What happens if Aegon the Unworthy and Daeron II only had girls? Would the Blackfyre Rebellions even be a thing?

Almost certainly not. The Blacfyre case relied heavily on Aegon’s open favoring of Daemon that culminated in him being awarded Blackfyre, the sword of kings and one of the visible symbols of the monarchy, which bespoke of Aegon viewing Daemon as his true heir, especially as he legitimized him (and all his other bastards, great and small) on his deathbed, something that happens very rarely in Westeros and almost always in the context of a succession debate. Aegon pretty much spelled out his view of Daemon as his successor to any that would care and gave him a claim to the throne by legitimizing him, while at the same time perpetuating rumors of Daeron’s illegitimacy and Aegon’s intent to disinherit him.

Daemon’s indisputable martial prowess and the public image he enjoyed as a chivalric warrior in a culture that idolized martial ability also made him an attractive prospect in the eyes of many as opposed to Daeron’s unimpressive constitution, as Eustace Osgrey tells Egg.

Daeron was spindly and round of shoulder, with a little belly that wobbled when he walked. Daemon stood straight and proud, and his stomach was flat and hard as an oaken shield. And he could fight . With ax or lance or flail, he was as good as any knight I ever saw, but with the sword he was the Warrior himself. When Prince Daemon had Blackfyre in his hand, there was not a man to equal him … not Ulrick Dayne with Dawn, no, nor even the Dragonknight with Dark Sister.

Daemon was the better man. The old king saw it, too. He gave the sword to Daemon. Blackfyre, the sword of Aegon the Conquerer, the blade that every Targaryen king had wielded since the Conquest … he put that sword in Daemon’s hand the day he knighted him, a boy of twelve. 

I really can not overstate how that propped up Daemon’s claim in the eyes of those who opposed and derided Daeron II. Blackfyre and Daemon’s chivalric performance and impressive physique stood in contrast to Daeron’s perceived feebleness and attracted “all the great knight in the realm” to the Black Dragon’s banner. Daemon was the perfect storm: a Targaryen on both sides, the wielder of the sword of Targaryen kings, an unparalleled warrior in a martial culture that glorified war, and of course, not a friend to those no-good Dornishmen that inhabited Daeron II’s court. In fact, he was the son of Princess Daena the Defiant who worshiped her brother Daeron the Young Dragon who was killed by the Dornish, and Aegon IV who fought the Dornish alongside the Young Dragon in the Conquest of Dorne and waged war again on them during his kingship. There would be no peace with Dorne under Daemon which was pretty sweet to those who still wanted revenge on the Dornish for their losses in the conquest and Daeron I’s death.

But while the resistance towards the peace with Dorne and Daeron II’s concessions to make it happen would survive in this au, as would the racism, anti-intellectualism and borderline ableism that we glimpsed from the Blackfyre supporters, girl!Daemon would lose a lot of what made her male counterpart attractive in OTL on account of her gender. One, the chances of Aegon favoring his daughter in a similar way are really low. Granted we do not know what kind of relationship Aegon had with any of his daughters, trueborn or bastard, in OTL, but his history of fucked up relationships with women does not suggest a healthy loving relationship. Aegon was severely misogynistic with a hedonistic philosophy that treated women as little more than vessels for pleasure so I don’t think that Aegon would show the same blatant favoritism towards girl!Daemon or indeed be all that interested in propping her over Daeron, especially since her gender also loses her another advantage: that of the martial excellence that marked Daemon’s character in OTL and that assuredly played a big role in drawing Aegon (and later support for the rebellion) to his son and, of course, that also loses her Blackfyre because Aegon ain’t giving the sword of kings to a girl. While she might be permitted to train in archery or something like her mother, chances are that she would not receive any formal arms training. Being the daughter of the princess who people dubbed the Defiant certainly wouldn’t encourage support of any activity that can be seen as unwomanly or willful.

Basically, the Blackfyre cause wouldn’t even exist in this scenario. I question if Aegon would even issue the deathbed blanket legitimization of his bastards in the absence of a clear candidate that he can push over Daeron. He still might just for the pleasure of fucking with Daeron but ultimately, Aegon knows that it’s a rare lord that would champion the claim of a bastard sister against a brother, no matter what shadow he cast on Daeron’s legitimacy. The brother vs sister model would only bring to mind the Dance of the Dragons, while girl!Daemon’s association with her mother Daena, seen as wanton and wild, would further discourage support to her claim.

Of course that does not mean that everything is good just because the Blackfyre rebellions don’t happen. Many were unhappy with Daeron II’s policy regarding Dorne and the favoring of the Dornish while the anti-Dornish racism remains with or without Daemon to rally to. Having only female heirs also weakens Daeron’s position – if people looked askance at Baelor Breakspear’s looks when he had the benefit of being a great warrior, imagine how they’d react to a female version of him to binge their sexism as well as racism. Mariah Martell would face an inordinate backlash for failing to produce a male heir and Daeron would certainly face pressure to set her aside, especially during Aegon’s reign. With Daeron’s person being derided in an amped up warrior culture, his policies and court under attack for the association with Dorne, and his heir being a Dornish-looking woman at a time where “women whispering in his ear” and “court full of Dornishmen” were used to argue his unfitness to rule, and especially as the reign of Rhaenrya left many wary of the idea of a ruling queen, the monarchy would look quite weak to the opposing lords. While there might not be a clear figurehead to flock to against Daeron, I can see where smaller rebellions might break out against the king, or where powerful lords might see an ample opportunity to harass the crown into giving them more privileges.

bitchfromtheseventhhell:

“he drove me to this, mother.  he was weak, can’t you see?”

“jonos, what have you done?”

sharra had climbed from the bed, her old bones creaking.  she had moved slowly.  how quickly she had run into the godswood when she’d heard the flapping of dragon’s wings, how quickly because that was where her ronnel was, her sweet boy, her sweetest…

“ronnel’s gone flying again, mother.”

ronnel had always loved to speak of the time queen visenya had taken him on dragonback.  nothing would ever be so exhilarating, he had told his brother for years.  jonos had been too small, hardly more than a babe in arms.  as if ronnel had been more than a brave child.  

and now he was gone.

“you swore not to hurt him.  swore not to hurt any of them.”

there had been anger in her voice.  alyssa arryn had not wept for the deaths of her husband, brothers, and children, but sharra had found herself screaming at her second son.  oathbreaker.  kinslayer.  curse of my blood.

“and when father died, he became king.  he forsook his oath to the vale.  it’s a wonder that his line was allowed to live so long.”

then she had seen the blood on his sword.

“even the children, jonos?”

“they were weak too, mother.”

“they were your nephews!  the blood of the kings of mountain and vale and the kings of winter!”

“no.  the blood of the lord of the mountain of the vale.  i am king.  i can deal with stark if he comes calling.”

she had thrown herself at him, beating her fists against his chest, trying to slap his face, trying not to think of little artys, who fancied himself the falcon knight come again, or little aemma who had taken to climbing everything.  she did not let herself think of lysara, whose blood undoubtedly mixed with her children’s on sharra’s son’s sword, and the vertigo she had suffered from whenever she had to go up or down the mountain.  “starks were not meant for mountains,” she had japed every time.  there had been tears on her face, and rage in her heart and her son had held her.

“come, mother.  in time you’ll see why i did it.  when you’ve had your time to grieve.  this is for the better.”

“ronnel at five had more wisdom about dragons than you do as a man.”

sharra looked at jonos’ face.  it was purple, and swollen alongside the men he’d used to take the eyrie and slay his kin.  how long they’d leave him in the noose, she did not know.

she leaned on a walking stick and looked across the courtyard of the bloody gate, feeling all of her seventy-five years in the weight of her necklace.  she saw king maegor standing there, arms crossed.  he nodded to her.  he is a fearsome man.

but his mother was kind to my ronnel.

she dipped into a creaky curtsey.

hubert, her husband’s nephew, was a good man.  he had kind sons.  he would make a strong lord of the vale.  

but he was not a child of her flesh. 

he’d never ridden a dragon.

And in today’s edition of “people should mind their own fucking business”, a patient of my father’s thought it was okay to comment on my weight and advice me that it would make pregnancy and childbirth hard so I should gain some weight so that my hypothetical pregnancy goes well and my hypothetical children are healthy.

Considering his opinion of Lyanna Mormont’s naming, what do you think Stannis thought of Davos naming his two youngest him and his father? Would he feel the same or different about Robb and Sweetrobin named for Robert? Or Jon Snow named for Lord Arryn? Or Delena’s second trueborn son named for Renly?

Not all these cases are the same.

Here’s the thing: as his comment about kings having no friends demonstrate, Stannis is aware that a personal relationship between liege and vassal innately includes an inescapable margin of self-interest due to the benefits of proximity to the king.

However, Stannis also knows Davos, Jon Arryn and Ned (because Stannis wouldn’t have known it was Cat who named Robb), enough to see beyond politicking in the gesture. He’d known Davos for years by the time little Stannis was born and gotten a grip on the kind of man he is – an honest hardworking man who isn’t prone to ass-kissing and who is sincerely loyal to Stannis. He also knows that Ned and Jon Arryn share a strong familial relationship with Robert that goes beyond their current liege-vassal relationship.

So while thoughts of knowing “how that game is played” are sure to have been in the back of his mind, I imagine that Stannis still recognized the genuine and honest sentiment behind the names just as well as he appreciated the political weight of it. 

But in the case of Delena Florent, that’s just a blatant attempt to curry favor. Delena’s favor-naming game is strong, and Stannis generally does not have a high opinion of the Florents and definitely not of Delena who was involved in the insult Robert dealt him on his wedding night. Now, I don’t know if Stannis did have an opinion on the matter because I don’t know if he even knew that Delena named a son after Renly, but if he did, he’d be quick to catch up on the purpose behind it. With Edric Storm under Renly’s guardianship, it’s not difficult to see why Delena would want to butter Renly up. The youngest Lord Baratheon was gay, unwed and childless. With no heir of his body, it’s not difficult to see how Delena might have hoped that Renly would look to his young ward and name Edric his heir. 

Bug anon from earlier – thank you for responding! I use the Waterfox internet browser, but when I scroll down on the page, the sidebar doesn’t move with the text of your posts, and I can’t see anything below the submit tab. It could be my browser that’s the problem, but I wanted to make sure.

My sidebar is fixed and does not move with the body of posts so you shouldn’t have to scroll down to get to next page. I’ve opened my blog on both Firefox and Chrome and everything looks fine so perhaps it is your browser that’s causing the problem. But I also got this message:

Different anon about the next page button: I use Firefox in Ubuntu Mint and I only see the very top of the page numbers when I just open your blog. The trick that works for me is to press “Ctrl” and “-” (minus) once so the whole page appears a bit smaller, then the side bar is short enough to reach the page numbers.

Could it be that the page needs resizing for you too? Idk, it’s something to try. Alternatively, you can add /page/number to my url to go to the next page but that’s such a hassle to do manually with every page and just makes everything harder. I’d recommend trying the resizing or changing your browser to see if the problem persists.

Hi! I really love your writing but I think there’s a bug in your new layout? When I scroll to the bottom of the page there’s no way for me to move the next page. I know in some layouts the next page button in in the sidebar, but the sidebar doesn’t move, and I can’t find the search function either, just Home, Ask, and Submit. Is this problem limited to waterfox, or have you heard from anyone else?

Thank you! The next button button is in the sidebar, yes. It’s those numbers at the bottom.

The little arrow at the end brings you to the next page. Are they not there for you? They appear to me just fine and I haven’t heard of any problems before. Anyone else having that same problem?

As for the search function, you have to do it manually by adding /search/subject to the end of my URL. This layout does not have a search button.

bitchfromtheseventhhell:

“my lord, lady catelyn will arrive soon.”

“thank you, poole.” ned stood, his stomach twisting in a knot.  he had not seen lady catelyn since their wedding, and had barely spoken to her at all.  and now she was coming to winterfell with his son.  he had a son.  a little boy named robb, born in riverrun after one night with his wife.  if brandon were alive, brandon would clap him on the shoulder and make a comment very like robert’s when robert had learned.  or perhaps, brandon would stare at him coldly, for catelyn was suppposed to be his, not ned’s.

the son should be brandon’s, he thought as he went to find his cloak–furs that felt far too grand for him, but which were like the ones his father had worn as lord of winterfell.  and she will think that jon is mine.  she must think that jon is mine.

he’d sent ser rodrik to greet her on the kingsroad, and given the knight explicit instructions.  lady catelyn was not to be surprised at jon’s presence when she reached winterfell.  he would not have her shocked to find the boy, and would have her prepared to know that lyanna’s…that ned’s bastard would be a song of winterfell, quite as much as her own.  but did she take it ill? he did not know.  brandon had described lady catelyn as not without pride, and ned fathering a bastard might be an insult to that pride.  but she has a son too–a boy jon’s age.  perhaps she will understand.  he dared not hope on that.  gods be good, how had robert not feared this when he’d been betrothed to lyanna?  he must have always planned to leave mya in the vale, as lyanna had asserted.

he went out into the courtyard just as lady catelyn and ten tully knights passed beneath the gates of winterfell.  she was wrapped in furs and in her arms, a bundle whose size and wrappings ned was all too familiar with for he’d held jon in his arms as he had ridden all the way north from dorne.

“my lady,” ned said as he approached her horse, holding the bridle.  “i trust the road was not hard?”

she gave him a look and he could tell she wasn’t saying everything that crossed her mind.  there was a coolness there in addition to the distance–a coolness that had not been there when he had stood at her side in the sept in the wake of brandon’s death.  

“not hard, my lord,” she said.  she looked about for the wetnurse who must have ridden with them, to pass her son to, and ned said, “let me.”

she turned back to look at him, her blue eyes appraising, but he held out his arms, and a moment later she placed the babe there.

ned stared at his son.  my son.  my heir.  robb.  he was bald, and sleeping, and his face was plump and peaceful.  ned felt his heart swell.  jon–jon he would always love, but he looked at jon and still could smell lyanna’s blood.  he would try, in time, to find joy in jon’s gaze, but robb–this was his boy.  this was his son, and ned…ned felt his throat grow thick and he ran a finger over the boy’s cheek.

robb opened his blue eyes, confused, taking ned in.  then his face broke into a happy smile.

“my lady,” ned said thickly, looking up at catelyn who had dismounted and was standing next to him.  “catelyn–he is perfect.”

catelyn’s face softened into a smile as well and she bent her head over the boy.

“robb my love, this is your father.”