You are convinced that Aemond raped Alys and your reasoning is "Alys Rivers was a war prize “proving” Aemond’s power and military prowess. If you are taken as a war prize, you are an object, a literal reward or prize. You have no ability to even give consent because your other option is violence/death. Aemond raped her and this son is a rape baby." Your words not mine. Then I click on your blog and you ship Rhaegar and Lyanna lol lets apply that logic to them now! The Greens suck but come on.
Disclaimer: I might edit this post a lot because I might realize some things to add.
1)
Did you know, anon, that the word “rape” in medieval society could either mean the sexual attack or just straight up taking a woman/girl away from her father/brother/husband’s control and authority? Or whenever a female laborer of a household has been taken out of her previous household, unlicensed by her lord?
Its roots come from the Latin word, “rapere” and its past participle “raptus”:
“the usual Latin word being stuprare "to defile, ravish, violate," which is related to stuprum (n.) "illicit sexual intercourse," literally "disgrace," stupere "to be stunned, stupefied" (see stupid). Latin raptus, past participle of rapere, used as a noun meant "a seizure, plundering, abduction”
Rape had the legal and cultural meaning of “property-taking”, sometimes more than when a someone forced a woman into sex. And it comes from ancient Roman culture, literature, and ideas medieval societies would be adopting into their own systems (Ovid's Fasti and Livy's History of Rome): The Rape of Lucrece.
Of which medieval or Reniassance writers have made use to create doubt and suspicion for the state of their various female character’s chastity. Why does such matter in those stories? A woman’s chastity is linked to nation building and male-alliances. Marriages were for alliance, resources and power -- not love. Lyanna was arranged to marry Robert because of power and resources and to strengthen/solidify the alliance already set up by Ned and Robert’s friendship before.
So when we go back to A World of Ice and Fire, which says:
“Brandon Stark, the heir to Winterfell, had to be restrained from confronting Rhaegar at what he took as a slight upon his sister's honor, for Lyanna Stark had long been betrothed to Robert Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End. Eddard Stark, Brandon's younger brother and a close friend to Lord Robert, was calmer but no more pleased. As for Robert Baratheon himself, some say he laughed at the prince's gesture, claiming that Rhaegar had done no more than pay Lyanna her due...but those who knew him better say the young lord brooded on the insult, and that his heart hardened toward the Prince of Dragonstone from that day forth.” (pg. 127)
We get the sense that the Starks percieved Rhaegar taking Lyanna and even just gifting her the crown of blue roses as defiling her female chastity. It wasn’t about her and what she wanted it was about Robert’s claim over her. And it was more about Ned’s ties to Robert and why he was sent to the Eyrie to be fostered in the first place, where he befriended Robert -- to create alliances amongst various families.
By contrast, Lyanna clearly did not want, respect, nor love Robert. When we read AGoT and keep track of Lyanna and Rhaegar (not their families, but themselves), we see that Lyanna wanted Rhaegar over Robert and they formed a genuine relationship.
She expressed to Ned:
"Robert will never keep to one bed,” Lyanna had told him at Winterfell, on the night long ago when their father had promised her hand to the young Lord of Storm's End. "I hear he has gotten a child on some girl in the Vale." Ned had held the babe in his arms; he could scarcely deny her, nor would he lie to his sister, but he had assured her that what Robert did before their betrothal was of no matter, that he was a good man and true who would love her with all his heart. Lyanna had only smiled. "Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man's nature.”
(A Game of Thrones; Eddard IX )
AND
"You never knew Lyanna as I did, Robert," Ned told him. "You saw her beauty, but not the iron underneath. She would have told you that you have no business in the melee."
(A Game of Thrones; Eddard VII)
AND
Robert reached for the flagon and refilled his cup. "You see what she does to me, Ned." The king seated himself, cradling his wine cup. "My loving wife. The mother of my children." The rage was gone from him now; in his eyes Ned saw something sad and scared. "I should not have hit her. That was not … that was not kingly." He stared down at his hands, as if he did not quite know what they were. “I was always strong … no one could stand before me, no one. How do you fight someone if you can’t hit them?” Confused, the king shook his head. “Rhaegar … Rhaegar won, damn him. I killed him, Ned, I drove the spike right through that black armor into his black heart, and he died at my feet. They made up songs about it. Yet somehow he still won. He has Lyanna now, and I have her.” The king drained his cup.”
(A Game of Thrones; Eddard X)
So, if Robert, a canon and confirmed serial rapist (Cersei) and sexual abuser of children (that 14 year old sex worker that even Ned was like “...bro”) by the time he was 40ish, could not see that Lyanna did not want him and only thought of how pretty she was....while Rhaegar gifted her the crown of roses for her participation and victories at the Harrenhal tourney (however politically stupid it was)...who’s the true rapist here? Would Robert have respected Lyanna’s indifference to him if they did get married? Fuck no.
So if there were any persons defining and saying Lyanna was raped, it was never her or about sexual rape but those who would have benefited more from Lyanna marrying Robert & about “stealing” virginity.
And if you wonder why I bother to introduce medieval society when this is a fictional story with European medieval-inspired and not-so-differently modeled infrastructures and ideologies.....I can’t help you.
2)
Lyanna was 16 when they left for the Tower of Joy and had Rhaegar’s child, and they met when she was 15 at the Harrenhal tourney.
We remember that she was betrothed to Robert before she turned 16, and Robert was 19/20 at the Harrenhal tourney.
Rhaegar was 22/23 at the tourney and 23/24 when he went with Lyanna to the Tower of Joy.
Lyanna, by real, American, modern standards, is a minor/child by the time she’s pregnant with Rhaegar’s kid, but she’s an adult by the Westerosi age of majority. And she’s past marriageable age.
To totally ignore that noble women of both real life and Westeros actively were treated as adults and like Rhaenyra Targaryen, and participated in politics as if they were adults is to:
deny any reality of their political and psychological autonomy and ability to reason
suppose that the man she chose broke a law or principle that is then recognized as a crime
....but if you go back to how I bring up the definition of “rape” and what that means for male-alliances, then you should realize that the crime that anyone would have thought what happened was that Lyanna was not passed into Robert’s authority (and out of her father and brothers’) and Rhaegar intercepted that licensed transfer.
3)
Robert is Rhaegar’s foil. Rhaegar displays an sense of responsibility and emotional intelligence (if not always a political one) that Robert simply lacks and never bothers to develop.
A foil is:
a literary device designed to illustrate or reveal information, traits, values, or motivations of one character through the comparison and contrast of another character. A literary foil character serves the purpose of drawing attention to the qualities of another character, frequently the protagonist. This is effective as a means of developing a deeper understanding of a character by emphasizing their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, a literary foil allows writers to create a counterpart for the protagonist that puts their actions and choices in context.
And you can look up Rhaegar’s characterization by clicking HERE (of what I collected). But the universal consensus (except for Robert, but fuck him) is that Rhaegae was generally both a good and impressive person. He was loved by most and even Robert didn't dislike him until he gave Lyanna the crown and stepped on his "turf".
It is actually more in Robert’s than Rhaegar’s character to rape. Robert thinks Rhaegar raped Lyanna (the other meaning) because he would have raped her. Because to him, "rape" is unallowed transfer of a woman's body, not about her consent. He feels every man naturally thinks and would treat Cersei/Lyanna as he does/would have. (Meanwhile, can we say that his own friend, Ned, that he would do that to a woman?)
Rhaegar was a gloomy person and mimics the Byronic Hero trope; Lyanna was a lot more positive and vibrant, mimicking the Rebellious Princess or Spirited Young Lady tropes:
The Rebellious Princess is usually a teenager, typically brash (since it goes hand in hand with being rebellious). If she's not the hero, quite often she's the hero's love interest. This will sometimes invoke Marry for Love not only as another way for her to rebel, but to also get out of an Arranged Marriage. She usually qualifies as a Royal Who Actually Does Something.
Thus these two embody Forbidden Love, Opposites Attract, and dabble into Good, Bad Adultery.
Edit: I just realized that Rhaegar also fits into the Royal Who Actually Does Something Trope. Also, he and Lyanna are the inversed versions of their traditional gendered roles: Rhaegar becomes the musical, singing quieter lady imbued with remembrances for a time past while Lyanna actively participates in tourneys and masculinized quests/journeys like the Prince Charming/Knight in Shining Armor. Subversion of narrative and gender tropes!
I believe that Rhaegar loved and/or become enamoured with Lyanna for:
her bravery and passion
protecting those needing to protecting
her determination to stand up for what she thinks is right despite constrictions placed on her bc of youth and gender
positivity
Lyanna loved Rhaegar because:
sensed that he had much more of a sense of responsibility and the sense of grief that comes with his need to "fix" certain wrongs in their current society (thus was more...he cared more than any other person, regardless of gender, about what it means to rule apart from having power) than what she was used to or expected
that that responsibility went even beyond her
that that sense of responsibility went further than most noblemen’s while not trying to change or repress her, nor disregard her entire personality for his own sense of power or (for him, nonexistent) fantasies of her person
his passion
And tropes =/= “trite” or cliche. You can think of them as building blocks for themes, storylines, and characterizations. We actually don't know for certain much of anything that happened right before and during the Rebellion between these two and even Rhaegar-Elia-their kids beyond the facts that:
Jon Snow is Lyanna Rhaegar's bastard son (too many clues in text to enumerate, esp about the Wall, blue roses, Bael the Bard... but also includes Ned's thoughts and his secrecy with Catelyn over Jon's mother's identity)
Lyanna CHOSE to leave with Rhaegar, he did not kidnap her (Neds memories)
war broke out FAR BEFORE Aerys' called Elia & their kids back to KL to make the Dornish more motivated to fight for him and nothing Rhaegar could do would have stopped thought without also implicating himself AND Elia as traitors
Elia and Rhaegar had a "complex" relationship (GRRM'S own words); reveals that if Elia were to feel any type of way Abt her husband cheating, it's not that likely bc they romantically bonded, but that, as many fans state, she had worries for her children (even grandchildren), and the blow to her sociopolitical image similar to how Catelyn feels about Jon (for Catelyn it'd be worse bc she came to love Ned), and the possibility it would make her feel "worthless" or spited bc she was too ill to fulfill any sort of "duty" or responsibility as a wife (heirs and sexual satisfaction) AND esp Rhaegar's wife...as it's very possible he told her about the prophecy & his own intentions
the war may have been triggered by Rhaegar and Lyanna, but they are not the full cause as things have been brewing for a while before they ever met AND what catapulted the realm into war was that Ned's father and brother decided to confront a crazy old man ALONE on his home turf demanding he kill his own son and summarily be killed and expose Ned to leading a war with none. We don't know what exactly prompted Lyanna to leave with Rhaegar, there are theories, but bc of that lack of information (and bc she was a very young girl with none of the sort of fuller agency as her brothers or father) I give Lyanna much more grace than I do for I DO know of Brandon Stark and Ned's father.
Martin has painstakingly made sure to convey that their story and deaths are tragic not just for them and their families, but for Rhaegar’s ambition to remodel and begin to reverse the damages done in Westerosi history after having learned of the prophecy. *EDIT 1/12/25*
But as hamliet says in this post, perhaps Rhaegar's issue was that he didn't think through the the details of his plans & how it'd affect those closest to him--as he believed that if he just followed those "instructions" he believed existed for the prophecy to--and that said propecy required HIM--that everything would fall into place. Too idealistic, not practical and observant enough.
he forgets that he is himself human and all humans have weaknesses and die. ( Rhaegar had the best of intentions but the worst of the worst of implementation, in other words.
I also think that he was kinda secretly exhausted by the pressure he puts on himself. That developed from the urgency of getting rid of the "corrupt king" that became is father, clean out the corruption of the royal family/court. And I think, now, that it is possible that Rhaegar believed Lyanna was the "love of his life" AND she was the "perfect" person to be at his side and fulfill the prophecy. He might have thought that because they understood each other in a way no one else ever had, that it "proved" she/their kid was the missing piece AND they could arrange all the "other" stuff later. *END OF EDIT*
4)
What defines a war prize, anon? Assuming you’ve read the post you seem to be referring to (this ONE), you should know that they are people or things that a warrior claims or is given as a reward for victory or conquest during/after a war/a battle.
Lyanna and Rhaegar form a romantic bond and they go off together before Rhaegar ever actually battles anyone or there was a war happening. Before Robert rebels and lords begin to gather weapons and troops.
It begins with him giving her the crown for Queen of Love and Beauty at the Harrenhal tourney, passing his own wife. You can look at all the posts I have tagged “lyanna and rhaegar”, or click HERE for more.
So just by definition of a war prize, Lyanna was never a war prize.
