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princesssszzzz · 1 year

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Ethereal blood of Old Valyria

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lilith-kruger · 9 months

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Bloody Emperor assassinating Empress Amethy , Beginning of the long night Sunfire killing rhaenyra, end of dragons

#empress amethy #bloody emperor #sunfire #rhaenyra targaryen #queen rhaenyra targaryen #valyrianscrolls #Great empire of the dawn #the dance of dragons #my art digital art #pre asoiaf #asoiaf #house targaryen #a song of ice and fire #the world of ice and fire

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mmelolabelle · 4 months

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Harwin Strong is one cool, classy mf because if I had bagged Rhaenyra Targaryen, ‘The Realm’s Delight’ while Alicent, Criston, Daemon and the unnumbered masses seethed?

I would never, ever shut up about it.

Risk to honour, life and limb be damned; they would all be sick of me, let me tell you.

#rhaewin #harwin strong #no other man in westeros comes close #accept no substitutes #house of the dragon #rhaenyra targaryen #hotd #asoiaf #the dance of dragons

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xxpeppermintxx109 · 1 year

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my asoiaf fics - glbh | taw | tdod | tdmhth

« by all accounts concerning the tourney for the wedding of prince jacaerys velaryon and lady baela targaryen, prince qoren martell of dorne won princess shaera velaryon’s hand and favor, but the court fool mushroom claimed it was the one-eyed prince, aemond targaryen, who won her heart and bed »

- writings of archmaester gyldayn and maester yandel

« when news of his sister reached him at the trident, rhaegar targaryen supposedly cursed to the old gods and new that jaime lannister would meet his end on rhaegar’s blade. and when rubies spilled in the trident, some claimed it was rhaenyra on rhaegar’s lips—his last melancholic song, just like the ones they sang to one another to forget their father went mad »

- stories and songs surrounding the silver prince and his beloved, good princess

« your brother was a fool, little dove. the young wolf, they called him—the young wolf and his bastard witch. if there is anyone to blame it is only themselves »

- cersei lannister to sansa stark

« that bastard boy reminds me greatly of a knight i once fought alongside, khaleesi. though, i struggle to remember if he is more like the sword of the morning, or the kingslayer, and i fear for any poor soul who faces him »

- ser barristan selmy to daenerys targaryen

« be wary of mance rayder’s son, snow. there are wildlings, and then there are wild men; the only freedom he cares for is that of his own life. the others may accept you and turn their suspicions away, but if you have even a moment of fear, that man will tear into you like a wolf to a rabbit »

- qhorin halfhand to jon snow

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summonthebats · 1 month

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The Other Untenable Situation

The thing is House Hightower genuinely cannot afford to Not object to Rheanyra succeeding Viserys over his legitimate sons by Alicent. Pretty much no house could but the Hightowers in particular.

In general, the Andal, First Men and (based on Visenya the Conqueror being the eldest and her brothers consort) Valyrian custom is that sons inherit before daughters. To marry a noble woman and then effectively disinherit her sons is a huge violation of the social contract, as well as a huge insult to her house. To not object to that violently would indicate to their bannermen and their enemies that this house can’t or won’t defend its own, and that puts a massive target on their back.

Think Tytos Lannister. A house that won’t demand what it is due, and yes social custom does say the legitimate sons are due their fathers stuff before his daughters get a look in, is going to lose everything.

And House Hightower does soft power. They do Soft Power really, really well.

The Citadel, the Stary Sept and the giant lighthouse that is their castle are the base of this. They maintain it by diplomacy and respectable (by Westeros standards) behavior and trade and their word being good and overall adherence to the social expectations of the society they are in. The High Tower was siege proof before Bran the Builder was born, they have thousands of years of respect to lose and good conduct to uphold. The social contract is vital to them.

In Westeros this all includes murdering anyone who doesn’t keep their end of the bargain. AKA, the Frey justicication for the Red Wedding.

So when Viserys married Alicent without first stipulating that Rheanyra would remain his heir no matter what the deal this society understood to be made was that if she gave him sons they would inherited his throne. Alicent upheld their side, there is no Maegor and Ceryse grey area with the glaring absence of heirs here.

Then Viserys broke the deal. House Hightower must either enforce it or their position crumbles.

And then they die.

#house hightower #are playing soft power like whoa #but in westeros so the violence is always pending #viserys i targaryen #settting his eldest up for massive shit #and everyone else too of course #but really the Hightowers were the worst house to pull this with #hotd #the dance of dragons #anti viserys i targaryen #man has the political savy of a pot plant

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derangedthots · 7 months

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so i've spoken before abt how jace might've insisted on postponing his and baela's wedding till after the dance (despite ample opportunity/mutual desire) bc his love for her wanted to give her a ceremony without death looming over it. and that his fear for her compelled him not to wed and inevitably bed her when the tragedy of three harrowing labors might take what should be a joyful time away from them and - even more than that - take his beloved baela from him.

but what if, and bear with me for a moment, what if beyond rhaenyra and laena and rhaenys - all three women robbed, in some way shape or form, of a queendom - jace's thoughts took him to another targaryen ancestor, robbed of her birthright, burdened with the loss of her husband, and left alone to defend and protect their children from usurpers? maybe i'm just spitballing but what if jace's nights during the dance were haunted by the memory of rhaena targaryen, black bride, queen of the west, queen of the east, and whose ghost yet haunts the halls of harwin's his father's home at harrenhal?

what if he sees his baela, bold and brave and so beautiful, and knows - gods willing - he'll make her his queen. what if jace sees her and wants so many things for her but not one of those things is to make a rhaena targaryen of her. rhaena who was queen of the west and queen of the east but never ruled as queen of westeros in her own right - and, in trying to spare baela of that fate, jace dies anyway.

and she becomes a bit like rhaena regardless: robbed of her love and her crown.

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 7 months

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Challenge: Aegon had to be King for his own survival. Rhaenyra would have killed him. And Alicent. Maybe not Helaena. DEFINITELY Aemond. He was protecting himself. AND he offered her the chance to p much keep living her life in peace.

Rebuttal: We have absolutely no evidence of this short of Otto's claims. And Otto is lying.

He saw firsthand what happened when a member of Rhaenyra's family tried to steal her inheritance. When Daemon occupied Dragonstone and declared himself Viserys' heir, did Rhaenyra resort to bloodshed? Did she use this as an excuse to try and kill Daemon? No. She called his bluff. She invited him to strike first. So when Otto tells Alicent that Rhaenyra will have "no choice" but to put her brothers to the sword, either he is suffering from memory loss, or he's lying through his teeth. He should know better than anyone that Rhaenyra is no kinslayer.

Here's the real truth. Otto realized that he couldn't control Rhaenyra. That she would not accept her position being taken away without a fight. He saw how easily she won over Daemon, how alike the two of them were. Just look at Otto's expression when Rhaenyra is flying away. He's realized that if it came to a fight with Rhaenyra, she'd have Daemon backing her. And that terrified him.

The story that Rhaenyra would preemptively murder her brothers to prevent any challenges to her claim is just that, a story. Otto uses it as justification for his plot to reject the succession. During the Green Council, he tries to have Rhaenyra and Daemon murdered so they won't challenge Aegon - exactly what he claimed Rhaenyra would do. Realistically, why would she ever do this in the first place? If she murdered her own brothers without any provocation, she would look like a tyrant. All the lords actually on her side would abandon her. Rhaenyra doesn't have a reason to harm Aegon unless he gives her one, and it's clear as day that he wouldn't do so on his own. She'd likewise have zero reason to hurt Helaena or Alicent. They have no real power. I suppose Aemond might be a problem, but again, only if he initiates. Rhaenyra isn't going to pick a fight with him.

The terms offered to Rhaenyra in 1X10 are, frankly, a complete joke. They offer her Dragonstone...which she already has. She's been living there, and now that she's queen, the castle belongs to Jace. They offer to re-confirm Luke as heir to Driftmark...even though he was already re-confirmed, just two days ago. Not to mention that Corlys survived, so the Crown really doesn't have jurisdiction over that anymore. Corlys will always choose Luke. Oh, and they offer to take her two youngest children as hostages. Sure, they don't call it that, but Rhaenyra's no fool, and it's plain as day that they would be hostages. Perhaps treated as guests, but taken for no other reason than to keep Rhaenyra in line. She's the rightful Queen, why should she entertain such nonsense? Oh, and they offer to spare any Lords who "conspired" against Aegon's ascent. Even though the story of Viserys "changing his mind" isn't well known, and these Lords would have simply been following the succession as they knew it to be. Get real.

Finally, Aegon acting in self-defense based on what he was told might have been his motive in the book. But in the show, it's very clearly a case of enjoying the attention. He feels validated and seen by the crowd. It's the first time he is actually shown to enjoy being King and maybe even start to want it.

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horizon-verizon · 2 months

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Aegon III and Jaehaera “healing together” would be like:

Jaehaera: I miss my father.

Aegon III, having a PTSD trigger: Well, I miss my mother! AND YOU KNOW WHO GRUESOMELY KILLED MY MOTHER WHILE I WAS WATCHING ?!

Jaehaera: And I miss my twin brother! AND YOU KNOW WHO SEND THE MEN WHO BEHEADED HIM IN FRONT OF ME & MY MOM ?!

Aegon III: Nothing would have happened if your grandmother didn’t usurped my mother and your uncle didn’t ruthlessly murdered my brother.

Their marriage would have been SOOO INCREDIBLY UGLY, BITTER, MISERABLE AND HOPELESS. That union never stood a chance. Aegon III spent about 3 years married to her and never made any attempt to befriend her and had more interactions with Unwin Peake’s daughter than her. They wouldn’t have any children, he’d abdicate in favor of Viserys if he didn’t marry Daenaera and then locked himself in a tower.

Yeah, I agree. I understand that the real English War of the Roses that war/sub-battles ended with a happier and successful marriage between the two warring houses of York and Lancaster so it seems that Aegon III and Jaehaera could have also had a great marriage--or at least a civil one with a lot of kids/heirs. However, though yes we had the structure of "one child of the two warring families marry for peace" of the War of Roses, the Dance was modeled and takes inspiration from the Anarchy. Where Empress Matilda fought against her male cousin, Stephen of Blois, for the English throne. Where the conflict was strictly about who deserves the throne: the female declared heir or the eldest male relative? And who will obtain it, who fights for them, who suffers, etc.

Plus Henry VII of the Plantagenet branch of Tudor (through Jon of Gaunt) & Elizabeth of the house of York--the people who married each other while from the opposing houses after the Battle of Bosworth Field--were both relatively healthy adults AND Henry actually won the throne through his own leadership in battle after killing Richard II (her paternal uncle). The same uncle whose mainly held responsible for Elizabeth's younger brothers' disappearances. So Henry & Elizabeth had a way better beginning than Aegon III & Jaehaera.

Even with the Anarchy, GRRM doesn't transfer all of the events or major ones/results into his fiction. The conclusion of the anarchy was still a woman being passed over: Stephen won and got to rule but Empress Matilda's son--Henry Plantagenet-- was designated as the next to rule in the Treaty of Wallingford. She wasn't brutally murdered in front of said son like Rhaenyra, and despite Stephen's efforts his own sons never sat the throne. But the war ravaged England as the Dance did Westeros enough that in both the lords/barons sought peace above all AND Matilda lost the throne. GRRM seemed to want to capture the sense of futility of the war's destruction. There was no happy-dappy marriage or even an attempt at one in the real thing.

Jaehaera was made totally disadvantaged for a reason:

a) making her and Aegon both children in the aftermath of the war, controlled by ambitious adults still who do not have their best interests at heart makes to highlight theie vulnerability and the cause being misogyny and classism leading those in power to declare such wars

b) their parents fighting and destroying each other to the bitter end instead of what occurred in the actual Anarchy

c) the greens pushed for war under the principle of "men only" at the cost of its female members' mental and physical health or putting those in danger (mainly Helaena and Jaehaera) for the sake of power. Jaehaera could have grown up happier and for longer if her own father hadn't decided to calm down and not try to go after several of Rhaenyra's supporters in the way that he was planning to, nor should he have usurped his older sister. He shouldn't have celebrated Lucerys' murder at the feast he threw that was almost certainly part of the inspiration for Blood & Cheese whereby his oldest male heir was killed. His other male heir was put into danger when he, again, usurped Rhaenyra and led armies against her when she had been already declared and ACCEPTED as Viserys heir for years. All he had left was his daughter left, but bc the whole point of his claim was "males only" AND he was himself an asshole, he decided to marry again to get another male heir. It was also Alicent who tried to intimidate or persuade her granddaughter to kill Aegon as if the child wasn't already scarred from war and mentally fragile from her disabilities so that she, Alicent, could get revenge against the already dead Rhaenyra. The greens, not the blacks or Rhaenyra, are the main ones at fault for Jaehaera's demise--her death is on their hands since every which way, they chose power over her.

#asoiaf asks to me #aegon iii #jaehaera targaryen #fire and blood characters #asoiaf #fire and blood #aegon iii's characterization #aegon iii and jaehaera #english history #medeival history #war of the roses #the anarchy #fiction vs reality #the dance of dragons #fire and blood writing

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doctor-know · 2 years

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The Dance of Dragons

The Greens and The Blacks

#house of the dragon #dance of dragons #the dance of dragons #rhaenyra targaryen #aegon ii targaryen #viserys targaryen #king viserys #queen rhaenyra #king aegon ii #The Greens #The Blacks #daemon targaryen #aemond targaryen #haelena targaryen #jacaerys velaryon #lucerys velaryon

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isab0t · 2 years

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Rhaenyra and her cousins... and husband... and... ex-wife in law? ...We’ll stick to cousins for now.

#rhaenyra targaryen #laena velaryon #laenor velaryon #rhaenyra #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf fanart #the princess and the queen #tpatq #fire and blood #house of the dragon #hotd #the dance of dragons

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princesssszzzz · 1 year

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Little Dragon Rhaena & Dragon Prince Aemond

Amazing art by @jimmymmtz

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fleyrie · 2 years

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“As things stand, Rhaenyra will ascend the Iron Throne and Jacaerys Targaryen will be her heir.”

“So?”

Everyone in the dance of dragons should of just had Aegon’s mindset in this scene.

#House of the dragon episode 6 #hotd #aegon the elder #aegon ii targaryen #the greens #the dance of dragons #hbo

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thenorthsource · 2 years

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The Winter Wolves, led by Roderick Dustin during the Dance of the Dragons, fought for Rhaenyra Targaryen as part of Lord Cregan Stark’s Pact of Ice and Fire made with Prince Jacearys Velaryon. These were northmen expecting to die while marching for glory, adventure, and plunder as it was the long custom of The North for older men to leave their homes in winter to preserve supplies for younger kin. Two thousand Winter Wolves led the attack at the Battle by the Lakeshore against Lannister spearmen, winning the battle for the Blacks. Next they helped slay Ser Criston Cole’s army in the Butcher’s Ball with their rivermen allies. The remaining wolves, including Roderick, were slain at the First Battle of Tumbleton after being betrayed by Ser Hugh Hammer and Ser Ulf White, but not before Roderick managed to kill Lord Ormund Hightower and his cousin Ser Bryndon Hightower.

#the winter wolves #roderick dustin #asoiaf #asoiafedit #valyrianscrolls #valyriansource #house dustin #pre canon #the dance of dragons #*gifs #ours #thenorthedit #by patrocles

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xxpeppermintxx109 · 9 months

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“a princess she was, but a girl all the same; and was it truly so terrible for a girl to simply be just a girl? why couldn’t she have a childhood like all the rest? why couldn’t she read stories and dream of knights and love whomever she wished? why couldn’t she be happy too?”

- rhaenyra, act ii, tdod

ser arthur dayne may have sworn his sword and life to his king, but it was the sweet princess he swore his heart to. some whispered not even the stranger themself could break such a promise. how cruel the gods can be.

always a melancholic prince, rhaegar seemed to create grief itself when none could find the silver princess. his sister. his twin. he loved her, and she swore she loved him. and yet, gone. dead, he thought she must be. and madness would follow.

appointed by the mad king himself, jaime lannister was her guard, if only to ensure she never left the red keep again. the last time any had seen the dragon princess and the young lion together, there was no love lost between them. what reason could the king ever have to worry? young jaime shadowed rhaenyra’s every step, but he was just a knight of the kingsguard, and she was just a lone princess.

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coldraindropsss · 1 year

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“To celebrate his recovery, a feast was held on the first day of 127 AC. The princess and the queen were both commanded to attend, with all their children. In a show of amity, each woman wore the other’s color and many declarations of love were made, to the king’s great pleasure.”

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muadweeb · 2 years

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something about how alicent's sons dress up in green but her daughter dresses up in light pink, beige ecectra....very reminiscent to young rhaenyra

#alicent hightower #helaena targaryen #aemond targaryen #aegon ii targaryen #daeron targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen #the greens #the blacks #the dance of dragons #hotd #house of the dragon #house targaryen #house hightower

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