@horizon-verizon I’ve let this ask linger for weeks because I wasn’t emotionally ready to answer, but what better time than this, when Rhaelya art just got published by an official illustrator for the ASOIAF calendar! So, let’s get it on.
“There’s proving, and then there’s knowing”.
I will try, as much as I can, to limit the actual analysis of the facts and the clues to a minimum, because I’m not interested in proving anything by using arguments. There will be arguments, but that’s not my focus here. The discourse on Rhaegar and Lyanna is enormous and very traumatizing as it is. Instead, I will focus on what I felt while reading Rhaegar and Lyanna’s story, the impact their story had on me, the reader. Remember guys, this is not a court. This is art. In this particular art there are loopholes, there are gaps, there are contradictions, there are inconsistencies, there are multiple, highly subjective and often unreliable POV that say polar opposite things and then, in between all these problems that make proving a very complicated task, there is one single line, and this line is so thin that it’s almost imperceptible. But it exists, and it pierces through all the inconsistencies and the gaps and the loopholes and the contradictory POV in a manner that is, strangely, very consistent and steady and unique and has a very clear destination. That line is the core idea of the story the author wanted to tell. Think of it as Ariadne’s red thread, the x element that brings everything together. That line will be my focus here.
Let’s get the facts straight before focusing on that core idea.
Rhaegar was the rightful heir to the throne. Aerys arranged a marriage between him and Elia. They had a daughter, then the tourney of Harrenhall happened where Rhaegar showed his preference for Lyanna. At some point next year Rhaegar and Elia had a son, and then Rhaegar found out she couldn’t have more kids. Then at some point Lyanna disappeared, probably with Rhaegar, and it is said they spent the following months in the Tower of Joy in Dorne. Some say he loved her, some say he raped her. When Lyanna, who was betrothed to Robert (whom she didn’t want) disappeared, the Starks marched south to confront Rhaegar in KL, then Aerys considered them traitors and killed them, in a horrible way. Then Arryn started the Rebellion. At some point Aerys demanded Elia to leave DS and come to KL, probably to use her as bait for the Martells and also Rhaegar. Rhaegar came back to KL, at some point, to convince Aerys to summon Tywin, presumed an ally by all but Aerys himself, who feared him. Tywin didn’t respond. Rhaegar left with part of the Kinsguard (the others have been sent away by Aerys beforehand) and entrusted Jaime with Elia and his children’s lives. But Rhaegar was killed by Robert, and 3 Kingsguards weren’t enough to ensure that nobody approached Lyanna in the Tower : Ned did, and found her dying inside. When Rhaegar fell, Tywin came in KL, presented himself as an ally to deceive Aerys who ordered the guards to open the gates, and then he ordered the Sack of KL and the deaths of Elia and her children, something that Robert also considered necessary and had no regrets for. Quite the contrary, it was thanks to these murders that Robert considered Tywin an ally. After the murders, Oberyn wanted revenge, and part of his revenge was him actively planning a Targaryen restoration. Which didn’t happen, for house Targaryen fell along with Rhaegar.
So this is the factual basis of the story. Let’s look at the actual story.
We are first properly introduced to Rhaegar by two extremely unreliable characters. One is Viserys, his brother, the other is Robert, his foil (I don’t remember who was the first person who mentioned his name, but these two characters are the first to say something specific for his character in the book). Viserys told Dany that Rhaegar “died for the woman he loved”. But is he right? Robert on the other hand hates Rhaegar out of jealousy, and his hatred has turned into “madness” according to Ned. He claims Rhaegar raped Lyanna a thousand times. So which is it? Who was Rhaegar truly?
Let’s start with Cersei’s very vivid memories of the young prince.
“Seventeen and new to knighthood, Rhaegar Targaryen had worn black plate over golden ringmail when he cantered onto the lists. Long streamers of red and gold and orange silk had floated behind his helm, like flames. Two of her uncles fell before his lance, along with a dozen of her father’s finest jousters, the flower of the west. By night the prince played his silver harp and made her weep”.
Dany also asks Barristan what was Rhaegar truly like.
Able. That above all. Determined, deliberate, dutiful, single-minded […] bookish to a fault […] Until one day he found something in his scrolls that changed him. No one knows what it might have been, only that the boy suddenly appeared early one morning in the yard as the knights were donning their steel. He walked up to Ser Willem Darry, the master-at-arms, and said, ‘I will require sword and armor. It seems I must be a warrior”.
He was a charming, comely, bookish prince that became a warrior, for the prophecy, despite the fact that he didn’t enjoy that, according to Barristan.
"He never loved the song of swords the way that Robert did, or Jaime Lannister. It was something he had to do, a task the world had set him. He did it well, for he did everything well. That was his nature. But he took no joy in it. Men said that he loved his harp much better than his lance".
It was a sense of duty that led him to that path. He didn’t enjoy violence, like Robert. That wasn’t his way.
“there was a melancholy to Prince Rhaegar, a sense . . of doom. He was born in grief, my queen, and that shadow hung over him all his days.”
So Rhaegar was a melancholic, bookish young man who loved the harp, but somehow got convinced that he had a big part to play in the upcoming war for the Dawn, and with that came great responsibility. But was he good? Was he loved? Ned tells us this:
“For the first time in years, he found himself remembering Rhaegar Targaryen. He wondered if Rhaegar had frequented brothels; somehow he thought not.”
What a contrast with Robert, the brave nobleman who came to Lyanna’s rescue. Robert, the brave warrior, Robert the drunk, Robert the canon abuser and rapist, Robert who had sex with a girl so young that it shocked Ned, in a context where 13-14 yo girls were considered of age. But again, that wasn’t Rhaegar’s way. Barristan tells us:
“Viserys seemed to be his father’s son, in ways that Rhaegar never did” […]
“There is some good to be said of my father, surely?” “There is, Your Grace. Of him, and those who came before him. Your grandfather Jaehaerys and his brother, their father Aegon, your mother . . . and Rhaegar. Him most of all.”
Daenerys :“I wish I could have known him.” Her voice was wistful.
Barristan : “I wish he could have known you”.
“ Barristan Selmy had known many kings […] It was his failures that haunted him at night, though. Jaehaerys, Aerys, Robert. Three dead kings. Rhaegar, who would have been a finer king than any of them".
This is in line with the smallfolk’s opinion on Rhaegar:
“When the day comes that you raise your banners, half of Westeros will be with you,” Whitebeard promised. “Your brother Rhaegar is still remembered, with great love.”
"The cheers of the smallfolk had echoed off Casterly Rock like rolling thunder. They cheered Father twice as loudly as they cheered the king, the queen recalled, but only half as loudly as they cheered Prince Rhaegar"
And then Cersei remembers bitterly the rejection…
“Dry those tears, little one. Have you ever seen a lion weep? Your father will find another man for you, a better man than Rhaegar.”
[...] her father had failed her […] Father found no better man. Instead, he gave me Robert […] She had never forgiven Robert for killing him […] The wrong man came back from the Trident”.
The wrong man. Robert was the wrong man. The right man was dead. And that death haunts not one, but many ASOIAF characters throughout the books.
“When Ned had finally come on the scene, Rhaegar lay dead in the stream, while men of both armies scrabbled in the swirling waters for rubies knocked free of his armor”.
And Jaimie…. I have difficulty recalling excerpts from the books that are more harrowing than the following:
“Prince Rhaegar burned with a cold light, now white, now red, now dark. “I left my wife and children in your hands.”
“I never thought he’d hurt them.” Jaime’s sword was burning less brightly now. “I was with the king…” [...]
“The day had been windy when he said farewell to Rhaegar, in the yard of the Red Keep. […] Rhaegar had put his hand on Jaime’s shoulder. “When this battle’s done I mean to call a council. Changes will be made. I meant to do it long ago, but... well, it does no good to speak of roads not taken. We shall talk when I return.”
Those were the last words Rhaegar Targaryen ever spoke to him. […] the Prince of Dragonstone mounted up and donned his tall black helm, and rode forth to his doom.”
“Rhaegar lost on the Trident. He lost the battle, he lost the war, he lost the kingdom, and he lost his life. His blood swirled downriver with the rubies from his breastplate, and Robert the Usurper rode over his corpse to steal the Iron Throne. Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died .”
That’s Rhaegar’s story. I insist on mainly using the actual text, because I don’t believe it is emphasized enough by the fandom unfortunately, and the text speaks for itself. No need to complicate art so much. These quotes are far, far, FAR more important in helping us understand the story than the endless debates over details that are more the result of loopholes and inconsistencies in the story than the result of the story itself.
The problem with Rhaegar is this though : he was married, with kids. And he left his wife and kids and then he died, and then his whole family was killed as a result. And he did that for Lyanna. That’s the issue with Rhaegar, that’s also the point of his whole tragic story. Everything depended on him, his family, his father, his House, the Realm. Everything depended on one single man, and that man decided in a folly to run away with a girl he fell in love with, in a politically tense moment. Because it is obvious, more than obvious, that he was in love with her, and she was in love with him.
He loved her, he died whispering her name. No, it wasn’t the prophecy. Rhaegar felt responsible and weary because of the prophecy, yes, but that’s not enough for him to actively look around and impregnate women randomly because of the prophecy. That wasn’t in his nature. There is no factual basis for that, nor is this in any way reflected on what people said or felt about the man. And obviously, the author never thought about it that way. It’s perverse to even think about it, but, you know, fandom's pillars of faith and all.
Rhaegar loved Lyanna and Lyanna loved Rhaegar. Lyanna wasn’t some poor victim. No, she didn't get locked up in a tower to die. That's not the story, guys. Lyanna run off with the man she loved to escape from her betrothed, a man she held no esteem for, a womanizer who frequented brothels, a man who only pretended to love her, because he was simply rotten inside. Lyanna knew that, despite her young age. Lyanna the willful, Lyanna the Wolf, Lyanna the Knight of the Laughing Tree. She was lively and strong and full of light, a sharp contrast to Rhaegar’s melancholy and grief. Robert only saw her beauty, Ned tells us, not the Iron underneath. Robert didn’t see it, but Rhaegar did, Rhaegar, who was all the things Robert wasn’t, kind, gentle, sensible, a dreamer in a sense. Of course they loved each other. “Lyanna…. was fond of flowers”. Is Ned talking about flowers here? Lyanna died with winter roses in her hands, the same roses that were on the crown Rhaegar gave her, the roses that Ned is bringing on her grave, bringing Rhaegar to her.
Of course they couldn’t be together. The role their romance played in Robert's rebellion is obvious, but overstated nonethelesss. The role their romance played in Elia's death is even more exaggerated by the fandom. In this thread the three main accusations against Rhaegar are dubunked:
- "Rhaegar is to blame for Elia's death" : no he's not. (I've also written about that in this thread so I won't bother with the same arguments here). The Lannisters are to blame, and Robert Baratheon. No, Rhaegar didn't "abandon" Elia in KL, like she was in the middle of Sahara. That's fandom nonsense. Elia should be the only one to survive, had it not been for Lannister's treason. Rhaegar tried to save all of them, Lyanna in the Tower and Elia and his family in KL and his House and his Crown. He failed, because Robert killed him.
- "Rhaegar should have expected the war" : no he shouldn't. Not necessarily. There is precedent in ASOIAF, he should have expected exile, a destroyed reputation, maybe a forced betrothal between the houses, and a revolt, at most. An actual war that destroyed his house? Oh no. And that's because the 3rd accusation isn't true:
- "Rhaegar and Lyanna's romance is solely to blame for the war" : no it isn't. The Starks came south, Aerys executed them, and Arryn started the rebellion. These are very important facts that come between Lyanna's disappearance and the actual war, facts that do not solely depend on Rhaelya. Rhaelya is the tragic couple in the center of the story, the catalyst, yes, that doesn't mean that literally everything is directly caused by them. What of Aery's madness? What of Robert's fragile ego and obsession with killing? What of Lannisters' treason and monstrosity? How far are we willing to go in order to demonize two people for falling in love when they are surrounded by such vileness?
Rhaegar and Lyanna were two willful people who tried to live in a way that was authentic to them, in a context that didn't allow them that. That's what they were, and that's what they did. Yes, that event was the catalyst for every horrible thing that followed : Rhaegar and Lyanna's death, the fall of House Targaryen, Daenery's exile, Elia's rape and death, the execution of the Starks, Lannisters' ascent to power. But it was the catalyst as far as narrative is concerned and not from an ethical standpoint. That's precisely the reason why Rhaegar's fall is so unbelievably tragic in the story. GRRM more than implies to the reader that if Rhaegar had managed to depose his father in the way he wanted to, the future of the realm and of all our characters would be better. Rhaegar's fall is the moment when everything went wrong in this story. It may seem that it's the opposite, but it's not. That's why the outcome of Robert's Rebellion feels so unearned, it feels...dirty, in a way. Rhaegar's and Lyanna's ghosts don't just haunt Ned, Jaime, Barristan, Cersei, Jorah, Aemon. They haunt the whole story, they haunt us, the readers. What happened to them was unfair, it was wrong, just as wrong as what happened to Elia and her kids, the House Targaryen and the Realm in general.
That's the core idea of Rhaegar and Lyanna's story, and also the general story called A Song of Ice and Fire, (a phrase that first Rhaegar uses for his son, giving us the story title). It is everywhere in the text, if one lets the text breathe and speak for itself without biases and without trying to rationalise and sterilize it. There is an injustice that happened there.
It's Dany's and Jon's mission to correct that.
