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Would Alyn have Succeeded with Grey Ghost if he had Found Him?


Hippocras
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6 minutes ago, SaffronLady said:

I think the different results may stem from Alyn and Addam being half-brothers: Addam was the one who had a Targ/dragonlord mother, and Alyn was not.

Well they did have the same mother, and Corly "claimed" both of them so seems like both parents were the same. I always figured Sheepstealer was just not the right dragon for Alyn.

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47 minutes ago, Hippocras said:

Well they did have the same mother, and Corly "claimed" both of them so seems like both parents were the same. I always figured Sheepstealer was just not the right dragon for Alyn.

I dunno, maybe they aren't of the same mother, and one of them was entrusted to his brother's mother.

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15 minutes ago, SaffronLady said:

I dunno, maybe they aren't of the same mother, and one of them was entrusted to his brother's mother.

There is really so sign of that. Marilda of Hull is clearly stated without ambiguity as the mother of both of them.

Alyn initially tried to find Grey Ghost. His first choice was never Sheepstealer. He only tried to claim Sheepstealer because he could not find Grey Ghost. There might have been some instinct that told him Grey Ghost was the right dragon for him, so things could have worked out very differently if he had found him.

I kind of like the slight symbolism of Grey Ghost as the dragon with a taste for fish, hanging out around water, and Alyn as so clearly made for sea adventures.

But if Alyn had found the dragon and claimed him, Alyn would probably have died during the Dance. Sometimes luck is not getting what one wants.

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21 minutes ago, Hippocras said:

Marilda of Hull is clearly stated without ambiguity as the mother of both of them.

And GRRM has stated the first landing of the Andals was in the Fingers. Let's just say I see the source material differently when I'm letting my mind run free like now, you know, "GRRM clearly stated Marilda of Hull is both Corlys' bastards' mother because she actually isn't and is throwing us off track."

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53 minutes ago, SaffronLady said:

And GRRM has stated the first landing of the Andals was in the Fingers. Let's just say I see the source material differently when I'm letting my mind run free like now, you know, "GRRM clearly stated Marilda of Hull is both Corlys' bastards' mother because she actually isn't and is throwing us off track."

But why do you want to believe she is not? Just because he could not claim Sheepstealer? The dragon bond is particular. Drigonriders can’t ride just any dragon.

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11 minutes ago, Hippocras said:

Just because he could not claim Sheepstealer?

Not really.

11 minutes ago, Hippocras said:

The dragon bond is particular. Dragonriders can’t ride just any dragon.

Allow me the benefit of doubt, given we see two people with no obvious connexion to Jaehaerys and Alysanne claim their dragons, and how dragon lore in general is lost. And how the Targs were doing a fairly horrific job of keeping the flame of magic alive.

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11 minutes ago, SaffronLady said:

Not really.

Allow me the benefit of doubt, given we see two people with no obvious connexion to Jaehaerys and Alysanne claim their dragons, and how dragon lore in general is lost. And how the Targs were doing a fairly horrific job of keeping the flame of magic alive.

Yes, sure. I am just curious what theoretical grounds you have for believing they were bot full brothers. There must be some reason to argue for that idea?

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2 minutes ago, Hippocras said:

Yes, sure. I am just curious what theoretical grounds you have for believing they were bot full brothers. There must be some reason to argue for that idea?

I don't have a theory. I just feel like GRRM realized he had -

Option 1: Let the Sea Snake's male line die out 

Option 2: Invent bastards to legitimize

And went with 2.

He could wed a Velaryon cousin to Baela Targaryen to let the Sea Snake's line live on, but I suppose he did not find it a fun story.

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2 hours ago, SaffronLady said:

I don't have a theory. I just feel like GRRM realized he had -

Option 1: Let the Sea Snake's male line die out 

Option 2: Invent bastards to legitimize

And went with 2.

He could wed a Velaryon cousin to Baela Targaryen to let the Sea Snake's line live on, but I suppose he did not find it a fun story.

Trying to figure out how the bonding and blood magic link works is maddeningly confusing but I still don’t think it is entirely random. 

We have been directly told for example that Targaryens practiced right of first night before the conquest, and maybe even for a while after. We have not been told much about who, during the century between the doom and the conquest of Westeros Targaryens had relationships with and what kind, other than a select handful of Velaryons, but there are certainly hints that at least 2 or 3 other families also had blood ties. We know just enough really for the existence of a limited range of lowborn dragonseeds, and minor nobility relatives to be believable.

However none of those had access to Targ dragons, nor would they have been allowed to live if they had tried without permission to claim wild ones.

Furthermore, there is some element of recessive gene expression, or of trait concentration that makes having the trait passed on from both mother and father HIGHLY preferable, even if not strictly necessary (we may yet learn it is necessary).

I personally think Alyn and Addam were full brothers, and that their mother Marilda was herself a dragonseed of some degree. I think the trait was reinforced by their father. Their paternity remains an open question for me (Corly, or Daemon, or Vaemond, or…) but not the identity of their mother. The thing that is debatable about her is if and where she got her drop of dragon blood.

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15 hours ago, Willam Stark said:

I think that's the case.

In my opinion, dragonriders can only bond with a specific dragon. Regarding Alyn and Addam, I think they were full brothers and Corlys' bastards with Marilda.

The fish eating, elusive dragon. I wonder if it was the right one for him.

The only other one available would have been Cannibal. And unless we learn that later in Aegon III's reign (between 138 and 157 ac when we know nothing about what Alyn Velaryon was doing) Alyn Velaryon was going around the kingdoms killing dragons for Aegon, I will have trouble believing that Alyn and Cannibal were compatible.

I do like the apparent symbolism of Sunfyre being mistaken for Cannibal though: a dragon that killed and partially devoured Grey Ghost. It begs the question of if Sunfyre and Cannibal were from the same line of dragons.

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