Rhaegar is the perpetual heir to a failing dynasty, raised from birth to fulfill a cosmic destiny. He’s promised a great purpose as king, warrior, and prophetic messiah… but he dies before he can step into either role. From what we know, Rhaegar was burdened by his destiny, almost shackled by it. His whole existence was framed around this great inherited prophecy and the fate of the world. So what else was he to do but fall deeper into the mire?

Then there is Stannis, who begins the story as the true heir to what should’ve been Rhaegar’s throne. And much like Rhaegar, he too is told that he’s the chosen one. Rhaegar outwardly looks like the archetypal fantasy protagonist, yet Stannis is the one who actually acquires the trappings of genre. He gets his prophet-slash-wizard advisor. He gets the magic sword. He has the crown. And if Melisandre is to have her way, he will get the sacrificial beast as well.

Rhaegar dies as the Prince of Dragonstone. Stannis is introduced to us as the Lord of Dragonstone. Rhaegar could only read and dream about magic swords. But it is Stannis who achieves one of the most poignant mythical feats: pulling out a “magic” sword, like some grim counterfeit Arthur. It’s as if we’re watching another version of Rhaegar play out in real-time, only harsher and less romantic.

But here’s where these narrative brothers begin to diverge. Rhaegar occupies the same structural role among the Targaryens that Robert, his killer, occupied for the Baratheons. He is the glorified older brother, the beautiful and mythologized one whose greatness defines the family story. But Stannis? He’s the one left in the shadow of someone else’s glory. He’s not as romantic or dazzling as his brother was. Yet he’s the one who gets to play the messiah in this song.

And because Stannis is the one who actually goes through the motions of the savior, he gets to face some moral dilemmas that Rhaegar escaped. Because here’s my hot take: I think Rhaegar died choosing to leave duty behind. Our current timeline did not come to be because Rhaegar chose cold duty over humanity. Quite the opposite. He was doomed the moment he abandoned duty — offloading it onto his infant son — and ran for love. He — like all men, as Maester Aemon puts it — was fashioned for love by the gods. And he died for it. He’s still a walking catastrophe, but an altogether different tragedy from the one fandom makes him out to be.

Stannis is the inverse. He is duty personified. The Azor Ahai myth played to its absolute disastrous end. Because what is a hero willing to sacrifice in the name of righteousness and duty? What, or who, is he willing to burn if the world depended on it? Rhaegar runs and dies before he can truly make the monstrous calculations that prophecy demands. He is an incomplete messiah. He never lives long enough to be tested by the ugly logistics of salvation. Stannis, however, is what happens when that logic is allowed to run to its most bitter end.

((( WIP )))

The answer is all of them. All three of them would. ESPECIALLY Pete. His favorite song is actually Cabinet Man I'm sure of it.