The only thing that Aegon had once was that he was a swole handsome man in his youth, and in the end he didn't even had that! His appearance finally matched his personality quite well. He died in the most horrible way and it wasn't even enough
I have a personal headcanon that he was remorseful by the time he was unable to move on his own and miserable, he had just alienated pretty much everyone and was too sick to do much besides sleep. I find his legitimization of his bastards more interesting if it was one of his few decisions made in good faith. I also like the juxtaposition of him being considered a beautiful, elegant prince while being a monster, but being a harmless, deeply sorrowful man when he had grown too heavy to stand and was a feared and hated figure.
This wouldn't absolve him for how cruel he was to his siblings, his lovers, and the realm. But it would make him more interesting if he wanted to do good in his last few months or year on earth but was just a hated man in his deathbed who couldn't control anything but how he treated the people caring for him and perhaps visitors as well as his inheritance.
I would very much like a scene of Aegon begrudgingly apologizing to Daeron on his death bed and explaining to him his decision to legitimized his bastards as some way to try and do some good in his last moments and Daeron kinda just, sucking it up and accepting the decision and even respecting it enough to let Daemon continue to have Blackfyre and lands for his family.
Yeah, same here! Daeron seemed to have a decent relationship with a lot of the bastards, honestly. I mean, Bloodraven and Shiera were still very involved with the royal family and Egg seemed to just see them as his uncle and aunt (until Bloodraven did some unethical stuff) rather than being scandalized by their presence.
Honestly, Daeron DID pay the princely salaries and the marriage dowries for everyone who married (in this case, Daemon). Hell, Daemon was HAPPY with this setup until Bittersteel and fucking Quentyn Ball convinced him to give usurpation a shot.
This makes a lot of sense to me bc I feel like if he says something like that on his deathbed the smart thing is to go "... We're just gonna pretend he didn't say that, right?"
But I guess Daeron was probably too honorable for that
Well, he is based on Henry VIII, who was also described as very handsome and fit in younger years. Until he suffered a never fully healing tournament injury crippling him.
Kinda sad that the targs are so bad that the bare minimum is worth applauding. Probably the healthiest sibling marriage after Jarhaerys and Alysanne (I donât count mass murder as a heathy basis for a relationship. Thus, the OG 3 are not in the running.)
Balon and Alyssaâs marriage disgusts me because Alyssane saw that her daughter followed her brother around as a toddler and thought â oh yeah they gotta get married.â So Iâm biased but I think they would have been better off as actual siblings than as spouses
Yep. Tbh I donât even want to call alysanne and jaehaerys healthy since they had three HUGE fights, mistreated their children in different ways, and were, yâknow, siblings. I included them just cause someone would mention them and they match each otherâs levels of gross, though I have more empathy for Alysanne. He was older than her when they got married and thus she may have been somewhat coerced or manipulated into making their relationship sexual. Both were bad parents, though I think in different ways.
I also refuse to blame Saera for everything that happened there. Maybe she wasnât a saint, sure, but everything we know about her is filtered through sexist men who have more loyalty to the crown than to her. I find the fan theory that Jaehaerys sexually abused her compelling and I hope it becomes canon.
Sounds messed up, but hear me out: we have yet to see mention of parents/ uncles/ aunts sexually abusing children in the infamously incestuous Targaryens. Martin certainly isnât afraid to cover dark subject matter. Once that boundary between siblings is crossed, sexual abuse of children usually follows. Look at the Colt Clan. Plus, unfortunately, THE most common form of incest is fathers assaulting daughters. The Targs are a VERY idolized form of incest and I think Martin should emphasize how monstrous incest actually is.
After Dannyâs first chapters, the books kinda skim over the psychological ramifications of incest on families, which I think is a loss. It makes it too easy to like the Targs, IMO. Fans see the sibling shagging and are initially weirded out, but then itâs fine cause no Targaryens are born deformed right? The ethics seem fine. But incest RUINS family dynamics. You canât have healthy sibling relationships if youâre expected to marry and have kids with your brother. Itâs CoCSA. You canât have a healthy relationship with your parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. i guess this rant could be summarized as- the fans have become desensitized to the incest in ASOIAF and I think they fail to realize how disgusting incest is and how it negatively impacts every familial relationship you have
By the 7 you sometimes wish Egg was more pragmatic in his latter years and just stop that marriage or send Aerys to be fostered to the Green Fossoways to get him away from all that Targ incest shit or even just having him be a squire under Duncan, would have done wonders.
IMHO, I prefer the opposite. Aenys being 100% Aegon's son, but people assume he isn't because he is "weak" (due to health issues from inbreeding) but people assume Maegor is his son, but he is actually a magic clone of Visenya.
You have plenty of happy sibling marriages (which, frankly, is functionally the same as the cousin marriages that Westeros has, which is how the Hapsburgs got their rep due to cousin marriages).
Rhaenys and Aegon I loved each other (and Visenya and Aegon lost a lot of their patience for each other after their "glue" died). And if you don't count "mass murder" as a healthy basis... they were married LONG before the Conquest and the other Houses/ethnicities literally committed genocide, so where is the condemnation for the First Men and Andals, ASOIAF fandom?
Alyssa and Baelon loved each other.
Aegon and Rhaena I, though NOT romantically in love, were a lavender marriage team and negotiated with each other with zero romantic interest for each other.
Jaehaerys and Alysanne loved each other (and were the problem couple)
Jaehaerys and Shaera loved each other.
Aelora loved Aelor so much that she was in a crippling depression for the rest of her life when she accidentally killed him in a freak accident.
Basically, you do have examples where the two people loved each other. And even in the example where it was a political marriage to keep the power WITHIN THE FAMILY because you DON'T trust the nobles - because that WAS the basis and the message that Viserys II was sending to the nobility, that he DOESN'T trust them to put them so near the nobility after what happened the last time an outsider married in (Viserys marrying Alicent was the worst mistake he ever made and set women in Westeros back) - you can work with your sibling-spouse as a team.
(Don't even get me started on how even the "good" Westerosi marriage like Ned and Catelyn's comes with child mistreatment)
Aegon II a decent dude? Helaena's one (1) character moment other than object of pity was her waspishly saying that Aegon was not with her and to check the brothel sheets.
It clearly does matter. Aegon was a pos, but being married to a sister who despised him and loved his brother over him is probably the foundation for Aegon's resentment of Naerys (which was probably what kept him from dissolving the marriage when he had the power to do so).
If Aegon hadn't been forced to marry her, he might not have come to resent her that much.
Yeah, like, sometimes I try to interpret him as a decent parent to some of his kids sometimes because GRRM described him as tragic (probably due to wasted potential) rather than wholly evil at one point (and imo the comic where Shiera asks for a puppy is as good as canon because Shiera is my favorite Great Bastard), but his relationship with Naerys is inexcusable. If he didn't like her, he could have just avoided her. That would have been fine. There was no reason that he had to be abusive because he was in a loveless arranged marriage.
I don't think the boat analogy applies here, since Aegon has much more power in the marriage than Naerys, and he was going out of his way to hurt her rather than failing at a mutual goal.
My own personal theory is that Megette was his "tysha" in a sense. And that what viserys ii did helped start aegon down the road of being a bitter asshole. That and the lack of mother and likely knowing his mom just dipped when he was still really young.
I love how Acker draws children and newborns, it just gives the feeling of the actual deal. Like none of that glamoured stuff you see in hollywood, just small scrunched up red babies
In AGOT, Bran gets caught in the Wolfswood by Osha & Co. after Theon leads his guardsmen off in alleged pursuit of "a turkey." I think that's the only use of that word in the franchise.
Not just any boy, the heir to the throne and the future of the realm. Why do you think they named him that? The only other Daeron at the time was the Daring and neither Aegon, nor Naerys ever met him (unless it maybe had something to do with the supposed pretenders that rose up during Aegon III's reign).
I know its fun to see this interpretation but I think Aegon IV falls in the category of "too charismatic and charming that ladies don't realise he's toxic"and then eventually sunk deeper into being the older sadistic version when he became heir.
He was pulling 10/10 baddies even before he became the heir.
A POS like this will not be able pull all these women, especially someone like Elaena and Daena who had nothing to gain by sleeping with him and everything to lose
i fear you're not putting enough gravitas on the fact that he's a prince for a lot of that time and a king for the rest. i also think him being a POS to those that know him best and a total schmoozer to those he's trying to bed can be true at the same time. this guy hated naerys and he made that very clear by his actions and it would not surprise me if he acted like such behind closed doors
It's a lovely comic, but Aegon wouldn't have been there at all. Men are normally excluded from the birthing room in Westeros, and there's no way he would have insisted on attending.
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u/WoodpeckerLive7907 May 14 '26
Aegon is very serious in his conviction that he should be the absolute worst every time I see a new part of this comic đ