Hello! Sorry if you have answered this q before, but I just came across this theory today and wanted to know your thoughts on it. I saw some people discussing that the Mad King was driven mad by the Three Eyed Raven (possibly Bran) whispering to him about the White Walkers, and when he said 'Burn them all' it was in reference to the White Walkers, not Kings Landing. Thanks!
Those people are fucking morons.
I’m sorry, I’m not going to cut corners here. They’re idiots who know absolutely nothing whatsoever about Aerys Targaryen or Brynden Rivers or Bran Stark or ASOIAF. This is a stupid, ignorant theory perpetuated by stupid, ignorant people, because of a stupid shitty show.
For the record, I will react this way every single time someone brings me a theory proposed by show-only fans. Unless you want an answer that has me being blunt to the point of rudeness and saying what I really feel about this kind of bullshit, do not ask me about the show. And look, ok. I’m not annoyed with you specifically, just with the question and the shitty-ass theory that prompted it, but I say very clearly on my ask page that I do not want questions about the show. (Do I need to put it in 72-pt type or something?) My distaste for the show, for its creators, and for the people who make show-based crack theories is so strong that I don’t think anyone wants to hear any answers I might give. Well, maybe some people actually do want me to be mean and sarcastic and bitter, but I don’t want to be, which is why I don’t watch the show and have requested no questions about it.
The only reason I’m even answering this question publicly at all is because this is the second damn time I’ve gotten it (the first I passed off with a link elsewhere) and the fourth damn time someone has asked me about the show in a week. So apparently I need make a public fuss about this to get people to stop. Ask me about the books. Please. I am fucking begging you.
And maybe for some reason you didn’t know this was a show theory. But you can tell, because (1) Three-Eyed Raven and not Three-Eyed Crow, (2) Mad King and not Aerys Targaryen, (3) “burn them all”, which was never a line in the books, (4) White Walkers and not Others, (5) the obsession with Bran timetraveling to drive people crazy (because like that’ll really happen again), and (6) blatant ignorance of this:
“Rhaegar met Robert on the Trident, and you know what happened there. When the word reached court, Aerys packed the queen off to Dragonstone with Prince Viserys. Princess Elia would have gone as well, but he forbade it. Somehow he had gotten it in his head that Prince Lewyn must have betrayed Rhaegar on the Trident, but he thought he could keep Dorne loyal so long as he kept Elia and Aegon by his side. The traitors want my city, I heard him tell Rossart, but I’ll give them naught but ashes. Let Robert be king over charred bones and cooked meat. The Targaryens never bury their dead, they burn them. Aerys meant to have the greatest funeral pyre of them all. Though if truth be told, I do not believe he truly expected to die. Like Aerion Brightfire before him, Aerys thought the fire would transform him… that he would rise again, reborn as a dragon, and turn all his enemies to ash.”
–A Storm of Swords, Jaime V
And furthermore, Aerys was mad well before this moment, with mania showing in his youth, paranoia that only grew as he got older, and a fundamental breakdown caused by his captivity during the Defiance of Duskendale, which led to him banning any blade from his presence (and therefore he did not cut his hair or nails for years). You can see this explained here. Also, among other things, he was a rapist who was only sexually aroused by watching people burn to death. You can see that and more here.
