Aenar the Abolitionist

[King_Tristifer_IV_Mudd]

David Lightbringer has this huge 2 parter video on a theory of the Doom of Valyria. In short the theory essentially says that he believes that the Targaryens, specifically, Aenar the Exile, was behind the Doom of Valyria. He hired the Faceless Men to assassinate all or most of the pyromancers keeping the 14 Fires from erupting. He posits that the brutality of Valyria’s mines was essentially a blood sacrifice to power the pyromancer’s magic. He also says that Aenar did not in fact move to Dragonstone because of Daena’s prophecy, but simply so he could dominate trade on the Narrow Sea. Selling VS weapons to Westerosi nobles, using the fortune he made from that to pay the FM. He says that Aenar did it for one of two reasons. 
 

1: He wanted House Targaryen to be the only remaining people on Planetos to have the power of dragons

or

2. Aenar had become disgusted with Valyrian culture of imperialism, brutal slavery, human sacrifice, and blood magic and sought to end an empire that seemed like it could go on for another 5000 years.

Part 2

Part 1

 

[Tyrosh Lannister]

If Aenar was tired of all that cruelty and slavery he wouldn't have brought his slaves along with him to dragonstone.

He would have freed them

[King_Tristifer_IV_Mudd]

1 minute ago, Tyrosh Lannister said:

If Aenar was tired of all that cruelty and slavery he wouldn't have brought his slaves along with him to dragonstone.

He would have freed them

I know the videos are long but part of the theory is that the slaves became servants and his servants became the common people of Dragonstone. Another thing he brings up, carefully, is that Valyrian slavery was much different than Slavers Bay slavery. Both are unequivocally horrid, no doubt. But Valyrian slavery was on another level seemingly.

[H Wadsworth Longfellow]

If, and that is a very big IF, there is any truth to this, Aenar's reasons were benevolent.  He wanted to end the empire for its practice of slavery.  Lord Aenar Targaryen is one of the heroes of the entire series. 

He brought the slaves to Dragonstone in order to save their lives and to give them a better chance at life. 

All that said, I think the Targaryens left Valyria because they had faith in Daenys the Dreamer.  Daenys saw far into the future and had visions of a cold, dark winter about to descend on Westeros.  The Others, wargs, wights, and skin changers menacing the land.  Lord Aenar wanted to save the living from a fate worse than death. 

[James Fenimore Cooper XXII]

The Targaryens are the main protagonists of A Song of Ice and Fire.  Aenar Targaryen was the kind of man who would end a brutal system profiting from the suffering of the slaves.  Daenys Targaryen saw something in those visions which proved her family are the children of the Amethyst Empress. 

The gemstone monarchs were political factions in my original essay.  But I am now certain that the gemstones refer to the peoples which made up the Empire.  I agree with LML that the Dothraki are the children of Onyx.  They were the Onyx people who once also ruled the Empire.  Some agreed upon succession of rule was put in place long ago.  The Red clan violated the rule and must be punished. 

[Craving Peaches]

19 minutes ago, James Fenimore Cooper XXII said:

The Targaryens are the main protagonists of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Quote from the author to verify this please.

Because from what I see, there is no main protagonist.

[King_Tristifer_IV_Mudd]

19 minutes ago, Craving Peaches said:

Quote from the author to verify this please.

Because from what I see, there is no main protagonist.

to be fair, Jon and Dany are the two closest characters to main heroes in the story. Bran as well.

[Craving Peaches]

1 minute ago, KingEuronGreyjoy said:

to be fair, Jon and Dany are the two closest characters to main heroes in the story. Bran as well.

Yes, but they said Targaryens, not just Daenerys, and they don't believe in R+L=J. So it is clear they mean House TargAryan is the main protagonist, which is just not true.

[King_Tristifer_IV_Mudd]

21 minutes ago, Craving Peaches said:

Yes, but they said Targaryens, not just Daenerys, and they don't believe in R+L=J. So it is clear they mean House TargAryan is the main protagonist, which is just not true.

Who doesn’t believe in R+L=J? It’s almost certainly canon?

[Craving Peaches]

Just now, KingEuronGreyjoy said:

Who doesn’t believe in R+L=J? It’s almost certainly canon?

Some people like the symbolism of other parentage theories (I myself am fond of the one I made about Robert Baratheon being Jon's real father, but I accept it cannot possibly work).

Some people think it's too cliché.

However other people don't believe it because they hate Jon and don't want him to have a better claim that precious Daenerys.

[King_Tristifer_IV_Mudd]

2 minutes ago, Craving Peaches said:

Some people like the symbolism of other parentage theories (I myself am fond of the one I made about Robert Baratheon being Jon's real father, but I accept it cannot possibly work).

Some people think it's too cliché.

However other people don't believe it because they hate Jon and don't want him to have a better claim that precious Daenerys.

I think people only think it’s cliche because of the show, and how news outlets made it common knowledge. It’s very well hidden, but not so well hidden that it’s impossible to see coming. I didn’t even think of it myself until my second read through of the series.

[Corvo the Crow]

He was disgusted by slavery but had no problem with sibling love, a thing even slavers can’t stomach? 

[Corvo the Crow]

10 hours ago, Craving Peaches said:

Yes, but they said Targaryens, not just Daenerys, and they don't believe in R+L=J. So it is clear they mean House TargAryan is the main protagonist, which is just not true.

Targ-Aryans can only ever be antagonists. Dany is only a protagonist for the time being for us to be able to witness first hand how a Targ-Aryan goes mad so we can get a better idea on incest loving racial supremacist are doomed to fail because of their incest. Since Jon is only half Val-Aryan and brought up by First Men values, he’ll be ok as long as he keeps it no closer than cousin degree(Sansa), since FM as good as their values are, also known to practice a little bit of incest now and then.

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Ronard_Storm

Only good thing those Falsehoods of the seven worshippers ever brought is incest being a taboo.

[Craving Peaches]

14 minutes ago, Corvo the Crow said:

Targ-Aryans can only ever be antagonists. Dany is only a protagonist for the time being for us to be able to witness first hand how a Targ-Aryan goes mad so we can get a better idea on incest loving racial supremacist are doomed to fail because of their incest. Since Jon is only half Val-Aryan and brought up by First Men values, he’ll be ok as long as he keeps it no closer than cousin degree(Sansa), since FM as good as their values are, also known to practice a little bit of incest now and then.

It would be nice to see them suffer realistic consequences to their inbreeding. They think they can get away with it because they think they're racially superior. They should be knocked down a few pegs by having Habsburg jaws and clubfoot. That would teach them.

[Corvo the Crow]

13 minutes ago, Craving Peaches said:

It would be nice to see them suffer realistic consequences to their inbreeding. They think they can get away with it because they think they're racially superior. They should be knocked down a few pegs by having Habsburg jaws and clubfoot. That would teach them.

They probably practiced blood magic to get away from those consequences. Only a few generations after doom they suffer in the form of Aegon’s impotency and Maegor’s deformed children. They take several nonTarg-Aryan spouses which kept them going for a while(Remember  that Aenys was not Aegon’s but a singer’s) but every time they reverted back to it which resulted in the Mad King and will ultimately result in the Mad Queen, Dany.

[Craving Peaches]

6 minutes ago, Corvo the Crow said:

They probably practiced blood magic to get away from those consequences. Only a few generations after doom they suffer in the form of Aegon’s impotency and Maegor’s deformed children. They take several nonTarg-Aryan spouses which kept them going for a while(Remember  that Aenys was not Aegon’s but a singer’s) but every time they reverted back to it which resulted in the Mad King and will ultimately result in the Mad Queen, Dany.

Yes, it's good that Jon gets a fresh contribution to his gene pool through Lyanna.

I think the main problem is the dragons. Once the Others are dealt with, the dragons have to go. They turn the inbreeds with already massive egos into absolute megalomaniacs.

[The Commentator]

On 11/24/2022 at 8:32 AM, H Wadsworth Longfellow said:

If, and that is a very big IF, there is any truth to this, Aenar's reasons were benevolent.  He wanted to end the empire for its practice of slavery.  Lord Aenar Targaryen is one of the heroes of the entire series. 

He brought the slaves to Dragonstone in order to save their lives and to give them a better chance at life. 

All that said, I think the Targaryens left Valyria because they had faith in Daenys the Dreamer.  Daenys saw far into the future and had visions of a cold, dark winter about to descend on Westeros.  The Others, wargs, wights, and skin changers menacing the land.  Lord Aenar wanted to save the living from a fate worse than death. 

Abolish slavery on a grand scale, yes. He also prevented the enslavement of Westeros. He knew it will be the next battleground with the evil forces of ice.  He and Daenys are heroes.  

[King_Tristifer_IV_Mudd]

10 minutes ago, The Commentator said:

Abolish slavery on a grand scale, yes. He also prevented the enslavement of Westeros. He knew it will be the next battleground with the evil forces of ice.  He and Daenys are heroes.  

If the theory is true, yes.

[Rondo]

Aegon and Balerion fought on the side of Braavos to prevent the rise of another slave owning empire.  There is something to this theory.  If nothing else, the Targaryens stopped the proliferation of slavery to the West.  It's fitting because the Others are extreme slave owners.  The Targaryens oppose the spread of the Others.  

[James Arryn]

I can’t think of any RL examples where using mine slaves =~= religious sacrifice. The idea of sacrifice is voluntary cost. Mine slaves lived brutal lives wherever they existed because they were deemed profitable, not the reverse.