#also sorry this turned into anotehr 'i hate jaehaerys' post alsdjfkld

[atopvisenyashill]

wait i saw @kingcunny saying that hotd should have started earlier and now i’m thinking about what a MISS it was to not start the series with the second quarrel actually. especially considering how the dance ends (and how umm. fun having rhaenyra getting eaten by a dragon is gonna be when the casuals finally see it), it would be interesting to start at a moment where the Targaryens are at the height of their power and yet you can see exactly why it all came crashing down.

the royal couple are living separately. the crown prince is dead, and his daughter has been passed over, alienating one of the strongest allies of the targaryens. there’s a royal wedding but it’s whack as hell and can’t even be consummated. the king is bugging his septa daughter to go gaslight the queen into coming back home but all she does is fly a lap around the capital to flip jaehaerys and viserys off and then fucks back off to dragonstone.

just a full season following the way jaehaerys’ reign crumples in on itself, leading up to the great council and viserys being chosen again as heir. i get not wanting to cover jae's early years because you could probably end an aegon’s conquest show at jaehaerys & alysanne’s wedding or somewhereabouts bc obviously an aegon's conquest show is going to cover the sons of the dragon. but like When Else would we just cover The Long Reign, when most of it is relevant to the history directly preceding or after it. But if you put Viserys, Aegon II, and Rhaenyra in the context of Jaehaerys, Alysanne, and Rhaenys' history over fighting over the throne, you can see more clearly that the rot doesn't actually start with Viserys (or with, as I've seen more than a few people say, the Targaryens marrying non Valyrians) it starts at the very foundations of the dynasty with Jaehaerys usurping his own sister and nieces and then clawing back any power they could ever be given to ensure it's never taken away from him again, except all he does is ensure that every single woman in his house will be so desperate and scared of facing the same fates as their foremothers that they're willing to set their own house on fire to avoid the endings he forced on every woman in his life.