Time to debunk another TG bullshit related to how Otto pimped out his daughter : “Otto did what any lord would have done. He and Corlys are the same.”
It is bad enough that they constantly justify Alicent’s actions and praise her but to do that for Otto too, is going over the line.
You’re really going to compare this guy:
I have noticed that TG fans have a hard time understanding that there is a hierarchy in relation to the Houses in Westeros. There are Great Houses which come before vassal ones, of course. But there is also something else: since the Targaryens are the rulers of Westeros, their closest ties are to other Valyrian Houses, namely House Velaryon and House Celtigar. They are kin. And even better, House Velaryon is as Corlys once put it “the greatest power in the Realm”.
Now, when I say that there is a hierarchy that also applies to those who have access to advantageous marriages. Up until the Dance, the royal bloodline has come through Targaryen Kings and Queens (Queen Aemma was also half Targaryen on her mother’s side) but also a Velaryon Queen, Alyssa Velaryon.
So, it is of course no surprise that Corlys Velaryon proposes his daughter, Laena to be the next Queen after Queen Aemma’s passing. With a short supply of Valyrian brides, Laena was the best option without a doubt. Corlys presented his daughter as a suitable candidate before the King, Council and Court. Everyone knew that Viserys was considering taking Laena Velaryon as his next wife. And Corlys had every right to make such a move because his daughter ticked all the boxes: she was Valyrian, daughter of the Lord of the Tides, with her came the Velaryon fleets, dragons and riches. Oh, and she was also the daughter of a Targaryen Princess. This marriage would have united the Valyrian Houses on the Iron Throne. There was only one problem: Laena was too young. Had she been like 4 years older, Viserys would have considered her. But it wouldn’t have been a problem if he had. She and Viserys could have had a marriage only for public display, until Laena had the respectable age. It wouldn’t be the first time such a marriage came to be.
Now, the Hightowers are a whole different story. As much they claim to be a force in the Reach, their ties to the Faith do not grant them the title of a Paramount House. The Paramount House of the Reach is House Tyrell.
Otto Hightower is a second son from a vassal House with nothing to his name. His daughter was in no way a suitable candidate for the King. That is why he didn’t dare do what Corlys did. He didn’t present Alicent as an option before the King, Court and Council because then everyone would see him for what he truly is: an opportunistic social-climber who wants more. So, he pimped his daughter out in secret by having her visit the King during the night, wearing her dead mother’s dresses. What Otto and Alicent did was shameful, and in no way near noble.
Corlys is the Lord of Driftmark, and presented his daughter Laena OPENLY to the King, Council and Court.
Otto, even as Hand, is a nobody. He does not have the privilege (or is even allowed) to publicly propose his low-ranked daughter as a candidate to be the future Queen. So as a greedy opportunist that he is, he pimped out his daughter to a grieving King during the night.
So no. What Otto did is not what any lord would have done. He is no lord, first of all. And secondly, other men of his ranking understand their place in the hierarchy and don’t scheme/plot the way the Hightowers constantly do.
He and Corlys are not the same. Corlys had the privilege, the blood and the necessary ranking to be able to proudly and openly present his daughter as a candidate. So why not? Especially since the bloodline had been continued through a Velaryon Queen once before.
Laena was to be considered first and then any daughter of the Lord of a Paramount House. But never the daughter of a second son of a vassal house.
Otto schemed in the most disgusting way possible to take away a privilege that is not normally granted to someone as low as him in ranking. He is a greedy opportunist who SECRETLY pimped his daughter out to the King for personal advantage.
What Corlys did was honorably and publicly present his daughter as the most suitable candidate before the King, Council and Court. What Otto did was shamefully pimp his daughter out in secret.
