#the blackfyre rebellion is an amusing amalgamation of this

[thevelaryons]

I think fandom should start viewing the Targaryen & Velaryon succession crises during the Dance of the Dragons as the two separate issues that they are. 

In the case of Rhaenyra’s claim to the Iron Throne, the fact that she had bastards ultimately has no bearing on her claim. If Rhaenyra had only trueborn children, she still would have been usurped. It all just comes down to her position as a woman in a patriarchal society. That’s the issue GRRM is trying to explore over and over again with the various women of house Targaryen who have their claims challenged by a male relative. This issue is never truly resolved and so even post-Dance we have female Targaryens getting their claims usurped by men.

It is house Velaryon that deals with the issue of having ‘bastardborn’ children in the line of inheritance during the timeline of the Dance. The various Velaryon bastards face an in-universe classist treatment on account of their birth. Despite that, GRRM depicts these bastards as notable members of their family. The succession of the Driftwood Throne is repeatedly brought up in the book in relation to them. House Velaryon is divided during the Dance. It is not until the war is over that we see a resolution to the matter of the Driftmark succession: Alyn Velaryon, born Alyn of Hull, is to inherit the seat.

Since both families are quite close, it can often lead to people mistakenly conflating all matters between them. But GRRM makes it quite clear that these two families are dealing with separate political issues over the course of the war (even if there is some overlap in the characters involved).