Was Elia still capable of having children?

[Alyn Oakenfist]

So we know that ,,the maesters told Elia she can't have any more children" after Aegon's birth. Question is, where they lying? Take it this way, if they were lying, they probably know Rhaegar's obsession with prophecy and could predict that he would try either fathering a bastard, or getting into some polygamy. Either option would be really bad news for House Targaryen, as a bastard could well cause another set of Blackfyre rebellions, while polygamy could create a civil war even faster a la Maegor I. So if the Grand Maester conspiracy is true, did they lie to Elia in order to make Rhaegar do something stupid?

[Buried Treasure]

Do you recall who 'they' were, in terms of the individual maesters? I don't, all I can remember about the maesters of Dragonstone is that Cressen came there with Stannis, so it wouldn't have been him tending Elia.

The maesters as a single political force capable of forming conspiracies would have to be largely limited to the Citadel. Those that go out into the world are at too much risk of having loyalty instead to their own family or to the House that they may spend decades serving. The royal court would be most likely to have a Maester in a conspiracy, as certainly the appointment of the Grand Maester has a lot of political reasoning behind it.

But unless a specific individual can be theorised to be part of the conspiracy, I think it is loose thinking to suppose some unknown maesters could have been hatching a plot. Elia herself and her non-maester midwives and ladies-in-waiting were witness to how difficult her second childbirth was, so it is less of a stretch from there to think that another would have been dangerous.

[Ser Leftwich]

"Elia was never worthy of him. She was frail and sickly from the first, and childbirth only left her weaker. After the birth of Princess Rhaenys, her mother had been bedridden for half a year, and Prince Aegon's birth had almost been the death of her. She would bear no more children, the maesters told Prince Rhaegar afterward."

The full quote, for reference.

Her not surviving another birth is as strongly implied in the statement, as much as another child not coming to term.

Also important, this may be second hand, Connington may have heard it from Rhaegar or someone else.

Lastly, we don't know who or even how many maesters (only that there was more than one) were on Dragonstone at the time. Since Elia had already had had two difficult pregnancies, there was likely a number of maesters and midwives (or the like) on hand to help.

 

Could Elia get pregnant again? Yes, no reason to think she couldn't. Could she and her child both survive if she got pregnant again? Almost definitely not.

Is that a maester conspiracy? Unlikely. Large grand conspiracy schemes don't really come off, as we know, someone always talks. Did the maesters tell Rhaegar something that might prevent him from impregnating Elia again, so that she doesn't die, because most of what we know about Rhaegar is that he was a good dude, and may or may not be interpreted by 'readers' as a grand conspiracy against the Targaryens?

[Megorova]

I think that there was no conspiracy of maesters against Rhaegar, and that Elia's next pregnancy would have most likely ended with both her and her unborn baby's death, if she and Rhaegar ever tried to have more kids.

Also I think that one of those maesters at Dragonstone was maester Marwyn, and he was Rhaegar's friend and confidant. So he knew from Rhaegar about the prophecy and necessity of Rhaegar having one more child, nevertheless he adviced Rhaegar against having that child with Elia, because it would have kill her for sure.

[BRANDON GREYSTARK]

Don't know ? One line said" That if she would have another child it would kill her." , while another line says " The maester (Pycelle I suppose ) says that she could not have anymore children ."