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What was Rhaegar doing during Defiance of Duskendale?


Mithras

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Defiance of Duskendale happened after the tourney at Lannisport where Aerys turned down Tywin's offer to marry Rhaegar to Cersei. Rhaegar was 17 at this tourney and already a skilled fighter. When the Defiance of Duskendale started, Aerys wanted to show that he can handle the situation without the aid of Tywin and he failed big time. Then the royal army under the command of Tywin (Hand of Aerys) came and Barristan saved the king.



What was Rhaegar doing during this mess? Why did not he step forward and risk his life to save his father the king? Did he hope that Aerys dies in the dungeon and he can marry Cersei? I have an opinion that Rhaegar would not object or even willingly marry Cersei.


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Well to be honest this kind of situation was kind of something which the prince shouldn't have been handeling himself; its bad enough that the Darklyns have the king and if they got the crown prince as well?



However given that Tywin was sitting outside Duskendale and that Rhaegar was not the guy who went around itching for a fight it seems to me that he would be in King's Landing and potentially he was helping to deal with day-to-day affairs of running the realm. Rhaegar's big mistake was of course that he didn't get real-action experience before the rebellion by being present at Duskendale or hunting down the Kingswood Brotherhood. Although foreseeing the kind of developments that lead to the rebellion is most likely difficult.


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Well to be honest this kind of situation was kind of something which the prince shouldn't have been handeling himself; its bad enough that the Darklyns have the king and if they got the crown prince as well?

This.

Most likely Rhaegar was sitting on the IT hearing petitions and sitting in small council meetings - doing all the day-to-day duties of the King - while the King and the Hand were both absent.

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Dont forget the fact that Aerys was held a prisoner for 6 months. Surely this must be enough for Rhaegar to return from wherever the hell he is and do his duties. Or does it take more than a year for Rhaegar to show up when he goes missing?


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Rhaegar wasn't very martial in nature. He only took up the sword and lance because of something he read. If the KG told him to stay home and take care of business, he would likely acquiesce. Besides, it's not likely that Aerys engendered much love and sympathy even from his son.

First part is true, last sentence is not. There's a quote somewhere saying something to the effect that "Aerys was mad, by the end even Rhaegar saw that clear enough" implying that Rhaegar loved his father, and because of that love was in denial about his worsening mental health issues until it got so bad that there was no denying it anymore.

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So, the King is held captive, the Hand is putting siege to the city, so what would be a good task for a Crown Prince? Stay in the capital and run the affairs of state together with the Queen, or go on a mission the failure of which would incapacitate the kingdom as the next heir to the throne is about one year old?


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Seriously, OP, if you want to bash Rhaegar, pick something else, not getting involved in the rescue of a captured King is the most sensible thing that any Crown Prince might do.


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So, the King is held captive, the Hand is putting siege to the city, so what would be a good task for a Crown Prince? Stay in the capital and run the affairs of state together with the Queen, or go on a mission the failure of which would incapacitate the kingdom as the next heir to the throne is about one year old?

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Seriously, OP, if you want to bash Rhaegar, pick something else, not getting involved in the rescue of a captured King is the most sensible thing that any Crown Prince might do.

I seem to bash Rhaegar to introduce a controvery to the thread :D

In fact, I was curious about the absolute no mentioning of Rhaegar during an event which his father the king was held prisoner for 6 months. And Duskendale is not very fark from KL. Running the state business is not very likely because Tyrion acted in Tywin's stead as the Hand while Tywin was on the field. I gues Rhaegar could do the same and be with the army commanded by Tywin. He was chivalrous enough at least to offer himself as the infiltrator but no such thing is mentioned, nor his presence with the army.

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I seem to bash Rhaegar to introduce a controvery to the thread :D

In fact, I was curious about the absolute no mentioning of Rhaegar during an event which his father the king was held prisoner for 6 months. And Duskendale is not very fark from KL. Running the state business is not very likely because Tyrion acted in Tywin's stead as the Hand while Tywin was on the field. I gues Rhaegar could do the same and be with the army commanded by Tywin. He was chivalrous enough at least to offer himself as the infiltrator but no such thing is mentioned, nor his presence with the army.

Wait, what? Tyrion was a baby when all this went down. Jaime, too, was but a young boy. What does Tyrion's service as Hand during the Wot5K have to do with this? Tywin appointed Tyrion acting Hand because Cersei and Joffrey were fucking everything up. We have no reason to believe that Rhaegar would have been incompetent, so why should Tywin give anyone else the job of running things in KL during the Defiance?

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So, the King is held captive, the Hand is putting siege to the city, so what would be a good task for a Crown Prince? Stay in the capital and run the affairs of state together with the Queen, or go on a mission the failure of which would incapacitate the kingdom as the next heir to the throne is about one year old?

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Seriously, OP, if you want to bash Rhaegar, pick something else, not getting involved in the rescue of a captured King is the most sensible thing that any Crown Prince might do.

Robb Stark should have stayed home right?

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Robb Stark should have stayed home right?

It's not the same. Bran and Rickon were only children, but Winterfell is full of good and loyal men who will keep them safe until they are old enough to take care of themselves if the worst case scenario happens with Robb and Ned. The Red Keep, on the other hand, is a nest of vipers and a boy king would not be safe.

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There is no evidence at all that Rhaegar ran the affairs of the realm. He seemed pretty incompetent to run them with the way he handled Lyanna. He couldn't have much practice. Anyways, there isn't any indication to point to what he was doing. He is absent from Selmy's recollections of Duskendale. A son should have visited the seige at least. Six months is a bloody long time. Aerys must have become even more paranoid after Rhaegar not showing up to help him.

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