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atopvisenyashill · 3 months

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connections between naerys and sansa?

There’s plenty! She’s very much in a Naerys/Aegon scenario in ASOS & ACOK, where she has no ability to leave the capital, no one doing anything meaningful to protect her, and a King that is obsessed with sexually humiliating her. There’s a lot of romanticism and chivalry surrounding her character and how other people react to her character, the same as Naerys.

But also, Sansa makes the comparisons to Naerys herself, and she does it before she realizes what kind of person Joffrey is! In fact, it starts with her very first chapter where she compares Joffrey interrupting Ilyn Payne & Sandor Clegane to Aemon demanding a trial by combat against Ser Morgil:

A whole day with her prince! She gazed at Joffrey worshipfully. He was so gallant, she thought. The way he had rescued her from Ser Ilyn and the Hound, why, it was almost like the songs, like the time Serwyn of the Mirror Shield saved the Princess Daeryssa from the giants, or Prince Aemon the Dragonknight championing Queen Naerys's honor against evil Ser Morgil's slanders.

She will compare Joffrey to Aemon and herself to Naerys again later, to Ned:

"Father, I only just now remembered, I can't go away, I'm to marry Prince Joffrey." She tried to smile bravely for him. "I love him, Father, I truly truly do, I love him as much as Queen Naerys loved Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, as much as Jonquil loved Ser Florian. I want to be his queen and have his babies."

(lowkey she’s so fucking funny for that “i only just now remembered” comment, idk how ned kept a straight face for it)

She then uses Aemon (and the Cargyll twins) to make Tommen feel better and dunk on Joffrey:

Prince Tommen sobbed. "You mew like a suckling babe," his brother hissed at him. "Princes aren't supposed to cry." "Prince Aemon the Dragonknight cried the day Princess Naerys wed his brother Aegon," Sansa Stark said, "and the twins Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk died with tears on their cheeks after each had given the other a mortal wound." "Be quiet, or I'll have Ser Meryn give you a mortal wound," Joffrey told his betrothed.

Again, there’s a focus on Aemon’s romantic relationship with Naerys because that's what appeals to Sansa. But when people say "Sansa sees the world through stories" it's not just about how she romanticizes or idolizes knighthood, nobility, and chivalry - she thinks through information by comparing it with similar historical events or stories and analyzing it. She clearly sees the problem with Loras protecting Margaery from Joffrey by comparing him to the Toynes instead of Aemon, and Joffrey (once again) to Aegon the Unworthy:

She is so brave, Sansa thought, galloping after her . . . and yet, her doubts still gnawed at her. Ser Loras was a great knight, all agreed. But Joffrey had other Kingsguard, and gold cloaks and red cloaks besides, and when he was older he would command armies of his own. Aegon the Unworthy had never harmed Queen Naerys, perhaps for fear of their brother the Dragonknight . . . but when another of his Kingsguard fell in love with one of his mistresses, the king had taken both their heads. Ser Loras is a Tyrell, Sansa reminded herself. That other knight was only a Toyne. His brothers had no armies, no way to avenge him but with swords. Yet the more she thought about it all, the more she wondered. Joff might restrain himself for a few turns, perhaps as long as a year, but soon or late he will show his claws, and when he does . . . The realm might have a second Kingslayer, and there would be war inside the city, as the men of the lion and the men of the rose made the gutters run red.

She’s also not wrong in her assessment here because the Tyrells (my guess is Garlan and Olenna) are so worried about this outcome they just murder Joffrey and install Tommen; like Bethany Bracken, Margaery is groomed (with all the implications that are included in such a loaded term) to be sexually available to the King because her father wants power and doesn't care if his daughter is sexually abused to get it. Like Terrance Toyne, Loras is considered attractive, skilled, and has several brothers more than willing to start a war to avenge his death. I think it's incredibly intuitive that Sansa ultimately comes to the same conclusion as two seasoned political players like (presumably) Olenna and Garlan come to, and she makes this judgement call very quickly!

And Sansa also hits on a lot of (correct) similarities when she makes these comparisons between Joffrey's court and Aegon the Unworthy's court; Aegon and Joffrey both have wild, violent temperaments while being notoriously difficult to control. It’s not just Naerys that attempts to get Aegon to stop marital raping her; Aemon’s useless tears aside, Viserys does do the bare minimum here in sending Aegon away so Naerys can heal from her miscarriages, Daeron got shitty with the Brackens about being tacky over Naerys' marital rape and ill health, Baelor fasts himself to death over Naerys’ miscarriages, etc etc. All of the “authority figures” around Aegon think his behavior is wrong but Aegon proves stubbornly difficult to control or kill. Joffrey falls along these same lines - Cersei, Robert, Tyrion, Tywin, and even Varys all struggle to get some control over Joffrey but like Aegon, he knows once he’s of age and has that crown he doesn’t have to answer for SHIT and stubbornly resists every attempt to curb his behavior. Joffrey is a hell scenario waiting to happen because like Aegon, he’s petty and petulant enough to pull the stunts Aegon pulls like pitting his true born kids against his bastard born ones and causing another violent succession crisis. I say this as like, the ultimate Joffrey Apologist here, lmaooo, he has reasons for being a nasty piece of shit but the Tyrells are right to look at him and go “oh that’s trouble” because he is a ticking time bomb. And the crazy thing is, it’s not just Sansa who compares Joffrey to Aegon the Unworthy:

"A king can have other women. Whores. My father did. One of the Aegons did too. The third one, or the fourth. He had lots of whores and lots of bastards." As they whirled to the music, Joff gave her a moist kiss. "My uncle will bring you to my bed whenever I command it." Sansa shook her head. "He won't." "He will, or I'll have his head. That King Aegon, he had any woman he wanted, whether they were married or no."

Joffrey makes the comparison himself. He's a piece of work just like his hero and he is directly threatening to rape Sansa the same way Aegon raped Naerys and poor Bethany Bracken. He is directly admitting he is "unworthy" and practically daring all of KL to overthrow him for it because he thinks they'll blink before he does (and he is unfortunately deadly wrong in this assumption).

And when you extrapolate out from there, you can see other, similar patterns between Naerys' life and Sansa's, beyond the Joffrey-Aegon, Margaery-Bethany, Loras-Terrance, and Sansa-Naerys parallels. Tyrion himself aspires to be a sort of Viserys II type player (see: "It should have been called the Lives of Five Kings" rant he gives to Oberyn); a power behind the throne directing his crazy family to do what's right or smart or proper. There's an interesting echo in Viserys taking direct action in sending Aegon away from Naerys and Tyrion stopping Joffrey in his assault of Sansa - like Viserys, he can see the monster in the king he is raising, makes an attempt to stop it, but fails because he underestimates just how dangerous and erratic his little king has become. Like Viserys, Tyrion is suspected of poisoning his own nephew in an attempt to get closer to power and the throne (and Viserys, like Tyrion, is probably innocent - the sort of fasting that Baelor was doing regularly is hard on the body!).

I don't think any of this is coincidental or accidental either, because of that haunting scene where Joffrey destroys the gift Tyrion got him. Here's the scene, excuse the wall of text, but it's important:

He plays the gracious king today. Joffrey could be gallant when it suited him, Sansa knew, but it seemed to suit him less and less. Indeed, all his courtesy vanished at once when Tyrion presented him with their own gift: a huge old book called Lives of Four Kings, bound in leather and gorgeously illuminated. The king leafed through it with no interest. "And what is this, Uncle?" A book. Sansa wondered if Joffrey moved those fat wormy lips of his when he read. "Grand Maester Kaeth's history of the reigns of Daeron the Young Dragon, Baelor the Blessed, Aegon the Unworthy, and Daeron the Good," her small husband answered. "A book every king should read, Your Grace," said Ser Kevan. “My father had no time for books.” Joffrey shoved the tome across the table. “If you read less, Uncle Imp, perhaps Lady Sansa would have a baby in her belly by now.” He laughed … and when the king laughs, the court laughs with him. “Don’t be sad, Sansa, once I’ve gotten Queen Margaery with child I’ll visit your bedchamber and show my little uncle how it’s done.” Sansa reddened. She glanced nervously at Tyrion, afraid of what he might say. This could turn as nasty as the bedding had at their own feast. But for once the dwarf filled his mouth with wine instead of words... [Joffrey gets a Valyrian sword and figures out a name for it, Widow's Wail, it's a few pages, it's not relevant here] Joffrey brought Widow’s Wail down in a savage two-handed slice, onto the book that Tyrion had given him. The heavy leather cover parted at a stroke. “Sharp! I told you, I am no stranger to Valyrian steel.” It took him half a dozen further cuts to hack the thick tome apart, and the boy was breathless by the time he was done. Sansa could feel her husband struggling with his fury as Ser Osmund Kettleblack shouted, “I pray you never turn that wicked edge on me, sire.” “See that you never give me cause, ser.” Joffrey flicked a chunk of Lives of Four Kings off the table at swordpoint, then slid Widow’s Wail back into its scabbard. “Your Grace,” Ser Garlan Tyrell said. “Perhaps you did not know. In all of Westeros there were but four copies of that book illuminated in Kaeth’s own hand.” “Now there are three.” Joffrey undid his old swordbelt to don his new one. “You and Lady Sansa owe me a better present, Uncle Imp. This one is all chopped to pieces.”

God I love that passage so much. There's a lot there but what's relevant is a) both Oberyn and Garlan are trying to get a measure of who Joffrey is, and have some child murdering plans potentially in the works during this scene. Watching Joffrey destroy a priceless tome of history given as a well thought, well meant, incredibly generous (and pointed) gift from his uncle is more than enough proof for either man to decide Joffrey is not worth the headache, and please note Garlan is the only person to call Joffrey out to his face, and Oberyn is a few pages later the only person to acknowledge this was a fantastic and kind gift from Tyrion that Joffrey reacted absolutely deranged towards for no reason. and b) Tyrion is almost literally saying to Joffrey "I can be your Viserys, I can make it so you're remembered as a great king the way Daeron II or Baelor are, or a great warrior like Daeron I, but you have to understand the reason why I'm worried about your behavior" and Joffrey does the most destructive, unworthy thing he can possibly do - he quite literally destroys priceless, useful historical knowledge and wisdom with his bare hands, in favor of senseless, petulant violence. As Catelyn would say, Joffrey's real bride is not Margaery, but the war he's fighting and the crown on his head.

All of this to say - there's a lot of parallels between Sansa's situation in KL and Naery's life and these parallels are drawn not only by Sansa herself, but also by several people around her. However, I hope for better things for Sansa than what poor Naerys got - I hope for an Aemon the Dragonknight that will do more than just cry while she's raped, but actually step into that room and defend her, or else give her the power to defend herself. Despite the long wait for The Winds of Winter, I also think it's likely we will get some sort of Dragonknight, devoted sworn sword for Sansa and this person will help protect her, and Sansa will have agency that Naerys could only ever dream of.

#valyrianscrolls #sansa stark #naerys targaryen #aemon the dragonknight #aegon the unworthy #joffrey baratheon #tyrion lannister #margaery tyrell #loras tyrell #olenna tyrell #garlan tyrell #terrence toyne #bethany bracken #i'm not knocking tyrion for not quite seeing how dangerous joffrey is. *no one* sees it bc Systemic Patriarchy and Feudal Violence.#whether its brienne arya jon bronze yohn fucking podrick i do believe we will get a knight for sansa tho!!!#once again sorry this took so long. i had a lot more to say than i expected.#also. thank you so much for this ask this was sooooooooo much fun to write out. we are analyzing themes babeeeeee #getting on my soap box #knighthood and chivalry #true knights #fuck i think that's all my tags #i had another section about how the show really styles her to look pale and sickly during season 3 and 4 but i had trouble phrasing it #so i just cut it. but that scene where margaery gives her the red and yellow rose and sansa looks like death? naerys vibes fr!!!

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knightsickness · 11 days

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since you're a bittersteel truther, what are your thoughts (and maybe headcanons) on barba and bethany bracken?

i like the phrase ‘bittersteel truther’. yeah he was real

barba bracken described as a busty vain girl who was in the maidenvault maybe friends w daena. not that smart she could not scheme and we know this bc we know every time she tried to do it <- sign of incompetent scheming. her father the hand was interested in her becoming queen hoping sickly naerys would die soon and i like to think she was as well i like social climbing bitch characters and i like the cartoon heel rival nature of the brackens. barba gets fucked over but shes not niceys to me its like when a mean girl in a movie gets embarrassed

i have a lot of time for her if i was thrown out of court w my golden ticket kingsblood newborn bastard bc of the queen’s sanctimonious annoying brother and weakling teenage son and immediately replaced by my family’s sworn rival representative maiden theyre pimping out for court prestige id be mad. if i was remembered as a cheap scheming whore for having one kings bastard and then missy blackwood who had three was remembered as the soul of sweetness and modesty and a wonderful friend to the queen and the king (who was raping the queen)’s very favourite ever mistress id be telling my heterosexual brute son i think is the messiah to try to kill her little freak witchboy with a rock. missy blackwood was a more competent schemer bc we never hear about her scheming and she isnt remembered as one despite this bizarre playing all sides so i never lose game <- with affection. interesting that naerys was so close to the oldgods blackwoods

bethany explicitly groomed by barba and the family for aegon. far less interested than barba in royal power normallest brackens can be. i think barba was furious w her and their father for fucking everything up and being executed but was telling aegor like i NEED you to understand that this is all the blackwoods fault. also it’s funny aegon was going out of his way to visit kid aegor even if it was probably mainly to provoke aemon and daeron. aegon is so kind ❤️

#asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #bittersteel #aegor rivers #barba bracken #bethany bracken

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nanshe-of-nina · 7 months

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Posthumous Characters GIF Sets → Bethany Bracken

Bethany was groomed by her father and sister expressly to win the king’s favor and displace Missy Blackwood. In 177, she caught Aegon’s eye as he visited at Stone Hedge to see his bastard son, Aegor. By now, the king was fat and foul-tempered, but Bethany delighted him, and he took her back with him to King’s Landing. However, Bethany found his royal embraces distressing. For comfort, she turned to a knight of the Kingsguard, Ser Terrence Toyne. The pair was discovered abed by Aegon himself in 178. Ser Terrence was tortured to death and both Lady Bethany and her father were executed. When Ser Terrence’s brothers sought to avenge his death, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight was slain while defending his brother, King Aegon.

#asoiafedit #valyrianscrolls #bethany bracken #house bracken #house targaryen #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf gifs #nanshe's graphics #my poor bb girl #phoebe fox has a sad haunted look i think is perfect for bethany

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teen-spirited-away · 1 month

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House Bracken

-Words Unknown-

Sigil: Red Stallion

Colors: Red/Gold/Brown

Seat: Stone Hedge

"There is Bracken blood in every Blackwood"

According to House Bracken, they were once kings of the Red Fork until their "vassals" House Blackwood usurped them. House Bracken is sworn to House Tully.

#house bracken #jonos bracken #bittersteel #aegor rivers #barba bracken #bethany bracken #stallion #asoiaf #got #aesthetic

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alicole-sideblog · 2 months

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I've never heard anyone talk about Terrence Toyne and Bethany Bracken in any capacity. Their AO3 tag has a single fic in it.

But I think we — the Alicole gang — are the proper people to love and appreciate them.

"Ser Terrence Toyne was found abed with his king's mistress. 'Twas love, he swore, but it cost his life and hers,"

His famous forebear, the dark and dashing Terrence Toyne of whom the singers sang, had been so fair of face that even the king's mistress could not resist him;

A dark and dashing pretty boy, you say? House Toyne, you say, as in the Stormlands? Lady Bethany Bracken, you say, a non-Targ lady stuck in an official relationship with a crappy Targ king?

these guys are at least as much Alicole mini-mes as Aemon/Naerys, and probably more.

#alicole #Terrence Toyne × Bethany Bracken #Terrence Toyne #Bethany Bracken

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joncons · 2 years

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Aegon IV's mistresses: Barba Bracken, Melissa Blackwood & Bethany Bracken

#asoiafedit #valyrianscrolls #asoiaf #valyriansource #barba bracken #melissa blackwood #bethany bracken #🙂

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tragedy-peanut-gallery · 3 days

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what are your thoughts (and potential headcanons) about aegon iv's nine mistresses?

Ouffff well I gotta be honest I probably won’t have as many headcanons about them as I did for the daughters in law of Daeron and Myriah- but I’m more than happy to share my thoughts about them!

Falena Stokeworth

Thoughts: Groomer!!! Get lost lady you’re literally his dad’s age!!!!! Should’ve locked her up in Harrenhall and thrown away the key maybe!

Headcanons: Honestly I think canon already kind of spells it out for us given her age relative to his own, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she was preying on Aegon’s whole mommy issues deal in order to get into a relationship with him. Pain and suffering all around.

Megette

Thoughts: Honestly poor girl she deserved sooo much better :( pretty sure her whole deal was supposed to be another commentary on how nobility don’t actually give a shit about the smallfolk even when they’re lovers and all that, but goddamn I just feel bad for her :(

Cassella Vaith

Thoughts: Ngl another girl who deserved so much better- it’s kind of weird how they give her a description but not the other mistresses but hey who am I to judge- makes her easier to draw ig?

Headcanons: Oh she was absolutely psychologically tortured during her time with Aegon because that man is notttt capable of being nice to any woman. I imagine the reason she wasn’t married off after being returned home was because of how traumatized she was

Bellegere Otherys

Thoughts: Okay this may sound stupid as hell given all the shit I talked about Aegon prior to this but like…. Idc, I support her decisions in choosing one of the most rancid men in Westeros to be her lover. In her defense!!!! Pickings for royalty were very slim- her only other options were a former teen dad who’s still hung up on his ex wife and is always busy trying (and failing) to keep his nephews from dying, a member of the kingsguard who’s obsessed with his own sister, and Baelor, of course she was gonna go for Aegon! Bellegere can get the one exception because I think pirate women are really cool and tbh I think she’s also the only one who was with him for funsies before dropping his ass like a sack of potatoes when he got too annoying for her

Headcanons: Ngl I kinda like to think her daughter Nahra took up the whole trading/smuggling/pirating business after her, and Bellegere got to retire and chill in Braavos watching all the shit go down with the Blackfyre rebellions. Good for her <3

Barba Bracken

Thoughts: I mean…. She’s a bitch, but tbh she kinda deserved better too. Even if she is meant to be a bad person, she was also just a teenager when Aegon began sleeping with her and was mostly pushed forward by her own dad, and its sad that she then continued the cycle of abuse to her own sister :(

Headcanons: I kinda like to think she and Daena had a very toxic frenemy-ship, that’s my main reasoning to explain why Aegor was so loyal to Daemon lmao

Melissa Blackwood

Thoughts: I mean, she’s one of Naerys’ only canonical female friends so she gets an automatic like in my books. And also kinda funny that the Bracken/Blackwood slap fight actually caused another Targ civil by just pushing their female relatives in front of a horny king. She absolutely deserved so much better

Headcanons: I refuseeee to believe she died in childbirth, in my head she’s also retired chilling in Raventree Hall with her daughters and occasionally got updates from Brynden about the war crimes he was committing <3

Bethany Bracken

Thoughts: Deserved so, SO much better. Mr lord Bracken sir I will see you in HELL!!!!!

Jeyne Lothson

Thoughts: Only thing I have to say is…. Absolutely gothic horror girlie because holy shit. My god. Was George intentionally writing her story to be horrifying or was it a weird fetish- I’m hoping to god it was the former. Anyways she absolutely deserved so much better than all the adults in her life

Headcanons: For added flavor aka more horror! I do headcanon her to actually be Aegon’s daughter, and I believe Danelle was either her daughter or granddaughter because- well, we do definitely need to sprinkle in some more cursed bloodline shit to the house that’s already doomed cause they’re living in Harrenhall, yippe :))

Serenei of Lys

Thoughts: Boring as hellllll that she died from childbirth like- COME ON!!! Let the lady die from implosion, or slipping on a banana peel or something!!! Also kinda sucks that we barely know anything else about her! I want the lore George!!!

Headcanons: Due to lack of lore, I’m stealing someone else’s previous headcanon that she’s actually a Hightower bastard because 1. Absolutely hilarious and is absolutely the level of hustling scam-artistry that I would expect during Aegon’s reign, and 2. Kinda explains her whole deal- why Jon even brought her to court, why we know nothing about her past, why she’s so distant and kinda secretive. Shout out to whoever came up with that headcanon cause that lives in my head rent free forever now

#asoiaf asks #am I really gonna tag all these ladies….. sure. fuck it #falena stokeworth #merry meg #cassella vaith #bellegere otherys #barba bracken #melissa blackwood #bethany bracken #jeyne lothson #serenei of lys

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aegor-bamfsteel · 1 year

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I was looking through some of your posts and are there really people who think Bethany Bracken “got what she deserved”? How do you spin that? She’s Aegon 4 mistress, not his wife, it’s in no way unlawful to be unfaithful, there’s no justification for her and her father’s death

Few things in fandom are liable to trigger Aegor-Wanksteel than the treatment of this character, but yes; there are several Great Fandom Minds who make light of Bethany’s rape and murder. Some say she should’ve known better not to anger her rapist. Others that she and her rapist and lover were in “a love triangle”. Still others that she deserved it for “corrupting the Kingsguard,” as if she was responsible for Toyne’s actions. You’re right in that there’s no real lawful way in the text for her execution (executing a father and child unjustly has been grounds for rebellion against Targs in both past and future incidences) but trust the GFM to find a “logical way” out of this half-baked Katherine Howard parallel that victim blames a female character they dislike (sometimes while claiming they’re feminist and policing the way other people talk about female characters).

It’s one of the reasons why I keep emphasizing Bethany’s importance outside of shitting on House Bracken. While Toyne had brothers to try to avenge him, they had no armies. Bethany didn’t even have brothers, just a sister, and a nephew…who’d later try raising several armies to fight the Targs. #justice4brackenwomen attempted, though unfortunately not accomplished

#house bracken #justice4brackenwomen #anti asoiaf fandom #bethany bracken #opinion #ask

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muadweeb · 1 year

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"And Ser Terrence Toyne?"

"Bedded the king’s mistress and died screaming. The lesson is, men who wear white breeches need to keep them tightly laced."

#bethany bracken #terrence toyne #love story of all time literally #house toyne #house bracken #blackfyre rebellion #asoiaf #asoiafedit #valyrianscrolls #valyriansource #twoiaf #grrm

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thaliajoy-blog · 11 months

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The nine mistresses of Aegon IV. The letter A can stand both for Aegon...or for Adultery, like the famous Scarlet Letter.

They're all inspired by portraits or pop representations of royal mistresses - notable exceptions being Megette and Bellegere.

The position of the letter "A" on these ladies is important as to what relationship they had with Aegon.

Falena's is on display on a pretty ornate necklace but also half-hidden by her bodice - a sign of both pride and of an attempt at discretion.

Megette's is on her belt - quasi a sign of possession on Aegon's part ; it's also on her belly (and Megette is the woman who gave him the most children). That relationship was probably one of the most unequal he had, since she wasn't a noble and was kept by him in a place, until she was sent away by Viserys.

Cassella's in on a choker around her neck - this relationship was also unequal and possibly non consenting, since she was a hostage at court and he kept her in his own chambers. Cassella came back traumatized from the experience and seemed to have been mad and delusional for the rest of her life. So a relationship that "chocked" her.

Completely different for Bellegere Otherys ; she wasn't a court mistress but an independant woman with a ship and a business, and she had other lovers besides Aegon - so the letter "A" is set on a necklace that hangs from her belt, showing her casual attitude to him.

Both Barba Bracken and Melissa Blackwood wear it around their neck, but around a loose string : they are openly royal mistresses and have a relative control over their position (it doesn't choke them).

Bethany Blackwood's is on a necklace close to her neck, with several string. Bethany was groomed into her position and had great expectations put on her, and she ultimately tried to get free when she had her affair with the kingsguard Terence Toyne. Her necklace represents that relation she didn't want and which emprisoned and chafed her.

Jeyne Lothston was also a pretty young girl when she became Aegon's mistress (she was fourteen), and there are some disturbing things about this, like the possibility that he was her father (by his first mistress Falena Stokeworth), and even that Aegon bedded the both of them together. So the "A" letter is very close to her throat,hanging from a collar that is tight around it, and accompanied by the same bat brooch her mother wore.

Serenei of Lys' necklace with the "A" is rather loose and falls on her stomach : Serenei is a woman in control of her relationship and not "chocked" by it (she was also thought to be older than Aegon & a sorceress like her daughter Shiera) - but she does die in childbirth as a result of the relationship.

#aegon the unworthy #valyrianscrolls #royal mistress #falena stokeworth #megette #cassella vaith #bellegere otherys #barba bracken #melissa blackwood #bethany bracken #jeyne lothston #serenei of lys #house targaryen #asoiaf art #fanart

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coldraindropsss · 7 days

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Michael Manwoody, Elaena Targaryen, Shaera Targaryen, Jaehaerys ii Targaryen

Bethany Bracken, Terrence Toyne, Bonnifer Hasty, Rhaella Targaryen

Jena Dondarrion, Baelor Targaryen, Valarr Targaryen, Kiera of Tyrosh

Roose Bolton, Walda Frey, Lyonel Hightower, Samantha Tarly

Jeyne Arryn, Jessamyn Redfort, Lady Essie, Sylvenna Sand

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atopvisenyashill · 9 months

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too many years lost in history

aka i have the songs from six the musical stuck in my head and since it’s kind of a “playing into the stereotypes to interrogate the stereotype” take on the wives of henry viii, i thought the dramatic takes on the characters would mesh well with the mistresses (and wife) of aegon the unworthy. also i need something to do with my hands when as i listen to all the asoiaf audiobooks lmao

naerys targaryen

falena stokeworth

merry meg

(pretend it says daughters and not sons since they had all girls) (justice for merry meg, aly, lily, willow, rosey, and all smallfolk everywhere)

cassella vaith

bellegere otherys

barba bracken

missy blackwood

bethany bracken

jeyne lothston

serenei of lys

sorry i struggled with her lol, she and falena have the least amount of characterization so far. i’m excited for her though, just because of all the witchiness surrounding her, she has to have some interesting layers!

okay now everyone sing with me let’s go:

SO THEY HAD NO CHOICE

(*characters singing in background* SO WE HAD NO CHOICE)

BUT NOW ITS US ALONE

SO THEY HAD NO CHOICE

(SO WE HAD NO CHOICE)

WE’RE TAKING BACK THE MICROPHONE

IM GONNA RAISE MY VOICE

(WE’RE GONNA RAISE OUR VOICE)

GEORGE SAID WE ALWAYS NEED YOUR LOVE BUT NOW ITS TIME TO RISE ABOVE!

if you wanna know the songs, in case any of the lyrics interested you (go listen to six pls i love it):

every queen gets one song, and then there’s a song that introduces the holbein portraits and hans holbein, an intro song, and then two songs at the end where they realize they should stop fighting & imagine their lives if they’d been able to choose their paths.

naerys - catherine of aragon’s song “no way”

falena stokeworth - anne boleyn’s song “don’t lose your head”

merry meg - jane seymour’s song “heart of stone”

cassella vaith - catherine parr’s song “i don’t need your love”

bellegere otherys - anne of cleves’ song “get down”

barba bracken - anne boleyn’s song “don’t lose your head”

melissa blackwood - jane seymour’s song “heart of stone”

bethany bracken - katherine howard’s song “all you wanna do”

jeyne lothston - group number “haus of holbein”

serenei of lys - catherine parr’s song “i don’t need your love”

my lil ending song - finale group number “six”

#TOO MANY TIMES ITS BEEN TOLD AND I HAVE HAD ENOUGH LOVE STORIES TO GET OLD. WE’RE TAKING BACK CONTROL!!!!!!!!!!!#YES I WILL FORCE MUSICAL THEATER ON THE ASOIAF AND WHAT ABOUT IT #valyrianscrolls #the mistresses of aegon the unworthy #six the musical #getting on my soap box #barba bracken #melissa blackwood #jeyne lothston #cassella vaith #bellegere otherys #bethany bracken #serenei of lys #falena stokeworth

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asongofsilks · 1 year

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ASOIAF fancasting –> Mistresses of Aegon IV: Ellise Chappell as Bethany Bracken

“Bethany was groomed by her father and sister expressly to win the king’s favor and displace Missy Blackwood. In 177, she caught Aegon’s eye as he visited at Stone Hedge to see his bastard son, Aegor. By now, the king was fat and foul-tempered, but Bethany delighted him, and he took her back with him to King’s Landing. However, Bethany found his royal embraces distressing. For comfort, she turned to a knight of the Kingsguard, Ser Terrence Toyne. The pair was discovered abed by Aegon himself in 178. Ser Terrence was torturned to death and both Lady Bethany and her father were executed.”

Just one example of Aegon the Unworthy’s over-the-top sense of entitlement. We get the feeling that Lady Bethany never had any real choice in her life, becoming little more than grist for Aegon’s atrocity mill.

House Targaryen fancasts

More fancasts from the Riverlands

#asoiaf fancast #valyrianscrolls #bethany bracken #asoiaf fashion #asoiaf aesthetics #fanrivers #targcast

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goodqueenaly · 2 years

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I wonder if Aegon IV felt himself hoist with his own petard, so to speak, when he discovered the sexual affair between Bethany Bracken and Terrence Toyne.

After all, while we don’t know exactly when the Morghil Hastwyck accusations happened, I tend to think this even occurred around 174 AC: Yandel mentions that the “accusations came at the same time as Aegon and Prince Daeron were quarreling over the king’s plans to launch an unprovoked war against Dorne”, and later mentions “the king’s plans to invade Dorne in 174 AC”, so it’s not a far leap to suggest that this “unprovoked war” was the same “complete failure” of an invasion.

In any event, Aegon certainly seems to have seen this as a clever means of not only ridding himself of his hated sister-wife, brother, and son in one go, but humiliating them in so spectacular a fashion that their characters could never be redeemed. What would be a worse accusation against so pious a queen as Naerys than that she had committed adultery, betraying (so Aegon would have presented it) her lord husband for the sake of her lust for her brother? What would be a worse accusation against so (outwardly, at least) sterling a knight of the Kingsguard as Prince Aemon than that he had carried out not just a forbidden sexual affair, but a forbidden sexual affair with the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms? Who would dare support the claims of a bastard born of the incestuous affair of a queen and a knight of the Kingsguard? Unfortunately for Aegon’s attempts at petty revenge, however, his accusation scheme was an utter failure. In defending Naerys in a trial by combat, Aemon had vindicated the both of them in the courtroom of the gods. By defeating Morghil, Aemon had proven in the sight of the Seven (and consequently Westerosi legal custom) that the accusations were false and unjust. There could be no court of appeal, no higher power to review the outcome; the gods had given strength to the arm of the just man, so the king had had to publicly acknowledge both their innocence and his son’s legitimacy.

So presuming the Morghil Hastwyck accusations happened a few years before the Bethany Bracken affair, imagine how furious Aegon must have been to face this ironic situation. The woman who had sexually betrayed him (so Aegon would have seen it, anyway) was not the sister-wife he loathed but the young mistress he had doted upon. The Kingsguard who had abetted this sexual betrayal was not the brother he hated but another entirely (perhaps one the king had even liked and trusted), a man whose darkly handsome good looks could not but contrast against the king’s much-deteriorated physical state. Any child Bethany might have borne (if conceived with Toyne) might well have appeared so obviously not fathered by the king so as to make the sexual affair all too apparent (especially compared to Daeron, whose Targaryen looks could neither prove nor disprove accusations about his parentage).

I wonder, then, if Aegon refused any suggestion of a trial, much less a trial by combat, for Bethany and Terrence specifically to avoid any comparison with the Morghil Hastwyck affair. Even if Terrence, as a highborn knight, might have technically had a right to such a request, I could see where Aegon might have refused it out of spite; it would be all too easy for courtiers to draw comparisons between the two events, either to mock Aegon (something like, perhaps, “the gods are punishing him for his false accusations against Naerys by having Bethany and Terrence play them out”) or to question the legitimacy of the new accusation itself (something like, say, “the king made this sort of accusation before through Hastwyck, who’s to say he’s not lying again because he’s tired of Bethany?”). Even worse (in Aegon’s mind), the most obvious choice to defend the king might have been Aemon himself, probably the most physically talented Kingsguard at that time; the last addition Aegon needed on what he might have seen as his personal humiliation was the hated brother he had previously (if indirectly) accused of a similar act defending the crown against a Kingsguard who had actually committed this act.

So I could see where Aegon might have had Terrence quickly tortured and Bethany and her father equally quickly executed. Maybe he would have given out that as the king, the ultimate arbiter of justice in the realm, had witnessed the event happen, there was no question of accusation; the king had, perhaps, effectively condemned the pair as soon as he had caught them abed, passing judgment almost automatically because the evidence was so blatantly before his own eyes. (At least for Terrence and Bethany, though I could see where Aegon would have had the torture of Terrence produce “evidence” that, say, Lord Bracken had conspired with his daughter to help her abet the breaking of Terrence’s Kingsguard vows.)

#asoiaf meta #aegon iv targaryen #bethany bracken #terrence toyne

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