#and I mean like ‘Jaime if he maintained all his growth like TACTICALLY but not MORALLY’ lol

[renfairewolverine]

I’m not gonna say that daemon is an idiot or some shit but I feel like some people wildly overestimate his scheming and underestimate his love of family. They also refuse to comprehend that 2 things can be true. He can be doing something Kinda Shitty for his own gain but also genuinely care about his family as he does it. He explicitly says to viserys he wants to work WITH him, to be by his SIDE. He wants power yeah sure but he’s not willing to knock off the family he loves for that. And he does love viserys and rhaenyra. That doesn’t stop him from being an absolute fucker but it does keep him from kinslaying or some shit.

When daemon took rhaenyra out sure there’s likely some level of Scheme there, which kind and how much is up for debate, but he also has talked to her and in general about his opinion that as targaryens they should be held to a different standard. Other women can’t be wild and fuck whoever sure, but rhaenyra should be allowed to. Just like he can, because she’s a targaryen.

Things like the targ incest and the valyrian tradition of polygamy are things that are deeply contentious in westeros all the way into the time period of the main show over a century later. Westeros is not cool actually with incest or polygamy. But when the dragon men have like 20 flying fantasy nuke monsters and you have like serfs with pikes you kinda make some concessions.

It’s why Jaime/Cersei is a HUGE DEAL on like every level and considered super fucked up meanwhile viserys and dany talk about marrying each other/the history of incest in their family like it’s normal. For them it is. The polygamy thing has fallen out of favor because even when you’re a royal chad with magic nukes you still gotta pick your battles sometimes and this was one of them. Also over time they just adopt more westerosi/faith of the seven ideals/culture as they move further from the age of the valyrian freehold and become Just Some Weird Westerosi Guys. But daemon is of the opinion that the westerosi can eat shit bc he’s got a Fucking Dragon so he can have 2 wives and fuck his niece. Which is what pisses viserys off so bad. Like DUDE THIS IS SO NOT HOW THE POLITICS WORK NOW. YOU CAN’T HAVE A SECOND WIFE DON’T FUCK UP MY DAUGHTER’S SHIT.

And he DOES want her, for personal and political reasons. Both things can be true. How sexually into her he is currently debatable given how ep4 went but he’s 100% the kinda dude to be possessive over the 2.5 people he actually likes and she doesn’t wanna be married off to Some Random Asshole??? Great! How about This Asshole You Already Know! And bam now he makes one of the only 2 real meaningful connections in his life like 100x more secure and close. Locking down a partner into a strained relationship with a baby scare energy from this shit. But ALSO it gets him a LOT of power. Marrying her wouldn’t make him king. she’s the heir, she’s still inheriting the political power no matter what. He’d be king-consort at best, which is a very toothless position for the most part tbh.

BUT it would put him as one of the CLOSEST PEOPLE TO THE MONARCH and he’s already like, her Favorite Person from day 1 which we see in ep 1 so he would absolutely have a lot of capacity to advise and sway her which is just as good as sitting the throne. People like otto and tywin show us the power of being the monarch’s personal assistant and daemon has already said he wants that. Like yes this is all VERY schemey. He’s Scheming. Daemon is Preforming A Scheme.

He can hold 2 motivations at once he has 2 hands. It can be Weird Interpersonal Targaryen Bullshit and Political Machinations Schemey Schemey.

But I see some people implying he’s like, tywin or tyrion or little finger levels or some shit and HOOOO BOY NAH. Things like the necklace he gives rhaenyra? It’s not a 5d chess manipulation. He likes rhaenyra. She’s His Person. So she gets Gifts. Because he just thinks she’s Neat. At that point he’s literally working under the assumption that HE’S THE HEIR. EVERYTHING POINTS TO THAT. It’s why there’s the whole small council shitshow after aemma’s death— NO ONE WANTS HIM TO BE THE HEIR. Giving his fave relative a gift is not him being a godtier schemer and Knowing Psychically with his huge gigachad brain that buttering her up now will be critical later to his Devious Master Plan™️.

He’s not stupid and he does plan and scheme a good bit. Turning the gold cloaks effectively into his own private army stationed in the fucking capitol is genius and a super sexy power move. But he’s also shown to be impulsive, reckless and heavily ruled by his emotions. His whole suicide mission in ep 3 is FUELED by spite and the NEED to do this all by himself for the clout. They literally SAY this dude would rather DIE than ask for help. He also thinks he can do pretty much whatever he wants because of who he is.

You cannot be a varys/tyrion/tywin/little finger level schemer and be impulsive or reckless or overly emotional. I’d say also say you can’t be arrogant to the point of hubris as well but that’s like 50% of how two of them died after VERY long careers as schemers so uh you kinda can. Daemon’s request for rhaenyra’s hand might seem like a Master Scheme— like “oooo that’s why he did this!!! He’s so clever!!!”. But like— polygamy hasn’t been done since maegor the cruel. Even ignoring Lore Stuff that’s not actively talked about yet in the show like maegor the cruel viserys makes the “we don’t do polygamy anymore” vibes clear— “you already have a wife”. Boom. Shut down in 1 line. You already got one dude knock it off.

Alicent’s reaction to these claims is a LOT of things and it’s coming from a LOT of places but there’s absolutely a lowkey Disgust vibe because incest is, despite what it might sometimes seem in The Dragon Show Extended Universe™️, not actually cool in westeros— or essos for that matter!!! The targs have the “freaky magic dragon blood preservation” exemption clause but it doesn’t mean people are cool with it!!! Alicent even has to say “I know it’s different for you” to like qualify her statements. Daemon saying “I wanna do two of the MOST CONTENTIOUS AND DISLIKED TARGARYEN TRADITIONS AT THE SAME TIME WHEN PEOPLE ALREADY DO NOT LIKE ME” is uhhhhhhh NOT A GREAT LONG TERM POLITICAL MOVE AT THAT MONENT IN TIME.

He could gain the same amount of power he’d likely get from marrying her or frankly MORE from being being rhaenyra’s hand. If he was truly a gigachad big brain 5d chess schemer then he’d actually be working super hard to make her feel like he was her biggest ally and supporter. Viserys is saying she’s his heir but not really properly training for it that we see on screen. He literally has her ushered out of the small council for having an opinion on the kinda issue she’d have to deal with as queen. Literally a PERFECT educational moment for her and she gets ushered out in the most aggressively patronizing way possible. Daemon would gain SO MUCH from swooping in to “help prepare his favorite niece for the crown” and making himself integral to her decision process, sense of confidence, etc. it’s pm what little finger does to sansa (tho they do a shit job showing that in the show even tho they INSIST it happened in s7/8 jsjxjdslls).

Daemon would literally be doing more to put himself in a super sexy powerful position by helping to hype up rhaenyra, solidify her power and popularity and make himself invaluable to her on a pragmatic and emotional level. But uh….. he doesn’t…… bc he’s Not That Good At Scheming. Daemon is not a schemer or politician. He’s closer to a targaryen jaime in terms of like, his political skills and shit. Not an incompetent and not unwilling to play like ned or jon was but uh, kind of a reckless jock with bloodlust for days and some Emotional Issues that make him kind of attention seeking and a thoughtless arrogant dickhead. He can navigate the world of schemers and politics reasonably well but if he could just take otto out back and beat his ass instead he would.

#daemon targaryen #meta #hotd #when ppl talk like this man is big brained I’m just like ‘he’s literally goth jaime…’ #and I mean like ‘Jaime if he maintained all his growth like TACTICALLY but not MORALLY’ lol #tho I guess show Jaime didn’t keep either by the end LOL