Daenerys Month Day 2- Underrated relationships and dynamics :Rhaella and Daenerys Targaryen
Queen Rhaella died giving birth to her daughter, so unfortunately Dany has no memory of her mother. All she has is Viserys’ memories of her when he feels gallant enough to share them.
For a mother and daugther duo who never got to interact those two share some - tragic- similarities in their lives.
1. Abusive older brother:
In Rhaella’s case, Aerys wasn’t only her brother but her husband as well. That doesn’t change the fact that he was first her older brother and since he always knew he would marry his little sister, he also considered her his to torment.
But whenever Aerys gave a man to the flames, Queen Rhaella would have a visitor in the night. The day he burned his mace-and-dagger Hand, Jaime and Jon Darry had stood at guard outside her bedchamber whilst the king took his pleasure. “You’re hurting me,” they had heard Rhaella cry through the oaken door.
Similarly, his son, Viserys, thought that his sister belonged to him not only to marry one day but also abuse as well. When he decides to marry her to Drogo, his abuse doesn’t stop.
But when she told her brother, Viserys had twisted her hair until she cried. “You are blood of the dragon,” he had screamed at her. “A dragon, not some smelly fish.”
Viserys slid close to Dany on her silver, dug his fingers into her leg, and said, “Please him, sweet sister, or I swear, you will see the dragon wake as it has never woken before.”
2. Abusive husband:
Aerys was a worse husband than Drogo because at least the latter didn’t beat his wife every time he had a fit. However, unlike what the got showrunners would like you to believe ( by calling Drogo x Dany a love story) Dany was sexually abused by her husband. The fact that she came to endure it and even have fond feelings for her husband says more about this poor girl’s familization with abuse - she grew up with Viserys after all- than about Drogo’s behavior.
Yet every night, some time before the dawn, Drogo would come to her tent and wake her in the dark, to ride her as relentlessly as he rode his stallion. He always took her from behind, Dothraki fashion, for which Dany was grateful; that way her lord husband could not see the tears that wet her face, and she could use her pillow to muffle her cries of pain. When he was done, he would close his eyes and begin to snore softly and Dany would lie beside him, her body bruised and sore, hurting too much for sleep.
3. Knights failed them
In folk tales and legend sagas, knights are always portrayed noble and save those in need, especially good and helpless ladies. However, Martin likes to deconstruct those tropes and most of the knights that appeared in Rhaella and Daenerys’ lives failed them.
Rhaella was surrounded by the Kingsguards who were supposed to be the most fair knights in the seven kingdoms. Still none of them jumped in to save her from her abusive husband. Because their loyality was first and foremost to Aerys, the King of Westeros.
“We are sworn to protect her as well,“ Jaime had finally been driven to say. ”We are,“ Darry allowed, ”but not from him.“
In Dany’s case, on the first chapters appears a knight - Ser Jorah- who seems to have her best interest at heart and is willing to advice the young girl on various subjects. We find out much later that he was hired by King Robert Baratheon to kill her and her unborn child. While Jorah regrets the orders he got and eventually genuinely supports her, he never confesses the truth. Dany finds out second hand from Ser Barristan Selmy.
"I am dreaming,” she said. “A waking dream, a walking dream. I am alone and lost.”
Lost, because you lingered, in a place that you were never meant to be, murmured Ser Jorah, as softly as the wind. Alone, because you sent me from your side.
“You betrayed me. You informed on me, for gold.”
At the beginning of the third parallel I said that most knights fail them. Because there are still a few exceptions. The best example is Ser Willem Darry, who was the one who rescued infant Daenerys and young Viserys from Dragonstone. When she lived for a short period with him, it was the only time Dany felt secure and happy as a child. Dany’s loyal bloodriders while not being knights also fall into that category.
4. miscarriages & stillbirths:
Mother and daughter both had difficult pregnancies that unfortunately ended tragically.
Here is what The World of Ice and Fire tells us about Rhaella on this subject:
Relations between the king and queen grew even more strained when Rhaella proved unable to give Aerys any further children. Miscarriages in 263 and 264 were followed by a stillborn daughter born in 267. Prince Daeron, born in 269, survived for only half a year. Then came another stillbirth in 270, another miscarriage in 271, and Prince Aegon, born two turns premature in 272, dead in 273.
As for poor Dany, her son with Drogo, Rhaego, is stillborn. A couple of years later, she suffers a miscarriage - of a pregnancy she wasn’t aware of- as she rides Drogon.
5. Protector of the weak
Rhaella and Dany know what it feels like to be afraid for your life and in constant pain. And they both step in to protect people they consider their responsibility from being abused.
Rhaella dismissed plenty of her ladies in order to protect them from her husband
Sadly, the marriage between Aerys II Targaryen and his sister, Rhaella, was not as happy; though she turned a blind eye to most of the king’s infidelities, the queen did not approve of his “turning my ladies into his whores.” (Joanna Lannister was not the first lady to be dismissed abruptly from Her Grace’s service, nor was she the last).
As for Dany, we need to look not further from all those people she can liberated who lovingly call her “Mhysa” aka Mother.
