You know, the show’s writing is making it very hard for me to root for Dany right now (not that it was any better the last two seasons tbh. Do not get me started on the mess in Meereen). They keep telling us one thing, they have all these people make very cool speech about how good of a person she is, they have her making a speech about breaking the wheel that rolls over the downrodden, then the very next minute she is…. talking about her rights endlessly, bargaining with Jon that she’d fight the Walkers only when he bends the knee, and burning people alive to make a point. I mean, fuck Randyll Tarly hard, but that was needlessly cruel, and I can not see it in any light but cruelty for cruelty’s sake. And I can not believe that they actually thought that making Dany spout something about not being here to put people in chains just before she used the most excruciating way to execute Randyll and Dickon, only moments after she made a good speech about how Cersei is a lying liar who lies because she told them that Dany is there to kill them and burn their homes, would make her seem like that noble Breaker of Chains. Missandei talked last episode about how following Dany was a choice because of how good she is, but Dany’s choice to these soldiers was literally fall in line or I’ll burn you alive on the spot.

I know we know little about House Tarth, but do you think Selwyn Tarth (or any brother’s of his if he ever had any) would have made a good match for Rheagara? Funnily enough, a female Tarth of Selwyn’s age probably would have made a good match for Rhaegar: Targ blood, targ looks (based on Brienne’s coloring), and a lack of a large army and money (as far as we know) to help Rhaegar overthrow his father…

The thing about the Tarth-Targ connection is that our knowledge of it is limited to one line in the world book that says that House Tarth is “an old family of Andal descent that boasts of ties to the Durrandons, the Baratheons, and more recently to House Targaryen.” What ties to House Targaryen, we don’t know. It’s been theorized that one of Aegon V’s sisters, Daella and Rhae, whose marital history was conveniently left off the Targaryen
lineage
in TWOIAF, was the one who married into House Tarth, and that perhaps she was even already impregnated by Ser Duncan the Tall (a confirmed ancestor of Brienne) when she got married to a Tarth. I’m not sure about the second part, but I’d say that the first part sounds pretty plausible – there are definitely others that could have married into House Tarth (e.g: Princess Vaella, Princess Daenora, or even Prince Maegor if Tarth had a ruling lady) but Daella and Rhae remain the most likely candidates, especially considering the connection to Dunk. But the fact that this is most likely a future plot point in one of the Dunk and Egg stories leaves us with minimal information, and no knowledge of House Tarth during Aerys’ reign or Robert’s Rebellion.

That said, assuming that it was indeed one of Aegon V’s sisters who married into House Tarth, a female Tarth would be an obvious choice to look to, after House Baratheon, due to proximity that puts them at a closer blood relation to the then-ruling royal line than the Martells, whose Targaryen roots go farther back to Daeron II’s sister Daenerys. Now, the lack of mention of a Tarth being considered as a bride for Rhaegar is most definitely due to Doylist reasons since GRRM hasn’t revealed the Targaryen-Tarth connection yet, but that does not mean we should not look for an in-universe explanation to why Aerys went that far back on the family tree to find a Valyrian-blooded match instead. My guess is that this could be attributed to one or more of the following factors:

  1. There was no female Tarth of appropriate age to wed to Rhaegar. We don’t know if Selwyn Tarth had any sisters (and if he did, chances are they were on the older side for a match with Rhaegar, and probably already married by the time Aerys started looking to betroth his son) and Brienne was only born in 280, most likely after Rhaegar was married since he married in the first month of the year.
  2. Familiarity was on the side of the Martells. The Tarths might have a closer blood relation to the Targaryens but Selwyn Tarth was not brought to court the way Steffon Baratheon was, and we generally do not hear of any Tarth presence in the court of Aegon V, Jaehaerys or Aerys.
    The Tarths don’t seem to have been in such open favor of the Iron Throne as the
    Baratheons were, and so Aerys wouldn’t regard them with the same
    familiarity and trust that he put in Steffon Baratheon, and that made a
    Baratheon daughter an obvious choice for a crown princess. Comparatively, the Princess of Dorne was familiar: a former lady-in-waiting to Queen Rhaella who surely had connections in court and who was known personally to Aerys. That makes the Martells a much more noticeable nuptial choice than some blood relatives that Aerys might have only heard of or scarcely met.
  3. The Princess of Dorne wanted to make the match between Princess Elia and the crown prince so Elia was put forward as a viable choice that met all Aerys’ conditions in a bride. Why would he reject the proposed match simply because there might be a Tarth daughter of a closer relation, if he had no pressing reason to pursue said Tarth? 
  4. Aerys might have feared that the Tarths would have an easier time winning support from the lords of the realm to aid Rhaegar, or at least would not be an impediment to Rhaegar’s recruiting. I believe he was counting on the prevalent prejudice and racism against the Dornish to be an additional restriction on Rhaegar’s chances of winning support and thus making him less of a threat to his father’s throne, much like he was counting on the typical isolation that face many an Essosi bride in Westeros making it hard for her to win allies when he sent Steffon in search for a Volantene bride. The history of the anti-Dornish sentiment being the most
    predominate

    motive for lords to flock to the Black Dragon’s banner would not be lost on Aerys who fought in the War of the Ninepenny Kings, and so he probably hoped that Rhaegar’s connection to Dorne would do the same, driving people to his banner instead.

  5. While the Tarths are an ancient family that used to be royal, they are still only vassals of Storm’s End, and not as great a house as the Martells. A match with a Great House might have satisfied Aerys’ ego more and worked out better for the prestige of the royal family.

As for the girl!Rhaegar au, as I’ve stated, Aerys would be looking for the most advantageous match he could find for his daughter. House Tarth’s power does not really compare to the other houses I’ve suggested.

queennymeria:

“I was the oldest,” the prince said, “and yet I am the last. After Mors and Olyvar died in their cradles, I gave up hope of brothers. I was nine when Elia came, a squire in service at Salt Shore. When the raven arrived with word that my mother had been brought to bed a month too soon, I was old enough to understand that meant the child would not live. Even when Lord Gargalen told me that I had a sister, I assured him that she must shortly die. Yet she lived, by the Mother’s mercy. And a year later Oberyn arrived, squalling and kicking. I was a man grown when they were playing in these pools. Yet here I sit, and they are gone.”

ramavatarama-o-rama:

It kinda has been a though week (oii has it ever) but things are getting back on track and I’m feeling productive again. So between commission work I made some doodles of the Greyjoy siblings Theon and Asha, I like to think their eyes are shades of blue-ish ocean shades.

While their appareances are my take on their book looks, their clothes are AU ish. I practically love all of GoT’s costume choices, so this Asha is wearing that, tho in this AU she has only recently taken command of her own ship with the deaths of her brothers after the failed assault of the Greyjoys on Winterfell, which left Theon Lyanna’s captive. Greener than her book counterpart in terms of experience, it’s clear her nature goes beyond being Balon’s de facto heir. Even with her older brothers alive in a world where the Greyjoy rebellion took longer to happen, she still feels the call of the sea, and with Theon, Balon’s remaining heir in captivity, she will have to step up to try to get her brother back.

With Theon I’m workshopping a sexy pirate look TBH. He has been raised by Balon in this AU yet his place as third son has made his life rather leisure-y, so when he ends up as Lyanna’s captive he’s way out of his depth (hehe) but willing to make things work out his way. Overall he’s glad his coat survived his ship getting burned.