what do u think of rhaegon's parallels in f&b and hotd?
not going to lie struggled on answering this one, in f&b (and hotd) they’re the two main claimants and faces of the opposing teams we all know and love, but that’s just it: they’re just faces, figureheads and puppets in the decades long political power plays of those older and supposedly wiser than them (like otto, daemon, corlys, etc). fire and blood, while munkun nicknames the civil war as the dance of dragons, is about the dying of dragons and both of aegon and rhaenyra reflect the ongoing death of targaryen hegemony.
as individuals they are meant to challenge the validity of targaryen exceptionalism. aegon is the king’s first born son, all “symbols of legitimacy belong to him” but the symbols themselves were never a legitimate justification for the targaryen grasp on power which is shown in aegon’s unsuitability from his hedonistic behavior to violent rashness. the same goes for rhaenyra, neither of them are experienced in ruling, but expected it and everyone else to bend to their rule because they’re targaryen. it’s like they’re eternal children blindly following the path others set for them. one of the most ludicrous things they both do is aegon goes “what sort of brother steals his sister’s birthright” and then post-rhaenyra coronation demands her head. rhaenyra goes “my half-brothers and sister are innocent. let them bend the knee and they’re forgiven” and then abandons that at the quickest opportunity.
i think because they are raised to be in a false position of power where they are the queen/king but are not meant to make any of the decisions, it creates this extreme fear in both of them that they are just as easily replaced. which makes their defensive behavior toward each other, as well as the quick turn to offensive action more understandable.
