Do you think Rhaenyra named her son Aegon as a way to spite Alicent? Or what other intentions would Daemon and Rhaenyra had in the naming of their children?
Yes - indeed, Gyldayn explicitly suggests as much, at least according to one source:
And thus that dreadful year 120 AC ended as it begun, with a woman laboring in childbirth. Princess Rhaenyra’s pregnancy had a happier outcome than Lady Laena’s had. As the year waned, she brought forth a small but robust son, a pale princeling with dark purple eyes and pale silvery hair. She named him Aegon. Prince Daemon had at last a living son of his own blood ... [sic] and this new prince, unlike his three half-brothers, was plainly a Targaryen [sic].
In King’s Landing, however, Queen Alicent grew most wroth when she learned the babe had been named Aegon, taking that for a slight against her own son Aegon … [sic] which, according to The Testimony of Mushroom, it most certainly was.
I am certainly not aligned with Mushroom in all of his claims, but this particular one seems logical enough To say that the black and green factions had reached a new nadir of antagonism by the end of 120 AC is to state the obvious. This antagonism centered on the future of House Targaryen - and because the personal is political in Westeros' hereditary dynastic monarchies and aristocracies, both the black and the green dynasts acted and used the persons of their respective factions to express the sentiments of each faction. So when Queen Alicent gave birth to a son in 107 AC, Gyldayn reports that the queen "nam[ed] him Aegon, after the Conqueror" - an open declaration that her firstborn son was the heir to the patriarch of the dynasty, and by extension the leadership of the dynasty itself. Likewise, as Rhaenyra gave birth to the sons surnamed "Velaryon" but almost certainly fathered by Ser Harwin, the greens held it as what Gyldayn terms an "article of faith" that "the father of Rhaenyra's sons was not her husband, Laenor Velaryon, but her champion, Harwin Strong". Nor did the green faction restrict this sniping to Alicent's backhanded sympathy to Laenor at the birth of Prince Lucerys: when Aemond mocked the Velaryon boys as "Strongs", Aegon the Elder defended telling Aemond as much because "[e]veryone [sic] knows. Just look at them". The green faction had drawn a distinction through names between itself and the black faction: "Aegon" and the legacy of the Conqueror for the greens, "Strong" and the (in Westerosi view) taint of bastardy for the blacks.
The slights against Rhaenyra and the black faction, of course, would not go unanswered by Rhaenyra herself, and like Alicent, Rhaenyra utilized her son's name to do so. By calling her first son with Daemon "Aegon", Rhaenyra undermined the green faction's attempt to seize Aegon the Conqueror's prestige for the greens alone. Rhaenyra was suggesting not only that her newborn son, as much as Aegon the Elder, had the right to bear the name of that most illustrious of Targaryen ancestors, but also that her faction had as much right to claim inheritance from the Conqueror. Moreover, because the new baby "was plainly a Targaryen", emphasis Gyldayn's own, Rhaenyra's choice of name countered that allegation of bastardy most recently voiced by Aegon the Elder; if Alicent's son would insult the black faction's older princes by teaching his brother to call them "Strongs", he would now be forced to acknowledge that his newborn nephew was not only legitimate, but as much of a Targaryen, with as storied a Targaryen name, as he had.
Unfortunately for Tip, Willow's idea of sibling bonding is shopping trips. They certainly have the money for it, at least? Weiss and Whitley are there too, though they're laughing at him more than anything.
Tip IS glad to have a sister, though. He thinks.
Tip spluttered indignantly as the book he’d been enjoying was all but snatched from his hands. He was ready to glare at whoever had had the temerity, he’d been enjoying that! But… but it wasn’t Nora. It wasn’t even Blake. He blinked up at his sister, puzzled. What was Willow doing here?
He racked his brains, trying to recall if there’d been a meeting scheduled, but came up empty. Besides, someone would have reminded him, if that had been the case. Weiss, if nobody else. He knew he wasn’t at his best right now, and tried to repress the scowl that threatened to break out at the mental reminder of just how vulnerable he was, but surely he’d have remembered a family commitment? It was still so odd, having family outside Oscar…
Willow smiled down at him, though there was something shadowed in her eyes. There always had been, when she looked at him, but Tip put it down to the fact that he currently looked so much like the boy she’d lost. He doubted she’d have been anything like as accepting, had he still been the adult he should have been, but there was no real way to know that, now. Either way, whatever he had forgotten, he was certainly going to be reminded of it soon.
“We were thinking that it might be nice to have a day out, Just us, just the family. It would be good to go out and get to know each other.” Willow’s voice was tentative, but Tip had already straightened in his chair. It really would be nice, to get to know them better, this family that he couldn’t fully remember. He felt slightly suspicious, though, as to the timing of this. Usually, they’d scheduled these sort of things in advance, how could they have known he’d be free?
Oh, wait. No, they’d have asked James, of course. Winter would have done, anyway. It hadn’t passed him by that Willow had been careful not to address him by name, either. That was nice of her, though he doubted she’d call him Tip any time soon.
… he rather doubted most people in Atlas ever would. That was still strange, too, he kept running in to people who’d known him, or rather the sickly child he had once been. It had been fine in Vale, he’d known that most people would know him as Ozpin and that, at least, had been his choice in part. But here? They didn’t know he was Ozpin… they all saw the boy he used to do.
Maybe he could fix that, one day? He felt himself biting his lip and looked away, suddenly nervous. Going out into the city as a family unit, again… being seen, would it place a target on his family’s backs? More than it was already, that was?
But Willow wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She cleared her throat pointedly, trying to get her brother’s attention again. Whether Tip would enjoy the day out was another matter entirely, but he was going, whether he wanted to or not.
Tip got up, rather reluctantly, hands groping for the wooden sheath he tended to use to store Long Memory. The cane was too recognisable, and although he’d promised himself that he’s stop using the piece of stylised wood, it was another layer of protection. As long as nobody connected him to who he really was, he’d be okay.
The movement hiked his shirt sleeve up an inch or so, revealing skinny wrists and accidentally reinforcing Willow’s plans for the day. It really was rather shocking, seeing him walk around in ill fitting clothing when there was just so much money that could be used to fix that particular oversight. But then, the fact that Tip was so very against spending any of it would probably have confirmed, if confirmation had ever been needed, that he really was her brother.
He wasn’t going to be given a choice, though. The stores they’d gone to last time still had all his measurements on file, it would be easy enough to add another half inch to the sleeves. Maybe they could even get a few of them to be slightly oversized, for him to grow into? Not that they needed to save money, but Willow rather thought he might appreciate it.
It was still hard, sometimes, watching her brother like this. He was so young, so real… so like the baby brother she’d tried so hard to protect. She knew others saw it, too, had heard the whispers as surely as he must have done. She’d seen some of the blogs that had been put up about him, the few times she’d gone looking, though part of her hoped that he hadn’t seen all of them. He was just… no, no he wasn’t really a little boy, was he? He just looked like it.
Little boy or not, though, he would always be her baby brother.
“When you said that you wanted us to have a day out, you never mentioned anything about shopping!” Tip was annoyed, looking over all the materials the shop clerks kept pushing at him. Clothing was expensive, he didn’t really need any. But, looking up at the flinty look in Willow’s eyes, he knew better than to say anything about it.
That they had his measurements on file was just rude, though. Surely they had to be aware that he didn’t need that much clothing? It had been bad enough that Aunt Em had bought him a few things while they were in Mistral, but… the sheer amount of clothing was insane. Where would he even store it all? How could he ever wear even half of it before he grew out of it? Although, maybe he could pay her back now?
“You need clothes, baby brother. You’re growing out of the clothing you’re wearing, and our family does have a reputation to keep up. Besides, why are you so worried about spending a bit of money? You know that we certainly have it to spare.” Willow was almost certain Tip wouldn’t say anything in public, but she still really wanted to know just who had fostered such an utter lack of self confidence in him. He’d been the head of Beacon Academy, surely he had to know that appearances mattered? But then again, all she ever remembered him wearing as an adult were versions of the same identical suit. Did she want to know where all the money was going? No, no, probably not.
Tip groaned. “Only if you let me donate the things I won’t wear. This much is just… it’s too much, Willow.” Her glare increased, but Tip felt better having actually said something. Spending this much money just felt wrong, and even worse, he got the feeling this might not even be all of it. That the shop had refused to take his measurements out of their files was… well, rather worrying. Why could he almost hear Qrow laughing at him over this?
“No, Winter. No, it really isn’t too much.” Willow said, voice sad. There were times when she really wished she could go and throttle those in Vale that had given her brother so may issues around money and this was certainly one of them. Oh, their family was far from perfect, and she would be the first to admit that they had their problems, but money had never been one of them. The way Winter was growing, well… maybe he was right, that he would grow out of them long before they wore out, but why should that mean he didn’t have them? Besides, it would make the Schnee family reputation even worse, if one of their members went around in rags.
She probably couldn’t technically call them that, really. But Tip’s clothing was mostly made of simple materials, easily torn, easily destroyed. They weren’t even that warm, which with Tip’s health issues was rather more worrying than she really wanted to think about. He’d been happy enough to let them buy Oscar clothing, why was he so different? His health mattered too, dammit.
Tip ducked his head, unwilling to look Willow in the face. He hadn’t meant to upset her! He wasn’t entirely sure what he’d done, but Glynda had been just as upset with him in the past, when he refused to do something that they thought was important. Maybe that was a part of having a sister, that they worried about you? He really should get in contact with Glynda, but what could he even say to her, if he did? He was mostly helpless like this, far too young to be taken seriously. If he’d still been an adult, Willow wouldn’t have treated him like… no, no she really would, wouldn’t she?
He scowled, hearing Weiss laughing at him in the background. At least one of them was amused? She wasn’t making any move to help him though. Worse, she’d made her own suggestions as to possible outfits, though at least they’d all been in relatively good taste?
Not that the same could be said for everybody/ He didn’t even want to think about the suggestions Whitley had fired at him, but then his nephew still didn’t seem to like him very much. At least most of them had been green, well, technically at least. One or two of them had made him incredibly glad for the fact that his glasses were tinted, though.
That was fair enough really, he knew that it had to be beyond strange, to suddenly have an uncle, much less one that was visually younger than him. He couldn’t blame Whitley, he was a decent enough kid, under all the conditioning Jacques had left behind.
Winter hadn’t come with them, had claimed that James had a mission for her. He envied her that, he would have given quite a lot to get out of this, though at least Willow seemed happy? She was the only one, really, but still, he wondered. The spark that showed occasionally when she was like this, had that been what his sister had been like all those years ago? Before Jacques, before everything had gone so wrong? Dead or not, he was certain that he’d never forgive the man for everything he’d done to his family.
And the worst bit of all of this? This was just the first store. He knew he had a room at the manor, had been shown it once, but surely the items in there were more than enough? He really wasn’t comfortable having too many belongings, he didn’t really need them. But it made the others happy, to give them to him. He sighed dejectedly. There were reasons he really shouldn’t let them do this, but a lot of them fell apart when he examined them more closely. It might be a waste of money, but he knew, now, just how much of that there was to waste. He might not feel like he deserved any of this, but though he’d told them as much, it just served to make them sad. He might be dead in a year or two, but though he could see the heartbreak in their eyes at the thought, they’d told him that it would just be there for the next one.
If there was a next one, Ozzy had been oddly smug about that, hadn’t let Tip have any real knowledge of just what would happen, if he actually died properly. Though, with the threat to Oscar, he really didn’t think he overly wanted to know any more than that.
It was just one day, and with the sheer amount of new items, surely they wouldn’t notice if a few of them got redistributed? He hoped so, at least, though he knew better than to try it immediately.
This had to be the last of these trips for awhile, surely? Once he had everything that they thought he’d need, they’d stop? At least until he grew again?
“Don’t worry, little brother.” Willow said, sounding very smug. “I did promise we’d visit the book store later.” She had, in fact, promised that. As a bribe, it could have been worse, even if Tip didn’t particularly like thinking of it quite like that. Part of him had missed having siblings, but as he stared at the mountain of clothing in black and green and gold and blue and silver, he still felt slightly despairing. Even if he could, he doubted that anyone would ever see anything other than sickly little Winter, wearing all this.
At least they’d underestimate him? He wanted those books, dammit.
Hey, I'm a huge fan of thinking of Crutchie as Jewish. But do you have a citation for the historical Crutch Morris being Jewish. Or are you basing this on Marty Belafsky?
Based on history! We don’t have one exacting citation, but a common hypothesis based on the pieces of citable information we do have.
The most conclusive simply being the fact that the overwhelming majority of people named Morris, a very Jewish name originating from Moshe, are themselves; especially given the time and place in history, when 40% of newsies who answered the 1901 NYC census were Jewish and there weren’t abundant legal or marital ways for a man’s name to be changed in the usa like there are today. Could this have been a false name like Jack Kelly or Blink? Of course, (though I doubt he would have recorded a false name when he was an elected official of the newsboy union) so, as with all other information, this has to be taken with a grain of salt.
We also have one photograph that is commonly associated to be Crutch Morris that many past historians have made the presumption from:
[im going to edit this to add the picture give me a few minutes sorry]
This photo is commonly MIS-ASSOCIATED with Louis Hines’ work documenting New York’s working children in the 1930s. THIS IS INCORRECT. It appears nowhere in his published work. So much as a reverse image search tells us this is actually an undated photograph from the New York Historical Society Archive. @newsieshistory (their presence here is greatly missed) was able to match up the windows in the background to those on the Duane Street Newsboy Lodging House (the actual lodge house the one in the film is based on, where Kid Blink, Crutch Morris, Dutch[y] Johnson, [Swifty] the Rake, Bumlets, Snoddy, Pie Eater, Snipeshooter, among others really lived according to both articles on the strike and nyc census records), while it was operating as a newsboy lodge house, sometime c. 1890-1920. This could be another newsie that lived there during those years meeting the description of Crutch from the rally article, but its as close to a known photo as exists.
I am certain there is more, but I’m currently in the process of moving my historical documents out of google drive to fight the ai so I do not currently have access to my archive, I will attempt to add more tomorrow.
