Game of Thrones & GOT Spinoffs

Young Herschel: What precautions, if any, did Queen Rhaella Targaryen take during her nine month pregnancy in sanctuary on Dragonstone to address the imminent peril that her family faced in the waning days of the War of the Usurper?





A Space of Ice and Fire
Shadi Barham
, Founder at The Golden Company
Answered June 29

I mean…. What precautions can you take?

Like, the Targaryens were pretty much fucked at that point, and there really wasn’t anything they could do. There’s no major Westerosi houses to be rallied at this point, and no major holdings to flee too, and Dragonstone was all they had at that point, with likely a few dozen ships, and that was it.

The only thing that we know Rhaella did on Dragonstone was crowning Viserys, and dying, so the much better question here would be what actions Willem Darry was taking, given that he was the one in charge of Viserys’s early childhood.

 

^^^
I'm looking at this scenario from the perspective that GRRM would expect his educated audience to ponder . . . like the clues he puts out there about the Lady Ashara Dayne not being nailed to the floor at Starfall during all the time which transpired from the Great Tournament at Harrenhall and her alleged suicide (he expects us to think and ponder)

With her predicament (Her husband King Aerys II was unquestionably insane and unfit to save House Targaryen and her older son the Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen was slain at the Ruby Ford) she has to be the one to assume the mantle as head of the family for the very survival of her eight year old prince and potentially another prince in utero.

She had nine months to plot & plan. She had a maester and ravens at Dragonstone . . .so who did she write to? She had soldiers and knights and a Navy and a treasury of sorts too. I'm saying in all seriousness that Queen Rhaella, Second of her Name did not spend nine months on Dragonstone just knitting baby blankets . . .she contacted people she knew and took steps to ensure the survival of her House. I'm thinking she sent a raven to the Prince of Dorne because he was the son of her dear old friend who along with Johanna Lannister was her lady-in-waiting for years while she was a Targaryen princess living at court. Thoughts??

 

^^^








A Space of Ice and Fire
Sean Martin Fear
, Solicitor (1997-present)
Answered June 29

That remains to be seen. She did still command a navy, until it was destroyed in a storm. But for that, she could have held out indefinitely on Dragonstone, Driftmark, and Claw Island. She was likely still in touch with Targaryen loyalists in the Seven Kingdoms.

 

^^^ Thank you for your reply. I'm trying to get more people to ponder and consider that Queen Rhaella Targaryen had nine months that we know of in sanctuary on Dragonstone . . . and I am very confident that GRRM wants us to understand that she wasn't just knitting baby clothes during all that time. She had a maester & ravens. She had knights and squires and a Royal navy. She had a small treasury too I have to believe. She was the only member of House Targaryen who could take measures to preserve her current family & family legacy overall as her husband was mad and her adult son was dead. I'm here to tell you . . . she wrote letters seeking assistance and sent ravens to life long friends and allies. She surely used her nine month gestation to ponder and exhaust herself of every option she could begin to imagine. I'm 100% convinced that GRRM wants the educated audience to fill in this huge blank: what was Queen Rhaella Targaryen doing during all this precious time (nine moons)?





Sean Martin Fear
June 30
Had she lived, and had the fleet remained intact, then she’s have been in a similar position to Sextus Pompey (of EPIX's Domina). Driftmark is a dependency of Dragonstone, about the size of Gotland. One can surmise that the Velaryons were still on side.





Shadi Barham
June 30
Yes apart from the fact that there’s some pretty glaring issues, like how Viserys doesn’t list the Velaryons among his likely supporters, even though they’d be number one on the list, or how Lucerys Velaryon was a noted Aerys supporter, which means he probably wasn’t very genuine, and how the Velaryons had been largely shunned by the Targaryens for the past 150 years

 

^^^
While the Viserys point omitting House Velaryon is valid . . . you know my favorite theory on “the Dragonstone decoy” that was potential recruited by Ser Willem Darry under orders by Queen Rhaella. I'm here to tell you . . . I'm still not convinced that the Prince Viserys we meet in Daenerys I of “Game of Thrones” was the true & authentic son of King Aerys II and Queen Rhaella so the misinformation that he provides to the young Daenerys can be attributed to this decoy/substitute/replacement (the first of over 17 we will meet in the aSoI&F series)

The REAL Viserys III probably would not have omitted House Velaryon from his list of supporters when educating Daenerys. Did Queen Rhaella Targaryen have the means and motivation to select a royal decoy for the heir to the Iron Throne . . . easy access on Dragonstone via the children from the village with strong Valyrian features of purple eyes and platinum hair. Its just too convenient if you ask me and GRRM has demonstrated his proclivity for child swaps, replacements and frauds has he not?

Yes Shadi . . . the true & authentic Viserys Targaryen III would have certainly been well acquainted with his kin of Valyrian blood especially the Master of Ships who sat the Small Council ~ a Lord of the Driftmark would be a familiar face at court as would his family at festivals & fairs thrown by the mother of Prince Viserys ~ Queen Rhaella Targaryen!!

Its just another clue . . . that the “Dragonstone Decoy” theory is plausible if you think about it deeply . . . all this misinformation this so-called Viserys Targaryen provides to his “sister” Daenerys Targaryen . . . I'm trying to tell you . . . he may have merely been the FIRST of over 17 frauds, decoys, substitutes and child swaps we meet across the aSoI&F books and “Young Griff” aka Aegon Targaryen VI wasn't the only false identity Targaryen in the books!!