#was thinking about this yesterday and summerhall. like summerhall was just aegon having the realization that he cannot make change

[aeriondripflame]

living in a world where one family holds the only WMDs until said family loses those weapons (dragons) and has to come to the realization that they have no real power without dragons to force it.

[amethysttribble]

Im sorry if this bothers you, but i was thinking about Jae and Alys parenting today, mostly in terms of saera and viserra, so what's your take on Feanors reaction to that whole thing in Everlasting Song. Like does he agree with their tactics (probably not...) or what? I really enjoyed your work and routinely rotate it in my head pretty much every single day.

AND NOW I have been rotating this question in my mind since you sent to me yesterday, thinking... considering... what a really great question, this isn't a bother AT ALL! It is my absolute pleasure to try and give an answer.

Feanor's take on Jaeherys and Alysanne's parenting, WHAT a thought. Now that I've cracked open the question of Feanor's historiographical takes, I'm tempted to have something like 'A History of House Targaryen, a Commentary by Ser Feanor Blackfyre' or something such floating around, the idea amuses me so much. You know Gyldayn hates it, if it exists.

But, okay, okay, let's think on this. Feanor would have grown up with a very traditionalist kind of education about the Targaryen monarchs. In text, basically everyone admires and thinks well of Jaehaerys and I believe Feanor would have been taught to admire him as well. And then Summerhall and Jaehaerys II.

I think his uncle being Jaehaerys the Second contributes a lot to Feanor's thought processes in regards to his historical evaluations, as he starts to read the histories more deeply. The comparison is natural.

I think he first goes, 'wait' when reading about the marriages Jaehaerys I and (and to and extent Alysanne) forced on his daughters and connects the dots to Rhaella and Aerys, neither of whom wanted to marry the other and got married really, really young, something Feanor is perfectly capable of realizing even at like twelve has been extremely bad for the both of them. I think every time he reads about one of Aerys's daughters, he thinks of Rhaella- Rhaella who isn't 'headstrong' like J&A's 'troublesome' daughters (who are almost described as evil by Gyldayn, it's so uncomfortable, not sure I agree with that writing choice), but suffers just as much, even as she does everything right

And Feanor, during JII's reign, is also feeling trapped and controlled and /unloved/ by someone who should love him, no, I bet he feels a great deal of sympathy for Viserra and Saera. Like, I'm sorry my life and my living of it makes you uncomfortable; I'm sorry it's inconvenient; sorry I'm here at all.

So, yeah, I don't think Feanor is primed to admire Jaeherys once he gets to the Citadel and then all bets are off.

I think once he starts studying, he notices what many people noticed while reading Fire and Blood, which is that most of J's good deeds are really Alysanne and Barth's good deeds that he signed off on. His respect for Jaehaerys dips lower. That being said, I don't think he's particularly in love with Alysanne's parenting style either.

Feanor grew up in an environment where, well, as Barristan says "all of King Aegon's children married for love." And the text makes clear that Aegon and Betha being permissive, loving parents causes serious problems for the realm, but Feanor's not likely to acknowledge that if even recognizes it. I think he believes that Alysanne prioritizing marrying her young daughters to 'safe' older men from her pool of friends to be selfish and short-sighted, at best.

I think in all things, when evaluating other people as parents, he compares them to his parents, who he /idolizes/ until the day he dies. And Alysanne and Jaehaerys come up wanting. Jaehaerys doesn't come off looking like a particularly great king either.

And those are my preliminary thoughts! This sent me down a rabbit hole, though, I can't help thinking- what did Feanor think of Aemon the Dragonknight? And what did that make him think of himself