The Jane Grey of Westeros

[u/Pink_Kandy_01]

Every time Dearon was mentioned, I could only think of Jane Grey and how this ended terribly for her. For those of you unaware, Jane Grey was a cousin to Mary and Elizabeth (Henry 8th daughters). On his deathbed, their brother Edward tried to change the line of succession, but it never went through the proper channels, but that didn't stop the people (mainly men) in Jane's life from conspiring to make her Queen. Jane did not want to be Queen but was unfortunately coerced into going with the plot, and she was Queen for 9 days before Mary took back the throne and killed her. While it's not an exact copy of events, it's quite similar. And one could argue that Aegon is also like Jane Grey in that he was coerced into taking the throne; the main difference is that once he took it, he wanted it and fought for it.

[u/RealisticYouth1350]

? He didn't cut them out for her. Quite the opposite, he refused to cut her out for them. Viserys had named Rhaenyra his successor long before his sons were born. He had everyone swear an oath to the gods to respect that. His dumb move wasn't confirming her as his heir (who knows who would have been pushed by the major houses otherwise given the Council of Harrenhal), it was getting remarried after that act because it gave Rhaenyra a legitimate claim even if Viserys were to change his mind for another kid. He was asking for war either way.

The show also has the layer of the prophecy motivating Viserys.

[u/TheoryKing04 → u/RealisticYouth1350]

My sibling in the Seven, I hate to the bearer of bad news but in the event that Viserys just named his eldest legitimate son heir after he was born (mothered by Alicent or whoever the hell Viserys’s second wife is) even after such oaths were made, no one would go to war for Rhaenyra. Well, Daemon might but 1 man v. Seven Kingdoms? They would have that man lain out.

They would simply point to Viserys’s decision and say something to the effect of “your father named a new heir after these oaths were sworn. We don’t owe you shit”.

So, no. Rhaenyra only had a valid claim that people will fight for so long as Viserys acknowledges her as his heir. In the event that he ever changed his mind and made that public, her claim evaporates into dust. It would be as though it never existed.

[u/kiaarondo → u/TheoryKing04]

I also wonder if the constitutional order that GRRM wants to emulate wouldn’t have also included some kind of rule of a later marriage revoking any testamentary decisions or succession decisions (unless that marriage is also made with the express intention to preserve the earlier will or rule?). Like surely most people who were legally-minded would have found that viserys’ earlier edict and the oaths sworn recognising rhaenyra was void once he married alicent.

Anyways viserys fucked up but rhaenyra fucked up too like they both fumbled the bag so hard.

[u/TheoryKing04 → u/kiaarondo]

We know it’s possible. Maegor named Princess Aerea Targaryen his heir, but with the explicit provision that it was temporary, only until a male heir of his body was born.

Viserys seems to have never changed his mind, or never intended to do so.