baelor and lyonel having a very romantic yet angsty, conflicting romantic affair and maybe in some cases a secret affair baby, and then there is makear and dunk in the background having a decent relationship that no one expected to be as good as it is.
i actually enjoy the break of class between maekar and dunk, and dunk receiving no punishment for it.
dunk himself never really addresses or treats maekar as a prince. when he first meets him, it's when he is spying on the targaryens and while he fumbles around with his words and all, his honorifics and respectful tone are toward baelor. the one he regards as a prince and treats as such is baelor. the one dunk speaks to as if he is addressing someone from the royal family is baelor, nor maekar.
toward the end, when maekar and dunk have their conversations, dunk addresses maekar very informally. Specifically when Maekar offers Dunk a place at Summerhall, Dunk, "I'm done with princes", would be taken awfully by almost any other Targaryen man. Meaning, other Targaryen royalty would've seen Dunk's tone as very dismissive and disrespectful given what Maekar just offered Dunk, but Maekar, did not get upset. He just, accepted it. If I were to say one thing he probably was upset on behalf of Egg, which is most likely one of the reasons he refused to allow Egg to go with Dunk. Because while he didn't feel Dunk insulted him with that, 'I'm done with princes' line, despite Maekar's offer being genuine and displaying his own vulnerability during his grief, Maekar probably knew Egg was listening.
Another thing I notice is that aside from Aerion, the Maekarlings themselves also break class and protocol with Dunk in a similar way to their father. They talk to Dunk like he is one of them or they are one of him, Daeron is drinking and speaking to Dunk and there are no honorifics or anything used, he just doesn't gaf. And then there is Egg. (it is a huge contrast to Valaar whom is very dismissive and short with Dunk, and treats him as a Targaryen prince would normally treat a small folk. And Dunk also views/addresses him as a prince. )
but the point is that, while maekar struggles with his own classism, dunk often time speaks to him out of turn and also addresses maekar as if he is not speaking to a prince. even more so after the death of baelor, the formalities are just not there, on both ends.
after dunk initially pulls the 'im done with princes line', he goes back to seek out maekar and HE, requests Maekar's presence. A small folk not only requests an audience with the prince, but he is granted it without having to go through any hoops and aside from Maekar being petty on Egg's behalf, there is still a breaking of class and formalities. Dunk is not talking to Maekar like a prince, and while Maekar does deny Dunk taking Egg on his journey first by saying, 'he is the blood of the dragon', he quickly refutes that and says, 'he's my las son'. a vulnerability that is rare for a prince to display to a commoner. and he is on the verge of tears when he is saying this.
the point is that while there is a thin veil of prince/small folk between those two, the lack of formalities and respect toward a prince between them is very unique. because they speak toward the end as equals, and even beofre, when Dunk is referring to the brother's in an honorific way as if he is speaking to nobility, it is usually Baelor he is speaking to. He views Baelor as a prince, as this untouchable and pure being that is on a different plane than him and everyone else. Almost a madonna like figure.
But Dunk does not view Maekar in that light, nor addresses him as such. His talks and the way he regards Maekar is a lot more human and equal and Maekar never does anything to correct the way he is addressed by Dunk in such a casual way.
I’ve been thinking about this and i think it’s partly because in a lot of ways Markar and his kids act more relatabley and in ways familiar to dunk Maekar shouts and curses and is generally more visibly emotive in ways that are easy for dunk to recognize Daeron drinks and rambles and is also generally as open and literal as future seeing Prince can possibly be. M was the youngest and baelor the heir and that carries over to how they act and raise there kids differently
Oh yeah, I certainly think Maekar being a fourth son gives insight to why he is the way he is. He is still royalty, but he is not going to be raised in the same way as his older brothers. There might not have been a lot of attention given to educate him in a very prince like manner, and he may not have been in the same circles as his brothers. He was however, taught to fight which we can clearly see.
I certainly think him being the youngest of all his brothers, and even in a way less socially targaryen than them (aside from him being part dornish himself, his wife was dornish, so his main household was probbaly very dornish), adds to why he is the way he is.
hedgeanvil headcanon where maekar's condition for sex is that duncan can at least land a hit on maekar during training because maekar isn't going to let a man who can beat him in a simple spar dick him down. but i mean sometimes, most of the times, he gives dunk a free pass. because at least he knows dunk is capable of poking him one way or another.
i actually enjoy the break of class between maekar and dunk, and dunk receiving no punishment for it.
dunk himself never really addresses or treats maekar as a prince. when he first meets him, it's when he is spying on the targaryens and while he fumbles around with his words and all, his honorifics and respectful tone are toward baelor. the one he regards as a prince and treats as such is baelor. the one dunk speaks to as if he is addressing someone from the royal family is baelor, nor maekar.
toward the end, when maekar and dunk have their conversations, dunk addresses maekar very informally. Specifically when Maekar offers Dunk a place at Summerhall, Dunk, "I'm done with princes", would be taken awfully by almost any other Targaryen man. Meaning, other Targaryen royalty would've seen Dunk's tone as very dismissive and disrespectful given what Maekar just offered Dunk, but Maekar, did not get upset. He just, accepted it. If I were to say one thing he probably was upset on behalf of Egg, which is most likely one of the reasons he refused to allow Egg to go with Dunk. Because while he didn't feel Dunk insulted him with that, 'I'm done with princes' line, despite Maekar's offer being genuine and displaying his own vulnerability during his grief, Maekar probably knew Egg was listening.
Another thing I notice is that aside from Aerion, the Maekarlings themselves also break class and protocol with Dunk in a similar way to their father. They talk to Dunk like he is one of them or they are one of him, Daeron is drinking and speaking to Dunk and there are no honorifics or anything used, he just doesn't gaf. And then there is Egg. (it is a huge contrast to Valaar whom is very dismissive and short with Dunk, and treats him as a Targaryen prince would normally treat a small folk. And Dunk also views/addresses him as a prince. )
but the point is that, while maekar struggles with his own classism, dunk often time speaks to him out of turn and also addresses maekar as if he is not speaking to a prince. even more so after the death of baelor, the formalities are just not there, on both ends.
after dunk initially pulls the 'im done with princes line', he goes back to seek out maekar and HE, requests Maekar's presence. A small folk not only requests an audience with the prince, but he is granted it without having to go through any hoops and aside from Maekar being petty on Egg's behalf, there is still a breaking of class and formalities. Dunk is not talking to Maekar like a prince, and while Maekar does deny Dunk taking Egg on his journey first by saying, 'he is the blood of the dragon', he quickly refutes that and says, 'he's my las son'. a vulnerability that is rare for a prince to display to a commoner. and he is on the verge of tears when he is saying this.
the point is that while there is a thin veil of prince/small folk between those two, the lack of formalities and respect toward a prince between them is very unique. because they speak toward the end as equals, and even beofre, when Dunk is referring to the brother's in an honorific way as if he is speaking to nobility, it is usually Baelor he is speaking to. He views Baelor as a prince, as this untouchable and pure being that is on a different plane than him and everyone else. Almost a madonna like figure.
But Dunk does not view Maekar in that light, nor addresses him as such. His talks and the way he regards Maekar is a lot more human and equal and Maekar never does anything to correct the way he is addressed by Dunk in such a casual way.
okay but more of an interesting take on dunk/baelor/maekar is maekar is not in the relationship at first but naturally he enters the relationship. everything is good until baelor starts to go through an inward battle on his own. like he's always loved his brother but he pushed those feelings aside for good of the kingdom and the image of his family.
when baelor and dunk are together, they are happy of course, however it is dunk who suggest maekar enters the relationship. at first, baelor expected himself to be jealous of his own brother, but he isn't. he is jealous of something and he doesn't know what it is.
maekar and dunk get along well, but dunk is shy and nervous around him at first--obviously. and still baelor doesn't know why he is upset. and he doesn't really know how to navigate a relationship with maekar there. dunk doesn't change around baelor and still he loves him all the same, but being around maekar still brings baelor discomfort.
it isn't until maekar and baelor talk privately does baelor finally understand his own frustration. maekar opens up to baelor about always having feelings for him, but he hid them and baelor says the same thing. but maekar says that if it weren't for dunk asking for him in the relationship none would've ever known.
and then yes, it finally dawns upon baelor that he was angry for waiting so long. that in a funny way, his brother whom he has loved for years was always there by his side and instead of acting on his own heart and confessing to him, baelor cared more about upholding the family image to say anything to him. he's always loved maekar fiercely, but it occurs to him that if dunk never said anything, he would not have entered the relationship.
baelor almost feels unmanned by dunk, and is in a funny way jealous of dunk for having the courage he never had. of course they are all together, dunk is more on edge than he has ever been because he loves maekar but he is also kinda afraid of maekar, because maekar is a lot, but that attracts dunk to maekar. and it also attracts baelor to maekar.
baelor also loves dunks kindness and his pure heart, but he does have a secret rivalry with dunk now, because dunk beat him to the one thing he's wanted to do for years.
This is just me complaining, but everytime I try to get into a dunk x maekar x barlor fic I end up dropping it because they never put any time into the maekar part of the ship😞 it always feels like he either being used as a catalyst for dunk and baelor to get together or as something keeping them apart 🫠 at this point I've just given up on them as a ship even though I really wanna get into it. I dont understand why people even put him in the fic as part of the couple if they dont actually wanna do anything with him within the relationship
You’ve come to the right person actually because I feel the same way. I even feel that bleeds into the way people ship dunk/maekar because a lot of dunk/maekar shippers I’ve found are also baelor/dunk or baelor/dunk/maekar shippers and the common denominator is that maker is too complex of a character for them to understand.
Like to ME I just don’t think they like him, and that he is a threat to the ship. A lot of dunk/baelor shippers inwardly get upset at the fact that his presence is incredibly important to baelor when in their mind, baelor only belongs to dunk and vice versa. baelor and dunk are morally good people, they aren’t black and white, they deserve each other, so how dare someone like maekar exists to complicate things and get in the way of baelor loving dunk.
they don’t know what to do with maekar, because the canon chemistry and bond between him and baelor scares them. dunk/baelor is one of the most popular ships, and still maekar threatens them so much that they have to bastardize him in their ships just to cope.
It’s so annoying and I wish they’d just leave him out. Because for those of us who actually like maekar, sitting through a fit and thinking he’ll actually be treated with respect, but just seeing that the author hates him is a surreal experience.
Like you do not have to include a character you hate in a ship.
im quite picky with hedgeanvil too, because so many portrayals of the ship are just maekar shitting on dunk's class and belittling him and acting like he is too good for dunk, when a huge part of both the book and the show is that due to maekar opening his eyes at the toxcity of his household/family, he begins to dismantle his classist mindset. maekar unlearning his elitism around dunk but having slip ups is one thing, but maekar constantly belittling and shitting on dunk's status and thinking lowly of him is just poor portrayal of him as a character and just makes him aerion 2.0. and i just dont think dunk would willing be in a relationship with someone who belittles him. and even so if maekar is trying to mend his relationship with egg there's no way he'd constantly talk down and even verbally abuses the person who is caring for egg. i hate when a character canonically shows 1 trait and that is all the fans tie him to, especially in ships.
also if you want to go far, maekar himself is part of the first targ line to face racism and discrimination because, even if he looks like a targaryen, he is also dornish and he grew up embracing dornish culture and even his children are more dornish than they are targaryen. there is a lot to be said about how maekar and dunk can bond wrt to dunk facing classism and maekar growing up with experiences of racism.
You know Baelor would be disappointed in Maekar and Dunk for having illegitimate children, primarily Maekar because he'd probably blame him for not setting up proper boundaries with Dunk, and would probably lecture Maekar on how irresponsible that is of him, only for Baelor to legitimize every Dunk/Maekar child on like their first birthday or something. he makes a whole ceremony of it.
my take on maekar and myriah: i don’t think she hated him (not really) but i do think there was always something strained between them, something that never quite settled into warmth. their bond feels marked from the very beginning. myriah nearly dies bringing him into the world and i can’t help but imagine that, in those moments before, she might have hoped for a daughter. someone who would feel wholly hers, someone who would anchor her in a place where she had always been made to feel foreign.
instead, she gets grumpy maekar: large, loud and uhm…. unmistakably targaryen.
and as he grows, that feeling only deepens. each year he looks less like her, less like dorne, and more like the court that never fully accepted her. the silver hair, the violet eyes, the temperament. it’s all there & it’s impossible for her not to see in him echoes of the very people who isolated her, who mocked her accent, her customs, her blood. in a way, maekar becomes an unintentional reminder of everything she had to endure to belong.
but it’s not just how he looks — it’s who he is. maekar is not easy to love in the instinctive way some children are. he’s sharp, intense, proud in a way that feels almost defensive, like he came into the world already braced against it.
where baelor is gentle and open, the kind of child who is mature for his age, kind to others, empathetic to a fault, brings flowers and seeks approval with soft gestures, maekar is rigid, difficult to read.
where aerys and rhaegel may be strange or troubled, they are still legible to her in a way maekar isn’t. with them, she knows how to reach in; with him, it’s like there’s always something just out of grasp.
and i think that frustrates her as much as it hurts. bc maekar isn’t just distant, he can be cutting. not necessarily out of cruelty for cruelty’s sake, but bc he doesn’t know how to soften himself. he says things plainly, sometimes harshly, carries himself with a kind of superiority that feels learned, absorbed from the very environment that rejected her. at his worst, he resembles the boys who laughed at her, the men who dismissed her, the courtiers who questioned her place and her children’s worth. and the tragedy is that he seems proud of it — proud to embody that legacy, to look like the conquerors rather than the conquered.
i also think that’s part of why his dynamic with aerion makes sense. maekar sees something familiar there : another boy shaped by the same fire, the same need to assert himself, the same sharpness. where others might recoil, maekar understands, defends him bc it feels like defending a version of himself.
for myriah, that creates an ongoing conflict. she loves him (he’s her son, after all) but loving him doesn’t come easily, and that’s smth she likely carries guilt over.
it’s easier, in a different way, with aerys and rhaegel, whose differences invite care rather than resistance. but maekar challenges her. he mirrors everything she had to survive, and he does it without seeming to question it.
and yet, i don’t think maekar is incapable of love. quite the opposite!! i think he loves her deeply. he just doesn’t know how to express it in a way that she can receive. there’s no softness in how he moves through the world, no instinct for gentleness. if anything, he prob believes that strength, distance + pride are the only ways to exist. so his love comes out wrong : too blunt, too guarded, sometimes even hurtful.
in the end, their relationship feels like a series of missed connections. she looks at him and sees a world that wounded her; he looks at her and, perhaps, sees something he doesn’t fully understand how to protect or comfort. there’s love there, but it’s buried under expectation & resentment
and to me this highlightes why maekar was so wholly devoted to dyanna. he yearned to connect to his mother, he yearned to experience dornish culture and that community, but was restricted from it due to his mother's rightful trauma. he is an outsider in his own home, and what is worse is that he cannot help that he looks like a targaryen and that he is who he is. and at a point i feel he gives up on ever wanting to be close to his mother.
but then here is dyanna, a dornish woman who chooses him out of her own free will and loves him. and not just introduces him to her culture but also reminds him that it IS his culture as much as it is hers, and it will be their children's, and that they are from the same cloth even if he doesn't look like it. i imagine dyanna because so spirited and proud of her dornish heritage, and maekar as someone who feels like he is an outsider is thrust into it because of her. she reminds him that despite his relationship with his mother he is loved, he is part of a culture that he thought he had no claim to.
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