Cersei and Jamie are Targaryens

[DavosSeaworthy]

I've just decided that everyone is a secret Targ, even the actual Targs.

[7th-key]

Jon being a Targ is basically a secret ptince trope, a particular case of the ugly duckling.

For Tyrion it would be the same. A fairytale plot line to make him a dragonrider.

Being a Targ doesn't make you a better person, thus it would be a nice counterpart to Jon's revelation to make our beloved "evil twins" half Targs, since being a Targ never gave anybody the moral highground.

It wouldn't make Jaime and Cersei magical saviours of the world, but present a complexer vision of royal blood.

Ergo not so much of a plot advancing aspect but an enriching of the narrative / world (it's not like GRRM never dwells on that...). I personally find the lists of ironies that would come out of it very entertaining even though they surely are no proof.

[Blushingfae]

if it perhaps uncovered that bitter tywin was shooting blanks, it would be irony.

All three kids trying to get the approval of their father, when he was not really their father.

Ilyn Payne and Pycelle might have known this. Might be worth removing a tounge to keep that secret.

The idea that Tywin strangled Joanna after Tyrion was born rather than Tyrion really killing mom in birth...well, actions of a frustrated man.

[Zach9934]

I know there has been a little speculation that the Lannister twins, Cersei and Jaime, are, in fact, part Targaryen. In my opinion, I am convinced this is actually the case, and I will lie forth what I believe to be the evidence for this position. This theory sprawls a little bit, and in fact has to do slightly with Tyrion, Tywin, and a couple of the more important prophecies in the ASOIAF series.

1) The first clue that led me down this road comes from Barristan Selmy in a conversation with Daenerys in ADWD, chapter 43. Danny is on her way to her wedding in Mereen to Hizdahr zo Loraq, and has a discussion about her own parents with Selmy along the way.

“Tell me,” Dany said as the procession turned toward the Temple of the Graces, “if my father and my mother had been free to follow their own hearts, whom would they have wed?”

“It was long ago. Your Grace would not know them.”

“You know, though. Tell me.”

The old knight inclined his head. “The queen your mother was always mindful of her duty.” He was handsome in his gold-and-silver armor, his white cloak streaming from his shoulders, but he sounded like a man in pain, as if every word were a stone he had to pass. “As a girl, though… she was once smitten with a young knight from the stormlands who wore her favor at a tourney and named her the queen of love and beauty. A brief thing.”

“What happened to this knight?”

“He put away his lance the day your lady mother wed your father. Afterward he became most pious, and was heard to say that only the Maiden could replace Queen Rhaella in his heart. His passion was impossible, of course. A landed knight is no fit consort for a princess of royal blood.”

And Daario Naharis is only a sellsword, not fit to buckle on the golden spurs of even a landed knight. “And my father? Was there some woman he loved better than his queen?”

Ser Barristan shifted in the saddle. “Not… not loved. Mayhaps wanted is a better word, but… it was only kitchen gossip, the whispers of washerwomen and stableboys…”

“I want to know. I never knew my father. I want to know everything about him. The good and … the rest.”

“As you command.” The white knight chose his words with care. “Prince Aerys… as a youth, he was taken with a certain lady of Casterly Rock, a cousin of Tywin Lannister. When she and Tywin wed, your father drank too much wine at the wedding feast and was heard to say that it was a great pity that the lord’s right to the first night had been abolished. A drunken jape, no more, but Tywin Lannister was not a man to forget such words, or the… the liberties your father took during the bedding.” His face reddened. “I have said too much your grace. I-“

And then the conversation is cut off by Hizdahr’s procession meeting Dany’s….

I know this seems trivial, but as we all know, GRRM puts these little snippets in for a reason, and if you read carefully, you can figure out some important information that will be revealed later.

Now we all know that the Kingsguard are privy to the intimate daily happenings of the royal family. Perhaps Barristan knows more than he is letting on here, perhaps not. But is it possible that he was going to share some more gossip about what happened on Tywin-Joanna’s wedding night? Perhaps that her father Aerys DID in fact invoke the lord’s right? Hmmm…

So this was what caught my eye, and set me off on my journey to find more evidence.

2) You might be sitting there thinking, “This is ridiculous! Why is everyone trying to find hidden Targs everywhere?! Jaime and Cersei don’t look anything like Targs, they have all the physical characteristics of Lannisters!” And of course, that last exclamation would be true, they most certainly do have the physical characteristics of Lannisters: both Cersei and Jaime have the golden hair and green eyes of Lannisters. However, we also know that Targaryen genes can be recessive and other, stronger, genes can offset their physical manifestation. This may be part of the reason Targaryen’s intermarry to keep the integrity of their appearance. For example, if we take that R+L=J is a fact, despite Rhaegar being Jon’s father, he looks entirely like a Stark. Catlyn even remarks that, to her annoyance (and my annoyance with HER), Jon “looked more like Ned that any of the trueborn sons she bore him.” (chapter 6, AGOT).

Perhaps you don’t believe in the whole R+L=J thing (which is ridiculous), and then you will say that this instance is not evidence at all.

Those of you have read “The Hedge Knight,” know that it involves Dunk & Egg and a tournament. I will cut right to brass tax, and remind you that Baelor “Breakspear” Targaryen had dark hair from his Dornish mother, Myriah Martell. Baleor’s son, Valarr also had dark hair, with a streak of silver-blond down the middle.

Robert, Stannis, and Renly Baratheon, whose grandmother was Rhaelle Targaryen, all have the dark hair and bright blue eyes of Baratheons, without a trace or Targaryen features.

Aegor Rivers, better known as Bittersteel, whose father was Aegon the Unworthy and mother was Barba Bracken, had the purple eyes of the Targaryen’s, but the black hair of the Brackens.

So it’s not particularly telling that neither Jaime nor Cersei have Targaryen features, especially when considering that their mother is a Lannister… And speaking of that… Why, out of all the great houses in Westeros would the Lord of Casterly Rock marry his own cousin? What is the point of that? I believe that GRRM did this deliberately to throw the readers off the trail of Jaime and Cersei being Targs: if Aerys was their father, and Joanna their mother, they would still have the Lannister genes/features from Joanna, without having to get them from Tywin.

Still with me?? Good!

3) The next piece of evidence I would like to submit is a dream that Jaime has after he has finally put an end to the Frey’s bungled siege of Riverrun.

That night he dreamed he was back in the Great Sept of Baelor, still standing vigil over his father’s corpse. The sept was still and dark, until a woman emerged from the shadows and walked slowly to the bier. “Sister?” he said.

But it was not Cersei. She was all in grey, a silent sister. A hood and veil concealed her features, but he could see the candles burning in the green pools of her eyes. “Sister,” he said, “what would you have of me?” His last word echoed up and down the sept, mememememememememememe.

“I am not your sister, Jaime.” She raised a pale soft hand and pushed her hood back. “Have you forgotten me?”

Can I forget someone I never knew? The words caught in his throat. He did know her, but it had been so long…

“Will you forget your own lord father too? I wonder if you ever knew him, truly.” Her eyes were green, her hair spun gold. He could not tell how old she was. Fifteen, he thought, or fifty. She climbed the steps to stand above the bier. “He could never abide being laughed at. That was the thing he hated most.”

“Who are you?” He had to hear her say it.

“The question is, who are you?”

“This is a dream.”

“Is it? She smiled sadly. “Count your hands, child.”

One. One hand, clasped tight around the sword hilt. Only one. “In my dreams I always have two hands.” He raised his right arm and stared uncomprehending at the ugliness of his stump.

“We all dream of things we cannot have. Tywin dreamed that his son would be a great knight, that his daughter would be a queen. He dreamed they would be so strong and brave and beautiful that no one would ever laugh at them.”

“I am a knight,’ he told her, “and Cersei is a queen.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. The woman raised her hood again and turned her back on him. Jaime called after her, but already she was moving away, her skirt whispering lullabies as it brushed across the floor. Don’t leave me, he wanted to call, but of course she’d left them long ago.

(chapter 44, ADWD)

Targaryens are known to have very vivid, and in some cases prophetic, dreams. I believe this is an example of one. Jaime’s other dreams he has 2 hands, but in this one, he only has one. The wording GRRM uses is very careful in this exchange between Jaime and his mother.

“Will you forget your own lord father too? I wonder if you ever knew him, truly.”

Notice she doesn’t say Tywin, she says lord father, and then questions whether Jaime knows him… As in, did you know that Aerys was your father??

GRRM throws is a quick description of Joanna, and as you can see, she has the typical Lannister appearance: her eyes were green, her hair spun gold. As I mentioned before, this explains why Jaime and Cersei still have the Lannister look despite having Aerys as a father.

“We all dream of things we cannot have. Tywin dreamed that his son would be a great knight, that his daughter would be a queen. He dreamed they would be so strong and brave and beautiful that no one would ever laugh at them.”

Notice that here, Joanna refers to Tywin, but does NOT refer to him as Jaime’s father.

“I am a knight,’ he told her, “and Cersei is a queen.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. The woman raised her hood again and turned her back on him. Jaime called after her, but already she was moving away, her skirt whispering lullabies as it brushed across the floor….

Why the tear? It is my belief that Joanna sheds a tear because while Jaime is a knight, and Cersei is a queen, they are not actually Tywin’s children.

4) The next exhibit comes via one of GRRM’s favorite vehicles for advancing the story in ASOIAF… the flashback.

One of the reasons I am growing more and more dissatisfied with the HBO version of this series is their refusal to include any flashbacks into the narrative. After all, Rhaegar has been dead for roughly 15 years at the time of this saga, and yet, he is arguably one of the top 5 most “important” characters to the entire series (in my estimation of importance, he is somewhere in the ballpark of Danny, Jon, Bran, and Stannis). GRRM has used flashbacks as a powerful tool for both understanding the history of Westeros, the intricacies of the plot of ASOIAF, and, perhaps, most importantly, foreshadowing of things yet to occur. As someone who worked in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, I understand (but can’t abide) HBO’s stance on the flashback: I would venture a majority of “Game of Thrones” viewers have not read the books, and therefore flashbacks (or visions for that matter – like Melissandre’s or other characters who have them) would take away from audience shock-factor, which is critical to television success

Nevertheless, I feel HBO is doing the viewers a great disservice by not using the flashback vehicle – especially when it comes to Rhaegar. We are already 3+ books into television seasons, and barely anything is known of Rhaegar to the TV audience… and that really is a shame.

Rhaegar is, for all intensive purposes, Mr. Right…. He’s handsome, smart, passionate, compassionate, artistic, well-read, valiant, tough… basically, there is no positive-human-characteristic-adjective that Rhaegar does not possess. To use and an old saying, “Women want him, and men want to be him.” It’s no wonder that even Tywin Lannister deems him worthy of Cersei.

On top of all Rhaegar’s well-documented dreamy characteristics, he is also a believer in prophecies. This is something that, to me, added and extra level of credentials to his already impressive resume… Let’s face it, the world of Ice and Fire is one of magic, mystery, and intrigue… those who have a stake in these factors, Targaryens, Starks, followers or R’hllor, have a leg up on those who don’t (basically all of the southerners from Westeros – Seriously, when the white walkers come, will it matter how much gold the Lannister, Tyrell, or Hightower families have? Or will those who have some juju – the aforementioned - be the ones who stand up to the bad juju? My money’s on the families with the good juju).

Rhaegar believes in prophecies… He believed in the “Prince who was promised” prophecy (I’m not getting into the specifics of that… if you don’t know what that is, you can certainly find out about it from Googling it), and he clearly believed in the “Dragon has 3 heads” prophecy – why else would he take off with Lyanna Stark and get down to baby making if not to produce a 3^rd heir once it was clear Elia would have no more children? – I don’t believe Rhaegar was the type to just take off on an extended “sow your royal oats” vacation unless he believed it was of vital importance. Especially once Robert started his Rebellion.

So… Now that I have established once and for all Rhaegar’s importance, gravity, and foresight, allow me to finally put a point on this whole matter. In AFFC, chapter 8, Jaime reflects on his last encounter with Rhaegar (and like everyone else in ASOIAF, there seems to be a note of reverence in his tone when discussing Rhaegar… Respect that, in general, the only other characters I can remember Jaime speaking/thinking about with any kind of respect is The Blackfish, Selmy, and Aurthur Dayne).

The day had been windy when he said farewell to Rhaegar, in the yard of the Red Keep. The prince had donned his night-black armor, with the three-headed dragon picked out in rubies on his breastplate. “Your Grace,” Jaime had pleaded, “let Darry stay to guard the king this once, or Ser Barristan. Their cloaks are as white as mine.”

Prince Rhaegar shook his head. “My royal sire fears your father more than he does our cousin Robert. He wants you close, so Lord Tywin cannot harm him. I dare not take that crutch away from him at such an hour.”

Jaime’s anger had risen up in his throat. “I am not a crutch. I am a knight of the Kingsguard.”

“Then guard the king.” Ser John Darry snapped at him. “When you donned that cloak, you promised to obey.”

Rhaegar had put his hand on Jaime’s shoulder. “When this battle’s done I mean to call a council. Changes will be made. I meant to do it long ago, but… well, it does no good to speak of roads not taken. We shall talk when I return.”

GRRM does not just casually toss verbiage and dialog around. When Rhaegar says, “… our cousin Robert.” I think he is trying to sneakily insert Jaime into that “our.” True, Robert is Rhaegars’s cousin… but I don’t think he was using a variation of the “royal we” in referring to Robert as “our cousin”… I think he was intentionally including Jaime in this “our.” He then goes on to say that he means to call a council… Perhaps this is where he means to shed light on the fact that Jaime and Cersei are, in fact, his kin.

Again, Rhaegar is the MAN… I do not find it a stretch whatsoever to believe that he knows that Jaime and Cersei’s father is Aerys, that he plans to do something about it, and that time and circumstance got in the way… I can’t help but think about how similar this scene is to the scene when Jon Snow is leaving for the wall and Ned says something like, “Next time I see you, we will talk about your mother,” only to be killed before he can tell Jon that Lyanna is his mother. It is very GRRM to leave us hoping, sitting on the edge of our seats, that the outcome we want will happen, only to have outside forces swoop in and rob us of our hopes and dreams (Robb’s plan with Howland Reed, Jon Snow’s legitimization, Jon Snow’s plan to march on Ramsey Bolton, Oberyn Martell’s defeat of The Mountain – just to name a few letdowns).

I find it peculiar that Rhaegar would use the pronoun “our,” talk about instituting changes, and then conveniently dye before he can call for changes; to me, way too circumstantial not to be part of GRRM’s grand-scheme.

5) The next piece of evidence for Jaime and Cersei actually being Targs is not a single event or conversation or scene… It is 5 books full of Cersei’s madness.

The Targaryen madness is well documented. Barristan Selmy quotes the king who raised him to the Kingsguard, Jaehaerys II, when speaking to Daenerys, “King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness were two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, he said, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land.” I don’t think I need to elaborate, so I’ll just throw out a couple names of Targaryens afflicted with this madness: Baelor the Blessed, The Mad King, Viserys III, Aerion Brightflame.

Cersei certainly embodies this madness. After Joffrey is killed at his wedding, it is kicked into another gear. In ADWD, when Cersei is a POV character, and you are in her head for the first time, you can see just how nutty she is. I am not going to list every insane thought she has or the complete and utter botching and running the realm through brainless decision after brain-dead decision. If you have read ADWD and don’t think Cersei is a total nut job, then, as the saying goes, agree to disagree.

As there is no documented madness pervasive in the Lannister family, it could surely be possible that by pure chance that eventually someone in the family would be crazy, and that could explain Cersei’s madness… However, for her son to be afflicted by the same madness, as Joffrey definitely was, it would seem that it was a hereditary issue. Considering that Joffrey’s parents are Jaime and Cersei, both of whom are half Targaryen, he is also 50% Targaryen, and therefore susceptible to the same affliction.

6) My next exhibit is 2 separate instances that seemed as though they were meant to be offhand comments, but when taken in the context that GRRM almost never has offhand comments actually being offhand, appear to me to be important.

The first example is from ASOS, chapter 62. The chapter chronicles Jaime’s return to king’s landing, and subsequent meeting with Tywin. This is the meeting where Tywin gives Jaime the Valyrian steel sword that Jaime later gives to Brienne and later becomes know as Oathkeeper. After presenting Jaime with the sword, Tywin begins explaining his plan to have Jaime released from his vows of the Kingsguard, named his formal heir to Casterly Rock, and even his plan to possibly wed Jaime to Margery Tyrell. Jaime, fed up with the political BS of Westeros, and determined to remove the stain from his honor, launches into a tirade in which he dismisses Tywin’s plan, and tells Tywin that he doesn’t want Casterly Rock. After a prolonged, uncomfortable silence, Tywin responds to Jaime:

“You are not my son.” Lord Tywin turned his face away. “You say you are the Lord Commander, and only that. Very well, ser. Go do you duty.”

Taken alone, this may be exactly what Jaime takes away from the dismissal, that Tywin has disowned him. However, when taken with the second example, I think it is more telling than that.

The second example in this exhibit is from AFFC, chapter 33. The chapter ends with Jaime in his tent talking to his aunt Genna. After some family-talk and anecdotes about Tywin, Genna and Jaime have the following exchange:

“… Who will protect us now?”

Jaime kissed her cheek. “He left a son.”

“Aye, he did. That is what I fear the most, in truth.”
That was a queer remark. “Why should you fear?”

“Jaime,” she said, tugging on his ear, “sweetling, I have known you since you were a babe at Joanna’s breast. You smile like Gerion and fight like Tyg, and there’s some of Kevan in you, else you would not wear that cloak… but Tyrion is Tywin’s son, not you. I said so once to your father’s face, and he would not speak to me for half a year. Men are such thundering fools. Even the sort who come along once in a thousand years.”

Again, either of these comments alone might be exactly as it appears, a figurative comment. If the first comment from Tywin were made alone, perhaps, as stated above, it would have simply been Jaime’s interpretation of disownment. Had Genna’s comment been made alone, it might have been a figurative commentary on how Tyrion had Tywin’s cunning, where as Jaime did not. Taken together, however, I believe that these comments are foreshadowing of the revelation that Tywin was not the father of Jaime and Cersei.

Tangent

This example brings me to a Tyrion-tangent that ties in with this theory. Poor Tyrion… His stature as a dwarf makes him an easy target for all kinds of accusations and insults. We know them all: whoremonger, liar, monster, kinslayer, kingslayer, etc. Some are true, but most are not. But I think above all, and most unfairly, what bothers him most is the blame laid at his feet by both his father and sister for killing Joanna. I mean seriously, how unfair is it to blame a newborn for the death of his own mother during childbirth??

My theory is this… I do not think that Tyrion’s birth was the actual cause of Joanna’s death, although it may have been the proximate cause of her death.

Tywin’s pride is prickly. This is likely from his childhood, and his own perception of his father, who seems to have been weak and brought humiliation down upon the Lannister family name. Once Tywin’s father dies, and Tywin becomes the lord of Casterly Rock, he goes about restoring the roar, so to speak, to the family name. His first act is to parade his father’s paramour through the streets naked. He then deals with several of the Lannister’s unruly bannermen – we know all about the Reynes of Castamere and the Tarbecks. We know about his rise to power in King’s Landing as Hand, the prowess as a military tactician, and the ruthless way he deals with those who stand in his way.

Now imagine that YOU are Tywin Lannister and when you lay your eyes upon your second son, you see a dwarf…. Utter dismay, right? How could the powerful and proud Tywin Lannister sire such a creature?? Surely, this was not HIS fault. Therefore, the blame must lie with Joanna… Or perhaps, as he tells Tyrion in the chapter where Tyrion asks for Casterly Rock, Tywin is prepared to thrown Tyrion into the sea… Either way, once Tywin places the blame on poor Joanna, who has just gone through labor (I’m not a mother, but I’ve heard that’s a rather difficult task), and is now being questioned about why the baby she has just birthed is a dwarf, or Tywin tells his wife that he plans to thrown the newborn baby into the sea… well, it wouldn’t be so hard to envision a scenarios where an emotional and irritated Joanna blurts out the truth to Tywin… “Don’t blame me! Jaime and Cersei came out just fine, and they’re not yours! They’re Aerys’s!! That’s right, Aerys!! This one is yours, and it’s a dwarf!! Clearly, you are the problem here, buddy, not me!!” Obviously, these would not be her words of choice, but you get the idea.

Tywin, furious at himself for being the father to a dwarf, furious at Joanna for cuckolding him, furious at Aerys for knocking up his wife, loses it… In a rage, he kills Joanna.

Now, assuming that Aerys doesn’t know that Jaime and Cersei are his, Tywin has just disposed of the only person who knows that he is not the father of the twins. All he has to do is go on pretending that they are his, and let’s face it, Tywin is waaaaaay too proud to admit to the entire realm that “his” children were actually sired by The Mad King, and no one will ever be the wiser (except, of course, members of the Kingsguard who may have known about it – of which, the only remaining living member of Aerys’s guard is Selmy).

Now this may be a stretch, but… Considering that, in my opinion, Tywin is a “bad guy,” and that Tyrion is a “good guy,” this would make sense stylistically. Tyrion is absolved from the deed he likely feels worst about, and we, the audience get to say, “I knew Tywin was an *******!! And he blamed Tyrion the whole time!!”

I’m not exactly sure how Tyrion would ever find out about this… Of course, Tywin would take every precaution to make sure that anyone who could have possibly known about his murdering his wife was eliminated. But still, I could definitely see this tying in to the whole scenario.

Another note… Assuming that Aerys DID actually know that Cersei and Jaime were his children, his actions towards them would make all the more sense. In order to make sure Jaime never made a claim to the throne, naming him to the Kingsguard, and thus forcing him to give up any claim to land, titles, keeps, marriages, and heirs, eliminates him from making a play on the throne. Similarly, his denial of Tywin’s request to marry Rhaegar to Cersei removes any possibility of Aerys allowing Tywin, of whom he had quite insecurity about, to have a grandchild ascend to the throne. Just food for thought….

Tangent over.

7) My next piece of evidence is from one of the most important prophecies in the whole series: Maggy the Frog’s prophesy to Cersei – and most importantly to the prophecy, the issue of the Valonqar. (AFFC, chapter 36)

I am operating under the assumption that everyone remembers the prophecy from Maggy, and that I don’t have to go into its entirety, and so I will only highlight the pertinent portion.

… “I will be queen, though?” asked the younger her.

“Aye.” Malice gleamed in Maggy’s yellow eyes. “Queen you shall be… until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear.”

… “And when the tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands around your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”

Heavy stuff, and also the subject of much debate among fans. There are those (fans) who believe that valonqar refers to Jaime, who is Cersei’s younger brother by a few moments. Cersei herself believes that the valonqar is Tyrion, who she blames for Joff’s death and her mother’s death. And she also falsely assumes that the younger more beautiful queen is Margery. Others (again, fans) believe that it is Arya, which, I must admit is an attractive proposition since Cersei is #1 on her hit-list (and it may be possible that now that Arya can change her face, she will eventually return disguised as Tyrion to finally exact revenge on Cersei in what she might consider the most cruel fashion possible).

However, I believe that the valonqar is Daenerys. Younger? Check. More beautiful? Check. Younger brother? CHECK!

What! You might be saying. How? You might be asking. Well, allow me to elaborate.

Again, let me operate under the assumption that no one reading this is a novice, and we all remember Sam’s journey to Oldtown with Gilly and Maester Aemon. When Aemon is nearing the end, he goes on a rant about the prince who was promised: (AFFC, chapter 35)

… “No one ever looked for a girl ... It was a prince that was promised, not a princess. Rhaegar, I thought … the smoke was from the fire that devoured Summerhall on the day of his birth, the salt from the tears shed for those who died. He shared my belief when he was young, but later he became persuaded that it was his own son who fulfilled the prophecy, for a comet had been seen above King’s Landing on the night Aegon was conceived, and Rhaegar was certain the bleeding star had to be a comet. What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise! The error crept in from the translation. Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years…”

What does this have to do with Maggy’s prophecy?? Well, if the gender of dragons, and the gender of Valyrian words, can switch from male to female, then valonqar may not actually mean little brother at all… It may in fact mean “little sister.” And if Cersei is a Targ, as I am trying to argue, then Daenerys would be her little half-sister, both of them having Aerys II as their father.

Now the thing with prophecies is that they are tricky business. We have seen this countless times throughout the series, from Melissandre to the House of the Undying, to Quaithe, to the Maegi who delivers Rhaego – Even GRRM himself has warned about the fickleness of prophecies. They are usually cryptic, illusory, and/or figurative. Melissandre’s visions in the fire illustrate this when she complains that she asks R’hllor to show here a vision of Azor Ahai, and “all she sees is snow.” So it is difficult to try and unravel them.

When Maggy says:

“And when the tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands around your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”

It may not literally mean that the valonqar will physically strangle her… I have a hard time believing that Daenerys would actually strangulate Cersei. However, when all is said and done, I could see it a scenario where Cersei is figuratively strangled by Daenerys in some capacity, thus making the prophecy “true.”

There is another point I want to make about Daenerys being the valonqar, and it ties in with my next piece of evidence.

8) So far I’ve discussed evidence to suggest that the “Lannister” twins are, in fact, really Targ bastards sired by Aerys with examples from the characters and dialog. Now I want to examine some potential evidence that comes in the context of the broader storyline as a whole. Get ready… I’m about to plunge into another prophecy here.

“The dragon has three heads.”

We all know this one… And at this point in the series, I think that 2 of the heads are pretty easily identifiable. One is, of course, Daenerys (she’s the friggin’ mother of dragons after all), and the other is Jon Snow (I’m pretty sure that the series is called “A song of Ice and Fire”… If that doesn’t refer to the Stargaryen hybrid, then maybe I’ve completely missed the point of these books).

Who does this leave as the third head???

Personally, I was a little surprised when Aegon VI pops out of nowhere on that poleboat with Tyrion. I suppose it wasn’t the shock that there was another Targaryen around that got to me, but rather that we would meet another “head of the dragon” this late into the series. It just never sat right with me.

Do I actually believe that Aegon is the 3^rd heard of the dragon? No… No I do not.

For those of you who have read the Dunk & Egg stories, you know that they largely deal with Westeros in the years after the Blackfyre Rebellion, and the internal strife its fallout caused within the realm. I ask you this… Why would GRRM come up with the whole Blackfyre storyline if it were not to play a part in the larger ASOIAF saga? As previously mentioned, GRRM doesn’t just throw stuff out there for no reason, and the Blackfyre Rebellions were pretty monumental in the post-conquest history of Westeros. One of the things I marvel at when reading ASOIAF is GRRM’s ability to weave everything, the lands, the people, the plotlines, together into one story where characters cross paths seemingly by happenstance, but in reality, these meetings are prelude to larger plot points. I therefore cannot believe that the entire Blackfyre Rebellion storyline is merely a vehicle for the shorts stories, but rather, that it will be woven into the current events of Westeros during ASOIAF.

That being said, I am fairly certain that Aegon VI is of the Blackfyre line. Supposedly, Maelys the Monstrous was the last of the “Blackfyre Pretenders,” but the door was left wide open for there to be other Blackfyres:

“I admire your powers of persuasion,” Tyrion told Illyrio. “How did you convince the Golden Company to take up the cause of our sweet queen when they have spend so much of their history fighting against the Targaryens?”

Illyrio brushed away the objection as if it were a fly. “Black or red, a dragon is still a dragon. When Maelys the Monstrous died upon the Stepstones, it was the end of the male line of House Blackfyre.”

(ADWD, chapter 5)

Specifically mentioning that the male line was extinguished signaled to me that the female line of the Blackfyres was still kicking around. In this same chapter, Tyrion repeatedly asks Illyrio what he is getting out of helping to reinstate Dany to the Iron Throne. Illyrio finally admits that Viserys had promised him a castle, titles, and the position of master of coin. I, as well as Tyrion, found this to be subterfuge. Why would Illyrio go to all this trouble for such small gains? He’s already spectacularly wealth and powerful in Essos, how much more wealth could the position of master of coin provide him with?

It is my belief that Aegon VI, or fAegon as I’ve seen him called on the net, is not actually Rhaegar’s heir, but rather Illyrio’s son with a Blackfyre woman. This would seem to be a much better motivator for Illyrio to place Aegon on the Iron Throne as Dany’s king. Master of coin… eh, that’s an ok title… Father of the King… Now that is something worth scheming over!

The whole baby switching thing with Varys seems awfully easily to claim, but thrown in that late in the series, it seems more apt as misdirection from GRRM.

Some of you might be saying, “But wait… If Aegon is a Blackfyre, then he is still a Targ. So doesn’t he have to be one of the heads of the dragon?!”

Well, every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square. Just because fAegon has Targ blood, that doesn’t necessarily make him on of the heads of the dragon. Maester Aemon was a Targ; obviously he is not one of the heads. Viserys was a Targ, and clearly not one of the heads. Cersei, as I have laid out, is a Targ, and I don’t believe she is one of the heads either. Who does this leave as the third head of the dragon???

I know there are some who believe that Bran may be the third head. I believe that Bran is crucial to the storyline, I mean, he’s basically Google at this point… but I believe that all three heads of the dragon must have Targ blood, which would rule Bran out. Besides, Bran has his own thing going on… Crazy stuff with Bloodraven (another Targ), so I think his role in the grand scheme of things is separate from “the dragon has three heads” prophecy.

It is my belief that Jaime is the third head. Some of you will say, “Jaime can’t be the third head, he can’t ride a dragon with only one hand!!” Well, personally, I don’t think that Jaime’s loss of a hand is really that big of an impediment to dragon-riding. They use harnesses, and just like a special harness was made for Bran after his fall, a special harness could be made to help Jaime ride a dragon. If you’ve read the short story “the Princess and the Queen,” you know that one of the requirements for riding a dragon is that you need to have Targ blood. Again, not every dragon will let everyone with Targ blood ride them, but you must have Targ blood to hope to ride a dragon. Besides, with Bran’s super-powers, perhaps he would be able to warg-it-up with Jaime’s dragon, and help him out a little bit. Lastly, I find it telling that Viserion’s color scheme is white and gold, much like Jaime’s armor as a Lannister member of the Kingsguard.

GRRM loves to have characters with hidden identities in front of you face for a while, only to reveal them, and have the readers go, “I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming! It was right in front of me the whole time!” Get ready now… I’m about to throw out a whole bunch of rapid-fire theories here that illustrate this point.

“Who the heck are Jon Snow’s parents??”

“Ooooh, Lyanna and Rhaegar! I should have known that!”

“Where is Howland Reed?? Why hasn’t he helped the Starks out yet??

“He was the High Septon the whole time! How did I not realize that?!”

“Is the Hound really dead??”

“Oh man! He’s the big, cloaked gravedigger limping around when Brienne visits the Quiet Isle! Yay! I hope he kills the Mountain!”

“Who is this Arstan Whitebeard dude??”

“Barristan the Bold!! Nice! He joined up with Dany!!”

“This Sphinx dude is suspicious… What’s his deal??”

“Ah! The sphinx is a actually a Sand Snake! I should have known! Her name, Sarella, is Alleras backwards!!”

“Who are all these people on this boat with Tyrion? There has got to be something more to them than meets the eye, doesn’t there??”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!! WHAT?? Aegon’s alive?? John Connington’s alive?? Lemore is the septa Oberyn knocked up?? NUTS!!”

“Jon Snow’s dead!?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

“Melissandre kissed him back to life! Hurray! He’s back! The whole reason Beric Dondarrion and Thoros existed was to show us that a red priest can revive someone who has died, of course!!”

I’m probably wrong about some of this stuff, but you get the idea… Hidden identities are part of the world of ASOIAF. So would it be so shocking if Jaime were the third head of the dragon, hiding in plain sight throughout the whole series? I certainly don’t think so. In fact, I think it’s crazy to believe that we haven’t already met the third head of the dragon.

Now… If Jaime is the third head of the dragon, I believe this actually helps to facilitate Maggy the Frog’s prophecy, and the probability that Dany is actually the valonqar.

Let’s take another look at the prophecy:

… “I will be queen, though?” asked the younger (Cersei).

“Aye.” Malice gleamed in Maggy’s yellow eyes. “Queen you shall be… until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear.”

… “And when the tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands around your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”

Let’s examine the warped mind of Cersei. What exactly does Cersei hold dear? Not a whole lot… Her children first and foremost; her love for them and her desire to protect them are really the only redeeming qualities she has as a character. I believe she also holds dear her power/authority/prestige as queen or queen dowager. Lastly, deep down, I also believe that she holds her brother Jaime dearly, or, at least, as dearly as Cersei is capable of.

Now supposed that Jaime is the third head of the dragon, with Dany and Jon as the other two heads. I firmly believe that Dany will end up as Queen of Westeros, and will naturally need a King. Jon Snow’s destiny, I believe, lies in combating the Others and as the Lord of Winterfell, and possibly King in North (remember, Robb did name Jon his heir). This would leave Jaime as the best suitor for Dany.

Now imagine that Jaime and Dany are wed. Dany would have taken Cersei’s crown and lover. If Jaime plans on telling Myrcella and Tommen that he is their father, which I believe he intends, and ends up with Cersei’s children while she is confined to a dungeon for whatever future blunders she commits in the next 2 books (think of the possibilities!), then Dany would have taken her children too. Children, crown, Jaime; all that Cersei holds dear, right?

9) With my next point, which builds on my last point, I will not be citing specific quotes or descriptions, but will again look at the greater story on the whole.

Is there a character that has gone through greater personal growth than Jaime?

There are other characters that have changed for sure. Jon has become more worldly thanks to his time spent with the wildlings and his experience leading the NW, and is now battle-hardened as well from the wildlings attack on the wall. But, he is still the honor-bound guy he always was having learned that mantra from Ned.

Daenerys has grown as well. At the start of AGOT, she is a shy, scared, little girl. By the end of ADWD, she is a strong but compassionate Queen, striving to rule Mereen as justly as she can, ruling not by bending her own moral constitution to the whims or politics, but by doing what she believes is “right.” However, I believe this is more the product of experience, and that deep down, she is still the same person she always was, simply now of stronger conviction.

Arya? Well she certainly has picked up some delightful tricks, but is she really any different from how she’s always been? Isn’t she still the same wild-Stark she’s always been?

Bran? He certainly has changed, but his personality has remained relatively the same the whole time.

There is Theon, who has certainly gone through more physical appearance change than anyone (deservedly so). But has he really changed deep down?? Personally, I don’t think so; he’s still a jerk.

Sansa is finally become less useless (although it’s hard to blame someone who clearly inherited a large portion of Tully genes, Tullys being the stupidest family in all of Westeros… excluding the Blackfish, who was so not stupid that he was the black sheep of the family), but her character arc has been slow and not all that severe to this point.

Jaime, on the other hand, has undergone quite a remarkable change. Think back to AGOT. He is arrogant, incestual, and in general, a jerk. I mean, at the point at which he takes off the harry the Riverlands, having already been responsible for Ned’s broken leg after the confrontation in front of Littlefinger’s brothel, and worse, throwing Bran out the window, he is pretty much the #1 “bad guy” to that point in the story. He also does his best to avoid any kind of responsibility.

But as you all know, his journey with Brienne changed all that. Her dogged observance of her vows to Cat clearly makes an impression on him. Of course, losing his hand was critical as well; Jaime’s swordhand was what defined him. Without it, he realizes quickly, he really is nothing/no one. I think a defining moment in his personal journey is when he opens the White Book, and realizes that his page is mostly blank: that it is up to him what is written there from that point forward.

We have already touched on how he turns down Tywin’s proposal, intent on sticking to his vows as the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Later, when Jaime leaves to sort out Harrenhal and Riverrun, we actually get to see Jaime embrace responsibility, and he even seems to relish the opportunity. Jaime’s adventures in the Riverlands are actually among my favorite moments in the whole series. He shows good character in his absolute loathing for the Mountain’s men, and the punishments he metes out to those who rape the women of Harrenhal, keeps his cool while being lambasted my The Blackfish (An incredible scene, The Blackfish absolutely abuses him), in turn, he abuses Ryman Frey for his incompetence (always thoroughly enjoyable to see a Frey get ripped on), shows his teeth with Edmure (another one of those worthless Tully members), tempers Bracken’s expectations, and treats fairly with Blackwood. He also shows respect for Jeyne Westerling for her loyalty to Robb, and contempt for her mother for scheming with Tywin to make sure Jeyne never got pregnant. All the while, he is practicing doggedly with Illyn Payne, determined to become a competent fighter with his left hand. Even his interest in the Pennytree, which seems like something he wouldn’t have even bothered to wonder about before his rebirth.

Of course, most notably, he ignores Cersei’s plea for help. This was, in my opinion, a huge development for Jaime. Cersei is, after all, a horrible person, and probably the root of most of Jaime’s issues. I definitely gave a little fist pump when he threw her message to him into the fire.

By the time he leaves with Brienne as part of Stoneheart’s plan to lure Jaime to his death (ugh… if there’s anything worse than a Tully, it’s an undead Tully), personally, I felt Jaime had basically atoned for all his poor behavior at the beginning of the series (well, except for throwing Bran out the window… but I blame that on Cersei’s influence, and I have a feeling that somewhere down the line, Jaime will make it up to Bran in some capacity).

Now why would GRRM go to all the trouble of rehabbing Jaime’s image to the readers if he were not central to the overall plot of the series? Why take Jaime from a “bad guy” to a “good guy?” My belief is that GRRM wants you to like him because he is the third head of the dragon. He wants the readers to want to root for Jaime. And from a personal standpoint, I do root for Jaime.

10) My last point is a literary one. As of the end of ADWD, Tyrion is known as both a Kingslayer (unfair) and a Kinslayer (fair). He did not actually kill Joff, we know that was the work of Littlefinger and the Queen of Thorns, but, yes, he most certainly did kill Tywin. However, operating under the assumption that Tywin killed Joanna, and then spent the next 30-odd years blaming Tyrion for it, I would say that Tyrion was justified in killing Tywin, without even taking anything else (Tysha, Shae, the trial) into account.

Jaime is, quite famously, known throughout the realm as “The Kingslayer” for disposing of Aerys. We all know the story; Jaime was trying to save the inhabitants of KL from burning to death, and so disposed of Aerys and the pyromancers who were planning to raze the city with wildfire. Unfortunately, Brienne is the only person in Westeros besides Jaime who knows about this.

As readers we have seen the bond that Jaime and Tyrion share. Jaime is the only one who has ever had Tyrion’s back. Tyrion has the typical devotion of a younger brother towards his older brother. Jaime often remarks to himself that if he were Tyrion, he would know what to say in a given instance. Heck, after Cat kidnaps Tyrion, mistakenly believing that it was he who tried to have Bran killed (UGH… everything bad that happens in Westeros is almost entirely caused by one stupid member of the Tully family or another), Jaime basically starts a war with the Riverlords.

And of course, most importantly, it is Jaime who frees Tyrion from the dungeons when he loses the trial by combat, and act that all of us (if you weren’t hoping Tyrion was going to be rescued, there is something wrong with you) as fans were thankful for.

So there is this connection between the two (half) brothers. How fitting would it be if it turned out they had both killed their fathers? Jaime’s killing of Aerys would have been unknowing patricide, and there can be no disputing that Tyrion knew he was killing his own father. I just think it would be another thing that, once revealed, would show GRRM’s brilliance as a writer, to tie these things that seem analogous together. And of course, since Tyrion is still blamed for Joff’s death by the public, it would make both Jaime and Tyrion “Kingslayers” as well. Quite a fitting brotherly bond to discuss over some mulled wine, no?

Well…. That’s about it. Naturally, I am probably totally off the mark on about 99% of this stuff. But, I hope, that I at least gave you something to think about, and that you enjoyed reading my wild accusations/theories.

Let the bashing begin!

[Fai]

Lion or Dragon, A sister fucker is still a sister fucker.

[ambi76]

:wub: Your post Zach9934.

And I don't get the "OMG! They're obviously Lannisters11!!1" complains from other parts of fandom because, well, of course they are. Their mother was a Lannister, they were raised as Lannisters, they're children of the Rock. Which is in no way touched by Aerys being their sperm donor. That just creates all those wonderful ironies and potentials in the story that make me squee.

[Zach9934]

:wub: Your post Zach9934. And I don't get the "OMG! They're obviously Lannisters11!!1" complain because, well, of course they are. Their mother was a Lannister, they were raised as Lannisters, they're children of the Rock. Which is in no way touched by Aerys being their sperm donor. That just creates all those wonderful ironies and potentials in the story that make me squee.

There is actually no part of my post that says, and I quote from your post "'OMG! They're obviously Lannisters11!!1""

Not really sure you read the entirety of my post, or you would have seen that these are the "ironies and potentials" I am discussing... And neither do I think that, compared to Tywin, Jaime nor Cersei act like him... Tyrion does, to some degree, cunning-wise, but not the ruthlessness (except for that singer he sent to the brown-pot)... and this is primarily because Jaime and Cersei are not Tywin's issue.

[Dofs]

:wub: Your post Zach9934. And I don't get the "OMG! They're obviously Lannisters11!!1" complain because, well, of course they are. Their mother was a Lannister, they were raised as Lannisters, they're children of the Rock. Which is in no way touched by Aerys being their sperm donor. That just creates all those wonderful ironies and potentials in the story that make me squee.

In Westeros, Aerys being the father will change everything. They would be just bastards and not Lannisters, how Jon is a bastard (or a Targ if R+L=J is true) and not a Stark.

[ambi76]

Sorry, Zach, the complaining part was not about your post, but about former posters in this thread, I love your post! Maybe I should have actually said so, and not just used an emoticon. I just really like emoticons. :blushing: Will edit in a paragraph to make it more clear.

In Westeros, Aerys being the father will change everything. They would be just bastards and not Lannisters, how Jon is a bastard (or a Targ if R+L=J is true) and not a Stark.

I'm pretty sure the twins would still ID as Lannisters no matter what Westeros thinks (who will even care at the end of this story?) just with a little delicious extra Targ angst (there will be definitely much Stark-Targ angst in Jon's case).

I personally have this idea about Jaime's "dream" that he has of Kings Landing burning. I think he vividly mentions seeing smallfolk perish and thinks it's a nightmare of what could have happened, if he hadn't killed Aerys. What if this isn't a dream but a vision of what will happen. A vision of the future, that so many Targs trueborn and bastards(!) have had.

[Salafi Stannis]

No

[melx]

@ Zach9934 great stuff mate

[pig boy pate]

Cersei/Jaime Targaryen is one of my favorite plot twists ever and I'm thoroughly convinced, even if the connections forever remain implied instead of concretely asserted. It makes Jaime a lot like Oedipus, estranged from his blood father to live with his adoptive one, only to return in adulthood and unknowingly kill his real father. I also agree that it's much better literary irony if Tyrion is Tywin's only natural son.

I would also like to thank people who responded to this thread with single word answers like "no"; you are certainly proving your intellectual depth with such thought-provoking content, and I look forward to reading one-word responses from you in the future.

[Blazfemur]

oh by the flaming tits of Rh'llor this thread is 400+, isnt time to have it closed?

[not in the face]

Time to read the World of Ice and Fire.

[Blazfemur]

Time to read the World of Ice and Fire.

no, it's about time for Dragon Age: Inquisition to finally get released. What, 15 more days?

[King in the North Carolina]

Time to read the World of Ice and Fire.

Yeah, the chronology revealed in TWOIAF all but rules out Aerys being the father of the twins.

[Amris]

I know there has been a little speculation that the Lannister twins, Cersei and Jaime, are, in fact, part Targaryen. In my opinion, I am convinced this is actually the case, and I will lie forth what I believe to be the evidence for this position. This theory sprawls a little bit, and in fact has to do slightly with Tyrion, Tywin, and a couple of the more important prophecies in the ASOIAF series.

1) The first clue that led me down this road comes from Barristan Selmy in a conversation with Daenerys in ADWD, chapter 43. Danny is on her way to her wedding in Mereen to Hizdahr zo Loraq, and has a discussion about her own parents with Selmy along the way.

“Tell me,” Dany said as the procession turned toward the Temple of the Graces, “if my father and my mother had been free to follow their own hearts, whom would they have wed?”

“It was long ago. Your Grace would not know them.”

“You know, though. Tell me.”

The old knight inclined his head. “The queen your mother was always mindful of her duty.” He was handsome in his gold-and-silver armor, his white cloak streaming from his shoulders, but he sounded like a man in pain, as if every word were a stone he had to pass. “As a girl, though… she was once smitten with a young knight from the stormlands who wore her favor at a tourney and named her the queen of love and beauty. A brief thing.”

“What happened to this knight?”

“He put away his lance the day your lady mother wed your father. Afterward he became most pious, and was heard to say that only the Maiden could replace Queen Rhaella in his heart. His passion was impossible, of course. A landed knight is no fit consort for a princess of royal blood.”

And Daario Naharis is only a sellsword, not fit to buckle on the golden spurs of even a landed knight. “And my father? Was there some woman he loved better than his queen?”

Ser Barristan shifted in the saddle. “Not… not loved. Mayhaps wanted is a better word, but… it was only kitchen gossip, the whispers of washerwomen and stableboys…”

“I want to know. I never knew my father. I want to know everything about him. The good and … the rest.”

“As you command.” The white knight chose his words with care. “Prince Aerys… as a youth, he was taken with a certain lady of Casterly Rock, a cousin of Tywin Lannister. When she and Tywin wed, your father drank too much wine at the wedding feast and was heard to say that it was a great pity that the lord’s right to the first night had been abolished. A drunken jape, no more, but Tywin Lannister was not a man to forget such words, or the… the liberties your father took during the bedding.” His face reddened. “I have said too much your grace. I-“

And then the conversation is cut off by Hizdahr’s procession meeting Dany’s….

I know this seems trivial, but as we all know, GRRM puts these little snippets in for a reason, and if you read carefully, you can figure out some important information that will be revealed later.

Now we all know that the Kingsguard are privy to the intimate daily happenings of the royal family. Perhaps Barristan knows more than he is letting on here, perhaps not. But is it possible that he was going to share some more gossip about what happened on Tywin-Joanna’s wedding night? Perhaps that her father Aerys DID in fact invoke the lord’s right? Hmmm…

So this was what caught my eye, and set me off on my journey to find more evidence.

2) You might be sitting there thinking, “This is ridiculous! Why is everyone trying to find hidden Targs everywhere?! Jaime and Cersei don’t look anything like Targs, they have all the physical characteristics of Lannisters!” And of course, that last exclamation would be true, they most certainly do have the physical characteristics of Lannisters: both Cersei and Jaime have the golden hair and green eyes of Lannisters. However, we also know that Targaryen genes can be recessive and other, stronger, genes can offset their physical manifestation. This may be part of the reason Targaryen’s intermarry to keep the integrity of their appearance. For example, if we take that R+L=J is a fact, despite Rhaegar being Jon’s father, he looks entirely like a Stark. Catlyn even remarks that, to her annoyance (and my annoyance with HER), Jon “looked more like Ned that any of the trueborn sons she bore him.” (chapter 6, AGOT).

Perhaps you don’t believe in the whole R+L=J thing (which is ridiculous), and then you will say that this instance is not evidence at all.

Those of you have read “The Hedge Knight,” know that it involves Dunk & Egg and a tournament. I will cut right to brass tax, and remind you that Baelor “Breakspear” Targaryen had dark hair from his Dornish mother, Myriah Martell. Baleor’s son, Valarr also had dark hair, with a streak of silver-blond down the middle.

Robert, Stannis, and Renly Baratheon, whose grandmother was Rhaelle Targaryen, all have the dark hair and bright blue eyes of Baratheons, without a trace or Targaryen features.

Aegor Rivers, better known as Bittersteel, whose father was Aegon the Unworthy and mother was Barba Bracken, had the purple eyes of the Targaryen’s, but the black hair of the Brackens.

So it’s not particularly telling that neither Jaime nor Cersei have Targaryen features, especially when considering that their mother is a Lannister… And speaking of that… Why, out of all the great houses in Westeros would the Lord of Casterly Rock marry his own cousin? What is the point of that? I believe that GRRM did this deliberately to throw the readers off the trail of Jaime and Cersei being Targs: if Aerys was their father, and Joanna their mother, they would still have the Lannister genes/features from Joanna, without having to get them from Tywin.

Still with me?? Good!

3) The next piece of evidence I would like to submit is a dream that Jaime has after he has finally put an end to the Frey’s bungled siege of Riverrun.

That night he dreamed he was back in the Great Sept of Baelor, still standing vigil over his father’s corpse. The sept was still and dark, until a woman emerged from the shadows and walked slowly to the bier. “Sister?” he said.

But it was not Cersei. She was all in grey, a silent sister. A hood and veil concealed her features, but he could see the candles burning in the green pools of her eyes. “Sister,” he said, “what would you have of me?” His last word echoed up and down the sept, mememememememememememe.

“I am not your sister, Jaime.” She raised a pale soft hand and pushed her hood back. “Have you forgotten me?”

Can I forget someone I never knew? The words caught in his throat. He did know her, but it had been so long…

“Will you forget your own lord father too? I wonder if you ever knew him, truly.” Her eyes were green, her hair spun gold. He could not tell how old she was. Fifteen, he thought, or fifty. She climbed the steps to stand above the bier. “He could never abide being laughed at. That was the thing he hated most.”

“Who are you?” He had to hear her say it.

“The question is, who are you?”

“This is a dream.”

“Is it? She smiled sadly. “Count your hands, child.”

One. One hand, clasped tight around the sword hilt. Only one. “In my dreams I always have two hands.” He raised his right arm and stared uncomprehending at the ugliness of his stump.

“We all dream of things we cannot have. Tywin dreamed that his son would be a great knight, that his daughter would be a queen. He dreamed they would be so strong and brave and beautiful that no one would ever laugh at them.”

“I am a knight,’ he told her, “and Cersei is a queen.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. The woman raised her hood again and turned her back on him. Jaime called after her, but already she was moving away, her skirt whispering lullabies as it brushed across the floor. Don’t leave me, he wanted to call, but of course she’d left them long ago.

(chapter 44, ADWD)

Targaryens are known to have very vivid, and in some cases prophetic, dreams. I believe this is an example of one. Jaime’s other dreams he has 2 hands, but in this one, he only has one. The wording GRRM uses is very careful in this exchange between Jaime and his mother.

“Will you forget your own lord father too? I wonder if you ever knew him, truly.”

Notice she doesn’t say Tywin, she says lord father, and then questions whether Jaime knows him… As in, did you know that Aerys was your father??

GRRM throws is a quick description of Joanna, and as you can see, she has the typical Lannister appearance: her eyes were green, her hair spun gold. As I mentioned before, this explains why Jaime and Cersei still have the Lannister look despite having Aerys as a father.

“We all dream of things we cannot have. Tywin dreamed that his son would be a great knight, that his daughter would be a queen. He dreamed they would be so strong and brave and beautiful that no one would ever laugh at them.”

Notice that here, Joanna refers to Tywin, but does NOT refer to him as Jaime’s father.

“I am a knight,’ he told her, “and Cersei is a queen.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. The woman raised her hood again and turned her back on him. Jaime called after her, but already she was moving away, her skirt whispering lullabies as it brushed across the floor….

Why the tear? It is my belief that Joanna sheds a tear because while Jaime is a knight, and Cersei is a queen, they are not actually Tywin’s children.

4) The next exhibit comes via one of GRRM’s favorite vehicles for advancing the story in ASOIAF… the flashback.

One of the reasons I am growing more and more dissatisfied with the HBO version of this series is their refusal to include any flashbacks into the narrative. After all, Rhaegar has been dead for roughly 15 years at the time of this saga, and yet, he is arguably one of the top 5 most “important” characters to the entire series (in my estimation of importance, he is somewhere in the ballpark of Danny, Jon, Bran, and Stannis). GRRM has used flashbacks as a powerful tool for both understanding the history of Westeros, the intricacies of the plot of ASOIAF, and, perhaps, most importantly, foreshadowing of things yet to occur. As someone who worked in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, I understand (but can’t abide) HBO’s stance on the flashback: I would venture a majority of “Game of Thrones” viewers have not read the books, and therefore flashbacks (or visions for that matter – like Melissandre’s or other characters who have them) would take away from audience shock-factor, which is critical to television success

Nevertheless, I feel HBO is doing the viewers a great disservice by not using the flashback vehicle – especially when it comes to Rhaegar. We are already 3+ books into television seasons, and barely anything is known of Rhaegar to the TV audience… and that really is a shame.

Rhaegar is, for all intensive purposes, Mr. Right…. He’s handsome, smart, passionate, compassionate, artistic, well-read, valiant, tough… basically, there is no positive-human-characteristic-adjective that Rhaegar does not possess. To use and an old saying, “Women want him, and men want to be him.” It’s no wonder that even Tywin Lannister deems him worthy of Cersei.

On top of all Rhaegar’s well-documented dreamy characteristics, he is also a believer in prophecies. This is something that, to me, added and extra level of credentials to his already impressive resume… Let’s face it, the world of Ice and Fire is one of magic, mystery, and intrigue… those who have a stake in these factors, Targaryens, Starks, followers or R’hllor, have a leg up on those who don’t (basically all of the southerners from Westeros – Seriously, when the white walkers come, will it matter how much gold the Lannister, Tyrell, or Hightower families have? Or will those who have some juju – the aforementioned - be the ones who stand up to the bad juju? My money’s on the families with the good juju).

Rhaegar believes in prophecies… He believed in the “Prince who was promised” prophecy (I’m not getting into the specifics of that… if you don’t know what that is, you can certainly find out about it from Googling it), and he clearly believed in the “Dragon has 3 heads” prophecy – why else would he take off with Lyanna Stark and get down to baby making if not to produce a 3^rd heir once it was clear Elia would have no more children? – I don’t believe Rhaegar was the type to just take off on an extended “sow your royal oats” vacation unless he believed it was of vital importance. Especially once Robert started his Rebellion.

So… Now that I have established once and for all Rhaegar’s importance, gravity, and foresight, allow me to finally put a point on this whole matter. In AFFC, chapter 8, Jaime reflects on his last encounter with Rhaegar (and like everyone else in ASOIAF, there seems to be a note of reverence in his tone when discussing Rhaegar… Respect that, in general, the only other characters I can remember Jaime speaking/thinking about with any kind of respect is The Blackfish, Selmy, and Aurthur Dayne).

The day had been windy when he said farewell to Rhaegar, in the yard of the Red Keep. The prince had donned his night-black armor, with the three-headed dragon picked out in rubies on his breastplate. “Your Grace,” Jaime had pleaded, “let Darry stay to guard the king this once, or Ser Barristan. Their cloaks are as white as mine.”

Prince Rhaegar shook his head. “My royal sire fears your father more than he does our cousin Robert. He wants you close, so Lord Tywin cannot harm him. I dare not take that crutch away from him at such an hour.”

Jaime’s anger had risen up in his throat. “I am not a crutch. I am a knight of the Kingsguard.”

“Then guard the king.” Ser John Darry snapped at him. “When you donned that cloak, you promised to obey.”

Rhaegar had put his hand on Jaime’s shoulder. “When this battle’s done I mean to call a council. Changes will be made. I meant to do it long ago, but… well, it does no good to speak of roads not taken. We shall talk when I return.”

GRRM does not just casually toss verbiage and dialog around. When Rhaegar says, “… our cousin Robert.” I think he is trying to sneakily insert Jaime into that “our.” True, Robert is Rhaegars’s cousin… but I don’t think he was using a variation of the “royal we” in referring to Robert as “our cousin”… I think he was intentionally including Jaime in this “our.” He then goes on to say that he means to call a council… Perhaps this is where he means to shed light on the fact that Jaime and Cersei are, in fact, his kin.

Again, Rhaegar is the MAN… I do not find it a stretch whatsoever to believe that he knows that Jaime and Cersei’s father is Aerys, that he plans to do something about it, and that time and circumstance got in the way… I can’t help but think about how similar this scene is to the scene when Jon Snow is leaving for the wall and Ned says something like, “Next time I see you, we will talk about your mother,” only to be killed before he can tell Jon that Lyanna is his mother. It is very GRRM to leave us hoping, sitting on the edge of our seats, that the outcome we want will happen, only to have outside forces swoop in and rob us of our hopes and dreams (Robb’s plan with Howland Reed, Jon Snow’s legitimization, Jon Snow’s plan to march on Ramsey Bolton, Oberyn Martell’s defeat of The Mountain – just to name a few letdowns).

I find it peculiar that Rhaegar would use the pronoun “our,” talk about instituting changes, and then conveniently dye before he can call for changes; to me, way too circumstantial not to be part of GRRM’s grand-scheme.

5) The next piece of evidence for Jaime and Cersei actually being Targs is not a single event or conversation or scene… It is 5 books full of Cersei’s madness.

The Targaryen madness is well documented. Barristan Selmy quotes the king who raised him to the Kingsguard, Jaehaerys II, when speaking to Daenerys, “King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness were two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, he said, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land.” I don’t think I need to elaborate, so I’ll just throw out a couple names of Targaryens afflicted with this madness: Baelor the Blessed, The Mad King, Viserys III, Aerion Brightflame.

Cersei certainly embodies this madness. After Joffrey is killed at his wedding, it is kicked into another gear. In ADWD, when Cersei is a POV character, and you are in her head for the first time, you can see just how nutty she is. I am not going to list every insane thought she has or the complete and utter botching and running the realm through brainless decision after brain-dead decision. If you have read ADWD and don’t think Cersei is a total nut job, then, as the saying goes, agree to disagree.

As there is no documented madness pervasive in the Lannister family, it could surely be possible that by pure chance that eventually someone in the family would be crazy, and that could explain Cersei’s madness… However, for her son to be afflicted by the same madness, as Joffrey definitely was, it would seem that it was a hereditary issue. Considering that Joffrey’s parents are Jaime and Cersei, both of whom are half Targaryen, he is also 50% Targaryen, and therefore susceptible to the same affliction.

6) My next exhibit is 2 separate instances that seemed as though they were meant to be offhand comments, but when taken in the context that GRRM almost never has offhand comments actually being offhand, appear to me to be important.

The first example is from ASOS, chapter 62. The chapter chronicles Jaime’s return to king’s landing, and subsequent meeting with Tywin. This is the meeting where Tywin gives Jaime the Valyrian steel sword that Jaime later gives to Brienne and later becomes know as Oathkeeper. After presenting Jaime with the sword, Tywin begins explaining his plan to have Jaime released from his vows of the Kingsguard, named his formal heir to Casterly Rock, and even his plan to possibly wed Jaime to Margery Tyrell. Jaime, fed up with the political BS of Westeros, and determined to remove the stain from his honor, launches into a tirade in which he dismisses Tywin’s plan, and tells Tywin that he doesn’t want Casterly Rock. After a prolonged, uncomfortable silence, Tywin responds to Jaime:

“You are not my son.” Lord Tywin turned his face away. “You say you are the Lord Commander, and only that. Very well, ser. Go do you duty.”

Taken alone, this may be exactly what Jaime takes away from the dismissal, that Tywin has disowned him. However, when taken with the second example, I think it is more telling than that.

The second example in this exhibit is from AFFC, chapter 33. The chapter ends with Jaime in his tent talking to his aunt Genna. After some family-talk and anecdotes about Tywin, Genna and Jaime have the following exchange:

“… Who will protect us now?”

Jaime kissed her cheek. “He left a son.”

“Aye, he did. That is what I fear the most, in truth.”

That was a queer remark. “Why should you fear?”

“Jaime,” she said, tugging on his ear, “sweetling, I have known you since you were a babe at Joanna’s breast. You smile like Gerion and fight like Tyg, and there’s some of Kevan in you, else you would not wear that cloak… but Tyrion is Tywin’s son, not you. I said so once to your father’s face, and he would not speak to me for half a year. Men are such thundering fools. Even the sort who come along once in a thousand years.”

Again, either of these comments alone might be exactly as it appears, a figurative comment. If the first comment from Tywin were made alone, perhaps, as stated above, it would have simply been Jaime’s interpretation of disownment. Had Genna’s comment been made alone, it might have been a figurative commentary on how Tyrion had Tywin’s cunning, where as Jaime did not. Taken together, however, I believe that these comments are foreshadowing of the revelation that Tywin was not the father of Jaime and Cersei.

Tangent

This example brings me to a Tyrion-tangent that ties in with this theory. Poor Tyrion… His stature as a dwarf makes him an easy target for all kinds of accusations and insults. We know them all: whoremonger, liar, monster, kinslayer, kingslayer, etc. Some are true, but most are not. But I think above all, and most unfairly, what bothers him most is the blame laid at his feet by both his father and sister for killing Joanna. I mean seriously, how unfair is it to blame a newborn for the death of his own mother during childbirth??

My theory is this… I do not think that Tyrion’s birth was the actual cause of Joanna’s death, although it may have been the proximate cause of her death.

Tywin’s pride is prickly. This is likely from his childhood, and his own perception of his father, who seems to have been weak and brought humiliation down upon the Lannister family name. Once Tywin’s father dies, and Tywin becomes the lord of Casterly Rock, he goes about restoring the roar, so to speak, to the family name. His first act is to parade his father’s paramour through the streets naked. He then deals with several of the Lannister’s unruly bannermen – we know all about the Reynes of Castamere and the Tarbecks. We know about his rise to power in King’s Landing as Hand, the prowess as a military tactician, and the ruthless way he deals with those who stand in his way.

Now imagine that YOU are Tywin Lannister and when you lay your eyes upon your second son, you see a dwarf…. Utter dismay, right? How could the powerful and proud Tywin Lannister sire such a creature?? Surely, this was not HIS fault. Therefore, the blame must lie with Joanna… Or perhaps, as he tells Tyrion in the chapter where Tyrion asks for Casterly Rock, Tywin is prepared to thrown Tyrion into the sea… Either way, once Tywin places the blame on poor Joanna, who has just gone through labor (I’m not a mother, but I’ve heard that’s a rather difficult task), and is now being questioned about why the baby she has just birthed is a dwarf, or Tywin tells his wife that he plans to thrown the newborn baby into the sea… well, it wouldn’t be so hard to envision a scenarios where an emotional and irritated Joanna blurts out the truth to Tywin… “Don’t blame me! Jaime and Cersei came out just fine, and they’re not yours! They’re Aerys’s!! That’s right, Aerys!! This one is yours, and it’s a dwarf!! Clearly, you are the problem here, buddy, not me!!” Obviously, these would not be her words of choice, but you get the idea.

Tywin, furious at himself for being the father to a dwarf, furious at Joanna for cuckolding him, furious at Aerys for knocking up his wife, loses it… In a rage, he kills Joanna.

Now, assuming that Aerys doesn’t know that Jaime and Cersei are his, Tywin has just disposed of the only person who knows that he is not the father of the twins. All he has to do is go on pretending that they are his, and let’s face it, Tywin is waaaaaay too proud to admit to the entire realm that “his” children were actually sired by The Mad King, and no one will ever be the wiser (except, of course, members of the Kingsguard who may have known about it – of which, the only remaining living member of Aerys’s guard is Selmy).

Now this may be a stretch, but… Considering that, in my opinion, Tywin is a “bad guy,” and that Tyrion is a “good guy,” this would make sense stylistically. Tyrion is absolved from the deed he likely feels worst about, and we, the audience get to say, “I knew Tywin was an *******!! And he blamed Tyrion the whole time!!”

I’m not exactly sure how Tyrion would ever find out about this… Of course, Tywin would take every precaution to make sure that anyone who could have possibly known about his murdering his wife was eliminated. But still, I could definitely see this tying in to the whole scenario.

Another note… Assuming that Aerys DID actually know that Cersei and Jaime were his children, his actions towards them would make all the more sense. In order to make sure Jaime never made a claim to the throne, naming him to the Kingsguard, and thus forcing him to give up any claim to land, titles, keeps, marriages, and heirs, eliminates him from making a play on the throne. Similarly, his denial of Tywin’s request to marry Rhaegar to Cersei removes any possibility of Aerys allowing Tywin, of whom he had quite insecurity about, to have a grandchild ascend to the throne. Just food for thought….

Tangent over.

7) My next piece of evidence is from one of the most important prophecies in the whole series: Maggy the Frog’s prophesy to Cersei – and most importantly to the prophecy, the issue of the Valonqar. (AFFC, chapter 36)

I am operating under the assumption that everyone remembers the prophecy from Maggy, and that I don’t have to go into its entirety, and so I will only highlight the pertinent portion.

… “I will be queen, though?” asked the younger her.

“Aye.” Malice gleamed in Maggy’s yellow eyes. “Queen you shall be… until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear.”

… “And when the tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands around your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”

Heavy stuff, and also the subject of much debate among fans. There are those (fans) who believe that valonqar refers to Jaime, who is Cersei’s younger brother by a few moments. Cersei herself believes that the valonqar is Tyrion, who she blames for Joff’s death and her mother’s death. And she also falsely assumes that the younger more beautiful queen is Margery. Others (again, fans) believe that it is Arya, which, I must admit is an attractive proposition since Cersei is #1 on her hit-list (and it may be possible that now that Arya can change her face, she will eventually return disguised as Tyrion to finally exact revenge on Cersei in what she might consider the most cruel fashion possible).

However, I believe that the valonqar is Daenerys. Younger? Check. More beautiful? Check. Younger brother? CHECK!

What! You might be saying. How? You might be asking. Well, allow me to elaborate.

Again, let me operate under the assumption that no one reading this is a novice, and we all remember Sam’s journey to Oldtown with Gilly and Maester Aemon. When Aemon is nearing the end, he goes on a rant about the prince who was promised: (AFFC, chapter 35)

… “No one ever looked for a girl ... It was a prince that was promised, not a princess. Rhaegar, I thought … the smoke was from the fire that devoured Summerhall on the day of his birth, the salt from the tears shed for those who died. He shared my belief when he was young, but later he became persuaded that it was his own son who fulfilled the prophecy, for a comet had been seen above King’s Landing on the night Aegon was conceived, and Rhaegar was certain the bleeding star had to be a comet. What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise! The error crept in from the translation. Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years…”

What does this have to do with Maggy’s prophecy?? Well, if the gender of dragons, and the gender of Valyrian words, can switch from male to female, then valonqar may not actually mean little brother at all… It may in fact mean “little sister.” And if Cersei is a Targ, as I am trying to argue, then Daenerys would be her little half-sister, both of them having Aerys II as their father.

Now the thing with prophecies is that they are tricky business. We have seen this countless times throughout the series, from Melissandre to the House of the Undying, to Quaithe, to the Maegi who delivers Rhaego – Even GRRM himself has warned about the fickleness of prophecies. They are usually cryptic, illusory, and/or figurative. Melissandre’s visions in the fire illustrate this when she complains that she asks R’hllor to show here a vision of Azor Ahai, and “all she sees is snow.” So it is difficult to try and unravel them.

When Maggy says:

“And when the tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands around your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”

It may not literally mean that the valonqar will physically strangle her… I have a hard time believing that Daenerys would actually strangulate Cersei. However, when all is said and done, I could see it a scenario where Cersei is figuratively strangled by Daenerys in some capacity, thus making the prophecy “true.”

There is another point I want to make about Daenerys being the valonqar, and it ties in with my next piece of evidence.

8) So far I’ve discussed evidence to suggest that the “Lannister” twins are, in fact, really Targ bastards sired by Aerys with examples from the characters and dialog. Now I want to examine some potential evidence that comes in the context of the broader storyline as a whole. Get ready… I’m about to plunge into another prophecy here.

“The dragon has three heads.”

We all know this one… And at this point in the series, I think that 2 of the heads are pretty easily identifiable. One is, of course, Daenerys (she’s the friggin’ mother of dragons after all), and the other is Jon Snow (I’m pretty sure that the series is called “A song of Ice and Fire”… If that doesn’t refer to the Stargaryen hybrid, then maybe I’ve completely missed the point of these books).

Who does this leave as the third head???

Personally, I was a little surprised when Aegon VI pops out of nowhere on that poleboat with Tyrion. I suppose it wasn’t the shock that there was another Targaryen around that got to me, but rather that we would meet another “head of the dragon” this late into the series. It just never sat right with me.

Do I actually believe that Aegon is the 3^rd heard of the dragon? No… No I do not.

For those of you who have read the Dunk & Egg stories, you know that they largely deal with Westeros in the years after the Blackfyre Rebellion, and the internal strife its fallout caused within the realm. I ask you this… Why would GRRM come up with the whole Blackfyre storyline if it were not to play a part in the larger ASOIAF saga? As previously mentioned, GRRM doesn’t just throw stuff out there for no reason, and the Blackfyre Rebellions were pretty monumental in the post-conquest history of Westeros. One of the things I marvel at when reading ASOIAF is GRRM’s ability to weave everything, the lands, the people, the plotlines, together into one story where characters cross paths seemingly by happenstance, but in reality, these meetings are prelude to larger plot points. I therefore cannot believe that the entire Blackfyre Rebellion storyline is merely a vehicle for the shorts stories, but rather, that it will be woven into the current events of Westeros during ASOIAF.

That being said, I am fairly certain that Aegon VI is of the Blackfyre line. Supposedly, Maelys the Monstrous was the last of the “Blackfyre Pretenders,” but the door was left wide open for there to be other Blackfyres:

“I admire your powers of persuasion,” Tyrion told Illyrio. “How did you convince the Golden Company to take up the cause of our sweet queen when they have spend so much of their history fighting against the Targaryens?”

Illyrio brushed away the objection as if it were a fly. “Black or red, a dragon is still a dragon. When Maelys the Monstrous died upon the Stepstones, it was the end of the male line of House Blackfyre.”

(ADWD, chapter 5)

Specifically mentioning that the male line was extinguished signaled to me that the female line of the Blackfyres was still kicking around. In this same chapter, Tyrion repeatedly asks Illyrio what he is getting out of helping to reinstate Dany to the Iron Throne. Illyrio finally admits that Viserys had promised him a castle, titles, and the position of master of coin. I, as well as Tyrion, found this to be subterfuge. Why would Illyrio go to all this trouble for such small gains? He’s already spectacularly wealth and powerful in Essos, how much more wealth could the position of master of coin provide him with?

It is my belief that Aegon VI, or fAegon as I’ve seen him called on the net, is not actually Rhaegar’s heir, but rather Illyrio’s son with a Blackfyre woman. This would seem to be a much better motivator for Illyrio to place Aegon on the Iron Throne as Dany’s king. Master of coin… eh, that’s an ok title… Father of the King… Now that is something worth scheming over!

The whole baby switching thing with Varys seems awfully easily to claim, but thrown in that late in the series, it seems more apt as misdirection from GRRM.

Some of you might be saying, “But wait… If Aegon is a Blackfyre, then he is still a Targ. So doesn’t he have to be one of the heads of the dragon?!”

Well, every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square. Just because fAegon has Targ blood, that doesn’t necessarily make him on of the heads of the dragon. Maester Aemon was a Targ; obviously he is not one of the heads. Viserys was a Targ, and clearly not one of the heads. Cersei, as I have laid out, is a Targ, and I don’t believe she is one of the heads either. Who does this leave as the third head of the dragon???

I know there are some who believe that Bran may be the third head. I believe that Bran is crucial to the storyline, I mean, he’s basically Google at this point… but I believe that all three heads of the dragon must have Targ blood, which would rule Bran out. Besides, Bran has his own thing going on… Crazy stuff with Bloodraven (another Targ), so I think his role in the grand scheme of things is separate from “the dragon has three heads” prophecy.

It is my belief that Jaime is the third head. Some of you will say, “Jaime can’t be the third head, he can’t ride a dragon with only one hand!!” Well, personally, I don’t think that Jaime’s loss of a hand is really that big of an impediment to dragon-riding. They use harnesses, and just like a special harness was made for Bran after his fall, a special harness could be made to help Jaime ride a dragon. If you’ve read the short story “the Princess and the Queen,” you know that one of the requirements for riding a dragon is that you need to have Targ blood. Again, not every dragon will let everyone with Targ blood ride them, but you must have Targ blood to hope to ride a dragon. Besides, with Bran’s super-powers, perhaps he would be able to warg-it-up with Jaime’s dragon, and help him out a little bit. Lastly, I find it telling that Viserion’s color scheme is white and gold, much like Jaime’s armor as a Lannister member of the Kingsguard.

GRRM loves to have characters with hidden identities in front of you face for a while, only to reveal them, and have the readers go, “I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming! It was right in front of me the whole time!” Get ready now… I’m about to throw out a whole bunch of rapid-fire theories here that illustrate this point.

“Who the heck are Jon Snow’s parents??”

“Ooooh, Lyanna and Rhaegar! I should have known that!”

“Where is Howland Reed?? Why hasn’t he helped the Starks out yet??

“He was the High Septon the whole time! How did I not realize that?!”

“Is the Hound really dead??”

“Oh man! He’s the big, cloaked gravedigger limping around when Brienne visits the Quiet Isle! Yay! I hope he kills the Mountain!”

“Who is this Arstan Whitebeard dude??”

“Barristan the Bold!! Nice! He joined up with Dany!!”

“This Sphinx dude is suspicious… What’s his deal??”

“Ah! The sphinx is a actually a Sand Snake! I should have known! Her name, Sarella, is Alleras backwards!!”

“Who are all these people on this boat with Tyrion? There has got to be something more to them than meets the eye, doesn’t there??”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!! WHAT?? Aegon’s alive?? John Connington’s alive?? Lemore is the septa Oberyn knocked up?? NUTS!!”

“Jon Snow’s dead!?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

“Melissandre kissed him back to life! Hurray! He’s back! The whole reason Beric Dondarrion and Thoros existed was to show us that a red priest can revive someone who has died, of course!!”

I’m probably wrong about some of this stuff, but you get the idea… Hidden identities are part of the world of ASOIAF. So would it be so shocking if Jaime were the third head of the dragon, hiding in plain sight throughout the whole series? I certainly don’t think so. In fact, I think it’s crazy to believe that we haven’t already met the third head of the dragon.

Now… If Jaime is the third head of the dragon, I believe this actually helps to facilitate Maggy the Frog’s prophecy, and the probability that Dany is actually the valonqar.

Let’s take another look at the prophecy:

… “I will be queen, though?” asked the younger (Cersei).

“Aye.” Malice gleamed in Maggy’s yellow eyes. “Queen you shall be… until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear.”

… “And when the tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands around your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”

Let’s examine the warped mind of Cersei. What exactly does Cersei hold dear? Not a whole lot… Her children first and foremost; her love for them and her desire to protect them are really the only redeeming qualities she has as a character. I believe she also holds dear her power/authority/prestige as queen or queen dowager. Lastly, deep down, I also believe that she holds her brother Jaime dearly, or, at least, as dearly as Cersei is capable of.

Now supposed that Jaime is the third head of the dragon, with Dany and Jon as the other two heads. I firmly believe that Dany will end up as Queen of Westeros, and will naturally need a King. Jon Snow’s destiny, I believe, lies in combating the Others and as the Lord of Winterfell, and possibly King in North (remember, Robb did name Jon his heir). This would leave Jaime as the best suitor for Dany.

Now imagine that Jaime and Dany are wed. Dany would have taken Cersei’s crown and lover. If Jaime plans on telling Myrcella and Tommen that he is their father, which I believe he intends, and ends up with Cersei’s children while she is confined to a dungeon for whatever future blunders she commits in the next 2 books (think of the possibilities!), then Dany would have taken her children too. Children, crown, Jaime; all that Cersei holds dear, right?

9) With my next point, which builds on my last point, I will not be citing specific quotes or descriptions, but will again look at the greater story on the whole.

Is there a character that has gone through greater personal growth than Jaime?

There are other characters that have changed for sure. Jon has become more worldly thanks to his time spent with the wildlings and his experience leading the NW, and is now battle-hardened as well from the wildlings attack on the wall. But, he is still the honor-bound guy he always was having learned that mantra from Ned.

Daenerys has grown as well. At the start of AGOT, she is a shy, scared, little girl. By the end of ADWD, she is a strong but compassionate Queen, striving to rule Mereen as justly as she can, ruling not by bending her own moral constitution to the whims or politics, but by doing what she believes is “right.” However, I believe this is more the product of experience, and that deep down, she is still the same person she always was, simply now of stronger conviction.

Arya? Well she certainly has picked up some delightful tricks, but is she really any different from how she’s always been? Isn’t she still the same wild-Stark she’s always been?

Bran? He certainly has changed, but his personality has remained relatively the same the whole time.

There is Theon, who has certainly gone through more physical appearance change than anyone (deservedly so). But has he really changed deep down?? Personally, I don’t think so; he’s still a jerk.

Sansa is finally become less useless (although it’s hard to blame someone who clearly inherited a large portion of Tully genes, Tullys being the stupidest family in all of Westeros… excluding the Blackfish, who was so not stupid that he was the black sheep of the family), but her character arc has been slow and not all that severe to this point.

Jaime, on the other hand, has undergone quite a remarkable change. Think back to AGOT. He is arrogant, incestual, and in general, a jerk. I mean, at the point at which he takes off the harry the Riverlands, having already been responsible for Ned’s broken leg after the confrontation in front of Littlefinger’s brothel, and worse, throwing Bran out the window, he is pretty much the #1 “bad guy” to that point in the story. He also does his best to avoid any kind of responsibility.

But as you all know, his journey with Brienne changed all that. Her dogged observance of her vows to Cat clearly makes an impression on him. Of course, losing his hand was critical as well; Jaime’s swordhand was what defined him. Without it, he realizes quickly, he really is nothing/no one. I think a defining moment in his personal journey is when he opens the White Book, and realizes that his page is mostly blank: that it is up to him what is written there from that point forward.

We have already touched on how he turns down Tywin’s proposal, intent on sticking to his vows as the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Later, when Jaime leaves to sort out Harrenhal and Riverrun, we actually get to see Jaime embrace responsibility, and he even seems to relish the opportunity. Jaime’s adventures in the Riverlands are actually among my favorite moments in the whole series. He shows good character in his absolute loathing for the Mountain’s men, and the punishments he metes out to those who rape the women of Harrenhal, keeps his cool while being lambasted my The Blackfish (An incredible scene, The Blackfish absolutely abuses him), in turn, he abuses Ryman Frey for his incompetence (always thoroughly enjoyable to see a Frey get ripped on), shows his teeth with Edmure (another one of those worthless Tully members), tempers Bracken’s expectations, and treats fairly with Blackwood. He also shows respect for Jeyne Westerling for her loyalty to Robb, and contempt for her mother for scheming with Tywin to make sure Jeyne never got pregnant. All the while, he is practicing doggedly with Illyn Payne, determined to become a competent fighter with his left hand. Even his interest in the Pennytree, which seems like something he wouldn’t have even bothered to wonder about before his rebirth.

Of course, most notably, he ignores Cersei’s plea for help. This was, in my opinion, a huge development for Jaime. Cersei is, after all, a horrible person, and probably the root of most of Jaime’s issues. I definitely gave a little fist pump when he threw her message to him into the fire.

By the time he leaves with Brienne as part of Stoneheart’s plan to lure Jaime to his death (ugh… if there’s anything worse than a Tully, it’s an undead Tully), personally, I felt Jaime had basically atoned for all his poor behavior at the beginning of the series (well, except for throwing Bran out the window… but I blame that on Cersei’s influence, and I have a feeling that somewhere down the line, Jaime will make it up to Bran in some capacity).

Now why would GRRM go to all the trouble of rehabbing Jaime’s image to the readers if he were not central to the overall plot of the series? Why take Jaime from a “bad guy” to a “good guy?” My belief is that GRRM wants you to like him because he is the third head of the dragon. He wants the readers to want to root for Jaime. And from a personal standpoint, I do root for Jaime.

10) My last point is a literary one. As of the end of ADWD, Tyrion is known as both a Kingslayer (unfair) and a Kinslayer (fair). He did not actually kill Joff, we know that was the work of Littlefinger and the Queen of Thorns, but, yes, he most certainly did kill Tywin. However, operating under the assumption that Tywin killed Joanna, and then spent the next 30-odd years blaming Tyrion for it, I would say that Tyrion was justified in killing Tywin, without even taking anything else (Tysha, Shae, the trial) into account.

Jaime is, quite famously, known throughout the realm as “The Kingslayer” for disposing of Aerys. We all know the story; Jaime was trying to save the inhabitants of KL from burning to death, and so disposed of Aerys and the pyromancers who were planning to raze the city with wildfire. Unfortunately, Brienne is the only person in Westeros besides Jaime who knows about this.

As readers we have seen the bond that Jaime and Tyrion share. Jaime is the only one who has ever had Tyrion’s back. Tyrion has the typical devotion of a younger brother towards his older brother. Jaime often remarks to himself that if he were Tyrion, he would know what to say in a given instance. Heck, after Cat kidnaps Tyrion, mistakenly believing that it was he who tried to have Bran killed (UGH… everything bad that happens in Westeros is almost entirely caused by one stupid member of the Tully family or another), Jaime basically starts a war with the Riverlords.

And of course, most importantly, it is Jaime who frees Tyrion from the dungeons when he loses the trial by combat, and act that all of us (if you weren’t hoping Tyrion was going to be rescued, there is something wrong with you) as fans were thankful for.

So there is this connection between the two (half) brothers. How fitting would it be if it turned out they had both killed their fathers? Jaime’s killing of Aerys would have been unknowing patricide, and there can be no disputing that Tyrion knew he was killing his own father. I just think it would be another thing that, once revealed, would show GRRM’s brilliance as a writer, to tie these things that seem analogous together. And of course, since Tyrion is still blamed for Joff’s death by the public, it would make both Jaime and Tyrion “Kingslayers” as well. Quite a fitting brotherly bond to discuss over some mulled wine, no?

Well…. That’s about it. Naturally, I am probably totally off the mark on about 99% of this stuff. But, I hope, that I at least gave you something to think about, and that you enjoyed reading my wild accusations/theories.

Let the bashing begin!

Great post. I love it!

Of course you could be totally wrong but I hope you are not. I too think that the twins as Targs make more dramatic sense than Tyrion would especially since Tyrion really being Tywin's (only) son would be dramatic on its own.

Now - if Dany's parentage also turned out not to be what it appears to be (which I believe is quite possible) then we would have three 'bastards' as heads of the dragon! Wouldn't that be ironic? And Jaime would be the oldest of the three. He might even end up on the throne which he briefly occupied before Ned got him down from there.

[rayarts]

Well, first I thought its Tyrion being a Targ because of his looks (hair, eyes).

But then there was Jaime's not-a-dream-dream and what his aunt stated about Tyrion being his father's son, not him, which for me, are the

biggest clues to their heritage.

Has anyone wondered what that meant for everything else like

Joff and Tomm and Myrc actually having a birthright to the throne??? (they came from incest but so did the whole Targ-line)

How would the realm react? Wouldn't it mix up some allegiances in the long run?

What would Stannis say about that?

And: How does this connect to fAegon's and Dany's claim for the throne?

[Mikkel]

Has anyone wondered what that meant for everything else like

Joff and Tomm and Myrc actually having a birthright to the throne??? (they came from incest but so did the whole Targ-line)

How would the realm react? Wouldn't it mix up some allegiances in the long run?

What would Stannis say about that?

And: How does this connect to fAegon's and Dany's claim for the throne?

If Cersei and Jaime turn out to be Aerys' bastards (and I'm not sold on that idea at all), it doesn't really change much.

The Targaryens were replaced by the Baratheons, by the same thing that got them the power in the first place: martial might. The Targaryens are not the "rightful royal line" in anything but their own opinion, so:

Joffrey and his siblings are bastards, so they have no birthright to the throne - incest or otherwise. They're not legitimized, and anyone with the power to do that and make it stick could make anyone a King if they desired (though why would they?).

If the Lannister faction ends up on top, the King is whoever they say it is, and if not, no amount af Targaryen bastardy is going to make a jot of difference.

Stannis would dismiss their claim on the grounds of the Targaryens being ousted from power, and the Lannister twins being unproven bastards in any case, so to him it would make no difference whatsoever, except perhaps as the starting point for some extra grumbling about the decadence and foulness of King's Landing and the courts.

Finally, I don't see it impacting Aegon or Dany's campaigns, both of those are going to require military power to take the throne, and they're not likely to want to share. If it came to that, Aegon and Dany would come before any bastard of Aerys', even acknowledged and legitimized ones - but I don't see it mattering (in practice).

[mushroomshirt]

Again, Rhaegar is the MAN… I do not find it a stretch whatsoever to believe that he knows that Jaime and Cersei’s father is Aerys, that he plans to do something about it, and that time and circumstance got in the way… I can’t help but think about how similar this scene is to the scene when Jon Snow is leaving for the wall and Ned says something like, “Next time I see you, we will talk about your mother,” only to be killed before he can tell Jon that Lyanna is his mother. It is very GRRM to leave us hoping, sitting on the edge of our seats, that the outcome we want will happen, only to have outside forces swoop in and rob us of our hopes and dreams (Robb’s plan with Howland Reed, Jon Snow’s legitimization, Jon Snow’s plan to march on Ramsey Bolton, Oberyn Martell’s defeat of The Mountain – just to name a few letdowns).

Minor quibble - this is a show invention. In the books Ned never says anything to Jon about talking to him about his mother "next time he sees him". He does spend time thinking about talking to Jon when he is in the Black Cells, though so your point is still valid.