Talk:Jaehaerys Targaryen (son of Aegon II)

Interesting theory I saw on the Westeros.org forum, that the assassination of Jaehaerys by Blood and Cheese was entirely a mistake, not intended by Rhaenyra or Daemon, due to the assassins interpreting vague orders.

Daemon sent a message about "an eye for an eye and a son for a son" to his allies in King's Landing; Orwyle was almost certainly his spy and may have received any letter, and a letter was certainly send to his go-between in Flea Bottom (spymaster Lady Mysaria).

The theory goes like this:


 * 1 - Rhaenyra really considered Alicent her archnemesis and the real leader of the Greens, not Aegon II. It's "The Princess and the Queen".  So maybe the line about "a son" referred to Alicent's sons, Aegon II or Aemond (Daeron wasn't in the capital at the time).
 * 2 -...Rhaenyra stood little to gain from killing Jaehaerys and only Jaehaerys.

Did anyone praise Rhaenyra for "only" killing one six year old boy, her own half-nephew, and not the other two children? Not really. In which case, why not just kill all 3?

For that matter, why not kill Helaena while they were at it? She was a dragondrider, Dreamfyre was an adult dragon; they had no way of knowing she'd go insane with despair, it's just as likely she's be consumed by vengeance and add Dreamfyre to the war.

Moreover, only killing Jaehaerys accomplished nothing but petty revenge; bad PR aside, Aegon II still had a male heir! Maelor, whom they could have killed at the time if they wanted.

BOTH sons were under-age, six and three.

So the theory is that Daemon wanted his agents to kill either Aegon II or Aemond, "a son for a son", but Blood and Cheese botched the job. Probably not Aegon II, he was surrounded by the Kingsguard (what about poison, though? Ah, they have tasters) --- but Vhagar was the biggest gamepiece the Greens had; wouldn't it make sense to try to assassinate her rider? Granted, Aemond was a great warrior in his own right and could fight off Blood and Cheese unless taken unawares.

Point is that Blood and Cheese ultimately couldn't find a way into Maegor's Holdfast, so maybe they struck Aegon II's children purely because they were the only ones who left it for another part of the Red Keep, target of opportunity (they left the holdfast to visit Alicent in another part of the castle).

This would explain why Daemon would then imprison Orwyle instead of him just going "hey, I was a secret spy for Daemon this entire time" and joining the Black council on the grounds that the Grand Maester is politically neutral or something.

Intriguing, though unconfirmed. Still: why kill Jaehaerys? and only Jaehaerys? Just as much bad PR for killing all three children including Helaena, while from a pragmatic perspective, what good does it do to kill one of Aegon II's sons and not all 3 children?

--The Dragon Demands (talk) 17:19, January 3, 2017 (UTC)