#those boys are rhaenyra's sons. they are laenor's. they are harwin's. they are daemon's. because those are the people

[atopvisenyashill]

There's this weird thing going on Reddit right now where people are claiming that legally, Rhaenyra children are not bastards. And I was wondering if you agree or disagree. I think that people are just making up their own canon lore at this point.

Well. Okay I think I’m about to give an answer that is a little spicy but when I get around to my ultimate point I think everyone is going to go "yeah it makes sense that's how you feel, that tracks." Let me start with a personal story to be extra annoying-

My mom, after separating from my dad, swore of marriage. Marriage derailed her life, it had derailed my grandma's life, so she decided that even if she truly fell in love again, she would stay unmarried because clearly marriage jinxes love. She met my stepdad and as he had been divorced three times (and bitterly each time too) he agreed. He proposed to her but it was really just a commitment thing - I promise I am all in on this relationship, and by wearing this ring, you promise too. He moved in. They had one of my siblings, K, and still remained unmarried despite pushback from a few relatives and friends.

And then my stepdad needed knee surgery. And my mom couldn't put a domestic partner on her insurance. So a week before my second sibling, B, was born, after my aunt finished teaching summer school for the day, on what was a random Thursday afternoon, we all put on some nice clothes, piled into the van, and went down to city hall where they got hitched and I cried while everyone made fun of me because their toddler was literally running around the waiting room, it was not a big deal! My parents were both wearing jeans!!! We went to Baker's Square after, not even a nice restaurant! Do you know how this marriage has affected K and B? Not even a little! Do you know why?

BECAUSE NONE OF THIS MATTERS.

There is no moral or biological difference between a child born in wedlock and a child born outside of it. If you put K and B's blood under a microscope and I didn't tell you the ages would you be able to tell the difference between them? Would you be able to figure out which one of my siblings is a bastard and which one is trueborn? No, you would not because the difference doesn't exist biologically, ontologicaly, ecologically, anthropologically, whatever ology you want to bring up, and I think what this fandom finds most frustrating is that there is also no legal difference because LAWS ARE MADE UP. THEY DONT FUCKING MATTER. THEY ARE MAN MADE. I need this fandom to kill the prosecutor that lives in their head and stop arguing over whether Rhaenyra’s oldest boys are ~really~ bastards or not. The “truth” of this is just as it is for my family - it’s completely emotional, situational, and dependent on the feelings of the people involved in it!

Alicent & Otto & Criston, in both the books and the show, have an ulterior motive to insist that legally Rhaenyra’s boys are bastards. They can talk about propriety and legality all they want, but not only were those boys raised and loved by Laenor & Corlys, the concepts of marriage & wedlock & legitimacy are merely tools used to keep people in their place, something those three are very aware of because Otto manipulates the law in order to cut Daemon out of the line of succession which is exactly what kicks off this conflict in the first place! Corlys & Laenor & Rhaenyra have completely different but still existent ulterior motives to insist that legally the boys are true born. They can talk about “well technically” and cite whatever law or precedent they want but again, this same insistence on their legitimacy is a cover for the fact that if they ARE admitted to be not Laenor’s, they all lose access to power.

Not only that, but both Rhaenyra and Alicent become insistent on these competing legalities because they are worried the other will kill their children. Alicent all but confirms that she would have killed them if Rhaenyra had accepted terms with her nasty comment about their deaths when Rhaenyra takes the capital, but Rhaenyra throws her own insistence that she won’t hurt her siblings out the window with b&c.

So yeah, people are making up their own canon lore here because both Otto and Rhaenyra are ALSO making up their own canon lore here. That’s the entire point. Both of these sides have their own agendas, their own very rational fear of the other, and instead of realizing they have to compromise just a bit to get out of the shitshow they’ve found themselves in, they escalate at every turn until they’re all dead and so are their dragons.

The point is - I think everyone is missing here that George is making fun of you nerds who spent all your time insisting they’re bastards or not and debating the legality ad nauseum. He has Stannis ranting about the sanctity of the line of succession and House Baratheon and everyone misses that Stannis is a fucking loser for this because the line started one generation ago and if he didn't want Robert overthrown by Cersei maybe he should have made sure Robert wasn't raping and beating her all the time!! It is the same exact thing here!! If they didn't want Rhaenyra to have bastards, they shouldn't have jerked her around as heir for years then trapped her in a marriage she resented to fix their stupid ass mistakes and if they didn't want the whole thing to escalate into a bloody war, they shouldn't have murdered Luke and Jaehaerys!! That simple!!!!

LEGITIMACY AND MARRIAGE ARE NOT REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[potato-frenzy]

Wow, seeing all the traction on those two posts about my 'Rhaenyra adopts her siblings' AU in the last 24 hours is insane. I think I need to write this fic now. Life is fucking hectic right now but you best bet that once the holidays are over I'll be plugging away at this

In the meantime, have some more headcanons

- Aemond loses his eye in an accident and it's all Ser Criston's fault. The bitch was trying to bully the younger kids in the training yard and like in canon, Harwin was goaded into attacking him. Aemond and Aegon tried to break it up but Aemond was thrown into one of the weapons racks. The scar is much worse because of this. Criston, being the one to have thrown the eight year old prince, is cut down with Blackfyre. By the queen's own hands.

- Aemond asks to be squire to Harwin as recompense for his part in the loss of the prince's eye. It goes over extremely well, Harwin becoming even more entrenched in the family. No Harwin doesn't die.

- Lyonel does still step down as Hand, Daemon is named Hand in his place and he gets to support Rhaenyra in ways he never got to support Viserys. Laena survives the birth of their son, little Viserys.

- Laenor does actually die when he leaves to fight the Triarchy with his father again. Rhaenyra doesn't feel the need to give him the out she does in the show and he doesn't abandon them.

- it still devastates their family but Harwin, Daemon, and Laena are there to help

- Lucerys is in fact Laenor's son, he just looks exactly like Jocelyn Baratheon

- Jace is less concerned with proving himself a proper Targaryen, he's more concerned with making sure his brother's are on his council. He's the most vocal supporter of Aegon's training to become Hand, the oldest boy having a difficult apprenticeship under Daemon. He keeps insisting that Aemond should be Lord Commander of the City Watch someday but Aemond is very vocal that he goes where Lucerys goes. Jace says he'll be Master of Ships so it's not like it matters. Jace suggests Daeron become a maester so he can be Grand Maester someday and the boy just softly goes 'please no'.

- Also Daeron and Jacaerys have often been referred to as 'the twins' given that they are so close in age, are milk brothers, and Rhaenyra often had them sharing a cradle. Ironically, they're not very close.

- Despite how attached Aemond and Lucerys have always been, everyone was shocked when they found out they were in love. Daemon almost died laughing.

[linberlyy]

That promo shows that the writers even have team black minsunderstanding their characterization.

“They’re usurpers. Were the rightful heirs”

-Rhaenyra literally committed treason and forfeited her title when she gave birth to a white bastard child and tried to pass him off as her black husbands. Bastards can’t inherit anything.

“We do things the right way”

-when there is literally Daemon on the team.

-Killing Rhae Royce was the right thing?

-Groping your niece in public so you can ruin her reputation so the only one left to marry her is you.

-Wanting to have your baby brother tortured after your child just maimed him.

-Being smug and gloating at your big age because you see that your father cares nothing for his wife and children/your half siblings.

-Suggesting to actually kill your husband, only to have an actual murderer talk you know just faking it?

-Killing an innocent, to fake that death.

-Fleeing Kings Landing, doing nothing on Dragonstone. While letting Alicent and Otto to do all the work and successfully rule the seven kingdoms. Then coming back and insulting the people who are doing your job/

-USURPING THE BLOOD VELARYONS WITH YOUR BASTARD STRONG SON. CORLYS ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN TO HIS BLOOD FAMILY BECAUSE HE VALUES HIS OWN REPUTATION, EGO AND NAME OVER HIS FAMILY’S THOUSANDS YEARS OF HISTORY, BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS. “The old, the true, the brave” I think not

-Beheading Vaemond because he wasn’t standing for that shit.

-Blood and fucking cheese. The murder of babies. One of the foulest things to happen in the entire series. Up there with the abandonment, Rape and murder of Elia Martell and her babies and 11/12 year old Jeyne Poole being given to Petyr Baelish to be sold at his brothel.

“We seem like more of a family”

“Everybody gets on with each other”

-Daemon celebrated the death of Aemon and Baelon, then stole Baelon’s egg

-Rhaenys has disliked Rhaenyra since she was 14.

-Laena was a second choice and knew this all of her marriage. Daemon kept her from her family until she died.

-Daemon ignored his own child because she didn’t have a Dragon.

-Rhaenyra wanted to murder Laenor.

-Rhaenys ignored Rhaenyra’s sons, had nothing to do with them, never agreed to pretend to be their Grandmother, didn’t support Lucerys being the heir of Driftmark and only spoke in favor of him because she was backed into a corner and she also tolls in the service of men…

-Rhaenyra didn’t tell Corlys and Rhaenys their son is actually alive.

-Corlys and Rhaenys think they murdered their son. Rhaenys’a dislike is now a hatred

-Baela peaced the fuck out after that freaky Valyrian wedding and barely knows those people, especially her betrothed/stepbrothers.

-Rhaenyra’s sons are treated like royalty but Rhaena who is still hungering for her father’s attention, approval and affection is basically a glorified hostage to keep the Velaryons in line and is a servant to Rhaenyra. They have a formal where we only see Rhaena refer to her as “Princess” and “My Queen”. She seems to have no thoughts other than to serve “Her Queen”

-Daemon and Rhaenyra never gave Rhaena a new egg, yet they keeps finding eggs for each of their new pure Targaryen babies they keep having. He never took his daughter to see if she could claim one of the many at the Dragonmont. If he did why does she light up at the possibility of unclaimed dragons being used in the war? Free Rhaena

-Rhaenyra never told her son’s who their actual father is . Jace asks her and she gaslights him. She sends Luke on a mission and tells him that he has “Baratheon blood from your Grandmother Rhaenys” the boy dies with that lie being one of the last thing is mother told him even though he too knows Harwin Strong is his father. Rhaenyra doesn’t even offer him a “I’ll tell you about your father when I see you again” like Ned told Jon. Rhaenyra had no intentions of EVER telling them

-After they murdered his brother, Corlys was ready to abandon Rhaenyra, Daemon and those bastards and go back to Driftmark with Rhaenys and his real Grandchildren BUT Rhaenys reminded him that the girls are stuck with the Strong boys.

These people just seem like they just act in scenes yet they don’t actually watch the episodes to see the story come together. Either that or they’ve bought into their character’s superiority complexes. For the Team Black actors to have such a basic black and white, good vs bad outlook and understanding of their characters and see even their worst actions as good, is bad. The writers have failed to show the moral grayness of the book.

Everyone should see this post. it's just great. nothing to say 🤝🏼

[lovl3igh]

rhaenys really didn't give a shit that three boys will be in danger as long as driftmark would go to her / then baela didn't she? at least until viserys showed up so she changed her mind because;

1. she thought viserys gonna support rhaenyra anyway even if she'd say that corlys wanted driftmark to go to baela

2. if it was otto's decision she would be AGAIN dismissed bc she's a woman and driftmark would go to vaemond and then his sons instead of baela and with rhaenyra's offer at least rhaena would be lady of driftmark and then her line would rule for next years

3. even if she would won there's still would be daemyra against her and later rhaenyra on the throne, so people would still spread the rumours but ignore it officially so velaryon boys would still matter in the line of succesion, daemon and nyra would marry baela to luke so the driftmark would go with velaryon name thanks to luke anyway (in the matter of marriage it was daemyra's decision after all and twins were targaryen by name)

4. corlys would be pissed for ignoring his choice and also for endangering jace, luke and joffrey and there was still chance for him to come back

I'd give her points for announcing officially that jace and luke are betrohed to dragon twins so rhaenyra wouldn't back off but otherwise rhaenys was bitch right there. she does not have a prove that nyra killed laenor, the truth is it could all just daemon who after losing laena could see this as opportunity to be with rhaenyra

as far as rhaenys knows nyra was keeping laenor's secret and gave him sons he took as his own. if that was such big of a problem and rhaenyra was really so ruthless she'd killed him long time ago, before jace and then marry harwin (which now viserys would more likely agree to it, especially that harwin's status was better since his father was officially the hand and also nyra kept her part of a deal with marrying laenor and before that viserys let her choose her spouse). all rhaenys knows that laenor loved those three boys, corlys loves them and so the twins and she has a problem bc they're not directly laenor's blood. bitch. what those three boys did to you exactly to throw them under the bus dragon

rhaenys in books is so much better character, i don't like how creators made her inconsistent in the show (and looking at trailer, they keep going with that), how she switches and changes her mind to please anyone, mostly her husband, her killing people for badass moment but stopping at killing greens... if it was for kinslaying, she would take that to assure safety of baela and rhaena at very least, but it just wasn't her war to start and now we have consequences, while it was her in books who said to use dragons against greens. GIVE ME BACK MY BOOK RHAENYS

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Apologies if this comes across as a bit of a rant, don't mean it to be, but I have seen some really bad takes over the last few days. That being said these are my own opinions, no obligation to agree or disagree with them, I am just sharing my own opinions. Also some of these opinions may or may not be unpopular depending on what side you are on, I am fully team black so these views are in support of that.

Daemon is not a morally black character, he's a morally grey character, or at least he is supposed to be, he is literally described as being equal parts light and dark. So I'm getting tired of all these posts talking about how its ok for Daemon fans to like him but they should accept that he is a villain/morally black character. No he isn't either of those things and so when we complain that the show cut all his good moments and we are frustrated that they seem to have kept only his darker moments, its not because we don't thing he shouldn't do bad things, its because by not keeping him balanced and keeping those lighter moments as well they've mischaracterised him. The fact that people can sit there and make these posts saying he's morally black is just proof of how much they mischaracterised him in the show. I haven't even read the book but even I saw that quote going around about him being equal parts light and dark before the show came out, the promotion of his character often talked about this characterisation of him and it was what made me excited to see his character when I knew nothing else about him. So yeah its annoying and frustrating when the show didn't fully deliver on this.

Rhaenyra's eldest sons did not usurp Driftmark from Baela and Rhaena because Baela and Rhaena never stood to inherit it. Laena was never heir to Driftmark, Laenor was. So this argument that I keep seeing being pushed that Rhaenyra is trying to steal Driftmark from the girls is pointless and not true at all. The petition Rhaenyra puts to the crown is against Vaemond inheriting Driftmark over her sons, the girls had nothing to do with it, they themselves never even put themselves forward as claimants. The closest either of the girls came to inheriting Driftmark was when Rhaenys, in private, asked Corlys to name Baela heir. Corlys immediately shut it down and stuck to his decision to have Lucerys as his heir. So no Driftmark was never stolen from Baela or Rhaena because they were never at any point named heirs to it, you can't steal something from someone when it was never theirs to start with.

As for the marriage proposal Rhaenyra suggests between her sons and Laena's daughters, again this was not Rhaenyra trying to stop Baela and Rhaena from getting Driftmark (because they never stood to inherit driftmark) as I have seen some argue. The reason for the proposal was to smooth things over with Rhaenys and win back her support because Rhaenys believed Rhaenyra had Laenor killed so she could marry Daemon. It was also a very very good deal. Within a generation the Velaryons would have their blood on both the iron and the driftmark throne.

Rhaenyra was in an impossible situation and that is why she has 'bastards'. Yes I am putting it in quote marks because I don't consider them bastards as Viserys publically announced them as trueborn heirs and in doing so made them legitimate, I've made a whole post on it already so I won't cover that argument here but anyway. Her and Laenor tried but didn't succeed at having a child that was biologically their own. So Rhaenyra used Harwin to produce her heirs. But both Rhaenyra and Laenor considered those boys as their own, its not like Rhaenyra was trying to pull the wool over Laenor's eyes, he was in on it and he agreed to it, as did Harwin. Rhaenyra was under a huge amount of pressure to produce heirs, it was consider her duty, what else was she supposed to do? It was her blood that was important not Laenor's in this case, so as long as by blood they were hers that was the most important thing. I saw some say that she just should have not married Laenor, which honestly wtf, because she didn't have a choice. She had to marry Laenor because her father, the king, commanded her to. They both agreed to do their duty then see other people, so I am confused by the claims made that Rhaenyra only cared about her own pleasure and not her duty, like please she took her duty as heir and to the prophecy her father told her about very seriously. If the, she shouldn't have married Laenor, argument wasn't bad enough I then saw some saying well she just shouldn't have had children and should've named Alicent's children her heirs and everyone would have won. Umm, yeah, no, its not that simple. Like Rhaenyra had a duty to produce heirs, like it was made very clear in the show right from the first episode that a good King/Queen provides the realm with heirs, that's the society in which they live. The whole brother as an heir thing is a back up but Rhaenyra would still be expected by the houses and the people to produce as many heirs as possible. If Rhaenyra had chosen not to have any children the realm would only consider that proof that she wasn't fit to rule, it just would have given her a whole other set of political problems to deal with. I mean its the whole reason why Viserys was pressured into taking a second wife, he had heirs, Rhaenyra and Daemon, but this wasn't considered enough he was still under pressure to produce more. For the realm heirs meant security, for the royal house it meant ensuring the throne stayed in their family, continued with their own line. They live in a time when people died really easily of infection and disease, they didn't have modern medicine like we do, babies and children were particularly vulnerable, as was shown by Aemma talking about how many children they had lost. Which is why Aemma and Viserys tried time and again to have more children, why Alicent and Viserys had several children, why Rhaenyra has multiple children, because it is expected of them, because its considered their duty, the more heirs the better. So no Rhaenyra couldn't just shrug and go, oh well guess I won't have any children, my brothers can just inherit after me. I mean you have to think about the way these people think, that possibility would never have even entered Rhaenyra's head, or anyone else's for that matter. All Rhaenyra knows, due to the society she grew up in, is that as heir herself she has to produce heirs of her own, not rely on her father's other children to continue the line. When she realised she couldn't have children with Laenor she came up with another solution, with Laenor in the know and agreeing with it. Yet there are some out there that seem to think this makes Rhaenyra a villain or that she had bastards just because she is privileged and she does whatever she wants and thinks the rules don't apply to her. She wasn't any of these things, she was just desperate and lets be real just as trapped by duty as Alicent, just in a different way.

Rhaenyra's situation with her three sons is in no way comparable to Cersei's and her children. First of Rhaenyra is of the ruling house, it's her blood that is royal and her blood that matters, her boys all still have royal blood. In Cersei's case it was Robert with the royal blood not Cersei so the fact that her children only have her blood is what makes her children's heritage a problem more than them being illegitimate. Rhaenyra did not lie to Laenor or try to deceive him into thinking they were his by blood. So when he calls his sons his heirs he does so knowing that biologically they are not his. If he had lived to take the driftmark throne and he named Luke his heir he would have done so knowing that they didn't share blood. Robert had no clue that Joffrey wasn't his kid, Cersei did go out of her way to deceive him into thinking they were his, including getting him drunk and that getting into bed with him so he would think they had laid together and so he wouldn't question the birth of her children. So when Robert named Joffrey his heir he did so without any knowledge that it wasn't his son. Sorry but these two situations are completely different so you can't use one to justify another.

So the next thing I need to talk about is this, people don't seem to understand how bad it is that Alicent was trying to out Rhaenyra's sons, or why it was that she was pretty much the only person to do so. If Alicent got her way and Rhaenyra's children were acknowledged as bastards publicly then not just Rhaenyra and Harwin, but those three innocent boys could all be killed. That's the potential consequence of Alicent's actions, of her oh so righteous mission to reveal the truth. She is told on numerous occasions how dire the consequences of her insinuations are and yet she continues with them anyway, against the king's orders. On top of that she also makes public insinuations about Laenor's sexuality which again could get him killed. So Alicent is out here risking the lives of Rhaenyra's entire family and yet I'm supposed to support her and feel sympathy for her? No sorry, if everyone else also knows and keeps their mouths shut then so too can Alicent. I mean take Corlys and Rhaenys for example they too know that biologically those boys aren't their son's and they talk about it, but they do it in private. Even when Rhaenys suggests having Baela as heir she says they'll tell people they are honouring Laena's memory as an explanation to why Luke wouldn't be heir, she doesn't suggest hey lets tell everyone Rhaenyra's kids are illegitimate and so we're naming Baela heir, because she knows the consequence of that and whatever resentment she has towards Rhaenyra she won't risk those boys lives because of it. Apparently Alicent has no such qualms when it comes to those boys safety. People act like Alicent trying to out Rhaenyra and her children is some righteous mission but lets be real she's doing it because it serves her own interests. If Rhaenyra and her sons are exiled or killed then its her children who become the next heirs, its got nothing to do with right and wrong or holding Rhaenyra responsible for actions or whatever. Also this is kind of a side note but the thing I also find frustrating about Alicent's little crusade is that she can't know for sure. Like yes I know we as the audience know and everyone suspects it but nobody in that world can know for sure. It's like that story Viserys tells when Alicent brings it up to him, about the black mare, the silver stallion and the chestnut foal. Alicent tries to prove Viserys' point that genetics are weird, by asking if he was there during the act and if not how can he be sure. Here's the thing, the same can be applied to Alicent, unless she was there in the room when Rhaenyra's children were conceived then how can she know for sure that they aren't Laenor's, I mean the guy does have Baratheon blood on his mother's side which could explain the boys features.

The King's word is law and the King can't do whatever the hell he likes are both true statements. I am constantly seeing this argument made that well Viserys is the king so he can do this and he can choose to do that and its all bull, sorry but I think the show makes it clear that whilst yes Viserys as King has alot of power and his word is law, but that doesn't mean he can do what he likes without any consequence. You know which kings do whatever they like, the bad ones. Joffrey, The Mad King, Maegor the Cruel, (spoiler warning for got and fire and blood) and Joffrey was killed by a member of one of his houses, Lady Olenna at his wedding to her granddaughter, The Mad King was killed by his own King's Guard and Maegor was found with his slits wrist on his own throne with no one knowing who exactly might have killed him because he pissed off that many people. So this idea that just because he is King he can do whatever he wants is so false. People really want to paint Viserys out to be this terrible abuser of Alicent, and look I think Viserys made a lot of poor decisions but I don't think you can make the claim that he abused Alicent. Now Alicent's father I could see an argument made for him being abusive to her, he pretty much pimped his daughter out. But here's the truth of it, Viserys was also a victim of Otto's schemes, he was also a piece that Otto used in his political games, he was also manipulated and gaslit by Otto. I feel like some are so much on the lets hate all men bandwagon that they just see every one of them as this evil monster out for their own ends, when really they are all just imperfect characters, some are worse than others but Viserys is far from the worst of them. I've seen people say that Viserys had a choice whether to get remarried or not and actually no he didn't, not really. We saw what the consequence of him rejecting Laena's hand was, Viserys spent the next couple of episodes trying to fix the political problems that followed and the time span of that was four years. The houses of the realm all have resources that the crown needs, whether that be soldiers, ships or gold etc. If the King doesn't keep them happy they can withhold these resources or plot against the King and well then the crown is kind of screwed. So really the only real choice Viserys had when it came to remarrying was whether it should be to the 12 year old Laena, a child, or the 15 year old Alicent which whether we like it or not in their society at 15 Alicent was considered of age and a woman and not a child. So to be fair given the choice between the two it makes sense that he chose Alicent, one because she was a woman grown (in their eyes) and two because for the last 6 months she had been coming to his bed chambers and having talks with him and helped him through his grief. I think its clear that Alicent suffered through that marriage but I don't think the culprit for that is Viserys, its Otto that put them both in that position for his own greed and ambitions. I don't think Viserys was particularly happy in that marriage either but it comes back to what I said above and the expectation to provide heirs. And lets be real here Viserys let Alicent get away with a lot of stuff that other Kings would have likely punished her severely for. Viserys just wanted to keep the peace, like him or not, he was far from a monstrous tyrant some seem to paint him as.

There is no prove that Rhaenyra ever actually intended to kill her siblings when she ascended the throne. I see this one quite a bit, that Alicent and TG had to usurp the throne because otherwise Rhaenyra would have no choice but to kill them as they were a challenge to her claim. But we are never given any indication that Rhaenyra planned to hurt her siblings and there were other solutions, she could ask them to publicly bend the knee and swear fealty to her, if other houses rose up in Aegon's or the other children's name then she could put them in a position where they can not inherit for example the Night's Watch or a position of honour as a Queen's Guard or as a Maester. Or she could have sent them into exile if it really came down to it. I mean even after they usurp her throne Rhaenyra still shows restraint and is concerned with the blood that would be shed if they go to war so I don't think it likely that she would have just killed them if they didn't try to challenge her.

The animosity between TG and TB's children is mostly Criston Cole's fault but also somewhat Alicent and Otto's fault. I mean Cole really pitted those boys against each other in the training yard, matching Aegon against Jace despite it clearly being an unfair match and also encouraging Aegon to be cruel in his fight against Jace, its no environment for kids to learn in. Instead it just fuelled the animosity between the boys. Add to that Alicent whispering to them about how Rhaenyra and by extension her boys are threats to them and its not surprising that the boys don't get along. When it comes to Alicent though I do think alot of her fear was instilled in her by her father and that is then trickling down into her own children. Otto tells Alicent that Rhaenyra will kill her children and puts that fear in her and then in turn Alicent passes that same message to her children, that the blacks are the enemy. Also I see alot of people claiming that Luke is a bully, that seems to be the justification for Aemond killing Luke, its well Luke took out Aemond's eye and bullied him about not having a dragon. Here's the thing though we only really see one instance of Jace and Luke bullying Aemond and that is the instance with the pig and it was clearly actually instigated by Aegon, the same Aegon who would grow up to enjoy watching children fight each other, which I again blame Cole for, more trickle effect in my opinion. We actually see a lot more scenes of the greens antagonising and bullying the blacks than the other way around. And I know what some will say, but Luke took Aemond's eye out. Which yes, and that's terrible but if you actually watch that fight scene again, the black's children are upset about their mother's dragon and are expressing that, the only one who was actually hurling insults and calling people names is Aemond, whilst the others are fearful Aemond is enjoying it. And before anyone comes at me, no I am not saying that its ok that Aemond lost his eye, nothing about that whole fight was ok and I mostly once again blame the adults, like was no one watching these kids, oh wait just remembered t was supposed to be Cole watching the kids that night so I guess I'm just going to blame him for this one too. The point is though we see Aemond, knock Jace twice in the training yard unprovoked, we see Aemond calling them names etc in that fight with the others, we see Aegon using Jace and Luke to bully his little brother, we see Aegon making vulgar comments to Jace and Baela at the dinner after their betrothal, Aemond making toasts insinuating the boys illegitimacy even after everyone had made up and causing a fight to break out. When it comes to Luke we see him, play the prank with the pig, slash Aemond's eye whilst trying to stop him from bashing Jace's head in with a rock and smile at a pig, which we don't even know for sure if he was smiling at the pig as you can hear Rhaena laughing next to him and so he could have been laughing at something she said. I'm not really sure those last two would count seeing as one was in smile defence and the other may or may not have even been about the pig, even if it was Luke just laughed and then turned away he didn't actually say anything. So like given how much more we see Aemond and Aegon antagonising Jace and Luke, whose the real bully?

Anyway think I've ranted on long enough. I've just done a rewatch of the first season so I've got a lot of thoughts currently. Might make some posts about them, we'll see.

[alannybunnue]

Ok, Imagine: Daemon and Rhaenyra having a bastard child in Yan!HOTD AU

I always like to start these posts blaming someone for my crazy ideas, but today is not @missglaskin 's fault, it's you @rosaryos, you did this to me...keep going.

T.W: The entire plot of HOTD with spoilers and maybe some other things, like, seriously, it's the Targaryens.

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Prologue:

So we all know what happened in episode 4, Rhaenyra and Daemon almost committed Society crimes(You know what i mean) and did it on that brothel, but then Daemon back away and left like a b*tch. But what if he didn't?

And once they were done, Rhaenyra being a young horny soul still went for that Cole stick. Just to keep things as they were in the plot.

And then all the drama happen, including Rhaenyra and Laenor's marriage, but we all know they never consummated because of fruit preferences-

And then 9 months later, Rhaenyra gives birth to a baby girl with silver hair and violet eyes that shine. Of course, she knows it's not Laenor's, much less Criston's...it had be Daemon's.

But she let it aside to avoid drama, specially after the birth of the boys.

No one questioned your legitimacy, since there's no proof of Rhaenyra being with Daemon and you had all the Targaryen features...even if your grandfather likes to say that you have Laenor's nose.

You are the realms delight (taking your mother's title) and the heir to the Iron Throne after your mother. Everyone adores you and it's already considered a crime to make you sad, not gonna lie, you use that to your own advantage.

Your mother and "father" both are proud of you, you are the role model for every girl in the realm, the kind and polite princess...when they are looking, in reality, you could incinerate the Red Keep if you wanted.

Viserys is the funny proud grandfather, he liked to watch you playing around as you grow, it kinda reminded him of Rhaenyra when she was your age. But you way more gracious.

Jacaerys is the brother who is always willing to protect from everyone and everything, even a frickin spider, puts you on a pedestal and will fight anyone who dares to take you away. Now Lucerys is the type to gain your affection by pretending to be hurt, since he's the youngest of the bunch. They both are pretty possessive, like your mother.

Even if you don't look nothing alike, you never brought this up, like it never bothered you. Even if Alicent brought it up a few times behind your mother's back.

Speaking of Alicent, she and her kids adore you. Alicent takes on a motherly role with you, while Helaena, who is the closest girl to your age, is more of a sister, who you like to hear rambling about her insects and still tries to understand some of the things she says. Now Aegon has always being a creep, and his special likeness on you doesn't change that, but he doesn't too far by his mother's warning(She knows her son and his tendencies), as for Aemond...do you know those childhood crushes that you idolize and all? That's him (Don't worry, it's gonna get worse).

As the boys all are pretty competitive, specially when you watch them spar along side your grandfather. They look forward to you admiring them and saying how well they went.

But in reality, you wanted to be there with them. You always wanted to learn how to fight too. But the adults were completely against this, scared that you would get hurt, but isn't that the point on learning?

Either way, you suppress this by watching the boys spar instead (with Aegon being a fckin show off)

Sir Harwin is also very protective of you, not just because he is fcking protective of your mother as well, but he views you as his own daughter, like the boys.

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Episode 6:

You were with your brothers and Sir Harwin when Laenor and Rhaenyra arrive with baby Joffrey, while he seemed a bit agitated, just until you got closer to see him, then he immediately stopped and remained calm. You looked at him more clearly, he was just like Jace and Luke, so you knew that he wasn't Laenor (None of you are anyway-) so you feared on how people were going to discuss more about the legitimacy of your brothers and judge your mother, you can't handle the drama.

Then Luke and Jace are sended to the Dragon Pit, you don't go after them, for you don't have a dragon of your own, since the egg never hatched. Which made you jealous of your siblings.

But there was someone who could understand your frustrations, Aemond, who also doesn't have a dragon, but different from you, he's constantly picked on by his and your brothers(But they would never make fun of you though, that would be a sin at this point-).

Before he was brought to his mother, Aemond went to you for confort after the boys gave him a pig, and boy YOU WERE ANGRY, sure, they did many things before, but you developed a strong bond with Aemond at this point and this more than insulting.

You knew it was Jace's idea, you made sure he realized how he messed up. And he did apologized(To you, not Aemond-) But he knows you wouldn't forget what he did so soon, and you might not speak to him for the rest of the day, the same for Luke.

You didn't even look at Aegon, and that made the boy confused as hell, until he realized that you weren't talking to your brothers as well.

Again, you were watching the boys spar with your grandfather, as he commented on how this could created a bond between them, and as much as you admired his perspective, you weren't clueless enough to believe that would happen.

You also were aware of Sir Criston's favoritism towards Aegon and Aemond, dedicating himself to teach the two better then with your brothers. But you never understood why.

And things just got worse when Sir Harwin punched Sir Criston. all because of the stupid comment he made, you watched as the guards dragged Harwin away from your brother's instructor.

You worried for your mother right away.

At the small council, Rhaenyra tries to calm the conflict between her and Alicent by betroth Jace to Helaena, but her offer was striked back by Alicent, who instead offered to marry you to Aegon.

There was 15 seconds of silent before both left the room, Rhaenyra out of disgust and Alicent out of shame. Both knew of Aegon's tendencies, Alicent more than Rhaenyra. So only the Gods would know what he could do to you if you were to marry. Even Viserys pointed that it wasn't a wise offer from Alicent later on.

Soon, Harwin had to leave to Harrenhal, he came to say goodbye to you and your family. You were sad to know this, Harwin was a good man and a good paternal figure to the boys. He bid his goodbye to you all and left right away.

That encouraged Rhaenyra to leave King's Landing to Dragon Stone immediately. Before you went away, however, you met up with Aemond and Helaena to say goodbye, only getting to exchange looks with Aegon as you crossed paths. You did noticed his disappointment and mad look.

Now in Dragon Stone, things might be less chaotic, of course, that's until you received the news. Harwin Strong died in a fire on Harrenhal and Laena Velaryon, your father's sister, died after a failing on giving birth.

Gods be good.

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Episode 7:

It was a bright day, but sad and filled with grief, as Laena's funeral started. You never knew her personally, nor did you knew her family. You only heard about them from your parents, as you watched the coffin being thrown into the water, you noticed the looks of others at you. But only one intrigued you, Daemon Targaryen, your grandfather's brother and Laena's husband.

Daemon was conflicted, not just because of what happened, but at this new discovery of his, as he watched you approach him to give your condolences, he noticed your features. You were not too far from Rhaenyra's oldest son in age, but you looked nothing like him. And Daemon never heard of of Rhaenyra having a daughter.

You spend the rest of the day trying to confort Laena's daughters, Baela and Rhaena. You could understand a bit of how they felt, as you viewed Harwin as family, but you couldn't attend his funeral, as your mother pointed that it wouldn't be proper.

You also tried to talk to the others, your grandfather, Alicent (And you did noticed clubfoot looking at her, but didn't questioned), Aegon and Aemond(which you discovered of Aegon's engagement to Helaena, poor girl)

At their conversation, Daemon asked about you, demanding to know whether you were his and why Rhaenyra never told him. Your mother simply said that due to him abandoning her for Laena, she didn't bother him with this information. The argument continued until one thing let another and everyone knows how this ended (Two horni mfs)

You couldn't help but feel betrayed, he was the only one who understood you and now, he goes and steals a dragon that wasn't his to claim to just rub it on your face?

At night, you were awakened by Baela, who told that someone stoled Vaghar, Laena's dragon. You immediately went after them to find Aemond, declaring that he claimed the old dragon.

Soon there was a fight, and you did your best to stop it before it got messy. But the boys shoved you on the ground and keep fighting. Right after, you heard Aemond calling your brothers "bastards" and you saw Luke cutting his face.

You were all taken away by the guards. And as the maester took care of Aemond's face, you hugged your brothers. Unlike them, you luckily just had a few scratches.

Soon the adults arrived, your mother went straight to check on you, Jace and Luke. As the maester announced the Aemond lost his eye forever, you felt a bit guilty, but you couldn't deny that he was at fault.

Alicent demanded justice, and Viserys denied it, the whole argument was a pain to be heard, you only focused on your brothers, as Daemon and Rhaenyra guarded you three. And then Alicent tried to attack Lucerys, you blocked him while your mother held the Queen, which resulted in her being cut.

You stayed at your mother's side as the maester treated her wound and your brother's. Laenor finally showed up and regretful, apologized deeply for leaving you all when you needed him.

...and then he died.

The news striked you hard, he was your father...at least he raised you, you lost a lot in less then a week. But you kept your composure, for your mother decided to marry Daemon right after, and you were a witness together with your siblings.

After that, Rhaenyra sat you down and told you the truth, about Daemon being your true father and you were technically a bastard, not anymore, since they got married.

Now your life was turning upside down and it was just the beginning

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A/N: Thanks for reading, i wrote this out of distraction, for i will be posting less now due to my studies, but i am not going anywhere.

[green-aeggs-and-spam]

I've seen a number of posts both on this website and others saying something to the degree of "Rhaenyra could have just asked Viserys to legitimize the Strong boys!" And while I'm all for being critical of Rhaenyra's decisions, this is not the cure-all that it's made out to be. So what am I gonna do? Write a wall of text about it!

Here in the HotD fandom, people are much more inclined to defend Jace, Luke, and Joffrey Velaryon than they would Joffrey Baratheon or Ramsay Snow. But because prejudice towards illegitimate children is so foreign to most Western viewers, I've noticed that the default seems to be parroting the talking points of their preferred side: either their Targaryen blood is all that matters because Laenor is fine with them, or they're proof that Rhaenyra is unfit to rule because she's trying to pass off Harwin's sons as legitimate.

The "just legitimize them" folks seem to come from both groups, painting it as an easy solution for her problems or calling her stupid for not doing so. They recognize that illegitimacy is a much bigger problem in Westeros than it is for us, but this argument pretty significantly underestimates the scope of that problem.

In the books, Rhaenyra had an extra measure of plausible deniability. Rhaenys was dark-haired, and her sons could theoretically have inherited it from their grandmother. In the show, their race makes it very obvious that they are not Laenor's. Instead of arguing something that is clearly a lie, why not go to Viserys and ask him to legitimize her sons? If Rhaenyra and Laenor presented a unified front on the matter, what's the issue?

Well, asking Viserys to legitimize Jace, Luke, and Joffrey would mean admitting that they're bastards in the first place.

Just as it is treason to question the legitimacy of trueborn heirs, it is similarly treason to pass off bastards as legitimate heirs to the Iron Throne (see: Cersei and her children). Viserys has his head pretty firmly buried in the sand on this issue - his horse anecdote to Alicent is pretty good evidence that he's convinced himself it's a quirk of genetics, not that Rhaenyra is lying, though one could argue that he does know and is just choosing not to say anything (see: how he publicly accepted Rhaenyra's story regarding Daemon and the brothel, but sent her moon tea afterwards). If she went to Viserys and said she's been lying for years and would like her sons to be legitimized please, he would probably pardon her for treason and do it without question, but this is the kind of crime that people get executed for. Massive risk if she's wrong.

If the matter could remain between Rhaenyra, Laenor, and Viserys, then the risk is much lower, but for legitimizing her sons to mean anything, it needs to be public. That means admitting publicly to the lords of the Seven Kingdoms that she has spent years knowingly committing treason, cuckolding her husband, and planning to install illegitimate children as heirs to the Iron Throne and to Driftmark. This is an extremely bad look for the heir to the Seven Kingdoms.

The safest moment to ask, with the least social backlash, would have been when Jace was a baby or small child, when she could call it one horrible mistake and play the penitent who went to her father as soon as she realized he wasn't Laenor's. This wouldn't work more than once, so she would have to take precautions to ensure she has no more children by Harwin. By the time Joffrey is born, that ship has long since sailed.

So let's say that at some undetermined point after Joffrey is born, she goes to Viserys and gets her kids legitimized in a big public ceremony, maybe including a vow to uphold Jace's claim like the one the lords once swore to her. They're legitimate now, and there's a pardon for the associated treason. Why wouldn't this solve her problems?

Many of Rhaenyra's allies are those who see her as the lawful heir, and see supporting her as the right, honorable thing to do. If she admits to years of infidelity and treason, she's going to alienate large portions of that group for moral reasons, pardon or no pardon. It's a serious propaganda loss that gives the Greens plenty of ammunition to accuse her of being a promiscuous lawbreaker. "If she's admitting to treason, what else is she doing that she won't admit to?"

Then there's the fact that conveying legitimacy onto Rhaenyra's sons is not necessarily enough to clear the stigma attached to their birth. A Wiki of Ice and Fire does an excellent job of summarizing it:

There is a certain stigma that comes from being born as a bastard. They are said to be born from lust, lies, and weakness, and as such, they are said to be wanton and treacherous by nature.

They're treacherous "by nature." Is that a ridiculous belief? Yes, absolutely. That doesn't mean it's not a belief that holds sway in Westeros, that will continue to affect her sons. Even legitimized bastards are not fully accepted (see: the assassination attempt on Alyn Velaryon, the bad reputations for all of Aegon IV's Great Bastards, and the admittedly deserved hatred for Ramsay Snow even after he became Ramsay Bolton.) Daemon Blackfyre is the sort of exception that proves the rule - he gathered support through immense personal charisma, but his supporters also weaponized accusations of illegitimacy against his rival Daeron II. While Rhaenyra's sons already face plenty of prejudice as suspected bastards, she's not making their lives any easier by confirming it. Your average Lord Joe in (for example) the Westerlands, who's never met a Velaryon or a Strong, could have shrugged and dismissed the accusations; that possibility is now destroyed. A woman on the Iron Throne is already a hard sell, and a legitimized bastard on the Iron Throne is an even harder sell.

Finally, it would cost her the support of House Velaryon, one of her greatest allies, and remove the Velaryon name from her sons. The Strong boys would be legitimized as Jace, Luke, and Joffrey Targaryen, because of their mother, but once you acknowledge that they have no blood relation to Laenor, they don't get to be Velaryons anymore (no, their great-great-great grandmother Alyssa Velaryon is not enough). That's the way legitimizing bastards works in Westeros, they are treated as though they're trueborn children of their parents (in this case, Rhaenyra and Harwin). There's no real precedent for adoption the way Rhaenyra and Laenor would want to do it.

Corlys was willing to let Luke inherit based on the principle that "history remembers names, not blood," but once you establish for the history books that they're very much not Laenor's and Rhaenyra was cuckolding him (the fact that it's consensual would make it even more embarrassing for House Velaryon, because they live in a culture of toxic masculinity and homophobia), then Corlys is going to drop his support.

Rhaenyra could try to force the Driftmark issue, but she would be playing an extremely dangerous game. In Westeros, you can't just inherit things willy-nilly, there needs to be a connection to the seat in question to begin with (see: Ramsay Bolton needed to marry "Arya Stark" in order to get Winterfell, Robert Baratheon's ascension justified through his Targaryen grandmother). Naming heirs works for when claims start getting messy (see: Daemon vs Rhaenyra, Baela vs Luke-as-Laenor's-son, Robb Stark's heir) but there needs to be a reasonable relation to begin with, and "Because Laenor Said So" is unlikely to pass muster among House Velaryon or most lords of Westeros. If Viserys orders that Luke shall inherit Driftmark without any blood relation, he's setting a dangerous precedent that's going to make just about every lord nervous about losing their own holdings. When you're relying on the lords to support your claim, it's not a great idea to alienate them by reducing their power.

So there you have it. Rhaenyra could theoretically have Viserys legitimize her sons, but it would come at the cost of support for herself and her sons' claim to the Iron Throne. Insisting that her sons are trueborn Velaryons doesn't look like a great strategy, but I think that for Rhaenyra personally it's the best of two bad options.

[allyriadayne]

what do you think jace thinks of daemon?

oh this is very complex and delicious. to me jace is of two minds when it comes to daemon:

1) he's the man who married his mother just after both of jace's father figures died of mysterious circumstances, therefore making daemon into a unknown entity who is stealing rhaenyra (adding that after a long separation, daemyra was v busy with each other).

and

2) daemon is jace's stepfather. and what is more, daemon is jace's longtime stepfather who makes his mother happy and after those tumultuous and traumatic events during eps 6 & 7, daemon is a stable parental and/or adult figure in jace's life. and most importantly, in whose presence jace implicitly feels safe.

i think for most viewers it's easy to see why jace dislikes daemon and it's the same for jace himself. daemon doesn't make himself likeable or palatable, he has rhaenyra, he has his family, he's safe and doesn't hunger for viserys' love as much. he's free from two half miserable marriages, he's more himself now than he ever was. conversely, jace is growing up in an unstable family context where he feels like he has to perform and prove himself constantly whether it's about his targaryen realness heritage and claim as second in line to the throne or about his role in the family when laenor checked out a long time ago and his other father figure harwin cannot act like one in public. i will be so bold as to say, jace was one of luke's primary caretakers too. this kind of parentified child might feel threatened ( + the obvious resentment jace feels for his parents) when another one comes into the picture.

jace might have felt after the driftmark episode that rhaenyra was alone and that it was his job to step-up so to speak (more or less what happened to aemon during the same scene, another parentified child!) so when daemon comes to the picture and he's planning to stay it clashed with what jace thought their life could be.

i don't think daemon really made any effort to parent the older kids (it's okay jace has bad vibes), but just because he married to rhaenyra he becomes jace's stepfather by default. but jace is so over fathers, he doesn't want another father who will die and leave him alone (and all the feelings of guilt bc maybe if jace hadn't complained and fought aegon better then harwin wouldn't have felt the need to defend him and be sent to harrenhal as punishment. where he died. in a fire. it's all jace's fault). so his best bet is to deny daemon any possible overture, anything that could made him be endeared to jace. he doesn't want the pain of losing anyone else.

and daemon is so easy to hate. easy to hate when he gives rhaenyra the silver haired purple eyed targaryen sons, when he can effortlessly and without bother or prejudice teach luke (and we know luke wants to please people so much, he would embrace daemon as a father) and joffrey how to swordfight, when he's already loved by baela and rhaena.

but the thing is that jace trusts daemon. he doesn't trust him per se in the emotional sense but he trusts that daemon will never hurt rhaenyra or his siblings, that he won't claim baby aegon and viserys are the better heirs over him (i've talked a bit about this subject here). this gets demonstrated in ep 10 where jace takes a more active role as rhaenyra's spokesperson when daemon's "gone to madness. gone to plot his war". while he seems nervous about speaking out, i don't think he's really afraid that daemon will do something to him, instead daemon takes him outside and does a very obvious show of loyalty, one that i don't think jace will dismiss even in his dislike. same thing in ep 8 where daemon cuts down vaemond velaryon for calling rhaenyra a whore and calling into question the birth of her older boys.

this is the man he's seen every day for six years, rhaena and baela's father, the man his mother loves above all. jace is not afraid of that.

tl:dr. jace trusts daemon with their safety but doesn't respect him (i.e. see how he calls him just "daemon" without titles). he purposely shuts him out emotionally because he doesn't want to get hurt again like after laenor's and harwin's death. he resent's daemon's role in the family as a result of being a parentified child in an unstable family context. i think they are fine.

[sweetestpopcorn]

Hi, hope you had a good holiday season :)

I read your new work and I absolutely love that you're doing the year of the red spring, it's one of my favourite parts of the dance there's just so much drama. I know your Laenor's funeral is going to be soooo good.

If this comes up later in the fic, completely cool to ignore this obviously, but since we're already passed the jace, luke - twins betrothals, I'm going to assume it won't. I love your depiction of Daemon and was wondering what you thought his opinion of the Strong boys - and particularly Jace as heir to House Targaryen- was? I know some people think he loved those boys like - or even more than - his own children, while others think he would have resented that they looked like Harwin/weren't 'Valyrian enough'.

Do you think he would've cared if his future grandchildren took after Jace more than Baela as long as they were the heir?

Do you think he regretted the betrothals after Aegon was born and he had his own son for his daughters to marry?

Thank you and have a great day :)

Hi there 😊

Thank you so much for your beyond lovely words, and I am so happy you are liking it! Haha you know I am all about the drama X'D

Ok before I answer I just really have to take this: "I know some people think he loved those boys like - or even more than - his own children..."

And just:

That's a lovely fanfiction right there in my opinion. And one that became increasingly more popular after a certain redacted show. Who would have guessed after Ryan turned Daemon into Prince Matt Daemon who is a spineless loser with impotence in love with his brother who doesn't give a f_ck about his daughters, is more into some random Pentos dude than the woman he marries, throws tantrums like a kid and goes to Renada's wedding to throw his limp d:ck in her face and do nothing, likes to be her lap dog but later chocks her because reasons?

Surprise, surprise.

"while others think he would have resented that they looked like Harwin/weren't 'Valyrian enough'." - No, he would resent the fact that they were the children Rhaenyra had with another man. He would have resented the fact that the legitimate children he had with the woman he wanted to marry would not inherit the throne.

Back to your question you can find a lot of my opinions here which I think illustrate what I believe - from the books only - that Daemon thought and felt about his (grand) nephews - the ones who were not also his sons 🙂

In a nutshell though and to make this super clear -> Daemon was a man who lived in Westeros (in the asoiaf universe) and very much subscribed to the vast majority of Westeros views, when he didn't, it was because it didn't fit him - i.e., supporting Rhaenyra.

The person Daemon would want to inherit the throne after Rhaenyra would of course be his legitimate son by her, Aegon "Babycheeks" Targaryen. I am of the opinion that he would no doubt try to get rid of his (grand) nephews - the ones who were not also his sons - somewhere down the line even if a Dance did not happen.

I have (far too many) texts I have written about (asoiaf) Daemon and the type of man he was and his ambitions quoting several book passages, you can search for it on my tumblr archive. Certainly, Daemon Targaryen would not be the type of man who would give up the opportunity to be the king's father to be the queen consort's father, much less for the sake of three illegitimate boys who had no real claim to the throne, much unlike his own son Aegon.

All the best to you and happy 2024! 🥳

[blackcat419]

How time skips fuck a story.

HotD has many time skips in the story, some help move the story along, some are there to fill time without showing anything, and some end up messing the story up by removing important character moments so the audience can only infer or be told about.

Time skip timeline

Episode 1: 9 year time skip between scenes 1 and 2. This is a good time skip as it establishes the past tension but doesn’t place major character moments or actions in the time skip.

Episode 2: 6 months pass between episode 1 and 2. This is an okay time skip as everything is kind of the same before and after with the only thing changing is the momentum for certain emotions. For example, Rhaenyra’s sadness over her mother’s death has lessened. The Velaryons are pushing for more power in the royal family. And Viserys has decided he will marry Alicent.

Episode 3: three year time skip. This is the first bad time skip. We miss the degradations of Rhaenyra and Alicent’s relationship, neither able to address Visery’s actions are talk about their own emotions about it. We also get Aegon being introduced, which should have been a major scene on its own. The male heir that Viserys destroyed his family for is here, and what do we get? Just, let’s go hunting! No politics plz! Alicent is also heavily pregnant with Helaena and we don’t know how she feels about this. Is she scared she’ll die? Will Viserys kill her for another male heir?

The only okay part of the time skip is the war in the step stoned because we know Daemon has joined with Corlys. Nothing has happen there that is of note.

Episode 4 & 5: a few months pass as Helaena is born (still no birth scene for Alicent to parallel Aemma, the last queen who died on that bed). And episode 5 follows right after.

Episode 6 & 7: 10 years. We get 4 new actors, 6 new kid characters with 2 new actors for Aegon and Helaena, and new relationship dynamics between multiple characters! We have Rhaenyra and Harwin having a whole relationship with three kids that they have to keep secret. Laenor and Qarl having a secret relationship. Laenor dealing with the grief of Jeoffrey’s death. Criston and Alicent’s new found friendship/romance. Laena and Daemon’s relationship. Alicent and Rhaenyra becoming political actors. The court gossip around the paternity of Rhaenyra’s sons. The relationship between the kids. The relationship between the kids and their dragons. Just to name a few.

This is a bad time skip because it jumps not only time, but character development. Time skips like this ruin shows. This is why Martin didn’t have a five year time skip in the books because there was story in those 5 years that couldn’t be glossed over or used in flash backs.

Episode 8, 9, & 10: a 6 year time skip. This time skip isn’t as horrendous as the 10 but still bad. All 6 kids age up, Aegon and Helaena are married and have kids, Aegon has become very depressed and an alcoholic, Aemond has become a great sword fighter with his disability. Both Luke and Jace know they are bastards and we don’t see them talk to their mom or really come to terms with it. Luke doesn’t have to deal with maiming Aemond. Rhaena doesn’t build a relationship with the strong boys while on dragon stone. We don’t see Baela build a relationship with Rhaenys.

This time skip ignores a lot of relationship building but doesn’t ruin much plot development. The only plot point I’d want to see more is Corlys and Rhaenys dealing with Laenor’s supposed death.

Time skips can be okay when they are used to age up characters, skip over training montages, or over periods of time where nothing is changing. Time skips are terrible when they skip over character beats and plot point. In a rush to get the setup for HotD done and move into the war, the creators brushed over character and plot moments in those 20 years that would help with the main war. I fear that this same theme will be used in the upcoming seasons to focus on action moments and ignore character moments.

[em-writes-stuff-sometimes]

Em - (which happens to be my name too, so hi!!!) - I know traitor traitor was just an AU but Rhaenyra in chapter 2 has me on edge. Like I love Rhaenyra - I really, really do - but I don't think she'd stay away from a man she wanted (let alone Daemon) just because he was married.

Rhaenyra is just as jealous and selfish as Daemon (which in part, is why their chemistry is so great). I'm almost expecting some sort of desperate, half-formed, badly planned hail Mary attempt from her at making it work with him. Literally the only reason I'm not freaking out is cuz Daemon seems aware that something is not quite right.

Like I know maybe I'm just a little shook from the AU and maybe I'm just reading too much into it, but ngl despite all the fun babey-runs-away-to-the-Vale-and-lives-pettily-ever-after asks, I just want her to be blissfully happy with Daemon forever. And I want Rhaenyra to be the best big sister. Babey deserves good things and all the love.

Idk life is wayy too short and painful for angst in my favourite series. My heart won't survive it. Please.

ANNOUNCEMENT: DON'T PANIC, EVERYONE!

This is not the start of a jealous!steal-yo-man!Rhaenyra, so please don't worry! Now, I don't usually deliberately spoil upcoming plot threads, but I anticipated this one causing a fair bit of anxiety in light of the recent AU blurb I released, lol. So, with that in mind, let me give y'all a little insight into what Rhae-Rhae's weird response was all about in Chapter 2.

So, a lot of people will jump straight to "oh, she's tryna steal Daemon etc.", which isn't really what it's about for me. My thoughts are that she's kinda feeling a bit confronted and alienated by Babey's experience with pregnancy. I've always headcanoned that the whole Rhaenyra/Laenor attempted conception was less a 'he couldn't get it up for me' thing and more a 'he's infertile' thing; Rhaenyra did the next best thing, which was to find the most loyal man she could in the den of snakes that is King's Landing, and produce much-needed heirs with him. Heirs were necessary for her to consolidate her already precarious position, and demanding an annulment from Laenor would've been a potentially conflict-inciting incident with House Velaryon. She did what she had to.

But, in saying this, it means she hasn't been able to have the 'ideal' pregnancy story with Harwin or Laenor. Laenor, she's not in love with, but he's her husband and yet her sons aren't his, so the anticipation and excitement he has is always going to come with that sour feeling of not being able to 'do right' by him (patriarchal society vibes and all that - we may not agree as a modern audience, but I see Rhaenyra as feeling quite tortured by her lack of trueborn children when she really thinks about it). Whereas, with Harwin, she does love him - but he can only ever be her lover and would likely be executed for treason if the Realm found out. She can never acknowledge that Jace and Luke and Joffrey are his.

So, to see Babey get to parade her pregnancy loud and proud, getting to have the daddy be so obviously the daddy with none of the above complications, is hard for her. Laenor can be as enthusiastic as he likes, but at the end of the day, the kids aren't his biological sons. And Harwin can be as doting behind closed doors as he can, but no one can ever know or celebrate his fatherhood over the boys. Babey's children will know their father and call him 'father', and Babey won't be the source of speculation of infidelity in the way Rhaenyra is. These feelings might not be fair to Babey, but I don't blame her for having them.

Not to mention, she's always gonna have that what-if vibe with Daemon, too; I imagine there's even a very small part of her that's finally acknowledging that she's a bit envious of Babey for having the man she always envisioned herself with. She's never going to act on those, and it isn't about still desiring Daemon, exactly, but rather a feeling of being trapped in circumstances of secrecy and silence that Babey's never going to have to experience. She gets to have the life Rhaenyra in some respects should have had, and it's a really awful thing to admit to yourself that you feel. Rhae's probably also feeling really guilty about it all, too.

So, those are my thoughts on this - I do hope they help clarify some of the worries, readers!

BTW: Hi Em! Nice to meet you, haha!

[atopvisenyashill]

How do you think the Dance would play out if Alicent only had girls?

oo okay.

so wrt show canon, the thing is, if alicent is having girls, rhaenyra isn’t going to be as put off by her, and otto has less reason to drive a wedge between them, because there's no alternative heir to rhaenyra. that whole “cleaving to rhaenyra” thing becomes interesting because like - what if alicent just cleaves to rhaenyra in this scenario? why wouldn't she, if she never has a son? even in the complex canon that exists, things briefly thaw between them twice so i do imagine that becomes much more likely if alicent isn't literally giving birth to rhaenyra's rival and rhaenyra can allow herself to get excited about having sisters.

and if things are thawing faster, and more permanently, they're both likely to notice a few deranged things about the other's life - namely that otto is pushing alicent to have a boy to ~secure the line of succession (remember how protective rhaenyra was over aemma) and the real reason rhaenyra blows off her tour (none of those guys are supporting her claim bc they expect alicent to have a son, and viserys isn't actually going to let rhaenyra marry whoever the fuck she wants). we see in canon that alicent can be perceptive when it comes to the viserys/rhaenyra relationship (i have a whole essay about how alicent plays up the daughter substitute thing here to get through to viserys - i think she’s very aware that she’s not just a substitute for aemma, but for rhaenyra as well to viserys, and it’s why she talks to him the way she does. but anyways) and I think it's possible she tries to help the way she does in the stepstones - she sees rhaenyra struggling to voice a contrary opinion to viserys bc rhaenyra feels she’s on shaky ground, she notices people putting rhaenyra down to her & defends her, then talks to viserys about it later.

when the daemon/criston/rhaenyra thing happens, firstly, i do imagine otto is approaching it differently. not so much tattling as “we made rhaenyra heir to cut daemon out of the line of succession, we can’t let rhaenyra be corrupted by him now” and i think that’s an argument viserys would be less pissed off by, perhaps even one he'd agree with. i’m not sure how this affects cole. because i think alicent comes around to the idea that her father is right, daemon can’t be on the throne, and tries to set herself up as Rhaenyra's Otto - the advisor she needs, the advisor she relies on against all sense.

i think i struggle with seeing this past rhaenyra's marriage though because i firmly think alicent would situate herself as being Official Bestie once again, but Alicent is going to be angry if Rhaenyra doesn't have Laenor's kid because she's hitching her horse to rhaenyra's cart here BUT at the same time, having a Lady Influence - no matter who it is - is helpful here no matter what because if Rhaenyra has someone to say "well what am I supposed to do here, he can't stay hard ever and he cries constantly" she might get some actually good advice but i also feel if rhaenyra is less isolated, does she even turn to criston when she's abandoned by daemon? is she even as close to criston if she still has alicent? are alicent and criston close bc he's always with rhaenyra, and does that mean rhaenyra doesn't risk alicent finding out, and just goes straight to harwin over criston when she's horny? i mean hell does she go to alicent lmao anyways, i think having two daughters in a row makes alicent and otto more likely to just continue to back rhaenyra, and rhaenyra is in a better spot when she arrives at her marriage if a more personally stressful one?

books wise....my real answer is "fuck if i know" sorry about that lakjdfslkjd the thing is, alicent and rhaenyra's relationship obviously sours so quickly because alicent expects her son to be named heir and rhaenyra doesn't appreciate that noise. i think book rhaenyra might very well notice that alicent is desperate to have a boy, and still sours on her, and i think book alicent is still likely to see rhaenyra first and foremost as a rival. i can't see book alicent trying to reach out to rhaenyra, even when she has nothing but daughters. but! can a rival party form when alicent has no male heir? the only rival atp is daemon and the small council explicitly hate his ass. i think the real issue comes when jacaerys and daeron are born, and viserys wants to encourage friendliness between alicent and rhaenyra by bethrothing them. this betrothal is a good idea and yet I can't see either woman going for it even in this scenario. i think this is a world where alicent is much more upset and paranoid, and probably rhaenyra is politically better off but much more shitty about it, which will turn the hightowers/targtowers off but also might gain her more allies.

[alicentes]

it’s interesting how the only person to show remorse after the altercation is alicent. don’t get me wrong i like rhaenyra, but we don’t hear about her feeling bad for implying she wants aemond tortured nor does viserys seem to regret insinuating that he would cut out his own children’s tongues meanwhile alicent very clearly felt guilty for the way she behaved and that she harmed rhaenyra. if the show wants me to root for team black they are doing a poor job because ever other character is more sympathetic than they are in my opinion.

I never thought of it like that but you’re right. Alicent was in the wrong trying to cut out a little boys eye and accidentally injuring Rhaenyra in her rage but she obviously felt genuine remorse even though her father praised her for it and framed it as some great thing she did (and we know she craves her fathers love and approval).

Viserys made me sick when he said he would cut out the tongues of anyone who doubted the legitimacy of his grandchildren. I get wanting to defend his family but he said it in response to his YOUNG CHILDREN calling them bastards in a typical child argument way and it should of been clear to him that they heard rumours growing up and wouldn’t understand that calling another child a bastard would be treason. He only cares about Rhaenyra and her children not the kids he made Alicent birth for him and it shows. He didn’t show any concern over what happened to aegon, he only got angry. Those poor kids never experienced love from their own father.

Rhaenyra has been one of my favourites in this show and I know she is supposed to get more harsh and ruthless but insisting that a child, let alone her own brother, should be tortured to find out where he overheard a true rumour about her children’s parentage is still gross. Like you said, she doesn’t feel remorseful about this from what we see. She also doesn’t seem to feel bad that her son has permanently mutilated and blinded another child in one eye. Even if it is in self defense it is not good that the fight escalated to that point. You’d think she would have spoken to Luke about it, Luke seems like a good boy and could be traumatised by the fact that he caused an injury that severe. Given how we’ve seen Rhaenyra be a good mother you’d think she would also talk to her boys, who by the way are still grieving Harwin, not to let violence escalate that far or talk to them about maybe practicing self defence that won’t cause severe injury.

Anyways this is going off topic but although I thought the knife scene was well written and showed us spilled truth tea on who the adult caharacters really are. I was ultimately disappointed in the way Nyra was written in this episode overall. I felt like a lot of her character revolves around her relationship with demon here. From talking about how he left her alone and she needed him with her (she had other people who loved her and was strong and capable in her own right) and I mean you could argue that this is to show how the relationship isn’t healthy and young Rhaenyra has been groomed into an unhealthy attachment but the scene was written as romantic and followed with a sex scene (which went on the same time their kids were sneaking out and getting into a pretty dangerous fight) and then after the events of that night her next priority is figuring out a way to marry demon and create some true targaryen legitimate heirs. She is okay with faking Laenors death and marrying daemon right after without considering how it will impact all four kids and how faking laenors death means the boys will lose another father a couple of weeks after they lost Harwin and be re-traumatised. Even if they’ve been told he is alive they’d be feeling so betrayed by both parents for doing such a thing. Demon is gonna be her downfall, he has a hold on her and brings out her worse and I hope the show doesn’t try to #powercouple them.

I agree about team black and I’m hoping that the reason we don’t find them rootable is because we aren’t supposed to. I like and hate certain members of both teams but I think they’re both bad and I am hoping the show makes both teams morally grey instead of going with the whole good guys vs bad guys because this is an asoiaf story not a marvel movie.

[raybyanothername]

Thoughts on what would have happened if Rhaenys and Laenor had been able to perform their duty and their sons had come out looking very obviously Laenors kids.

Or if they had been a bit smarter and gone to one of Laenors cousins about it.

See, I am absolutely in love with the idea of Jace, Luke, and Joff being Laenor's bio kids and *still* not looking like VelaryonsTM. Just. The Baratheon and Arryn genes came to *win* and Laenor is so done with the rumors. He's gonna pull a Harwin and, unlike Harwin, he will not be worried about repercussions. Cole just gonna die. He's been waiting for an 'acceptable' reason for years. Goodbye ser!

This is reflected in a few of my fics already.

While I know Alicent (and everyone at court) harp mostly on hair color, that's not the end all be all of features. Even then, they do show the boys to have fairly thick and sometimes curly hair. The texture may not be as close to Laenor's as Rhaena & Baela's are to Laena's, but Rhaenyra's got Arryn genes in there while Daemon is pure Targaryen genes all the way back until Alyssa Velaryon. So, there's technically a bit more Velaryon in his girls than in Rhaenyra's boys theoretically (and probably more recessive genes). And the Targaryens and Arryns both have straight hair, so if they don't get it from Harwin, then the curls come from Laenor.

I also feel like, with Laenor already being mixed race with fairly pale skin, his sons coming out without any melanin isn't beyond the realm of possibility. Mixed race kids come in every color and sometimes the melanin waits a few generations to pop back up.

When I write the Velaryon boys as *possibly* Laenor's bio kids (I love some good uncertain paternity angst) the primary features that I focus on are jawline and body build, which are fairly similar between the actor who played adult Laenor and the actor who played adult Jace.

Now, putting aside *all* of my own headcanons regarding the Velaryon boys' paternity and assuming they had come out looking like carbon copies of Laenor... people still would've talked. They would've said they were his cousins', or his father's, in my opinion.

Alicent didn't *want* those kids to be legitimate and even if Laenor were bi and actually in to Rhaenyra, she'd have seen his sexuality/attraction to men as justification for her opinions. Legally, it wouldn't *really* matter if Laenor was the bio dad, a fact Alicent knows perfectly well. She's angry though, and the gossip about Rhaenyra's children is an easy outlet for her paranoia.

The rumors would persist in any situation because Alicent clung to that gossip as a justification. I really think Alicent pushing that Rhaenyra's boys are bastards has a lot more to do with her anger at Viserys/his indifference to their own children than it ever had to do with the actual paternity of the Velaryon boys. She thinks the only way her children live is if Aegon takes the throne and Laenor being gay has provided her a perfect reason to have Rhaenyra's line put aside as questionable. Whether they're actually his biological children or not would be completely beside the point.

[ride-thedragon]

RHAENYRA AND LAENOR IN THE SHOW DOESN’T WORK.

(MY DETERIORATION INTO MADNESS OVER A SHOW)

One thing about Rhaenyra and Laenor's marriage in the show is how quickly she moves on to Harwin after the wedding.

Let's say for the sake of continuety, Jace was born in late December. 9 months from then would be late March, early April.

Another benefit of the doubt, let's say, they get in late January, early February because flowers are blooming, but it's still raining and looks cold, so it's not exactly spring just yet.

So that's about two months they try to conceive before she's with Ser Harwin, and Jace is conceived in the show's canon.

This is also us assuming that she conceived in the first month she was with Ser Harwin. It took a month to convince a man to commit treason to the crown.

That's why I don't get the people who say Laenor didn't do his duty like he should have. Gay people can have bio kids. Gay people throughout history and now have kids.

Rhaenyra takes two months to decide to step out of their marriage and conceive an Heir instead of staying at her grieving husband's side.

Laena marries Daemon shortly after the wedding, based on the ten year gap between the episodes. So Laenor's sister, that he obviously loved and depended on leaves with her husband to another continent, leaving him in King’s Landing with Rhaenyra.

I also understand that Rhaenyra will feel pressured to have a baby because she is the heir. Her mom had fertility issues, and so she's dealing with a lot of stigma while Alicent is about to have her third son. That stress and pressure, along with an unwilling and grief-stricken Laenor, is difficult.

However, two months is probably not the best distance of time to wait. Joffrey was brutally murdered infront of Laenor, he and Rhaenyra had agreed to do their duty but now Laenor has to live along side the killer of the man he thought he'd spend the rest of his life with.

Then Rhaenyra does what she does with Harwin( we'll speak on his ass soon), gets pregnant, and follows through with it.

When Jace is born, even if Laenor is okay with doing his duty, he can't. It puts Jace, Harwin, and Rhaenyra in danger if they have a bio kid that doesn't look like Jace. Their kid probably wouldn't look like Jace. Rhaenyra and Laenor know this, I assume she tells him, and she shortly after conceives Luke.

Luke, although not from Laenor, will be the heir and future the Lord of the Tides. Laenor knows he has been a disappointment now and starts to sleep around, party and drink.

Luke does not look like anyone before him who inherited Driftmark. Rhaenyra doesn't contemplate again, and Luke is born looking like Jace, so the matter is settled. They don't need any more kids. If they have bio kids, the seven know Alicent will run through the seven Kingdoms calling Jace and Luke bastards so Laenor does what Rhaenyra does and entertains lovers.

When Joffrey comes, he claims him as he does for the others and raises them as his own. Then Rhaenyra says he hasn't done his duty or kept his promise when it becomes clear that the boys may not be from Laenor and Alicent is continuously pushing for a treason charge.

What opportunities did Laenor have to do his duty? Through grief, lonliness, declaring treason, and adultery from Rhaenyra?

Those boys are clearly protected from the rumours, Jace doesn't question it until he's ten. Alicent says she doesn't want to marry Helaena to Jace, fair enough on her part. She wants House Hightower to hold a lot of power through the next two kings. But that's when Nyra starts to tell Laenor he hasn't done his duty. He wants to go back to war because the place they had agreed for him to hold has been taken up.

So when he points out that the boys are not his, and she says she did what she had to, I was confused. According to the timelines, Laenor didn't have much of a choice, and Rhaenyra didn't give him one.

Now on to Ser Harwin.

Two months to commit treason? Are you insane?

Rhaenyra, at this time, has lost Alicent and Criston as the people close to her. Laenor is obviously not in the best space, and Harwin is clearly willing to fill voids in her life.

So I understand in the haze of the moment that they would conceive Jace. But to keep him?

That's insane.

Then Laenor agrees to claim the kid so she doesn't have to worry about the heir thing for long until Jace comes out looking like Harwin. Then she gaslights, gatekeeps, and girlbosses her way out of Treason accusations thanks to Vizzy t.

But instead of leaving for Harrenhall after, he doubles down, and they do it again. Fair enough, maybe this time the kid will look Valyrian or that he'll at least look like Jace. Fine. Lie to the Velaryons and actively make enemies that your husband can only protect you from on paper.

As a collective, are we insane?

Laenor protects the boys and starts doing what you are doing. That's what it seems his duty is to claim your kids as ours, and clearly, we aren't trying to question it.

Then, Ser Harwin stays and continues the affair until they conceive Joffrey. He wanted to die clearly. The people at court think you are too close to the princess, that her heirs look like you, so you stay close to the princess to show that her heirs look like you and that you care about them a lot more than you should.

Are these people so stupid, or are they insane.

We may never truly know because of the time skip.

Then Laenor, in another time of grief, recommited himself to his family only to, in his next scene, let's those boys grieve the knight they were clearly close too and their dad, all to run away to Essos. Because Daemon, who actively denied the sister he clearly loves wishes, all while she died carrying his kid wants to now screw his wife about a week after Laena, his sister's death.

Am I insane?

I think the writers wanted many things in a short time to happen and none of it made sense looking back.

I think that's why I never got behind a relationship Rhaenyra had in the show.

We have the murdering incel, the gay grieving husband, the predatory, treasonous knight, or the man who sleeps with her after watching her grow from conception at his wife of ten years funeral.

They left me with crackships and her abusive, scorned, sapphic counterpart

I am insane...

I do hope we learn to take time when it comes to upcoming seasons because I have more questions than I should, I think.

[lledron]

Sauron Mairon Halbrand y Alicent

I always make the joke that Sauron is Aule's daddy's boy and keep it canon. So I have an idea:

AU Where Sauron in human form ends up in Westeros and sees Yvanna. She is Yvanna, she is the wife of dad / Aule. She is mom. And mom is crying. And yes, I'm adding to the theory that Melkor's giant spider is from Lovecrath's universe, so crossovers are possible!

Sauron can't help. Here he is nobody and he has not recovered his powers. He is sickened by the mess, by the Targaryen traditions of marrying each other. Sauron notices that Mama is biting her nails. Mom should be happy and have trees. And mom should pay attention to it and be happy with those creepy trees with faces.

Alicent does not understand who gives her personalized jewelry with the theme of Mother and Maiden. She knows Sauron. "Hello my lady"

Sauron disguises himself as a cat to attend Alicent and Viserys' meetings. He is against Otto's plan, mom is fifteen years old. Fifteen fucking human years.

This can go two ways:

Sauron kills all the dragons because Alicent made a comment that while Syrax is beautiful she would never ride a dragon. Mom is afraid, now I have to protect her, be the man of the house because mom can't be married to another man who isn't dad.

Daemon boasts that he took Alicent's virginity and is killed by Sauron. Mom is from dad.

Sauron manages to find the equivalent of Aule in this world and cheats on the parents.

Alicent is very sure she is ready to have children after stopping Sauron from conquering Middle-earth.

Sauron takes the form of a child. More shenanigans to come, now he has everything he wants, for now.

Alicent and any poor man who is Aule in this universe, congratulations. Their son is a narcissistic sociopath who loves them with all his heart.

In another line, Alicent marries Viserys, but Mairon has not regained his power, so he cannot prevent his mother from being raped.

Sauron discovers that his siblings are nuisances, but they will give Mom more power. Mom is a goddess, a Valar, but also a 15-year-old girl.

So Sauron takes over Aegon, comforts Mum, tells Aegon he's a little shit worse than Curumo and Aegon's first word is shit.

Helena is born. And here she is different. Sauron hated Curumo for stealing Daddy's attention, but he respected Melian. He now has another sister, who is also a woman in a world of shit. But Heleana has magical potential, so he will teach her well. He will teach her to lie, to deceive, to put on makeup.

All of this happens while Sauron takes the form of a little boy so he can stay with the queen alone. Alicent hugs him and hugs from mom feel good. On one hand, Alicent recognizes that Mairon/Sauron has a connection. She loves him, she is his mother in all the universes. But her son is evil and she knows it. But he hasn't proven to be more evil than the other men.

Aemond is born and Sauron throws a tantrum. He doesn't want another brother and hates him as much as he hates Aegon for hogging Mom's attention. Then Daeron is born and Sauron screams because there is so much evil in the world! Criston Cole is horrible, but he makes mom happy. As long as he isn't platonic, Sauron will keep it. Suddenly, Sauron can shapeshift into a dragon. Since he hates Rhaenyra's bastards he plans to play a little prank at Laena's funeral. Nothing to go wrong. He just needs Aemond's help. Aemond claims a dragon and that dragon leads everyone to see Rhaenyra doing it with his uncle.

And shit breaks loose. Aemond is happy to have a dragon, the Velarions are angry, and Laenor calls for a duel against Daemon for his sister's honor.

Laenor wins and kills Daemon. Rhaenyra will go on trial for being an adulteress and Harwin will be her champion. Then Criston Cole kicks Harwin's ass. Heleana uses her magic to make Rhaenyra admit the truth about her bastards. Alicent rebukes Sauron because now there is a political mess and because his brother thought he had a dragon. "It was just a joke, mom, I didn't know it would go this far," she says with puppy dog eyes.