Tradecraft Posted May 25, 2023 Share Posted May 25, 2023 (edited) A brother I loved, a brother I hated, a woman I desired. In my dreams I see them still... Bloodraven Let's play a game One is associated with "horses" and the other is associated with Weirwood trees. Can you tell who I'm talking about by their description? Okay, one dabbles in magical prophecies and the other is all about swords. Not yet? Okay. One of them carries a silver piece of wood with strings. It never misses its mark. If you're confused. That's because GRRM is using one story to tell another. He hides this fact by inverting characteristics. If they had the same or similar name, you'd get it immediately. But by flipping the names (and making minor changes), it's a little harder to detect. Brandon is like Aegor (associated with horses and swords). And Rhaegar is like Bloodraven (prophecy + dragonlords + silvery wood instrument with strings... a bow/harp ). They tell a similar story, if not the same story. We may even be able to look at the conflict of Bloodraven and Aegor to reveal mysteries in the conflict between Rhaegar and Brandon Parallels: Telling a story in between the lines The conflict of Brandon and Aegor is a parallel of the conflict between Brandon and Rhaegar. In this, they are symbolically brothers (or half brothers). Brandon might even have been a bastard of Aerys II, which would make this parallel even sweeter. We know Aerys had no respect for his vassal's wives (look at Tywin)... and these vassals might even have been in on for royal favors (like they did in our histories). To make the metaphor even more apt, this would make Rhaegar a bastard, like Brynden Rivers was. Of course, I will not commit myself to these positions (as the only proof I have is the parallel itself). I keep them in a box and look at them from time to time... Anyways! As you recall, it was Brandon who raged when Rhaegar gave the blue roses to Lyanna, not Robert Baratheon. Robert had every right to do so, but he did not. And it was Brandon who tried fighting Rhaegar at Kingslanding, when he heard Lyanna was missing. We even have him calling Rhaegar a coward, like the Bael the Bard tale (And Rhaegar, is a Stark stealing bard, like the tale). Conclusion Our author GRRM is crafty as all hell. TLDR: -Brandon and Brynden, Rhaegar and Aegor... The names are flipped and they rhyme... like the characters "rhyme" with each other. -Aegor and Brandon have a lot in common (horses and swords). Aegor's sigil has a horse and Brandon was half a horse. Aegor is associated with the sword "Blackfyre" and Brandon was a famous swordsman. Edited May 25, 2023 by Tradecraft TheKnightOfTheNorth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheKnightOfTheNorth Posted July 4, 2023 Share Posted July 4, 2023 This can be an intriguing theory which makes the storyline follow the route of its past with its most interesting part: (History's repetition) But according to the mentioned justification that Rhaegar and Brandon can be half brothers, I see the possibility far from credible. As it was said in the book "Fire and Blood", Lords of Winterfell seldom journey south (Save for necessary summons or important events). So it is not likely that Rickard Stark traveled south to visit King's Landing during the early reign of Aerys II and it is even less likely that he traveled with his lady wife. In addition, we know that Aerys II was not a king to hold a royal progress to visit castles so far like Winterfell. And about the moment when all the smiles died: As we know, Brandon was a quick-tempered warrior, therefore his reaction to that moment was natural. He deemed the crowning an insult to his house since Lyana was betrothed to Robert and Rhaegar was married to Elia Martell. Brandon was furious by the time Lyana had been abducted(as it is said) by Rhaegar, so as an older brother, he took the responsibility to go to King's Landing. As a conclusion, I think we can say that these series of events occurring within both parallel stories do have many similarities which are intentionally placed by GRRM, but these similarities do not give us enough proof to reveal the hidden truth. At the end, thank you for stating this interesting theory, it really made me visualise this world of Ice and fire another time. Tradecraft 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tradecraft Posted July 6, 2023 Author Share Posted July 6, 2023 We know Rickard ventured south to discuss expanding the wall north. TheKnightOfTheNorth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheKnightOfTheNorth Posted July 8, 2023 Share Posted July 8, 2023 (edited) On 7/7/2023 at 12:36 AM, Tradecraft said: We know Rickard ventured south to discuss expanding the wall north. However, Brandon was born in 262 AC and Rickard visited King's Landing in 264 AC Edited July 8, 2023 by TheKnightOfTheNorth Tradecraft 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tradecraft Posted July 10, 2023 Author Share Posted July 10, 2023 On 7/8/2023 at 12:54 AM, TheKnightOfTheNorth said: However, Brandon was born in 262 AC and Rickard visited King's Landing in 264 AC We know Aerys fooled around with at least one of his lord Paramount's wives (Tywin), or was thought to have done so. It could be a pattern of behavior. It also could have been a grand Targaryen stratagem to breed out the lords paramount, since they longer could control them with dragons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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