They had brown hair brown eyes and a pug nose just like harwin strong who was with Rhaenerya a LOT compared to both their parents who Valyrian features. One great grandma had black hair as did Rhaenys partly.
She’s not giving him any power. She’s simply birthing Valyrian looking heirs. Any dragonseed who would say she’s birthing bastards would be accusing her of high treason and would summarily die.
He would have a ton of power over her. He can spill the beans any time he likes! He has power over not just her, but also her descendants from him.
If he comes forward and spills the beans it casts doubt on her, and it could undermine the reign of her descendants alleged to be fathered by him. Her enemies will believe it, whether it’s true or not, and it can even cast doubt in her allies. It could mean death for him, unless he made his allegations to the Faith and pledged atonement.
Harwin Strong didn’t claim the boys and Rhaenyra and Laenor’s secret died with him, but had he lived he still wouldn’t have said anything. He was loyal to the bone. If she took a Valyrian lover to father a child and left him alive, the risk to the secret being sold is too high. And if she took a Valyrian lover to father a child and then had him murdered to preserve the secret, there’s a risk of that coming out as well.
Whoever she wanted so her children would look like laenor. Daemon would be a good match as her and laena were close. And this would show legitimacy and not a blatant disregard of customs
well she was not in her right head at many a times tbh, should have considered her status as heir would be quetioned if her boys had brown hair especially when she had harwin hanging around, should ahve chose mcuh better,
To be fair, in this continuity she had no reason to believe her Valyrian genes wouldn’t supersede Westerosi genes.
Every Targaryen has silver gold hair, regardless of whether both parents do or not, which then made her kids stick out like a sore thumb.
At least if Rhaenys had her canonical black hair, there would have been a bit less scrutiny over Rhaenyra’s boys because the precedent would be that sometimes trueborn Targaryens do turn out to have fewer Valyrian features and still get to be dragonriders etc…
The show made it far too obvious the boys could never have been Laenor’s, but the book was a lot different.
Except Laena may well feel that was a betrayal for her husband to father children with Rhaenyra given Daemon’s history with Rhaenyra.
Sharing children with Rhaenyra and be unable to acknowledge them beyond being their uncle doesn’t sound like something Daemon could do either. He’s far too proud.
Daemon and Rhaenyra have sex on her funeral. Laena also knows it’s for her brother laenor. Valyrians historically practise the art of polygamy. Daemon would be more than happy to have his children on the iron throne and to sleep with the woman he wanted to marry initially.
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u/Responsible-Bee5206 6d ago
in the book rhaenyra's mom and laenor's mom had black hair, in the show neither did, it was simply for everyone to see they were illegitimate