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Ways to introduce Aegon earlier into the story.


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Aegon can make a cameo appearance in AGOT Daenerys III as she remembers Viserys insisting on taking a boat, Shy Maid, across the Rhoyne or one of it's tributaries while the rest of the khalasar fords the river somewhere (they have to get from Pentos to the Dothraki Sea somehow).  Dany remembers the young blue haired boy and his father, but no interaction between the two or anything.  Just a random encounter that no one realizes is important until ADWD.

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I'm always apprehensive about saying he came in too late or whatever, cause we really don't know what's going to happen or what his final goal is yet. Maybe he came in just at the right time and we don't know it yet. If you're looking for things foreshadowing him in the earlier books, there's a few of them. He's one of the visions in the HotU, and after Joffrey dies, Melisandre says there will be new pretender kings coming to Westeros. 

I think it would have been fine if he was introduced at the end of book 2 though, along with Whitebeard and Belwas. He could have been sent to Qarth to meet Dany as Young Griff. And halfway through book 3 he could reveal himself to her? I have no idea what that would do to Dany though. She may not even want to go to Westeros anymore if she knew her nephew was still alive. 
I dunno. I think he's fine where he is now. Two whole books is a lot of time for him to do what he needs to do. 

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Easy, combine Jon Connington with Red Ronnet:

Jon Connington was never exiled. He bent the knee, and Robert stripped him of his title and most of his lands, but he got to keep Griffin's Roost. He broke off his betrothal with Brienne, not because she was unattractive, but because he was not attracted to women at all and he still loved Rhaegar.

Anyway, Varys approached him with Aegon, so Aegon grew up in Griffin's Roost, pretending to be Jon's bastard. (Parallel with Alayne, y'all!). Obviously the people closest to Aegon knew the truth and were therefore loyal to the cause: Septa Lemore, Halfmaester Haldon, and Duck. 

So, the first time we meet him and his "son" is when Brienne is beating the shit out of him at Bitterbridge. Now, he went there under the guise of supporting Renly, but really he was there to secretly meet with the Golden Company's friends in the Reach and look for potential allies. As we learned from the Tourney at Harrenhall and the Tourney at Whitewalls, Tourneys are ideal opportunities to plan rebellions and treasons. 

After Renly is suddenly assassinated, however, House Connington refuse to support Stannis, and Jon and Aegon return to Griffin's Roost. The next time we see them would be in Dance, although in Storm and Feast both Stannis and Cersei might attempt to contact the Conningtons but receive only silence and reports of the household fleeing mysteriously. 

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54 minutes ago, Garett Hornwood said:

Aegon can make a cameo appearance in AGOT Daenerys III as she remembers Viserys insisting on taking a boat, Shy Maid, across the Rhoyne or one of it's tributaries while the rest of the khalasar fords the river somewhere (they have to get from Pentos to the Dothraki Sea somehow).  Dany remembers the young blue haired boy and his father, but no interaction between the two or anything.  Just a random encounter that no one realizes is important until ADWD.

That would be good but I personally would like more than a cameo, to get to know the characters better. 

33 minutes ago, Renly's Banana said:

I think it would have been fine if he was introduced at the end of book 2 though, along with Whitebeard and Belwas. He could have been sent to Qarth to meet Dany as Young Griff. And halfway through book 3 he could reveal himself to her? I have no idea what that would do to Dany though. She may not even want to go to Westeros anymore if she knew her nephew was still alive. 
I dunno. I think he's fine where he is now. Two whole books is a lot of time for him to do what he needs to do. 

That would change the plot too much I think.

32 minutes ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

A person matching Haldon's description at the betrothal feast in Drogo's manse in Pentos woulda been pretty cool. 

Yeah, little hints like that would be cool. 

23 minutes ago, Good Guy Garlan said:

Easy, combine Jon Connington with Red Ronnet:

Jon Connington was never exiled. He bent the knee, and Robert stripped him of his title and most of his lands, but he got to keep Griffin's Roost. He broke off his betrothal with Brienne, not because she was unattractive, but because he was not attracted to women at all and he still loved Rhaegar.

Anyway, Varys approached him with Aegon, so Aegon grew up in Griffin's Roost, pretending to be Jon's bastard. (Parallel with Alayne, y'all!). Obviously the people closest to Aegon knew the truth and were therefore loyal to the cause: Septa Lemore, Halfmaester Haldon, and Duck. 

So, the first time we meet him and his "son" is when Brienne is beating the shit out of him at Bitterbridge. Now, he went there under the guise of supporting Renly, but really he was there to secretly meet with the Golden Company's friends in the Reach and look for potential allies. As we learned from the Tourney at Harrenhall and the Tourney at Whitewalls, Tourneys are ideal opportunities to plan rebellions and treasons. 

After Renly is suddenly assassinated, however, House Connington refuse to support Stannis, and Jon and Aegon return to Griffin's Roost. The next time we see them would be in Dance, although in Storm and Feast both Stannis and Cersei might attempt to contact the Conningtons but receive only silence and reports of the household fleeing mysteriously. 

I like the relative simplicity of that idea. The only part I'm not a fan of is Team Aegon being missing for two books before showing up again but I guess that happened with Theon as well and it turned out okay. 

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5 hours ago, Ser Lockjaw of House Bolta said:

 

But then you'd have to come up with a way to set up the Dance of the Dragons, a reason for Dany and Aegon to fight each other. 

To me setting up the Dance of Dragons is easier with inserting him into Dany's storyline than as it stands right now. Right now he's somehow going to get a dragon. Brown Ben Plumm is going to steal one for him or he's just going to happen to bond with a dragon once he meets Dany? If you insert him into her storyline then he builds a relationship with Dany and possibly a dragon. Reveals himself, betrays her, and takes a dragon to press his own claim to the Throne. He becomes one of her betrayals and she pissed and has every reason to oppose and create the 2nd Dance of Dragons. Once he betrays her, he can also go into his current storyline of invading Westeros with the GC, but just have the added bonus of already having a dragon. This is very simplistic view but I think it would work.

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9 hours ago, Maxxine said:

Insert him into Dany's POV. Still have the false identity of Young Griff and give him as a sworn sword to Dany and/or Viserys. He could possibly come along in Game or at the end of Clash with Barristan. This way he can get time with the dragons so if he gets one/steals one it works better. He could try to ingratiate himself to rule with Dany or betray her, whichever works. It would also take away the bit of retcon that comes along with aegon at least in my opinion.

This could have worked, could have been another squire with Barristan. Also getting him knighted by Barristan later would have been excellent.

10 hours ago, Ser Lockjaw of House Bolta said:

Confession time: I'm lowkey obsessed with this.

Whether you think he showed up too late or not, I thought it could be interesting to try and come up with ways he could've showed up sooner in the story, meaning in an earlier book.

I guess the requirements are that it has to be as realistic as possible, so nothing too farfetched like "Aegon fell from a meteorite on Walder's plate during the Red Wedding." And also, you have to keep the essential traits of the character and his backstory intact, but I'll leave that to your discretion. 

Well there is a slight problem with this. Reveal him too early and you run into the Dany problem: what the fuck are you still doing in Essos? Go to Westeros and claim your birthright!! To late like you think and it makes him seem a latercomer and not important.

Granted I am sure Aegon might have had interesting things going on before the poleboat but that seemed more of a device to get Tyrion to Volantis.

Oh I have an idea, he could have been Daario all along. Solves both his and Daario's problem. Except make JonCon the leader of the Stormcrows mayhaps.

1 hour ago, Good Guy Garlan said:

Easy, combine Jon Connington with Red Ronnet:

Jon Connington was never exiled. He bent the knee, and Robert stripped him of his title and most of his lands, but he got to keep Griffin's Roost. He broke off his betrothal with Brienne, not because she was unattractive, but because he was not attracted to women at all and he still loved Rhaegar.

Anyway, Varys approached him with Aegon, so Aegon grew up in Griffin's Roost, pretending to be Jon's bastard. (Parallel with Alayne, y'all!). Obviously the people closest to Aegon knew the truth and were therefore loyal to the cause: Septa Lemore, Halfmaester Haldon, and Duck. 

So, the first time we meet him and his "son" is when Brienne is beating the shit out of him at Bitterbridge. Now, he went there under the guise of supporting Renly, but really he was there to secretly meet with the Golden Company's friends in the Reach and look for potential allies. As we learned from the Tourney at Harrenhall and the Tourney at Whitewalls, Tourneys are ideal opportunities to plan rebellions and treasons. 

After Renly is suddenly assassinated, however, House Connington refuse to support Stannis, and Jon and Aegon return to Griffin's Roost. The next time we see them would be in Dance, although in Storm and Feast both Stannis and Cersei might attempt to contact the Conningtons but receive only silence and reports of the household fleeing mysteriously. 

This works rather well.

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Multiple mercenary companies join up or interact with Dany in Storm of Swords. Griff and Young Griff could have been part of that general crew, especially if the ultimate reveal was that Illyrio sent them to asses what the hell what going on with Dany.

EDIT: It does occur to me Barristan would recognize Connington, but there are ways to disguise a man's looks.

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I don't think it's possible without making the character completely uninteresting.  I don't think either it was introduced "late", he was introduced at the "right time".

I think it is possible to have had some stronger foreshadowing. Off passing comments by Varys, some characters remembering JonCon, discussions about the GC and its mission and rumors about Illyrio (e.g. Salladhor apparently captured Illyrio ship, maybe there was something there..). It could also help moving some Tyrion chapters of Dance to Feast and foreshadowing in Feast to ASOS.

Anyway, I find completely find the way it is.

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8 hours ago, BRANDON GREYSTARK said:

It should be hinted at more in AGOT than baby Aegon was a bloody ruin after the sack of King's Landing

Ned's memory of the kid's head being smashed so badly that his face was unrecognizable wasn't hint enough? Ned hadn't seen Aegon so far as we know, so "unrecognizable" has to mean that people who knew the baby couldn't tell it was him, meaning Pycelle and all the others who didn't flee.

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My take would be:

AGOT:

Arya eavesdropping on Varys and another fat man and hearing Varys and the fat man mentioned a tidbit about a dead prince. Arya tried to tell Ned about everything in gibberish, Ned thought she was talking gibberish, dismissed her. Then she sort of forget all about it.

ACOK:

More history about the Blackfyre and Robert's Rebellion during Wot5K. Rhaegar and co's story including Connington. Any POVs would do.

ASOS:

Tyrion arrived in Essos before the book ended, saw the fat man's stature and overheard the fat man talking about a certain sword before being sent to Dany.

AFFC:

The puppet show was more specific about a believe-to-be-dead dragon coming to Westeros to overthrow the lions, not just any dragon.

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BARRISTAN SOLVES ALL THINGS

Just give Barristan some POV chapters in ACOK (and maybe ASOS, too). Alright, you'd lose the totally awesome, gnarly, bitchin' reveal when Arstan Whitebeard turns out to be he, but you'd gain a super-swick twisteroo when it's revealed that the motley crew of mysterious people that Barristan runs into was actually Aegon and posse...

Seriously, either Barristan travels south on the Shy Maid, or runs into these people at an Illyrio safehouse, or they're at Illyrio's manse, and/or he picks up some weird hints that Dany is just plan B, that's why he's to retrieve her...

Perhaps, yes, Barristan is initially set to join Aegon's cause but then Illyrio gets word about Daenerys - who he thought dead - and sends him to her instead.

Either way, all the hints and clues that the reader picks up go totally over Barristan's head, and then later, when Tyrion puts two and two together, it doesn't feel quite so out of nowhere.

Edit: or perhaps Barristan goes off-script when he hears about Daenerys, and instead of travelling to some mysterious destination (which we later understand to be Aegon), or the Golden Company, he heads to her instead.

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