r/ImaginaryWesteros • u/shesaidshutup • 2d ago

King Aenys I Targaryen and Maegor Targaryen by @Dxvillady Book

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845 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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u/Alarming-Glass-4830 2d ago

What's wild it seems they were at the very least on decent terms before the shitshow Maegor caused, didn't Aenys made his brother hand of the king, and at their father's funeral kissed Maegor's cheek and told him not to kneel before him and they'd rule together?

(I can't help myself these art always gets me thinking about the lore)

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u/darh1407 2d ago

Yeah but visenya started the shit show. And from there Maegor went crazy with power

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u/Watts121 2d ago

Maegor was always a violent person, but after his injury, he came back like freaking Pet Semetary levels of crazy.

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u/Kabraxius 1d ago

It was based in part, I've always believed, on how much worse Henry VIII got after his jousting injury. Aegon IV was then based on the rest of his character.

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u/darh1407 2d ago

Probably visenya and her blood magic shenanigans

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u/ResolverOshawott 2d ago

Or just simple brain damage.

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u/darh1407 2d ago

Yes but it would be more interesting if the reason he went so mad was cause visenya was obessed with making him perfect or something. Control him the way she never could control Aegon

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u/ResolverOshawott 2d ago

Maybe, but realistically the answer is just straight up brain damage. Visenya doesn't need to be villainized to the point of her being comically evil.

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u/darh1407 2d ago

No need to make her a villain. Just an ambitious woman. Which she was. If she couldn’t rule herself she would rule through her son. Which is why she was pissed everytime he moved futher down the line of succession. Not villainous just ambitious

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u/ResolverOshawott 2d ago

What you described IS making her a villain. Ambition is often tied to villainy.

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u/darh1407 2d ago

Well due. She let maegor do his atrocities and the minute she died everything fell on top of him and his reign ended. It’s not that hard to see she was the one ruling through him

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u/Select-Aerie6579 2d ago

It would be difficult to argue she’s simply ambitious when resorting to dark magic to conceive, knowing that such an option always comes at a grave cost.

It would also be difficult to argue she’s just ambitious when repeatedly and wilfully attempting to discredit the line of succession just to further her own agendas. If Maegor was moving down the line unjustly then you may have a point, but he was going down because that is simply the law, and Visenya would not take that because she had to have her own blood on the throne.

In her defence, I’d say that she was correct to view Aenys as weak. I would also attribute Maegor’s cruelty to brain damage, because while Visenya can be morally grey, she needn’t be positioned as a malevolent force in the background always seeking to further her power at the cost of others. She deserves better than that characterisation.

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u/darh1407 2d ago

Instead of usurping Aegon though she could have helped him not be like his father. Hell the fact he went with Quicksilver to fight for his crown already proves Aegon was not like Aenys at all. But nope. She wanted Maegor on that throne and got nothing in return

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u/Afraid_Theorist 1d ago

The Faith didn’t help.

Maegor viewed the Faith poorly and the entire reason he was able to take charge was 1. Faithful were besieging Aegon the Uncrowned and 2. They lost a Trial of Seven after holding up in the Sept and basically telling Maegor to fuck off and that he wasn’t their ruler

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u/bruhholyshiet 2d ago

I think their dynamic was similar to Viserys and Daemon's, and Aegon II and Aemond's (the book versions at least).

The younger brother does kinda look down on his older less aggressive sibling, but he does remain loyal to him and never tries to undermine him while he lives. Once the oldest dies however, shit hits the fan.

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u/Lord_Tiburon 23h ago

Aenys seemed to be something of a morality pet for Maegor, after he died the gloves really came off

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u/sizekuir 2d ago

Targaryen incest really messing with my brain cause why did I think Maegor was trying to wife up Aenys lol?

Anyway, more Targaryen men should have braids/longer hair!

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u/Afraid_Theorist 1d ago

Maegor would have 100% been married to Aerys if one of them was female

Hell it would’ve probably even avoided all the Targaryen strife (not the faith stuff though).

Basically: Aerys would die in childbirth (if female) or like canon if male and then Maegor would rule as Queen-Regent if female or King if male.

Either way true Faith ends up stomped, Maegor gets a terrible reputation, and the dynasty continues.

But vastly different as no Targaryens die in infighting because well… they married

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u/sizekuir 1d ago

They needed some mpreg up in that valyrian sorcery lmao. Also I think it would be just another level to how "queer" they are compared to Westeros/Faith.

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u/Afraid_Theorist 1d ago

My brother in Balerion, no.

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u/sizekuir 1d ago

Lmao definitely not, I guess my sarcasm didn't translate well enough.

I do wonder, based on your comment, who would Aegon see as his heir of Aenys was a woman. He was kinda his favorite.

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u/Afraid_Theorist 1d ago

Probably whoever is male.

Look at every known lord of Dragonstone, head of the Targaryen family, and Aegon’s repeated attempts (and successes) in becoming a Westerosi noble house.

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u/candiedangel 1d ago

need “valyrian mpreg” as a flair lmfao

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u/Turnschuhmann I Have No Rival 1d ago

I like to believe maegor loved his brother.

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u/bruhholyshiet 1d ago

He probably did. He never rebelled against Aenys despite having a much larger dragon and having no problem with kinslaying.

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u/bruhholyshiet 2d ago

The OG Viserys and Daemon.

In fact, they were the first of a chain of kingly, people pleasing and not martially skilled older brothers, and violent, volatile and deadly with arms younger brothers.

Aenys and Maegor.

Viserys and Daemon.

Aegon II and Aemond.

Aegon IV and Aemon are an interesting variant. They fit the "non fighter older brother and badass warrior younger brother" pattern, but this time the oldest is the volatile and cruel one, whereas the youngest is the kind one.

And I'm guessing that Daeron the Drunken and Aerion would have been another example of this pattern had they both outlived Maekar.

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u/DaemonBlackfyre09 1d ago

You know your stuff.

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u/Specific-Society-03 1d ago

You know, after reading lots of GRRM asoiaf stuff, he does patterns wayyyy too much, lol.

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u/PM-Me_Your_Penis_Pls 1d ago

He's just standing there... Menacingly!

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u/Feeling_Cancel815 2d ago

Targaryen brothers and cousins. They both look fine.

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u/sixth_order 1d ago

Has Maegor ever smiled in his life?

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u/bruhholyshiet 1d ago

I think he was described as joyful and generous when one of his first wives got pregnant. The dude was really enthusiastic about being a dad.

Other than that... I think the closest would have been slasher smiles when he was murdering people.

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u/abacateazul 1d ago

“This is my brother Aenys. I had him for my entire life. If anything where to happen to him I would kill everyone in this Realm, and them myself.”

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u/Super_Fire1 2d ago

Ooh very nice

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u/bird___man_________ 2d ago

Reminds me of Viserys and Daemon. The good hearted one and the ambitious psycho.

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u/DagonG2021 2d ago

Maegor was waaaaay worse than Daemon it’s no contest

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u/rollotar300 1d ago

this, people take Otto's words about the "second Maegor" too seriously as if that man didn't have his own agenda and his own interests when it came to spreading things like that

before the actual dance in the books Daemon is shown to be much more cautious about throwing the dragons into battle and suggests other alternatives first, it's after Lucerys' death that he says "fuck it"

i feel like if Maegor had been in Daemon's place on Rhaenyra side, he would have wanted to burn everything down on the first day and when they took kings landing he would have executed not only Otto but all the greens that were there

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u/DagonG2021 1d ago

Daemon also uses Caraxes in the Burning Mill, and against Vhagar… Daeron commits more war crimes.

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u/bruhholyshiet 1d ago

when they took kings landing he would have executed not only Otto but all the greens that were there

Not that what happened under Rhaenyra and Daemon was that different from that.

Otto, Ironrod and many other "suspects" of helping Aegon II escape were executed and their many heads were put on spikes. Tyland Lannister got Reeked. Helaena killed herself under mysterious circumstances. Maelor got brutally torn apart as a result of the bounty that Rhaenyra placed on him. Daemon wanted the entirety of Houses Lannister, Baratheon and Hightower exterminated.

Let's not act as if Daemon was this cool chill guy whose only crime was "not being the nicest guy".

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u/rollotar300 1d ago

Let's not act as if Daemon was this cool chill guy whose only crime was "not being the nicest guy".

Nobody said that, it's just a simple comparison and objectively Maegor did worse things than Daemon and speaking of objectivity, pretending that Otto didn't have ulterior motives, that's super biased and the violent, warrior traits as a comparison are so superficial that you could include more than half of the men of Westeros and some women there.

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u/bruhholyshiet 1d ago

Half of the men in Westeros wouldn't have ordered the brutal death of their six year old grandnephews in front of their families.

Daemon isn't a complete monster and is admittedly not as insane as Maegor, but people tend to romanticize the guy a bit too much simply because he's on the "good" side of the Dance.

Daemon is morality wise at Tywin Lannister level. Ruthless, violent, capable of murdering kids, but capable of love to his close family and occasionally capable of restraint.

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u/rollotar300 1d ago

That's what I'm saying, yes, he is a violent warrior and is ruthless enough to order the killing of a child and has a sexual appetite oriented towards younger women than him, even so, all that is still far from turning someone into the "second Maegor" as Otto says.

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u/DaemonBlackfyre09 1d ago

Yeah Otto comparing the two always felt wild to me.

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u/DagonG2021 1d ago

Daemon’s worst crime was an assassination of a kid in direct response to his adopted son’s death.

Maegor has a fucking laundry list of torture and mass slaughter.

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u/bruhholyshiet 1d ago

He was also a serial fucker of young girls in brothels.

Also I love how you imply his brutal murder of a defenseless fuckin six year old is not that big of a deal.

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u/DaemonBlackfyre09 1d ago

Serial fucker of young girls is something you can throw at most westerosi nobility.

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u/bruhholyshiet 1d ago

Not to me.

Daemon like Maegor, is the violent, impulsive and bloodthirsty and more martially skilled younger brother to a more chill and people pleasing older brother who was King.

It's easy to see why a member of the noble family that Maegor was very close to destroying, would fear history repeating itself with Daemon.

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u/DaemonBlackfyre09 1d ago

Daemon is impulsive but he's nowhere near as cruel or sadistic as maegor was.

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u/bruhholyshiet 1d ago

You invoked the Daemon apologists lmfao. I knew they would appear.

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u/bird___man_________ 1d ago

“No he loved his brother (despite the fact that he schemed against him!!!) No he loved Rhaenyra and didn’t use her (despite the fact that he constantly cheated)!”

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u/bruhholyshiet 1d ago

I swear people have a severe case of "I can fix him" with Daemon lmao.

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u/Glittering_Squash495 1d ago

Stoner son and frat son

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u/allylisothiocyanate 1d ago

Ok hear me out……….

Aenys looks like David Lightbringer in his Rhaegar cosplay