Rhaegar Targaryen - Can we get to know him a bit better by examining other works by GRRM?

[Real Heir of Bear Island]

I have become GRRM obsessed since consuming ASOIAF twice during the past year and any fiction I have been reading has been his writing. While I haven’t finished all of his short stories (I’m currently about 25% through dream songs though I’ve already read some of the latter storys in the collection) I have read all of his solo full lengths. It is characters in those full legnths I believe will give us some insight into Rhaegar Targaryen and how we would view him if we got to see him through the eyes of a POV. The characters I feel closley resemble who Rheagar might be are Jaantony Riv Wolf High-Ironjade Vikary (Jaan for our purposes) from “The Dying of the Light”, Eden Morse from “The Armageddon Rag” and finally Joshua York from “Fevre Dream”. First though I will start with Rhaegar and what we know about him.

Rhaegar - According to the wiki he was “exceedingly intelligent and excelled at anything he put his mind to” the wiki also describes him as “dour, private, and bookish”. We only see Rhaegar through the memories of a few key characters. The closest thing we get to a conversation with him is through a memory of Jaime, who despite being a bit cynical still remembers Rhaegar in a positive light.

We know he was loved by the smallfolk, graceful and handsome. He was also somewhat of a revolutionary. He knew his father was crazy and had to be stopped and was probably preparing to get a council together to usurp his power. Finally, we suspect he was obsessed with a prophecy he thought was his responsibility to fulfill, or at least assist in fulfilling. We suspect he may have known he would not survive the battle of the Trident, but was willing to sacrifice himself to fulfill his prophecy.

Despite the few instances we know hear about Rhaegar and how little we actually know, most suspect he is a very large part of the story. Whether he is Jon’s real father, Dany’s idol or just the instrument that started the saga most of us cannot help but suspect that Rhaegar was onto something and is very much still a big missing piece to the puzzle that is ASOIAF.

Now I move onto the comparisons. I will keep my character descriptions brief as to not spoil any of Martin’s other works for those who haven’t read them.

Jaantony Vikary - Jaan is quite forward looking and is a progressive when compared to his planet mates of High Kavalaar. He is highly regarded on his home planet for achievements he has made, changes he has made in his society and duels he has won making these changes. He is very much in love with a main character, his wife; a woman named Gwen, and tries to treat her as an equal despite the chauvinism his culture showed toward woman. He was also described to have a grace about him and instilled loyalty in people. We see him through the only point of view in the story, the lead character named Dirk T’larian , who was a former lover of Gwen, and still madly in love with her. Despite the fact he should hate Jaan, Dirk finds it very difficult to do so, which speaks volumes about the kind of guy he is.

Edan Morse – Is a very mysterious person who is a defined revolutionary. He is assumingly wanted by various law enforcement agencies for his involvement in violent underground movements of the 1960’s. He was born rich and uses his money to further his causes. He is very charismatic and handsome. He also very self-sacrificial, which if you read the story you know what I mean, if not, you’ll know soon after meeting him. You meet him through Sandy Blair the story’s main protagonist and only POV. Sandy is intrigues despite being weary of the figure, but does seem drawn to him despite his wariness.

Joshua York - According to Wikipedia, when we meet Joshua we see he is a “rich, soft-spoken gentlemen”, which I must agree with. He is a leader among his people, also a revolutionary and self-sacrificial. He is also described as having a grace to him. I could go on more, but would spoil the story and character for those who haven’t read the books.

So my question to the forum: Does anybody agree with my comparisons of these characters to Rhaegar? Does anybody have anything to add or any characters they can think of from other Martin works who gives you a “Rhaegar feel”? If you are a huge ASOFAF fan and haven’t read any other of Martin’s works I suggest you do. They are way easier to get through than our favorite series. Whether or not you like the novels or stories you can always find a Ice and Fire link someplace.

[Real Heir of Bear Island]

*Bump* - Comon, I got more responces from a "is Balon Greyjoy really dead" thread I started as a joke. Is this in the right section. Do most posters hear not read any of Martin's work?

[Myrish Swamp Thing]

Can't speak for the others, but I find Rhaegar about as interesting as grass.

[Ygrain]

An interesting analogy with Jaan, but I'm afraid there isn't much to be wextracted from it, as no good writer would create parallelling characters in his works.

[Nite's King]

I'm in the same boat...going through all of his earlier work....although the story about doctor weird is killing me. Ill reply in 6 months once I've read them all.

I have finished dying of the light and see very little resemblance of Jaan to Rhaegar. If I learned anything from that book, I hope asoiaf doesn't end as abruptly and open ended :-(

[Real Heir of Bear Island]

An interesting analogy with Jaan, but I'm afraid there isn't much to be wextracted from it, as no good writer would create parallelling characters in his works.

Well perhaps not a parallell, but he may borrow some chracteristics. Many writers, great and poor, use people from real life and other works to base characters on. Martin himself has said (in his retrospective) that he is not against recycling good ideas from old works of his. Afterall, though they don't mimic the characters exactly, the two main characters in Song for Lya is Lyanna and Robb.

I'm in the same boat...going through all of his earlier work....although the story about doctor weird is killing me. Ill reply in 6 months once I've read them all. I have finished dying of the light and see very little resemblance of Jaan to Rhaegar. If I learned anything from that book, I hope asoiaf doesn't end as abruptly and open ended :-(

Ha, doctor wierd is indeed a strange story, he actually borrowed ideas from that character for some of his early fantasy work.

Well what reminded me of Rhaegar about Jaan is his forward thinking ways and charisma which gets people to like him. If there was anyone close to Rhaegar in that story i my opinion , it would be Jaan. We don't know enough about Rhaegar to know if I'm right of course. I mean Jaan is from a strange plane thousands of years in teh future so their will be major differences.

My personal favorite from the story was Garse, who had sort of a Tormund vibe, less vulgar and a bit more serious though.

I totally agree about the ending. I doubt Martin will leave ASOIAF that open ended. The worst part of Dying of the ;ight was the ending, but we can forgive Martin as it was his first novel.

[Castellan]

Actually when I saw your thread title I immediately thought of Jaan. I guess because he is a man of ideas that aren't understood by those around him (those in his culture I mean) and he is systematically and painfully good about everything and spends time deciding what is right and wrong to do like a dedicated intellectual dissident. It seems like Rhaegar was ruminating about deposing or controlling Aerys but didn't quite get there and had some other notions about the PWWP but we are not sure what... so if we never knew much about what Vikary was up to we might be equally frustrated about his character's intentions.

I didn't see the ending as open ended by the way. Not unless you think the movie Shayne is open ended - did he die? Yes, he bloody died.

[Real Heir of Bear Island]

Actually when I saw your thread title I immediately thought of Jaan. I guess because he is a man of ideas that aren't understood by those around him (those in his culture I mean) and he is systematically and painfully good about everything and spends time deciding what is right and wrong to do like a dedicated intellectual dissident. It seems like Rhaegar was ruminating about deposing or controlling Aerys but didn't quite get there and had some other notions about the PWWP but we are not sure what... so if we never knew much about what Vikary was up to we might be equally frustrated about his character's intentions.

I didn't see the ending as open ended by the way. Not unless you think the movie Shayne is open ended - did he die? Yes, he bloody died.

THANK YOU! I knew I wasn't crazy! Well maybe a little crazy. You hit my point well, we may never know what Rhaegar's plans or thoughts were unless we become exposed to somebody who did. I think Jon Con and Barristan are the only ones who were close enought to him that we have as a POVs to tell us what he was really up to.

*Spoilers below for those who haven't read Dying of the Light*

Yes, I thought there was a good chance poor ol Dirk was toast, but one could hope he was a bit emboldened by his early confrontations got slashed took a slash and went back to Avalon. He was clearly ready to die at that point, and having read most of Martin's solo work, I'm surprised he didn't just out right kill him.

[EnergeticCrab]

I want to know more about him too and think you are on the right track. Just not enough has been released at this time to build anything substantial.