The Bard of Banefort

Well, it could also go the other way, too. Maybe whoever arranged the marriage--Daenaera, perhaps--hoped that Daena would bring Baelor out of his shell. Would Aegon really have not consulted Viserys first? We're told the two were very close, and that Viserys served as his Hand while Aegon would brood in his bedchamber for days on end. It seems unlikely that Viserys didn't know about Aemon being chosen for the Kingsguard beforehand.

Based on the information we have right now, I find the "tamed by marriage" theory to be the most persuasive for the sibling marriages. I think the bigger questions now are why Daeron hadn't been betrothed despite being Aegon III's heir (maybe he was and she died--we don't know at this point), and why Viserys forced Naerys to marry Aegon IV but allowed Aemon to join the kingsguard.

Good analogy with Bonifer Hasty. I've always wondered what he really thinks of Jaime. Does he hate Jaime for helping take down the Targaryens, or is he secretly grateful that he killed Rhaella's abusive husband?

Thanks for all the great replies! Does anyone else think that Aemon may have been gay? It's something I've been considering for a while now, although there's admittedly not much supporting evidence beyond the question of why he joined the kingsguard in the first place.

Since Fire and Blood ends with Aegon III turning 16 and ending his regency, there is still much we don't know about the Targaryens after the Dance. I find the marriages of Aegon's and Viserys' children to be rather odd, and was wondering what your thoughts are on how and why they came to be. Viserys had three children: Aegon > Aemon > Naerys Aegon III had five children, all of whom were younger than Viserys' children: Daeron > Baelor > Daena > Rhaena > Eleana According to wiki, Daeron was five years younger than Naerys. Aegon IV and Naerys were married in 153 AC, when he was 18 and she was 15. Daena and Baelor were married in 160 AC, when she was fifteen and he was sixteen. Daeron did not die until a year later, in 161 AC. Now here's the question: why were these disastrous marriages made in the first place? I'm going to assume that Viserys arranged both of them. The Targaryens married their kin to "keep the blood pure," but with eight of them in one generation, there were plenty of options. Daeron was the Aegon III's eldest child, and was king at the time of Baelor and Daena's wedding, yet he died a bachelor (and we were told that Daena idolized him). It sounds like Aegon IV and Naerys never got along, and with three female Targaryen cousins, it's hard to understand why he wasn't married off to any of them instead. One theory I'm considering is that perhaps Viserys was hoping that Naerys and Baelor could "tame" their headstrong spouses, who caused their family so much scandal. (If so, it failed spectacularly). I've also seen it argued that the sibling marriages could have been a way of showing that the Targaryens were still exceptional even without their dragons. This wouldn't explain why Daena was married to Baelor instead of Daeron, although I suppose Daeron could have been planning to marry a Dornishwoman as a way of solidifying the conquest. Yet despite insisting on a marriage between Naerys and Aegon, Viserys was somehow okay with his younger son taking the lifetime position of a kingsguard. I suppose it could have been like with Jaime, where his father didn't find out until it was too late, but judging by Aegon and Viserys' close relationship, and Viserys basically running King's Landing anyway, this seems unlikely. But then again, maybe Aemon and Naerys were less like Jaime and Cersei and more like Loras and Margaery. Perhaps instead of being in love with Naerys, Aemon just wasn't into women, period. (Which would make Aegon IV's slander even more petty and vindictive). There are lots of possibilities. What are your thoughts?

I don't think so, no. I don't think he knew what he was doing there, to be honest. He's drawn to Sansa and he doesn't know why, so he just showed up. (While we're here, I don't think Tyrion would rape Cersei if given the chance, either. He's raging from a place of anger and despair; most of what he says is a reflection of that, nothing more). What I'm curious about is why the Hound hates Tyrion so much. He's pissed off when he finds out that Tyrion married Sansa, and says she'd be better off dead than married to him. I saw someone theorize that the version of Tysha's rape that Petyr tells Sansa--the one where Tyrion got bored with Tysha and handed her off as a sex slave to his guards--might be the version that the Westerlanders know, so I guess that could really color his perception of Tyrion.

I was recently thinking about Quentyn Ball, and how he forced his wife to join the silent sisters so that he would be eligible to join the kingsguard. This left me wondering: do we know of any widowers who became kingsguard?

Interesting. How would Lyanna have met Mance? Why don't you think Egg was a good king?

If Daemon knowingly had sex with his daughter, then that would make his screwed-up even by Targaryens standards. Not even Aegon IV screwed his own daughter. RE: Tyrion, it's interesting that for all the women Tyrion's had sex with, he doesn't have any bastards (that we know of). And we know that the prostitutes don't always use birth control (ex. Barra). Makes me wonder if he can't have children.

The most egregious example of a child bride that I can think of is Aemma Arryn, who was married off to Viserys I at age eleven, despite both his father and grandfather still being alive and healthy, and the realm being at peace. My only explanation is probably that George just got the dates messed up between writing TPatQ and Fire and Blood, and so he just went with it rather than going back and restructuring the story more than he already had. While we're talking about historical figures, here are two more opinions, one of which might be unconventional, and the second of which definitely is: 1. Alysanne mistreated Viserra, who did nothing wrong besides be pretty and have some of the same ambitions that Alysanne herself had at her age (which Viserra ended up abandoning pretty quickly). Alyssa and Daella both had a say in who they married, and Saera spent her teenage years running wild, yet Viserra was supposed to be married off to an old man who outlived four wives and be happy about it. 2. Alyn Velaryon was kind of a f*ckboy.

Oh, I thought of one more: out of all five of the Stark children, Arya is the one who takes after Catelyn the most

No problem! I was able to find an interview where he talked about it a little bit: https://observationdeck.kinja.com/george-r-r-martin-the-complete-unedited-interview-886117845

I'm not talking about the five-year gap. George has said in the past that he originally planned for each book to cover a period of several years.

1. I love the Ironborn. 1a. The Iron Throne had a million chances to join the Ironborn closer to the rest of Westeros. Instead they just ignored them, and thus created a self-fulfilling prophecy. 2. Jorah is a) a mostly-good person and b) a smart character. There's a reason why Dany started to struggle so much once he was no longer there to advise her. 3. As of now, I think Rheager and Lyanna were both selfish fools. Maybe that'll change once we learn more about them, but as of now, I have no sympathy for either of them. 4. George may have gone a bit overboard with Cersei, but that's what makes her so much fun. 5. Recently, there has been this world salad about how Jaime's arc isn't about redemption but instead the "limits of redemption." This is silly. ALL redemption arcs are about the limits of redemption (ex. Darth Vader deciding to kill Palpatine and save Luke didn't undo him slaughtering all the younglings at the Jedi Temple). Furthermore, even if you think Jaime was a bad person for working for the Lannisters' interests in AFFC, he would have been a worse person if he hadn't. He can't go back in time; Jaime fathered Tommen and Myrcella, and if the Lannisters lose the throne, they will both end up dead. Jaime would be a far worse person if he decided to abandon his family and ensure his children's deaths than he is by kicking the Tullys out of Riverrun. 6. To draw 4 & 5 together, I do not believe Jaime is the valonqar, and if he was, it would be a huge step back for his character (the ultimate act of domestic violence), not a step forward. 7. It's not talked about as much anymore, but there was a lot of hand-wringing about the "dead ladies club" at one point . . . . and to be honest, I'm not that bothered about it. Almost all of those deaths (namely Lyanna, Rhaella, Elia, Joanna, and Ashara) all had narrative purposes, and the story would be drastically different had they survived. I'm more bothered that Asha is apparently the only woman that lives on the Iron Islands. 8. I've seen other people bring this up before, but it's important to remember that George R.R. Martin is a seventy-something-year-old man who started writing this series back in the 90s. Critical analysis is perfectly fine, but it's unrealistic to expect the books' ending to be "woke" by the standards of young people in 2020. 9. That being said, I do wish there were fewer 13 and 14-year old brides in this series. However, in the main series at least, I think this was more the result of George having assumed that more time was going to pass over the span of each book. I think this is probably the case with the relationship between Sansa and the Hound. Sansa was likely supposed to be in her late teens by now, and GRRM just kind of writes her as if she were. 10. While we're on the subject of SanSan, I do get the impression that the reason why some people dislike it (not all, but some) is because it's predominantly shipped by women, and everyone knows that if girls like something, then it MUST be stupid. 11. Even in a series about kings and queens and birthright, I've still always been uncomfortable with the assertion that Daenerys is entitled to rule a country that she hasn't been to since she was born, and whose culture and people she knows nothing about.

Honestly, I always saw the Unkiss as a kind of premonition. George did say that all the Starks kids have some modicum of warging abilities (someone somewhere has the quote for this). Seeing as non-magical Jaime Lannister has had a number of prophetic/magical dreams, I don't think it's impossible that Sansa could have a vision or two herself.