Dark Implications about Glendon Ball

[The Bard of Banefort]

I mentioned in another thread how, while I'm not completely unsympathetic to Glendon Ball, I probably still have less sympathy for him than I'm supposed to. I get it, he’s insecure and an underdog and has a giant chip on his shoulder. But his arrogance (however feigned) is obnoxious, and there’s something genuinely creepy about assuming the name and kinship of someone who a) probably isn’t actually his father and b) he’s never met. It’s like if someone born the year after Elvis died changed their last name to Presley and showed up at an awards show expecting a place of honor in the front row. The fact that Fireball was a POS that forced his wife to join the silent sisters also doesn’t help.

But the bigger problem, and the one that I never see brought up by fans, is how Glendon got his knighthood. 

Quote

The boy and his sister grew up in a brothel, called the Pussywillows. After Penny Jenny died, the other whores took care of them and fed the lad the tale his mother had concocted, about him being Fireball's seed. An old squire who lived nearby gave the boy his training, such that it was, in trade for ale and cunt, but being but a squire he could not knight the little bastard. Half a year ago, however, a party of knights chanced upon the brothel and a certain Ser Morgan Dunstable took a drunken fancy to Ser Glendon's sister. As it happens, the sister was still a virgin and Dunstable did not have the price of her maidenhead. So a bargain was struck. Ser Morgan dubbed her brother a knight, right there in the Pussywillows in front of twenty witnesses, and afterwards little sister took him upstairs and let him pluck her flower. And there you are.

Now, it's possible that Glendon's sister was in on the whole thing and was eager to see her brother knighted. But it's equally likely that Glendon pimped out his little sister (who was likely under the age of fifteen) to some drunken creep so that he could live out his dream. And seeing as Glendon idolizes Fireball, who also screwed over a woman in his family in order to chase his own ambitions (again, he forced his wife to join the silent sisters so that he could become a kingsguard), I don't think this is beyond the realm of possibility for him.

What are your thoughts?

[Lady Stonehearts Simp]

1 hour ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I mentioned in another thread how, while I'm not completely unsympathetic to Glendon Ball, I probably still have less sympathy for him than I'm supposed to. I get it, he’s insecure and an underdog and has a giant chip on his shoulder. But his arrogance (however feigned) is obnoxious, and there’s something genuinely creepy about assuming the name and kinship of someone who a) probably isn’t actually his father and b) he’s never met. It’s like if someone born the year after Elvis died changed their last name to Presley and showed up at an awards show expecting a place of honor in the front row. The fact that Fireball was a POS that forced his wife to join the silent sisters also doesn’t help.

But the bigger problem, and the one that I never see brought up by fans, is how Glendon got his knighthood. 

Now, it's possible that Glendon's sister was in on the whole thing and was eager to see her brother knighted. But it's equally likely that Glendon pimped out his little sister (who was likely under the age of fifteen) to some drunken creep so that he could live out his dream. And seeing as Glendon idolizes Fireball, who also screwed over a woman in his family in order to chase his own ambitions (again, he forced his wife to join the silent sisters so that he could become a kingsguard), I don't think this is beyond the realm of possibility for him.

What are your thoughts?

Yeah, on the outside it seems really sleezy, with the potential of being truly sickening depending on his sister’s willingness.

[Hugorfonics]

If the story is true, it's a nasty one. But it may just be that, and even if it is mostly true we still don't know the full picture so I don't think we should judge too harshly.

He is kind of arrogant and an asshole. But in asoiaf, who isnt?

 

He reminds me a lot of like, Stonewall Jackson's son, if he ever had a son. The man was a legend steeped in military honor, and if he didn't die on some bullshit the whole war, hell whole world, could have changed. And hes still remembered as a hero. To some, while others like the state, see him as a villainous traitor.

Of course if he was Jackson's it'd be his unrecognized bastard, one who always had to challenge the slight of being unrecognized. Because it's not just a slight against him but his late father as well. Which is a real smack against this warrior code of honor. So, surprise surprise, honor means dying on some bullshit just like your father did in a war that has little to do with you. However in Glendons case, honor also means not throwing the fight.

I kinda like him

[SeanF]

2 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I mentioned in another thread how, while I'm not completely unsympathetic to Glendon Ball, I probably still have less sympathy for him than I'm supposed to. I get it, he’s insecure and an underdog and has a giant chip on his shoulder. But his arrogance (however feigned) is obnoxious, and there’s something genuinely creepy about assuming the name and kinship of someone who a) probably isn’t actually his father and b) he’s never met. It’s like if someone born the year after Elvis died changed their last name to Presley and showed up at an awards show expecting a place of honor in the front row. The fact that Fireball was a POS that forced his wife to join the silent sisters also doesn’t help.

But the bigger problem, and the one that I never see brought up by fans, is how Glendon got his knighthood. 

Now, it's possible that Glendon's sister was in on the whole thing and was eager to see her brother knighted. But it's equally likely that Glendon pimped out his little sister (who was likely under the age of fifteen) to some drunken creep so that he could live out his dream. And seeing as Glendon idolizes Fireball, who also screwed over a woman in his family in order to chase his own ambitions (again, he forced his wife to join the silent sisters so that he could become a kingsguard), I don't think this is beyond the realm of possibility for him.

What are your thoughts?

Given how dark and depraved Westeros is, we should probably assume the worst.  I doubt his sister had much choice in the matter.

[Kienn]

Just seems like he and his sister took a chance on the only route possible to upgrade their life.

I guess you just think peasants should stay where they are?

[Vaegon the dragonless]

11 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Now, it's possible that Glendon's sister was in on the whole thing and was eager to see her brother knighted. But it's equally likely that Glendon pimped out his little sister (who was likely under the age of fifteen) to some drunken creep so that he could live out his dream. And seeing as Glendon idolizes Fireball, who also screwed over a woman in his family in order to chase his own ambitions (again, he forced his wife to join the silent sisters so that he could become a kingsguard), I don't think this is beyond the realm of possibility for him.

I agree that the whole affair is very creepy and sad for is sister but I think to put it on the shoulders of Glendon is maybe a bit much. In fact in the extract that you mention it is for me quite clear that is sister maidenhead was to sell, it just so happen that the knigth did not have the coin and came to a arragement, it sounds to me that just like Glendon was trained to be a knigth, his sister was being trained by be a prostitute. So to me Glendon's responsability in the matter is really not that big, you could even say that him becoming a knigth is the best chance he and is sister have of getting out of the brothel they where raised in. So yeah the whole thing is creepy but that is the times they live in and realistically Glendon had a good chance of making some good money securing his life and most likely getting is sister out of the brothel.

[The Bard of Banefort]

1 hour ago, Kienn said:

I guess you just think peasants should stay where they are?

LOL that’s quite the leap. I’m saying that pimping out your sister is shady, to say the least. There are other avenues he could have pursued, like finding a knight to squire for for a year or two who could then knight him. Or he could find other work in the meantime, the way most smallfolk do.

[James Arryn]

My impression is that it was a pretty grim fact that, growing up in a brothel, his sister’s virginity was going to be sold for something, one way or the other. It’d be her choice probably as much as any other poor young woman’s, that is to say, only as much as hunger and/or weakness would allow.

I think pretending she had a range of options is probably an inaccurate and unfair portrayal of her circumstances. It’s not like the women who freely chose prostitution were somehow lesser people or faced better fates. She couldn’t decide to study hard, go to school, get into college, share a flat with other young girls, find a career, etc. 
 

Otoh let’s not overlook that his commitment to the ?lie? about his father meant he was willing to die for it. Because it’s what his mother and everyone in the brothel told him while he grew up. Is it weird and creepy that he believed what he was told all his life? Is he not also a victim, if it was a lie, and is the price he’s going to pay for it not also the stuff of victimization?

[The Bard of Banefort]

23 minutes ago, James Arryn said:

My impression is that it was a pretty grim fact that, growing up in a brothel, his sister’s virginity was going to be sold for something, one way or the other. It’d be her choice probably as much as any other poor young woman’s, that is to say, only as much as hunger and/or weakness would allow.

I think pretending she had a range of options is probably an inaccurate and unfair portrayal of her circumstances. It’s not like the women who freely chose prostitution were somehow lesser people or faced better fates. She couldn’t decide to study hard, go to school, get into college, share a flat with other young girls, find a career, etc. 
 

Otoh let’s not overlook that his commitment to the ?lie? about his father meant he was willing to die for it. Because it’s what his mother and everyone in the brothel told him while he grew up. Is it weird and creepy that he believed what he was told all his life? Is he not also a victim, if it was a lie, and is the price he’s going to pay for it not also the stuff of victimization?

I’m not saying she had a range of options, I’m saying Glendon did. Maybe his sister was okay with it and was eager to help her brother. Maybe it was all her idea. But maybe, as a younger sister, she wasn’t given a say. Glendon may be a great jouster, and is probably a good swordsman too, but he didn’t actually earn his knighthood, he purchased it with his sister’s virginity. Even if we can excuse him striking a bargain due to his poor circumstances (just like we can forgive Dunk for lying about being knighted), that’s still pretty gnarly. It’s worth noting that even in the context of The Mystery Knight, the other characters find this pretty shocking.

[James Arryn]

18 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I’m not saying she had a range of options, I’m saying Glendon did. Maybe his sister was okay with it and was eager to help her brother. Maybe it was all her idea. But maybe, as a younger sister, she wasn’t given a say. Glendon may be a great jouster, and is probably a good swordsman too, but he didn’t actually earn his knighthood, he purchased it with his sister’s virginity. Even if we can excuse him striking a bargain due to his poor circumstances (just like we can forgive Dunk for lying about being knighted), that’s still pretty gnarly. It’s worth noting that even in the context of The Mystery Knight, the other characters find this pretty shocking.

There’s no way to ‘earn’ knighthood for 99.999999999% of baseborn boys. The ways others ‘earn’ their knighthood isn’t any more meritorious or moral; they are born into one of the families operating the protection racket known as feudalism. Where their subjects do as their told and fork over the bulk of w/e they can produce in exchange for only being raped, killed or beaten every so often. And those born thus sell their daughters and sisters maidenhood for advantages too, only usually it’s also a sentence of lifelong servitude to some other racketeer. Where they get no say on almost anything that affects their lives, and are fairly likely to die in childbirth. 

I don’t doubt others find it shocking, it’s their usual process minus the cosmetics, and people cling to their illusions harder than they cling to their realities. Anyways, we are given no actual details on who decided what; my initial reading took the choice to barter maidenhood for knighthood as ~ communal at the brothel in the same way they all seem to have taken part in selling Glendon on his mother’s myth. 

[The Bard of Banefort]

2 minutes ago, James Arryn said:

There’s no way to ‘earn’ knighthood for 99.999999999% of baseborn boys. The ways others ‘earn’ their knighthood isn’t any more meritorious or moral; they are born into one of the families operating the protection racket known as feudalism. Where their subjects do as their told and fork over the bulk of w/e they can produce in exchange for only being raped, killed or beaten every so often. And those born thus sell their daughters and sisters maidenhood for advantages too, only usually it’s also a sentence of lifelong servitude to some other racketeer. Where they get no say on almost anything that affects their lives, and are fairly likely to die in childbirth. 

I don’t doubt others find it shocking, it’s their usual process minus the cosmetics, and people cling to their illusions harder than they cling to their realities. Anyways, we are given no actual details on who decided what; my initial reading took the choice to barter maidenhood for knighthood as ~ communal at the brothel in the same way they all seem to have taken part in selling Glendon on his mother’s myth. 

Except we know that plenty of lowborn boys do become knights. That’s what virtually all the hedge knights are—Duncan, Arlan of Pennytree, Kyle the Cat, Bennis, Uthor Underleaf. Everyone assumes Egg is a peasant boy because that’s how lowborn boys become knights. In this world that is an option.

It may have indeed been a communal effort. But I don’t think we can discount more sinister possibilities based on the little we know so far either.

[James Arryn]

1 hour ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Except we know that plenty of lowborn boys do become knights. That’s what virtually all the hedge knights are—Duncan, Arlan of Pennytree, Kyle the Cat, Bennis, Uthor Underleaf. Everyone assumes Egg is a peasant boy because that’s how lowborn boys become knights. In this world that is an option.

It may have indeed been a communal effort. But I don’t think we can discount more sinister possibilities based on the little we know so far either.

Hedge knights have two things most poor boys will never, ever in a million years get: training, and equipment. Owning a set of armour, riding horse, charger, weapons etc. already puts you in the equivalent of middle/upper middle class. It’s roughly equivalent to owning an expensive car, in a society where most people couldn’t afford gas…and extending the metaphor, Flea Bottom boys routinely steal and less savoury things just to feed themselves. How could they house and feed horses? (Costs usually more than feeding humans). Affording a Beamer is pie in the sky. Dunk notably does not actually ‘earn’ his knighthood, and his is (I think) the only hedge knight whose origin we know about; the rest come fully formed as hedge knights.
 

The practicalities of a poor boy getting someone to invest years in their intense daily training AND being able to afford or *cough* inherit the horses and equipment of a knight…I mean, people buy lottery tickets too, but I’d hardly call it a life ‘option’. Flea Bottom must have produced tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of poor boys down the generations. How many do we hear of who became knights? And the one we did was A) a physical freak and 2) not really a knight and C) considers himself to have been almost supernaturally lucky. It’s like saying that it’s been known for lords to marry commoners…but I’d hardly call marrying a lord one of life’s options for girls from the slums. Hedge knights are more likely to be younger sons of lower nobility, or possibly wealthier gentry to begin with. Also worth noting that in Westeros ‘hedge knights’ is more or less synonymous with bandit, robber, murderer, etc. But hey, a boy can dream, no?
 

As far as the more sinister explanations, they are certainly available to us. We can also suppose a great deal of physical abuse went into making Glendon a fighter. None of this is written, but that is more on the probable side. If we are entertaining things not explicitly written but highly possible…well, Glendon grew up in a brothel. It’s very possible he was among the wares at some point. The squire who taught him…what did Glendon have to do to earn that? Again, there are lots of sinister possibilities when people try to climb the ladder in a feudal society where life is cheap and sex workers cheaper. 

[Springwatch]

15 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Now, it's possible that Glendon's sister was in on the whole thing and was eager to see her brother knighted. But it's equally likely that Glendon pimped out his little sister (who was likely under the age of fifteen) to some drunken creep so that he could live out his dream. And seeing as Glendon idolizes Fireball, who also screwed over a woman in his family in order to chase his own ambitions (again, he forced his wife to join the silent sisters so that he could become a kingsguard), I don't think this is beyond the realm of possibility for him.

He could have put pressure on her, but he's not in the position of pimp - it's the women of the brothel who control that side of things. They funded his training too. Also - let's say it - very often grrm's whores are strong forceful women who don't see anything wrong with their job. Even Pate's young Rosey didn't seem stressed about being pimped out by her mother. Possibly grrm saw Glendon's sister making the choice to sponsor her brother. If Glendon ever showed any concern or affection for his sister, it would be easier believe this.

[Lord Varys]

14 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I mentioned in another thread how, while I'm not completely unsympathetic to Glendon Ball, I probably still have less sympathy for him than I'm supposed to. I get it, he’s insecure and an underdog and has a giant chip on his shoulder. But his arrogance (however feigned) is obnoxious, and there’s something genuinely creepy about assuming the name and kinship of someone who a) probably isn’t actually his father and b) he’s never met. It’s like if someone born the year after Elvis died changed their last name to Presley and showed up at an awards show expecting a place of honor in the front row. The fact that Fireball was a POS that forced his wife to join the silent sisters also doesn’t help.

No, that's a completely false comparison there. Glendon Flowers is the son of a woman who apparently fucked Fireball, so there is a small chance that he is his son. He is not taking the name of a random celebrity. Him taking the name is effectively the other side of, say, Rhaenyra's sons by Laenor being accepted as Velaryons by their family despite their looks.

In a sense this is a kind of smallfolk empowerment, having a guy claim the name of a great hero like many a nobleman praises himself simply because of the merit and deeds of his (alleged) ancestors.

It is a pity that George has so far not shed more light on many of the baseborn children of Aegon the Unworthy. Hopefully FaB talks about some of them - even if Aegon didn't acknowledge many of them, people may have concluded/believed that children looking like the king were his children ... and that, in turn, could certainly have helped them to make a name for themselves in a minor capacity.

14 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

But the bigger problem, and the one that I never see brought up by fans, is how Glendon got his knighthood. 

Now, it's possible that Glendon's sister was in on the whole thing and was eager to see her brother knighted. But it's equally likely that Glendon pimped out his little sister (who was likely under the age of fifteen) to some drunken creep so that he could live out his dream. And seeing as Glendon idolizes Fireball, who also screwed over a woman in his family in order to chase his own ambitions (again, he forced his wife to join the silent sisters so that he could become a kingsguard), I don't think this is beyond the realm of possibility for him.

What are your thoughts?

Don't care much about that, either, since the guy and what must be his half-sister rather than his full sister grew up at a brothel and were thus, by default, part of the prostitution business. If Glendon hadn't shown promise at riding and knightly stuff he would have either become a whore himself or worked in whatever other jobs the brothel he grew up in would have offered him. After all, this institution didn't seem to have been a brothel run by men but by women.

The notion that Glendon's sister was treated badly by her half-brother is thus not very likely. Her fate is very much similar to that of Rosey - and she is the daughter of a pretty successful innkeep. She would have grown up expected to take up the trade of her late mother and the women who raised her.

I do agree, though, that Glendon doesn't come across as overly sympathetic. He is too rash and too ambitious for his own good. I'd not be surprised if he eventually fell in with the wrong people or ended up with Haegon Blackfyre during the Third Rebellion. There might be a place at the court of Aegon V for him ... but that would kind of imply that the guy would not really persue other career paths in the decades prior to that - and Egg's kingship is not something anyone would have foreseen or expected to happen.

Pretty sure that the (alleged) son of Fireball would not seek to be part of either the court of Aerys I nor that of King Maekar.

A scenario that could make sense for Glendon would be him to continue to try establish himself among the tourney champions of the Realm, making a name for himself, only to rejected again and again. That might eventually push him into exile where he could then fall in with Bittersteel, Haegon Blackfyre, and the Golden Company - and perhaps finally feel welcome and cherished.

[Floki of the Ironborn]

6 minutes ago, Lord Varys said:

 

I do agree, though, that Glendon doesn't come across as overly sympathetic. He is too rash and too ambitious for his own good. I'd not be surprised if he eventually fell in with the wrong people or ended up with Haegon Blackfyre during the Third Rebellion. There might be a place at the court of Aegon V for him ... but that would kind of imply that the guy would not really persue other career paths in the decades prior to that - and Egg's kingship is not something anyone would have foreseen or expected to happen.

Pretty sure that the (alleged) son of Fireball would not seek to be part of either the court of Aerys I nor that of King Maekar.

A scenario that could make sense for Glendon would be him to continue to try establish himself among the tourney champions of the Realm, making a name for himself, only to rejected again and again. That might eventually push him into exile where he could then fall in with Bittersteel, Haegon Blackfyre, and the Golden Company - and perhaps finally feel welcome and cherished.

I did always wonder what happened to Glendon, and whether he gained a reputation which was alike to his alleged father.

[Mourning Star]

I find it extremely hard to get a clear picture of who these major characters at the start of the Blackfyre Rebellions really were, including, and perhaps especially, Fireball.

We get heavily biased accounts from both sides, and no first hand account at all.

He appears to have been a competent master at arms, given the roster of students he instructed.

The story about sending his wife to the silent sisters in preparation for being made a knight of the Kingsguard is repugnant, but we have basically no details, and the King at the time was Aegon the Unworthy, whose debauchery was seemingly unmatched. It doesn’t seem crazy to me to think there might be more to this story.

Especially since, despite having a reputation for temper, he didn’t seem to have done anything crazy when denied a spot on the Kingsguard when it eventually opened. Interestingly, the man who took the place promised him was one of the seven defeated by Dunk’s seven in his trial by seven.

In fact, the entire start to the Blackfyre Rebellion isn’t clear. We get told stories of Daemon rising up for love of Daenerys, or because he thought he was the rightful heir after being legitimized, or because he was given Blackfyre, but these events all happened long before any actual uprising.

Fireball may have even remained in service as the master at arms after being denied a spot on the Kingsguard.

It actually seems that the revolution started because the Kingsguard were sent to arrest Daemon (on the advice of Bloodraven?), and it was Fireball who saved him.

 Then we get the tale about him killing all of Lady Penrose’s sons save the youngest, whom he spared as a kindness to her. This is oddly chivalrous and temperate for a guy of the type we are led to believe he is.

Finally, Fireball is killed.

"An archer put an arrow through his throat as he dismounted by a stream to have a drink. Just some common man, no one knows who."

"Those common men can be dangerous when they get it in their heads to start slaying lords and heroes." 

This whole scenario seams very suspicious to me, but we have so little to go on.

And this doesn’t even get into the question of Glendon being his son, despite not having red hair and his dead mother supposedly having slept with many other men.

At the end of the day, much like with Dunk, I think it’s more important how one behaves moving forward than the circumstances of your knighthood or birth.

If I’m speculating wildly, I bet that Glendon will end up claiming the Kingsguard position once promised to his supposed father.

[The Bard of Banefort]

45 minutes ago, James Arryn said:

Hedge knights have two things most poor boys will never, ever in a million years get: training, and equipment. Owning a set of armour, riding horse, charger, weapons etc. already puts you in the equivalent of middle/upper middle class. It’s roughly equivalent to owning an expensive car, in a society where most people couldn’t afford gas…and extending the metaphor, Flea Bottom boys routinely steal and less savoury things just to feed themselves. How could they house and feed horses? (Costs usually more than feeding humans). Affording a Beamer is pie in the sky. Dunk notably does not actually ‘earn’ his knighthood, and his is (I think) the only hedge knight whose origin we know about; the rest come fully formed as hedge knights.
 

The practicalities of a poor boy getting someone to invest years in their intense daily training AND being able to afford or *cough* inherit the horses and equipment of a knight…I mean, people buy lottery tickets too, but I’d hardly call it a life ‘option’. Flea Bottom must have produced tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of poor boys down the generations. How many do we hear of who became knights? And the one we did was A) a physical freak and 2) not really a knight and C) considers himself to have been almost supernaturally lucky. It’s like saying that it’s been known for lords to marry commoners…but I’d hardly call marrying a lord one of life’s options for girls from the slums. Hedge knights are more likely to be younger sons of lower nobility, or possibly wealthier gentry to begin with. Also worth noting that in Westeros ‘hedge knights’ is more or less synonymous with bandit, robber, murderer, etc. But hey, a boy can dream, no?
 

As far as the more sinister explanations, they are certainly available to us. We can also suppose a great deal of physical abuse went into making Glendon a fighter. None of this is written, but that is more on the probable side. If we are entertaining things not explicitly written but highly possible…well, Glendon grew up in a brothel. It’s very possible he was among the wares at some point. The squire who taught him…what did Glendon have to do to earn that? Again, there are lots of sinister possibilities when people try to climb the ladder in a feudal society where life is cheap and sex workers cheaper. 

Except. . . Glendon did receive training. He did grow up riding horses. He was able to afford a sword. Your argument doesn’t apply to the person we’re talking about.

We’re told that the squire who trained him received free sex from the women as payment.

20 minutes ago, Lord Varys said:

No, that's a completely false comparison there. Glendon Flowers is the son of a woman who apparently fucked Fireball, so there is a small chance that he is his son. He is not taking the name of a random celebrity. Him taking the name is effectively the other side of, say, Rhaenyra's sons by Laenor being accepted as Velaryons by their family despite their looks.

In a sense this is a kind of smallfolk empowerment, having a guy claim the name of a great hero like many a nobleman praises himself simply because of the merit and deeds of his (alleged) ancestors.

It is a pity that George has so far not shed more light on many of the baseborn children of Aegon the Unworthy. Hopefully FaB talks about some of them - even if Aegon didn't acknowledge many of them, people may have concluded/believed that children looking like the king were his children ... and that, in turn, could certainly have helped them to make a name for themselves in a minor capacity.

Don't care much about that, either, since the guy and what must be his half-sister rather than his full sister grew up at a brothel and were thus, by default, part of the prostitution business. If Glendon hadn't shown promise at riding and knightly stuff he would have either become a whore himself or worked in whatever other jobs the brothel he grew up in would have offered him. After all, this institution didn't seem to have been a brothel run by men but by women.

The notion that Glendon's sister was treated badly by her half-brother is thus not very likely. Her fate is very much similar to that of Rosey - and she is the daughter of a pretty successful innkeep. She would have grown up expected to take up the trade of her late mother and the women who raised her.

I do agree, though, that Glendon doesn't come across as overly sympathetic. He is too rash and too ambitious for his own good. I'd not be surprised if he eventually fell in with the wrong people or ended up with Haegon Blackfyre during the Third Rebellion. There might be a place at the court of Aegon V for him ... but that would kind of imply that the guy would not really persue other career paths in the decades prior to that - and Egg's kingship is not something anyone would have foreseen or expected to happen.

Pretty sure that the (alleged) son of Fireball would not seek to be part of either the court of Aerys I nor that of King Maekar.

A scenario that could make sense for Glendon would be him to continue to try establish himself among the tourney champions of the Realm, making a name for himself, only to rejected again and again. That might eventually push him into exile where he could then fall in with Bittersteel, Haegon Blackfyre, and the Golden Company - and perhaps finally feel welcome and cherished.

I thought it went without saying that the mother of this hypothetical Elvis bastard had sex with Elvis. What happens in Vegas 

I fully expect Glendon to be on Egg’s kingsguard. He and Dunk saved him. They all but certainly won Glendon to their side.

[Aejohn the Conqueroo]

Dark inferences, perhaps. I don't think the assumption that he pimped his sister for his knighthood is fair.

[Lord Varys]

1 hour ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I fully expect Glendon to be on Egg’s kingsguard. He and Dunk saved him. They all but certainly won Glendon to their side.

Over 20 years before Egg gets even remotely close to a throne. Glendon is a real prodigy as a knight, not the kind of bumbling fool Dunk still is at this point. I don't think he has the patience to wait. He is hungry for glory. I don't expect him to want to be at odds with Dunk & Egg, but they are team Targaryen and he doesn't have to be.

I'm also not really sure that Glendon ever learned who the hell Egg actually was - he doesn't in TMK, he might learn it later if Bloodraven were to tell him when he releases him. But there is actually no reason for him to do so, so...

[Alester Florent]

He could go either way after the tourney at Whitewalls. Bloodraven might take an interest in him as the man who unhorsed Daemon, thus killing off the rebellion. And for the Royal party, Glendon is an asset: not just a puissant warrior, but a propaganda tool in having Fireball's son now standing alongside the Targaryens. And Bloodraven (via Aerys) is in a position to give Glendon the one thing he wants above all else - legitimacy. A deal would make sense for both sides.

But there are any number of possibilities.

As to the "Glendon abused his sister" thing, it's not impossible, but it also doesn't seem like the most likely explanation based on what we know. It's in the "Ned Stark was a secret Targ" category of theories so far as I'm concerned - possible, but reaching a long way on the basis of no evidence for an outcome of questionable value.