#akotsk analysis

One night, in his cups, he [Aerion] drank a jar of wildfire, after telling his friends it would transform him into a dragon, but the gods were kind and it transformed him into a corpse.

ACOK, Jon I

the blood of the dragon gathered in one… …seven eggs, to honor the seven gods, though the king's own septon had warned… …pyromancers… …wild fire… …flames grew out of control…towering…burned so hot that… …died, but for the valor of the Lord Comman…

NO this isn't weird don't worry this is my favourite question and I've been wanting an excuse to make a post about it for ages... My thesis statement re: Aerion's brain is that I think he's schizophrenic. My main reasoning here is the wildfire drinking so I'll start with that; otherwise I might agree based on his actions at Ashford that he was just tyrannical and cruel and vain (not that he isn't all of those things). But in ASOS Stannis says:

"Nine mages crossed the sea to hatch Aegon the Third's cache of eggs. Baelor the Blessed prayed over his for half a year. Aegon the Fourth built dragons of wood and iron. Aerion Brightflame drank wildfire to transform himself. The mages failed, King Baelor's prayers went unanswered, the wooden dragons burned, and Prince Aerion died screaming."

Which implies to me that death by drinking wildfire isn't an instant thing as might be assumed; Davos also mentions the "shrieks of dying men" when he thinks back on the Blackwater. So it's less like going up in a puff of smoke, and more like drinking oil and then setting yourself alight... the main difference between wildfire and real fire seems to be the length of time it burns, and that it can't be put out with water, or anything but sand, really. What I'm saying is that you have plenty of time to feel pain before you die, with this method. And I don't think someone who was only cruel and vain and tyrannical would want to die so horribly! Mentally well* people—or people who were using "I am the dragon" as an excuse to hold themselves above everyone else, and didn't truly believe it—don't kill themselves like that. Ergo there's something there!

(*I'm aware that he's said to have been drunk at the time... but we've all been blackout drunk before and none of us reading this have burnt ourselves to death, and he was sober enough to tell everyone there of his intentions for the history books.)

Wildfire aside, I want to mention that hallucinations & delusions can be affected by the culture one grows up in; this article has several points I find interesting:

"We find that culture can affect what is identified as a hallucination ... that hallucinations are often culturally meaningful..."

I always imagined Jena being alive, though that's up to interpretation, and I do not think Baelor would openly embarrass her. So it would have to be ultra super secret if it did happen

In a scenario where she predeceases Baelor and they are together... I don't think Maekar is capable of being happy. I think he will always want something else and will always nitpick! Whenever he gets what he wants he suddenly realises the drawbacks. In canon this is him wanting Aerion (and Daeron) to outshine Valarr at the tourney—and they certainly do make more of an impression than he did—and then wanting to be out of Baelor's shadow, only to kill him—and then wanting to help Aerys rule/be his handheir only for Aerys to die and him to be made king...

And in a Maekar/Baelor scenario I think this would manifest as chafing that he and Baelor are not at all equal. I don't think Maekar would cope well with spending the night in his bed and the next day being told, albeit kindly, not to be rude to a hedge knight. I don't think Baelor would enforce this power over him in a mean way, but it would exist, and it would exist all the more sharply to Maekar in contrast to the fact they are romantically/sexually involved. There'd be an almost passive aggressive edge to him obeying Baelor, "I'm so self sacrificing and I'm being so unfairly treated and look how I do it with no complaint," but I don't think there'd be anything Baelor could do about it except die (Maekar can't put into words what Baelor 'should' do—he can't remove the fact that he's older, or heir, and he can't just never ask Maekar to do anything again—and also Maekar hasn't spoken to him about this)

So I think the trial would go the same. I think it would actually be more explosive... Baelor trying to convince Maekar not to do this the night before and Maekar flipping out about "just this once I am NOT being your obedient subject, I'm putting my sons first!!!" And Baelor is completely sincerely baffled at where all this resentment is coming from. And he still gets hit with a mace. And he still dies

AND MAEKAR EATS IT UPPPPP he's furious he's pacing he's grabbing Aerion's shoulders and almost asking if he's hurt but then realising he ought not imply he thinks his son is weak even if nobody is listening... it's even worse when the puppet thing happens because then he's storming around yelling that his son almost DIED and nobody CARES Baelor why don't you CARE he's HURT he got his FACE KICKED IN. I am really fond of what he says to Baelor when he shows up for the trial: "Brother, have you taken leave of your senses? This man attacked my son." He loves Aerion!!! That's his little baby!!

I also like the idea that the blow that killed Baelor happened here:

this is true... I think it's fairly tragic, but that's the thing about the Kingsguard, which is why Dunk is mainly mentioned in relation to Jaime & Brienne (in the main series). He's both of them!

I do wonder if it will tie into Summerhall a little, because clearly Egg is not the same person he was when he was younger—whether he’s just desperate and out of options because even as king he’s being blocked from helping anyone, or whether he “did Summerhall” in the sense that he tried to sacrifice someone—and Dunk isn't actually stupid, he'd be able to see that. Maybe he just practices wilful ignorance until he can't anymore because the entire palace is burning down around them both... then he realises it’s all gone too far

I love Maekar as he is in the book; I’m not particularly wed to the newfound fanon version of him where he is a wonderful father who loves his sons unconditionally, or the even deeper fanon one where he’s Baelor’s omega wife & Baelor was oh so wrong to “betray” him for Dunk; Maekar has only ever tried to protect their children whilst Baelor sacrifices them for politics… I don’t like the assertion in some threads that Baelor was at all in the wrong to defend Dunk. He was worth it

I think Maekar is very very interesting to think about in terms of what his character says about Westerosi masculinity & racial tensions, his relationships with his sons, everything you can infer about his relationship with his parents based on throwaway lines. Aerys and Rhaegel too… I think he gets a lot less interesting if those flaws are ignored or sanded away, because they tell us a lot about both him and the world around him!

In particular I find it intriguing that Aemon was sent to the Citadel against Maekar’s express wishes and Daeron II goes so far as to say “too many dragons are as dangerous as too few”—saying to your sons face that you thinks he’ll cause trouble is so STRANGE. I don’t think Maekar would ever have rebelled but I wonder why, in that case, Daeron would be so open about thinking that… It could just be that Maekar looks Valyrian whilst Baelor does not, and Daeron thinks that could cause issue, but that relies on thinking Aerys and Rhaegel also look Dornish or at least have dark hair which is never mentioned. So it must be something else too; the amount of children maybe? Or maybe the fact that Maekar openly disagrees with Baelor in front of people; he’s belligerent and angry; he wants his sons to outshine Baelor’s in public; he has his own ideas about strength & what makes a good and worthy man which directly put down Aerys and Rhaegel. All this we see in his very first scene in THK. He disdains the smallfolk, he says IN FRONT OF PEOPLE that he’ll kill Daeron if he doesn’t get better at jousting, he wants to kill Egg’s new friend in front of him, he doesn’t give his daughters dragon eggs like their brothers, and there was a good post on here a while ago about how as soon as Maekar did not need Aerion to outshine Baelor anymore, he sent him away. Ofc he was right to do something of the sort but it’s a very half-hearted punishment, just “get out of my sight for a few years”

I’m making it sound like I hate him but I really don’t. I find him so fascinating and he’s so fun to talk about and fun to make fun of and fun to write. My ire towards him lately has been almost exclusively because of fanon depictions