Daenerys and Young Griff: Foils
Much has been said about how Aegon is a deconstruction of hero tropes and how his story is supposed to feel cheap and unearned. And I think what highlights this the most is just how different Dany and Aegon are.
1) Aegon has been sheltered his entire life. This is what Tyrion remarks of him:
The lad did not seem appeased. The perfect prince but still half a boy for all that, with little and less experience of the world and all its woes. – Tyrion VI ADWD
He grew up with a father figure (Jon Connington), and we know how Illyrio pampered him:
“There is a gift for the boy in one of the chests. Some candied ginger. He was always fond of it.” Illyrio sounded oddly sad. – Tyrion III ADWD
In Dany’s first chapter, we see how her life has been the opposite. Her only caregiver is a brother who abuses her, and we see how she has experience with the world and it’s woes:
After Ser Willem had died, the servants had stolen what little money they had left, and soon after they had been put out of the big house. Dany had cried when the red door closed behind them forever.
They had wandered since then, from Braavos to Myr, from Myr to Tyrosh, and on to Qohor and Volantis and Lys, never staying long in any one place. Her brother would not allow it. The Usurper’s hired knives were close behind them, he insisted, though Dany had never seen one.
At first the magisters and archons and merchant princes were pleased to welcome the last Targaryens to their homes and tables, but as the years passed and the Usurper continued to sit upon the Iron Throne, doors closed and their lives grew meaner. Years past they had been forced to sell their last few treasures, and now even the coin they had gotten from Mother’s crown had gone. In the alleys and wine sinks of Pentos, they called her brother “the beggar king.” Dany did not want to know what they called her. – Daenerys I AGOT
She was not pampered. While Illyrio gave Aegon candied ginger (and I imagine many other gifts), Dany almost never could get things that she wanted, and for her, it was a big joy when she could indeed buy something:
“When I was a little girl, I loved to play in the bazaar,” Dany told Ser Jorah as they wandered down the shady aisle between the stalls. “It was so alive there, all the people shouting and laughing, so many wonderful things to look at … though we seldom had enough coin to buy anything … well, except for a sausage now and again, or honeyfingers … do they have honeyfingers in the Seven Kingdoms, the kind they bake in Tyrosh?” – Daenerys VI AGOT
2) Dany seems to have learned from her experience in the streets, unlike Aegon, who was sheltered:
“Why does he give us so much?” she asked. “What does he want from us?” For nigh on half a year, they had lived in the magister’s house, eating his food, pampered by his servants. Dany was thirteen, old enough to know that such gifts seldom come without their price, here in the free city of Pentos […]Magister Illyrio was a dealer in spices, gemstones, dragonbone, and other, less savory things. He had friends in all of the Nine Free Cities, it was said, and even beyond, in Vaes Dothrak and the fabled lands beside the Jade Sea. It was also said that he’d never had a friend he wouldn’t cheerfully sell for the right price. Dany listened to the talk in the streets, and she heard these things, but she knew better than to question her brother when he wove his webs of dream.. – Daenerys I AGOT
She knows that gifts don’t come without a price. She doesn’t feel entitled to things, and she doesn’t expect people to just give her things because of her name:
“They are your people, and they love you well,” Magister Illyrio said amiably. “In holdfasts all across the realm, men lift secret toasts to your health while women sew dragon banners and hide them against the day of your return from across the water.” He gave a massive shrug. “Or so my agents tell me.”
Dany had no agents, no way of knowing what anyone was doing or thinking across the narrow sea, but she mistrusted Illyrio’s sweet words as she mistrusted everything about Illyrio. – Daenerys I AGOT
Dany rode close beside him. “Still,” she said, “the common people are waiting for him. Magister Illyrio says they are sewing dragon banners and praying for Viserys to return from across the narrow sea to free them.”
“The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends,” Ser Jorah told her. “It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace.” He gave a shrug. “They never are.”
Dany rode along quietly for a time, working his words like a puzzle box. It went against everything that Viserys had ever told her to think that the people could care so little whether a true king or a usurper reigned over them. Yet the more she thought on Jorah’s words, the more they rang of truth. – Daenerys III AGOT
“Yet I must have some army,” Dany said. “The boy Joffrey will not give me the Iron Throne for asking politely.” – Daenerys II ASOS
Meanwhile, Aegon thinks people will give him things just because he’s the heir to the throne. It doesn’t even crosses his mind that Dany might not be willing to marry him:
“[…] It does make for a splendid story, and the singers will make much of your escape once you take the Iron Throne … assuming that our fair Daenerys takes you for her consort.“
“Must?” Tyrion made a tsking sound. “That is not a word queens like to hear. You are her perfect prince, agreed, bright and bold and comely as any maid could wish. Daenerys Targaryen is no maid, however. She is the widow of a Dothraki khal, a mother of dragons and sacker of cities, Aegon the Conqueror with teats. She may not prove as willing as you wish.”
“She’ll be willing.” Prince Aegon sounded shocked. It was plain that he had never before considered the possibility that his bride-to-be might refuse him. “You don’t know her.” He picked up his heavy horse and put it down with a thump.
The dwarf shrugged. “I know that she spent her childhood in exile, impoverished, living on dreams and schemes, running from one city to the next, always fearful, never safe, friendless but for a brother who was by all accounts half-mad … a brother who sold her maidenhood to the Dothraki for the promise of an army. I know that somewhere out upon the grass her dragons hatched, and so did she. I know she is proud. How not? What else was left her but pride? I know she is strong. How not? The Dothraki despise weakness. If Daenerys had been weak, she would have perished with Viserys. I know she is fierce. Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen are proof enough of that. She has crossed the grasslands and the red waste, survived assassins and conspiracies and fell sorceries, grieved for a brother and a husband and a son, trod the cities of the slavers to dust beneath her dainty sandaled feet. Now, how do you suppose this queen will react when you turn up with your begging bowl in hand and say, ‘Good morrow to you, Auntie. I am your nephew, Aegon, returned from the dead. I’ve been hiding on a poleboat all my life, but now I’ve washed the blue dye from my hair and I’d like a dragon, please … and oh, did I mention, my claim to the Iron Throne is stronger than your own?’ ”
Aegon’s mouth twisted in fury. “I will not come to my aunt a beggar. I will come to her a kinsman, with an army.”
“A small army.” There, that’s made him good and angry. The dwarf could not help but think of Joffrey. I have a gift for angering princes. “Queen Daenerys has a large one, and no thanks to you.” Tyrion moved his crossbows. – Tyrion VI ADWD
And in Tyrion’s speech about Dany, he highlights all the things Dany has already achieved, while Aegon is “half a boy”.
3) Another difference between them is their views on women. Dany doesn’t think that being a woman makes her lesser:
“Woman?” She chuckled. “Is that meant to insult me? I would return the slap, if I took you for a man.” – Daenerys IV ASOS
Aegon, on the other hand, looks down on women:
“That’s so,” the boy said, “and who is there left in Westeros to oppose us? A woman.” – The Lost Lord ADWD
4) Aegon has been groomed to rule:
“The boy is bright. You have done well by him. Half the lords in Westeros are not so learned, sad to say. Languages, history, songs, sums … a heady stew for some sellsword’s son.” - Tyrion IV ADWD
Dany, on the other hand, had to learn and seek knowledge on her own:
“Tell me of this other Daenerys. I know less than I should of the history of my father’s kingdom. I never had a maester growing up.” Only a brother. – Daenerys VIII ADWD
But even though Dany hasn’t been shaped for ruling, she’s the one that has become actually prepared for it. She has dealt with real problems and injustices, has made personal sacrifices for the good of her people, has held court, had to deal with the economy and people with different interests. She had to make hard choices and reflect on them: should she seek peace and let slavery return or is peace not worth it? Should she help sick refugees and risk spreading their disease or should she abandon them? Should she send her army to Astapor and risk losing Meereen or should she abandon Astapor and defend her city? Dany had to make hard choices and deal with the consequences of her actions. Aegon has been groomed, but he’s not truly ready to rule.
5) When we look at what Varys says about Aegon, a good part of it actually describes Dany:
“No.” The eunuch’s voice seemed deeper. “He is here. Aegon has been shaped for rule since before he could walk. He has been trained in arms, as befits a knight to be, but that was not the end of his education. He reads and writes, he speaks several tongues, he has studied history and law and poetry. A septa has instructed him in the mysteries of the Faith since he was old enough to understand them. He has lived with fisherfolk, worked with his hands, swum in rivers and mended nets and learned to wash his own clothes at need. He can fish and cook and bind up a wound, he knows what it is like to be hungry, to be hunted, to be afraid. Tommen has been taught that kingship is his right. Aegon knows that kingship is his duty, that a king must put his people first, and live and rule for them.” – Epilogue ADWD
Dany is the one who knows what is like to be hungry and afraid, not Aegon. She spent her entire life running from the supposed assassins that Viserys believed were after them, and this is what she feels after the wineseller tries to poison her:
Dany was near tears as they carried her back. The taste in her mouth was one she had known before: fear. For years she had lived in terror of Viserys, afraid of waking the dragon. This was even worse. It was not just for herself that she feared now, but for her baby. – Daenerys VI AGOT
And we know that she sees queenship as a duty:
A queen belongs not to herself but to her people. – Daenerys V ADWD
For a long time, Dany puts her people first. She stays in Meereen, putting her people before her desire to go to Westeros, and marries Hizdahr for Peace, knowing that this could mean that she would never return to Westeros:
And if I never march for Westeros? – Daenerys IX ADWD
6) Tyrion says that Dany is a rescuer:
“I told you, I know our little queen. Let her hear that her brother Rhaegar’s murdered son is still alive, that this brave boy has raised the dragon standard of her forebears in Westeros once more, that he is fighting a desperate war to avenge his father and reclaim the Iron Throne for House Targaryen, hard-pressed on every side … and she will fly to your side as fast as wind and water can carry her. You are the last of her line, and this Mother of Dragons, this Breaker of Chains, is above all a rescuer. The girl who drowned the slaver cities in blood rather than leave strangers to their chains can scarcely abandon her own brother’s son in his hour of peril. […]” – Tyrion VI ADWD
We can’t know for sure if Dany would help Aegon, because she doesn’t know about him yet. But we know for sure that Dany was unable to leave stranger to their chains, and felt responsible to help them. Meanwhile, Aegon did the opposite. When he heard that his father’s sister was hard-pressed on every side and needed his help, he did not go with the Golden Company to help her in her crusade against slavery. He used this as an opportunity to get the upper hand and seize the throne for himself:
"I have,” the lad insisted. “Why should I go running to my aunt as if I were a beggar? My claim is better than her own. Let her come to me … in Westeros.”
“If my aunt wants Meereen, she’s welcome to it. I will claim the Iron Throne by myself, with your swords and your allegiance. […]” – The Lost Lord ADWD
Dany spends the entirety of ADWD putting her own wishes aside because she believes that the peace is the best way. But in his first opportunity, Aegon gives up on any idea of peace. Not only he doesn’t help Dany, but he disregards the fact that taking the throne without Dany might lead to a war against her.
7) Varys clearly expected that Aegon’s humble life would also make him a humble person. But it didn’t seem to have worked. When Tyrion defeats him in cyvasse, this is his reaction:
Young Griff jerked to his feet and kicked over the board. Cyvasse pieces flew in all directions, bouncing and rolling across the deck of the Shy Maid. "Pick those up,” the boy commanded. – Tyrion VI ADWD
He has a very immature reaction and seeks to humiliate Tyrion in retribution. Meanwhile, Dany doesn’t let herself be affected by trivial offenses:
“We are all dead, then. You gave us death, not freedom.” Ghael leapt to his feet and spat into her face.
Strong Belwas seized him by the shoulder and slammed him down onto the marble so hard that Dany heard Ghael’s teeth crack. The Shavepate would have done worse, but she stopped him.
“Enough,” she said, dabbing at her cheek with the end of her tokar. “No one has ever died from spittle. Take him away.” – Daenerys III ADWD
And she not only forgives people that spit on her, but also people that try to attack her:
When she told him, the boy rushed at her, but his feet tangled in his tokar and he went sprawling headlong on the purple marble. Strong Belwas was on him at once. The huge brown eunuch yanked him up one-handed and shook him like a mastiff with a rat. “Enough, Belwas,” Dany called. “Release him.” To the boy she said, “Treasure that tokar, for it saved your life. You are only a boy, so we will forget what happened here. You should do the same.” – Daenerys I ADWD
8) Aegon has been a pawn his entire life, living a narrative that others created for him and being deceived. Dany started her life as a pawn, but has broken free and is making her own destiny.
I think all of these differences between Dany and Aegon are really interesting, because Aegon was created to usurp Dany storyline, but it all feels hollow. Varys expected that by molding Aegon’s life, he could create a specific kind of person. But it’s not guaranteed, and without facing real trials, he can never be the good king that Varys expects him to be.
pixelskylines
2087
jbbartram-illu
yousharknotpass
gummygunk
areudirty
dededos
jacobvanloon
prguitarman
theartofmadeline
