Why do so many people disregard fAegon in their theories ?

[Lord Estermont]

Most discussions/posts i see harldy even mention him , especially end game related ones. And it must be aknowledged that fAegon is one ofthe most universally accepted theories.Asoiaf has proved again and again that ones name matters little in the end but his actual strength.Last time i checked he had several thousand sellswords, so why is he disregarded so easily among the forum? Forgive my ignorance if what i ask is painfully obvious to everyone else

[CJ McLannister]

He's not Jon or Dany.  Nobody has proclaimed him the Prince that was Promised* or Azor Ahai reborn.  He's thought to be the mummer's dragon.  He can have an impact, but ultimately he'll be removed to make way for others.

 

*Unless of course he's the real Aegon, in which case Rhaegar explicitly proclaimed him the Prince that was Promised.

[Lord Estermont]

2 minutes ago, CJ McLannister said:

He's not Jon or Dany.  Nobody has proclaimed him the Prince that was Promised* or Azor Ahai reborn.  He's thought to be the mummer's dragon.  He can have an impact, but ultimately he'll be removed to make way for others.

 

*Unless of course he's the real Aegon, in which case Rhaegar explicitly proclaimed him the Prince that was Promised.

Interesting. It makes sense that characters we have followed from the beginning will play a bigger role in the end, however i cant help but feel that he is underestimated by most. The only times a song of ice and fire has been mentioned in the books,is in relation to him, given he isnt a pretender 

[Radu Alex]

 

On the other hand I agree with what was said above - GRRM has introduced him quite late in the story - almost as an afterthought. But as for what that might mean I do not know. The latest chapters from Drone are interesting in that we know he took Storm's End and did not die. And that is huge. However, from the same chapter we also know the Tyrells and Lannisters haven't slaughtered each other and are marching against him. So...

[Lord Estermont]

2 hours ago, Radu Alex said:

On the other hand I agree with what was said above - GRRM has introduced him quite late in the story - almost as an afterthought. But as for what that might mean I do not know. The latest chapters from Drone are interesting in that we know he took Storm's End and did not die. And that is huge. However, from the same chapter we also know the Tyrells and Lannisters haven't slaughtered each other and are marching against him. So...

Strong points.Altough it could have been a grand conspiracy to get him to rule from the get go. Causing Westeros to lose its political stability and Dany coming with her dragons to establish Targaryen dominion  once more. The show could introduce yet introduce him though unlikely at this point. Here's hoping he isnt just a way to move the plot forward, book wise as the show could throw him away quite easily as it already has with other parts of the books

[Radu Alex]

You know, one thing that gave me pause when thinking what his chances are is the fact that he got the Golden Company. In my opinion, due to their versatility, the GC are the best Essos fighting force that there is. Even better than the Unsullied because they are not just an infantry force but more of a combined arms force. GRRM could have chosen to give him a mix of other troops, maybe other sellsword companies, maybe some Dothraki. He gave him the GC and he might give him Dorne. There is also another factor here - in history those who start a war or seem the most likely to finish on top are actually unlikely to survive. Usually it's people or forces that come in half-way trough. And that is precisely where Aegon started to matter.

[the trees have eyes]

Because he is a non-POV character pulled out of thin air in Book 5.  It seems unlikely the characters we had been following avidly for 15 odd years prior to ADWD were just filler until Aegon dropped by and took over the story.

[lancerman]

He's too late to the party. Envision a scenario where he succeeds in either having the throne at the end or saving the realm from the Others. It's some random dude who showed up in the fifth book.

[chrisdaw]

Because he's DOA, Dany's arrival.

[bent branch]

There are several things that are commonly believed in the fandom that causes them to dismiss Aegon.

1)  Aegon entered the story too late to have any impact.

2)  Aegon is fake and his only purpose is to die at Dany's hand.

3)  Aegon is only in the story because GRRM has lost control of his story and Aegon is just filler.

I think there is a purpose for Aegon, but I am among the few.

[butterbumps!]

I tend to think one major, impactful purpose of Aegon is to render the idea of Jon's ever being seen as Rhaegar's legit son and heir by the people of Westeros somewhat impossible.

To the people of Westeros, Aegon will be the one fulfilling the "prince in hiding returns" storyline.   An "Aegon" was known by all to be the product of a sanctioned union between Rhaegar and Elia, so his trueborn legitimacy will be uncontested, and this Aegon looks every bit the part of Rhaegar's son.  Those inclined to support an heir of Rhaegar will put their faith behind this Aegon as king.

Even in the event Jon might want to publicly adopt a Targ identity (not happening, imo, but for the sake of argument), Aegon beat him to the punch.   How many long lost (legitimate) sons of Rhaegar coming out of the woodwork will the people believe?  And unlike Jon, Aegon really does look the part.  So I think Aegon's presence in the story really detracts from the idea that Jon will be seen by Westeros as Rhaegar's "true" heir and take his "rightful" place on the throne as a Targ.

[Jon's Queen Consort]

3 hours ago, bent branch said:

1)  Aegon entered the story too late to have any impact.

Agree.

3 hours ago, bent branch said:

2)  Aegon is fake and his only purpose is to die at Dany's hand.

Disagree after a fashion.

3 hours ago, bent branch said:

I think there is a purpose for Aegon, but I am among the few.

Agree.

 I believe that Aegon's death by Dany is one of his purpose, Dany losing the support of the Westerosi and becoming a Kinslayer, a Kingslayer and an Usurper in their eyes. But his death isn't his only purpose.

[Ferocious Veldt Roarer]

14 hours ago, Lord Estermont said:

Most discussions/posts i see harldy even mention him , especially end game related ones. And it must be aknowledged that fAegon is one ofthe most universally accepted theories.Asoiaf has proved again and again that ones name matters little in the end but his actual strength.Last time i checked he had several thousand sellswords, so why is he disregarded so easily among the forum? Forgive my ignorance if what i ask is painfully obvious to everyone else

Young Griff appeared, in the flesh, quite late in the story, and that's why he won't be crucial in the endgame, although he will provide complications for everyone else (the Lannisters and the Tyrells, already; Dany, if she manages to get to Westeros before Young Griff kicks the bucket; Jon Snow, if his Targaryen claim somehow comes into play). Kinda like Euron Crow's Eye, who made his first on-page appearance in Book 4. He'll make a mess, he'll make an impact, but the endgame is not his.

BTW, it's very incorrect to say "one's name matter little in the end". It has enormous weight, and is the means (or one of them) to gather the actual strength. Notice that Young Griff has the Golden Company partially because he styles himself Aegon VI Targaryen - do you think he'd get just as much support under the name of "Young Griff, the bastard son of a sellsword known as Griff", or, say, "the son of Illyrio Mopatis the Cheesemonger and Serra of a Lysene brothel"? Hardly. The fatherhood of Joffrey and his siblings weighed huge on the plot. And everybody and his dog: the Lannisters, the Tyrells, the Boltons, Manderly, Littlefinger, Stannis, tried or are trying to use a Stark (a fake Stark, if you can't get the genuine article) as a key to the North. One's name matters a lot.

[Lord Varys]

You know, we have no idea whatsoever what George has planned for Dany and Aegon.

We don't really know where the story is headed, all we can reasonably guess at is that there will be much conflict in the remainder of the series, both involving humanity and the others and, prior to that, Stannis, Aegon, Euron, and Dany as major pretenders (and then, perhaps, various smaller power brokers like Littlefinger, Catelyn/Edmure, Cersei, the Tyrells).

How things turn out with Aegon is completely unclear. He won't win the Iron Throne in the end but that doesn't mean he could not stick around or even survive the series. Dany and he could still team up after some sort of brutal struggle. I mean, would Dany be as vain as Aegon II and feed Aegon to Drogon like Aegon II did with Rhaenyra? Probably not. Especially not since they don't have as long a history of hatred as these two. They haven't met each other yet.

Not to mention that the whole plot of him not being Rhaegar's son could be explored in a rather unexpected sense - say, Aegon doing the honest and honorable thing and relinquishing his claim to the Iron Throne and joining team Dany of his own free will or something like that. George most likely wants to surprise us with certain aspects of this story.

The idea that he could not be important because he was introduced 'late' in the story (as long as the series isn't finished we don't know how 'late' this actually is, though) doesn't make any sense. Not to mention that he was there as a concept since ACoK - just as Euron was, basically.

A lot of characters introduced in the beginning of the series - like Robert, Ned, Catelyn, Tywin, Joffrey, Lysa, Renly, Kevan, Pycelle, etc. - were introduced early in the story but did not last until the end. In fact, many of them were killed off rather early. There is reason to suspect that the major characters like Dany, Jon, Tyrion, Arya, Bran might stick around until the very end but the story isn't only about them. By now it includes hundreds of characters many of which are of tremendous importance to the overall story.

If you check the Aegon plot then he was introduced with an entire entourage of important secondary and tertiary characters. That is a pretty big hint that he has been introduced to stay and not just to kill some time (the same is true for Euron and the entire Ironborn storyline). If he was just supposed to become a short-lived irritation for the Lannister-Tyrell regime or fulfill another short-lived plot purpose then George could have done the same thing utilizing some pirates or corsairs exploiting the current weakness of Westeros rather than covering his exploits in detail via various POVs.

I'm sort of irritated by people assuming that the people and plots entering into the story in the middle won't stay there until the very end but will be also resolved in the middle of the story. That doesn't make much sense to me because it would mean that the middle part would only revolve around itself rather than be deeply connected to the end or the beginning.

People expecting that the story has been expanded in AFfC/ADwD just to be cut down in size again to focus exclusively about the original POVs and their story or to be cut down in size to a clear cut good vs. evil conflict doesn't make much sense. Even during the fight against the Others there might be conflict how to fight them, different savior candidates might offer different solutions and stuff like that, partly or wholly influenced by preconceptions and opinions they formed during the earlier wars (for instance, it could be that Arianne will never be able to accept Dany and not Aegon as 'the savior' due to the whole Quentyn tragedy).

[The Ice Wolf of Loki]

I think that what is going to happen to Aegon is that Jon will kill him in a trial by combat possibly as the resolution of the likely upcoming 2nd Dance of Dragons, i.e. The gods will decide who is Rhaegar's son and true heir.

[Flying Cat]

People have the same problem with Aegon than with Euron, fundamentally that they are "too late" introductions in the story to do anything important.

The chapter read at Balticon, "The Forsaken", has thrown a monkeywrench on that argument (which was really bad to begin with, for all the points stated above by @Lord Varys). Aegon VI and Euron are here to stay and shake the story up. And I am 100% positive that, once we read the rest of the series and come back to the earlier books, we will find hints pointing at theese two (like the statues in Vaes Dothrak, a black dragon with ruby eyes, next to it a Griffin).

People focus on the "mummers Dragon" part, calling him fake, but forget the other part that was there in the vision too: The cheering crowd.

[BalerionTheCat]

4 hours ago, bent branch said:

1)  Aegon entered the story too late to have any impact.

2)  Aegon is fake and his only purpose is to die at Dany's hand.

3)  Aegon is only in the story because GRRM has lost control of his story and Aegon is just filler.

I think there is a purpose for Aegon, but I am among the few.

1) He entered when he was needed. He entered with Daenerys' first chapter, or so. At least when it became obvious Viserys could not conquer Westeros and Illrio must have another plan. And when baby Aegon was described as a faceless horror.

2) Yes, he is to make Daenerys conquest an unjustified horror.

3) GRRM has not lost control of the story. He is driving us right where and how he wants it. Even if some don't like it.

[chrisdaw]

Aegon will be one of the driving forces behind Dany's arc of 'madness'. The most important really. It's not just about turning Westeros against her, its about her internally questioning her motives and the righteousness of her actions.

That he is an after-thought is comical. The character arcs are set, and everything springs forth from there. The reason there was a mad king, Dany's father, this apparent Targaryen madness at all, is because it served Dany's arc for it to be so. And Aegon is the catalyst to bring it all to a head, he is as much an after-thought as Aerys and Targ madness.

[Bael's Bastard]

I think the fact that he doesn't appear until the fifth book makes people skeptical that he will be really important. Of course, baby Aegon has been mentioned repeatedly throughout the series, so groundwork has been laid whether AeGriff is really him or not. And seeing how the first three books are apparently an extremely extended version of what was supposed to be the first book in a trilogy, perhaps if (maybe a big if) he had this storyline in mind all along, AeGriff was intended to show up in the second of three, which wouldn't have been unreasonably late had it happened like that. I think AeGriff will take the Iron Throne, but I do expect him to lose it, and probably be killed. But that doesn't mean he can't have an important or powerful storyline. Just not sure how important a role I see him having. Personally, I tend to see him dying in the "game of thrones" rather than having that great an impact on the war for dawn.

[Ferocious Veldt Roarer]

16 minutes ago, BalerionTheCat said:

1) He entered when he was needed. He entered with Daenerys' first chapter, or so. At least when it became obvious Viserys could not conquer Westeros and Illrio must have another plan. And when baby Aegon was described as a faceless horror.

Nope, he, not a mention of him, not a hypothesis of something like him, but he himself, appeared in the fifth book of the 7-book series. Hence he's but a distraction. He will thus distract, for a little while, and that's it.