House of the Dragon – The Targaryen dynasty is destined to fail

This 300-year dynasty made fatal mistakes.

The Targaryen dynasty began when Aegon I and his two wives (sisters) united the six kingdoms on dragonback. In the years that followed, Aegon devoted his efforts to consolidating the kingship and legacy of the family that would rule for more than three hundred years on this continent. However, despite the efforts of its descendants, this dynasty eventually came to an end and even outstanding descendants like Daenerys or chosen by fate like Aegon VI (Jon Snow) could not be revived. this dynasty. The reign of the dragons was simply destined to fail, because of a series of poor decisions on their part.

No attempt is made to reconcile the two cultural sources

Up to now, a detail that has received little attention is that the Targaryen family is in fact not native to the continent of Westeros. In Game of Thrones, the new lord of Highgarden, Randyll Tarly, once reminded Tyrion that no matter how bad Cersei is, she is still Westeros by blood. In House of the Dragon, Daemon once told his wife Laena that Valyria had fallen and now the Targaryens and Velaryons belonged nowhere. These observations remind us that the ruling family of Westeros is foreign, and also shed light on the family’s first mistake – they did not try to assimilate into Westeros. House Taragaryen has conquered an entire continent, but they still consider their Valyrian roots to be superior.

This shows very clearly that in Daenerys’s time, she did not follow the main religion of Westeros despite calling it home. That and refusing to learn lessons from the ending of his late father, the Mad King. But this factor is even more evident than in House of the Dragon. Becoming religious, as well as building temples to the Mother, the Blacksmith… have been political moves since Aegon’s time, and the Targaryens still do not pray or practice the traditions of Westeros. Remember, the Targaryens still speak their own language in front of their Westerosi subjects, carry out old Valyrian traditions, give their names in their native language…all in all, they constantly remind the noble houses of Westeros that they came from another continent and used force to tame the families of the four directions.

Not trying to integrate into Westeros culture is also a sign that the Targaryens believe in the superiority that the Valyrian lineage brings to them and there is no need to dilute this lineage. Thus, they conquered an entire continent, but stood apart as a strange subject. The proof is that they only accept being close to other Westeros families when the dragons are gone.
If the Targaryens can be wise rulers and maintain their strength, nothing will happen. But if the family produces only tyrants and their power falters, the consequences are unimaginable. And it came in the form of Robert Baratheon’s rebellion and the destruction of most of the Targaryens.

Depends on the dragons

What made the Targaryens the ultimate symbol of power was also one of the factors that weakened their dynasty. Remember, these beasts are the true source of the clan’s power. The three greatest dragons of all time, including Balerion, Vhagar and Meraxes, made Aegon I’s conquest easy, and the years of power that followed were not difficult at all. Perhaps that’s why the Targaryen family has never experienced the struggle or had the motivation to become less dependent on them or find another source of soft power. As a result, the Targaryens after the Dance of the Dragons always face the risk of usurpation and can only hold the Iron Throne because of an extremely convenient tradition – legal inheritance, but this is extremely important. fragile.

Even in the time of Maegor I the Cruel, no one in Westeros dared to stand up to him, for the dragon Balerion still hovered in the sky. The kings after Dance of the Dragons were mostly wise or did not do anything excessive. But when the Mad King caused too many corpses, unpopular with both the people and the noble families, the rebellion caused the Targaryen family to collapse because at that time there were no Targaryen dragons left to rely on.

Incestuous

One of the strange traditions of the Targaryen family is to practice inbreeding, such as having siblings, uncles, or first-degree cousins marry each other for many generations. For example, Viserys I and Daemon are the children of the siblings Balon and Alyssa Targaryen.

For Valyrians, this is tradition, but for Westeros, this is a terrible insult. Of course, when dragons were still flying in the sky, no one dared to say anything, it was just a “strange custom” of the royal family. But the consequences for the Targaryens were terrible. Half of their descendants are abnormal, and the rest are crazy. And this tradition only distances them further from the rest of Westeros.

In addition, marrying each other caused the Targaeryen family to miss out on opportunities to connect and expand the political networks necessary for the family. Political marriage, although very cruel, is an extremely effective move to strengthen alliances. Witness the Tully family’s actions and see that two of this family’s daughters married Stark and Arryn respectively, giving the Tully family extremely powerful allies from North to South.

However, this choice of inbreeding for the Targaryens may be the only way for them to retain their ability to connect with dragons. Because apparently only strong Targaryen blood can ride a dragon.

Internal fighting

Every royal family has infighting, but the Dragon family in particular makes it extremely bloody. The most critical moment calls for family unity, but all there is is discord and power struggles. The Dance of the Dragons may have been the most horrific civil war event, but it was not the only civil war. Infighting began practically as soon as Aegon I died. All Targaryens should have shown common unity or been as tactful as Viserys I in rectifying the family’s internal affairs, but it is clear that the greed of the members is too great to think about the ultimate goal of the family. – firmly grasps the kingship.

The Dance of the Dragons would not have happened if Alicent had been clear about Viserys’ wishes. The king had 24 years to change his mind but never did. So why at the last minute, when the king’s mind was no longer alert, did “the wish for Aegon to ascend the throne” suddenly appear? And Aegon IV disregarded the survival of the dynasty to legitimize his illegitimate children, causing the kingdom to once again be drawn into a war for the throne, simply because he was jealous of outstanding people. than me, including my own children.

More bad kings than good

When power comes so easily and you have the most powerful weapons on the continent, it’s hard to find the motivation to be a good king – it seems like this is the biggest problem the Targaryen family faces. During his 300-year reign, Targaryen was remembered for many tyrant or impotent kings, while wise monarchs were few and worse, died young.

Mistake in choosing an heir

Succession crises are not unusual in the age of kings, and fictional families like the Targaryen are no exception. And similar to real dynasties, succession crises have sparked many civil wars. The question is whether the ending like Dance of the Dragons should have happened. But perhaps this family’s mistake appeared from the beginning. They chose successors based on order and gender over individuals who were truly capable of ruling. Viserys may have been a gentle king in his time, but Rhaenys would have been a more brilliant and decisive queen than her cousin. Similarly, Aemon “The Dragonknight” was more worthy than his brother Aegon IV in the line of succession, but could not be considered because he was the second son, not to mention the daughters who were overlooked in the line of succession.

This makes the Targaryen family a mirror of the mistakes of real royal families, such as Henry I of England’s dynasty passing up a princess with potential to rule like Matilda in favor of a niece. somewhere in the world and the dynasty of Henry Tudor VIII chose a sick prince who was sure to die at an early age over a prominent queen like Elizabeth I (fortunately for England, she succeeded to the throne later).

Rhaegar’s indulgence

One thing that everyone who reads Game of Thrones agrees on is that Prince Rhaegar would be a good king and better than his father, but the prince’s absence during the kingdom’s most critical period, as well as his tolerance His father’s madness for so long caused the Targaryen dynasty to weaken and eventually collapse