Who exactly arranged Rhaegar and Elia's marriage?

[James Steller]

These are some of the few things we actually know for sure about Rhaegar Targaryen:

• Rhaegar married Elia Martell
• Rhaegar had a very hostile relationship with his father, and Aerys was convinced that Rhaegar was plotting against him
• Rhaegar was the man that Tywin Lannister wanted to marry his daughter
• Rhaegar brough his newborn daughter to visit his parents and all Aerys did in response was comment that she "smelled Dornish"

With those four facts in mind, I ask again: who arranged Rhaegar's marriage to Elia Martell?

It couldn't have been Tywin, because he clearly held a serious grudge over Cersei being snubbed, and had no love for the Martells either, to the  point that he snubbed Lady Martell and bragged to her face that Cersei was going to marry Rhaegar.

Aerys never cared about any of that nonsense, and if he was truly convinced that his son might plot against him, he wouldn't marry Rhaegar to such a powerful enemy as the Dornish.

Rhaegar never shows any indication that he even loved Elia, he only saw her as the means to that prophecy, and she couldn't even fulfill that part of his plan. And besides, Aerys would have had the final say on that marriage anyway, so again, why would Aerys ever want Rhaegar to marry Elia?

[Floki of the Ironborn]

Simple. It was Jaehaerys II.

 

[James Steller]

Just now, Floki of the Ironborn said:

Simple. It was Jaehaerys II.

 

That doesn't make sense either. Jaehaerys spent three years as King, and Rhaegar was only born at the start of Jaehaerys' reign. Plus Jaehaerys was all about Targaryen purity, and there wasn't an urgent need for Jaehaerys to betrothe Rhaegar to anyone. And even if there was a need, he'd want to wait for Aerys and Rhaelle to make Rhaegar a sister-wife.

[EggBlue]

my question , too! and you forgot a fifth fact: most Rhaegar supporters at court were the Dornish lords and ladies who came with Elia  , that is according to Pycelle. so , all I can do is to come up with three explanations:

1. Rhaella and Princess martell arranged the marriage and Aerys just thought a princess with some Targ blood is better that a lady with no Targ blood! the only problem with this is that , by the time of betrothal princess Martell was dead .. my guess is she mustn't have died long after her marriage tour with her children. otherwise, she wouldn't have left the job unfinished.

2. everything Yandal says about Aerys, Rhaegar and Dornish is either exaggeration or downright lie . after all , Aerys was quick to kill the man who came after Rhaegar instead of , you know, let his ungrateful son pay for whatever he'd done. (it wouldn't be Yandal's first lie.. look at the manner of Targlings' deaths)

3. Rhaegar and Elia actually fell in love or saw each other as suitable spouses, meaning it wasn't an arranged marriage . Rhaegar being an introvert with reserved personality and Elia being described as "gentle"  , it wouldn't be hard to believe that no one saw their passion/love . this explains JonCon's jealousy after some 20 years but then we should find an explanation for Lyanna situation. 

 

[Lord Varys]

We already know the answer to that question. Elia's mother arranged it, with the help of Queen Rhaella whose lady-in-waiting she had had been earlier. And she did it to ensure that Tywin could not marry Cersei to Rhaegar as he had told her he would when she tried to arrange a match between Tywin's children and her on in 273 AC.

Now, Aerys II would have also been involved, but despite his later misgivings about the Dornish chances are that this was just one of his sudden mad mood swings (think about how he first makes Jaime a KG and then fears Tywin's son might kill him) the fact that might have swayed there might have been the distant kinship between Rhaegar and Elia. She was one of the Targaryen cousins, possibly the Targaryen cousin of the highest birth and thus the most suitable Westerosi bride for Rhaegar (whatever Penroses and Plumms and Tarths were available would have been of much lesser birth, assuming that there were fertile women around).

Thus Elia may have looked like the natural choice when Steffon's mission failed and they didn't find a suitable bride in Volantis and the other Free Cities.

 

[Rondo]

The Targaryens were vested in the dragons.  Thus the family was working to bring them back from extinction.  The Martells were one of the families who might have a drop of Targaryen DNA in their blood.  King Aerys II had a low opinion of the Dornish but the chance, however small it was, to bring back the one Targaryen who would bring about the return of the dragons was more important.  Ofcourse, we already know that the plan failed.  Targaryen + Martell was not enough to bring back the one Targaryen who would resurrect the dragons.  The Promised Princess, the Azor Ahai, had to be the child of two Targaryens.  

[Megorova]

I think that there was no need for anyone to specifically arrange their marriage, because after Steffon Baratheon's death and the failure of his mission to bring from Volantis a suitable (pureblooded Valyrian) bride for Rhaegar, Aerys had to take the next best choice - which was Elia Martell, who was Rhaegar's some sort of cousin, because she and her siblings were descendants of Daenerys Targaryen (younger sister of Daeron II).

Daenerys was close in age to Maekar (her nephew), her children were about same age as Aerion (born in 191-194), Daeron, maester Aemon and Aegon V (born in 200), Daella and Rhae (born in 191-209); her grandchildren were about same age as Jaehaerys II AND Aerys II. Aerys was born in 244, Doran Martell was born in 247 or 248, Elia was born in 256 or 257. Could be that Doran's mother (who was a Princess of Dorne) and her brother Lewyn (who was a Kingsguard) were children of Daenerys Targaryen and Maron Martell (the previous Prince of Dorne, who ruled prior to Doran's mother).

If Elia was Daenerys' granddaughter, then she and Rhaegar were second cousins trice removed, and Elia was 1/4 Targaryen/Valyrian by blood. Thus, when Steffon's mission failed, Elia became the obvious choice. So there was no need for someone to specifically arrange their marriage, it was sort of a given that they will have to marry, because Rhaegar's family had no other choices besides Elia, she was the most pure-blooded unmarried dragon-girl available at the 7K.

P.S. Daeron and Daenerys were siblings, so their children were first cousins, and their grandchildren were second cousins to each other. If Daenerys was Elia's maternal grandmother, then Elia was a second cousin to Aegon V; so Jaehaerys II was her second cousin once removed, Aerys II was her second cousin twice removed, and his son Rhaegar was Elia's second cousin trice removed. Or in case if Elia and Doran were Daenerys' great-grandchildren and not her grandchildren, then Elia and Rhaegar were second cousins twice removed and in this case Elia was 1/8 Targaryen. Or something like that.

[The Bard of Banefort]

I’m guessing Rhaella had some power, even if it was dwarfed by Aerys’. She may have convinced Aerys that it would be a good way to ensure Dorne’s loyalty. It sounds like young Rhaella was friends with many prominent women in Westeros.

[Seams]

It wouldn't surprise me if Rhaegar chose Elia as part of his strategy to fulfill the prophecy. I'm not sure it had as much to do with Targaryen bloodlines as it did Dornish bloodlines or some kind of power vested within the Dornish realm.

Major clues: 

Baelor the Blessed decided that his cousin and heir, Daeron, should marry a Dornish princess (Myriah Martell). He was trying to secure peace after a war but I suspect there is underlying meaning in both the war and peace.

Rhaenys, the sister-wife of Aegon the Conqueror, disappeared in Dorne with her dragon, Meraxes. I'm sure there is meaning in the loss of Rhaenys from the "three headed" rule of Aegon I, Rhaenys and Visenya. What did she represent that the Targaryens were keen to recover?

Should we also consider the disappearance of the Valyrian steel sword called Truth? The sword was owned by House Rogare. Larra Rogare was the mother of Aegon IV and Naerys; her uncle, Drazenko, married the ruling princess of Dorne, Aliandra. It is unclear whether they had children and whether those children are part of the ancestry of the current ruling Martells. The symbolic loss of "Truth" could be linked to Larra or Drazenko, and could be linked to Rhaegar's motive in uniting with Elia and Dorne. 

Megarova is right, I think, to examine the Steffon Baratheon angle. To me, it seems significant that Cressen immediately writes about Patchface after describing Steffon's mission to find a bride for Rhaegar:

Quote

Patchface had come to them as a boy. Lord Steffon of cherished memory had found him in Volantis, across the narrow sea. The king—the old king, Aerys II Targaryen, who had not been quite so mad in those days—had sent his lordship to seek a bride for Prince Rhaegar, who had no sisters to wed. "We have found the most splendid fool," he wrote Cressen, a fortnight before he was to return home from his fruitless mission. "Only a boy, yet nimble as a monkey and witty as a dozen courtiers. He juggles and riddles and does magic, and he can sing prettily in four tongues. We have bought his freedom and hope to bring him home with us. Robert will be delighted with him, and perhaps in time he will even teach Stannis how to laugh." (ACoK, prologue)

It strikes me as ridiculous that Steffon could not find a high-born young woman to marry the Prince of Dragonstone (unless Aerys placed impossible conditions for the girl he had in mind). But this juxtaposition of Patches and the elusive bride for Rhaegar has to be a hint for us from GRRM. Via wordplay, I suspect Patches is part of the "peaches" symbolism (Robert telling Ned that peaches represent the best part of being king, Renly eating a peach, Rorge biting Brienne's cheek, Shireen having a stone cheek, etc.) What does it mean that Steffon brought back a fool for Robert instead of a bride for Rhaegar? I think it has to do with Robert becoming king and defeating Rhaegar. But what meaning is there in peaches / patches that would explain this turn of events?

We also have the song, The Dornishman's Wife, to analyze for clues. Many readers think that Mance is a symbolic version of Rhaegar (or even Rhaegar in disguise). I believe Mance sings this song almost as soon as he meets Jon Snow. 

Now we have the betrothal of Arianne and Viserys as well as Arianne's pursuit of fAegon and Quentyn's pursuit of Dany as additional clues. It seems as if Dorne is as interested in uniting with the Targaryens as House Targaryen is in uniting with Dorne. 

But why?

[Lord Varys]

2 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I’m guessing Rhaella had some power, even if it was dwarfed by Aerys’. She may have convinced Aerys that it would be a good way to ensure Dorne’s loyalty. It sounds like young Rhaella was friends with many prominent women in Westeros.

I'd expect that the Princess of Dorne moved through Rhaella, thus by-passing Tywin. Rhaella and Aerys had severe issues earlier in their marriage, but Aerys had made a walk of penance a few years back and Rhaella had recently given birth to Viserys - which should have given her more prestige and power than she had before.

[Odej]

I believe you are making a simple question unnecessarily complicated.

On 5/15/2022 at 10:14 PM, James Steller said:

Aerys never cared about any of that nonsense, and if he was truly convinced that his son might plot against him, he wouldn't marry Rhaegar to such a powerful enemy as the Dornish.

Aerys definitely cared. He was determined to find a bride for Rhaegar and thus prevent him from marrying Cersei, Tywin's daugther, the man he feared so much. When Steffon's mission failed Aerys merely had to look to Westeros.

On 5/15/2022 at 10:14 PM, James Steller said:

why would Aerys ever want Rhaegar to marry Elia?

Elia Martell was the most obvious choice: she belonged to one of the great houses, a house that for the past hundred years has maintained strong ties with the Targaryens. At that time, House Martell was in good terms with the ironthrone, Elia's mother was once Rhaella's lady-in-waiting, one of Aerys' kindguards was a Martell and we know the kindguards were one of the few people the Mad King trusted. It's totally possible prince Lewyn had whispered in Aerys ears, "Your grace, I have an niece, a lovely princess, sister of the prince of Dorne, her family, my family, and yours has been united by marriage before. We had been your most loyal allies for a century, would you consider a union between her and your son?" Ambition is what always moved the nobility. It seems Doran's mother was already dead at that time, so Doran would take care of the arrangement.

I strongly doubt Rhaella had anything to do with it, Aerys didn't trust her either. She never had any voice in what was going on in her or her children's life and that was only made worse by Aerys' madness.

[Frey family reunion]

Regarding Aerys search for a bride for Rhaegar, I think this quote might be telling:

Quote

In 278 AC, the king sent Lord Steffon across the narrow sea on a mission to Old Volantis, to seek a suitable bride for Prince Rhaegar, “a maid of noble birth from an old Valyrian bloodline.” That His Grace entrusted this task to the Lord of Storm’s End rather than his Hand, or Rhaegar himself, speaks volumes.

Martin, George R. R.; Garcia, Elio; Antonsson, Linda. The World of Ice & Fire (A Song of Ice and Fire) . Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

This search happens after Duskendale, a period of time when Aerys' distrust of his Hand and Rhaegar was growing.  The author makes a point of noting that Aerys kept Rhaegar out of the search for Rhaegar's own bride.  Which caused the author at least to raise his eyebrow a bit.

The clear implication is that Aerys was attempting to marginalize his Hand and his Heir by taking the choice of the next queen out of their hands.

After that failure, Aerys verbalizes his fear that if he dismisses Tywin, Tywin might kill him as well.  This is also the time that Aerys shuts himself in the Red Keep as his paranoia deepened.  

It's very possible that Rhaegar used this time to try and take back control a bit and started by arranging his own marriage to Elia.

[Frey family reunion]

On 5/15/2022 at 8:47 PM, EggBlue said:

2. everything Yandal says about Aerys, Rhaegar and Dornish is either exaggeration or downright lie . after all , Aerys was quick to kill the man who came after Rhaegar instead of , you know, let his ungrateful son pay for whatever he'd done. (it wouldn't be Yandal's first lie.. look at the manner of Targlings' deaths)

 

Maybe, but not necessarily.  Yandal could have been absolutely correct about the schism between Aerys and Rhaegar.  But perhaps something happened after Harrenhal where father and son found common ground.

[GOTSeriesfan]

On 5/16/2022 at 7:14 AM, James Steller said:

These are some of the few things we actually know for sure about Rhaegar Targaryen:

• Rhaegar married Elia Martell
• Rhaegar had a very hostile relationship with his father, and Aerys was convinced that Rhaegar was plotting against him
• Rhaegar was the man that Tywin Lannister wanted to marry his daughter
• Rhaegar brough his newborn daughter to visit his parents and all Aerys did in response was comment that she "smelled Dornish"

With those four facts in mind, I ask again: who arranged Rhaegar's marriage to Elia Martell?

It couldn't have been Tywin, because he clearly held a serious grudge over Cersei being snubbed, and had no love for the Martells either, to the  point that he snubbed Lady Martell and bragged to her face that Cersei was going to marry Rhaegar.

Aerys never cared about any of that nonsense, and if he was truly convinced that his son might plot against him, he wouldn't marry Rhaegar to such a powerful enemy as the Dornish.

Rhaegar never shows any indication that he even loved Elia, he only saw her as the means to that prophecy, and she couldn't even fulfill that part of his plan. And besides, Aerys would have had the final say on that marriage anyway, so again, why would Aerys ever want Rhaegar to marry Elia?

It could have been a Red Priest who orchestrated the idea by planting it in Aerys' head. Their involvement wouldn't have been suspicious due to possiblities of the Azor Ahai coming from the Targaryen bloodline. Rhaegar's choice of being a warrior came from that, and belief followed that one of his heirs might be the prophesied savior. 

[EggBlue]

5 hours ago, Frey family reunion said:

Maybe, but not necessarily.  Yandal could have been absolutely correct about the schism between Aerys and Rhaegar.  But perhaps something happened after Harrenhal where father and son found common ground.

actually I do believe that Yandal , a maester , wouldn't fabricate the whole thing. Rhagar's residence in Dragonstone is telling, considering both Daeron II and Rhaenyra left the court altogether like that when they had problems in the Red Keep.  but some exaggeration ( the court being similar to pre-Dance era) is not out of question. I suspect Aerys and Rhaegar may have reconciled over a plan of making prophecy babies or hatching dragons . however , George may well go with the simplest most obvious answer : mad king was mad. he may had problems with his son but he was his to punish , not Stark boy's. and he may had let Rhaegar marry the prince of Dorne's sister thinking she is the best safest choice but later had feared the alliance between his heir and Dorne .

[Alexis-something-Rose]

I think it's two fold.

First, we have that kerfuffle between Tywin and the Princess of Dorne and the way he spurned her, undoing the plans that she and Joanna had made for their children.

Second, there are no highborn ladies that Rhaegar can marry that fall into that age bracket where they can start having children right away. Elia has Valyrian blood from something like a 100 years before. But the really interesting thing about her is that first, she is Dornish, and second her health is frail. And those two things matter.

We are in a post-Duskendale world where Aerys is convinced that Tywin wanted him dead, that Tywin arranged for Steffon Baratheon's death (since Aerys was allegedly intent on executing Tywin and giving the Handship to Steffon). Aerys becomes paranoid of Rhaegar.

So to answer that question about who arranged the marriage, I think that the Princess of Dorne went to Aerys with the proposal, maybe even told him what transpired between her and Tywin when she went to Casterly Rock with her children.

For me Rhaegar's marriage to Elia always came off as something vengeful against Tywin, something to skewer him with. The Princess of Dorne gets what she wants and Aerys gets what he wants. 

Aerys wanting a bride of Valyrian blood for Rhaegar then marrying him off to Elia was, I think, designed to cripple him politically and then some. Marrying Rhaegar off to a foreign bride does nothing for Rhaegar's political standing. And marrying him to a Dornish princess does nothing for his political standing either. In both cases, Rhaegar was going to be politically isolated. Young lordlings can flock to Rhaegar all they want, the fact remains that their fathers swore oaths to Aerys, not his son. And some lords are not exactly fans of Dorne.

And then we have Elia's health. We don't know what was wrong with her, but we are told a couple of times that she wasn't the healthiest person. With a House that had dwindled to 4 members, Aerys chose a bride for his son who was not exactly hale and hearty. He chose a woman who was sickly. And Aerys is a man who lost a bunch of children through miscarriages, cradle deaths, stillbirths.

So my speculation is that Rhaegar's marriage to Elia kills two birds with one stone. It hurts Rhaegar's political prospects, since it seems Aerys was worried his son was going to remove him from the throne; and it puts uncertainty on the marriage producing heirs. And perhaps that was the hope, that Rhaegar and Elia would not have children. I think that the whole "she smells Dornish" comment about Rhaenys may have been due in part to that. Elia gave birth to a healthy child.

I don't think Rhaegar or Rhaella had a say in who Rhaegar married. Before Duskendale, maybe. But not after. Not when he was becoming paranoid and untrusting of his family. 

ETA - Aerys saying that Rhaenys smelled Dornish is, I think, more politically motivated than racist. If Rhaenys smells Dornish, then so does her brother, who is Rhaegar's heir and the heir to the Iron Throne after his father. And Aerys saying what he said gives others carte blanche to say the same thing, whether it's in support of their king because they are ass kissers, or because they simply don't like the Dornish and/or Rhaegar's marriage. So Aerys hurts his son there too.

[Seams]

10 hours ago, Frey family reunion said:

The author makes a point of noting that Aerys kept Rhaegar out of the search for Rhaegar's own bride.

 

41 minutes ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

it puts uncertainty on the marriage producing heirs. And perhaps that was the hope, that Rhaegar and Elia would not have children. I think that the whole "she smells Dornish" comment about Rhaenys may have been due in part to that. Elia gave birth to a healthy child.

Both good points. Aerys turned his attention to producing more children with his own wife, possibly planning to disinherit Rhaegar. A sickly wife for his son might have been part of a larger strategy. 

I also wonder whether there is more to the story of the Defiance of Duskendale. Lord Denys Darklyn wants a charter that would make Duskendale "like Dorne." He also has one of those mysterious foreign women for a wife, the Myrish Lady Serala. I may be conflating these women because of the way Roy Dotrice did the voices, but I think GRRM sometimes uses magical "exotic" women such as Maggy the Frog, Mirri Maz Duur and Taena Merryweather to tell us that a prophecy is being fulfilled, perhaps particularly a prophecy involving marriage and fertility. Quaithe might be another example, with her cryptic prediction / advice for Dany.

During his "captivity" (as it is described to us) at Duskendale, Aerys spent six months in the company of the witch-like Lady Serala. Maybe she fixed the baby-death problem that had plagued Aerys and Rhaella. (And maybe the whole "defiance" story was just a cover story to fool Tywin and to give Aerys privacy while he underwent the magic cure.)

Granted, Aerys was harsh in his punishment for the Darklyns when he finally emerged from the Dun Fort. Maybe this was his way of silencing everyone who knew the real reason for his absence from King's Landing. Widespread slaughter would not be inconsistent with his wildfire contingency plan for destroying King's Landing.

I suspect that the imprisonment of Aerys at Duskendale can be compared to the captivity of the Dragonknight in Dorne in a crow cage over the pit filled with vipers. (One hint: Lady Darklyn's given name is Serala; one of the Sand Snakes is named Sarella. This could be a viper / sand snake link.) Aerys and Prince Aemon were each miraculously rescued by a single hero, Ser Barristan and King Baelor. I believe that Prince Aemon was the biological father of King Daeron, so the fertility symbolism with Aerys might be supported by the parallel situation with the rescue of the Dragonknight. 

If that comparison is valid, it will be interesting to see how Prince Doran uses his "viper pit" (the captive Sand Snakes) to hold a captive king or father to kings. 

6 hours ago, GOTSeriesfan said:

It could have been a Red Priest who orchestrated the idea by planting it in Aerys' head.

This idea also has merit. Lady Dustin tells Theon that a maester (a "grey rat") steered Lord Rickard Stark into making a marriage pact with House Tully.

Quote

But who are the masters and who are the servants, truly? Every great lord has his maester, . . . 

Before he forged his chain, Maester Walys had been known as Walys Flowers. Flowers, Hill, Rivers, Snow … we give such names to baseborn children to mark them for what they are, but they are always quick to shed them. Walys Flowers had a Hightower girl for a mother … and an archmaester of the Citadel for a father, it was rumored. The grey rats are not as chaste as they would have us believe. Oldtown maesters are the worst of all. Once he forged his chain, his secret father and his friends wasted no time dispatching him to Winterfell to fill Lord Rickard's ears with poisoned words as sweet as honey. The Tully marriage was his notion, never doubt it, he—" (ADwD, The Prince of Winterfell)

 

[Loose Bolt]

Another oddity is that Martells should have potential affinity for water magic and hate of dragons. Or there is a possibility that one purpose of that marriage was to minimize Targs access to fire magic and made return of dragons impossible.

[EggBlue]

3 hours ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

I think it's two fold.

First, we have that kerfuffle between Tywin and the Princess of Dorne and the way he spurned her, undoing the plans that she and Joanna had made for their children.

Second, there are no highborn ladies that Rhaegar can marry that fall into that age bracket where they can start having children right away. Elia has Valyrian blood from something like a 100 years before. But the really interesting thing about her is that first, she is Dornish, and second her health is frail. And those two things matter.

We are in a post-Duskendale world where Aerys is convinced that Tywin wanted him dead, that Tywin arranged for Steffon Baratheon's death (since Aerys was allegedly intent on executing Tywin and giving the Handship to Steffon). Aerys becomes paranoid of Rhaegar.

So to answer that question about who arranged the marriage, I think that the Princess of Dorne went to Aerys with the proposal, maybe even told him what transpired between her and Tywin when she went to Casterly Rock with her children.

For me Rhaegar's marriage to Elia always came off as something vengeful against Tywin, something to skewer him with. The Princess of Dorne gets what she wants and Aerys gets what he wants. 

Aerys wanting a bride of Valyrian blood for Rhaegar then marrying him off to Elia was, I think, designed to cripple him politically and then some. Marrying Rhaegar off to a foreign bride does nothing for Rhaegar's political standing. And marrying him to a Dornish princess does nothing for his political standing either. In both cases, Rhaegar was going to be politically isolated. Young lordlings can flock to Rhaegar all they want, the fact remains that their fathers swore oaths to Aerys, not his son. And some lords are not exactly fans of Dorne.

And then we have Elia's health. We don't know what was wrong with her, but we are told a couple of times that she wasn't the healthiest person. With a House that had dwindled to 4 members, Aerys chose a bride for his son who was not exactly hale and hearty. He chose a woman who was sickly. And Aerys is a man who lost a bunch of children through miscarriages, cradle deaths, stillbirths.

So my speculation is that Rhaegar's marriage to Elia kills two birds with one stone. It hurts Rhaegar's political prospects, since it seems Aerys was worried his son was going to remove him from the throne; and it puts uncertainty on the marriage producing heirs. And perhaps that was the hope, that Rhaegar and Elia would not have children. I think that the whole "she smells Dornish" comment about Rhaenys may have been due in part to that. Elia gave birth to a healthy child.

I don't think Rhaegar or Rhaella had a say in who Rhaegar married. Before Duskendale, maybe. But not after. Not when he was becoming paranoid and untrusting of his family. 

ETA - Aerys saying that Rhaenys smelled Dornish is, I think, more politically motivated than racist. If Rhaenys smells Dornish, then so does her brother, who is Rhaegar's heir and the heir to the Iron Throne after his father. And Aerys saying what he said gives others carte blanche to say the same thing, whether it's in support of their king because they are ass kissers, or because they simply don't like the Dornish and/or Rhaegar's marriage. So Aerys hurts his son there too.

interesting points . however , it seems a little odd that Aerys wouldn't think an unhealthy wife could as easily die herself and leave Rhaegar no obstacle to have another marriage alliance , say with the Lannisters. then again , we are told Aerys was mad , we are never told he wasn't stupid ! 

[GOTSeriesfan]

51 minutes ago, Loose Bolt said:

Another oddity is that Martells should have potential affinity for water magic and hate of dragons. Or there is a possibility that one purpose of that marriage was to minimize Targs access to fire magic and made return of dragons impossible.

Shouldn't mixed heritage remove that Rhoynish trait? And the Targaryens only knew the rare Valyrian trait of taming dragons and their inbreeding also preserved that trait until the Dance of the Dragons killed most of them, and the dragon eggs, as shown in the series, needed what the Targaryens gave in their house words, "fire and blood". Daenerys used a funeral pyre and Drogo's body, "fire and blood" to actually hatch the dragon eggs. And even mixed heritage doesn't remove that dragonrider ability as shown in Rhaegal and Jon Snow