#the amount of loyalty aemond has toward aegon

[elcoffin]

"I will not fail”

🖤🗡️

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

what do you think of the rumors about Aemond's possible betrayal of Aegon in Ep4?

Oh do I have a lot to say about this one! So here's the thing. A possible Rook's Rest betrayal situation has been a long running theory among F&B readers even before the show. In the book, Vhagar slams into Sunfyre and Meleys from above while the two are locked together fighting, and they all crash to the ground. It's unclear whether Aemond slammed them both because Vhagar was too big to maneuver in a precise way, or if he was intentionally trying to harm his brother. It's ambiguous, but when Aegon is badly injured, Aemond becomes prince regent and declares the crown looks better on him than it ever did on his brother. In Aemond's favor, he did not declare himself king, but it's also the case that in the book, Aegon had a second son, so Aemond wasn't his heir either. Declaring himself king would have been a direct usurpation of Maelor even if Aegon himself died. We also know that at the end of the Dance Aegon wanted statues made of both his brothers, Aemond and Daeron, so Aegon himself likely did not believe Aemond was responsible for his injuries. But it is ambiguous, and book!Aemond does turn out to be not very smart and not much of a team player, so in and of itself, I don't actually mind the betrayal theory so much. But I would prefer it remain a theory, that is, keep it ambiguous, but even if it is an outright betrayal, it's the execution and motivation which concern me.

In the show, Aemond has a very clear second son syndrome. Whether it's true or not, he certainly thinks he's smarter, better, more dutiful, and of course on top of all that, he has the largest dragon. Show!Aegon, on the other hand, is insecure and struggling with depression, alcoholism, and a big case of imposter syndrome. He's impulsive and reactive, wasn't properly prepared to be king, didn't particularly want to be king, but now that he is king, he's desperate not to fail. In the events leading up to the war, Aemond kills Luke in a moment that seems more rash than calculated, and this ultimately leads to Aegon's small son being decapitated by Blood and Cheese in revenge, throwing him deep into grief and rage. On top of that, Aegon is feeling undermined by his council, including Aemond, and Larys is planting the seeds of mistrust between Aegon and his brother. It's absolutely reasonable for there to be some resentment between the two and some unresolved issues that might manifest on the battlefield. Would these issues lead to an actual attempted murder? Eh, I tend to think that, in the spirit of leaving it ambiguous, Aemond might have the passing thought that he could totally "accidentally" allow Aegon to come to harm. He might even hesitate just long enough that Meleys is able to seriously wound Aegon or Sunfyre before he joins in, causing him to feel a great deal of guilt. This is my preferred scenario.

The problem I have is with how the show is framing it so far. I've never been a fan of the way the bullying storyline seemed to humanize Aemond at Aegon's expense, but it now appears as if it's being used as a motivation or justification for Aemond betraying Aegon at Rook's Rest, as well as his general shift to a darker character, which I find cliched and disappointing. At this point Aemond is a grown man by all Westerosi standards, and despite their issues, we've seem Aegon display loyalty towards Aemond more than we've seen him "bully" him. They're siblings, they're going to fight and bicker and tease, but we've seen nothing from Aegon so far that would justify murder. Maybe if your brother is going through the worst thing a person can possibly experience, losing his son in a murder that, while not your fault, happened as a retribution for your actions, perhaps you could grant him some grace, even if he makes some obnoxious comments in a brothel. I've seen so many takes which basically amount to "Aegon had it coming" as if we haven't seen Aegon absolutely distraught over the death of his child, receiving no emotional support from his family, least of all Aemond himself, and spiraling back into alcoholism and reckless behavior. Now is really not the time to get pissy about teasing. It's not about you, Aemond. A child is dead.

And in fact, we've seen Aegon be supportive of Aemond on screen in ways that we generally haven't seen Aemond support Aegon. Aegon speaks up on Aemond's behalf, inviting him into the council when Alicent wants to shut him out, and we've seen him support Aemond's battle plans, even though we know Cole and Aemond have been planning behind Aegon's back. In S1 we've seen Aegon have Aemond's back at dinner with Rhaenyra's family, and going even further back, we've seen Aegon allow Aemond to throw him under the bus about the bastard comments, taking the fall even though he was not the culprit. There is certainly jealousy and rivalry there from both sides, but as much as Aegon is an ass, it is clear he loves his brother.

Also, I think some fans, perhaps because the well was poisoned against Aegon in S1 in ways that his character has struggled to recover from, tend to read everything Aegon does uncharitably and ignore some of Aemond's more questionable behavior, granting him grace that they do not grant others. I rarely see critical analysis about Aemond the way I do about Aegon, so I'm going to be frank here for a moment. Aemond is only the "good" brother to Aegon's "bad" brother because we haven't seen him at his worst yet, but the potential is there for him to be so much worse than Aegon could ever be. Show!Aemond is thin skinned, self-centered, and a bit of a "can dish it out but can't take it" type. Aemond's assholery is more subtle (for example, Aemond's patronizing little "that's a brave thought" to Aegon in council), whereas Aegon's is loud and obnoxious, but Aemond knows how to make his insults pointed and hurtful ("Strong boys" toast, you will die screaming in flames like your father). And look no further than his reaction to Blood and Cheese to see his egotism in action. In this moment when he's supposed to be showing some level of vulnerability with the madame, he's talking about how honored he is that sempai Daemon noticed him. Mind you, this notice is what resulted in the death of his four year old nephew. His "remorse" over killing Lucerys amounts to "I do regret that business with Luke," while immediately following up with his justification, citing how they used to tease him for not having a dragon. Sincere remorse involves examining your own actions without immediately justifying them or centering yourself, and in that moment I felt no remorse from Aemond, or even sympathy for what his killing of Luke might have unleashed upon the family. Aemond hasn't even mentioned Helaena once post-B&C, and you'd think that even if he doesn't feel sorry for Aegon, surely he'd show some sympathy for his innocent sister? And yet, nothing.

So while I can't say it would be necessarily out of character for the Aemond they've been giving us in S2, I don't really like this take on Aemond at all, and I just don't find this supposed grudge against Aegon a particularly compelling justification for attempted murder. While the bullying storyline humanized Aemond in S1 as a child, keeping it going now, as a motive for harming his brother and his brother's dragon, which, lets be clear, would absolutely fuck over his entire faction, is ridiculous and unnecessary, and really kind of saps any goodwill I might have had for Aemond. I don't have any sympathy for someone who was rather mildly teased and decides his brother deserves to die for it, and it makes me feel incredibly sad for Aegon who is just getting dumped on by his entire family to the point where it's honestly kind of hard to watch. There is plenty of drama inherent in the situation already as-is. If this happened because of tensions over Storm's End and Blood and Cheese, it would still be stupid for Aemond to do, but Aemond has never been as smart as he thinks, and it would frame the betrayal in the context of the ways Aegon and Aemond have hurt each other. However, if it is framed as Aegon's comeuppance for being an asshole, Aemond's Joker moment where he goes fully dark in some sort of bullying revenge plot that he decides to enact in the middle of a war? Honestly, forget building gigantic gold covered statues, I'd be burning effigies.

[weirwoodweirds]

Here’s the thing that house of the dragon has made me realize. Rhaenyra has, at every point, every single one, been given the benefit of the doubt. Even among royalty she is massively privileged, as is Daemon, because of viserys. There’s loyalty to your family and then there’s willful blindness. And to a certain extent, it’s understandable, it’s almost kind, that viserys truly is so devoted to Rhaenyra, but we know, and she knows, it’s out of guilt. Ep1 Rhaenyra makes clear her relationship with her father is not close, he wants a son and she doesn’t want the crown anyway. It’s only after Aemma and Baelon’s death, when she’s named heir, does he put her on this pedestal, and even then in her youth he still acts like a father, chastises her and curbs the privilege that he and Daemon had at her age. But it’s not out of love, it’s because he killed her mother, and she’s all he has left. Same with Daemon, if he loved Daemon, truly loved him, he would recognize that he cannot control him, but Daemon is all that’s left of Alyssa and Baelon.

Yet he never extends this privilege, this benefit of the doubt, to his children by Alicent. I won’t speak of Alicent here; she has her own issues with privilege and responsibility in dichotomy to Rhaenyra and smarter people than me have gotten into it. But what few interactions we’ve seen of him with Aegon and aemond(none with helaena, I might add) he does not treat them like family, like his children, and certainly not like princes. Hell, the interrogation of Aemond in ep7 mirrored the events in GoT that led to Lady’s death, an act that ultimately drew a massive rift between Sansa and Arya as sisters. I’ll come back to that.

Viserys is not solely to blame. Alicent is just as complicit. It is one hundred percent clear from the get go that her children are a duty and an obligation, and while they maybe weren’t always and that’s come from years of shitty marriage, it’s true come episode 6. She gives aegon no privacy, gives aemond the bare bones amount of sympathy, doesn’t even attempt to understand helaena. And aegon says clearly in ep7 that Alicent betrothed him to helaena; a match that he, at least, clearly wasn’t happy with, and though we haven’t gotten helaena’s thoughts on the subject she’s clearly gentle and fragile and does not compliment aegon. The match is pure politics, but it’s not even good politics; blood of the dragon yadayada but Alicent herself is not blood of the dragon. It’s not one hundred percent unknown to marry into other houses; Rhaenys’s mother was a Baratheon, aemma was an Arryn. Alicent could have easily made calculated political matches to secure her childrens futures and secure allies by marrying them to other houses, or for godssakes she could have been done with the whole thing and we’d helaena to have, ensuring Rhaenyra would not harm her children. But no. She has no conception other than what these people with their “queer customs” keep saying about the blood of the dragon, and besides if either of them were to leave kings landing then she wouldn’t have control over them. I mean she slaps aegon in front of a room full of people, her father manhandles the kid, no wonder he ends up being such a shit. But still, of course they end up loyal to her, because she’s the only person giving them the slightest amount of affection or support, no matter how double edged it is.

If there was any love, ignoring love, respect or sense or duty in viserys towards his children there would have been some kind of punishment. Now I agree that taking a kids eye out is a bit much but still, at the very least reprimanding. But no, he harasses his sons over something he knows is true but refuses to believe because then his worldview would collapse. And I compare it to the Lady Incident for several reasons; let me be entirely clear, Viserys is not Robert in this situation, he’s Cersei. Fiercely devoted to their child to the point where they will lie for them, ignore all wrongdoing, anything to stake their claim? Alicent is Ned. And I’m gonna say some stuff about Ned that a lot of people aren’t gonna like now; misplaced devotion to ideals and the conceptualization of people rather than people themselves, obsessed with honor and duty to the point where they actively harm themselves and those they love. And Aemond, like Sansa, lied, threw aegon under the bus out of fear. And if I’m reading my parallels right, their relationship is not going to recover from that. They’re already at odds over Helaena, it’s only gonna get worse. Because of Viserys. And Alicent is no better. She didn’t pull a knife on Rhaenyra for aemonds sake, she did it for herself, for her pride, for her grudge against Rhaenyra.

So it’s no wonder aemond and aegon grow up to hate Rhaenyra, to want her dead. She’s been given everything they’ve lacked, every benefit that their father denied them. It’s fascinating to see, and honestly fucking heartbreaking.