Board Thread:TV Show Discussion/@comment-1399600-20170609041431/@comment-36945899-20190312114418

Sorry to necropost but I feel this is more or less significant: I read Fire & Blood and according to the book, Maegor the Cruel was Prince of Dragonstone when he wasn't the heir; although it was a nickname at first because he stayed at Dragonstone so much (and acted as its ruler), he seems to have adopted it as a title over time. Aegon the Uncrowned (Aenys's heir) wasn't Prince of Dragonstone until circa 4 years into his father's reign, but he was the heir for the entire duration of said reign. From this I gather that "Prince of Dragonstone" isn't the Targaryen equivalent for crown prince, but is just usually given to the crown prince to season him for ruling. Fire & Blood states that the heir is *named* Prince of Dragonstone, not born into the title. It's strange if a monarch who rules Dragonstone would refer to themself as Lord/Lady of Dragonstone and not Prince/Princess of Dragonstone, when IRL monarchs prefer higher titles such as Duke/Duchess or Prince/Princess in relation to lands and holdings. (see the overabundant titles of Emperor Nicholas II) It can of course be argued that since Fire & Blood is a companion to the books, not the show, it is irrelevant. However, I'm having difficulty finding any TV source that clears up how the "Prince of Dragonstone" title works. Since these are words directly from the pen of the creator of the Game of Thrones universe, in my opinion this has more weight than the TV show's inordinate ambiguity.