Why did Queen Alysanne betroth Viserra to Theomore Manderly?

[maesternewton]

Why did she betroth her to Theomore Manderly, who had been married four times and had twice as many heirs?

Viserra would be forced to have sex with a man old enough to be her grandfather and any children they might have would inherit nothing. This is often a form of punishment for young girls, for example Sylva Santagar and Cassandra Baratheon. It is not a fitting punishment for Viserra. Sure, she was a brat with some ambitions of becoming queen, but that doesn't mean she need to be punished for it for the rest of her life. She was 15. Given how awful Jaehaerys handled Saera, I fully expected him to do something like that but never Alysanne. She could have at least betrothed Viserra to someone's heir, plus there is nothing wrong with being ambitious. 

Was she jealous of her daughter's beauty or something? Why make her such an awful match?

[James Steller]

Tough question, but my guess is that 

(A) Alysanne wanted to tie the North closer to the other kingdoms

(B) she didn’t want Viserra’s kids to be serious rivals for the Iron Throne when there was already a surplus of heirs

(C) Theomore Manderly had done some great service for the Iron Throne which Gyldayn breezed over

(D) Alysanne disliked Viserra for being an ambitious narcissist and wanted to humble her without banishing her to the Starry Sept

[Hippocras]

I think there are a few possibilities beyond punishment to consider:

The Manderlys and Starks together put down the Sistermen's Rebellion to help secure the Vale shortly after the Conquest. Since the North did not bend the knee particularly easily, this demonstration of the value of their word likely made an impression on the conquerors. Remember, Torrhen Stark's daughter was married to Ronnel Arryn, a marriage (arranged by Queen Rhaenys) that Torrhen's sons resented and opposed. 

I think that, in order to contain any feelings of rebellion in the North before they could catch fire, one or two highly prestigious marriages were arranged in the Vale and the North, in the aftermath of the Sistermen's Rebellion and that this affected the Manderly bloodline directly or indirectly. So Viserra's match was about tying the offspring of that match to the throne and to each other.

 

[frenin]

She was a cunt to her daughter and wanted to get rid of her in the most cruel way possible.

Backfired but then again, almost all the matches she and her husband made backfired one way or another.

She could have married her to Theomore's heirs but chose the one old enough to be her great grandfather...

Edited February 14 by frenin

[Lord Varys]

The whole scenario is bad writing. Viserra didn't do anything wrong, and the way she is portrayed makes it clear she was just a teenager, not an ambitious evil genius. The very idea she would want to be queen by way of seducing Baelon rather than Aemon makes little sense. Especially since her big attempt there has her passing out drunk in Baelon's bed before she could even make move. More over, Baelon is a widower with only two children, so there is nothing wrong with a remarriage. Nine children producing only four grandchildren is a joke.

Alysanne has no right to be angry at Viserra, nor would she be as cruel as giving her to such an old man. Especially not as the timeline has this taking place after the deaths of Daella and Alyssa in/after childbirth and after the loss of Saera.

This punishment would only make sense if there was a real crime involved - say, a coup or murder plot - or if Alysanne had felt really hurt on a personal level.

A better take could have been to have Viserra target sonless Aemon, seducing him with the intention to kill or destroy Jocelyn and then replace her as Aemon's wife. As Jocelyn was Alysanne's own half-sister who was likely groomed by her for the role as future queen such behavior could have made her very angry. Such a thing would have destabilized the dynasty in a way the Baelon thing obviously did not.

Overall, though, the decision to force her to marry an old man still sucks. That is no way to control her. She is a royal princess, a potential dragonrider, and the most beautiful woman of her generation. She will outlive Theomore ... and then what? She would claim the hand of Edric or Benjen Stark and run the North. Or return to court as a grieving widow and do more mischief. Seduce/marry Viserys or Daemon, say.

[BlackLightning]

It's also worth mentioning that Alysanne basically did the same thing Viserra did when she was a teenager.

The only difference is that Alysanne's mother Alyssa decided to let it go and let her daughter figure it out for herself.

 

I'm lowkey mad at Baelon for snitching though. He could've just told Viserra no and kept that incident between them. He was grown; there was no need to bring their parents into that situation.

[Lord Varys]

19 minutes ago, BlackLightning said:

I'm lowkey mad at Baelon for snitching though. He could've just told Viserra no and kept that incident between them. He was grown; there was no need to bring their parents into that situation.

The bedchamber incident strikes one more as Viserra looking for help to avoid the monstrous match, not the event triggering it. Alysanne supposedly noticed the looks Viserra gave her brother earlier, and those looks led to the match.

At best we sit back and dismiss the entire episode as the worst kind of court gossip. Gyldayn putting down stuff the Mushrooms of that age - say, Viserra's Butterwell girl companion - pulled out of their asses to explain this silly match.

That the sources sucked there we can also deduce from Viserra being described as this devious siren and that her own mother loathed her for some reason. Alysanne didn't disown the psychopath Saera, so why treat Viserra so badly? Makes no sense.

Something other/more must have happened, something Gyldayn and his sources never knew.

[Hippocras]

11 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

The bedchamber incident strikes one more as Viserra looking for help to avoid the monstrous match, not the event triggering it. Alysanne supposedly noticed the looks Viserra gave her brother earlier, and those looks led to the match.

At best we sit back and dismiss the entire episode as the worst kind of court gossip. Gyldayn putting down stuff the Mushrooms of that age - say, Viserra's Butterwell girl companion - pulled out of their asses to explain this silly match.

That the sources sucked there we can also deduce from Viserra being described as this devious siren and that her own mother loathed her for some reason. Alysanne didn't disown the psychopath Saera, so why treat Viserra so badly? Makes no sense.

Something other/more must have happened, something Gyldayn and his sources never knew.

I personally think there is A LOT of "something other" going on with the reign of Jaehaerys. Secrets vs. official narratives. My Maegor Towers speculation is just one possibility (son of Prince Viserys, identity kept secret even from him).

Another one is the supposed bastard of Jaehaerys who showed up at the great council: That one is interesting because basically the way it went down is that Jaehaerys denied he had a bastard and everyone just believed him. But really, what incentive would Jaehaerys possibly have for acknowledging a bastard even if the man was telling the truth? Given how many kids Jaehaerys had, we certainly know he was sexual enough a person to have had bastards. And Alysanne was so frequently pregnant that other... ahem... outlets for his energies may well have been necessary. Such as Jennis Templeton.

It is hard to not at least consider that Jaehaerys might just have been a very skillfully whitewashed hypocrite, and this was part of the reason he struggled so much with his daughters, who saw right through his s**t.