Do you think baelor was actually crazy or just a hardcore religious dude? it's interesting to look at the dynamics between him and his brother daeron also his sisters inspite being raised together. Some might even say daeron and him are just opposite ends of the same spectrum. Do you think it is a result of not having a stable paternal figure in their lives? Similarly aegon iv and aemon being so different from each other. I don't think there is any brother out there in targ history in par with fatty aegon when it comes to hating aemon.
OOOOH TARG MADNESS AND FAMILIAL RELATIONSHIPS! One of my FAVE topics in the fandom
Okay, so yes, all sets of siblings are definitely a byproduct of unstable family environments. The boys all have the 'older heir/younger spare' dynamic. Daeron I is the worthy one, while Baelor the less suitable weakling, while for Aegon IV and Aemon, it's the reverse. This trope is a staple in ASOIAF, and one George loves to play with to highlight how feudalism destabilizes familial bonds and fosters unecessary resentment where there shouldn't be any.
Both sets of brothers grew up in the shadow of trauma, with Daeron and Baelor's dad being extremely depressed and melancholy, and likely unable to parent to the extent that they needed. Similarly, Aegon and Aemon had abandonment issues, cause Larra just dropped them to return to Lys, and Viserys had to juggle the realm and raising them (lowkey, Aegon IV's hyper sexuality might be a result of some deep seated mommy issues)
However, I think their erratic behaviors are the most influenced by their loss of dragons, especially when we're talking about Baelor and his 'madness'.
Apart from the fact that well, the dragons were the Targ's main source of power, and losing them legit reduced them to just some weird looking people that now have to try twice as hard to justify keeping power, there's also the magical aspect to this loss.
There's a theory in fandom that Targaryens are literally the 'blood of the dragon' ie, they used magic to splice dragon DNA into themselves to better control them. Hence why some of their kids come out as deformed lizard babies, why they have prophetic dreams and are heat resistant (not fireproof). Their well-being and mental stability is directly tied to the existence of dragons, and once they're gone, the Targs start to decline, and begin to obsessively seek out ways to bring them back. If you look at the Targs before the dance, none can be classified as mad.
Maegor meets this criteria, but Maegor himself is rumored to be a product of dark magic (Visenya conceives him at 41, completely out of the blue, after almost 20 years of marriage and no other children with Aegon. Likewise, after his trial of the seven, he is rumored to have died and been brought back to life by Tyanna of the Tower, an event that turbo charged his cruelty). But apart from him, no Targ meets the definition of 'mad' ie Aerys levels of batshit. Helaena and Rhaenyra are sometimes described as crazy, but their 'madness' is legit a byproduct of trauma, and completely reasonable. Book Aemond is cruel and genocidal but not delusional.
However, the second the last of the dragons die, they descend. Baelor's the first example but you can argue Daeron might have also been affected. He starts a random war with Dorne for no other reason than just because. You can read this as his desire to overcompensate for a lack of tangible 'hard power' (having dragons to scare his subjects into submission), but also a desire to unite the realm to 'fight a common foe' (a la the same thing the Conqueror conquered the kingdoms for). Aka his compulsion to fulfill the prophecy and 'be a dragon' (he's even called the Young Dragon)
Baelor's 'madness' is more clear cut and it manifested as extreme religious zealotry, but you see hints of the possible true origin of his compulsions. He's said to have spent a year praying over a cache of dragon eggs, hoping they would hatch. My take is that he too was seeing the same dragon dreams Dany had, but his religious indoctrination made him filter them through the doctrines of the Faith (it's kinda like how followers of different faiths in ASOIAF see things through their preferred religious lens; Melisandre w R'hllor, Bran w the Old gods, the Ironborn with the Drowned god). So hatching dragons turns into asking the Seven to hatch them, and being the chosen one equals being sexually pure and entirely abstinate saint (very Jesus-esque if you ask me:—which tracks, cause the Faith = Fantasy Catholicism). Lowkey, if he hadn't died, I definitely see him launching a Crusade on the North just to convert them to his 'correct' religion, and 'unite' them under a single chosen hero.
Aegon IV is harder to peg, but he seems to have the same tendencies as Daeron: a desire to assert power and overcompensate (he too fixates on dragons for a bit, ordering his pyromances to make wooden ones that spit out wildfire). Likewise, his hatred of Aemon is evidently borne out of jealousy, that he effortlessly meets the criteria of a model Targ King, literally what the Prince that was Promised should be.
It may be a stretch, but I legit believe dragon dreams are the thing that most defined the Targ family, and directly influenced their interpersonal relationships. I wouldn't be surprised if all of them had dragon dreams and prophetic inclinations of some kind, it's just that their differing personalities made them interpret/cope with them differently. Like Maester Aemon outright says all his brothers had dragon dreams, and all died as a result. Daeron the Drunken turned to booze and women to cope, Aerion (who likely already had psychopathic and narcissistic tendencies), got it into his head he's an actual dragon and drank wildfire to become one (literally the same delusion Aerys had, and the same dream we see Dany have in AGOT: she sees herself transforming into a dragon, but unlike her predecessors, she correctly interprets this as a metaphor, not her actually being a dragon in human skin), and Egg possibly did Summerhall to hatch dragons. Aemon is the only one who stayed relatively normal, but he too admits it feels difficult to resist the impulses sometimes.
It's also why I think it's no coincidence that Targ women are the ones who are able to cope with the dreams better, and even interpret them accurately, but thats a story for another post.
Anywho, TLDR: its the loss of dragons and mommy/daddy issues. I know I veered way off topic, but I just love this particular subject so much 😂
“I’ve found the human body incredibly difficult to get my head around—especially the vulnerability that comes along with it. In a sense, I’ve always failed at representing the core of our existence on a canvas. With this piece, I’d like to think that I’ve achieved that—with the way that the body, the subject, in question is almost like a gradient; with the the way that the the warmth of the foreground contrasts the deafening blackness of the background. Though untitled, I’d say it leaves a lot to be said on its own.”
Acid rains burn away
At the stomach lining,
A downpour formed
At the front of the mind
It’ll pour for weeks
It’ll pour for months,
Become a ghostly curse
In the eras beyond
These wounds are confined,
Bound to bleed unknown
As this century quakes
For its own remedy
