The thing about how RhaegarĀ āmurmured a womanās nameā with his last breathā¦people seem to fall into two main camps about that, with some believing that he said Lyanna, some believing he said Visenya, and maybe one or two making cases for some other name, like Elia or Rhaella. And Iām personally reasonably confident that 1) we wonāt find out what he said and 2) it doesnāt actually matter. But honestly? As much as I know this isnāt the caseā¦I would love it if that name wasnāt any of those names, but Rhaenys. Rhaenys, his eldest child, who loved him and whom he failed, whom he condemned to death by chasing dreams instead of doing his duty to his family.
Visenya didnāt exist, but Rhaenys did. And Rhaenys is achingly real in the story, this little girl that named her kitten after the dragon ridden by her namesakeās brother and that hid under her fatherās bed when she was scared, that screamed and kicked and fought for her life when she was dragged out, only to be stabbed over and over again while no one came to save her, least of all Rhaegar. Sheās painfully present in the soul of the story, because even as sheās so infrequently brought up, what happened to her remains the seminal trauma of the Sack of Kingās Landing. Sheās the embodiment of all those butchered innocents, and her death is bigger than any one person that had a hand in it: Ned Stark has nightmares about her years after the fact, long after his reconciliation with Robert. The memory of her corpse laid before the Iron Throne is seared into Thoros of Myrās memory.Ā Barristan Selmy is haunted by the idea that Robert smiled at the red ruins of her body. There is no justice for that. Nothing will ever be enough to make up for how this little princess was murdered. And so I think it would be incredibly powerful for someone to spare a thought for her before that brutality. The only person we know that ever considered what would happen to her was Tywin Lannister! Whose consideration was due to the fact he was ordering her death! She was a toddler. She deserved someone that was actually concerned about her.
Rhaenys is defined largely by two things in the story: that she was little and that she was Rhaegarās daughter. Ned refers to her as theĀ ālittle princessā andĀ āRhaegarās little girlā. Varys tells us the one actually story we know about her, and he, too, reiterated those same two things: Prince Rhaegarās daughter. A precious little thing. The part about her being a little girl is obviously the extent of the point. But the part about her being Rhaegarās daughterā¦as of now, itās sort of an abstract point. Itās disconnected from everything else. We know she loved him, but what about the other way around? What about the man that abandoned his daughter?
At this point in the story, the idea of chasing prophecy has been hammered in again and again as a foolās errand. Peopleās dreams and beliefs and hopes are crushed repeatedly. So it matters to me that Rhaegar dies knowing he fucked up - still believing in his prophecies, still believing that he needed that third childā¦but aware of what his choices meant for his existing children. Understanding that he failed his living daughter because of his desperation for a third child. Conviction that he was doing the right thing even as he dies is interesting. That conviction being so arrogant that he canāt be bothered to spare a thought for his daughter? Thatās just horrible. Rhaegar didnāt love Elia. Neither did he love Lyanna.Ā But Rhaenys, his only daughter, the one that specifically went to hide under his bed instead of going anywhere else? I can find Rhaegar compelling as a man that uses people in pursuit of a goal and that doesnāt really have it in him to love people romantically. But I canāt care about him on any level if he didnāt love the daughter that loved him, trusted him, and believed he could protect her enough to regret his actions. Whether he felt he needed a Visenya is besides the point. Whether he had any feelings towards Lyanna is besides the point. No hypothetical child is worth more than a living one. No infatuation is worth any physical or emotional damage to a little girl. So only if Rhaegarās dying thoughts and final words are about his daughter will I be able to view him as anything resembling an actual tragic figure.
Normally, I donāt have a problem distinguishing between disliking a character as a character and disliking them as a person. With Rhaegar? Those blur together, because I honestly canāt tell if Martin is aware of how unbelievably horrible his actions come across as, and I wonāt be able to know definitively until after the entire series has been released. At it point, though, itās as if he thinks,Ā āhe didnāt kidnap her!ā and āhe was trying to save the world!ā justifies all the other horrible things he did, including almost certainly holding a no-longer-there-willingly Lyanna hostage.Ā Itās not about love, itās not about saving the world, itās about arrogance and a conviction that he can do whatever he likes with no consequences because anyone that disagrees or is hurt by his actions just doesnāt understand. But him thinking about Rhaenys as he dies, the Rhaenys who will soon die barefoot and in her nightgown, crying and terrified as sheās dragged out from under her fatherās bed? It wonāt make anything better. It wonāt make Rhaenys less dead or Rhaegar less of a terrible person. But itāll at least make me care about him as a tragic character.
