House Velaryon having Dragons was ALWAYS gonna cause problems | House Of The Dragon Analysis

Just a quick
Note, while Vhgar goes on to be claimed by Vhgar by Aemond there was still a huge potential for someone else claiming her before Aemond from House Velaryon. What i wanted to tackle in this video is the political issues another dragon riding house would possess.

The Velaryon branch of the family descending from Rhaenys are the most senior heirs of House Targaryen by absolute primogeniture and male preference primogeniture. I would subscribe to the idea that they take the throne as Targaryen-Velaryons or something like that. However, even though the Velaryons represent this rival claim it's not them that causes the Dance. It's Viserys naming Rhaenyra and creating a new claimant within House Targaryen that wouldn't be there otherwise and isn't his first born son ultimately dividing their house first. Then he tries to unite his daughter with the Velaryon rival claimant Laenor to stand against the would be heir of House Targaryen Aegon. If we are talking House politics, Viserys basically gives the Velaryons the crown through Rhaenyra and I know this is a rather patriarchal lense but that's what Westerosi noble houses are. The name change thing that Viserys suggests doesn't fix anything. Let us imagine a scenario where Rhaenyra is queen and her 3 Velaryon sons all have their own children that are also Velaryon. Jace ascends the throne becoming Targaryen. The situation we have is one where there is an expansive royal family, all Velaryon, and the one on the throne is called Targaryen. "Targaryen" is basically reduced to a title for kings of any house which is double confusing since there would still be actual Targaryens like Aegon, Aemond, Daeron, Daemon, and their descendants running around. It's confusing and royal names are not something that change like that on a whim. There's a reason why something like this isn't in the book. Rhaenyra's sons planned to ascend the throne as Velaryons or Targaryen-Velaryon technically.

I'd argue that the best way to unite the claims of Velaryon and Targaryen was to marry Aegon II and Baela.

I think that Rhaenys played both her cousin and grandparents. She knew that without dragons her childerens claim to the throne would be unthinkable. The kings felt sorry for her and gave her childeren the chance to have dragons to keep the peace.

The mistake that was made was allowing Rhaenys to Marry Corlys Velaryon. Jaehaerys should have betrothed Rhaenys to Viserys the moment he knew Jocelyn Baratheon, who is his sister, refused to have any more children. The one time Jaehaerys makes a decision based on emotions instead of Logic he screws up his family for generations. It could be said that the decision to allow Aemon and Rhaenys their choice was the decision which eventually led to the downfall of House Targaryen…

Once a Monarch has more than one child there is a potential challenge to the throne. It was the 2nd marriage to Allicent that caused the conflict because that created a rival heir. Allowing House Valerion dragon did not cause the conflict itself. They always looked to marry into the line of succession rather than usurp it. House Valerion were even cautious to rebel against the Greens but it was the Greens betrayl of Vicerys agreed succession that pushed them to rebel. A smarter move for House Valerion would have been to bethroth one of one of the twins to Aegon which would have hedged their bets. Vicerys also should have never recalled Otto to be hand because he already knew of his scheming nature. He'd have been better off opting for a Tyrell a Tully or a Stark. I would have said a Baratheon but Boros couldn't read so 🤷🏿‍♂️

The only thing that could tear down the house of the dragon is itself love that line also Emma delivery was on point plus the score kicks in.

Great video. I would argue that anyone outside of the inheritance line with Dragons is going to cause problems. The policy of giving Dragon Eggs to every Tom, Dick, and Aegon with Targaryen as their last name was bound to create serious issues. There is no known way to administer birth control to dragons that I'm aware of, so what happens when a cadet branch of the family has a particularly fecund dragon, leading to that cadet branch having more dragons than the King himself? The Dance was bound to happened, it just so happened to play out with Rhaenyra and crew. If the dragons hadn't danced then, they would have danced during the Blackfyre Rebellion. The giving of Dragon Eggs to every infant Targaryen's is heartfelt, and a great gesture amongst family, but absolutely terrible as a policy of state.

First to take the black…

When you share dragons, you share power…

I feel that Corlys having a son Laenor who became a dragon rider on top of his wife having one…
It boosted ego and power…

Corlys had an ego, in the show.
I gotta read the world of ice and fire

And I must thank you for the upload of the butchers ball and this one too. My girlfriend was visiting from Texas and she loved watching this over dinner!!
Thanks for the wonderful content my lord, the realm owes you a debt that cannot be repaid

The Velaryons have had the Blood of the Dragon since before the time of Lord Aerion of Dragonstone, Aegon the Conqueror's father. Visenya, Aegon and Rhaenys' mother was Valaena Velaryon and her mother was an as of yet unnamed and unknown Targaryen. And that's just the earliest match that we know of, their connections could go back even further. House Velaryon really always has been a cadet branch of the Targaryens. Surprising that they only got dragons in the time of Corlys the Sea Snake, they have always been steadfast and loyal.

Seasmoke was probably hatched from Laenors cradle egg, laid by Meleys, not much Jaehaerys or later Viserys could have done to prevent that besides hunting down Rhaenys and Meleys.

Technically, it could be argued that House Targaryen gave the Hightowers access to dragons as well through Alicent’s children.

Giving house Velaryon dragons is like when Edward III have each of his sons massive plots of land via marriage and in turn gave them large armies. That led to the wars of the roses

I don’t really think anyone could have stopped the Velaryon having dragons. I mean the Conquerors mother was a Velaryon Jeaherys mother was a Velaryon. And it’s likely that Melys birthed Seasmoke

Could Seasmoke be s Maelys egg? For Vhagar, at least from the show, it kind of seemed as though she was wandering about so maybe Rhaenys and Laena had a fun mother-daughter trip to find Vhagar.

I had initially thought that a Targaryen child was given an egg or a dragon if at least one of the parents was a dragon rider. IIRC, Aemma Arryn didn't have one because her mother was afraid to bond with one. If it was Queen Alysanne that gave Seasmoke to Leanor, I'm surprised she didn't give one to Aemma after her mother died. I do wonder what would have happened if Rhaenyra had married into a non-Valyrian house. Had her children through that marriage have gotten egss or hatchings? It does make more sense to "keep it in the family" and you bring up many excellent points.

Love ur work

An even more interesting dilemia is how does House Targaryen maintain a healthy population of dragons without devastating the countryside?
In Valyria before the Doom there were thousands of dragons how did they manage to feed them?
We know that some dragons had preferences for certain prey so they may have specialized to reduce competition
An interesting thing to note is that in a Song of Ice and Fire we do not hear of Daenery's dragons preying upon those people living in Meeren while it is under her rule this could hint at their level of intelligence yet we must also remember the attacks on those living in the countryside of Slaver's Bay
It is very possible that the Freehold of Valyria saw a dramatic increase in the number of dragons after the Valyrians began bonding with the great beasts there must be some benefits for the dragons for them to have bonded with their riders in the first place although this is pure speculation since we do not have any known records of the habits of "wild dragons"

Imagine if Orys Baratheon had a dragon during the conquest

They needed to ceremonialize and institutionalize dragonriders being bound to the crown and compelled to take an oath of fealty to the ruling monarch.

I think the dragonseeds are a perfect example of how House Targaryen sharing their dragons was a huge mistake, the destruction of Tumbletown by the traitors dragonseeds changed the tides of the war