You know what? I’m not done defending Aemond.
Firstly, Vhagar is the most powerful dragon in the current world, is over 150+ years old, and is not property to be owned and passed on. She had several owners Visenya Targaryen, Baelon Targaryen, Laena Velaryon, and Aemond Targaryen. None of whom were parent child relationships. The entire concept that Vhagar was a birthright is laughable at best. Dragon’s are not hereditarily acquired or passed down. Rhaena Targaryen had no more claim to Vhagar than anyone else who could become a dragonrider.
I can understand that as a young child grieving the loss of her mother, Vhagar is much more valuable to Rhaena and she would assume she could make a claim to her. But in the end, she didn’t. Vhagar wasn’t naturally hers to inherit. Dragons are not property; they are powerful creature that must be earned. And Aemond did just that by being the bravest ten year old and gaining the respect and trust of the most impressive dragon in the show.
Secondly, Aemond was bullied by his shitty brother and (even shittier) cousins, and he proved them all wrong. I keep seeing Targ, or more specifically Rhaenyra, stans talk about how sweet and wonderful Rhaenyra’s kids are, but last I checked sweet kids don’t bully and humiliate their cousin for the fact that they don’t have an extremely important family gift. They know he’s embarrassed by it. They know it bothers him. And they decide it hilarious to further humiliate him by giving him a pig: “the pink dread”. The kids are assholes, and Aemond proved his worth with his action of claiming Vhagar.
I already established he did nothing wrong by claiming a free dragon. But I think it’s even more important to show why he did it. Aemond was bullied and taunted by his cousins and brother for not having a dragon, and he decided to prove to himself and the kids who bullied him that he is brave enough and worthy enough to have a dragon. And not just any dragon, the greatest dragon. It’s a power move to prove himself against his, and he did it masterfully.
Thirdly, Aemond didn’t start the fight. That fight was started by Rhaena and Baela and joined by Jace and Luke. They all sought him out and started picking a fight with him. Rhaena is the one who made the fight first turn physical, and while I never agree with boys hitting girls, I also don’t agree with girls hitting boys. Violence is violence. Rhaena charged at Aemond with intent to hurt him and he pushed her off. He defended himself. Baela then charges at Aemond and punches him, when all he did was push her sister off him. He swings back (not cool but like...you try getting beat up and just taking it). Then all hell breaks loose. The conclusion on this point is that Aemond didn’t start shit. The other kids sought him out and started attacking him. Aemond simply defended himself.
Fourthly, and most importantly, the fight was completely and totally UNFAIR. Four against one is not a fair fight. All four kids circled him while he was on the ground and were mercilessly beating him. Again FOUR. Four kids, eight hands, punching him over and over. He pushed as many as he could off him and grabbed a rock for protection. And then when everyone stopped beating him, he lowered his hand with the rock. He clearly wasn’t going to beat Luke with that rock.
The only time he goes to be violent again is when Jace pulls out a fucking KNIFE on him and goes to stab him over being called a bastard (which is 100% true. The boys are bastards). Only then, when Jace has a knife does Aemond go once again to defend himself with that rock. Only to then get his eye cut out by Luke. Where in that scene does Aemond have anything fair? He’s the same age as these kids. He didn’t instigate anything, he was unfairly being fought by four kids (and winning too), and he defended himself against a knife.
Essentially, Aemond Targaryen is a child, and really didn’t do much wrong in this situation. He was bullied and harassed by his shithead brother and cousins for not having a dragon. He proved himself by gaining the mightiest dragon, which was his right as Vhagar was free to claim and isn’t hereditary property. He was sought out by the same shithead cousins and the Velaryon girls who instigated a physical fight with him and then all ganged up on him and beat him. And then he had his eye cut out for defending himself against a kid who pulled a knife on him.
If you watched any of that scene and thought “Yeah. This kid deserved to be beaten and mutilated by his bullies for taking a free dragon”...then you need help. That scene was disgusting and unfair, and Aemond was right.
☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻
