helaegoncore

[helaegoncore]

[helaegoncore]

how much I love THIS ♡

Little scenes written into the main story to show Aegon and Helaena's relationships. Made for helaegon week.

1×8

She rises with the dawn. Leisurely dresses herself, drawing the curtains slightly open, letting in the sun. For some unknown reason, she doesn’t want to leave, so she finds her embroidery forgotten months ago, sits on the edge of the bed, and begins working intently on new stitches.

She doesn’t notice how he shifts in his sleep on the bed, unconsciously seeking warmth. Helaena only smiles a little when a warm hand rests on her thigh. She turns around, studying his sleepy face, the blush on his cheeks, and his tousled hair. Aegon is softly snoring, and the broad hand warms her skin through the fabric.

The princess’s thoughts are interrupted by the creak of the door.

Mother bursts into the chambers as usual without knocking, but freezes on the spot, emotions flickering across her face faster than a storm wind.

Helaena looks up with a question, leaving her embroidery on the lap. Alicent quickly closes the distance: her movements are sharp, her brows furrowed, and her eyes scan her daughter with excessive scrutiny.

"Helaena, sweetheart, what are you doing here?" She doesn’t lower her voice, leans over her, cupping daughter's face.

To Helaena it even seems funny: why wouldn’t a wife be in her husband’s chambers?

But her mother’s sharp gaze notices something — a mark on the pale skin of her neck — and she doesn’t ask. She pulls back the neckline of the dress, ignoring her daughter’s babbling as she tries to pull away from the unwanted touch.

"What is this?" she asks harshly, though her voice betrays emotion. "Did he do this?" Words drip with venom.

She knows – it's something personal to her mother, but has no time to protest either the accusations or the disgust in her large eyes.

"Tell me the truth, sweetheart, and I will never let this happen again…"

The mother is on the verge of tears, backing away, trying to keep herself composed, while Helaena blushes more intensely than before. She understands that she must confess to stop the madness. But her mouth only opens in silence, her fingers nervously pulling at the edges of the embroidery, unraveling the threads.

Alicent emotionally grabs the goblet from the nightstand and splashes wine in her son's face, roughly waking him up. The warmth of the touch on her thigh fades away.

"What now?!"

He blinks rapidly, wipes his face, trying to make sense of what just happened.

"Mother... The bruise... It's not what you think. It's a mark left by my husband in a moment of passion."

She tries to explain, hiding behind the right words, her face flushed with embarrassment. Only now does Aegon begin to understand, and he bursts into loud laughter, masking the pain of his disappointment with the judgments people have of him.

Meanwhile, Alicent freezes, staring in shock at her daughter's face, wanting to be sure that she isn’t lying.

"Yes, go ahead, tell our mother what you asked me to do with you last night," he laughs again.

Her face burns, and she shamefully lowers her eyes. The fabric in her hands is rough and has completely unraveled from her restless fingers.

Alicent steps back, looking at the two of them, expertly pulling on the mask of the Queen. The hems of her gowns rustle, and then the door closes with a thud, hiding her hunched, retreating back.

The mattress behind her dips: he smells of wine, and the pillow is pale burgundy and wet. A hand – not hers – slowly takes the embroidery from his tight grip. Goosebumps rise on her skin as Helaena turns to meet his gaze, to notice the hand stroking her thigh.

Her brother smiles: he so rarely came out as winner, that now he basked in the glow of victory.

"Should I go?" she asks quietly.

"Stay," he whispers hotly in her ear.

1×9

"Helaena."

His sister doesn't respond, curled up on the floor of the carriage, her eyes wild, full of unshed tears. She’s breathing so heavily it’s as if she just returned from a fast ride on Dreamfyre. Aegon rolls his eyes involuntarily: he’s being crowned, led to the scaffold, and his sister is acting as though she’s the one walking into an inevitable war.

"Get up. We’re almost there. If they see you like this..."

She interrupts him, clutching his leg, her nails digging in, making him hiss in pain. Aegon should be angry, should be irritated, should turn away — like he’s done dozens of times before.

"They’re inside the walls! Aegon, you have to stop them!"

He exhales deeply in response, pulling her off him. The carriage slows. Her words are just noise, a string of incomprehensible phrases. But the fear — the fear has always been real.

"Stop them how?" he says bitterly. "I tried, you know I did!"

Guilt for suggesting to flee without her, without the children, rises in his throat. It tastes bitter and rots in his stomach unpleasantly. So Aegon looks away in shame.

"We have a duty. And we must fulfill it."

Everything they ever did was for duty. Each time, their mother promised there would be a reward, but only disappointment followed after.

He can hardly believe he’s the one comforting her. Like that night Aemond lost his eye: it was drunken, bruised Aegon, who had to calm Helaena down. Until she fell asleep curled against him on the narrow bed, her hair tickling his face.

His voice is unusually gentle, and he lies — because he’s afraid too. He’s afraid when he helps her to her feet. His legs tremble as he helps her out of the carriage. A single tear slips down his cheek before the scaffold. His fingers twitch nervously as their mother crowns his sister, and his lost gaze meets hers — filled with resignation.

And only when they fly above the city, followed by the cheers of the people, does Aegon feel relief at her smile.

Now she is his Queen.

Helaena has calmed down, and that must mean her words meant nothing...

It must?

2×1

Children’s laughter rings in her ears before she even enters her chambers, unexpectedly meeting her husband. In his arms is their daughter, happily swinging her legs while clutching a toy — a black dragon with big teeth. Jaehaerys holds onto his father’s cloak, marching proudly behind him. Lately, the boy had been imitating him in everything, which sometimes brought a smile to her lips and warmth to her heart, and other times — concern.

" … mom won’t mind," he trails off, spotting her in the doorway.

Her brother’s eyes widen in mock horror, while Jaehaerys giggles. Aegon hides a smile as he adjusts his daughter more comfortably; mischief sparkles in his lilac eyes.

"And where are the princess and prince off to?" he plays along.

Jaehaerys steps forward, his little face resolute. "To the Dragonpit. To our dragons," he tugs at the edge of the cloak to draw attention. "Father said Sunfyre will let me climb on him!"

He nearly bounces with impatience, and even if Helaena wanted to stop their little outing, she has now completely surrendered under their pleading looks. When three pairs of eyes are begging her — there is no other outcome.

Helaena steps closer to them, kissing her daughter’s cheek, lightly brushing her lips against Aegon’s cheek — so close their breaths mingle, and something unfamiliar flickers across his expression. She leans down, gently touching her son’s forehead, fingers instinctively smoothing stray locks.

"Just be careful. And come back for dinner."

The children smile happily, babbling something about "dragon race", while her husband throws a thoughtful glance on her leaving the chambers. Helaena leans to the cage with grasshoppers, missing his look.

2×3

The room is swallowed by a welcoming darkness, enveloping the figure by the fireplace in an embrace of light. The fire crackles; the brother quietly weeps, only his shoulders shaking, his fingers nervously fiddling with his wedding ring.

She freezes in the doorway, seeing him so vulnerable for the first time. Helaena never knew how to comfort others; no one in their family knew how to process emotions, opening up – even worse. For a few seconds she hesitates, her hand reaching involuntarily for the door handle, then falling resignedly to her side. The word “duty” is sharp on her tongue. She rustles forward in her skirts, stepping closer, disturbing his solitude.

Aegon’s face is red from tears, trails glittering in the firelight. She shudders, seeing her son’s features, and in that same instant wants to flee — but his defenseless, needy gaze holds her in place, her feet rooted to the floor.

They are both silent: frozen figures on a board, and a step must be taken forward.

"Hel..."

His voice cracks like broken glass underfoot.

She nods, closing the distance with one last step. For the first time, he breaks down, pulling his sister to his hips, burying his head in her stomach seeking warmth, his hands gripping her legs tightly. Her palms find themselves involuntarily in his tangled platinum hair. He smells of wine.

She doesn’t know what to say, so she remains silent. What could they say to each other? “Sorry I let it happen, sorry I didn’t listen"? “Sorry I didn’t stop them”?

“Sorry we were both born”?

Bitter tears run down her cheeks, falling onto the crown of his head, and Aegon shakes as he pours his pain into her core. There, where once she carried twins. Where they were supposed to stay — safe and away from the cruel world.

2×4

Too little air in her lungs, the bells toll too loudly, and the guards behind nervously shift, sensing something inevitable coming.

Slightly drunk, her brother looks at her with mocking amusement — she had tried to block the way to the Pit. If not for the gravity of the moment, he might have found her worry even charming.

“Helaena, return to the castle.”

She shakes her head silently, her face etched with a terror as if death were reaching out behind him, flames consuming flesh and licking at feet, ready to snatch her too.

Aegon dismisses her strange behavior as usual.

“You can’t leave us!” Her voice cracks, lower lip trembling.

The faint roar of Sunfyre reaches his ears, and that’s enough to push him forward.

“You know what they forced me to do! I’m the King, and I know nothing of war. I sit idle on their counsel, we could have already destroyed the enemy! Before…” He cannot finish, stumbling over his words, his voice revealing pain, his boiling hatred.

She shakes her head, clutching green fabric in her hands, descending the stone stairs to look into his eyes. Her cold, pale hand finds his. For a few seconds, Aegon truly hesitates, his gaze softening — but only for a few seconds.

“It will be alright. I will return. As soon as I have avenged our son.”

Helaena pulls back; unshed tears glimmer in her eyes — he does not listen. Never listens.

“Broken. And you will leave me again.”

His brows furrow, his body stiffens in the armor, sweat trickles down his back. Aegon has no patience for such things.

His sister looks upward, seeing something unknown to the ordinary eyes. He follows her gaze, but sees there's nothing, only the clear sky, and he sighs irritably.

Trying to soothe her, he grips her shoulders, forcing her to look at him — his own face twisted in fear. The reflection of Aegon’s fear, but his is hidden so well that no one will ever find it.

“I will return. And we will win,” he asserts firmly — more to himself than her.

His warm lips touch her cold forehead one last time. She trembles, clutching him unusually tightly, forcing him to order the guards to take the Queen to safety. This time, Aegon is the one missing her glance — filled with inevitable despair.

2×5

The usual silence of the room, filled day and night only with the methodical sound of stitching and the man’s rasping breath, is suddenly broken by a cough.

Helaena jerks her head up; the embroidery slips onto her lap, the chair creaks against the floor. The rasping fades as abruptly as it began. His injured hand reaches through the pain toward their daughter. The little girl watches her father thoughtfully, seeming to understand far more than the parents thought she did.

Her husband’s face is twisted in agony; he shifts on the sheets and hisses, yet stubbornly pulls trembling fingers to the little girl — as if she were the only thing that mattered, as if nothing else existed around them except her.

“Jaehaerys?” He calls hoarsely, guttural.

The name shatters ribs, tears the heart out. His voice holds an eternal pain — the aching wound of a parent who has lost a child.

Helaena shudders, unaware of the tears streaming down her cheeks until they fall onto her fingers — like the son’s blood on that fateful night that stained her sister’s crib.

“Jaehaerys?” He calls again, voice breaking with hope, nervously running his shaking fingers through the daughter’s hair, long as her brother’s.

They are so alike.

“Jaehaera,” she wants to correct, lips parting but making no sound. If she had the chance to see her son for just a second — she would give everything.

So Helaena does not shatter his dreams.

Their daughter wraps her tiny hand around her father’s finger, naively turning toward the door, expecting to see her twin brother, but her face falls. The girl returns to her silent play. In her hands a wooden dragon takes flight, another one falls onto the soft blanket. A forgotten toy of the pony rests beside her father’s burnt leg.

Aegon sinks again into restless sleep.

Helaena thinks she would rather have died that night.

2×6

He started to come to his senses: at first it was just brief moments, then those moments turned into hours. Aegon was silent, sometimes staring at some spot in the room, sometimes watching how her threads passed through the fabric, creating beautiful patterns — how her confident fingers differed from his trembling ones.

She sees how much pain he’s in, how he suffers, but she stays silent, merely remaining by his side. Not offering help. Her brother would have hated that.

“You do know I have a personal guard?”

His voice is hoarse, barely audible, only because she’s sitting so close to him. She feels the heat of his body with her legs, as if dragonfire was still coursing through him.

Helaena freezes, then slowly raises her eyes to meet his empty, yet deeply revealing gaze.

“I know.”

A short, dry reply. Her pricked fingers tighten the stitch on the golden-pink dragon. He sees the embroidery and swallows hard. Helaena, on the other hand, feels the heartbeat of a wounded dragon in her chest.

“Then why are you guarding me? Mother…”

He can’t finish, pointing instead at the goblet of water: he’s asking it now. She doesn’t hesitate and leans over him, trying not to disturb the wounds. Moistens his dry lips, helping him drink. Her brother winces, as if he expected wine.

“Did she force you? I’ll tell her to…”

Their similar eyes meet — words have always felt foreign between them, yet they understand each other far too well. Painfully well. In their lilac and violet eyes lie oceans of dragging pain and fear.

She shakes her head no, hands unconsciously fidgeting with her dress’s fabric. Helaena sees so much, and at the same time — so little.

Aegon drowns in his own memories. Neither will ever share them with the other.

She nods silently, and everything returns to the familiar routine: the sound of stitches and the crackling wood in the fireplace.

2×8

“The King is gone, Your Grace.”

Her guard is clearly afraid — the city is left without a ruler. But Helaena is calm, she nods meekly, having long accepted the outcome. It was meant to be this way.

“A shame I won’t be able to give it to him,” she whispers, her fingers tracing the dragon on the handkerchief she has just finished.

The green fabric will be found blood-soaked beneath the Queen’s body.

“And that I’ll never see you again.”

[helaegoncore]

and this is why he's still the most compelling and most interesting character of the story in BOTH book & show despite them trying to destroy him in the series

Imagine you live a carefree life, and suddenly your dad dies (the one who never loved you, but you still tried to earn his attention and love). Now, your family is fighting for 'who gets control over the heir.' They drag you into the coronation, and you do everything as they say because it's your duty, because it's what your mother wants, and because 'your father wanted this.'

You even kind of like it – being loved by the common folk. You have the power now, the very thing you never had before. But you're also at war with a sister you never knew.

They never taught you how to rule, yet they still expect it from you.

The worst happens: they kill your child – behead him in front of your sister-wife and your daughter. Your heir, the child who loved you unconditionally, the son you poured love into, something you never received yourself. And everyone says you're overreacting. Your own family makes fun of you, belittles you, and orders you to just sit on your ass doing nothing.

You can't even look at your wife because of the guilt. You can't talk to her, because you never learned how to communicate

Your own people, council, and family betray you one by one. They hide important decisions from you and rule behind your back.

It's a treason, but you let them.

Until you had enough: you decide to do something – to join the battle and help to win the war even though you are not experienced and the other dragon is and it's much bigger than yours.

You're losing, so when you see your brother, the one you're sure is loyal to you and loves you, there's a moment of relief. Only for him to burn you alive.

You fall, your dragon screams in pain, and you have to survive the long road back home in a casket. You’re in such agony that they give you the strongest drugs. You lose consciousness, and everyone thinks you’re going to die.

They drag you home, you suffer in agony for days, weeks even. Bones broken, burns all over your body, wounds everywhere. When you finally wake, you remember: "loyal" brother almost killed you, and your dragon – the one who loved you with the purest love... is dead.

And not only have you lost, you also haven’t avenged your son. It was all for nothing.

The only ones attending to you are the creepy guy you never liked, the one who's been prying on you (and also preyed on your mother), and your maester.

You learn to eat, to walk, to dress and to take care of yourself through the immense pain. Sometimes you fail, sometimes you succeed, while the man who tried to kill you looms over you.

You've lost your features and one of the most important parts of your body. You’ll never be the same. You won’t be able to protect yourself, and you won’t have children.

You become addicted to the thing that relieves the pain, but they start refusing you this relief, so you have to learn to live with the pain.

Live with the knowledge of what your life is like now and how powerless you feel, despite being the most powerful person in the realm. Your brother rules for you, making decisions you wouldn’t approve.

One of your friends was killed in a riot. Your mother and sister-wife could have been killed too. Your friends, the only loyal people, are sent to the Wall for protecting them.

You are still weak when it happens. The enemies have grown stronger, and they plan to come, take your home, kill you, imprison your family and kill people who remain loyal to you. Your mother is nowhere to be found. The only man still by your side is sure: “Your brother will end you. And if not him, then your enemies. They will drug your helpless body and behead you.”

And you decide to run, leaving everything you have behind, scared for your life, sure you'll come back.

You place your trust in the person you never liked and should never have trusted. You don’t realize he is using you. Meanwhile, your wife and daughter are left behind, at the mercy of the enemies.

You have absolutely nothing and no one but rage now.

Wait until you learn your mother sold you and all your male relatives to your enemy-sister.

[helaegoncore]

[helaegoncore]

THIS IS MAGNIFICENT

The Valyrian Wedding of the Helaegon🤍

I decided that I needed to draw their wedding, at least some kind of wedding, because we never got to see it.

[helaegoncore]

king aegon ii targaryen and queen consort helaena targaryen

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sorry i can’t talk right now i’m busy looking at images of a guy online

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How this scene looked to Helaena according to the fan theory.

Credits: dracalysrivers on twt, helaegoncore and phoenix for the scenespack

[helaegoncore]

I saw a beautiful post on X suggesting that, in this scene, Helaena was foreshadowing Aegon's fall at Rook's Rest and now I'm OBSESSED with this theory. "You burned him, and you let him fall". And this leads to her panick attack even more, and explains why she was waiting for Aegon on the stairs when he was taken back home in the box!

I know this is probably too smart for the writers, but since the two episodes are both directed by Clare Kilner, I want to interpret this frame as such. And it is even more poignant to think Helaena saw her husband falling down when she had just lost their son. This is also why she possibily approached Aegon later on the stairs and looked even more distressed when he walked away. It's really a brilliant foreshadowing, even if it is most likely unintentional.

"I saw it. You burned him, and you let him fall".

[helaegoncore]

[helaegoncore]

Elia | Elia Week 2025 | Free day

[helaegoncore]

Something something the concept of granting meaning and importance to an object/phenomenon/person by giving them a name

It is especially relevant in the world like the one ASOIAF is set in, where the name serves as an extremely important defining factor for many characters (mostly a family name but also their given one). And boy, did HotD writers lean into this - in their own way.

I am not the first one to point out that Jaehaera's name hasn't been mentioned in the show at all - not once. But guess who got to have one?

Sure, everyone absolutely needs to remember a girl who was raped by the prince (who is now the king) and who, except for that fact - which serves the purpose of vilifying said prince (and, in some way, by association, the entire TG) - had zero relevance to the plot. And so we have Dyana - because this absolutely unbiased show can't have anyone forget that the Greens' candidate for the throne has some deplorable proclivities. She even got some extra screen time in season 2: once again, absolutely unnecessary except for reminding the audience of her existence - and of Aegon's sins.

But who cares about the only remaining child of the king; the girl who came within a hair's breadth from death and then lost her twin brother; the one true joy left to her mother? Why would she even need a name?

Jaehaera's fate in the show is uncertain (the writers didn't do away with her at the very least) - but for now she is not even a tool of the story but merely a dead weight that just had to be there for Blood and Cheese to have someone to choose from. And then she was simply conveniently (nearly) forgotten becoming just "Helaena's daughter" - no name, no face, no emotional attachment from the audience. I just wonder if the writers' unwilingness to actually involve Jaehaera in the story (or just let the viewers properly see her) comes from them being equally unwilling to make the audience remember her brother whose death and its consequences they are so eager to sweep under the rug in order to minimize the PR damage done to the Blacks.

P.S. Speaking about the importance of names - they need to be not only revealed but also remembered. Jaehaerys didn't end up nameless - but how many times was he actually called by his name in the show? Right off the bat I can remember only one such case: Aegon asking Helaena where he was in episode 1. And while I believe this was not the only time (I am terribly sorry but right now I can't make myself rewatch any part of season 2, not even for science - so feel free to point out the rest), I have a distinct feeling that he still was far more often referred to as "boy", "child", "son", "heir to the throne" and whatnot. Once again: no name, no memory - which IMO is exactly what the writers were going for.

[helaegoncore]

MIKEY MADISON & MARK EYDELSHTEYN ANORA - deleted scenes (2024)

[helaegoncore]

NEW HELAEGON MATERIAL

My commission of modern Helaena and Aegon by the lovely @raitnam 💗

[helaegoncore]

I wish all the haters could see this (tgc biggest helaegon truther)

“I think we see why Aegon’s respect for Helaena grows because she’s the only other person in this environment that really knows what this pain is. And seeing that look in Helaena’s eyes when they cross on the stairs, they don’t say much to each other, but they communicate through pain.”

[helaegoncore]

Helaegon honeymoon in Ibiza core

Helaegon enjoying their summer vacation 🐠🌴

Also I'm opening my commission for July 💚

[helaegoncore]

"I sun, you moon

we're a total eclipse"

modern helaegon as sun, moon & eclipse aesthetics 🌗🌓