What do you think about Larys and Aegon's storyline in this season of HotD? A lot of people seemed happy that Larys called Aegon out at last and think this will be a wake up call, do you agree?
I have a bit of a different take on that scene. While I can't speak to the writers' intent, I disagree with the notion that Aegon was "finally" put in his place and told some hard truths he'd never been told before. In fact, we've seen Aegon put down by pretty much every significant person in his life since season one. Every time Aegon starts trying a bit too hard, the authority figures in his life come along to demolish his self worth and remind him that he's actually pretty worthless, and every time it happens the audience goes, "finally someone told Aegon he sucks! He needed to hear that!" as if Aegon hasn't been fed a steady diet of put downs every single season, often from people a lot more important to him than Larys. The idea that this is a brand new experience for Aegon is laughable. It's clearly not. We've seen it, right there on our screen. Viewers might enjoy hearing it, but that doesn't mean it's useful for Aegon as a character.
But let's back up a bit. One thing i think a lot of people are missing about Larys and Aegon is that at this point, as of E5, Larys does not want or need Aegon to lock the fuck in. Larys wants Aegon to go along with his plan, which is not to restore Aegon as king as quickly as possible or even to take him to his allies to join in the war effort, but rather to take him to Essos to ride out the war, at which point Larys will either emerge as a kingmaker, or if Rhaenyra or Aemond or Daeron win outright, he can trade Aegon's life for almost anything he wishes. It's entirely self serving. The fact that it may eventually benefit Aegon (and is just as likely to get him killed) is secondary. This this plan requires Aegon to be rather the opposite of locked in-- he needs an Aegon who feels defeated, who doubts himself, who believes everyone has died or abandoned him, and who will put his life entirely in Larys' hands and allow Larys to call all of the shots.
And so what does Larys do? He pulls an Alicent. Aegon is feeling himself a bit too much, is feeling a bit too confident? Aegon wants to decide their next move? Time to knock him down a peg. Remind him that he's shit, invalidate his pain and suffering. No matter how much someone might dislike Aegon, think for a second how insane it is to call Aegon's entirely understandable feelings about his murdered child, the third degree burns covering over half his body, his scars, disability, chronic pain, and castration whinging. The nerve! Larys has had an entire lifetime to adjust to his circumstances, Aegon has had 2 months. And Larys is himself a kinslayer, whereas Aegon was the victim of an attempted kinslaying. So while there might have been some kernel of truth in what Larys was saying, there is no tough love intent here. Larys is full of shit.
But his methods get results. In Aegon's little trauma dumping session, in which he's bitching about having to clap for Aemond at tourneys (loved the continuity error there by the way), he mentions how his father withdrew him from tourneys, he doesn't remember the reason, that doesn't matter, what he remembers is his father's lack of faith in him. And this really is Aegon's greatest childhood wound, one that actually has little to do with Aemond himself: no one ever believed in him (and from Aegon's point of view, this lack of confidence must have started as early as he can remember, when his father defied tradition and refused to name his eldest son as heir). Not his father, not his mother, not his grandfather. No one wanted to mold Aegon into a strong, confident prince, because a strong confident prince would not roll over and accept whatever plans the adults in his life were making for him. And because no one believed in him, Aegon stopped trying. And this is, I think, where the lightbulb went off for Larys, hearing this story. He needs Aegon to stop trying so hard, and his nice guy routine was having the opposite effect, Aegon was locked in. He insisted on finding Sunfyre. He wanted to kill Aemond and Rhaenyra or die trying. He was not interested in taking a boat to Essos to laze around until Larys expressed a lack of faith in him. Larys cut Aegon down so that he would stop trying, and it worked. When we see them again, Aegon says to Larys, "just book the fucking passage." He's giving up. Larys has succeeded in breaking his spirit.
But then something interesting happens. Tyland shows up. And Tyland immediately starts poking holes in Larys' plan and revealing the self serving nature of it. And Aegon is sitting nearby, seemingly dissociating, but he's also hearing these two men argue about how they can best use him. Tyland points out, rightfully so, that Aegon is the king and there are armies still willing to fight for him, that he can take him to Casterly Rock and continue the fight. Larys is saying Aegon is in no condition to fight, look he just needs to go to Essos and let daddy Larys sort everything out. And even if Tyland is a bit more correct here, he did not stop to ask Aegon what he wanted to do. Just like Alicent is trying to make decisions for Helaena back in King's Landing, Larys and Tyland are trying to make decisions for Aegon without any regard for his wishes.
And it is at this point that this man, this Janos, the guy who has made Aegon lick his shoe just an episode previous, appears and reveals that he's discovered Aegon's secret. The crown is in this guy's hands, this guy who has humiliated Aegon and made him bow down and lick his literal boots. But this time Aegon fights back. He snatches that crown for himself and he kills the man who is the source of his humiliation. It wasn't Larys' belittling speech that made Aegon find his fight again, it was Aegon waking up and deciding he wasn't going to be used. He's not Larys' pawn. He's not Tyland's ticket to glory. He's not going to be told what he can't do. Aegon has been told that his entire life. And so he kills Janos, and he smirks! That's not because he did some soul searching and realized Larys was right and he needed to lock in, it's because he took action of his own volition and regained a sense of agency that had been stripped from him.
This episode overall dealt heavily with the idea of control and autonomy. Helaena choosing to keep her baby. Criston choosing death on his own terms. Gwayne choosing life. Alicent trying to control Helaena and failing. Rhaenyra trying to control her image among her subjects, and failing. Aemond ceding control, for perhaps the first time in his life. Larys trying to control Aegon, seemingly succeeding, and then failing. Aegon, who never felt like he had any choice in his life, who was pressed into a marriage he didn't want, onto a throne he never asked for, who was told "you're most useful when you're doing nothing at all," is finally taking control of his own life. Maybe not once and for all, but it's a step in that direction.
This episode is where we see the birth of an Aegon who stops chasing praise from people who do not care about him beyond his political utility. Is there some sincerity or truth in what Larys says? Sure. But it's also beside the point because Larys' goal is to manipulate him. Aegon isn't finally getting put in his place, he's realizing that none of this criticism has come from a place of care and concern. Criticism only matters if it comes from people who actually want you to succeed, and the same goes for validation.
Aegon has been shown time and time again to actually have pretty good instincts, political and otherwise, when he's not self sabotaging, or in his own head, when he doesn't have someone planting the seeds of self doubt there and telling him he's not good enough. Very soon there is going to be very powerful and very concrete Sunfyre shaped evidence to prove to Aegon that good things can come from trusting himself
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