In Defense of Aegon Targaryen, Second of his Name

In the eighth episode of House of the Dragon – “Lord of the Tides” – King Viserys Targaryen died of his long-standing illnesses (or whatever was going on with that poor guy), following an eventful family dinner where the king begged his family to reconcile. To reconcile if not for the realm, but for him.

With the king’s passing, the previously stable political environment in Westeros was poised to plunge into a totally normal peaceful transition of power. After all, Viserys had clearly and publicly established his daughter Rhaenyra Targaryen as his heir, and so she should simply take in hand the reins of power and guide the realm, serviceably.

Or mayhaps, there would be the political chaos that had been long predicted.

Rhaenys Targaryen: Men would sooner put the realm to the torch, than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne.

If the Queen Who Never Was was correct, then there would be a looming succession crisis at hand.

In the first episode, “The Heirs of the Dragon”, it appeared that any potential conflict brewing from Viserys’ death would be between his scoundrel younger brother Daemon Targaryen and the king’s daughter Princess Rhaenyra, whom had been designated as heir. The political situation drastically updated throughout the season, with Rhaenyra eventually joining forces (and families) with Daemon, and King Viserys’ second wife Alicent providing the king with a son (and other children.)

As early as the third episode, “Second of His Name,” this eldest son from Alicent, Aegon, was being touted as Viserys’ probable heir by certain members of the realm.

Hobert Hightower: Hail, hail Aegon, the Conqueror-Babe, Second of His Name

Touted notably from a number of eldest noble sons who’d inherited the family lands and titles. People who’ve inherited power tend to support the structures of inheritance that benefited them in the first place, which means they’d favor an eldest son to inherit.

The problem with these lords assuming that Aegon would default be the heir, per the traditional rules of dudes ruling, was that Viserys had explicitly and conspicuously specified that Rhaenyra was his heir. He’d had a big ceremony about it. Had had lords swear fealty to that specific point. Had named her husband Laenor Velaryon to be Rhaenyra’s Consort, with her children directly in line to take the throne and to have a name change from the paternal line Velaryon to the maternal line Targaryen.

Tradition might call for Aegon to be the heir, potentially to be crowned as second of his name (second since there had previously been some random Aegon with a crown – who can keep track of all these names?) And Viserys, according to Vaemond Velaryon moments before his mostly-beheading, had wrongly broken law and centuries of tradition to install Viserys’ daughter as heir.

With “The Lord of the Tides” formally ushering in this challenge to Rhaenyra’s children’s legitimacy – which threatened to challenge Rhaenyra’s claim as a consequence – perhaps it is worthwhile to examine Aegon Targaryen’s standing claim, being held in reserve by Alicent’s “Green” party. As expressed previously by Alicent, there is a claim.

Queen Alicent: If Rhaenyra comes into power your very life could be forfeit. Aemond’s as well. She could move to cut off any challenge to her succession.
Aegon Targaryen: Then I won’t challenge —
Alicent: YOU ARE THE CHALLENGE! You are the challenge, Aegon!

The easy argument in favor of Aegon’s claim is that Varys’ riddle of power suggests that people are making all of this up as they go along. They could just ignore Viserys’ wishes. That’s not necessarily a good argument, since the lords of Westeros could also just decide that Ser Criston Cole would make a good king. They could do that, but that would be making things up a bit too much.

People seem poised to disagree on quite a lot in regards to the succession, but probably everyone agrees that Aegon Targaryen has a better claim than Ser Criston Cole.

Lords wanting to support Aegon over Rhaenyra simply because they prefer the perceived convenience of having a king rather than a queen might be relieved to discover that Queen Alicent could reassure them that on his death-bed, King Viserys seemingly reversed his decision and indicated to his wife that their son Aegon was the prince that was promised, who would unite the realm.

Can this be enough to set aside Rhaenyra’s established claim, and install Aegon Targaryen as King Aegon, the Second of His Name?

That seems a bit of a stretch. The lords of Westeros are not watching House of the Dragon and don’t have the context that Viserys’ final words had absolutely nothing to do with a desire to support his eldest son to be king. But even so, there’s no witnesses to this event except for Alicent, and the level of her self-interest involved would make any declaration like this a target for healthy skepticism.

In the interest of fairness, this should not give Aegon a claim over Rhaenyra. It just wouldn’t be honorable.

In an ideal world, Aegon would just have to accept that he is further down the line of succession than his mother would believe. But how far down the line is he? If something happened to Rhaenyra, what then?

Debating and speculating on succession issues can be deadly dull, so now might be a good time to bring in a guest commentator.

Sometime in the future of Westeros, Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark will be dealing with the death of another king, with a tricky succession and various deceptions in play. He will be thrown in the Black Cells under the Red Keep, suffering from privations and a previous leg injury. Ned will begin to fear that he’s going out of his mind, stuck in the dark with only the ghosts of his past for company.

Through the power of Imagination, we can get his insights into how things should go in this particular succession matter, from an honorable viewpoint.

Lord Eddard, is it okay if I call you Ned?

Ned Stark: What? Who’s there?

This is just a voice in your head, you’ve been in the Black Cells for some time.

Ned: I’ve gone mad.

Lets assume that you haven’t. To help pass the time, maybe you can answer a few questions.

Ned: I have nothing better to do. Just don’t bedevil me.

Who would have the stronger claim when a king dies, the king’s brother or the king’s son?

Ned: The son.

But you would support Lord Stannis to be next in line for the throne over Prince Joffrey.

Ned: Joffrey is a bastard, and not of Robert’s blood.

Would you then support Edric Storm, King Robert’s acknowledged bastard son, over Stannis? He is of Robert’s blood.

(Show watchers, this is a book situation, just that pretend Edric Storm refers to good-looking Gendry.)

Ned: What?

Sorry, please continue. Edric Storm versus Stannis.

Ned: I would support Edric over Joffrey mayhaps, but Edric is not trueborn and so his claim is tainted. Stannis has the truer claim in this.

If King Robert had legitimized Edric Storm through royal decree and made him Edric Baratheon, would he have a better claim than Stannis?

Ned: Aye, although that would be a folly to imagine. Robert believed he had trueborn sons. To promote a bastard up would cause strife and tension, particularly with the adder at his breast.

You mean, Queen Cersei?

Ned: It is not mete for me to call her that, but in the privacy of my thoughts, I’ll speak my mind. But Edric’s taint would be removed, and his claim would be strong. But the Lannister children would have to be exposed as bastards.

How much do you remember of the Dance of the Dragons after King Viserys died?

Ned: I might be in chains, but I am no maester. Maester Luwin could endlessly talk about the topic if asked, but I preferred Old Nan’s stories about it. I mostly remember what the North was doing during this time.

No worries, just asking. You recall that Princess Rhaenyra had been named heir by Viserys, and she in turn had designated her son Jacaerys to be her heir.

Ned: I remember Jace. I do. Rhaenyra was the rightful queen.

No one here is arguing otherwise. But Jacaerys, is his claim better than Rhaenyra’s half-brother Aegon? His uncle?

Ned: Aegon, the eldest son from Queen Alicent? Jace was the rightful queen’s heir.

But, and this may or may not be a surprise to you, Jacaerys was the bastard son of Harwin Strong, and not the son of Rhaenyra’s husband Laenor.

Ned: I don’t wish to dignify rumors. Laenor never claimed that Jace was not his son.

Robert also never claimed that Joffrey was not his son, and he likewise named him as heir when he was dictating his last words.

Ned: Don’t bedevil me, I said.

There’s no judgment here! In a sense, you were more honorable by changing those last words to be Robert’s “heir” instead of naming Joffrey Baratheon to be the next king, explicitly. Because you felt that Robert would not want to have him be king had he known the truth.

Ned: I said don’t bedevil me, but also don’t patronize me. It was still deceptive of me to not faithfully record Robert’s words. The honorable course would have been to tell Robert the truth, and then let him name whomever should succeed him. He could name Stannis, he could name Edric and legitimize him, he could even name Renly – although Stannis would not like that. As king he could do that. It would have been honest and honorable.

So, back to Jace. Rhaenyra and Laenor falsely claimed that he was their trueborn son, but he was not. They never acknowledged his bastard status.

Ned: You can’t compare Jace to Joffrey. Jace was at the very least a Targaryen, the blood of Rhaenyra.

Then why shouldn’t Edric Storm, who is of Robert’s blood, not have a stronger claim than Stannis?

Ned: Because he was a bastard, I answered that. Robert had honestly acknowledged Edric’s parentage, but had not legitimized him. Stannis honorably has the better claim.

But, there’s a deception about Jacaerys’ parentage. He’s Rhaenyra’s son, but he’s still a bastard.

Ned: As queen, she could make that right, and make him a Targaryen.

And until she does, his claim is weaker than his uncle Aegon’s?

Ned: I am sick of talking about Targaryens and trueborn sons and bastards.

Fine. Is it honorable that someone, anyone, conceals the true parentage of a child?

Ned: —

Was it honorable for Laenor to pretend that Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey were his sons when they weren’t?

Ned: It was not honorable. But there are other issues besides honor. I wish to be left alone now.

Taking Ned Stark’s lead as a Westerosi Lord who tries to do right – Alicent’s Aegon seems to have a good claim in regards to Rhaenyra’s heir Jacaerys, since Rhaenyra was maintaining the deception that Jacaerys is her trueborn son with Laenor, and not her bastard son with Harwin Strong.

Aegon might not have the better claim in regards to Rhaenyra, but if it was a legal matchup between Aegon and Jacaerys, say, in front of a Great Council where no one is going to be beheaded for speaking the truth – it’s likely that Aegon would prevail.

Unless people actually knew Aegon, because he’s a terrible person and should be kept far away from the throne; while Jacaerys is by all impressions an excellent person. But unfortunately personality traits don’t always have weight on these matters.

Renly Baratheon: EXCEPT WHEN THEY SHOULD.
Catelyn Stark: I wish that you two would just set aside your differences and address the common threat of the Lannisters. Let a Great Council decide in the future when all is done.
Stannis Barathon: *grinding teeth* NO.

But there’s no need to have a council-adjudicated contest between Aegon Targaryen and Jacaerys Velaryon which could risk the realm falling into Aegon’s hands.

The more decisive matchup is between Aegon Targaryen and Aegon Targaryen. Or rather, Aegon the Elder, the firstborn son of Viserys Targaryen and Alicent Hightower, and Aegon the Younger, the firstborn son of Rhaenyra Targaryen and Daemon Targaryen.

In the eighth episode, King Viserys (and viewers) were introduced to little Aegon Targaryen and his brother, Viserys Targaryen, Daemon’s sons with Rhaenyra. It’s fun to point out that Viserys was not only meeting his grandsons at that moment, but also his nephews. (When Viserys first met Joffrey Velaryon in “The Princess and the Queen,” he was meeting his grandson and his cousin at the same time.)

Regardless of the arguably legitimate or illegitimate statuses of Jace, Luke, and Joffrey Velaryon, Aegon (the Younger) Targaryen checks off all of the legitimacy boxes.

He’s the firstborn trueborn son of Rhaenyra with an acknowledged husband, Daemon. Since Rhaenyra is Viserys’ heir, if no other declarations of heirs had been made, Aegon (the Younger) would by default inherit following the rules of primogeniture. The standing rules had been amended by Viserys specifically to allow him to designate Rhaenyra over Daemon (setting aside male-preference primogeniture) — and Viserys had further decreed in his negotiations with Corlys Velaryon that strict primogeniture should be the rule (eldest child, regardless of gender.)

The male-preference vs strict primogeniture doesn’t really matter much here, since Aegon (the Younger) is a male and that works in both cases.

But Jacaerys had been named heir, but again, just like Aegon (the Elder) might defeat Jace’s claim in council, should a council evaluate Aegon (the Younger)’s claim against Jace’s – for any reason, unless Rhaenyra had taken steps to fully legitimize Jace, little Aegon has the stronger claim.

So, no matter what Hobert Hightower says, the Aegon most supported by traditional inheritance rights to be one day referred to as Aegon Targaryen, Second of His Name, would be Aegon the Younger, Rhaenyra’s Aegon with Daemon.

If Aegon the Elder wants to legitimately be known as Aegon the Second, he’ll have to get busy killing off a bunch of family members, specifically his nephew Aegon, before the younger gets crowned.

If anyone refers to Aegon (the Elder) as Aegon II, even if they are being dismissive or complaining about him, then they are either explicitly opposing Rhaenyra’s legitimate claim (that’s treason) or otherwise buying in on Hightower propaganda (probably still treason.)

Just so that’s clear. As far as this article is concerned, the Aegon with the strongest claim (among Aegons at the very least) would be Rhaenyra’s Aegon.

Daemon Targaryen: Imagine that, Otto. You suggested Rhaenyra be made heir to prevent me from taking the throne. And thanks to my incredible charisma, it’s quite possible that I’m the sire of the next king. Perhaps you’ll join me in a rousing cry of Hail, hail Aegon Targaryen, Second of His Name?
Otto Hightower: If you like. No need for me to specify which Aegon I mean.
Rhaenyra Targaryen: Tis strange to see you two united in supplanting me. I’m not dead yet. No Aegon should be called Second of His Name, yet.
Aegon Targaryen: Not yet.