Within the world of ASOIAF Rhaegar Targaryen is a particularly controversial figure. Was he a promising prince undone by one fateful choice? Was he a fool for love and a hopeless romantic unsuited to the politics of Westeros? Was he the Mad King's son, just as cruel and capricious as his father? Opinions differ based on which king you serve.
The opinion of the fandom, however, seems pretty united. Though quite a bit of this is speculation, the general course of events goes like this. Rhaegar was a wise, noble and charismatic prince set to be a good ruler - especially after the disaster of his father. Aerys and Rhaegar did not get along very well because of the former's paranoia. Rhaegar first met Lyanna at Harrenhal's tourney - probably after he discovered her as the mystery knight. It was love at first sight - Lyanna falling for the fairy-tale prince and Rhaegar falling bold and beautiful 'princess'. Rhaegar crowned her the Queen of Love and Beauty the next day. When they saw each-other again about an year later, they eloped to Dorne - thus starting the disaster dominoes that ended a dynasty.
But looking at this from Rhaegar's perspective - what exactly was he thinking when he decided to elope with Lyanna? Was there any semblance of a plan there? Anyway you cut it, it seems like a monumentally bad idea - something that Rhaegar, of all people, should've been wary of.
To begin with, as the heir apparent of the kingdom, Rhaegar automatically had the duty to act responsibly and think through the consequences of his actions. Given his father's reputation, this applied to him more than ever. He'd have been under enormous pressure not to seem mercurial and capricious like the Mad King and project the image of calm and cautious individual. He'd already committed the faux-pas of presenting another man's fiance with a crown just 1 year ago - if he was a wise and noble as people seem to think, I can't see him not kicking himself over the lack of judgment and deciding to be more careful in the future.
Their love-story isn't that compelling either. They met once at the tourney. They had no apparent contact for a whole year. And then they run away together the next time they meet? Sure people can fall madly in love pretty fast, but for 2 otherwise intelligent individuals to go that crazy seems pretty OOC.
But let's assume that they were so madly in love that they just had to be together. What was the logic in running away? Were both of them so high on love that neither stopped to think about a long-term plan? And neither of Rhaegar's best friends try to counsel him? I find that hard to believe.
So what was the long-term plan? Stay in hiding until the gossip and speculation died out and then come back as a couple with a child in tow? And hope that no one makes a fuss in the meantime? Was Lyanna going to be his royal mistress?
Or did Rhaegar expect to get married in secret and hope that when he did dare to show his face again, people would simply accept that marriage? That's a pretty stupid plan on its own. The Faith was notoriously against polygamy and even kings haven't been able to defy them. When Maegor wanted a second wife, he couldn't find a Septon to perform the marriage and had his mother marry them in an old Valyrian ceremony. And that marriage resulted in Maegor's exile - Rhaegar had to know that Aerys would jump at the chance of exiling him.
Even when Targaryen kings and heirs might've benefitted from a second marriage, they never dared to do so. Viserys I, who didn't have any sons, named his daughter as the heir instead of taking a second wife - and he remarried only after his first wife died. Duncan the Small chose to marry a commoner instead of a Baratheon - almost causing a rebellion in the process - and gave up his right to the throne for it - when marrying both might've been a good option. Even Aegon the Unworthy, who hated his wife and son and would've like nothing more than passing the crown to someone else didn't dare take a second wife. Conventions like these aren't easily flouted and Rhaegar would've been a fool to believe that he could claim Lyanna for a wife without much of a problem.
Or was he so obsessed with producing a 3rd dragon head that he didn't care about honor or custom or even common sense? But if that was the case, there were better ways of accomplishing that - ways that didn't involve slighting the honor of 4 major houses.
Anyway I look at it, this action seems way too irresponsible and foolish. Even by the standards of irrational, star-crossed lovers, this was pretty stupid. And neither of them seemed like particularly stupid people. Help me out here - what am I missing? Could Rhaegar have had a long term plan that - if Brandon hadn't gone to King's Landing - would've resulted in everything working out nicely?
Submitted May 28, 2017 at 11:58AM by genkaus http://ift.tt/2r29rDV
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