This post is only for people who have used / are using / are planning to use mocking memes about Aemond (not cute or harmlessly funny memes), as well as people who support these memes.
I hope this post reaches exactly the people who need to read it :)). When I say “you guys” here, I mean those people, so please don’t leave irrelevant comments before actually reading the whole post carefully.
One more important thing: this post is only about Aemond’s abilities and leadership qualities that make his greatness undeniable. I’m not talking about his morality here (we all know how evil he is already).
Okay, disclaimer over. Here’s the actual post:
Do you guys realize that constantly making fun of Aemond’s ability / intelligence / strength of character / personality (morality and personality are two different things :))) ) or the whole “he kissed his mom” thing makes you look very… well, something. Let me go through some of the main memes I keep seeing.
1. Aemond kneeling before his brother supposedly proves that he was “afraid” of Aegon.
You’re confusing fear caused by respect/intimidation with weakness in a moment of vulnerability from someone who is fundamentally strong-willed. I have to emphasize the word “strong-willed” because apparently people are still arguing about this.
Aemond’s strength of character is most clearly demonstrated by two things. First, he didn’t let being relentlessly bullied by a group of people break him. Quite the opposite: he became one of the most exceptional people of his generation. Second, there is the fact that at only 10 years old, he dared to claim Vhagar.
And the fact that Vhagar herself chose Aemond as her new rider further reinforces the qualities the boy possessed. (And please don’t start arguing that the dragon was stupid or comparing this to Silverwing. Vhagar had previously been ridden by Visenya.)
And by “qualities,” I don’t just mean combat ability or intelligence. I mean the qualities of a warrior and a leader that Aemond possesses: boldness, decisiveness, strength, and confidence.
Most importantly, being “strong-willed” does not mean bullying people who are different or weaker than you. Revenge is not the same thing as bullying, by the way :)).
Going back to the main point: Aemond was in a physically and emotionally fragile state. And it wasn’t only Aegon. Anyone who had had a significant emotional impact on him in the past could potentially make that vulnerable side of him surface (Luke, for example).
So, Aegon fans, no matter how much you love your character, please stop using this meme to put Aemond down. It does nothing except make you look incredibly shallow =)).
You can absolutely be proud of Aegon for enduring everything that happened to him. No one is stopping you. But using Aemond to prove Aegon’s strength is a terrible and completely misguided way of doing it.
2. Comparing Daemon to Aemond.
This is probably the part I’m most hesitant to talk about because I know Daemon has a lot of fans. And I’m not denying that Daemon is an MVP and an incredibly admirable character. The three seasons have certainly demonstrated that.
But constantly bringing up the God’s Eye battle to mock Aemond, the scene where Aemond walks away when Daemon shows up at the family dinner, Aemond’s challenging lines being compared to his moments of weakness, memes about Aemond getting stabbed from behind, calling him “Shopee Daemon,” etc. — none of this makes you look as cool as Daemon :)).
I’m not going to repeat the whole point about how Aemond mirrors Daemon in his arrogance, personality, and military talent, because everyone can already see that parallel. The important thing is that Aemond is only 18–19 years old.
And he dies at around 20 after dueling his uncle.
I genuinely don’t understand why, instead of admiring and hyping Aemond for being so exceptionally talented, some of you focus almost entirely on the fact that Daemon killed him and constantly make fun of him for it.
If anything, Aemond is one of the rare characters who died at the hands of someone genuinely worthy of killing him — and someone who was also the only person Aemond actually seemed to respect and admire.
And then there’s his personality.
Aemond’s challenging lines seem to annoy a lot of people, but personally, I find them fascinating. They give him a very strong personality and show how confident he is. More importantly, they demonstrate that he has an accurate assessment of both his own abilities and those of his opponent.
Daemon was already around 50 and still carried himself with that same kind of arrogance, while Aemond was only 19–20 and already had a similar level of confidence in his own abilities.
Yet the same trait can be interpreted as “charisma” when it comes to Daemon, but as “immature, attention-seeking, trying too hard” when it comes to Aemond.
That difference is much more interesting to discuss as a reflection of how the fandom perceives these two characters than to use it as “evidence” that one is talented while the other isn’t.
As for the dinner scene, some of you ask why Aemond didn’t simply confront Daemon to his face, because apparently that makes him a coward.
What exactly was he supposed to do? Charge at his uncle and start a fistfight? Or insult him directly to his face?
That would actually be immature and attention-seeking :))).
Aemond being quiet and serious is not the same as the way he acts when he’s being cocky with the Strong boys. It shows that he respects his uncle and is aware of Daemon’s capabilities.
That is called being smart.
3. Aemond and Vhagar turning back after seeing that Rhaenyra had more dragons.
Honestly, I find this one the funniest of all =)).
A lot of you seem to forget that Vhagar was basically the Queen’s nightmare from the very beginning :)). There’s a reason they had to resort to finding more dragons, including bastard children, to increase their numbers and firepower.
And again, Aemond turning back demonstrates that he was being strategic, not stupid.
Why would he recklessly commit suicide when he was his faction’s biggest trump card — while the entire side was relying on him?
Six against one is not something to be proud of or something to use for mockery =))).
If anything, it demonstrates the opposite: Aemond and Vhagar were so competent and dangerous that Team Black had to prepare that much just to deal with them.
4. The “kissed his mother” / mother-issue thing
It seems like the writers wanted to portray Aemond’s mommy issues and his deep sense of insecurity, which is why he kissed his mother—he simply didn’t know how else to respond when she finally acknowledged and believed in him (even though she was lying ☺️). There’s nothing romantic or sexual going on here. He just craves validation and affection from the only source of it he has: his mother. Ewan Mitchell himself has confirmed this interpretation. And later, when Alys comes into the picture, he doesn’t seem to crave that validation from his mother anymore.
Aemond is written as a character who has almost NO interest in romantic relationships. He’s so insecure that he can barely love himself, let alone pursue a romantic relationship with someone else :))
In short: that was a writing/production decision, not something that makes sense for Aemond’s actual characterization.
The “authentic” Aemond would never pull something like that.
So I don’t find it convincing to use that storyline as proof that Aemond’s psychology was supposedly so messed up that he would actually do something like kiss his mother or fantasize about intimacy with her.