Yea this would have been the best decision for Viserys to make to avoid the dissolution of his house after his death. It would have been a dysfunctional marriage but one that could have avoided war.
What if Rhaeyra took on a motherly roll with her siblings and gave them the attention their mother never did and more or less raised them along side her own children.
Alicent would have pitched a fit and never allowed it. She was the one who told her children about the rumors of their nephews' heritage and her kids outright bullied Rhaenera's children. In the books, Alicent is about 9 years older than R, and she was never a mother to the heir to the throne. She hated her step-daughter, she spread rumors about R's alleged promiscuity, her father stoked her paranoia that R would kill them once R got with Daemond and took the throne. Even if you go by the show, Alicent is cruel to Rhaenera- she forced a barely post-partum woman to get out of her bed and present the child to court hours after its birth, loudly said "maybe the next one will look like you Ser Laenor" to undermine Rhaenera and her line's legitimacy. In the books and show, the hostility towards R forced R to remain on Dragonstone in order to keep the peace. Viserys was a weak king who should have taken his heir's side and sent away the Hightowers. R should have been made hand so she could rule for a few years prior to her dad's death so that the transfer of power would have been unquestioned and peaceful. I know that the show is the show, but in the books it is never confirmed that Jace, Luke, and Joff are Harwin's. There are enough contradiction due to the nature of the book being written in-world 50 years after the dance from 2nd and 3rd sources, that those kids are Laenor's as there are dark haired Targaryans (Rhaenys the Queen who never was, had brown hair as her mother was a Baratheon) and Valerions (Corlys in the books had dark hair) in the family, so going off of Jace, Luke, and Joff's hair wasn't enough as all three had the Targ purple eyes and were dragon riders. And there isn't a clear consensus of when Harwin and Rhaenera link up either. Some sources point to them being together after R and L marry, some point to them getting together AFTER Jace and Luke are born. So no, the Hightowers were never, ever going to let bonds form between R and A's kids, as they were out to depose Rhaenera from the start.
I don't think Rhaeyra would TAKE them. It's just when they were born she was jealous and would ignore them, even avoided them, but if she was more present and grew closer to them. Taught them valyrian words or just read them stories, you know? Then, over time, they would turn to her naturally for attention and care. Alicent couldn't even tell her children she loves them when they ask her if she does. She wouldn't like it, but I'm sure if Viserys sees his favorite child spending time with his other children he would encourage it, probably even pay more attention to them as well because of Rhaeyra, and there's not much Alicent could do then. We can see that they all clearly want a mother's love/figure. I think if she didn't ignore them and Embrace them as siblings, they would cling to that attention, and that care because they're clearly not getting it from their mother.
Would have worked beautifully. Alicent and Rhaenyra were friends once. If Rhaenyra was not a hostile stranger but a devoted helper, mentor, and friend - it would take some of the pressure off Alicent. Alicent's dutifulness and brittle expectation would have been softened by Rhaenyra's warmth and positive reinforcement. Alicent wanted a betrothal in the books. This is the best way left to avoid civil war. It is common sense given the world they were in. Given the stakes - it was incompetence that led to the Dance. It makes sense.
Okay, okay, okay, BUT... what if Rhaenyra married the Blackwood boy purely out of spite? He's clearly not of an age to be married, she doesn't want married yet, but having a betrothed would stop the endless plays for her hand.
Honestly that little badass deserved something for his bravery and also his skill real talk that kid was by no means weak or a coward and let's call it like it is yes he had a long sword but the other guy was armed and was a grown ass man kid earned that W
What if Aemond was killed in the cave? What if the two sides compromised? (Two state solution) What if Daemon was killed in the Stepstones? What if Corlys died in the Stepstones?
@@joshuaadams6565 nope I doubt daemon wouldn't marry rhaenyra as king after laena dies since he's very obsessed with "blood of the dragon" so it would probably go to aegon the broken as it did but he wouldn't be so broken anymore and would probably make a decent king and father.
@@joshuaadams6565 I mean the constant threat his mother placed on him of his sister trying to kill him, the pressure he is suppose to be king and the expectation his mom had for him to meet that and viserys being an absent father is a ball of situation that drop kicked him from the get go we could also go the same they played with rhaenyra and other ignoring patch faces stuff cause he wasnt even in kingslanding when he accused aegon of these things
@@durrangodsgrief6503bru en los libros se describe como encontaron los verdes a Aegon en la cama con una niña de 13 años, admito que su situación estaba jodidad pero su cabeza también no estaba vien
The only thing that would've ended this stupid war is for the king to name HIS BROTHER the heir and then married his daughter to him(they ended up marrying each other later anyway). Would've been a diff kind of fighting then as the Velaryons wouldn't have been added to the family and could've caused issues with Vhagar.
I don’t think that Joffrey was taunting Crispin (Cristin) Cole; I think that he was sincerely trying to feel out his feelings in order to forge an understanding for all of their happiness.
It would be an unhappy marriage. Though if the were engaged when Aegon was young then Rhaenyra could intervene to make sure he grew up not as much of a libertine. But Rhaenyra wanted to rule while Aegon wanted to have fun, so maybe he will let her rule, and as long as they had children the succession would be assured and there wouldn't be a civil war.
Best option. Would it be horrible? Yes, but they dont have to be together constantly, just have some heirs. Rhaenyra can have her affair with Harwin if she wants, just not having his kids, bc if she does, this time it would end horrible. Even if Aegon gets killed, Otto has part what he wanted, his blood on the throne via his grandson
what would be? Either perfect union or spectaculare disaster. But whenever I think about Rhaenyra I think about Cleopatra the Great, who also had to fight for throne with brother who was much younger than her. And Cleopatra and her brother actually inherited throne together as co-rulers. They were probably married too, though he was too young to consummaTed marriage. But even if they were both joint heirs, the war ignited between them anyway. And Cleopatra conceived her first child by man outside of family, creating rival line to any potential children her brother-husband might have in future. And then her brother drowned in Nile during battle, and pregnant Cleopatra was now undisputed Pharaoh. She briefly married and co-ruled with another younger brother (again, boy in early teens and no consummation), but again boy passed before he turned 16. So - two subsequent union of joint claims to the throne didn't stop civil war nor saved life of male offspring of King.
That would be Rheanyra purposely causing a war while knowing better. Though, Rheanyra did have bastards so her doing this isn't even far stretched to believe.
@@pendragonsxskywalkers9518 its own thing to legitimize your bastards. It’s another thing to show bastards to the realm then say they aren’t. The latter is just lying to people’s face which is highly disrespectful. It also makes matter much worse if you wish to put the perceived bastards on the throne instead of the true horns. Viserys said it to Rheanyra and to the viewers. Perception is what matters, the truth does not.
@@rexibhazoboa7097 It's not at all disrespectful. It's solely between her and Laenor - Laenor acknwoledged children as his. He decides and ONLY he. A matter of fact, most Houses supported Rhaneyra and many of them specifically after Jacaerys visited them - so most peopel did not care at all about Jacaerys's look. Regardless of your opinion, legally Rhaneyra has no bastards. Child of married woman is automatically viewed as true-born, unless father denounces it, and Laenor never did. Jacaerys and his brothers are NOT preceived as bastrds. That is the point. They are legaly legitimate and none cares about their patrenity... except for Greens.
@@rexibhazoboa7097 'Perception is what matters, the truth does not.' - Exactly - and perecption is that Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey are all remembered as Velaryons, just like Aeys Tragaryen is rememberd as Aegon I's son, despite rumors about Queen Rhaenys's infidelity, because he was recognized by him as his son. Like Corlys said - history does not remeber blood, it remembers names.
Jon Arryn or Hoster Tully would have took the Throne . Even if Rhaegar won at the Trident , he had way less support and armies . He dies no matter what
What if Baelon Targaryen the brave lived to become king What if Vaegon Targaryen accepted the iron throne after his father Jaehaerys I Targaryen The last one is weird for Vaegon Targaryen because Jaehaerys summoned Vaegon to offer him the throne be Vaegon refused it. So wonder what will happen if he accepted it.
By that point Viserys would probably have disinherited her, but if he doesn't then Daemon would need to work hard to compensate the lack of Velaryon's forces, maybe he would kill his nephews...
@@matztz_4560 Rhaenys may have still supported Rhaenyra and could convinve Corlys to support her, she has sympathy for another woman having her birthright taken from her
One of the rare few times I agreed with Otto. Also I love his “he’ll grow!😆” line to Viserys 17:06 also me: (insert gif of cop with glasses screaming at the sky meme)
Honestly, the marriage wouldn't have been the first time a Targaryen Prince was married to an older woman... I think Maegor was 13 when married to a Lady of House Hightower, who was like 23 or something. That said, no I don't think it was necessary for the siblings to marry (or all that super practical), BUT the bigger issue is that Rhaenyra's unwillingness to follow this part of her duty/responsibility was a huge part of the problem in everyone's side. She didn't want to marry, and she didn't bother making any efforts in shifting her mindset. Then she's forced to marry, and its to arguably THE one man who would be a poor choice due to his sexuality. Just saying, she dig her own hole in this one, and with Viserys unwilling to raise Aegon to be the heir... it was just terrible decision-making all around.
Rhaenyra’s resistance to marriage was because she thought it was a ploy to have her supplanted as heir. We don’t see any sensible candidates before her and as she rightly said to her father, he didn’t marry Alicent for duty. She was right to be fed up with the double standard she was being held to. A double standard that never once made Aegon be seen as unfit to rule.
@GlenDivo She was seen as unfit to rule because she was a woman so she went out of her way to make herself seem as unsuitable as possible in protest to her father and society??? When Viserys married Alicent he fucked up and neglected his responsibilities as a ruler. When Rhaenyra made decisions from 14 to 34 she fucked up and neglected her responsibilities as a ruler. When Aegon the 3rd first breathed life apart from his mother he fucked up and neglected his responsibilities as a ruler. Aegon was always seen as the proper heir regardless of his marriage and infidelity, his crimes were a different situation.
@@GlenDivoWhat do you think of Viserys marrying Rhaena and Aegon? Let's say after Helena Alicent stops having kids and Viserys removes Rhaenyra as crown princess before she marries Laenor so her kids still exist and he still dies later. Viserys can marry Jace the "heir" to the Velaryons to Baela the true heir and her sister becomes the next Targaryen/Velaryon queen for Aegon while Helena marries some heir from house Baratheon or Lannister. If no one else besides the crown princes and their brides get dragons then I see the realm being a happier peaceful place. I'm going to pretend Daemon will settle for marrying Rhaenyra alone and no one actually cares about the other Velaryons. With all of the new free time Viserys, Otto and Rhaenyra have hopefully they can raise Aegon to ve a successful strong and generous nongrapey king.
NGL. I think this is one of the options to take to avoid the 'dance.' Otto is pretty smart, this way, he is cementing his family's ambition by putting his grandson on the throne. He has zero care if Rhaenyra can survive childbirth or what-have-you. Aegon II would be on the throne so if Rhaenyra passed away, all he had to do is find a suitable replacement Queen while Aegon II became the ruler.
There would still be war (although not to the extent it was) because Otto didn’t want Rhaenyra to be Queen (had they married she most definitely would have died of an “accident “ and Aegon would have been the King) Mind you Otto said that it wouldn’t matter if Rhaenyra was king Jaehaerys reborn in his mind Aegon was the heir.
It would be the most dysfunctional marriage. Rhaenyra would rule while Aegon slept with random women and drank himself to sleep every night. Aegon would happily take up the reigns as "King" when it came to showing off to the people but other than that Rhaenyra would run everything. Rhaenyra and Aegon would have two kids Aegon the younger and Viserys the younger and that's it. The only way this escalates into a war would be if Daemon and Rhaenyra kill Aegon which Otto would call his side to war.
It doesnt matter. Rhaenyra allows Laenor to do that so why not? And Aegon wpuld definitely comsumate the marriage. And Aegon does not want to rule, like he said.
In the books they were only 8 years apart in age, which wouldn't have been that big a deal if the male was the older one. On the show it makes more sense to go with Rhaneras offer to marry Jace to Helena. Or even marry their younger son Aegon to the older Aegons daughter with Helena
What if Lena Velaryon had survived childbirth? Daemon does not marry Rhaenyra. They don't have children together. SPOILERS: Who is still alive after the dance? All Velaryon/Strong boys died. Rhaenyra and Daemon's children don't exist in this scenario. Aegon and Helena's sons died. Aegon II might have to name his daughter as his heir the way King Viserys I did.
I think Rhaenyra would manipulate Aegon. They'd have their legitimate heirs before they both agree to do whatever they like. The Hightowers would be working overtime cleaning up that mess. Then the game for the throne would begin again. Just on a much smaller scale. The Hightowers would be trying to rein in Aegon and to eventually depose of Rhaenyra. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra would be trying to isolate the Hightowers and remove them from the main power source. Everything would escalate for the Hightowers when Daemon is named Hand of the Queen.
My guess is Daemon is the source of the Civil War in this timeline. Potentially an Early Blackfyre Rebellion parity, pissed off and ambitious lords finding an excuse to dispute succession in some way. Likely by calling Rhaenyra’s children with Aegon bastards in someway, especially if the Valyrons feel they’ve been slighted and back Daemon and his daughters.
I honestly believe their marriage would be like Helaena. After Rhaenyra had her heir and spare then, she's done. Aegon is back to the Aegon we all know and liked. Rhaenyra would be drinking her moon tea with Harwin maybe. Daemon might also have taken Harwin's place since well.... Aegon is foolish, but not anyone's fool. Depending on the Hightowers, Rhaenyra might get killed or ignored or the dance would have played out like Cleopatra where Daemon is her lover.
Ok but the question then becomes; “what if, by the time Aegon sexual maturity, Rhaenyra can no longer bear children?” Queens have been divorced for less. Or worse.
Aegon would be 'ready' by the time he's...in his teens...they're 15 yrs apart. So yeah, the only issue is Rhaenyra would have to wait longer to start bearing children. She will be in her late 20s to start motherhood, it's not THAT old. But they definitely won't be the next Jaeharys/Alysanne pairing with their numerous children. If anything, they'd have a couple of kids and that's it.
Rhaenyra is about 15 years older than Aegon. By the time he was old enough to get married AND consummate the marriage, she’d be on the verge of being past prime childbearing years.
@@BleedingGrafitti - and she had AT LEAST 3 kids before he even got married. My point was that she would've been wasting prime childbearing years while waiting for him to be old enough to marry and procreate.
@@carastone3473 Not really? In canon, Rhaenyra was pretty fertile. Some women have no problem having children well into their 40s. My maternal grandmother and great-grandmother had their last pregnancies in their early 50s! My mom was 41 by the time she had her last child, without ANY fertility aids. It isn't guaranteed that 40s = end of fertility. It really varies from woman to woman, and often the maternal line can be a good guide on what to expect but not always.
Rhaenyra was a good 16 years older than Aegon. By the time he reached even the youngest age a man can produce a child, say, 13, Rhaenyra will be close to 30 and have very few childbearing years left. They didn’t have IVF or fertility treatments back then. Catelyn is 33 in the first book, and it’s been two or three years since Rickon was born, meaning she’s struggling to conceive after 30 which sounds about right for the time period, and HOtD is even earlier. Rhaenyra’s mother is only 23 when she dies, and she’d struggled for years to have a child. The Targs are noted for their fertility issues, especially in sibling marriages, with very few exceptions. If Rhae and Aegon had married, they likely wouldn’t have been able to produce an heir. The actual best method involved a risky three generation plan: Rhaenyra is heir, marries Daemon and has a son. Viserys marries Laena Velaryon, waits for her to come of age, and has a daughter with her. Those two children are married once they’re of age, and therefore all Targ lines are United into one. Obviously this has to happen before Viserys marries Alicent, but Aegon being married to Rhaenyra’s daughter and them ruling jointly would also work.
@@slvaltva1392 she’s still 11 years older than him in the book. By the time he’s 15, generally considered marriage age for boys, she’s 26 and only has 5-6 more childbearing years. It took her mother 7 years to conceive Baelon after Rhaenyra’s birth, and had several miscarriages early on. If Rhae is anything like her mother, 5 years is not long enough to safely secure an heir
@@emilybarclay8831 I mean yeah but still not out of possibility for the marriage to still happen. Since maegor was married at 13 and Aemma married Viserys at like 11. But Alicent would probably profit from childless marriage of Raenyra and Aegon since if they had no kids they'd have to name one of their sibling's children their successor. But I guess Raenyra would probably have a bastard and tell everyone it's Aegon's even if he couldn't have kids yet which would open a possibility for Alicent to start some shit anyway
@@focusedstudying8993 it was definitely closer to 30 back then. We’re able to reproduce much later these days because we have better medicine, better diets, less stressful lives and a better understanding of reproduction in general
Do you know how old Rhaella was when she give birth to Daenerys? Aemma died that young and have fertility issues because she was married off too early and started have children too early. And she had healthy daughter long before her son. Tywin considered marrying off Cersei to Loras when she was around 35? Also she married Bobby B when she was like 19 and by your words it’s too old The only thing which determines can women conceive or not is how many ovaries she has and that can’t be changed just by how many food you eat, only by genetics. And modern medicine don’t have anything to do with that. There was enough women who was still fertile in the early 50s in any age. But the age of starting puberty really depends on how comfortable your life is and how good is your food. And kids nowadays having puberty earlier because off this (and you can say that leads to shorter fertility age because girl start to spend their ovarial stash earlier than before). So it’s again pointing at that some houses married off the girls too young which led to fertility issues. And Grrm is actually making a lot of too-young-mothers suffer from fertility issues in his books
What if Aegon saw the crowd cheering for him as king and felt so pressured that first thing he did was nope out of there and get to Dragonstone to warn Rhaenyra?
It doesn’t make sense for them not to tell each other the prophecy and make members of the family part of the council-that would’ve solved most of this mess.
Actually that’s an excellent point, if the whole family (just the family) knew about the prophecy then they likely would all feel important enough feeling they all had a role to play and that the greater good needed unity and dragon riders. Then they wouldn’t have fought for the throne quite as much as there would’ve been this bigger thing for them all to work towards and unite for or at least such a looming responsibility as to make it not quite so appealing to be the King/Queen. A possibility. Just my thoughts.
It doesn't make sense not to tell the world. This would have been excellent propaganda for the concept of Targaryen Exceptionalism that Jaehaerys pushed.
The only problem with this scenario is that Westerosi lords will be confused as to why Aegon being king has less power than his wife the queen. It may result in more plotting backstabbing intrigues behind Rhaenyra’s back. Just like in this timeline Aemond and sir Crispin conspire behind Aegon’s back, or Otto and the green council plot the usurpation behind Queen Alicent’s back
lol If Rhaenyra and Aegon wed than Aegon would have ended the same way Laenor did. Dead. Or "on a trip to Essos" which is just Condal's "trip to Belize" from BB. Then the dance would have still happened with Aemond as the king
Of their other children after the twins 2 girls visenya and alyssa Then twin girls aerea and saera Then twin boys baelon and gaemon Then, 1 girl , born when rhaenyra is in her early 40s named jaehaera
Otto would have pushed for Aegon to be given the title king instead of king consort, and eventually with support of the councel would have succeeded. Rhaenyra maybe would have rulled temporaily but slowly would have been pushed aside, as more and more people would look towards Aegon (manipulated by Otto) as their ruler. Otto would have done what he always does, he would have played the long game. Rhaenyra would need to make a choice: accept this or try to get rid of Aegon which in the end might spark a war all the same. That's my take 😅
No doubt Otto would be unhappy with Aegon as a consort. However, the fact that their children will have Hightower blood running in their veins and sitting on the throne at some point would be enough to placate Otto's greed. He still gets what he wants; his blood on the throne. So there'd be no need to keep pushing Aegon to rule.
I can't help but laugh right along with Viserys when Otto proposes that Rhaenyra and Aegon get betrothed while Aegon is over there just being a baby 😂😂
The fact that in the books alicent was older than rhaenyra, but in here they made them the same age, yeah i dont like the idea of a child marrying someone who is old enough to be his mom
Viserys laughing when he is like 25 years older than Alicent💀 hahaha In the books, Rhaenyra was only 9 when Aegon was born so I think that when he came of age she would still be able to have children. But in this case, Rhaenyra was like 17 so when Aegon becomes a teen able to marry she would’ve been in her early thirties and in that period it was hard to have children at that age
Viserys laughed when Otto suggested his son 2 year old Aegon should marry his 15 year old sister Rhaenyra when he comes of age. 13 year difference. He wasn't laughing much when he found out his brother was clapping cheeks with his daughter. 16 year difference.
No lie, it would been better rhaenyra and her brother aegon were married instead of Marrying Laenor and if laena was still alive daemon would still be with her
Leave it to GRRM to make incest seem right. In a world where a family bears magical blood and living nukes, it makes sense that they'd want to do everything to keep the power and magic away from other houses.
To be fair, considering that Otto’s whole MO is to keep Daemond from getting near the throne, an Aegon/Rhaenera match would have been the most peaceful solution as despite all that D is, once Aegon, Aemond, and Helaena were born D was pushed so far down the succession that he would have had to have become kinslayer extraordinaire and not catch political fallout for it. D is many things but he wasn’t a kinslayer until Aemond killed Luke. The first 6 months of the Dance had both sides actively avoiding confrontation for this reason. D loved his brother, he was even willing to go to war if the Great Council chose Rhaenys over Viserys. He’s a scoundrel no doubt but if he was truly without love for his family he would have eliminated Aegon, Helaena, and Aemond when they were vulnerable and dragonless. He didn’t go after his brother’s grandchildren/children until his nephew murdered Rhaenera (and V’s grandson)’s child. Even if Daenera didn’t happen, D and Laena’s marriage was a happy one and he was able to produce more dragon riders with her (which is Daemon’s mo- have babies with dragon-rider women to consolidate and strengthen Targ power)
I think this would’ve worked perfectly for Rhae. She wanted independence and a chance to explore her youth. She’d have at least 15 more years of freedom before having to settle down. Fertility might be an issue, though.
Marrying her to Aegon could cripple their chances at having as many or possibly any heirs to their union with the female being the elder of the two by that amount of time. It may help against the claims for him to be king, but could come at a great cost too.
Otto suggesting Aegon marry Rhaenyra and Viserys looking at the baby and cackling is genuinely the funniest moment in the whole show
Yeah but daemon marrying rhaneyra is ok???
@@ShubhamPatil-rl4jk Who said that? Where in my comment do you see me saying that’s okay?
@@ShubhamPatil-rl4jk Nobody said that do you have schizophrenia???
@@ShubhamPatil-rl4jk did you forgot your meds bud?
Yea this would have been the best decision for Viserys to make to avoid the dissolution of his house after his death. It would have been a dysfunctional marriage but one that could have avoided war.
What if Rhaeyra took on a motherly roll with her siblings and gave them the attention their mother never did and more or less raised them along side her own children.
Alicent would have never allowed it.
Alicent would have pitched a fit and never allowed it. She was the one who told her children about the rumors of their nephews' heritage and her kids outright bullied Rhaenera's children. In the books, Alicent is about 9 years older than R, and she was never a mother to the heir to the throne. She hated her step-daughter, she spread rumors about R's alleged promiscuity, her father stoked her paranoia that R would kill them once R got with Daemond and took the throne.
Even if you go by the show, Alicent is cruel to Rhaenera- she forced a barely post-partum woman to get out of her bed and present the child to court hours after its birth, loudly said "maybe the next one will look like you Ser Laenor" to undermine Rhaenera and her line's legitimacy.
In the books and show, the hostility towards R forced R to remain on Dragonstone in order to keep the peace. Viserys was a weak king who should have taken his heir's side and sent away the Hightowers. R should have been made hand so she could rule for a few years prior to her dad's death so that the transfer of power would have been unquestioned and peaceful.
I know that the show is the show, but in the books it is never confirmed that Jace, Luke, and Joff are Harwin's. There are enough contradiction due to the nature of the book being written in-world 50 years after the dance from 2nd and 3rd sources, that those kids are Laenor's as there are dark haired Targaryans (Rhaenys the Queen who never was, had brown hair as her mother was a Baratheon) and Valerions (Corlys in the books had dark hair) in the family, so going off of Jace, Luke, and Joff's hair wasn't enough as all three had the Targ purple eyes and were dragon riders. And there isn't a clear consensus of when Harwin and Rhaenera link up either. Some sources point to them being together after R and L marry, some point to them getting together AFTER Jace and Luke are born.
So no, the Hightowers were never, ever going to let bonds form between R and A's kids, as they were out to depose Rhaenera from the start.
You think Alicent would let her?
I don't think Rhaeyra would TAKE them. It's just when they were born she was jealous and would ignore them, even avoided them, but if she was more present and grew closer to them. Taught them valyrian words or just read them stories, you know? Then, over time, they would turn to her naturally for attention and care. Alicent couldn't even tell her children she loves them when they ask her if she does. She wouldn't like it, but I'm sure if Viserys sees his favorite child spending time with his other children he would encourage it, probably even pay more attention to them as well because of Rhaeyra, and there's not much Alicent could do then. We can see that they all clearly want a mother's love/figure. I think if she didn't ignore them and Embrace them as siblings, they would cling to that attention, and that care because they're clearly not getting it from their mother.
Would have worked beautifully. Alicent and Rhaenyra were friends once. If Rhaenyra was not a hostile stranger but a devoted helper, mentor, and friend - it would take some of the pressure off Alicent. Alicent's dutifulness and brittle expectation would have been softened by Rhaenyra's warmth and positive reinforcement. Alicent wanted a betrothal in the books. This is the best way left to avoid civil war. It is common sense given the world they were in. Given the stakes - it was incompetence that led to the Dance. It makes sense.
Okay, okay, okay, BUT... what if Rhaenyra married the Blackwood boy purely out of spite? He's clearly not of an age to be married, she doesn't want married yet, but having a betrothed would stop the endless plays for her hand.
cool
She could have married harwin strong and everything would have been fine.
@@BryndenBloodravenshe could’ve done so many things and she did all the wrong ones lmfao
Honestly that little badass deserved something for his bravery and also his skill
real talk that kid was by no means weak or a coward and let's call it like it is yes he had a long sword but the other guy was armed and was a grown ass man kid earned that W
i need to see this happen, i can only imagine how their wedding would go. maybe he would get tired and fall asleep in her lap during the dinner
What if Aemond was killed in the cave?
What if the two sides compromised? (Two state solution)
What if Daemon was killed in the Stepstones?
What if Corlys died in the Stepstones?
Lol two state solution because they always turn out well, cough cough 😉
@@Gigipretty64 Would be interesting, at the very least.
@@KaiHung-wv3ul definitely would be that. Two states, both with dragons. Yikes! They would absolutely have to dig tunnel systems to survive...
What if Laenor managed to have children with Rhaenyra?
What if Queen Aemma had lived? Lets assume she still almost dies and King Viserys decides to no longer try to have children with her.
Then daemon would be the heir (that was the plan all along while aema was alive the only reason it changed was him making fun of her d*th
@@lillypharaoh5945 So then would it pass to Baela and Rhaena or back to Jace?
@@joshuaadams6565 nope I doubt daemon wouldn't marry rhaenyra as king after laena dies since he's very obsessed with "blood of the dragon" so it would probably go to aegon the broken as it did but he wouldn't be so broken anymore and would probably make a decent king and father.
but would Baelon live or do the masters still kill him?
@@maxomat4319 I doubt the maesters did it, poisoned the dragons maybe but I doubt they k*lled the kids.
What if aegon didnt crumble under the pressure and expectation spraling out of control and became a competent and good man
Did the pressure cause him to sleep with little girls and force himself on the maids?
I think you're mistaking Rhaenyra with Aegon.
@@joshuaadams6565So you just make stuff up and convince yourself that it's true.
@@joshuaadams6565 I mean the constant threat his mother placed on him of his sister trying to kill him, the pressure he is suppose to be king and the expectation his mom had for him to meet that and viserys being an absent father is a ball of situation that drop kicked him from the get go we could also go the same they played with rhaenyra and other ignoring patch faces stuff cause he wasnt even in kingslanding when he accused aegon of these things
@@durrangodsgrief6503bru en los libros se describe como encontaron los verdes a Aegon en la cama con una niña de 13 años, admito que su situación estaba jodidad pero su cabeza también no estaba vien
The only thing that would've ended this stupid war is for the king to name HIS BROTHER the heir and then married his daughter to him(they ended up marrying each other later anyway). Would've been a diff kind of fighting then as the Velaryons wouldn't have been added to the family and could've caused issues with Vhagar.
I don’t think that Joffrey was taunting Crispin (Cristin) Cole; I think that he was sincerely trying to feel out his feelings in order to forge an understanding for all of their happiness.
It would be an unhappy marriage. Though if the were engaged when Aegon was young then Rhaenyra could intervene to make sure he grew up not as much of a libertine. But Rhaenyra wanted to rule while Aegon wanted to have fun, so maybe he will let her rule, and as long as they had children the succession would be assured and there wouldn't be a civil war.
Best option. Would it be horrible? Yes, but they dont have to be together constantly, just have some heirs. Rhaenyra can have her affair with Harwin if she wants, just not having his kids, bc if she does, this time it would end horrible. Even if Aegon gets killed, Otto has part what he wanted, his blood on the throne via his grandson
what would be? Either perfect union or spectaculare disaster. But whenever I think about Rhaenyra I think about Cleopatra the Great, who also had to fight for throne with brother who was much younger than her. And Cleopatra and her brother actually inherited throne together as co-rulers. They were probably married too, though he was too young to consummaTed marriage. But even if they were both joint heirs, the war ignited between them anyway. And Cleopatra conceived her first child by man outside of family, creating rival line to any potential children her brother-husband might have in future. And then her brother drowned in Nile during battle, and pregnant Cleopatra was now undisputed Pharaoh. She briefly married and co-ruled with another younger brother (again, boy in early teens and no consummation), but again boy passed before he turned 16. So - two subsequent union of joint claims to the throne didn't stop civil war nor saved life of male offspring of King.
That would be Rheanyra purposely causing a war while knowing better. Though, Rheanyra did have bastards so her doing this isn't even far stretched to believe.
@@rexibhazoboa7097 Rhaenyra has no bastards, all her children are recognized by husbands as true-born.
@@pendragonsxskywalkers9518 its own thing to legitimize your bastards. It’s another thing to show bastards to the realm then say they aren’t. The latter is just lying to people’s face which is highly disrespectful. It also makes matter much worse if you wish to put the perceived bastards on the throne instead of the true horns.
Viserys said it to Rheanyra and to the viewers. Perception is what matters, the truth does not.
@@rexibhazoboa7097 It's not at all disrespectful. It's solely between her and Laenor - Laenor acknwoledged children as his. He decides and ONLY he. A matter of fact, most Houses supported Rhaneyra and many of them specifically after Jacaerys visited them - so most peopel did not care at all about Jacaerys's look. Regardless of your opinion, legally Rhaneyra has no bastards. Child of married woman is automatically viewed as true-born, unless father denounces it, and Laenor never did.
Jacaerys and his brothers are NOT preceived as bastrds. That is the point. They are legaly legitimate and none cares about their patrenity... except for Greens.
@@rexibhazoboa7097 'Perception is what matters, the truth does not.' - Exactly - and perecption is that Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey are all remembered as Velaryons, just like Aeys Tragaryen is rememberd as Aegon I's son, despite rumors about Queen Rhaenys's infidelity, because he was recognized by him as his son. Like Corlys said - history does not remeber blood, it remembers names.
What if rhaegar killed robert at the battle of the trident and sir arthur dayne killed ned stark at the tower of joy
Fire idea!
Jon Arryn or Hoster Tully would have took the Throne . Even if Rhaegar won at the Trident , he had way less support and armies . He dies no matter what
What if Baelon Targaryen the brave lived to become king
What if Vaegon Targaryen accepted the iron throne after his father Jaehaerys I Targaryen
The last one is weird for Vaegon Targaryen because Jaehaerys summoned Vaegon to offer him the throne be Vaegon refused it. So wonder what will happen if he accepted it.
What if Rhaenyra and Daemon married when she was 15/16?
No velaryons in team black so less dragons to team black
By that point Viserys would probably have disinherited her, but if he doesn't then Daemon would need to work hard to compensate the lack of Velaryon's forces, maybe he would kill his nephews...
@@matztz_4560 Rhaenys may have still supported Rhaenyra and could convinve Corlys to support her, she has sympathy for another woman having her birthright taken from her
@@simplyawful543 she would prioritize her family though, and she and corlys have a very clear antipathy for daemon
@@matztz_4560 Rhaenyra and Daemon could still push for a marriage between their children and any of Laenor or Laena's children.
One of the rare few times I agreed with Otto. Also I love his “he’ll grow!😆” line to Viserys
17:06 also me: (insert gif of cop with glasses screaming at the sky meme)
Honestly, the marriage wouldn't have been the first time a Targaryen Prince was married to an older woman... I think Maegor was 13 when married to a Lady of House Hightower, who was like 23 or something.
That said, no I don't think it was necessary for the siblings to marry (or all that super practical), BUT the bigger issue is that Rhaenyra's unwillingness to follow this part of her duty/responsibility was a huge part of the problem in everyone's side.
She didn't want to marry, and she didn't bother making any efforts in shifting her mindset. Then she's forced to marry, and its to arguably THE one man who would be a poor choice due to his sexuality.
Just saying, she dig her own hole in this one, and with Viserys unwilling to raise Aegon to be the heir... it was just terrible decision-making all around.
Spot on
Rhaenyra’s resistance to marriage was because she thought it was a ploy to have her supplanted as heir. We don’t see any sensible candidates before her and as she rightly said to her father, he didn’t marry Alicent for duty. She was right to be fed up with the double standard she was being held to. A double standard that never once made Aegon be seen as unfit to rule.
@GlenDivo She was seen as unfit to rule because she was a woman so she went out of her way to make herself seem as unsuitable as possible in protest to her father and society???
When Viserys married Alicent he fucked up and neglected his responsibilities as a ruler.
When Rhaenyra made decisions from 14 to 34 she fucked up and neglected her responsibilities as a ruler.
When Aegon the 3rd first breathed life apart from his mother he fucked up and neglected his responsibilities as a ruler. Aegon was always seen as the proper heir regardless of his marriage and infidelity, his crimes were a different situation.
@@GlenDivoWhat do you think of Viserys marrying Rhaena and Aegon? Let's say after Helena Alicent stops having kids and Viserys removes Rhaenyra as crown princess before she marries Laenor so her kids still exist and he still dies later. Viserys can marry Jace the "heir" to the Velaryons to Baela the true heir and her sister becomes the next Targaryen/Velaryon queen for Aegon while Helena marries some heir from house Baratheon or Lannister. If no one else besides the crown princes and their brides get dragons then I see the realm being a happier peaceful place. I'm going to pretend Daemon will settle for marrying Rhaenyra alone and no one actually cares about the other Velaryons. With all of the new free time Viserys, Otto and Rhaenyra have hopefully they can raise Aegon to ve a successful strong and generous nongrapey king.
Rhaenyra's best choice maybe following British Queen Elizabeth, not marry for whole life.
I have been waiting for someone to do a video on this. And I think it was a good choice not the best choice but a good one.
NGL. I think this is one of the options to take to avoid the 'dance.' Otto is pretty smart, this way, he is cementing his family's ambition by putting his grandson on the throne. He has zero care if Rhaenyra can survive childbirth or what-have-you. Aegon II would be on the throne so if Rhaenyra passed away, all he had to do is find a suitable replacement Queen while Aegon II became the ruler.
Oh maybe more simple, his grandson would be heir someday so he would get what he wanted
Oh maybe more simple, his grandson would be heir someday so he would get what he wanted
There would still be war (although not to the extent it was) because Otto didn’t want Rhaenyra to be Queen (had they married she most definitely would have died of an “accident “ and Aegon would have been the King)
Mind you Otto said that it wouldn’t matter if Rhaenyra was king Jaehaerys reborn in his mind Aegon was the heir.
It would be the most dysfunctional marriage. Rhaenyra would rule while Aegon slept with random women and drank himself to sleep every night. Aegon would happily take up the reigns as "King" when it came to showing off to the people but other than that Rhaenyra would run everything. Rhaenyra and Aegon would have two kids Aegon the younger and Viserys the younger and that's it. The only way this escalates into a war would be if Daemon and Rhaenyra kill Aegon which Otto would call his side to war.
true... totally agree with you
As ypu painted it sound pretty functional, yes there is not love, but both have chance to do what they want, Rhaenerya rules while Aegon whores out.
Nah if aegon isn't raised with the guillotine over his head he might become batter
Eh, still a better marriage than robbert and cersei.
It doesnt matter. Rhaenyra allows Laenor to do that so why not? And Aegon wpuld definitely comsumate the marriage. And Aegon does not want to rule, like he said.
In the books they were only 8 years apart in age, which wouldn't have been that big a deal if the male was the older one.
On the show it makes more sense to go with Rhaneras offer to marry Jace to Helena. Or even marry their younger son Aegon to the older Aegons daughter with Helena
He’d have been king regent and Hightower’s would not be ok with that so they’d have tried to kill her and her bastards
What if Lena Velaryon had survived childbirth?
Daemon does not marry Rhaenyra. They don't have children together.
SPOILERS: Who is still alive after the dance? All Velaryon/Strong boys died. Rhaenyra and Daemon's children don't exist in this scenario. Aegon and Helena's sons died. Aegon II might have to name his daughter as his heir the way King Viserys I did.
Still a civil war. But team black would have 1-2 more dragon.
@@chingyiutang3480 The war would end in days. The Blacks would have Vhagar and probably Seasmoke. The Greens wouldn't stand a chance.
@@BleedingGrafitti Yeah, I dont think even Dreamfyre and Vermithor (if Aemmond claims him) would be enough against Vhagar
I think Rhaenyra would manipulate Aegon. They'd have their legitimate heirs before they both agree to do whatever they like. The Hightowers would be working overtime cleaning up that mess. Then the game for the throne would begin again. Just on a much smaller scale. The Hightowers would be trying to rein in Aegon and to eventually depose of Rhaenyra. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra would be trying to isolate the Hightowers and remove them from the main power source. Everything would escalate for the Hightowers when Daemon is named Hand of the Queen.
What if Aegon was able to flee to the Free Cities before Aemond and the Kingsguard were able to catch up to him?
Aegon's son would have been crowned King . The same things would happen just without Aegon and Sunfyre
Rhaenyra only named her sons Jacaerys and Lucerys because they were Velaryon names. She wouldn't name them that if she was married to Aegon.
My guess is Daemon is the source of the Civil War in this timeline. Potentially an Early Blackfyre Rebellion parity, pissed off and ambitious lords finding an excuse to dispute succession in some way. Likely by calling Rhaenyra’s children with Aegon bastards in someway, especially if the Valyrons feel they’ve been slighted and back Daemon and his daughters.
Okay I got what if the series had accepted Damon's logic during their argument and actually wed him to Rhyneara
What seems more strange? To marry your friend's dad or your friend's child?
viserys divided the realm
I honestly believe their marriage would be like Helaena. After Rhaenyra had her heir and spare then, she's done. Aegon is back to the Aegon we all know and liked. Rhaenyra would be drinking her moon tea with Harwin maybe. Daemon might also have taken Harwin's place since well.... Aegon is foolish, but not anyone's fool.
Depending on the Hightowers, Rhaenyra might get killed or ignored or the dance would have played out like Cleopatra where Daemon is her lover.
The other twin wouldn’t be know as Jaceaerys since that is a velaryon name lol
What about Rhaenyra marying Aegon after Laenor's death?
Aegon was already married to Helaena unfortunately.
@@BleedingGrafitti Nope she wasn't only bethroded. Aegon and Aemon talk about at funeral scene.
@@kjellduteweert9262 Oop, you're right. My bad
Ok but the question then becomes; “what if, by the time Aegon sexual maturity, Rhaenyra can no longer bear children?” Queens have been divorced for less. Or worse.
Then the succession line would be absolutely secure anyway
This doesn't make sense. She wouldn't be that old.
Aegon would be 'ready' by the time he's...in his teens...they're 15 yrs apart. So yeah, the only issue is Rhaenyra would have to wait longer to start bearing children. She will be in her late 20s to start motherhood, it's not THAT old. But they definitely won't be the next Jaeharys/Alysanne pairing with their numerous children. If anything, they'd have a couple of kids and that's it.
Rhaenyra is about 15 years older than Aegon. By the time he was old enough to get married AND consummate the marriage, she’d be on the verge of being past prime childbearing years.
Rhaenyra was pushing out babies by the time Aegon had bastards running around. She wouldn't be too old at all.
@@BleedingGrafitti - only because he was screwing and raping in Kings Landing when he was WAY too young to be doing ANYTHING.
@@BleedingGrafitti - and she had AT LEAST 3 kids before he even got married. My point was that she would've been wasting prime childbearing years while waiting for him to be old enough to marry and procreate.
@@carastone3473 Not really? In canon, Rhaenyra was pretty fertile. Some women have no problem having children well into their 40s. My maternal grandmother and great-grandmother had their last pregnancies in their early 50s! My mom was 41 by the time she had her last child, without ANY fertility aids. It isn't guaranteed that 40s = end of fertility. It really varies from woman to woman, and often the maternal line can be a good guide on what to expect but not always.
So lets say they marry when Aegon turns 15 or 18, Rhaenyra would just still be in her thirties and definitely be fertile
this makes more sense in targaryen world and women could give birth till age of 35
Rhaenyra was a good 16 years older than Aegon. By the time he reached even the youngest age a man can produce a child, say, 13, Rhaenyra will be close to 30 and have very few childbearing years left. They didn’t have IVF or fertility treatments back then. Catelyn is 33 in the first book, and it’s been two or three years since Rickon was born, meaning she’s struggling to conceive after 30 which sounds about right for the time period, and HOtD is even earlier.
Rhaenyra’s mother is only 23 when she dies, and she’d struggled for years to have a child. The Targs are noted for their fertility issues, especially in sibling marriages, with very few exceptions. If Rhae and Aegon had married, they likely wouldn’t have been able to produce an heir.
The actual best method involved a risky three generation plan:
Rhaenyra is heir, marries Daemon and has a son. Viserys marries Laena Velaryon, waits for her to come of age, and has a daughter with her. Those two children are married once they’re of age, and therefore all Targ lines are United into one.
Obviously this has to happen before Viserys marries Alicent, but Aegon being married to Rhaenyra’s daughter and them ruling jointly would also work.
she is younger in the book
@@slvaltva1392 she’s still 11 years older than him in the book. By the time he’s 15, generally considered marriage age for boys, she’s 26 and only has 5-6 more childbearing years. It took her mother 7 years to conceive Baelon after Rhaenyra’s birth, and had several miscarriages early on. If Rhae is anything like her mother, 5 years is not long enough to safely secure an heir
@@emilybarclay8831 I mean yeah but still not out of possibility for the marriage to still happen. Since maegor was married at 13 and Aemma married Viserys at like 11. But Alicent would probably profit from childless marriage of Raenyra and Aegon since if they had no kids they'd have to name one of their sibling's children their successor. But I guess Raenyra would probably have a bastard and tell everyone it's Aegon's even if he couldn't have kids yet which would open a possibility for Alicent to start some shit anyway
@@focusedstudying8993 it was definitely closer to 30 back then. We’re able to reproduce much later these days because we have better medicine, better diets, less stressful lives and a better understanding of reproduction in general
Do you know how old Rhaella was when she give birth to Daenerys? Aemma died that young and have fertility issues because she was married off too early and started have children too early. And she had healthy daughter long before her son.
Tywin considered marrying off Cersei to Loras when she was around 35? Also she married Bobby B when she was like 19 and by your words it’s too old
The only thing which determines can women conceive or not is how many ovaries she has and that can’t be changed just by how many food you eat, only by genetics. And modern medicine don’t have anything to do with that. There was enough women who was still fertile in the early 50s in any age.
But the age of starting puberty really depends on how comfortable your life is and how good is your food. And kids nowadays having puberty earlier because off this (and you can say that leads to shorter fertility age because girl start to spend their ovarial stash earlier than before). So it’s again pointing at that some houses married off the girls too young which led to fertility issues. And Grrm is actually making a lot of too-young-mothers suffer from fertility issues in his books
What if viserys named aegon as his heir
What if rhaneyra died at childbirth
what if daemon was allowed to marry rhaenyra
What if Aemond was killed in the cave?
I like the different vids but please go back and do part 2 with the Rhaenys what if
What if Aegon saw the crowd cheering for him as king and felt so pressured that first thing he did was nope out of there and get to Dragonstone to warn Rhaenyra?
You know...Aegon would not bother ruling and if Nyra could convince him to get rid of the hand, so he'd be free of his constant supervision...
Good video 👍
He was such a hypocrite to laugh at the idea when he himself most likely knew alicant as a toddler
mr theempyrieanspeaks you would love ao3
I never thought I’d see Helaena and Laenor but here we are lol
It doesn’t make sense for them not to tell each other the prophecy and make members of the family part of the council-that would’ve solved most of this mess.
Actually that’s an excellent point, if the whole family (just the family) knew about the prophecy then they likely would all feel important enough feeling they all had a role to play and that the greater good needed unity and dragon riders. Then they wouldn’t have fought for the throne quite as much as there would’ve been this bigger thing for them all to work towards and unite for or at least such a looming responsibility as to make it not quite so appealing to be the King/Queen. A possibility. Just my thoughts.
It doesn't make sense not to tell the world. This would have been excellent propaganda for the concept of Targaryen Exceptionalism that Jaehaerys pushed.
@@Gigipretty64 or they would have all thought themselves as the chosen one and began taking rash actions to ensure that.
@@fightingmedialounge519 yeah true, can’t rule that possibility out.
Coz the prophecy shit is they made up in the show is bs😂😂
Aegon: mommy… sorry, mommy? Sorry… m-sister?
The only problem with this scenario is that Westerosi lords will be confused as to why Aegon being king has less power than his wife the queen. It may result in more plotting backstabbing intrigues behind Rhaenyra’s back. Just like in this timeline Aemond and sir Crispin conspire behind Aegon’s back, or Otto and the green council plot the usurpation behind Queen Alicent’s back
As gross as it would be, it'd be the best way to avoid the Dance.
lol If Rhaenyra and Aegon wed than Aegon would have ended the same way Laenor did. Dead. Or "on a trip to Essos" which is just Condal's "trip to Belize" from BB.
Then the dance would have still happened with Aemond as the king
Of their other children after the twins
2 girls visenya and alyssa
Then twin girls aerea and saera
Then twin boys baelon and gaemon
Then, 1 girl , born when rhaenyra is in her early 40s named jaehaera
What if rhaegar won the rebellion against robert and ned
What if Rhanera had brought back the white deer ? After hunting along with criston
how about make a video of viserys never married alicent hightower and
What if Ned stark lived? Changed out with a faceless man for execution and secreted away north
What if Viseys had a backbone and arranged the marriage between jacerys and harlena and or raernyra and ageon?
I don't know what's worse her uncle or her brother
Otto would have pushed for Aegon to be given the title king instead of king consort, and eventually with support of the councel would have succeeded. Rhaenyra maybe would have rulled temporaily but slowly would have been pushed aside, as more and more people would look towards Aegon (manipulated by Otto) as their ruler. Otto would have done what he always does, he would have played the long game. Rhaenyra would need to make a choice: accept this or try to get rid of Aegon which in the end might spark a war all the same. That's my take 😅
No doubt Otto would be unhappy with Aegon as a consort. However, the fact that their children will have Hightower blood running in their veins and sitting on the throne at some point would be enough to placate Otto's greed. He still gets what he wants; his blood on the throne. So there'd be no need to keep pushing Aegon to rule.
I can't help but laugh right along with Viserys when Otto proposes that Rhaenyra and Aegon get betrothed while Aegon is over there just being a baby 😂😂
Daemon would kill him or rheanyra would let him escape across the sea like he asked aemond to let him in the show or laenor did
The time Otto was unmaliciously so right.
"Second Mother"💀
The fact that in the books alicent was older than rhaenyra, but in here they made them the same age, yeah i dont like the idea of a child marrying someone who is old enough to be his mom
What if daemon and caraxes lived
Viserys laughing when he is like 25 years older than Alicent💀 hahaha In the books, Rhaenyra was only 9 when Aegon was born so I think that when he came of age she would still be able to have children. But in this case, Rhaenyra was like 17 so when Aegon becomes a teen able to marry she would’ve been in her early thirties and in that period it was hard to have children at that age
What about if Viserys had Aegon marry Rhaenyra after Laenor’s death to stop Daemon from marrying his Daughter?
Or a Helaena & Jacaerys marriage.
Things "what if" videos make it feel like GoT and HotD ended up with the worst/most chaotic timeline.
Viserys laughed when Otto suggested his son 2 year old Aegon should marry his 15 year old sister Rhaenyra when he comes of age. 13 year difference.
He wasn't laughing much when he found out his brother was clapping cheeks with his daughter. 16 year difference.
Rhaenyra hated Aegon since the day he was born… it would of been an uphappy marriage…. If it lasted that lonv
The End . No war
LETS GOOOOOO
Tbf its a good idea
what if Rhaenyra went to rooks rest with Rhaenys
Why would Rhaena marry the dude who stole her mother’s dragon and then fought her?
Chad Otto
No lie, it would been better rhaenyra and her brother aegon were married instead of Marrying Laenor and if laena was still alive daemon would still be with her
I didn't watch, but Daemon would've murdered Aegon.
Stop saying ear. It's heir, pronounced "air".
I feel like if this happened Rhaenyra and Daemon would definitely plot to kill Aegon right
Marry Helena to Laenor
Ugh, the incest.
Leave it to GRRM to make incest seem right. In a world where a family bears magical blood and living nukes, it makes sense that they'd want to do everything to keep the power and magic away from other houses.
To be fair, considering that Otto’s whole MO is to keep Daemond from getting near the throne, an Aegon/Rhaenera match would have been the most peaceful solution as despite all that D is, once Aegon, Aemond, and Helaena were born D was pushed so far down the succession that he would have had to have become kinslayer extraordinaire and not catch political fallout for it. D is many things but he wasn’t a kinslayer until Aemond killed Luke. The first 6 months of the Dance had both sides actively avoiding confrontation for this reason.
D loved his brother, he was even willing to go to war if the Great Council chose Rhaenys over Viserys. He’s a scoundrel no doubt but if he was truly without love for his family he would have eliminated Aegon, Helaena, and Aemond when they were vulnerable and dragonless. He didn’t go after his brother’s grandchildren/children until his nephew murdered Rhaenera (and V’s grandson)’s child.
Even if Daenera didn’t happen, D and Laena’s marriage was a happy one and he was able to produce more dragon riders with her (which is Daemon’s mo- have babies with dragon-rider women to consolidate and strengthen Targ power)
I think this would’ve worked perfectly for Rhae.
She wanted independence and a chance to explore her youth. She’d have at least 15 more years of freedom before having to settle down. Fertility might be an issue, though.
Marrying her to Aegon could cripple their chances at having as many or possibly any heirs to their union with the female being the elder of the two by that amount of time. It may help against the claims for him to be king, but could come at a great cost too.