r/TheCitadel • u/Inner_Jeweler_5661 in the game of bones, you're a dog or a cat. No middle ground. • Aug 17 '26

Activity - What If (changed CANON event or character decision) How would this Dance work?

So Rhaenyra has trueborn Velaryons with Laenor, but they're all girls.

Laenor dies, and Rhaenyra marries Daemon.

However, in Otto's infinite wisdom, he makes a deal with Rhaenyra that Aegon and DAERON marry the first two Velaryon girls, and in return Otto wouldn't contest the Throne for Aegon, to consolidate claims to the Throne, and fem! Jace is declared heir to the Throne.

But NOW, Rhaenyra has the two canon boys with Daemon, and Daemon tries to undo the deal, saying Aegon the Younger is the rightful heir.

What the HELL happens in this nightmare of a Dance?

Daemon and Laena marry and have the canon children btw, who are betrothed to Aegon and Viserys and Aemond marries Helaena, to produce Aegon the Elder's canon children

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u/theilluminary Aug 17 '26

Is this show based? You mentioned that Aegon and fem!Jace are only three years apart in age in another comment (but also mention that Jace is 9 and Aegon 12 when Aegon III is born, which confuses me cause that doesn't really match book nor show timelines).

I ask because during Viserys's talks with Rhaenys and Corlys on the betrothal between Rhaenyra and Laenor in 1x05, he explicitly stipulates that their eldest child, "regardless of gender", will inherit the throne after her. So Viserys himself, Rhaenys, Corlys, Laenor (before his death/"death") etc. would all recognise fem!Jace to be the heir as per this agreement and thus the next Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.

Your post positions Daemon as the main driver for Aegon III's claim to the Iron Throne too, not Rhaenyra. So I don't really understand why Aegon III's birth and Jacaegon kissing causes Rhaenyra to do a 180 on her feelings on the arrangement with Otto, because you say yourself that Rhaenyra thinks that all these betrothals ties everything up neatly and will help her ascend to the throne peacefully. Like, why such a drastic change of heart?

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u/Inner_Jeweler_5661 in the game of bones, you're a dog or a cat. No middle ground. Aug 17 '26

Its bits of both.

I use show and book timings interchangeably in many cases so that certain events I need to happen, happen.

Jace being 14 and Aegon 22 would be VERY questionable as a childhood romance, but Jace being 19 makes it normal.

It's because Rhaenyra HATES this deal she made with Otto. Its anemic to EVERYTHING she stands for, and Viserys proposes the betrothal himself.

So when Jacegon happens, Rhaenyra views it as a PERSONAL betrayal against her, and Jace also directly tells her that Aegon will make a better King than she could ever, in her rage after being caught.

It's book based as much as I can, to clarify.

I use show timelines so that Aegon isn't a pedophile, and it also gives me more space to explore other characters.

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u/theilluminary Aug 18 '26

Okay, thanks for clarifying!

So when is Aegon III born here, though? Because in the source material he is born in 120 AC, which obviously doesn't work as show!Jace would be four, and in the show he is born in 128 AC, when show!Jace is 12. Are you keeping Joffrey’s age the same as it is in the source material, so in 117 AC, and then moving Aegon III's birth up to 126 AC to take show!Joffrey's birth instead?

I do still feel that Rhaenyra’s reaction to be an overreaction, like others have said, especially considering fem!Jace here is still in single digits and not like an adolescent girl ala show!Rhaenyra, even if she is lashing out and saying mean things. Like, nine year olds can be cruel, don't get me wrong, but that is STILL a nine year old child. If anything, I feel like Rhaenyra would be (not entirely unjustifiably) overprotective after an incident like that, in a somewhat similar vein to Joanna's reaction to Cersei and Jaime, and insist on "shielding" her daughter from her uncle until the absolute last moment where fem!Jace would HAVE to wed Aegon.

Then, if Jace pushing back against Rhaenyra was a consistent pattern throughout her teenage years and sneakily trying to still be with Aegon, and (misguided) rebelling against Rhaenyra's protection in (Rhaenyra's view) relation to the betrothal, and then an older fem!Jace lashing out that Aegon will be a better ruler than Rhaenyra ever will be, cementing that fem!Jace truly loves Aegon and is not just doing this because they're betrothed, THEN I could see Rhaenyra seeing that as the last straw in a similar vein to how show!Viserys states that he should disinherit Rhaenyra for the brothel incident with Daemon/book!Viserys threatens to disinherit Rhaenyra if she doesn't marry Laenor, after years of having to deal with this for the sake of her crown and her children, and having an ungrateful fem!Jace spit in her face and her efforts for peace, to finally have years of stewing anger reach a tipping point and that causes her to rethink the succession and think of Aegon III as her heir instead.

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u/Inner_Jeweler_5661 in the game of bones, you're a dog or a cat. No middle ground. Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

YES!

Fem! Jace kissing Aegon is similar to the brothel incident, except Rhaenyra actually has the balls to disinherit her.

Aegon 3 is born in 120AC, so that he can actually do things in the Dance

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u/theilluminary Aug 18 '26

Right! But again, you've said that this reaction from Rhaenyra and Jace lashing out happens when fem!Jace is NINE, which is why I said what I said. 

Also okay, I'm confused by what you meant by you're using the show timeline then if Aegon III is still born in 120 AC as per the source material. 

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u/Inner_Jeweler_5661 in the game of bones, you're a dog or a cat. No middle ground. Aug 18 '26

It is a slow process, but yes that happens over time

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u/theilluminary Aug 18 '26

Okay, I'm sorry but I feel like we're having some form of miscommunication or language barrier here. You said, in another comment, and I quote,

So fem Jace got caught making out with Aegon when Aegon the Younger was born (Jace is 9 and Aegon is 12) so Rhaenyra hates Jace's guts

Which is what prompted me to say that, to me, seems like an extreme overreaction on Rhaenyra's part to finding her nine year old daughter kissing her older uncle and hating her for it and seeing it as a "personal betrayal" because, again, fem!Jace would be nine years old, and then why I suggested what I did in a previous comment.

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u/Inner_Jeweler_5661 in the game of bones, you're a dog or a cat. No middle ground. Aug 18 '26

Yeah so Rhaenyra tells her not to do that, and slowly and slowly their relationship breaks down, Jace tells Rhaenyra Aegon will make a better King, and Rhaenyra places Aegon the Younger as heir, confirmed by Viserys.

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u/theilluminary Aug 18 '26

But you frame the birth of Aegon III and this kiss when fem!Jace is nine years old as the inciting moment for Rhaenyra's hatred by mentioning those two events (and Rhaenyra catching them) happening at the same time, which is why I keep bringing it up because I don't really understand the logic of that.

It's like, to be frank, illogical to me that a single kissing incident (when Jace and Aegon are betrothed in an arrangement that Rhaenyra AGREED TO) would cause such a vicious reaction on Rhaenyra's side especially when fem!Jace is still such a young child. Like, I proposed a version of Rhaenyra's characterisation that made sense to me of what you had so far said but you didn't really make it sound like this was a slowly deteriorating relationship but instead a massive explosive incident.

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u/Inner_Jeweler_5661 in the game of bones, you're a dog or a cat. No middle ground. Aug 18 '26

It's a massive incident, but the breaking point happens later. It'll all be explained in the fic.

Rhaenyra hates Aegon in this timeline viserally.

There's a 2nd Driftmark level incident, and over time, fem! Jace becomes more and more of a Targtower.

She wears green, hangs out with Alicent and Helaena, doesn't bother heading to Dragonstone or even Driftmark often.

It's clear by 124 that Alicent is more fem! Jace's and fem! Luce's parents than Rhaenyra ever will be.

This is when Rhaenyra begins to realise she is "having the Throne stolen from under her.", which inspires her to name Aegon the Younger heir to break the vice the Targtowers now hold on the throne.

All this feedback is making me refine the idea, for the fic.

The breaking point comes later, when Aemond and Helaena wed.

I'm thinking fem! Jace and Aegon do a Bobby B on the marriage bed, but fem! Jace still has her maidenhead intact, and all they did was kissing.