What would you do if your family expected from you to save the world?

[Prince Yourwetdream Aeryn]

Many people hate Rhaegar because he caused  his family's downfall by kidnapping Lyanna. But I think that Rhaegar felt so much pressure from family. HIs family didn't expect him to get good education or do his duties properly but to save the world. 

[Lucius Lovejoy]

Did Rhaegar's family expect this of him?  Besides old Aemon making some comments about how he previously thought that Rhaegar was TPTWP do we have any evidence that anyone expected him to save the world?  Surely not Aerys who disinherited him.  And Aemon was at the wall so it isn't like he could have exerted much pressure on Rhaegar.

[The Mountain That Flies]

If anything Rhaegar put that pressure on himself. He decided to become the Prince That Was Promosed after reading about it.

[Dorian Martell's son]

On 1/16/2018 at 11:20 AM, RedGrace that was promised said:

Many people hate Rhaegar because he caused  his family's downfall by kidnapping Lyanna. But I think that Rhaegar felt so much pressure from family. HIs family didn't expect him to get good education or do his duties properly but to save the world. 

His family did nothing to push him into prophecy. He read about it, and fueled the belief with correspondence with his great uncle. 

[The Commentator]

17 hours ago, The Mountain That Flies said:

If anything Rhaegar put that pressure on himself. He decided to become the Prince That Was Promosed after reading about it.

That's like people who believe they're prophets from god.  Just because they believed it doesn't mean it's true.  

What Rhaegar actually believed is little known.  It doesn't have to mean something magical.  Maybe he just wanted to rebuild House Targaryen.  After all, Summerhall weighed on his mind.  He just wanted to model the future using what worked in the past, the triumvirate of Visenya, Aegon, and Rhaenys the foundations of his family.  

[Edgar Allen Poemont]

On ‎1‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 11:20 AM, RedGrace that was promised said:

Many people hate Rhaegar because he caused  his family's downfall by kidnapping Lyanna. But I think that Rhaegar felt so much pressure from family. HIs family didn't expect him to get good education or do his duties properly but to save the world. 

I definitely think Rhaegar struggled mightily with his family's expectations of him. I think he struggled also with what he believed to be his calling to be a scholar like Aemon and the expectation that he should be or was destined to be a warrior. The expectations that families place on children and the reality of what they may truly be or truly want to be is a central and recurring theme in ASoIaF. You can see it the relationship between  Sam and Randyl Tarly in an excessively harsh manner and you can see it between Eddard and Arya in a more accepting and gentle manner. It repeats throughout the novels in tons of different ways. With regard to Rhaegar and Aerys, I believe Aerys forced Rhaegar to give up his desire to be a scholar and take up the sword because Aerys believed the PTwP was supposed to be a great warrior and that it was Rhaegar's duty to fulfill the prophecy. I also believe Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna under a direct order from Aerys, not because he was in love with her. A common assumption I think many readers make is that the PTwP prophecy was only known to a few Targaryens or even to Rhaegar alone until he revealed it to Aemon. I think that's untrue. Summerhall was an attempt to create a PTwP too. Melisandre has knowledge of the prophecy. The Ghost of High Heart was aware of it. What I do believe to be true is that none of them have the complete prophecy and in trying to make it happen or force it to happen, they wind up unleashing all kinds of destruction. Aerys was very aware of the prophecy and I think probably beleived it was his duty to make it happen and used all manner of horrible and  manipulative methods to do it, including forcing his son to do horrible and manipulative things. 

[Curled Finger]

7 minutes ago, Edgar Allen Poemont said:

I definitely think Rhaegar struggled mightily with his family's expectations of him. I think he struggled also with what he believed to be his calling to be a scholar like Aemon and the expectation that he should be or was destined to be a warrior. The expectations that families place on children and the reality of what they may truly be or truly want to be is a central and recurring theme in ASoIaF. You can see it the relationship between  Sam and Randyl Tarly in an excessively harsh manner and you can see it between Eddard and Arya in a more accepting and gentle manner. It repeats throughout the novels in tons of different ways. With regard to Rhaegar and Aerys, I believe Aerys forced Rhaegar to give up his desire to be a scholar and take up the sword because Aerys believed the PTwP was supposed to be a great warrior and that it was Rhaegar's duty to fulfill the prophecy. I also believe Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna under a direct order from Aerys, not because he was in love with her. A common assumption I think many readers make is that the PTwP prophecy was only known to a few Targaryens or even to Rhaegar alone until he revealed it to Aemon. I think that's untrue. Summerhall was an attempt to create a PTwP too. Melisandre has knowledge of the prophecy. The Ghost of High Heart was aware of it. What I do believe to be true is that none of them have the complete prophecy and in trying to make it happen or force it to happen, they wind up unleashing all kinds of destruction. Aerys was very aware of the prophecy and I think probably beleived it was his duty to make it happen and used all manner of horrible and  manipulative methods to do it, including forcing his son to do horrible and manipulative things. 

More beautifully stated than I could muster.  The nuances of the events are open to interpretation because we have so little information, but this is the essence of the relationship between a father King and heir apparent in more than just Aerys and Rhaegar.   They weren't all so careless as Robert and Joffrey.