R+L=J v.155

[sj4iy]

Honestly it's not possible if no one is going to recognize the marriage.

Sure, they can stand before a tree and say the words. It doesn't mean anybody will endorse it or recognize it as a viable marriage. He's already married and she's promised to another. Polygamy hasn't been practiced in generations, why would anyone recognize Lyanna's ability to give her hand away to Rhaegar or his ability to run off with her Wildling style and say the vows?
 
Can they do it? Yes. Is it valid? Probably not.

Is it valid if the future king does it? Probably. It all depends on which of the nobility will back him at that point...and considering the choices at that time were "Support Mad King Aerys who burns our lords" or "Support Prince Rhaegar who marries polygamously", I would say that the odds were in his favor.

[UnViserion]

The issue keeps coming up as to why Rhaegar kept his marriage a secret (assuming he did as I believe, although LV keeps suggesting maybe Aerys already knew about it). I keep arguing that he was waiting for the baby to be born. I have heard some counter-arguments, and here are my follow-up thoughts.

 

When Rhaegar started this plan, he did not know a war would break out. So he did not think he would be sitting out a war -- he just thought he would be sitting out the fall-out from running off with Lyanna. Once the war started, it was too late to change the plan as there really was no better plan available to them at that point. They were already married and Lyanna possibly was already pregnant by the time they learned that war broke out.

 

Coming back with a baby has some advantages. It is more difficult to try to "undo" the marriage if there is a baby. Certainly, I would think that the objections of the Starks would be diminished, as Lyanna is better off as second wife to the next King than "unulled non-wife" with the maybe bastard child of the next King. And with a baby born -- those would really be their only choices. But I have always argued that Aerys is really the issue at hand that matters most. Rhaegar either needed to get himself installed as regent so he could make the decision himself about the marriage -- or convince Aerys to accept the marriage. I think Rhaegar believed he could accomplish one or the other. I think at first, he thought he could get Aerys to accept the wife and child. When he went to the Trident, I think he thought that coming back a war hero, he could do anything he wanted, including becoming regent and recognizing the marriage. But I think he thought the worst that would happen is that he would have to go to exile in Essos with his 2 wives and 3 children.

 

Did Rhaegar act recklessly in thinking this would all work out -- perhaps. Did Rheagar have any better options -- I don't think so. I believe that Rhaegar thought he had no choice in the matter at all -- he had a prophecy to fulfill, and having a child with Lyanna -- a legitimate child -- was his duty to the world. 

 

1) He definitely kept it a secret, because no one else in Westeros (besides Ned and Howland Reed, hypothetically) know about it. You'da thunk Jaime would know about it, he was always around Aerys. If Rhaegar told the king, Jaime would probably know. If Jaime not mentioning Viserys as heir means it didn't happen, then it's not a stretch to assume his not thinking about Rhaegars marriage to Lyanna is evidence that it did not happen.

 

2) He was an arrogant fool if he thought the rest of the realm wouldn't have anything to say about it. Going on a honeymoon with Lyanna does not absolve him of his role in the bloodshed.

 

3) Sure it has some advantages for him. in that it cements his polygamous marriage. It is not an honor House Stark to lose out on an alliance with House Baratheon, and it obviously is not an advantage for the latter. Reducing Lyanna to the "Whore of House Stark" is hardly an advantage to House Stark.

 

4) If this was his plan all along, "perhaps" is not the right term. Absolutely would be more appropriate.
 

[Ygrain]

 

1) If that's what Rhaegar did, he really was a complete idiot. And irresponsible, as he didn't deal with the shitstorm until the very end. At which point he was sailing into a shit-tycoon.

 

2) "A vow to the gods" is putting it lightly. It would have been a secret vow without the consent of House Stark while drawing the absolute ire of House Baratheon, and demonstrating to the other great houses that even though the Targaryen's are really at a vulnerable point dynasty wise, they're still "just better than everyone else" and can do whatever they want. Arrogance.

 

Woeful miscalculation on Rhaegars part if it is indeed what happened.

 

I'm starting to realize why so many people categorize Rhaegar as arrogant, stupid, selfish, and obsessed. If he really ran off with Lyanna thinking he could pull this whole polygamy thing off... I don't care what other factors drove him to do it. He really is all of the above, and no amount of thus-far unrevealed information from GRRM can change that.

 

Ufda

1) Rhaegar's crystal ball was malfunctioning, so he didn't know that the shitstorm he had expected would not be the one that actually happened. The shit-tyPHoon was not of his making and magnates had nothing to do with it.

 

2) The consent or lack thereof of House Stark is subject to speculation. "Absolute ire" of house Baratheon is a nice phrasing but rather empty as Baratheons are not Valar to impose their will from East to West. And the other great houses didn't give two shits about some kidnapped tart, didn't give two shits even when heads started to roll, and even Hoster didn't hurry to join the cause before the rebels could prove themselves - that much for the general outrage at the Targ arrogance, a big bubble of your fabrication.

[purple-eyes]

The issue keeps coming up as to why Rhaegar kept his marriage a secret (assuming he did as I believe, although LV keeps suggesting maybe Aerys already knew about it). I keep arguing that he was waiting for the baby to be born. I have heard some counter-arguments, and here are my follow-up thoughts.
 
When Rhaegar started this plan, he did not know a war would break out. So he did not think he would be sitting out a war -- he just thought he would be sitting out the fall-out from running off with Lyanna. Once the war started, it was too late to change the plan as there really was no better plan available to them at that point. They were already married and Lyanna possibly was already pregnant by the time they learned that war broke out.
 
Coming back with a baby has some advantages. It is more difficult to try to "undo" the marriage if there is a baby. Certainly, I would think that the objections of the Starks would be diminished, as Lyanna is better off as second wife to the next King than "unulled non-wife" with the maybe bastard child of the next King. And with a baby born -- those would really be their only choices. But I have always argued that Aerys is really the issue at hand that matters most. Rhaegar either needed to get himself installed as regent so he could make the decision himself about the marriage -- or convince Aerys to accept the marriage. I think Rhaegar believed he could accomplish one or the other. I think at first, he thought he could get Aerys to accept the wife and child. When he went to the Trident, I think he thought that coming back a war hero, he could do anything he wanted, including becoming regent and recognizing the marriage. But I think he thought the worst that would happen is that he would have to go to exile in Essos with his 2 wives and 3 children.
 
Did Rhaegar act recklessly in thinking this would all work out -- perhaps. Did Rheagar have any better options -- I don't think so. I believe that Rhaegar thought he had no choice in the matter at all -- he had a prophecy to fulfill, and having a child with Lyanna -- a legitimate child -- was his duty to the world. 

If rhaegar has reasoning and wisdom like you suggested, the best and safest way is to get a child with lyanna then legimitize him or her when he took the throne.
Not he secretly got married but his secret marriage was annulled easily and himself was disinherited and exiled then lyanna and jon still ended up as mistress and bastard.
How dumb is he if he think his second marriage would be not annulled when he already had a wife and two children and a mad king father and numerous enemies?
What source does rhaegar have to prevent this marriage from being annulled?
By crying in front of court: "she is my true love and baby is cute!" ?

[SFDanny]

I'm starting to realize why so many people categorize Rhaegar as arrogant, stupid, selfish, and obsessed. If he really ran off with Lyanna thinking he could pull this whole polygamy thing off... I don't care what other factors drove him to do it. He really is all of the above, and no amount of thus-far unrevealed information from GRRM can change that.

 

 

I think too many people think of Rhaegar based on a completely shallow understanding of his motives, his thinking, and the limitations of his position. That, and I think people forget that fundamentally Rhaegar was right. His child, given R+L=J, is going to almost certainly to be critical in saving humanity from the threat of the Others. He got some of the details wrong, but he remembered who the real threat to Westeros was, and that his family is critical in defeating it. Much better than all the others playing their game of thrones.

[RumHam]

Do you have any examples of someone not recognizing a marriage? 

 

Tywin not recognizing Tyrion's marriage to Tysha. Maester Luwin suggests Ramsey's wedding to Lady Hornwood is invalid because she was forced into it. Then there's also this:

 

Dany turned to the Green Grace. "If we should wed by Westerosi rites …"

 

"The gods of Ghis would deem it no true union." Galazza Galare's face was hidden behind a veil of green silk. Only her eyes showed, green and wise and sad. "In the eyes of the city you would be the noble Hizdahr's concubine, not his lawful wedded wife. Your children would be bastards. Your Worship must marry Hizdahr in the Temple of the Graces, with all the nobility of Meereen on hand to bear witness to your union."

 

 

So yes it can happen. I've brought up the hypothetical of a gay marriage before, I really doubt most people in Westeros would accept one of those as valid. 

 

 

 

Is it valid if the future king does it? Probably. It all depends on which of the nobility will back him at that point...and considering the choices at that time were "Support Mad King Aerys who burns our lords" or "Support Prince Rhaegar who marries polygamously", I would say that the odds were in his favor.

 

 

You left out the third option, support the rebels lead by a guy who really wouldn't want a Rhaegar/Lyanna marriage to stand. You know, the guy who won. 

[Bael's Bastard]

 

Right, but he had to wait until both he and Rhaenyra were single. Otherwise he could have just married her in secret years before. Back when he first asked Viserys to set aside his marriage to lady Royce so he could marry her.

 

Who says he had to wait just because that is how it unfolded? In either case he would have been marrying her in secret without the consent of the king. Just as he married Laena without consent of the king. There may have been repercussions, but there is no indication the king or Faith was capable of invalidating the marriages or the products of the marriages after the fact.

 

After he became king, Baelor was able to convince the High Septon to dissolve his own unconsummated marriage, and the High Septon and others insisted Aegon V force his son Duncan to choose between the Iron Throne and Jenny, and he did force him to choose, there is no indication of them having the power to invalidate a marriage against the will of the participants.

[Ser Creighton]

 

Its not the royal family that is above the law, its the Targaryen House.

 

Jaime:

That would show the realm that the Lannisters are above their laws, like gods and Targaryens.

Catelyn:

The dragon kings had wed brother to sister, but they were the blood of old Valyria where such practices had been common, and like their dragons the Targaryens answered to neither gods nor men.

 

 

Those particular forms of incest, no, but they are incest. And incest is a monstrous sin against the gods, both old and new.

She had seen enough of Robert Baratheon at Winterfell to know that the king did not regard Joffrey with any great warmth. If the boy was truly Jaime's seed, Robert would have put him to death along with his mother, and few would have condemned him. Bastards were common enough, but incest was a monstrous sin to both old gods and new, and the children of such wickedness were named abominations in sept and godswood alike. The dragon kings had wed brother to sister, but they were the blood of old Valyria where such practices had been common, and like their dragons the Targaryens answered to neither gods nor men.

 

Its also against the law of the realm:

That (Jaime marrying Cersei publicly) would show the realm that the Lannisters are above their laws, like gods and Targaryens.

 

 

While Catelyn's quote really only goes to the religious sentiments, Jaime's speaks to the laws of the realm, not religions. So yes, it does say in the text that incest is literally against the law.

No I really don't think Jaime speaks to the law, he says "their laws" who's laws would that be? While the Targaryens were in power they made the laws. Westeros has certain customs that existed Pre-Targaryen, we see them in the north. But it was a divided country with no central law or ruling house. No incest, no cannibalism, no slavery which they did anyway. He is saying the Targs are above the laws of man, so who wrote these laws because it sounds pretty much like the practices of the faith and the faith is not the law, though it would not be the first time a religion thought they were the law. The faith itself crowned a incestuous, polygamous royal family the day they bent the knee. This practice only goes so far as brother and sister as well, as aunts, uncles and cousins have no problem getting married in Westeros. So are we talking pre dynasty common law that is not legally binding but still practiced? Was this a law the Dynasty established? A religious practice that excluded the Targaryens? Many people will except religion as law, and common law as law, old practices, etc... But that does not make them the actual law. Jaime has his own perspective like everyone else in the story, but what the people except, and what the faith except do actually have to agree with what the Targaryens excepted, and the Targaryens were the law. They created and ruled that kingdom, then you end up getting into the divine right of Kings, Sovereign immunity, vs. the Rule of law or common law and generally excepted practices. Which as I said before can get very liquid.

 

It's a monarchy generally when the people who sit the throne say it is ok it's ok. The Faith and the General public may disagree but they don't rule. It's very hard, next to impossible really to get a legal violation from a king in an absolute monarchy, as he or she is the one that makes the laws. The common folk and the faith do not get the benefits of the ruling house.

 

Dany is another good example, the slavers have their laws and Dany has her laws, Dany won, slavers on stick. Now those slavers may have disagreed and complained we broke no law we can kill as many children as we want.

 

Slaver: Gasp this is not legal by our laws.

 

Dany: I am gonna go ahead and file your complaint under I don't give a shit. I won, new law, it's called I am sticking your child murdering asses on a stick. Really it's just like your old law but now it applies to you instead of children. Missy write it up, and I'll put my stamp on it.

 

Missy: The Queen may kill anyone she wants except Missy who is immune to her authority.

 

Dany: Hold on a sec this is going to take a few minutes I have a lot of titles. 3 Hours later, Daenerys Targaryen. There we go... Missy! Why are you immune to my authority, give me back my royal decree.

 

Missy: No, Missy will not, Missy will sleep with this under her pillow.

 

Dany: I am going to kill you

 

Missy: You can't, Missy safe, Missy has decree,  :P

 

Dany: Why I... Greyworm write down a new Decree.

 

Greyworm: Write?

 

Dany: Oh god da... you know what you all suck, Selmy write this down

 

Selmy: I don't do children

 

Dany: Shut up and write, I'll show the little brat. It is now illegal for Missy to receive butterfly kisses, and candy. Furthermore she will now room with Strong Belwas and both are only allowed to eat liver onion and beans.

 

Strong Belwas: Yeah fart fuel.

 

Missy: No! You can't do that, you can't do that Dany, I love Butterfly kisses and candy. Why are you doing this? Look at Belwas I can see it in his eyes he is going to Dutch oven me first chance he gets. Hey get off me, let me go, this is illegal. NO NO NO! NOT TICKLING, NO YOU CAN'T DO THIS MISSY HAS DECREE! Wait stop, there is spit slowly stretching down from your lower lip, it's it's coming right at me. Stop it, stop it, it's gonna touch me. Ewwwwwww, get away, get away. Ewww you sucked it back up and oh no it's coming back down at me again. Stop it, stop it.

 

Dany: Who's the boss?

 

Missy: Missy is the boss, you stinky, you smell like sex and cheap perfume.

 

Dany: Missy! That's it, now your gonna get it. My perfume is totally expensive.

 

Missy: Hey why are you picking your nose? What are you going to do with that bu... No! No! No! Missy surrender, Missy surrender.

 

Dany: You see Corbon in this world as long as one has the power, one is the law.

[purple-eyes]

 
I think too many people think of Rhaegar based on a completely shallow understanding of his motives, his thinking, and the limitations of his position. That, and I think people forget that fundamentally Rhaegar was right. His child, given R+L=J, is going to almost certainly to be critical in saving humanity from the threat of the Others. He got some of the details wrong, but he remembered who the real threat to Westeros was, and that his family is critical in defeating it. Much better than all the others playing their game of thrones.

So what? Jaehaerys forced aerys and rhaella married because the prince would be from their line. They had same or even more share of honor than rhaegar then.
Areys raped rhaella to bring dany to the world, who seems quite important as jon too.
So raping is justifiable?
He can have a good sex with his wife to bring dany. Ending did not justify how you did it.

[Ygrain]

I would also add one thing concerning Rhaenyra and Daemon: the king explicitely forbade their marriage while their respective spouses were still alive. Acting against the king's order is treason, but what is not prohibited is allowed. Hence, they didn't bother to ask a second time and got married without permission.

[purple-eyes]

I would also add one thing concerning Rhaenyra and Daemon: the king explicitely forbade their marriage while their respective spouses were still alive. Acting against the king's order is treason, but what is not prohibited is allowed. Hence, they didn't bother to ask a second time and got married without permission.

Daemon asked king to set aside his wife and then to marry rhaenyra. She was single at that time.
What is the problem?

[RumHam]

 

Who says he had to wait just because that is how it unfolded? In either case he would have been marrying her in secret without the consent of the king. Just as he married Laena without consent of the king. There may have been repercussions, but there is no indication the king or Faith was capable of invalidating the marriages or the products of the marriages after the fact.

 

After he became king, Baelor was able to convince the High Septon to dissolve his own unconsummated marriage, and the High Septon and others insisted Aegon V force his son Duncan to choose between the Iron Throne and Jenny, and he did force him to choose, there is no indication of them having the power to invalidate a marriage against the will of the participants.

 

we do know that Daemon asked for Rhaenyra’s hand, if only Viserys would set aside his marriage to Lady Rhea. Viserys refused...

 

 

It sounds to me like Daemon clearly sees his existing marriage as an obstacle to wedding Rhaenyra. The king can invalidate a marriage. He can do whatever he wants. That's why Daemon twice asks King Viserys to do so. That's why people encouraged Aerys I to set aside his wife and take another. Clearly it's something that is possible.

 

Aegon didn't opt to break up the marriage of his two children who were in love. That doesn't mean he couldn't have if he was a heartless jerk. Same deal with Duncan and Jenny. Just because it says he "did all he could" to convince Duncan to leave Jenny doesn't mean he couldn't have declared the marriage invalid. Just as he could have solved the problem by ordering Jenny killed. He did not do these things because he loved his children and wasn't a monster, not because they were beyond his legal authority. 

 

 

Edit: By the way this might be a good time to point to this post by Ran that makes it clear that Daemon was not free to enter into a polygamous marriage without first establishing some kinda anti-high-septon in his new kingdom:

 

Properly speaking, the High Septon and the Faith would oversee matters such as anullment of marriages and so on. At this point, what the Iron Throne says is fairly synonymous with what the High Septon says. So being a self-made king wouldn't have necessarily allowed Daemon to get away with declaring the ends of his own marriage or setting up a polygamous marriage. I mean, he could have gone ahead and done so anyway -- maybe set himself up as High Septon the Faith in the Stepstones, as well as king -- but obviously he didn't do it since it was a fairly pointless exercise. 

 

 

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/113133-rogue-prince-or-kings-brother-part-ii/?p=5974739

[UnViserion]

1) Rhaegar's crystal ball was malfunctioning, so he didn't know that the shitstorm he had expected would not be the one that actually happened. The shit-tyPHoon was not of his making and magnates had nothing to do with it.

 

2) The consent or lack thereof of House Stark is subject to speculation. "Absolute ire" of house Baratheon is a nice phrasing but rather empty as Baratheons are not Valar to impose their will from East to West. And the other great houses didn't give two shits about some kidnapped tart, didn't give two shits even when heads started to roll, and even Hoster didn't hurry to join the cause before the rebels could prove themselves - that much for the general outrage at the Targ arrogance, a big bubble of your fabrication.

 

1) Than he's delusional. Couldn't even tip off the Mad King that "Hey dad, I'm eloping with Lyanna Stark. If HER FAMILY shows up pissed due to the fact that I forgot to let them know about it, I implore you to act with reason." No amount of missing information will make this any less reckless, vain, arrogant, stupid, or short-sighted.
 

I ask you this-- would Brandon have stormed into the Red Keep demanding that Rhaegar come out and die if he hadn't run off with Lyanna? He acted irrationally, but Rhaegar (and Lyanna, if she went willingly) are not exempt from some blame here. It was the instigating act.

 

2) Per TWOIAF, Robert's heart hardened to the Prince the day he dropped the flowers in Lyanna's lap at Harrenhal. He's the one getting cheated out of a marriage here. He's gonna be pissed. Hoster Tully just wanted to cement the alliances with blood before rising up against his king. Nothing wrong with that.

[Bael's Bastard]

How dumb is he if he think his second marriage would be not annulled when he already had a wife and two children and a mad king father and numerous enemies?

 

There is no basis to claim a marriage that has been consummated can be annulled against the will of its participants (at least its royal male participant). We are told that a High Septon or a Council of Faith can annul a marriage that has not been consummated, but not that a king or High Septon can just go around invalidating other peoples' marriages after the fact. When you get Septons being kicked out of the Faith, rebellions, forced exiles, and threats to remove from the succession, it is because they are doing everything in their power, and making the marriage disappear is not within that power.

[purple-eyes]

 
There is no basis to claim a marriage that has been consummated can be annulled against the will of its participants (at least its royal male participant). We are told that a High Septon or a Council of Faith can annul a marriage that has not been consummated, but not that a king or High Septon can just go around invalidating other peoples' marriages after the fact. When you get Septons being kicked out of the Faith, rebellions, forced exiles, and threats to remove from the succession, it is because they are doing everything in their power, and making the marriage disappear is not within that power.

Viserys did it for aegon (by some help from king and faith, maybe)
His secret second marriage just disappeared.
His secret "princess" was returned to her real husband.
They had four daughters so they sure had a lot of sex.
And we also had Tasha and tyrion.

[sj4iy]

You left out the third option, support the rebels lead by a guy who really wouldn't want a Rhaegar/Lyanna marriage to stand. You know, the guy who won.

The third option was clearly something that couldn't happen if the truth came out about Lyanna's situation. It was based on the false information that Lyanna was kidnapped and raped...if Westeros found out that she willing ran off with Rhaegar and they married, then I seriously doubt that the war would have ever happened and therefore makes option 3 a moot point.

Also, Tywin 'not recognizing' Tyrion's marriage is false. If he had thought it wasn't a valid marriage, he wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to destroy any evidence of Tyrion's marriage. By all the laws of Westeros, Tyrion was married. If anyone outside of the Lannister family had found out, then it would have brought (more) shame on their house in Tywin's eyes.

[MtnLion]

 

1) Than he's delusional. Couldn't even tip off the Mad King that "Hey dad, I'm eloping with Lyanna Stark. If HER FAMILY shows up pissed due to the fact that I forgot to let them know about it, I implore you to act with reason." No amount of missing information will make this any less reckless, vain, arrogant, stupid, or short-sighted.
 

I ask you this-- would Brandon have stormed into the Red Keep demanding that Rhaegar come out and die if he hadn't run off with Lyanna? He acted irrationally, but Rhaegar (and Lyanna, if she went willingly) are not exempt from some blame here. It was the instigating act.

 

2) Per TWOIAF, Robert's heart hardened to the Prince the day he dropped the flowers in Lyanna's lap at Harrenhal. He's the one getting cheated out of a marriage here. He's gonna be pissed. Hoster Tully just wanted to cement the alliances with blood before rising up against his king. Nothing wrong with that.

1. The instigating act is the demand for Ned's and Robert's heads.  That is exactly what leads to Jon Arryn and the boys calling their banners.  (I would like to know exactly what Brandon was told, and by whom.  I suspect that we may not ever find out, but a glimmer of hope exists.)  But, there is plenty of blame to go around, and it is unfair to heap it on one character than had very little to do with actual actions.  We do not know, for instance, that Rickard didn't already know where and what was going on with Lyanna.   
2. Hoster Tully went to the Battle of the Bells before "cementing the alliances with blood".  Again, TWOIAF is not the be all end all source.  We are not in any way certain that the betrothal of Lyanna to Robert occurred before the tourney.  It seems much more likely that Ned presented the offer to Rickon on Robert's behalf, after the tourney, while wintering at Winterfell.  (Years before and months after the tourney is winter, Ned is not going to be travelling a lot.  Brandon answers Littlefinger's challenge after the winter.  The night of the betrothal announcement is when Lyanna speaks with Ned about Robert's bastard daughter.)

[purple-eyes]

Gee, aegon unworthy really had a lot of parallels with rhaegar.

[sj4iy]

Gee, aegon unworthy really had a lot of parallels with rhaegar.

He doesn't have to have any parallels with Rhaegar for Rhaegar to marry polygamously.

You know who does have a lot of parallels with Rhaegar? Bael the Bard.

[Bael's Bastard]

It sounds to me like Daemon clearly sees his existing marriage as an obstacle to wedding Rhaenyra. The king can invalidate a marriage. He can do whatever he wants. That's why Daemon twice asks King Viserys to do so. That's why people encouraged Aerys I to set aside his wife and take another. Clearly it's something that is possible.

 

Aegon didn't opt to break up the marriage of his two children who were in love. That doesn't mean he couldn't have if he was a heartless jerk. Same deal with Duncan and Jenny. Just because it says he "did all he could" to convince Duncan to leave Jenny doesn't mean he couldn't have declared the marriage invalid. Just as he could have solved the problem by ordering Jenny killed. He did not do these things because he loved his children and wasn't a monster, not because they were beyond his legal authority. 

 

Daemon was asking for his own wife to be set aside by the king. Aerys I was being asked to set aside his own wife with whom he had not consummated. Baelor I was able to convince the HS to allow him to set aside his own wife on grounds of it not being consummated.

 

There is no indication of a king or HS being able to go around invalidating consummated marriages against the will of the people involved (at least not against the will of the Targ male involved). 

 

There is no indication Aegon V had any legal power to break the marriage beyond trying to pressure Duncan to end it himself with the threat of removing him as his heir. Just as Viserys I threatened, before the fact, to remove Rhaenyra as his heir. That was what was within their power to do.

 

Of course Aegon could have had Jenny killed, but that is a whole other discussion, not about the king's legal powers over a consummated marriage.