Why are Targaryen stans so obsessed with "fertility?" Rhaenyra stans are always on about Rhaenyra's superhuman fertility(???) which like. Alysanne had 13 children, I do not see her stans boasting her superhuman fertility. Not being fertile would not make women any less.
Daenerys will probably never have children because of the maegi curse so is she a loser then? Or less of a "woman" with less magic?
I get its like a consolation thing for Rhaenyra stans but it sounds subconsciously misogynistic. As if okay, she did not get to be queen but hey at least her womb birthed the future of her house, something trad wife Helaena did not...I am like sis do you hear yourself? this IS such a trad wife ahh argument and these silly goose then call Alicent a tradwife... at least Alicent stans are not reducing her to just her womb to feel good about liking her.
Itâs honestly so funny watching team black stans call Alicent stans or Sansa Stan âtradwivesâ while simultaneously reducing their own fav female character to little more than a mystical womb whose value is tied to childbirth, fertility, and producing the next generation.
Iâve genuinely seen this arguments over and over that treat Rhaenyraâs pregnancies, motherhood, and supposed connection to dragon reproduction as the central source of her significance. Dragons thrive because her fertility thrives. Dragon eggs are connected to her reproductive success. The health of an entire magical species gets symbolically attached to her womb. And somehow this gets presented as feminist.
Because if weâre being honest, thatâs one of the most biologically essentialist readings imaginable. A womanâs importance becomes tied to her reproductive capacity. Her body becomes a symbolic vessel for the future and her fertility becomes a source of mystical power. The realm flourishes when she reproduces. The dragons flourish when she reproduces. Everything gets tied back to motherhood.
Thatâs not dismantling traditional gender expectations thats arguably reinforcing them. Meanwhile, characters like Alicent and Sansa are criticized for working within the social and political structures available to noblewomen in their world, as if that automatically makes them less interesting or less feminist.
But at least those discussions are usually about their choices and political actions. With Rhaenyra, the conversation ends up circling back to fertility over and over again. Not her governance or her political coalition. Just motherhood and fertility.
Which is ironic because the same people making those arguments accuse everyone else of reducing women to traditional roles. If your analysis of a female character ultimately boils down to âshe gives birth, therefore the realm prospersâ or âshe gives birth, therefore dragons thrive,â youâve wandered into a form of biological essentialism that isnât progressive.
A womanâs value doesnât become feminist simply because dragons are attached to it. And honestly, reducing Rhaenyra an ambitious, flawed character to a magical fertility goddess does a disservice to the character.
They also hate Alicent that she didnât end up treated like a womb the way Aemma was just give birth, die in childbirth, or quietly go along with whatever her husband and the system demands. What they want is that a queen consort should be politically silent, personally compliant, and emotionally detached from her childrenâs future as long as it aligns with her husbandâs decision.
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