I stand with my canceled wife (Thea Muldani)

Visenya Targaryen my beloved...

I think she is the character that intrigues me the most from the Conqueror Trio based on just how much contradictory her legacy is. Like, having your lineage die out is a "punishment" usually only given by the narrative to characters on the wrong side of history, like the Greens or the Blackfyres (kind of), sometimes almost as a authoral nod. And yet, Visenya's legacy doesn't seem to be actually threatened by what she did. The strongest smidge in her legacy is having her name not be directly used again, which seems to be a kind of family supersticion re: Rhaenyra and Maegor vs the hundred thousand Aegons, Rhaenys' name is also not directly used that much, and if the Rhaenas count for her, the Viserys should count towards Visenya. And still, she is honored as one of the conquerors for many years after.

More than that, even though her bloodline dies out, there are parts of her legacy that vastly outlive both of her sibilings'. Vaghar is the last of the original Valyrian dragons to die, and Dark Sister stays in the family longer than Blackfyre does. Not to mention Dark Sister is wielded by some of George's favorite characters, like Daemon, and most honorable, like Aemon Dragonkight. Also the fact that Dark Sister is given to a Blackwood and Blackfyre is taken and (presumably) lost by a Bracken tells me all I need to know.

It's also so funny to me that Aegon put a sept on her hill I just know she hated that. Ah yes I know exactly how to honor my sisterwife who tells me I should burn down Oldtown every time she can her a septon preaching.

I think that the interpretations that Visenya was romantically jealous of Aegon's love for Rhaenys or that she was fine with it and they all love each other are equally boring. To me, the way that relationship makes the most sense is literally love VS duty, which is like one of the top asoiaf themes as well. Visenya was the eldest daughter and even if she had no prospect of inheriting on her own it doesn't mean she could not have resented it. Even if she didn't, she was supposed to be the only Lady of Dragonstone. Aegon's marriage to Visenya was supposed to ensure her power and her place as head of the family, and the loss of that (or rather, the dilution of that power by being forced to share it with the much more favored Rhaenys) is where I think the tension in their relationship comes from. Aegon married Visenya out of duty but he did not do right by the duty he had to her, at least not to the standards of her expectation.

I think this is actually supported by the text from, of all people, Rhaena. Rhaena was also the first daughter who could maybe have been declared heir but instead got married to her younger brother, she and Aegon the Uncrowned had a partnership that was fruitful but not romantic, and the breakdown of that relationship before Maegor kills him reminds me a lot of how Visenya and Aegon I's relationship degrades later in life. Rhaena was also not expected to rule on her own, but she does grow to resent Jahaerys for taking the crown. And of course there is the one time where she compares the dynamic between herself, Jahaerys and Alysanne directly to Visenya, Aegon and Rhaenys.

Her potential relationship to Rhaenys also intrigues me a lot. There is no actual report of a rivalry between them, just like vague implications of tension if you squint. Maybe they had a Sansa-Arya situation going on, but I don't think that's likely because a lot of the tension between the Stark girls comes from a gender non conformity Arya has that Visenya doesn't. At least that's what I take the whole "as comfortable in chainmail and in dresses" line to mean. I think it's very likely she loved Rhaenys, even if they weren't particularly close, and even if she resented Aegon's favoritism of her.

I find it very interesting, if we take the reports of her being a poisoner and a blood sorcerer at face value, that she never did anything against Rhaenys. And even if she didn't do anything out of fear from retaliation from Aegon, surely if having the firstborn son mattered so much to her she could have gotten blood magic pregnant before Aenys was born. If she was so evil and set out on usurping from the start she could have done something against Aenys when he was a sickly child or against Alyssa when she was pregnant. Tyanna of the Tower was working like triple overtime killing babies when it was her turn.

I personally don't believe that she killed Aenys because the way the possibility is presented in Fire & Blood is kind of structured like other baseless rumours, coming out only years after she dies. But I do think it fits with the projection of her character that she could have killed him.

I also am a #believer in neither of those kids being Aegon's. "But isn't that equally baseless as the one you just mentioned?" Yes, but this one's funny.

Which is not to say that I don't think Visenya was evil. Her go to response to every minor inconvenience is reigning down fire and blood and she clearly looks down on Aegon I's later-in-life attempts at peaceful rule, as well as Aenys' entire personality. She belittled him for not wanting to wield Blackfyre at his father's funeral, while he was giving the sword to HER son. She is consistently the most brutal and violent out of the three conquerors and even if she didn't kill Aenys, she literally didn't even wait for his body to cool before usurping the throne from her great-nephew, and she had no qualms supporting her son's murdering of Aegon the Uncrowned and raping of Rhaena and the Black Brides. That whatever love she had for her siblings doesn't extend to the rest of their families is also very interesting to me.

It's just that she's not simply evil – she clearly has principles and IS capable of diplomacy and mercy (see: her relationship to the Arryns which is also one of my favorite bits of lore), she just also believes herself to be better than everyone around her and is willing to disregard every moral standard if it's what serves her goals. And since when all you have is a hammer (huge dragon) everything looks like a nail (fire and blood), it just so happens that she's disregarding those morals preeeetty often.

Tl;dr I just think she's neat. And by far the most interesting out of the conqueror trio

Do I like a cold glass of coconut water in a hot summer day? Do I like the smell of the sea breeze and the gentle waves crashing over my feet? Do I like a beautiful field of blooming flowers and dancing butterflies?