Why Aegon might not be fake after all

[Panos Targaryen]

Yes, but then entire things blows in your face when you read about Elia's behavior. I mean, what kind of mother would in such time separate from her daughter only for some strange boy? It does not make much sense. Furthermore, you have to exclude Jon Connington from your plans, given that he met the boy for the first time when he was 6. So, I don't see how Elia could trust Varys on information he clearly didn't have at the time. Not to mention that Rhaella was alive at the time, and that boy could have been sent to her, and given that she was Queen of Westeros, she would be the best for raising the boy. The set of events you suggest is full of holes and is based on the fallible logic that Varys is omniscient...

Rhaella was at Dragonstone, a place that would be almost certainly attacked later on. Varys wanted the plan to be as risk-proof as possible, so he gave Aegon to Illyrio, to transport him to Pentos. He probably saw Rhaella, Dany and Viserys as lost already.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

Rhaella was at Dragonstone, a place that would be almost certainly attacked later on. Varys wanted the plan to be as risk-proof as possible, so he gave Aegon to Illyrio, to transport him to Pentos. He probably saw Rhaella, Dany and Viserys as lost already.

Dragonstone was still firmly in Targaryen hands at that point and even after the Sack it was some time before it fell. So no I don't really see your logic here.

[Anath]

No, I don't expect her to leave him to die. I expect her to show greater concern for her actual child, though. And while the Sack was a surprise, she would've known it was happening while there was still time enough left to go down a flight of stairs.

Actually, I find Elia's behavior strange either way. No matter whether the baby was hers, Rhaenys certainly was. Why wasn't she with both children?

The only explanation I can come up with is if she knew where Rhaenys was hiding and didn't want to call attention to her.

[Panos Targaryen]

I assume that you are not a parent.

You assume correctly. Due to my lack of experience with newborns I had a false opinion. I apologize to anyone offended by this, and I revise my opinion. But the baby-switch theory still stands.

[Jessica Rogers]

Aegons eye's are purple not blue just a darker shade, that's why they looked blue when he has blue hair and when Dany saw Rhaegar in the house of undying, she made a mental note that Rhaegars are's were darker than Veserys.

Personally I think it could go either way.

[Mladen]

Rhaella was at Dragonstone, a place that would be almost certainly attacked later on. Varys wanted the plan to be as risk-proof as possible, so he gave Aegon to Illyrio, to transport him to Pentos. He probably saw Rhaella, Dany and Viserys as lost already.

Dragonstone was still firmly in Targaryen hands at that point and even after the Sack it was some time before it fell. So no I don't really see your logic here.

I agree with Apple. Since Dragonstone was Targaryens' at the moment we speak about, I don't see how Varys couldn't have sent there and planned five years in advance for boy to meet Jon Connington.

[Panos Targaryen]

1. It's actually not certain that the children would be killed. That's part of what makes it so shocking and brutal -- it wasn't completely expected. I don't think there's anything to support that it was possible to know for sure that the children would be killed.

2. Why bother with a switch at all? Why not smuggle both kids to Essos? If he knew about the attack as far in advance as you claim, why not use that time to save both children, or even to smuggle Elia out too? Varys managed to get Tyrion out of the castle fairly easily, so why not two children? The royal fleet still controlled the coast and was still at Dragonstone, so why not send the kids there? I keep seeing the "Robert's assassins" point, except that Viserys and Dany were in the SAME position and Robert sent precisely no one to kill them until Dany got pregnant.

Dany mentions that in her childhood Viserys would take them from city to city to escape "the usurpers knives". How much of that is Viserys being paranoid and how much is true we don't know.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

You assume correctly. Due to my lack of experience with newborns I had a false opinion. I apologize to anyone offended by this, and I revise my opinion. But the baby-switch theory still stands.

Except for the logic holes in it that you could fly Balerion through.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

Dany mentions that in her childhood Viserys would take them from city to city to escape "the usurpers knives". How much of that is Viserys being paranoid and how much is true we don't know.

BUT SHE HAD NEVER SEEN THEM. The only thing she knows about these "usurper's knives" is what Viserys TELLS her.

Robert later verifies that Jon Arryn had persuaded him against assassinating the kids, and he only sent the assassin to kill Dany after she was pregnant. The "usurper's knives" is Viserys being paranoid and also probably getting off on thinking Robert thought he was worth chasing.

Seriously -- if Robert had wanted kids dead, they would be dead.

[Panos Targaryen]

Dragonstone was still firmly in Targaryen hands at that point and even after the Sack it was some time before it fell. So no I don't really see your logic here.

Varys wanted Aegon out of Westeros. That's why he didn't send him to DS, held by Targaryens or not.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

Varys wanted Aegon out of Westeros. That's why he didn't send him to DS, held by Targaryens or not.

But again, if he had all this time and he knew the army was coming, why not get both kids out?

Aegon is dead and the kid Varys is passing off is a Blackfyre at best and some Valyrian-descended random welp at worst. There was no switch. Deal with it.

[Mladen]

Varys wanted Aegon out of Westeros. That's why he didn't send him to DS, held by Targaryens or not.

And then tell us, what he has been doing with the boy for 5 years? Wasn't the logical thing to send him to Willem Darry immediately after the war so he could be properly protected?

[RoamingRonin]

Seriously -- if Robert had wanted kids dead, they would be dead.

Because it totally worked that time he did want her dead, right?

[SimonSez]

I've never been convinced he wasn't the real deal.

However, I believe Varys plans to bridge the divide between the Blackfyres and Targs by orchestrating them becoming one big family under one name.

The main reason there are no Targs save Dany left were all the dying Targs during Sir Duncan's time and the Summerhall disaster. If the Valerian descents can intermarry, it can only be a good thing--allowing for safer power shifts should madness show it's head again in a Targ ruler.

Varys would see to it and his position at court would be safe.

[StannisBamfatheon]

Because it totally worked that time he did want her dead, right?

Eh pretty special circumstance. Jorah turned his cloak at that very moment when he was supposed to just let her die. She would have totally ate it if it wasn't for him. If you're king of ostensibly half the known world, I'm sure you can scrape together some coin to hire a faceless man for assassination round 2. Robert just happened to have you know, died after that.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

Because it totally worked that time he did want her dead, right?

Because assassinating two young children totally on their own is totally the exact same thing as assassinating a teenage wife of a khal surrounded by bodyguards, right? Please. And it was only because of Jorah's intervention that the poison didn't kill her.

[Panos Targaryen]

BUT SHE HAD NEVER SEEN THEM. The only thing she knows about these "usurper's knives" is what Viserys TELLS her.

Robert later verifies that Jon Arryn had persuaded him against assassinating the kids, and he only sent the assassin to kill Dany after she was pregnant. The "usurper's knives" is Viserys being paranoid and also probably getting off on thinking Robert thought he was worth chasing.

Seriously -- if Robert had wanted kids dead, they would be dead.

Not asassins then, but people to take them back to Westeros. Eithet way, I think Robert didn't think Dany and Viserys were a threat because they were the Mad King's children, and his evil reputation was partly in them too. But if he knew the son of the valiant Rhaegar was alive, he would certainly send assassins. Aegon is more important than Dany and Viserys, his father was more loved, thus he would have more power iver Targaryen loyalists.

[The Unborn]

I'm not saying that she should have just let the switched baby be killed. I'm saying that it's strange that, if the switched baby wasn't hers, she was with an unrelated baby and not her actual daughter. She could have given the child to a servant, or taken the kid with her when she went to look in on Rhaenys. I don't think it's out of bounds to ponder it. The switch has logic holes on multiple levels.

Those are legitimate reasons to doubt. But in all honesty, I believe it was written that way to confuse readers. Whether Aegon is fake or not will be, in my opinion, irrelevant to the plot and we might never get a confirmation anyway.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

Not asassins then, but people to take them back to Westeros. Eithet way, I think Robert didn't think Dany and Viserys were a threat because they were the Mad King's children, and his evil reputation was partly in them too. But if he knew the son of the valiant Rhaegar was alive, he would certainly send assassins. Aegon is more important than Dany and Viserys, his father was more loved, thus he would have more power iver Targaryen loyalists.

The fact remains that in exile, Viserys and Dany were the Targaryen heirs in exactly the same way Aegon and Rhaenys would have been, and Robert didn't lift a finger to assassinate them or otherwise hassle them until Dany got pregnant. So no, I don't buy the "oh Robert's assassins!" argument.

And if Rhaegar was so beloved, why not have Aegon set up a court in exile like Henry VII, so that Targ loyalists could flock to him, support him, etc.? The secrecy is suspicious, and that's because Young Griff is a Perkin Warbeck, not a Henry VII.

[Jessica Rogers]

Has anyone considered maybe Elia didn't know about the baby switch?

Maybe the switch happened just minutes before the attack. Verys is a pretty sneaky guy and his little birds seem even sneakier.