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Rhaegar's fullfilling the prophecy...


1994ar

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When reading about Aegon's conquest in TWOIAF, I noticed that Visenya is older than Aegon and Rhaenys...



When thinking about it, I thougth that if Rhaegar wanted to recreate the prophecy in which Aegon (Rhaegar's son) is the Prince that was promised, and because he named his daughter Rhaenys, we can only assume that he wanted another daughter so he could name her Visenya.... (with or without Lyanna)..



I thought that if he wanted to do that, wouldn't he name his first daughter Visenya, seeing that the first Visenya is the older of the 3 siblings????



Don't know if anyone thought of that already or if I'm totally wrong, but that piece of information got my intention....



I have only recently acquired the book, so I haven't finished yet...



Thanks for your opinions, I'm new in the forum...


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I always get confused. What is the role of the prince that was promised? What was he promised to do?

If it is defeating the Others, how would Rhaegar know that the others are back...is it known already what is this prince that is promised supposed to do that made Rhaegar devote a nice chunk of his life to it?

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"The Promised Prince" and "The Dragon must have three heads" are not connected, as far as is known. Rhaegar is the only one to have spoken of both, but it is unknown whether he was trying to combine two different things, or whether those two things already were part of one prophecy.



Rhaegar believed himself to be the promised prince until Aegon's birth (though suspicion might have started as early as Aegon's conception). So Rhaenys' name is not connected to the Promised Prince.



House Targaryen descents from Queen Rhaenys and King Aegon, through their son, Aenys. Aegon wed both his sisters: the older Visenya, and the younger Rhaenys. Usually, a brother would only marry his eldest sister, and the logic seems clear. Should the elder sister (and eldest child, in the example of Aegon/Visenya) marry one man, and the brother (and heir of the house) marry another, the child of the sister, the elder of the two siblings, could easily make a claim for the lands (or, in this case, throne) on the grounds of being from an older branch than the children of the brother.



Maegor made his claim, taking the throne despite his older brother having three sons, and his mother, the elder of two sisters, yet who birthed the youngest of Aegon's children, helped him achieve that goal. A war was fought, and many members of House Targaryen died (Aenys, Aegon, Viserys, Maegor, Visenya, though the latter of age and not war). And then the House continued through Rhaenys' line.



So despite being the younger sister, it was Rhaenys' son who continued the house.



So Rhaegar had a few options:


- name the eldest daughter Visenya, and the youngest daughter Rhaenys, but ensure that the younger daughter would continue the house with her brother-husband.. This could lead to a parallel situation of Maegor/Aenys, which Rhaegar would want to avoid (see below).


- name the eldest daughter Rhaenys and the youngest daughter Visenya, and have the line continue through Rhaenys and Aegon.



Rhaegar would need to choose between keeping the names exactly in the same order (elder girl Visenya, younger girl Rhaenys), or between ensuring the enheritance of the descendants by changing the order of the names, yet making the inheritance claim of the inheriting line best.



If Rhaegar believed himself to be the promised prince, and "the dragon has three heads" is not connected to the promised prince, Rhaegar might have believed that the three-headed dragon would be necessary after he himself had died doing what the promised prince is supposed to do. A new dynasty, in spirit, not in name. And to avoid Targaryens killing each other, what had happened when the elder brother descending from the younger sister-wife had sons who needed to fight for the throne against the younger brother descending from the older sister-wife, Rhaegar decided to ensure that the line would indeed continue through Rhaenys and Aegon... But that Rhaenys would be the eldest this time, not Visenya.


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