TARGARYEN NOVEMBER || PROMPT: FRIENDSHIPS
Rhaena Targaryen & Maegor Towers
The place where King Jaehaerys settled his sister Rhaena in the end was mayhaps the most unlikely seat of all: Harrenhal. Jordan Towers, one of the last lords to remain faithful to Maegor the Cruel, had died of a congestion of the chest, and Black Harren’s vast ruin had passed to his last surviving son, named after the late king. Maegor Towers was the last of his line, and sickly and impoverished as well. “The castle has five colossal towers,” the king pointed out, “and the Towers boy occupies part of one. You can have the other four.” Rhaena was amused by that, “One will suffice, I’m sure. I have a smaller household than he does.” When Alysanne reminded her that Harrenhal too was said to have ghosts, Rhaena shrugged. “They are not my ghosts. They will not trouble me.”
And thus it came to pass that Rhaena Targaryen, daughter of one king, wife to two, sister to a third, spent the final years of her life in the aptly named Widow’s Tower of Harrenhal, whilst across the castle yard a sickly youth named after the king who had slain the father of her children maintained his own household in the Tower of the Dread. Curiously, we are told, in time Rhaena and Maegor Towers came to forge a friendship of sorts. After his death in 61 AC, Rhaena took his servants into her own household and continued to maintain them until her own death.
~ FIRE AND BLOOD
This tidbit has always been so interesting to me.
Rhaena Targaryen (daughter of Denys and Alyssa) in general is one of the book's most tragic and captivating characters, and this final chapter of her story is so poignant.
With very little else to live for in her life, she chooses to spend the rest of her days at the massive, ruined, and haunted Harrenhall.
A castle with nothing for her, or her dragon, likely only chosen because it was big enough to accommodate her and her dragon, and empty enough, so Rhaena could let no one else into her bleak life.
Yet, she does let one last person in: a young boy without a family, a young boy with a ruined castle and little fortune, a young boy who shares the name of one of her abusers. Of all people, this random 12 year-old becomes some sort of friend to her. He wasn't obligated to, the castle was large enough for them to avoid each other. He wasn't trying to gain favor with the royal family as she was clearly very bitter towards her siblings. They were just two lonely souls, who were able to offer some comfort to each other.
I don't know why, but I find this beautiful.
