Maekar whipping Daeron’s feet is a good character edge for Maekar to have. Corporal punishment bc Maekar is a soldier and his personality recognizes only pain as a teacher, not realizing that his kids cannot be fixed with brutish “Stern Dad” because he indulges them regardless.
The dad who thinks mental illness and addiction can be fixed by just yelling at you and treating you like a disappointment, who wants you to change but his ‘I hammer everything in sight’ mindset can’t handle something outside of his direct control.
“I know you can change. I know there is a man I can be proud of inside of you.”
Maekar, martial and soldier Maekar, who is coming from a place of believing that Daeron has it in him to be a warrior like himself and Aerion, needing and wanting that to be true because it is what Maekar himself values in a person (the epitome of prizing power and strength in this warrior culture), and also perhaps part of his mindset is that Maekar as the fourthborn is so far down the line of succession that he sees his sons as soldiers whose duty is to protect their House. Maekar has styled himself as the “pure Warrior brother” in a way that not even Baelor is because Baelor is both warrior *and* diplomat, whereas Maekar doesn’t possess such a derivation from his nature. Maekar is in denial that Daeron is not built to be a warrior. Perhaps he would have had he not been cursed with dragon dreams, but he has.
Maekar is military dad who doesn’t believe in depression, just a lack of will. He thinks Daeron is simply weak in spirit, that he hasn’t gotten it through his head that the life he is living of wine and whores is unfulfilling and unsightly and if only he would just lock in and find fulfillment in martial skills he would be happier. It certainly would make his father proud. Why doesn’t my son understand how cool it is to be a knight and warrior? This is his duty as my firstborn, my heir. He is embarrassing me, embarrassing our family! And don’t get me started on how aggrieved this makes Maekar feel when comparing Daeron to Valarr, the perfect firstborn brother with the promising firstborn son. Life for this man is just a series of asking the question ‘How hath the gods blighted Maekar this week?’. Maekar’s parenting style is what brings him the grief that is sown later on, make no mistake. The Stern Haughty Targ Supremacist Dad angle is what fucked up Daeron, Aerion, and what would’ve fucked up Egg had Dunk not come along, and that’s the rub isn’t it. That’s the irony and sore spot that every harsh dad doesn’t want to confront, that being the harsh stern dad doesn’t get you the results in your kids that you want. That’s the utter pathetic tragedy of it all.
