It's interesting how Alys and Aemond parallel Daemon and Nettles. In each pairing one of them has a scar on their face, there's a significant age gap, one is a Targaryeon prince and the other is a raven hair bastard girl, both pairs are hidden away having their honeymoon phase. It's like there's some unspoken agreement between the princes while Daemon and Nettles are at Maidenpool: "You stay out of my way I'll stay out of yours and we can both have time with our ladies" 😅
Ah, my two favorite canon Fire & Blood ships Dattles and Alysmond(though I am partial to the crackship Rhaemond which will never set sail but in our hearts and minds🚢). Daemon and Aemond are foils of each other so it makes sense that their romantic relationships parallel.
Both are hot-blooded second sons. Show!Aemond aside, in the book he’s described as being hot-tempered. They weren’t meant to be kings. They are the spares. They’ve got to make their own lot in life, their own fortunes, and carve out a place for themselves in the world they live in.
Both end up with lowborn bastard women who people would never expect them to look twice at. Alys not only is considered lowly she is thought too old to warm the prince's bed. She's also a Strong bastard and we all know how Aemond feels about them.
Nettles is too non-Valyrian. She’s dark so she’s not even Andal, First Men, or part Dornish. She’s too dirty, “ugly,” and wild to tempt the Rogue Prince, who has a Valyrian supremacy mindset. Though she's young, and sadly he's known to go younger, she may or may not be a maiden and he has a penchant for those girls.
However, both men become taken with these unlikely lovers and fall in love or at least deeply care for them. Aemond comes back for Alys and Daemon is willing to put his own life on the line to save Nettles. We've got fairytale/gothic romance elements here people🤷🏽♀️
They weren’t meant to be kings. They are the spares. They’ve got to make their own lot in life, their own fortunes, and carve out a place for themselves in the world they live in.
Lol, I'm biased, but I agree that both were trying to spend as much time with their lady loves before they faced off in an epic battle(even if a bit unrealistic) to the death🤺They could’ve killed each other way sooner if they weren’t literally screwing around and dilly-dallying.
They probably grew disenchanted with the war and the fight for an iron chair(Daemon for sure) or saw beyond the present(Aemomd) that caused their focus and perspective to shift. That is in large part due to their lady loves(Alys' visions and Nettles showing that Targaryen supremacy is a lie). I could go on and on, but the parallels are for sure there.