The Heir of the Dragon: A Rhaenyra Targaryen Quest
- Location
- La Serena, Chile
When Jaeherys introduced the "Targaryen" excepcionalism, he choose "marry family" instead of "marry More than one"
Would be funny if our Rhaenyra Is "not living family That way". Every Targaryen now looks at her weird
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Let me come at the question from a different direction:
Why would we want to? Much of the political benefit from a royal marriage for us comes from the husband's family knowing (1) that they have a lot of political influence with us and (2) that their son's children will be heirs to the Iron Throne. Polyandry undermines the value of both those things by diluting the benefits and making the paternity of Rhaenyra's kids more and more of an uncertainty.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
Actually, that's not quite clear. It was clearly aimed at the Targ incest, but the doctrine is broad enough to allow for more.
If we leave aside the silly bits of the doctrine that got immediately debunked by reality, like "Targaryens don't get sick", what the doctrine says is two things:
1) Targaryens are not like normal people, as silverhaired dragonriders and all, so the normal laws for man do not apply to them. That is the reason why they get an exemption at all.
2) Targaryens are Valyrians, hence the rules of the Valyria (instead of the rules of Andalos spread by the Faith) should apply (because due to 1), the Targaryens do get an exemption).
Now, in practice this has been used to justify Targaryen incest, but polygamy (at least polygyny) clearly was a Valyrian custom as well, as seen by Aegon the Conqueror and Maegor the Cruel. Of course, Maegor majorly tarnished polygamy in the eyes of Westeros, maybe even more so than incest, but the doctrine clearly says the Targaryens should fall under Valyrian customs, and polygamy was one.
Which means in theory, it falls under the Doctrine, but in practice it would meet much resistance. And polyandry may not fall under the Doctrine at all, as we have no sign that was Valyrian custom.
(Also, interestingly, the justification of the Doctrine of Exceptionalism means it should also, in theory, apply to the Velaryons, who are also dragonriders and Valyrians)
However, well...
It would be incompatible with Alicent. Like, she would tolerate us marrying a man because duty, custom, etc. But that would indeed be because it is a necessity. Two or more husbands clearly wouldn't be a necessity.
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- Location
- Spain
Thanks for claify @Teen Spirit just a couple of questions
- Since we already did quite a lot of training and flying in the progress, does that mean we have the Prowess Training and Dragon Riding of this year already covered?
- Does this also apply to compromises we take (like Lord Strong's mentorship or learning music and poetry for Alicent) and sidequests (like the whole Visenya thingy)?
[X] Plan Without An Exciting Name
Would it be weird if I said that these reasons could also be why one would want this? There are two worries at play here: 1) that her husband will be too powerful, and 2) that their in-laws will be too influential. Wasn't the latter why we were warned against choosing Laenor, because it would make Corlys basically unstoppable?
One of the reasons one might be hesitant to have a female heir is that it might make her consort the king in everything but name. The Queen would have to remove all doubt that she isn't the one in charge. Something bizarre like polyandry would make the power imbalance (in her favor) very obvious. Any in-laws would have to compete with each other, lessening their pressure.
Essentially, the trade off would be exchanging one solid alliance for multiple shaky ones. If you are concerned that your top picks will have problems stemming from too strong of an alliance, this trade might be for you.
This is an excellent point, no rebuttal here.
Overall, I'm just doing a little crazy idea crafting to pass the time. It's an interesting possibility, even if it's not a practical (or possible) one.
- Location
- Spain
@Teen Spirit just to know, how long do we have for the whole "putting eggs in the cradles of our siblings" thingy? We know that Rhaena did it when her siblings were babies, but that is not too specific...
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You can give them an egg until they're old enough to ask to claim a living dragon. If Rhaenyra wants to give them an egg is another question
- Location
- Spain
Maybe I am too optimistic, BUT working through Rhaenyra's issues with the kids seems like a very worthy investment, and plenty of people in the quest want to at least try to do so...
Dysfuntional family dynamics with the Targaryesn have caused Cicil War several times, let's do our part to avoid that
...
- Location
- Lake Wobegon
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
monkey's paw curls one fingerMaybe I am too optimistic, BUT working through Rhaenyra's issues with the kids seems like a very worthy investment, and plenty of people in the quest want to at least try to do so...
Dysfuntional family dynamics with the Targaryesn have caused Cicil War several times, let's do our part to avoid that
Aelora grows up frightfully spoiled by her sister, who seems oddly wary of denying her anything.
Yeah, that is kinda how polyandry often worked in many cultures in the real world.
Well, that and a woman marrying two or more brothers to prevent inheritance issues.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Okay here's where things stand, if there's not many votes in the next few hours I'll close it
- Location
- Earth
One day my desire to speak with Rhaenys will get its time in the sun 😭
- Pronouns
- Reader
Just going to say for the last time that taking the Viserys vision talk with Harrenhall dream investigation is likely too lead to a more worthwhile conversation and more productive follow up investigations from Viserys's insights.
As a side note, where never going to have a chance to speak to Rhaenys, daughter of the Targarian dragon knight before us, in the aftermath of having been knighted, again. Kinda once in a lifetime bonding opportunity, if that interests us at all.
As a side note, where never going to have a chance to speak to Rhaenys, daughter of the Targarian dragon knight before us, in the aftermath of having been knighted, again. Kinda once in a lifetime bonding opportunity, if that interests us at all.
Annatar
Lord of Gifts
- Location
- Pittsburgh
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
Wrong Aemon, you're thinking of the brother of Aegon IV. While her father was a knight there wasn't anything particularly special about him in that regard.
- Location
- Spain
Well it is unlikely to win but I agree...
[X] Plan: Dragon Dreams
- Location
- Not the asylum anymore
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Plan: Dragon Dreams
[X] Plan: Dragon Dreams
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Who warned us against that, by the way? Just checking.
The only person who could plausibly present that problem is if we marry Laenor. I'm not sure how it'd play out if we did this with Laenor.
Somehow, I don't think that our Rhaenyra is going to have trouble convincing the people of Westeros that she is not dominated by her husband.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Ser Tarly advised again marrying Laenor
- Location
- Earth
And like I know we respect Tarly in character, but I think his logic was wrong / flawed / missing the point.
1. Rhaenys's line will always represent a rival claim to the throne, one based on women's inheritance rights. Given we are a woman inheriting the throne, potentially before a half brother, her claim won't fade away
2. Dragons matter, and there's a strong chance that Rhaenys's line keep dragons. So what if Rhaeny's won't fight for the throne, so what if Laenor and Laena won't either. What about the next generation or the one after that. If we marry into their family we have slightly better odds of handling the dragon inheritance situation
3. Rhaenys's line represents an incredibly juicy target for any other claimants to boost their claim. Be that Daemon with Laena, or future half siblings to hypothetical Laenor or Laena children
I genuinely think that other than the issue of getting preggers off of him Laenor represents the single best option for a husband, and I think even with that he is still solidly in the top tier. And Rhaenyra currently has no reason to suspect that he is gay and isn't willing to... come to some sort of arrangement.
Also given that he is gay and will be bringing lovers into his bed, he will have zero standing to object to Alicent being our lover.
1. Rhaenys's line will always represent a rival claim to the throne, one based on women's inheritance rights. Given we are a woman inheriting the throne, potentially before a half brother, her claim won't fade away
2. Dragons matter, and there's a strong chance that Rhaenys's line keep dragons. So what if Rhaeny's won't fight for the throne, so what if Laenor and Laena won't either. What about the next generation or the one after that. If we marry into their family we have slightly better odds of handling the dragon inheritance situation
3. Rhaenys's line represents an incredibly juicy target for any other claimants to boost their claim. Be that Daemon with Laena, or future half siblings to hypothetical Laenor or Laena children
I genuinely think that other than the issue of getting preggers off of him Laenor represents the single best option for a husband, and I think even with that he is still solidly in the top tier. And Rhaenyra currently has no reason to suspect that he is gay and isn't willing to... come to some sort of arrangement.
Also given that he is gay and will be bringing lovers into his bed, he will have zero standing to object to Alicent being our lover.
- Location
- Up ya bum!
you forget that rhaenyra and laenor were good friends before they were married in house of the dragon, and I don't know for sure in a song of ice and fire but I think they also had a good enough relationship. So if both canons had good relationships with rhaenyra, that means this laenor in the quest is at best neutral, there was no true previous friendship between the two in this quest. So that means, it would be even harder for rhaenyra and laenor to have children technically and if the dice gods are kind.
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