#aegon son of elia
I don’t get.
The Golden Company went to meet Viserys once to at least hear his offer, then they waited for him because of the plans of Illyrio Mopatis. Later they waited for Daenerys to fight for her, as well. Both Viserys and Daenerys are pure-line Targaryens, not Blackfyres, and the Golden Company at least considered fighting for the first and waited to fight for the latter nonetheless.
And still the fact that the Golden Company is fighting for Aegon now is used to “proof” he must be a Blackfyre.
So how would they fight for two Targaryens, but Aegon MUST be a Blackfyre for them to fight for him? How does the fact that the Golden Company decides to fight for Aegon proof him to be a Blackfyre and not a Targaryen if they had no issue fighting for other Targaryens before him?
It absolutely makes no sense at all.
To phrase it harshly with a quote from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”:
This theory is based on three things: ignorance, stupidity, and nothing else. ☜(˚▽˚)☞
(Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying he is DEFINITELY not a Blackfyre. He might be one - I hope he is not. But the idea that the GC fighting for him proofs him to be a Blackfyre is a mere fallacy.)
So, after reading a bit into comments and theories about Young Griff/Aegon - which I certainly should not have done because many of those are really appalling – it seems that basically Dany is a total Queen for the same things for which Aegon gets mocked and abused. LOL!
And that’s when comparing them is completely nonsensical anyway.
It’s measuring up »Character A«, that we saw very little of and have no insight (POV) into, to »Character B«, that we have hundreds of pages on (both 3rd Person and POV) – and then judge »Character A« on the grounds of »Character B«.
From the tiny bits we saw of Aegon, it’s not even possible to create a reliable characterization – not if you’re not just trying to shove bias into the gaps as it suits you and execute some wishful condemnation.
For example, one of the accusations towards Aegon that I read quite commonly is that he is arrogant. Not that I would even see that between the lines – but that’s where I am as positively biased towards him as others are negatively biased towards him. Yet apart from that, Dany has a whole lot of scenes – every time she acts as a Khaleesi or Queen in particular – where she is arrogant or at least tries to be. Furthermore, she constantly goes on about all her titles, about being the blood of the dragon, and demands her people to cross the world with her to get her the throne she believes to be hers. That she is fearing and doubting and insecure, we only know from her POV – and the only reason why we do not know about Aegon’s inner monologue is that we did not see any yet. That, however, does not mean that he is a plain, empty caricature who is all that little bit of Tyrion- and JonCon-POV and nothing more. GRRM does not create plain caricature characters – so it’s very unlikely that there is not very much more to his character than the little we saw.
Another accusation often read is that he is naive and inexperienced – and for this, he is compared to Dany, Jon or Robb. But they WERE exactly that: Naive and inexperienced. They grew from it, but they have been with us for a very long time. We saw them grow from being little more than a child to the characters they are today, or to their demise. But Aegon has been sheltered away until basically today. He studied the world, but he has no experience with people. He, just like the others, will either grow or find his demise. Robb was hugely naive throughout his whole campaign, he was just lucky for a while. He headed out to safe, then avenge his father, and it got turned into a wanna-be-king-megalomania. Dany was a scared, little mouse until she found the strength to grow. Jon was as entitled as a bastard could be and pretty arrogant at that until Donal Noye and the rest of the Night’s Watch set his head right. Or take Renly who proved to be stubborn and naive beyond anything when his entire justification for wanting to supplant his older brother was: “people like me more than Stannis“.
Aegon has no tale like that YET. He has been on a boat, hidden away, sheltered. He is just starting out into the world. So comparing him to where Jon and Dany are today, or where Renly and Robb were before they ended, is really absurd. No matter how far the rest of the story is advanced, he is still at the beginning.
Now, please don’t get me wrong: Dany is a wholesome, fascinating character. She has her flaws and strengths because she is not just a caricature. But exactly that is what makes the way Aegon is treated so unfair.
And regardless if he is Aegon or only Young Griff, he is a boy of ~16 who has not seen much of the world. Yes, Daenerys is younger, but she has also been through a lot of shit already – which is not Aegon’s fault, nor is it his fault, that he is inexperienced.
Yes, he assumes that Daenerys will marry him – but so does Daenerys! When she thinks about the son of her older brother at one time, she believes that, had the boy lived, she would have married him because it would have been natural. Targaryens did that sort of thing. Daenerys grew up with that knowledge, just as Aegon did. The idea, that Dany might have a different idea on the matter, makes Aegon react angrily, though it’s not clear whether he is angry that he has been treated like he is a stupid child by Tyrion, whether he feels offended by the idea that Dany might not accept his hand in marriage – or whether he is completely shocked by the idea that all the stuff he has been fed his whole life might not work out as smoothly. It is so easy to read »spoiled brat« into that, but this is only Tyrion’s POV – and Tyrion was in a very bleak mood at that time. We see Aegon being friendly and gentle, laughing and joking, smart and a good student, helping and even saving Tyrion – yet it is that one moment at the Cyvasse Board that people use to judge his character – though that moment was so much more soul wrenching to him that just him losing the game.
All in all, judging Aegon on the same grounds as judging Daenerys makes absolutely no sense. Nothing of this is his doing, either. He is a young boy who is still trying to find his bearings in a world that probably consists only of lies. He might be just a pawn in a play, or he might be the last dragon, and then he is the rightful heir – no matter if Daenerys likes that or not.
Young Griff a.k.a. Aegon is legit
People who believe that Aegon is fake mostly ignore the fact that Golden Company is ready to support Viserys and Daenerys too. They often forget that it’s Aegon himself who manage to win their favour after he has spoken his plan to sail West rather than meet Dany like Illyrio’s original plan. Bolding the fact that Aegon has the skill to persuade people that will come handy later in his ruler and that’s impressive as getting GC’s favour is hard to gain.
Gaining Ilyrio’s doesn’t mean he is a fake one, it’s not unsual for an adoptive father comes to love his adoptive children, I mean it’s in their human nature to feel attach to one another.
The mummer’s dragon and the Sun’s son can also refer to the same person, as Aegon is Varys’s dragon and Elia’s son. A cloth dragon in the midst of cheering crowds can also refer to anything it can be about Aegon brought back the Targaryen banners after he gains Westeros. Prophecies are not a certain thing it can be a red herring or as a plot device why would Dany later see him as a pretender, because often the Targaryen misinterpret their own vision that end up dooming.
Aegon not comes out of nowhere, GRRM is already telling about his importance when Dany see him in House of the Undying in the first book and Dany first chapter, hinting about the dragon has three heads. He always brings up by certain character about his death and how it was “unrecognizable”. It’s pretty telling I must say.
The switching babies is also make sense, Aegon is the heir to the throne after Rhaegar had been killed, his life is more at danger than anyone else in that house. A mother who had said to be a clever would do that especially in a time of danger. I believe Elia had tried to protect Rhaenys too, maybe it was Elia who told her to hide that’s why they were at different rooms, but unfortunately she was founded by Tywin’s man. Also there is rumor that Elia had killed her own son herself, perhaps it was Elia who is in the end smash the fake baby face after he died to make it look unrecognizable so they wouldn’t search for her actual son. Who knows right after all there is a rumor of her killing her own son in terror.
Varys’s sentiment when talking about Rhaeny’s death on some occasions but oddly he never mentioned of Aegon’s death. He is one of the Targaryen loyalist, if he’s a Blackfyre that everyone would like to believe then he wouldn’t mind if Targaryen getting destroy in the Sack of King’s Landing and yet it’s him who told Aerys not to open the gate when the lannister comes.
Varys has no reason to lie to a dying man.
The Blackfyre plot is not useless if Aegon being real, it just show that Dany and future enemies have their legit reasons to doubt Aegon’s legitimacy, but what makes it will become a better story is if Aegon is real that Dany’s action will be question, again putting her on the morally grey area between right and wrong. Aegon being real gives closure to the Martell’s plots and many things. Beside the Blackfyre plot never really matter in the main plot, so I bet most general readers wouldn’t even aware of that. Aegon being real has much more impact to the narrative rather than him being a fake one.
God, I love this post! There is so much about the Blackfyre-Theory that does make absolutely no sense to me.
Holy shit. Reading into theories and the ASOIAF fandom makes me want to steer far from it.
Where does all this racism and fan&character-shaming come from?
Can I please just like Young Griff/Aegon and believe he is exactly what he claims to be, because I love authors bringing in a main player late? Can I enjoy him because him appearing now fucks up all the planning just for the lulz?
May I just hope for Daenerys trying to fry him and realise that he doesn’t burn, to which he retorts with: „Ok auntie. Now that we settled that, could we please just start burning down Westeros?“
Another „A Song of Ice and Fire“ readthrough.
Another increase to my believe that the „Blackfyre“-theory is dumb.
