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moonlitgleek · 7 years

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Bit of a wish fulfillment question, but what is the impact of a dragon being born and bonding? Like say to Baelor Breakspear Or Rhaella Targaryen? Or baby!Rhaenys Targaryen? (Mostly I want the dragon to burn anyone who looks at them cross-eyed and Conqueror-wannabe Daemon seeing his trueborn half Dornish nephew get a dragon kills me).

This ask is officially older than dirt. Nevertheless.

There are a few variables here that could leave a print on the Targrayen dynasty and change the entire narrative, the most important of which is how the dragons hatched and if that process could be repeated. The return of the dragons in canon was due to a one-off magical event that aligned several factors that are almost impossible to replicate but while Rhaella’s dragon could very well hatch as a result of whatever magic was done at Summerhall, making for another magical event that can not be replicated, Baelor Breakspear did not encounter any such magical event to attribute a dragon hatching to. The relevance here lies in the possibility of finding a viable way to hatch dragons and how that could change the entire narrative irrevocably. There’s also the question of how only one egg hatched during whatever attempt took place, the question of the person of the king whose reign witnesses that miraculous return and what is bound to be vastly different reactions personally and politically.

Putting that aside for now, a dragon means changes on two fronts: the political and the magical. For Baelor, the political angle is intrinsically tied with the Blackfyre rebellions. The first thing that springs to mind here is how difficult it would be for Daemon to sell his Daeron Falseborn narrative with his brother’s line possessing such a visible sign of legitimacy. Mind you, Daemon’s narrative was that Daeron II was the bastard son of Prince Aemon the Dragonknight and Queen Naerys, both Valyrian-blooded on both sides and thus entirely capable of producing a dragon-riding line because dragons don’t care about bastardy, but for better or for worse, dragons were seen as a sign of legitimacy as we’ve seen in how the dragon-riding ability of Rhaenyra’s Velaryon sons was used as an argument for their legitimacy. Certainly, it would be exceptionally difficult for Daemon to argue that Daeron had usurped the throne when it’s his line that was blessed by the return of the dragons, or so the people might say. Indeed, Baelor’s possession of a dragon after a few decades of them dying and after several kings attempted everything from sorcery to prayer could be regarded as a sign of the gods to prove Daeron’s right to the throne, in the same way that the gods have proven Queen Naerys’ innocence of charges of infidelity and treason, disappointing Aegon IV’s ardent efforts to discredit and disinherit Daeron by casting shadow on Queen Naerys’ fidelity. That the gods exonerated Naerys and then bestowed the ultimate sign of Targaryen-ness on Daeron’s line is a tough public narrative to argue against. Politically, the sword Blackfyre had such weight in painting Daemon as the heir to the Conqueror’s kingdom, so imagine what an actual living dragon would do to frame Daeron’s line as the true heirs to the dragon-riding legacy of the Targaryens. Daemon might bear the sword but Baelor held the most visible sign of Targaryen-ness there was, one that is intrinsicallytied with the forming of the monarchy and the throne Daemon was trying to claim since it was dragons that formed Aegon the Conqueror’s kingdom and throne. Any half-effective PR campaign from the crown could directly tie Baelor Breakspear, already a hailed warrior known for his chivalry and martial prowess, to his dragon-riding ancestors in the eyes of the nobility. As far as symbol politics go, strike one for Team Red Dragon.

While that does not mean that the Blackfyre rebellions won’t happen (Bittersteel and Fireball still have a strong personal incentive to push Daemon to rebel, and the nobility was still smouldering over Daeron’s favoring of Dorne), it would certainly hurt Daemon’s cause and the striking figure he cut as the King Who Bore The Sword, especially if Baelor rode his dragon to the Redgrass Field (which would tip the power scale dramatically towards the red dragon, instead of the royals only triumphing by the skin of their teeth) and the image of the crown prince riding a dragon overhead brought to mind the Conqueror and the Field of Fire. How well would that undercut the future rebellions is speculative but I imagine it would, to an extent at least: Bittersteel wouldn’t back down even for dragons, but the Westerosi support for the Blackfyres might dwindle much faster than IOTL, especially since dragons have long lives and thus Baelor’s would probably bond with another Targaryen after her rider’s death and continue to be an unmatched advantage for the ruling Targaryens. I suspect that Westeros would still see, at least, the second and third rebellions, as the presence of one living dragon would enforce Daemon the Dreamer’s belief that a dragon would hatch for him at Whitewalls, and Bloodraven’s police state and the mounting displeasure with the ineffectiveness of Aerys I’s rule and his abandonment of feudal obligations would drive nobles to the Black Dragon’s banner. How things might progress from there, though, would largely depend on the fate of Bittersteel and just how much dragonflame cripple his army.

Now, the return of the dragons also affects the long-term political presence of the Targaryens. The ruling dynasty’s power was significantly reduced after the death of the dragons and continued to weaken as the years went by and the practices of several monarchs alienated the nobility till the War of the Ninepenny Kings made it clear to the nobles that the power are in their hands now rather than the monarchy. A dragon in the mix shifts the balance of power back towards the Targaryens, though as the example of the smallfolk riots during the Dance of the Dragons showed, it might not be enough to quell the discontent brought on by first Aerys I and Bloodraven’s policies, then Aegon V’s pro-smallfolk reforms that bred discontent among the nobles and that, in the presence of draconian power on the side of the monarchy, would be steadily pushed and enforced despite their objections, as Aegon thought that having dragons would give him the power to enact his reforms.

In short, with the long life span of dragons and the possibility of them accepting other riders after their original rider dies, Baelor’s dragon could survive and even have a rider all the way through Aerys II’s rule, resulting in a different-looking realm and a completely different balance of power within the Seven Kingdoms. But that does not only rest on the presence of a dragon, but also on the identity of her rider. Baelor was truly the greatest crown prince the Targaryen dynasty had ever had, and had the potential of being one of the best kings if he hadn’t been cut down in Ashford, but the royal family was rife with people ill-suited for the power of being a dragon-rider. Imagine if Aerion the Monstrous had a dragon under his control, or if Bloodraven’s police state and his Blackfyre tunnel-vision was supported by his dominion over a dragon, or if Aerys I’s negligence was underlined by his failure to utilize his draconic power to protect his vassals, or if Aerys II’s madness and fascination with fire was served by a dragon. Dragons were double-edged swords to the Targaryen dynasty, “the grief and glory of [House Targaryen]” in Maester Aemon’s words. They bring undisputed power but also an easy potential to abuse it for personal gain. They are weapons of mass destruction that can be devastating in the wrong hands, that have been devastating to the realm in the hands of the like of Maegor the Cruel, Aegon II, and Rhaenyra. As the uprising against Maegor, and the storming of the Dragonpit during the Dance of the Dragons demonstrated, dragons can easily bring the downfall of a monarch who abused them as much as they can be utilized to prop royal policies. Not every Targaryen king was of the caliber of Jaehaerys I or Daeron II or Viserys II, people who wanted to reform and benefit the realm; in the wrong hands, dragons can incite rebellions instead.

Besides the political effect a dragon can bring, we can not ignore how that changes the belief in the prophecy among the Targaryens. The news of the return of the dragons had been foretold in the arcane texts Aerys I was fond of studying (probably the same texts great-great-grandnephew Rhaegar found that prompted him to become a warrior) long before the Ghost of High Heart made her prophecy of which line the savior prince would come from. With the dragons already returned as foretold, you have a dynasty with an entrenched belief and investment in that prophetic destiny even more than usual. That belief would only enforce Rhaegar’s obsession with the prophecy and if by any chance Baelor’s dragon was riderless at this point, you can bet everything that the wannabe Prince Who Was Promised would try to claim him for his own.

As for Rhaella, my scenario got a bit too ficcy, and not the fun kind since Aerys makes this a rather dark scenario. A dragon hatching from Summerhall would enforce the belief that the prophetic savior was really to be born of Rhaella’s line. To have dragons returning just a few years after the Ghost of High Heart gave her prophecy gives credence to her words, and since it’s almost certain that Jaehaerys II was aware of the prophecy about the return of the dragons, he’d take this as a confirmation of the identity of the savior. Rhaegar certainly would too, since the symbolism of a dragon emerging from the raging fires of Summerhall just as a little dragon was born to the Targaryens is too strong to ignore, which would only immerse him even more in his belief in the prophecy. The bad news is that it would annoy Aerys to no end that his sister-wife acquired a dragon and he did not (and really, that one dragon would hatch out of all the dragon eggs at Summerhall would be extremely odd, but I’m not about to give Aerys the chance to be a dragon rider) and that might spell bad news for Rhaella. As I’ve said before, Aerys’ animosity and suspicion of both Rhaegar and Tywin in OTL doesn’t seem to have been precipitated by anything either of them had done. It seems like they attracted his ire simply by gaining power that he felt threatened his own, a classic case of jealousy that others enjoyed some regard or standing that he felt belonged to him or that he thought rivaled or took away from his own. So for the sister-wife that he disliked to receive such a striking mark of distinction while he got nothing, I imagine he would not take too kindly to that. Unfortunately for Rhaella, her father died barely two years into his reign leaving Aerys as the king and no one to protect the newly made queen, and if Aerys could not control the dragon himself, he could control it through Rhaella by controlling her. Certainly, he’d crave that control more and more as his fascination with fire grew, and that can only mean that his attempts to hatch the dragon eggs found at Dragonstone would increase, probably to the point of severity considering his deteriorating mental state particularly after the Defiance of Duskendale. An Aerys that had proof that long-fossilized eggs can hatch, and had a living dragon taunting him with its presence under the control of his sister-wife (and that would be enough for him to suspect Rhaella of conspiring with Rhaegar against him because of course she was) could easily go to some extreme measures to hatch the dragons, especially if he made the connection between a dragon hatching and blood magic. The chances of him causing a bloody catastrophe chasing dragons are high, and depending on the extent of his extremism, this could very well end up what causes a rebellion before Rhaegar pulls his stunt with Lyanna. Imagine how the lords would react if Aerys started burning people by the droves to hatch dragons, for example. The caches of wildfire under King’s Landing might come much sooner.

As for Elia’s Rhaenys, I do not see a scenario where a dragon bonds with her. Most of the remaining dragon eggs in Westeros were destroyed at Summerhall, and the only known clutch of eggs left was the one found on Dragonstone that Aerys tried to hatch (and the one sitting under Winterfell, if you believe that rumor, which I do. But no one in-universe does). Rhaenys simply had no way to bond with a dragon since the Targaryen tradition of putting a dragon egg in the cradle of little Targaryens had long ended, and grandpa the Mad King wouldn’t allow his “Dornish-smelling” granddaughter anywhere near a dragonite if he managed to actually hatch them, neither would Mama Elia because children below the age of three have no business going near a fire-breathing lizard, tyvm.

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