#mistresses of aegon iv

[goodqueenaly]

since you clearly know your history, do you think aegon iv's situation with his mistresses while he was king was handled realistically? weren't official king's mistresses married off before taking on their positions because any bastard children sired needed a legal father? falena was married off but there's no mention of barba, melissa, or the other women after aegon iv ascended having husbands. i mean, obviously barba needed to be unwed so she could have a chance of becoming queen but if melissa wanted to establish herself as a non-grasping replacement, shouldn't she go get a husband so naerys, aemon, and daeron couldn't feel threatened? and even if melissa was a super nice person, how she could she remain "well-loved" at court while publicly having bastards and one of them is an albino? wouldn't her reputation be ruined if aegon iv dropped her and she remained unmarried after that?

I think the historical record is somewhat mixed on that point. Think of, for example, GRRM’s, ugh, favorite point of reference for Aegon IV, Henry VIII (yeah, I know): Bessie Blount was not married at the time she was in a relationship with the king (and conceived Henry Fitzroy with him), though she did marry after her son’s birth, while it’s entirely unclear when Mary Boleyn married relative to when she and Henry VIII had their relationship (and, of course, Henry offered to make Anne Boleyn his mistress while she was unmarried). Likewise, if we look to Charles II - another inspiration, I think, for Aegon IV, no less so because I tend to think he named Barba Bracken after Charles’ long-term mistress Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland - the record is far from one-sided: Barbara herself, for example, was married during their relationship of course, but the king’s two primary mistresses at the end of his life, Louise de Kerouaille and Nell Gwynn, were both unmarried for the whole of their lives (and as much as James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, Charles’ eldest extramarital son, might have claimed that Charles had married his mother, Lucy Walter, when the two were exiles in the Netherlands, Charles himself vehemently denied the supposed marriage, which had no evidence of its existence otherwise). Too, Louis XIV - not perhaps explicitly cited by GRRM as an inspiration for Aegon the Unworthy, but certainly a king famous for his love affairs - had both married and unmarried mistresses: while Louise de La Vallière was unmarried (and later ended her life as a repentant nun), the Marquise de Montespan did have a husband (who notoriously held a “funeral” for his wife after she became the king’s mistress); the widower King Louis did, almost certainly, end up marrying his last mistress, the similarly widowed Marquise de Maintenon. (There is also the story that when one of Louis’ early loves, Marie de Mancini, married her eventual husband, Prince Colonna, the prince was surprised to discover that his wife was a virgin, as he said he had not expected to find “innocence among the loves of kings”.) Again, these are only a very few, very limited examples, but I think it’s fair enough to say that GRRM could have felt, let’s say somewhat historically comforted by having Aegon IV’s mistresses be (mostly) unmarried women. 

In any event, I don’t think it was a necessity that Melissa Blackwood be married in order for her to be seen as unthreatening to the queen. While the details of Melissa’s life, especially her time as Aegon’s mistress, are frustratingly thin and vague based on our current knowledge, it does seem that Melissa went out of her way to curry favor with Queen Naerys, Prince Daeron, and Prince Aemon - a step that Barba Bracken almost certainly never took, if she was looking to replace Naerys as queen (and perhaps have her son Aegor replace Daeron as heir). It is also worth pointing out, of course, that in the aftermath of Barba’s, and probably more generally Lord Bracken’s and his faction’s, failed attempt to have Barba marry the king, Melissa and whatever faction was supporting her may have emphasized that Melissa had no such ambitions in order to distinguish her from the disgraced former mistress. Additionally, the fact that Melissa did not have a son with the king until a few years after their relationship began may have also served as some reassurance to the queen, Prince Daeron, and Prince Aemon: not only, perhaps, did Melissa appear not to want to replace the queen, but she had no ready would-be heir, as Barba had had, to promote in place of Daeron and strengthen her ambition to create a new royal family. 

Naturally, because we know nothing about why Melissa was sent away from court, or what happened to her after, we have no idea how her brief years as the king’s chief mistress affected her life or her socio-political prospects thereafter. I do tend to think that Melissa didn’t live a long life after leaving court, though when and how she might have died is obviously completely unclear. In any event, though, I could see where Melissa’s positive reputation, especially if she died relatively young, might have been preserved at court: the kind-hearted, widely beloved young woman, perhaps driven from the court by those no-good-very-bad Brackens who had then replaced her with a “faithless” mistress. Once King Daeron II came to the throne himself, the new king may have been even more inclined to think fondly of the woman who had treated himself and his late mother and uncle with respect and deference, where few if any other of his father’s mistresses had - “better this mistress than any other”, perhaps, to paraphrase the Queen of France on the subject of her husband’s beloved mistress, Madame de Pompadour. (Naturally as well, once Bloodraven came into power and influence, especially after the First Blackfyre Rebellion, he would likely have done much to promote the positive legend of his mother, especially in contrast to the surviving reputation of Barba Bracken - a legacy that I think will be central to the conflict of “The Village Hero”). 

It’s also worth pointing out that while King Aegon’s identified chief mistresses after his ascension seem to have been unmarried young women, this is not to say that the king probably limited his sexual liaisons during his reign only to these individuals. After all, Yandel notes in his overview of Daeron II’s reign that during Aegon IV’s rule, the men of the City Watch of King’s Landing whom the king promoted “made sure that the brothels—and even the decent women of the city—were available for Aegon’s lusts”; I think it’s probably fair to say Yandel likely included “married” in his definition of “decent”. Moreover, while Yandel identified Jeyne Lothston as Aegon IV’s chief mistress after the downfall of Bethany Bracken, the maester-author also suggested that the king “enjoyed mother and daughter together in the same bed”, after Falena Lothston (nee Stokeworth) brought young Jeyne to court (a disturbing rumor, of course, when paired with the additional suggestion by Yandel that Jeyne had been fathered by the king, not Lord Lucas). I fully expect that when we learn more about Aegon IV’s reign (especially given the, ugh, high likelihood of even more unnecessary sexual exploits to be highlighted in Fire and Blood Volume 2), Aegon’s omnivorous sexual desire, including for married women, will be underlined. 

[rozsesandart]

Lady Bethany Bracken, sister of Barba Bracken and seventh mistress to Aegon IV Targaryen 🥀

Art by @rozsesandart

Art masterlist - kofi - socials - commissions info

[15-lizards]

Going down a Blackfyre Rebellion rabbit hole on the ASOIAF wiki…GRRM why do you hate women so much

[velcryons]

faceclaims i desperately want to use but don't know where to put -justice smith -denee benton -idris elba

[exitpursuedbyavulcan]

A collection of all my writing. ♡

My Fic Recs

12 Days of Smuff Masterlist

Aemond Targaryen x OC

Series Masterlist (ONGOING) (18+)

Lady Arianwyn Targaryen, Lady of Runestone, was not born of love. Nor passion. Nor even a sense of duty. She was seeded by her father, the Rogue Prince Daemon Targaryen, in an act of unbridled hatred, and borne of her mother, the late Lady Rhea Royce, as a desperate grasp at revenge. But even a child born of such darkness can find her way to the light. With her mother dead, and father flown across the Narrow Sea with a new wife, the girl is taken in by her Aunt, the Queen Alicent Hightower, to be raised among the little family she has left. There, she finds her cousin, Prince Aemond Targaryen. As they grow, the two find themselves indelibly bonded. The two spend long nights in the palace library together, studying the histories of both Old Valyria and the First Men, seeking to understand who they are and where they fit in the world. But finding that place proves more difficult than in the fairy tales they read. The seeds of disaster were laid long before they were born, and as tensions in the family rise, it seems as though their places may begin to diverge. Will they let themselves be pulled apart as the dragons dance?

Warnings: Mentions of rape, m/f smut, violence

Studious (Completed) (18+) Aemond Targaryen x Reader

Moodboard by @sapphirehearteyes

Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V - Part VI

Your marriage to the One-Eyed Prince is not as romantic as you hoped. The wedding night is beyond awkward and confusing, and afterward, your husband seems more than content to ignore you. But you keep finding yourself drawn to him, and the strange way he makes you feel. And though you don't know it, he is drawn to you as well.

Warnings: SMUT, p in v sex, masturbation (m and f) bad sex (these kids have no idea what they're doing), Aegon saying Aegon things, all the awkwardness in the world

What is Broken (Completed) Aemond Targaryen x Pregnant Sister-wife!Reader

Series Masterlist

The war, the "Dance of the Dragons," as they have come to call it, is over. And yet, you are not celebrating. You have just learned that your husband, Prince Aemond, spent the last months of the war with another woman in his bed. Not only that, but his mistress is pregnant. Just like you...

Warnings: Angst, pregnancy and related symptoms, infidelity, childbirth

Inconceivable (WIP) Aemond Targaryen x Sister!Reader

Part I - Part II

Westeros has been at peace for nearly a year, and a wedding has been planned to celebrate the anniversary. King Jacaerys will marry his aunt, the only surviving child of the Greens, and unite both Targaryen bloodlines at last. It is a fairy tale ending, but this is no ordinary fairy tale...

Warnings: Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles... Angst, grief, forced marriage, more to be added

My Fair Lady's Maid (WIP) (18+) Prince Aemond Targaryen x Lady's Maid!Reader

Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V - Part VI - Part VII - Part VIII - Part IX - Part X

Frustrated with his grandsire's tedious and thorough process of choosing him a "suitable" bride, Aemond makes a declaration that a lady's maid could be indistinguishable from a true noblewoman so long as she was sufficiently dressed and educated in embroidery, conversation, and the like. Otto takes this as a challenge, and gives Aemond four months to turn one of Helaena's lady's maids into a noblewoman.

Warnings: Aemond being an entire cunt

The Girl at the Table (WIP) (18+) Michael Gavey x Reader

Michael has a plan for Oxford: complete his degree at the top of the class, avoid the wealthy, spoiled pricks that make up the majority of the student body, and stay focused. The plan begins well, until a girl begins sitting at his study table.

Warnings: Smut, math

Monsters in the Garden (ONGOING) (DDDNE) (18+) Ettore x Reader

Part I - Part II - Part III

No one comes to your garden but you, not even Dr. Dibs. So what is the most dangerous man on the ship doing leaning against your doorway and watching you work?

Warnings: SMUT; hand job; kissing; blood; mentions of rape, murder, and violence; female genital mutilation; vague mentions of corpse mutilation

Storge, Philia, Eros, and Agape (WIP) Osferth x Reader

Series Masterlist

When he arrives in Coccham to join with Lord Uhtred Ragnarsson's band of righteous warrior, Osferth does not get the greeting he expected. Uhtred himself is very clear that he has only accepted the young monk to irritate his father, and the few warriors he is introduced to delight in picking fun at him. Still, it is better than the monastery, the Lady of the estate is kind to him, and the servant girl who leads him to his new chambers is... something entirely new to Osferth. Something that, perhaps, will help him understand what the Bible means when it speaks of love.

Note: This is a series of inter-connected oneshots that can be read together or on their own.

That Pointy-Eared Blond Bastard (WIP) (18+) Half-Vulcan!Aemond x Human(?)Reader

Graduation - Away Team - Red Alert - Holodeck - Pon Farr

You are Aemond's greatest rival at Starfleet Academy. Or you would be, if he cared enough to have rivals. Vulcans don't care that much. But Aemond is only half Vulcan. And you... you bring out something decidedly non-Vulcan in him.

A Companion (WIP) Otto Hightower x Young Widow!Reader

Series Masterlist

At the suggestion of Princess Rhaenyra, King Viserys Targaryen had commanded that his Hand, Otto Hightower, find a new bride. Preferably at the King's own wedding to Otto's daughter Alicent. While the Princess intended the suggestion as a form of revenge for Otto's machinations which led to the royal engagement, he intends to make the best of it. While he has always known that his late wife, Madelyn, is the great love of his life, he welcomes the idea of finding a tolerable companion. What he doesn't expect is you, a lady widowed far too young, who begins to spark feelings within him he thought long extinguished.

[daenerys-stormborn]

TARGARYEN WEEK Day 6: Favorite Family Dynamic - THE GREAT BASTARDS

While on his deathbed, Aegon legitimized his bastards and placed them in his line of succession after his firstborn, Daeron II.

Daemon Blackfyre  

Daemon I Blackfyre, born Daemon Waters, was the bastard son of Princess Daena Targaryen and King Aegon IV Targaryen. Daemon when denied Princess Daenerys he rose up and  swayed half the kingdom to support his claim to the Iron Throne against King Daeron II in a war called the Blackfyre Rebellion. He was the first and greatest of the Blackfyre Pretenders.   

Aegor 'Bittersteel' Rivers  

Ser Aegor Rivers, often called Bittersteel, was a renowned knight. In the First Blackfyre Rebellion, Aegor sided with Daemon against King Daeron II.  Bittersteel fled Westeros after Daemon’s death at the end of the rebellion to the Free City of Tyrosh.  Aegor founded the Golden Company, a famous mercenary organization, to stop the loss of support for the Blackfyres.  

Brynden 'Bloodraven' Rivers  

Lord Brynden Rivers, called “Lord Bloodraven”. Brynden was a Targaryen loyalist during the Blackfyre Rebellions, the Hand of Aerys I and Maekar I Targaryen, and Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. Shiera Seastar, another bastard of Aegon IV, was his mistress. His half-brother Aegor “Bittersteel” Rivers desired Shiera also, which served in increasing the enmity between the two. Bloodraven was thought to be a sorcerer. He disappeared while ranging beyond the Wall in 252 AC. He is discovered to be The Three-Eyed Raven by Bran Stark.  

Shiera Seastar  

Shiera Seastar was the last of the Great Bastards of King Aegon IV Targaryen.  Shiera never married, but took many lovers, and numerous duels were fought for her favor. Her half-brother Brynden Rivers repeatedly proposed marriage to her. Although she refused to marry him, she did share her bed with him.Her other half-brother Bittersteel, was said to have also desired her, which only served to increase the hatred between Bloodraven and Bittersteel. There were rumors that she bathed in the blood of maidens to retain her beauty.  

[ophelias-lamentation]

Lady Melissa Blackwood

The 6th of Aegon IV’s mistresses

[salialenart]

‘She had a kind heart, was generous and modest, and was well loved’ about Melissa Blackwood noblewoman from House Blackwood during the reign of Aegon IV Targaryen. She was the sixth of Aegon’s nine mistresses and mother for Mya and Gwenys, and Brynden Rivers ( Bloodraven )

[visenyaism]

your history for danelle lothson and why she's a dragonseed

(i looked her up and she's just doing typical Harrenhall things)

By the time she’s an adult Danelle is the only Lothston still kicking she is the last of her line. However a few decades earlier there was another Lothston, Jeyne. Jeyne was the daughter of Falena Stokeworth, one of Aegon IV’s mistresses, and was widely speculated to Aegon’s daughter instead of Falena’s Lothston husband who she hastily married as soon as she left court. Jeyne was also a mistress of Aegon IV.

we don’t know anything about what happened to her after she left court after being dismissed other than she also married a hedge knight really quickly. The connection there is that Jeyne is old enough to be Danelle‘s mother (and there don’t seem to be any other Lothston relatives who could have been) which would make Danelle either the daughter of Aegon Unworthy or the daughter AND granddaughter of Aegon the Unworthy. I think it is thematically compelling to have the mad cannibal lady of the cursed haunted castle that eats people also come from a multi-generational incest horror show but that is my own speculation, they’re not connected in the canon. 

[rozsesandart]

Serenei of Lys, ninth mistress of King Aegon IV Targaryen and mother to Shiera Seastar 🌊

Art by @rozsesandart

Art masterlist- socials - commissions info - kofi

[goodqueenaly]

Was King Maekar or any of his vassals directly involved in the downfall of House Lothston? Also, how much of Danelle's rumored dark magic was real and how much of it was misogynistic propaganda?

Long, more under the cut:

We know virtually nothing about the downfall of House Lothston, other than that “[t]heir line was ended in madness and chaos when Lady Danelle Lothston turned to the black arts during the reign of King Maekar I”. Whether King Maekar himself participated in bringing down House Lothston and raising the Whents in their place, or whether he merely oversaw a local rebellion or indirect royal response against Lady Danelle and performed the executive cleanup afterward, is impossible at this moment to say. Certainly, Harrenhal sits close enough to the border of the Crownlands that those Houses sworn directly to the crown could have participated in dethroning Danelle, either because they had a vested local interest in doing so and/or because Maekar may have seen them as a useful ready force to respond quickly. Additionally, Maekar was certainly not shy about responding personally, and especially militarily, to threats in the realm: his leadership in the First and Third Blackfyre Rebellions, his probable intervention against Dagon Greyjoy, and of course his fatal action during the rebellion at Starpike. Given that history, it’s entirely possible Maekar himself led a royal/Crownlands-supported force to depose Lady Lothston (vaguely akin to Bloodraven doing so during the events of “The Mystery Knight”). However, with the only other specific detail in the end of the Lothston line being that the Whents “were given Harrenhal as a reward for their service in bringing the Lothstons down”, this could easily have been a local rebellion led by the Lothstons’ vassals and tenants, and simply recognized afterward by the crown. 

Do I think Danelle Lothston was genuinely guilty of some level of crime, possibly linked to “black arts”? I think it likely. (Which is not to say there was not also, and perhaps at the same time, misogynistic propaganda against her - more on that momentarily.) Number one, GRRM seems to have written the members of House Lothston almost uniformly negatively, or at least without much in the way of positive or heroic attributes. Danelle’s (probable) predecessors as rulers of Harrenhal, Lucas and Manfryd (or Manfred), are the most clearly villainous: Lucas infamously remembered as “the Pander” for his callous promotion of his wife and daughter as Aegon IV’s perhaps simultaneous mistresses; Manfryd decried as “Manfryd o’ the Black Hood”, marked by his vague but ominous “black deeds”. Falena, née Stokeworth, hardly comes across better, given her disturbing sexual relationship with (that is, rape of) the 14-year-old Prince Aegon; whether Falena actively encouraged the later King Aegon’s dual sexual interest, or was forced to do so by her husband, only furthers her negative characterization or adds the unfortunately familiar context of Westerosi patriarchy to the affair. Even the most sympathetic of the Lothstons, young Jeyne, seems to be presented more as an object of pity rather than as a laudable figure in her own right - a teenager used and abused by virtually (or actually) every adult in her life, then abandoned when she no longer proved useful to those adults. 

While none of these figures was specifically described as using magic or “black arts”, the point of the above is to say that I think GRRM is writing the Lothstons along the same lines as, say, the Brackens or Peakes - in other words, narrative heels, almost always the villains of whatever situation the author writes for them. In light of that dynastic negativity, I could see where the author will actually have Danelle dabble in supernatural practices, given that Westeros is a world where magic, including blood magic, is real, potent, and potentially nefarious. Whatever Danelle may have wanted to gain by such magic (and the potential of sorcery in this world is too wide to speculate with any real certainty, given what little else we have on her), she was in a position where, if she so chose, she could magically exploit the resources of Harrenhal’s vast estate - the potential sorcerous knowledge its library might possess (or that she could obtain from other places), as well as the smallfolk she could summon and use - for that purpose.

Number two, I think the very obvious real-world inspiration GRRM is drawing on for Lady Danelle is Elizabeth Báthory - or, maybe more specifically, the popular conception of Elizabeth Báthory. Whatever the actual truth of  her crimes, the legend of Elizabeth Báthory is one of maniacal, even supposedly supernatural bloodshed and cruelty - a sadistic, pseudo-vampiric figure who tortured and killed her young, female victims in a quest for eternal youth and beauty. As GRRM tends to rely on (often woefully inaccurate, ahem Henry VIII) popular ideas of historical figures, I think he’ll likely do the same here - not delving too deeply into research on the real-life Báthory, more simply drawing on the historical/pseudo-historical legend. Again, because this is a world where magic, including blood magic, is real, it’s even easier for GRRM to take the fantastical version of Báthory that has come down in myth and present her more literally with Danelle Lothston. 

Number three, I think the idea of a malicious, and indeed feudally and sorcerously malicious, figure being brought down by the intervention of the crown under King Maekar fits so perfectly with what I see as the development of our Egg from prince into king. What Egg has begun to observe in these first three Tales of Dunk and Egg, and what I think he’ll see more and more explicitly as the Tales continue, is unchecked aristocratic privilege turned to the worst degree, especially against the smallfolk of these estates - torturing them to death for unclear crimes (as Dunk sees in the opening of “The Sworn Sword”), placing them in the bloody middle of their highborn feuds (as I think we’ll read about, quite literally, in “The Village Hero”), or simply letting them suffer without the expected protection of their overlords while those lieges squabble over titles and position (which I think will be a major issue in whatever “The She-Wolves of Winterfell” ends up being called). Lady Danelle being guilty of at least some level of crime, and perhaps blood magic-based crime, against her people would escalate this issue even more for Egg: here was a great local magnate who, despite her sometime allegiance to the crown (as seen in the Second Blackfyre Rebellion), had exercised her personal power at the cost, in blood and/or lives, of the people she was ostensibly obliged to guard and nurture - thereby proving again to Egg, perhaps, the value of promoting greater rights for the smallfolk during his eventual reign. Likewise having Egg argue, perhaps, for his father to bring down, or at least support the bringing down, of a woman who both so grossly abused her feudal responsibilities toward her people and was potentially notorious in her use of sorcery, the author may foreshadow Egg making a similar, but possibly even more dramatic, decision against Bloodraven - denouncing another sorcerer and sometime supporter of the crown who had nevertheless allowed for great suffering among the smallfolk, and who had committed too great a crime to go unpunished. 

Now, again, does Lady Lothston being guilty of some level of crime mean that there is no possibility of misogyny or sexism associated with her downfall? Of course not. Indeed, the very idea that Danelle bathed in blood - a rumor very much recalling Egg’s report that Shiera Seastar “bathe[d] in blood to keep her beauty” - reflects the (male) Westerosi conception of “older” women (again, by Westerosi standards) as “handsome” rather than beautiful, and even that designation is often a concession in light of their age (see, for example, Alerie Hightower). Likewise, because Danelle was a woman ruling in her own right in a patriarchal aristocracy which expects power to flow from males, through males, to males, Danelle was from the outset subject; again, while I still think Danelle was likely guilty of some level of crime, the largely negative social conception of female rule may have formed additional, sexist context to her downfall - “if only there had been a strong male hand at Harrenhal”, for example, or “well, that’s what happens when you give a woman so much power”. (And of course, I tend to think Hoster Tully may have eyed the later female inheritance of the Lothstons’ successors at Harrenhal, the Whents, with an idea of taking advantage of similar misogynistic unease.) Too, Harrenhal’s historical association with women of allegedly maliciously supernatural reputation - Rhaena, who spent her last years at Harrenhal “feared … as a witch” by locals, and Alys Rivers, the so-called “witch queen of Harrenhal”, who held the castle in supposed draconic defiance of King Aegon III - may have again aided the potentially misogynistic context of Danelle’s downfall. Again, Danelle does not have to have been completely guiltless - Alys Rivers certainly maintained an active rebellion against the Targaryen government, and was - for her to be lumped in with the “witches” of Harrenhal’s past, and to have her crimes take on an exaggerated, sensationally supernatural nature - the stories of sending out giant bats to capture children, for instance. Danelle Lothston being guilty and Danelle Lothston being subject to misogynistic prejudices are not mutually exclusive ideas; the author’s excellent exploration of that dynamic with, say, Cersei is proof of that. 

[beneathxblackwaves]

The Nine Mistresses of Aegon IV:

→ Suki Waterhouse as Falena Stokeworth → Laura Donnelly as Merry Meg → Dominique McElligott as Cassella Vaith → Ebonee Noel as Bellegere Otherys → Flora Spencer-Longhurst as Barba Bracken → Katie McGrath as Mylessa Blackwood → Anne Hathaway as Bethany Bracken → Tamzin Merchant as Jeyne Lothston → Reese Witherspoon as Serenei of Lys

[tenthmuseondine]

The Back Pearl of Braavos and 16th century Venetian Fashion:

There is a common consensus among fans that Braavos - a city sited on a group of small islands that are linked by bridges and walkways, divided by canals, channels and waterways of varying size - is heavily inspired by Italian mercantile/maritime republics, of which Venice is the most famous.

Furthermore, the canal-based, inter-connecting island architecture is not the only similarity between Braavos and Venice; both cities are famed for their courtesans.

Indeed in 16th century, Venice was famed for its many elaborately dressed and coiffed courtesans; Veronica Franco (1546–1591) is a famous example! She developed her position in Renaissance Venetian society as a cortigiana onesta (Honest Courtesan), known for her notable clientele, feminist advocacy, literary contributions, and philanthropy.

Her fictional parallel in ASOIAF could be Bellegere Otherys II - one of the famed courtesans in Braavos (the other being Daughter of the Dusk). We know Bellegere comes from a family of courtesans, bearing the title of Black Pearl of Braavos - a moniker borne by a descendant of Bellegere Otherys I, the first Black Pearl, a pirate queen who became a mistress of Aegon IV Targaryen.

The eldest bastard daughter of King Aegon IV and Bellegere, Bellenora Otherys, became a courtesan under the same name. Bellenora's descendants became courtesans as well, each eventually bearing the name "Black Pearl".

We can also assume that Bellegere is rather wealthy, owning her own barge and servants to pole her to trysts and when purchasing three cockles from Arya, who is disguised as Cat of the Canals, paying ten times what the cockles are worth. This wealth is directly reflected in her clothing!

"She was so lovely that the lamps seemed to burn brighter when she passed. She had dressed in a low-cut gown of pale yellow silk, startling against the light brown of her skin. Her black hair was bound up in a net of spun gold, and a jet-and-gold necklace brushed against the top of her full breasts." (TWOW, Mercy)

The aforementioned "low-cut gown" immediately brings to mind the 16th century gowns worn by Venetian courtesans!

Look at this art print of a Venetian Courtesan (Cortigiana Veneta) published by Pietro Bertelli in 1591.

Notice the incredibly low and exposed neckline of the gown!

It is important to mention, however, that not only courtesans dressed this way. Venetian noblewomen of the 16th century also bared their breasts in keeping with the fashion of the day.

For example, look at this art print of a Venetian Bride (Sposa Veneta), also by Pietro Bertelli. There is virtually no difference; perhaps that is why the civic authorities decried the courtesans' deliberately misleading resemblance to 'honest women.'

In some portrayals, the Venetian woman's neckline opens almost immediately below the breast!

In Dress of Venetian Women (Habiti delle Donne Venetiane) ca. 1591–1610, the engravings done by Giacomo Franco show ornately dressed courtesans and respectable women, all of whom sport very low cut bodices.

In the second plate we see a depiction of parentado, or the ritual presentation of a bride to her relations. Here, a bride in a richly embroidered dress wearing pearls and a bejeweled crown is presented by her ballerino, a dance instructor who prevented the woman from toppling over in her chopines, or platform shoes.

In conclusion, in depicting Bellegere Otherys - the Black Pearl of Braavos - I would most definitely illustrate her wearing a gown inspired by 16th century Venetian dress (worn by both courtesans and noblewomen). She'd look rather striking I think.

[alienoryva]

Targaryen women who are described as very beautiful ;

🪻Queen Rhaenys Targaryen

youngest child of lord Aerion Targaryen and lady Valaena Velaryon also sister-wife of Aegon i Targaryen/The Conqueror

🪻Queen Rhaena Targaryen

First child of King Aenys i Targaryen and Queen Alyssa Velaryon and sister-wife of Prince Aegon Targaryen/the uncrowned and niece-wife of King Maegor i Targaryen.

🪻Queen Alysanne Targaryen

Fifth child of king Aenys i Targaryen and queen Alyssa Velaryon and sister-wife of king Jahaerys i Targaryen.

🪻Princess Viserra Targaryen

the tenth child of King Jahaerys I Targaryen and Queen Alysanne Targaryen, Never married and died at the age of 15.

🪻Queen Rhaenyra i Targaryen

The only daughter of King Viserys I Targaryen and Queen Aemma Arryn, wife of her cousin Laenor Velaryon and niece-wife of Prince Daemon Targaryen.

🪻Queen Daena Targaryen

Third child of King Aegon III Targaryen and Queen Daenaera Velaryon, sister-wife of King Baelor I Targaryen.

🪻Queen Naerys Targaryen

The youngest child of King Viserys II Targaryen and Lady Larra Rogarre of Lys and sister-wife of King Aegon IV Targaryen.

🪻Lady Shiera Seastar

The only child and bastard daughter of King Aegon IV by his last official mistresses Lady Serenei of Lys and the paramour of her half-brother Lord Brynden Rivers.

🪻Queen Daenerys i Targaryen

The youngest child of King Aerys II Targaryen/the mad king and Queen Rhaella Targaryen.

note: It is common knowledge that all Targaryen women are beautiful but above is a list that has very beautiful visual descriptions

[ewanmitchelll]

Imagine Taylor Swift’s songs (IV): Say Don’t Go.

Imagine you are a peasant who rescues Aemond after he fought his uncle Daemon Targaryen—but in this universe he didn’t die drowned, but suffered a wound that you, with your simple knowledge of medicine, actually manage to heal you. What shall happen then?

Warnings: fluff, violence, drama, angst.

***

• A Dance With Dragons

In between fire and ashes, blood has never been thicker. The one-eyed prince, on behalf of his infamous brother, is ready to take leave. Unbeknownst to him, as he mounts Vhagar, destiny sets a worse fate than the assumption of victory for all parties.

Here he goes, a path of blood behind this man—who tasted frustration and rejection all his life, lusting for what was never his by any right, tied in a very suffocating loyalty to his family.

Here he goes, moved by agony and pain, he who is hated by his enemies and despised by those who support the charismatic Aegon.

Here he goes… mounted in an ancient beast, prompted to finally write his name in the pages of history. Aemond, the kinslayer, the embodiment of fire and blood, flies in roaring skies.

And not too long after he meets his mirror, the one he wanted to be in life—a better version, certainly—, the kin who inspired him despicable sentiments—if perhaps in another occasion he would be this man’s favourite nephew.

This is not the moment for words to be spoken out. Warriors like them feel no need to exchange offenses. War is coming in thunderous storms. Higher than men, above divine heavens, uncommon relatives fight one another.

“DRACARYS, VHAGAR!”

His scream dies unheard, as the wind blows away the anger in his throat. Believing to possess such an ancient dragon, warlord like him, he doesn’t foresee that years and size are not by his side.

Daemon Targaryen and his Caraxes are faster and better equipped for this battle. Experience is also an advantaged tool played by the aforementioned prince towards his rascal nephew.

The skies shake and many are misled to think this is a thunder. But this is hardly a thunderstorm. Later the chroniclers would report it as a dance of the dragons, where this deadly combat between two great warlords and their gigantic beasts collided in such a way that as frightening as it was to watch, it seemed so as the involved were…dancing.

But Vhagar’s flesh and blood provide difficulty to Caraxes. Bites here and there, sounds that roared through the air, producing sparks of electrons and fire all the whilst their riders try to dismount the other.

The heights pose an inevitably invitation for prompt death. It’s only a matter of time until one of them falls, if not both of them do.

Skies grow darker and rain eventually drops. Caraxes, fighting better under this environment, twists the scene to his favor, surprising Vhagar. What happpens next is too fast to describe. Later, peasants would recall how a great beast like Vhagar fell upon the sea… without Lord Aemond on her back.

A question would haunt Aegon’s twilight reign: where has Lord Aemond Targaryen gone to?

To worse Aegon III’s rise to the throne, a shadow is casted. No body was found. Therefore… should it be presumed the rogue prince died? If so, not in his former mistress’s arms.

Where is Aemond Targaryen? What happened to the one-eyed lord, famed for his kinslayer epithet?

• Blue skies, fields painted green•

I’ve known it from the very start. We’re a shot in the darkest dark. Oh, no. I’m unarmed…

By the time you rescue him, you think he’s been dead and gone. But for a long while you, a simple curious being who, however, learned to study thanks to your older brother’s connection with literate beings, suspected not all was like appearances led to.

You managed to carry this strange man, aware he was in his worst conditions, to your household. It’s a very simple, typical peasant house. And this was a man you’ve never seen in these surroundings… especially because of his fancy robes, a positive indicator of his nobility.

Unaware of the details of this civil war, you took care of him. Ignoring his handsomeness, you dedicated day and night until he eventually opens his eyes.

And when he does… it’s a scandal. Most of all because he is still hurting in his chest and to breathe requires some energy. Then comes the revolt upon seeing he’s nowhere he’s familiar with.

Before he starts to rage out his frustration, the prince is prevented from doing so at the sight of you. A peasant, certainly a damsel despite being closer to him in age, shows up.

“L-L-Lord, please”, you know you’ve been bold in keeping him with you, in weaving illusions to escape your life, all of which makes you blush and sink into his feet. “I only tried to help you.”

Something about your smooth voice eases him. When looking better at you, Aemond’s chest hurts for being reminded of his sweet sister Helaena. He knows he could never do any harm to you.

“Rise, creature who saved my life”, and when you do, the silver haired man looks enchanted at your y/c soft skin, the mystery behind your y/c eyes… “I demand to know your name.”

“Y/N Y/LN, lord”, you whisper, still avoiding his gaze.

But it’s for no effort you do so as he looks for yours, holding your chin as he lifts it up. You see danger right before you, posing threat as he stands in front of you. Nevertheless, he is so alluring that to resist is just… pointless.

“Don’t call me lord. I’m Aemond”, he softens to you, his hand slipping to your throat gently before letting go of you, leaving behind a sensation of void and cold where there had been warmth. “It appears that if I fell here, my uncle took the best of me.”

You nod your head partly.

“You need to be careful, lo… Aemond. Your wounds are still fresh”, you bring him to outside for the very first time since you rescued him.

The prince, shirtless and dressing an old pair of pants, follows you, reluctant somewhat as what to find. He is, however, surprised when seeing there is nothing but a careful mix of colors. Deep blue that paints these cloudless skies and a shade of green that colors the hills and the grasses nearby.

The air is clean and the prince finds peace. However, when spotting, from that distance, the sea, this peace is replaced by angst.

“Vhagar”, he remembers painfully. “Where is she?”

When seeing a puzzled look on your face, Aemond has to remember himself you are a peasant, who probably judged dragons as mythical creatures. But he underestimates you.

“Ser, I may be poor and obscure, but I am not illiterate”, you speak impatiently. “I know who Vhagar is. I must say, though, that you were already dismounted by the time I found you. If you fell from such a height, this only means you are lucky that you are still alive.”

Aemond’s good eye transmits such a depth of sadness that you feel remorse for speaking like that to him. The prince doesn’t notice it, though, so he decides to walk outdoors and there sit amidst the high grass as a way to cope with his loss.

At first, all you do is watch him. This tall, paled prince with long silver hair, involved in a bandage around his waist with a skin painted in deep scars, is now the embodiment of melancholy.

Your reason tells you to leave him there, the moon is too high to grasp it, but your feet don’t obey your sense. It doesn’t take too long before you sit next to him.

“I’m sorry for your loss”, you break the silence hesitantly. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

He doesn’t respond you ar first, and you wonder whether he heard you or are ignoring you. But he turns his face at you eventually, still plagued by that shade of sadness few can be gladly dissociated from.

“You’ve done all you could, mistress Y/N. Thank you. You shall be rewarded.”

“My reward is your well being, lor… Aemond”, you offer him an understanding small smile.

These words prove to be the balsam he needs.

“I appreciate it, truly. In due time…” Aemond sighs, not willing to admit how lost he feels. “Do you have any news of what’s going on?”

By the looks of your face, the prince understands that what might come from you are not what he wants to hear. Even so, he must hear it. In this silent communication, though, there is little need to further comprehension.

Therefore you tell him about Lord Daemon’s victory. A short victory, however, as the common folk said that due to the gravity of his wounds eventually culminated in the said prince’s death.

What happened next was confused. You didn’t understand politics very well and you were too busy minding your own business to do so. Nevertheless, it’s common knowledge that the Seven Kingdoms have a new king.

“A new king?”, Aemond exclaims frustrated. “But Jaehaerys is just a boy!”

The embarrassment in your face only worsens his disappointment.

What, in seven hells, has happened in this short time I was unconscious?

“This is not his name, Ser. Our king is Aegon, Third of His Name.”

Aemond pales and for a moment you step back, fearful of his fury. But all the silver prince does is clench his jaw and turn his back on you for a moment. And you let him be all the time he needs.

***

• Healing…

I'm standin' on a tightrope alone. I hold my breath a little bit longer. Halfway out the door, but it won't close. I'm holdin' out hope for you…

A strange process it is to watch events unfold from the support ground. Witnessing from darkness the arrival of the Starks and then all the gathering leading to Aegon III’s ascension next to Rhaenyra, who, apparently, had transmitted her claim to the Iron Throne to her eldest son and heir, was too much for him to bear… especially now aware of the passing of every one he’d known and fought for.

But in due time, his silence and mourning become too much a burden for him to carry alone.

“I’m surprised you are still out here”, you tell him in one of these evenings you come home and find the prince there.

“Where else I’d go?”, Aemond shrugs his shoulders.

His eyes are glued in you, finding new expressions in your introspective features. You are different, a thought occurs him. What had happened outside to bring you more serious today? A question he does not dare to pose.

“To your mistress, perhaps”, a response that, albeit reluctant, transmits some grumpiness on your part.

For the first time in many moons, Aemond Targaryen smiles.

“Mistress?”, he repeats and you miss the amusement out of his voice.

“Mistress Rivers. Perhaps this is a name very familiar to you”, you don’t know why rolling the name of his former paramour sounds poisonous to your ears, inspiring a hearty agony and an inner despair.

As Aemond studies you, every piece comes to make sense when glued together. At first he says nothing, finding adorable how a creature so introspective like you, kept innocent and wild at the same time from mundane’s ill intentions, discovers new sentiments, obscured as jealousy and attachment might sound.

He could take the opportunity to write a new story, but even now… Aemond struggles to disassociate from the past.

“She was once attributed to many meanings, some of which had linkings to my personal affections”, Aemond admits, taking the opportunity to sip his ale. “But once we parted ways, I do not believe we are meant to mend it back.”

You cast him a long distrustful look, opting for the silence, even though there is so much being said in your body language. Aemond rises up and moves to where you stand, gently but firmly taking grip of your arm.

“Y/N, look at me”, he demands you gently. “Why have you brought her name out of the blue?”

You hesitate and Aemond can only be led to think there’s some bad news ahead. You take some breath and then look at him, as if struggling for courage.

“I cannot keep you here any longer, lord. I’ve been selfish, I see that now. But looking after my lord has given me purpose. All of this to say that people have been looking for you.”

“Looking for me”, he repeats. “Do not believe in what people say, my darling. My enemies are in power, the best we can do is hide for the moment. This means I must shave my head to keep the identity in secrecy.”

He surprises you, and even himself, with this new sense of resignation. But this is a wise move, considering no one had found his body, therefore the mystery must remain for his sake.

Nonetheless, he likes this life with you. Aemond smiles before holding you against him.

“I got used to you, dear one. Looks like I’m staying longer this time.”

That being said, he admires how wide you smile. No one had ever made him feel this sentiment before. He realizes now that what you two have is too sacred to let it be profaned.

• Pain & Blood

Why'd you have to lead me on? Why'd you have to twist the knife? Walk away and leave me bleedin', bleedin'? Why'd you whisper in the dark? Just to leave me in the night? Now your silence has me screamin', screamin'…

When he kisses you under moonlight in between the shadowy green fields, your mind goes blank and your heart races loud. When his tongue moves the way to your neck, your legs automatically spread to welcome his strong body; his arms now moving upper your back, caressing you slowly, aching in slow burn as you call out his name in sweet whispers.

“Mine lady”, his lips pursuit yours once more.

It’s past twilight. Silenced by the night, nature welcomes you in this wilderness out of the fancy troubles and the troublesome webs woven by the Black party.

You provide him home and security, the sweet taste of genuine love he’s been looking for. With him, likewise.

It’s free, intense and healing.

“We should better head inside”, he grumbles under his breath, struggling not to give free path for his desires.

You giggle softly, giving him a long look. As you straighten yourself, you hear him say:

“My lady, you bring the best of a beast like me.”

You spin around him, looking like a fairy with your simple white gown and y/c hair loose in your back.

“Is this you accusing me of witchcraft, lord? For I shall not tolerate such an accusation”, you put your hands around his neck.

“Nay. You are too pure for it”, and Aemond knows this must not be the result of bewitching, since the purity of your care and love inspires the same of a man like him.

Beneath the mask of a bad prince, there lies a wounded man who’s known neglect all his life. The concept of love Alys brought to him was more lustful, fleshy attachment than sentimental one.

But when the shadow of those three words comes behind your eyes, mirroring his own, Aemond fears to hear them. Kissing your lips once more, he prays to forget what he saw… for a recent, deep wound has come to open in surface.

As you lead him into your household again, precisely to what you call being your quarters—the result of the inheritance of your father—you give in your heart at every touch, every embrace this man provides you.

When you begin to picture the two of you actually living this life together, when you start to think possible that you could marry and be content in being a simple peasant… every dream dies when a knock on the door is heard urgently.

“Who on earth…”, you sigh impatiently, making him chuckle.

Aemond snakes his arms behind your waist, resting his chin over your shoulder.

“We should better see who’d be this unwanted visitor”, he laughs quietly, admiring the blush painting your cheeks.

As you reluctantly part of his arms, you move to open the door. Aemond leans against the wall, partly hidden under the shadows, waiting to see who’s the one behind the bloody door.

But when you open and see a dark-haired lady with a skin smooth as milk, your heart stops.

“Oh. So here’s the witch who captured my Aemond”, she speaks in a soft accusing voice, though in the lady’s eyes there is nothing but arrogance.

Aemond reluctantly comes to the scene.

“Alys?”

“My prince”, her voice and smile are as sweet as poison, inspiring in you nothing but disgust. “Your son and I have been waiting for you, believing to be dead and gone. But you have been kept a prisoner by this…”, and here comes the despise poorly masked.”…woman.”

You turn your head quickly to stare at Aemond. He sees pain in your y/c eyes, and the sound of heartbreaking reaches his ears when you say:

“You have a child with her, Aemond?”

“It’s Lord Aemond to you”, she corrects you, but is promptly ignored by all parts.

“She was… pregnant when I went to war”, Aemond admits, embarrassed. “I… Considering the recent events, I thought them to be gone like the rest of my family.”

“No. Your son waits for you. I’ve been looking for you”, insists Alys, much to your consternation. “Let me break this spell she’s casted on you, my prince. You shall be free and live with us as it’s your right.”

Part of you waits for his denial, hopes for it even. Despite the evident struggle in having yourself composed before such accusations, you expect he’d take your side.

You hope…

And I'm yours, but you're not mine. Oh no, oh no, you're not there. I'm standin' on the sidewalk alone. I wait for you to drive by. I'm tryna see the cards that you won't show. I'm about to fold unless you…

But Aemond knows not where his strength lies. This cannot be judged simply following his heart desires. When remembering everything his mother sacrificed for… and then he has a child.

A child of his own that should be on the throne. The mere idea awakes the flames of old vengeance.

Much to her annoyance, on the other hand, Alys watches as the events unfold in an impasse. She presses again the matter of their child, aware this is how she’ll take him away from your claws—or so she judges.

“Aemond?”, your voice comes out suffocated.

He sees those words in your eyes, but they fade out of his grasp like a star losing the shine, swallowed in a black hole.

Night comes and steals your bright, much to his atonement. Aemond wishes he could say something more, but no speech is enough to bring you back to life.

Your innocence is now agony and all he can say is:

“I must go. For my child.”

“I understand”, you speak cooly, surprising him for your reasonable behavior. “I pray you forgive me for any mistakes. I am but a peasant who knows nothing of life.”

That being said you curtsy and leave the way open. You watch as Alys smirks deviously at you, like a winner who takes it all. Aemond hesitates, but you don’t look at him.

Why'd you have to (why'd you have to) make me want you (make me want you)? Why'd you have to (why'd you have to) give me nothin' back? Why'd you have to (why'd you have to) make me love you (make me love you)? I said, "I love you" (I said, "I love you"). You say nothin' back.

And there your heart lies in open bleeding…

***

You occupy yourself delivering the rest of planting to the lord you owe fealty after spending months in working with the land. It’s easier to forget about the past when one occupies one’s mind with daily tasks.

This doesn’t mean the nights are easier, though. You are haunted by his face, by scenes where he laughs joyfully with Lady Rivers. She tells you that, as a lowborn woman, you could never be with a highborn man as Lord Aemond.

A truth sharp as knife that wakes you up in the breaking dawn, bleeding you again and again… It hurts and though you swallow salt in your mouth, no other sign is there that you have been in suffering.

In the meantime you carry on with your life, or try to, Aemond is rediscovering his life amongst nobility. The boy his former mistress claimed to be his son is not, by all means, a Targaryen. He could tell she painted his hair and by calculating his age, he was far more likely being a Strong boy than else his. Specially because by the time he took Alys Rivers as his mistress, she was already a Strong’s concubine.

With this disappointment ahead and collecting the testimonies of her witchcraft, Aemond is no fool to realize he’s been stuck in a trap and that he could be sent to the new government’s hand anytime.

I shall not have a death by treason.

The only reasonable solution is escaping. He is no coward, in fact the prince was once too prideful to embrace defeat. However, Aemond’s mind recollects your innocence, your simple ways of living and how you taught him so many good things.

The teachings that promised to make him a rightful man despite his wrongs. Is he too late to be redeemed, though?

Why'd you whisper in the dark just to leave me in the night? Now your silence has me screamin', screamin'…

I should have not let you go, Y/N.

In silence, like always, the prince leaves all that has profaned his soul to search after the only sacred path someone put him in.

And this someone is you.

• ‘I would stay forever if you say don’t go…’

You have cleaned your body in the river and now choose to sit right there over a towel, partly fearful of being seen in your nude state, partly pleased to be able to feel some degree of liberty.

Sun is ready to set and it’s last rays are set on your y/c skin, drying the last drops of the cold water you dived in. As you stand, you are ready to dress yourself when a noise scares you.

Quickly you put your white gown with black strips, unable to tie your long y/c hair when you spot him.

Head shaved still, pained eyes, dressed not like a nobleman but like a random, common peasant lad. So would he look like had he not been blessed with such deep purple eyes that are staring into your y/c ones.

“A-Aemond”, you gasp. Your body begins to tremble and you wish you could run away, but you are frozen.

“Y/Nickname”, he comes after you, hesitantly at first, confidently then. “Apologies are not enough for what I did to you, to us. I humble before my lady and come to ask you not to go.”

He is on his knees before you. He, the prideful prince.

“You are the one who left”, your voice betrays you.

“I had to”, Aemond dares to raise his chin as his hands grip tight your thighs. “I had to. I was misled to think the boy she had was my child.”

“And if he was”, you mutter, the echo of pain rolling out through your words, much like a sharpened blade. “Would you be embarrassed of my station to keep me in ignorance?”

“Fuck, Y/N, no!” He realizes no words are enough to make up for his poor doings. Nevertheless, he tries. Aemond is no quitter. “I am not embarrassed of my lady. I learned to love you out of my heart and soul, despising mundane affairs in order to pursuit the divine one. I was raised from the seven hells to taste the sweet flavor of your divine lips. I want you. Only you can redeem me.”

It’s the way his fingers dig into the cloth of the skirt of your gown that makes you feel fragile. The way he breaks before you, how his words are whispered in despair. Remorse is sincere, pain is evident in the two of you.

Why delaying it?

But then you hear a sound so strange to you. To both of you. When your hearts cry out, you slip, losing your strength.

“You are my weakness”, he says, exposing himself to you.

No sapphire. No embellishment. No pride. The prince the way he is, with his scars. And you expose yours.

Darkness rises by the time you are engulfed in his embrace.

“I’m sorry”, Aemond whispers, fearful of losing you. “I won’t leave you ever again. This I vow over my dead family.”

You are still sobbing when he vows this to you. And when his lips are colliding against yours, every angst dies at long last. And what is cold now is warm, and suddenly the weight of the clothes begins to be unbearable.

With only the moon as witness, vows are exchanged, consumed in one kind of fire that burns each part, prompted to spread in a strange kind of fever so unknown to you.

As tongue dances, bodies intertwine and pain is at long last overcome. The consequence of this redemption is to fruit nine moons later.

In the end, in between wars and peacemakings, two different lives found in each other what they needed. The destiny of Aemond Targaryen became a great “what if” in the history, a name so powerful to haunt crowned men but humbled before the kindest lady of the Seven Kingdoms.

Turned into a love song many years later, bards would give Aemond another name, calling you Jenny of the Oldstones.

Perhaps a truth hints behind it, is it not? But only your descendants would know it and smile often at such beautiful song.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

Brother and sister, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew plus "cousin marriage" seem to not quick cover it when all the parents, grandparents, great-grandparents were siblings... Anyhow all those circumstances fly for the Targaryens, but just checking a son never married his mother or a daughter never married her father?

The quote from TWOIAF/F&B is:

The tradition amongst the Targaryens had always been to marry kin to kin. Wedding brother to sister was thought to be ideal. Failing that, a girl might wed an uncle, a cousin, or a nephew; a boy, a cousin, aunt, or niece. This practice went back to Old Valyria, where it was common amongst many of the ancient families, particularly those who bred and rode dragons. "The blood of the dragon must remain pure," the wisdom went. Some of the sorcerer princes also took more than one wife when it pleased them, though this was less common than incestuous marriage. In Valyria before the Doom, wise men wrote, a thousand gods were honored, but none were feared, so few dared to speak against these customs.

So no, parent/child incest is not mentioned to be a Valyrian tradition. However, there are rumors that King Aegon IV's eighth mistress, Jeyne Lothston, was actually his own daughter by his first mistress, Falena Stokeworth. The timing doesn't quite work out, but even the possibility didn't seem to scare off Aegon the Unworthy. Mind you, he was a hedonistic sex addict, and really not typical of most Targaryens. Well. Presuming those people who want to insist that Nettles was totally Daemon's daughter (and yet they bathed naked together etc) aren't correct, that is...