Summerhall: Whatever happened to baby Rhaegar?

[Pigeon Pie]

First wrote this theory/meta on my tumblr blog, then decided to bring it here for discussion. Hope you enjoy reading!

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I read this post about the child brides in the ASOIAF books, and one piece of information that struck me is how young Rhaella was when she married Aerys. I had no idea (or maybe I did read that at one point and forgot), I thought she was at least 14, 15. Like the post says, it doesn’t make any sense why Aegon and Jaehaerys married Rhaella to Aerys so young; they could afford to wait at least a few years. Makes me think maybe the woods witch’s prophecy included a part that said they had limited time to act? If so, I find it odd that GRRM wouldn’t tell us about that part in particular. But in any case, it’s odd that they decided to marry them so quickly while endangering the treasured lives of herself and her baby.

Now, she did give birth to Rhaegar one year after marrying Aerys, while she was about 12 to 14, and after that, she underwent a series of EIGHT miscarriages and stillbirths and 3 children that lived only for months (hence the huge age difference between Rhaegar and his living siblings) and when she finally gave birth to Viserys, she was 30. 

Which makes you think, isn’t it logical that her very first child, born when she was 12 to 14, would perish as well? It would make sense. If Rhaella and Aerys had some form of difficulty giving birth to healthy children (maybe partly because of the incest), wouldn’t the child with the biggest risk of a stillbirth or miscarriage or birth defects be the first, born while his mother was in no age to carry or give birth to a healthy child without risking his and her life? Not to mention the rough circumstances in which Rhaella gave birth to Rhaegar, with their family burning only steps away, no less… (and btw I do have an idea about how Rhaella was saved from the fire but that’s for another post). 

When you think about all the “prophetic” figures in ASOIAF, their births and/or lives entail some form of sacrifice, either the lives of others, their own lives or an important part of their lives.

1. Jon Snow: Was birthed by a very young mother as well (albeit older than Rhaella when she gave birth to R) and all circumstances were against him. Had anyone sniffed something about his true parentage (and I suspect that it’s not that hard, given that ASOIAF fans have figured out R+L=J in the nineties after the first book) he would have been dead meat. And yet he survived in spite of all odds, practically because of Ned’s sacrifice for him (lying and tarnishing his honor) but in the “magical scale”, a life pays for a life, and Jon Snow’s life was paid for not only by his mother, but also by his father and three Kingsguard, and you could even list all the men who died in Robert’s Rebellion, and Elia an her children, Even Rickard and Brandon and all the men that went with him to KL… even Aerys. All people who paid with their lives for the conception and birth of Jon Snow.

(and I think his book revival will involve the sacrifice of a life as well. I guess we’ll see.)

2. Daenerys: Her life was paid for by Rhaella’s death, and her own life included countless sacrifices in order to survive as well. All odds were against her too; she lived a life of exile, as a fugitive, and many attempts were made on her life, but so far all failed. 

3. Tyrion: The possible third head of the dragon, his life was paid for by his mother’s death as well. Everyone was betting on his death and yet he survived, even his father was going to kill him at birth and didn’t. 

4. Bran: The last Greenseer, life was not sacrificed for his birth, however his disability paid for his warging and greenseeing abilities. It’s notable that they only start happening AFTER his fall, and also worth mentioning that all odds were against him surviving said fall, and yet he survived, but like I said there isn’t a life that I know of that paid for his (unless you count the hitman that Summer mauled to death, but I wouldn’t). 

And finally…

5. Lyanna: No life was paid for her birth, but I think that none was required, it’s her life that was sacrificed as payment for the birth of her son. 

6. Rhaegar: Like I said his life was among the many sacrificed for Jon’s, but not only that… his life was paid for as well. That is my thesis: Rhaegar would not have survived being given birth to by a 13 year old mother with problems giving birth that persisted with her until she was in her late twenties, if his life hadn’t been paid for by a bunch of people. 

Now, I don’t know if Aegon V knew what he was sacrificing himself and his people for, or if he thought he was going to hatch literal dragons, or even if the fire was started intentionally, but I think it doesn’t really matter; Joanna, Lyanna and Rhaella didn’t exactly intend to sacrifice their lives for their children (and I’m not saying they wouldn’t have done it intentionally, just saying you can’t exactly give yourself birth complications.) I don’t think the sacrifice has to be intentional to be effective. 

Let’s also observe the lives of the people I just listed, and the theme of sacrifice (either made by themselves or by others for them) truly fits in. You’ll understand the order I’ve put them in by the end:

1. Bran’s life became complicated (and naturally, his state of mind got worse) after the fall and the disability. Of course he lost his family and that contributed, but that’s unrelated: The powers that Bran gained/that woke in him after the “sacrifice”, were a heavy burden on a child.

2. Lyanna: Lived her life like she knew it would be short. “The wolf blood”. Lyanna had a young spirit, lit and rebellious and brave, even in the face of things she did not understand. She felt pure and strong emotion. She had the soul of a warrior, not a planner. It only made sense that her life would be cut short by a sacrifice made for a child that she loves, not necessarily because she understands what his importance would be. 

3. Tyrion & Daenerys: Each of them had only one life sacrificed for them and that is their mothers; however it still can’t be lessened. It overshadowed their lives; Daenerys lived a fugitive, then bought by a Dothraki warlord, then losing her son, and going on a journey towards self-fulfilling, all the while never really being happy. All she wanted was the house with the red door, and she never got back there. Tyrion suffered the hideous consequences of being a dwarf in an extremely ableist society, and the trauma of what happened to Tysha, and like Daenerys with the house of the red door, all Tyrion wanted was a small and happy life with Tysha but it was taken away from him. 

4. Jon & Rhaegar: People (including myself) like to joke about how their biggest similarity is how emo they are, but in light of this “theory”/observation, I think it makes sense why. The sacrifice made to bring one into the world has an impact on their lives, and the bigger the sacrifice, the bigger the impact. Like I’ve noted with Jon, we can’t say that Lyanna was the only life given for him to be born, but rather you can count every single life taken in Robert’s Rebellion as a sacrifice because of the causal ties between those deaths and Rhaegar’s elopement with Lyanna/abduction of her (and btw I don’t believe that R+L “caused” the rebellion, I think it was the first catalyst of many but not the strongest) those lives include: Jon’s mother and father, both of his grandfathers, his uncle, Elia and his two paternal siblings, Arthur Dayne, Oswell Whent, Gerold Hightower, Ned’s friends who died at the ToJ and any soldier or commander that died on either sides in Robert’s Rebellion. With Rhaegar, the lives given for his are all the people at Summerhall on the day of his birth. On father and son, you can note the impact of that sacrifice: An almost constant shadow haunted both of their lives. A chronic sadness (possibly clinical depression, especially in Rhaegar’s case). It’s not even because of specific events like in the case of Tyrion and Daenerys, but even in moments where they’re supposed to be happy or neutral, you can’t help but still feel that shadow hovering over their state of mind. 

And in light of the way we described Lyanna’s sacrifice for Jon, let’s describe Rhaegar’s as well: Rhaegar was almost the complete opposite of Lyanna. His “sense of doom” did not only include a sadness resulting from the sacrifice made for him, but also an understanding of the sacrifice he would have to make. Yes his words to Jaime before going to the Trident tell us that he thought he’d come back, but I think on the inside, he knew there was something he had to give because of how important Jon would become, and that thing might be his life. I don’t think that Rhaegar 100% trusted that he would survive, I think he just knew he wasn’t meant to give his subjects (Jaime) a feeling that he would doubt himself. He was still possibly the future king, after all. His sadness came from knowledge: Not only of the sacrifices made for his life, but of the sacrifices he and many others will have to make as well. 

In conclusion, this was meant to be a short post theorizing what I think about the tragedy of Summerhall coinciding with Rhaegar surviving a very risky childbirth. It ended up as a long af post talking about the theme of sacrifice in the lives of the prophetic protagonists of the Song of Ice and Fire. Oh well, those things happen.

[Ygrain]

Well... I'm not saying it is entirely implausible but I'd rather suppose that Rhaella's problems were a consequence of giving birth at such a young age when her body was not fully developed yet. Plus, a possibility of some genetic disorder that may have come into play, or, Maester conspiracy etc.

[Pigeon Pie]

1 hour ago, Ygrain said:

Well... I'm not saying it is entirely implausible but I'd rather suppose that Rhaella's problems were a consequence of giving birth at such a young age when her body was not fully developed yet. Plus, a possibility of some genetic disorder that may have come into play, or, Maester conspiracy etc.

That's why I propose this theory: Rhaegar wasn't going to survive either. The death of the people at Summerhall is the reason he survived. I'm proposing that many characters that endured a very high risk of dying at a young age survived till now because their births/lives entailed some sacrifice: In Rhaegar's case it's the people at Summerhall, in Jon's it's all the lives taken in Robert's Rebellion and Lyanna's, in Dany's it's Rhaella, in Tyrion's it's Joanna... etc. The whole "A life pays for a life" concept which seems to be about the magical balance in the ASOIAF universe (or, as this theory proposes, many lives could pay for one life, only the impact of all those losses will show up on the life that was paid for in the form of constant sadness, depression, tragedy etc.)

[Lady Barbrey]

Nice post, Pigeon Pie.  I agree that the theme of sacrifice, in particular to birth real "dragons" - human or animal - pervades the series.  It doesn't all fit together like building blocks, though, there always seems to be some sprawl from logical narrative, so we'll have to see if Martin ties it together or we will need to speculate ad infinitum.

You've just touched on Bran in your post but wanted to share what I think is at base for him somewhat different than Targaryans but no less magical, and ties in with sacrifice.  The Tullys as "River Kings" with a fish for their sigil, are also aligned with the Fisher Kings of Arthuriana, in which the land wastes away because of the maimed king.  How many images of infertility, sickness, wasting are associated with Tullys: Hoster ("wasting" away), Lysa (abortion), Catelyn (mother bereft of her children), the Blackfish (refuses marriage/procreation), Sweetrobin (weak, unknown illness), and Bran (maimed in fall, legs and fertility we assume).  It's interesting that the series begins with the maiming of Bran, and suggestive that the wasting of Westeros is directly connected with Bran's injuries and can only be healed if Bran is healed, by a hero asking the right question, or some variation thereof, as in the Fisher King myth.  (Martin emphasizes the Fisher King myth in the World Book - we're told of the Fisher Queens in the their floating palace and that the First Men originally came from this area).  As with Targaryan sacrifice, there is some sprawl from this fairly close analogy, so it is hard to make any hard and fast conclusions from it, but the Fisher King myth is closely associated with sacrificial king myth.  The king must die (or must be maimed then healed) for the land to flourish.

So the Targaryan sacrificial narrative seems to be that royal blood (Targaryan?) is needed to invigorate the line of dragons, humans or animals.

The Tully sacrificial narrative seems to be something similar but is needed to reinvigorate the land.  And considering Bran's associations with the Children, this makes sense.

The Craster sacrificial narrative (and maybe Stark? who knows?) seems to be that certain bloodlines will reinvigorate the  line of the Others.

There might also be something going on with the ocean.

 

 

 

[Pigeon Pie]

2 hours ago, Lady Barbrey said:

Nice post, Pigeon Pie.  I agree that the theme of sacrifice, in particular to birth real "dragons" - human or animal - pervades the series.  It doesn't all fit together like building blocks, though, there always seems to be some sprawl from logical narrative, so we'll have to see if Martin ties it together or we will need to speculate ad infinitum.

You've just touched on Bran in your post but wanted to share what I think is at base for him somewhat different than Targaryans but no less magical, and ties in with sacrifice.  The Tullys as "River Kings" with a fish for their sigil, are also aligned with the Fisher Kings of Arthuriana, in which the land wastes away because of the maimed king.  How many images of infertility, sickness, wasting are associated with Tullys: Hoster ("wasting" away), Lysa (abortion), Catelyn (mother bereft of her children), the Blackfish (refuses marriage/procreation), Sweetrobin (weak, unknown illness), and Bran (maimed in fall, legs and fertility we assume).  It's interesting that the series begins with the maiming of Bran, and suggestive that the wasting of Westeros is directly connected with Bran's injuries and can only be healed if Bran is healed, by a hero asking the right question, or some variation thereof, as in the Fisher King myth.  (Martin emphasizes the Fisher King myth in the World Book - we're told of the Fisher Queens in the their floating palace and that the First Men originally came from this area).  As with Targaryan sacrifice, there is some sprawl from this fairly close analogy, so it is hard to make any hard and fast conclusions from it, but the Fisher King myth is closely associated with sacrificial king myth.  The king must die (or must be maimed then healed) for the land to flourish.

So the Targaryan sacrificial narrative seems to be that royal blood (Targaryan?) is needed to invigorate the line of dragons, humans or animals.

The Tully sacrificial narrative seems to be something similar but is needed to reinvigorate the land.  And considering Bran's associations with the Children, this makes sense.

The Craster sacrificial narrative (and maybe Stark? who knows?) seems to be that certain bloodlines will reinvigorate the  line of the Others.

There might also be something going on with the ocean.

 

 

 

Interesting points! Thank you for the great addition. It seems like GRRM does love this whole theme of tying the lives of small humans to big events. In this light, I think Bran will probably survive the end of the series (and maybe even become KiTN). I think if there's something going on with the ocean, it'll most likely have to do with the ironborn and their drowned god religion. 

[Lady Barbrey]

1 hour ago, Pigeon Pie said:

Interesting points! Thank you for the great addition. It seems like GRRM does love this whole theme of tying the lives of small humans to big events. In this light, I think Bran will probably survive the end of the series (and maybe even become KiTN). I think if there's something going on with the ocean, it'll most likely have to do with the ironborn and their drowned god religion. 

Agree!

Any hope I've ever had for Bran to walk and climb again is based on my knowing the Fisher King myth. I'm quite sentimental when it comes to him and Arya and I think the greensight is a poor substitute for sturdy legs and an adventurous spirit like Bran's.  Like showing him a film of the ascent of Everest (with sensory special effects) instead of climbing it himself.  I remember when I first started to make the connections between the Tully's and the myth and realized that there was still an inkling of hope, if George pursued the analogy, that Bran might walk again.  Martin has promised us a bittersweet ending; that could possibly be part of the "sweet".

[Pigeon Pie]

15 hours ago, Lady Barbrey said:

Agree!

Any hope I've ever had for Bran to walk and climb again is based on my knowing the Fisher King myth. I'm quite sentimental when it comes to him and Arya and I think the greensight is a poor substitute for sturdy legs and an adventurous spirit like Bran's.  Like showing him a film of the ascent of Everest (with sensory special effects) instead of climbing it himself.  I remember when I first started to make the connections between the Tully's and the myth and realized that there was still an inkling of hope, if George pursued the analogy, that Bran might walk again.  Martin has promised us a bittersweet ending; that could possibly be part of the "sweet".

Or maybe GRRM wants the revival of house Tully to come through Edmure? (I've never really had high hopes for Edmure, but maybe he'd come back to his usurped castle with an army at one point in an also Macbeth-ish parallel?) In any case, I do hope that Bran will be the revival of both houses Stark and Tully; it's either him or Sansa, really. 

[Lady Barbrey]

7 minutes ago, Pigeon Pie said:

Or maybe GRRM wants the revival of house Tully to come through Edmure? (I've never really had high hopes for Edmure, but maybe he'd come back to his usurped castle with an army at one point in an also Macbeth-ish parallel?) In any case, I do hope that Bran will be the revival of both houses Stark and Tully; it's either him or Sansa, really. 

I think Edmure and family are going to buy it in the next book.

Oh could be Arya too.  I tend to think of her as all Stark but she's got the Tully in her somewhere too.  In fact, I sometimes imagine her war as taking place in the Riverlands warging Nymeria, leading her wolves, and the Brotherhood inherited from her mother, with help from Gendry, in guerilla terrorism with the odd targeted assassination.  That'd be a force to be reckoned with.

Interesting alliance here really, mirroring the parents: Jon for the North (like Ned), Sansa for the Vale (like Jon Arryn), Arya for the Riverlands (like Hoster), with Gendry taking the place of Robert Baratheon.