#erm no

riana-one

replied to your post

“@lyannas replied to your post “@riana-one replied to your post ...”

I keep wanting to scream the BLACKFYRES but lacking that Rhaegar acts more Aegon the Unworthy than anyone else. Humiliate his wife by presenting the QoLaB to his mistress. Check. Fake marrying his mistress. Check. Acting on whims & inferring with his bannerman. Check.

Ironically enough this is what the argument that Rhaegar was motivated by his love for Lyanna casts him as – an Aegon the Unworthy\Rhaenyra figure too busy chasing personal pleasure to care about the realm he condemned by his actions. This goes to a conversation I had yesterday with @morganaaithusa about how that narrative does nothing but actually paint Rhaegar in a rather terrible light because it means that he caused a civil war that cost thousands of lives to satisfy a personal whim, which deprives him from even the veneer of a noble purpose that exists in the prophecy scenario. Despite the countless problems with Rhaegar’s lack of reflection on the consequences of his actions and all his blunders, at least being motivated by the prophecy means that we can argue that he was pursuing the worthy goal of saving humanity, a greater good that he took countless risks in the name of, which, despite not making any of what he actually did alright or even closely making up for the thousands of lives that paid the price of his idiocy, at least does not paint a picture of a selfish entitled ass who thought his crown gives him the right to do whatever he wanted. Trying to fulfill a prophetic destiny gives Rhaegar a goal that isn’t centered on catering to his own pleasure and happiness and fuck everyone else. Rhaegar’s intent and desire to save Westeros is what sets him apart from previous historical Targaryen figures who caused Westeros so much grief because they were only interested in catering to their pleasure and whims.

But if we go with claims of a torrid love affair that prompted Rhaegar to cause a political crisis because luuuuuuv, that’s quite damning. Just how selfish and conceited was Rhaegar to think that his feelings gave him the right to insult three Great Houses in a blatant disrespect of social mores and the chivalric code, how monumental was his view of his own self-importance and power for him to think that he could just disappear with the daughter of a Lord Paramount and the betrothed of another simply because he desired her, how staggeringly cruel and callous was he to think that love or desire gave him the licence to humiliate his pregnant wife who did nothing to deserve this in such a public fashion, how precarious was his grip on reality and politics for him to ever entertain the thought that his method of “winning” Lyanna - carrying her off to his wife’s home country and remaining where no one could find them for months - could amount to anything but a scandal and devastating backlash. What even was Rhaegar’s plan for his “love” in this scenario? That he’d emerge after Lyanna was pregnant, and Rickard Stark, Robert Baratheon and the Martells would just nod and say congratulations?

-✨🌌✨ Anon

//Yep since they THINK its destroyed.