Watch vows. There's no place for him in the North. I mean to offer him one here."

"Truly?"

"It's what Elia would have done, what she would have wanted. How can I seek vengeance for our family if I don't first honor them?"

Arianne hung her head, thinking again of her own plots--born from a lack of knowledge, but still with consequences she and many others were still paying. She couldn't remember much of Aunt Elia, but that she'd been a kind woman, overflowing with love when around her family. And she knew that her father spoke the truth in this.

#character: arianne martell #character: doran martell #character: ellaria sand #ship: arianne & doran #theme: parentage reveal