A major point of Rhaenerya's character is that if she had done everything she has as a man, no one would care. Her brother has countless bastards that he does not care for and is literally infamous for groping and raping serving women. Rhaenerya has 3 bastards who have been legally legitamized in all ways possible (claimed by her husband Laenor, claimed by her husband's family the Velaryons, and affirmed by the king), is a dutiful mother to all of them, and clearly valued and loved all of her sexual companions (her Uncle Daemon, her personally chosen sworn protector Criston Cole, and her longterm lover Harwin Strong). She doesn't want to be a sad woman pumping out heirs like Alicent--she said as much to her. Rhaenerya is a woman who wants to have fun and love. Yet even though she is a stark constrast to the depraved sexual activity of Aegon, she is still a woman. That's the goddamn point. Being a woman in Westeros is hard. You are absolutely not meant to side with the sexist standards placed on women in this society. George writes female characters good, and I mean really fucking good. He would never put that much care into his female characters, making them feel like real people trapped in a backwards time, if he meant for us as the audience to judge them like the people of Westeros do. Absolutely not. Rhaenerya is indeed a gray character, this is the beauty of George's writing. Women get to be written as people too. People are not villains or heroes, they are people who do things right and do things wrong. To diminish the status of any character in ASOIAF to a villain (with some rare exceptions such as clear sociopaths like Ramsey Bolton, Biter, etc) is to ignore what this story is about. You're really not getting anything out of this show or this story if this is how you're thinking. That sucks, because it's good as hell.
People would still care if she was a man, you're just an ideologue. When a male bastard and his descendents all tried to claim the throne a few generations later, everybody cared. Rhaenyra was a shit person and a shit ruler, end of story.
This story still has heroes and villains, by the way. Real life has heroes and villains. The kind of stupidity you're typing out can only come from post-secondary.
I don't think it's that simple. She just lacks sense of duty and feel entitled to rule, because she can't accept herself being woman and have that social status. And it's nice she loves her children, but putting bastards on the throne is just brutal insult to Aegon and Aemond, being replaced by woman and then even her bastards isn't something king's legitimate son should just accept. Rhaenyra just wants to do everything her way and don't accept she should make some compromises, dragons will die and real will burn because of her actions.
@@honkeykong4049 No. George enjoys complex characters, characters with motivations we might be able to sympathize with if not for the way they act. Cersei is a character that at first seems like a 2 dimensional villain until you spend all of AFFC inside of her mind. George wrote this entire series to have dun combating and subverting this trope of ‘good guy and villain’ in fantasy stories. The books are really good…you should try reading it sometime! Or, if you have read them, try opening your eyes on your second go.
@@petrstanovsky7648 Both sides make more mistakes than they do good, justifiable choices. Rhaenerya isn’t the one person responsible for the Dance, her having bastards did not cause the Dance. She’s not properly fit to rule, I agree, but neither was Aegon I’s heir, Arys, when he became the lawful king. Arys’ weak rule as king created substantial instability in the newfound Tagaryen dynasty and newly created 7 kingdoms. This instability was worsened by the usurping of Aegon the Uncrowned by his uncle Maegor, who ruled cruelly over Westeros, and was eventually patched up by Jaehaerys, who himself usurped his sister Rhaena. Targaryen succession was messy from the start, a fatal flaw in an otherwise powerful dynasty. It’s not really about Rhaenerya. It’s about the downfall of a family, of a race of people, who thought having dragons would be enough to keep them on top forever. There is so much analysis and discussion that can come out of this story, it’s a shame all you guys want to do is whine about women lolll
✳️
*Rhaenyra actually swore on her mother to Alicent that Daemon never touched her, not that she remained a maiden*
Critical maester and empyrean speaks are both amazing channels as is yours keep going man the videos are great keep them coming man 💚
@@AegonTargaryenthesecond3096 thank you my king 💚
@@Lord_Zone_ no problem good ser thank you for your excellent opinion
A major point of Rhaenerya's character is that if she had done everything she has as a man, no one would care. Her brother has countless bastards that he does not care for and is literally infamous for groping and raping serving women. Rhaenerya has 3 bastards who have been legally legitamized in all ways possible (claimed by her husband Laenor, claimed by her husband's family the Velaryons, and affirmed by the king), is a dutiful mother to all of them, and clearly valued and loved all of her sexual companions (her Uncle Daemon, her personally chosen sworn protector Criston Cole, and her longterm lover Harwin Strong).
She doesn't want to be a sad woman pumping out heirs like Alicent--she said as much to her. Rhaenerya is a woman who wants to have fun and love. Yet even though she is a stark constrast to the depraved sexual activity of Aegon, she is still a woman. That's the goddamn point. Being a woman in Westeros is hard. You are absolutely not meant to side with the sexist standards placed on women in this society. George writes female characters good, and I mean really fucking good. He would never put that much care into his female characters, making them feel like real people trapped in a backwards time, if he meant for us as the audience to judge them like the people of Westeros do. Absolutely not.
Rhaenerya is indeed a gray character, this is the beauty of George's writing. Women get to be written as people too. People are not villains or heroes, they are people who do things right and do things wrong. To diminish the status of any character in ASOIAF to a villain (with some rare exceptions such as clear sociopaths like Ramsey Bolton, Biter, etc) is to ignore what this story is about. You're really not getting anything out of this show or this story if this is how you're thinking. That sucks, because it's good as hell.
People would still care if she was a man, you're just an ideologue. When a male bastard and his descendents all tried to claim the throne a few generations later, everybody cared. Rhaenyra was a shit person and a shit ruler, end of story.
This story still has heroes and villains, by the way. Real life has heroes and villains. The kind of stupidity you're typing out can only come from post-secondary.
I don't think it's that simple. She just lacks sense of duty and feel entitled to rule, because she can't accept herself being woman and have that social status. And it's nice she loves her children, but putting bastards on the throne is just brutal insult to Aegon and Aemond, being replaced by woman and then even her bastards isn't something king's legitimate son should just accept. Rhaenyra just wants to do everything her way and don't accept she should make some compromises, dragons will die and real will burn because of her actions.
@@honkeykong4049 No. George enjoys complex characters, characters with motivations we might be able to sympathize with if not for the way they act. Cersei is a character that at first seems like a 2 dimensional villain until you spend all of AFFC inside of her mind. George wrote this entire series to have dun combating and subverting this trope of ‘good guy and villain’ in fantasy stories. The books are really good…you should try reading it sometime! Or, if you have read them, try opening your eyes on your second go.
@@petrstanovsky7648 Both sides make more mistakes than they do good, justifiable choices. Rhaenerya isn’t the one person responsible for the Dance, her having bastards did not cause the Dance. She’s not properly fit to rule, I agree, but neither was Aegon I’s heir, Arys, when he became the lawful king. Arys’ weak rule as king created substantial instability in the newfound Tagaryen dynasty and newly created 7 kingdoms. This instability was worsened by the usurping of Aegon the Uncrowned by his uncle Maegor, who ruled cruelly over Westeros, and was eventually patched up by Jaehaerys, who himself usurped his sister Rhaena. Targaryen succession was messy from the start, a fatal flaw in an otherwise powerful dynasty. It’s not really about Rhaenerya. It’s about the downfall of a family, of a race of people, who thought having dragons would be enough to keep them on top forever. There is so much analysis and discussion that can come out of this story, it’s a shame all you guys want to do is whine about women lolll
💚preach
Haven’t liked rhaenyra from the start