Laenor Velaryon: The King Who Never Was? | House Of The Dragon Analysis, Theory, History & Lore

The Queen Who never was Princess Rhaenys Targaryen got that title when she was passed over as heir. But something that is often overlooked not just in the lore of the TV show House Of The Dragon, but in the books as well, is by right Laenor Velaryon her son should be the king who never was, right? If is mother got that title for being passed over surly Laenor should be just as angered and agived as his mother? But he isn't. There is seemingly not evidence that Laenor even cared about the idea of being a King. But it's not just him or his mother who view it that way, even in his marriage to Rhaenyra Targaryen, it was meant to right the wrings of Rhaenys being passed over not laenor. In this video we will take a deep dive into the character of Laenor Velaryon, as ask, is he the king who never was.

Laenor Velaryon: The King Who Never Was? | House Of The Dragon Analysis, Theory, History & Lore

00:00:00 The King Who Never Was?
00:01:33 Why Laenor's Birth Matters
00:01:48 The Passing Over of Rhaenys
00:04:27 The Great Council Of 101ac
00:07:34 It as about Laenor and Viserys, not Rhaenys
00:08:52 The Later Life Of Laenor
00:13:07 The Impact his 'Kingship' didn't have on his marriage pact
00:15:42 Conclusion

The Script Of This Video uses information from The World Of Ice & Fire (2014), Fire & Blood (2018) and The A Song Of Ice And Fire Main Series. The ASOIAF Wiki has been used to confirm order of events and clarify discrepancies between sources. Any similarity of this video to the structure of these sources is a consequence of the subject matter of the video and limited sources dictating the way in which events played out with no room for interpretation without it becoming fan fiction. Information strictly from the TV show has not been used in these video unless stated otherwise.

The Dance Of The Dragons will be the focus of the plot of the new HBO spin-off House Of The Dragon coming in 2022. So if you want to learn the story before we see HBO's take on it then this will be a very long-running series. Game Of Thrones / House of the dragon are HBO shows based on George R R Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire series.

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[WorldOfWesteros]

Seems as people enjoyed the addition of the quotes last week, I've decided to make it a permanent, at least for the Sunday videos for now. Over time it may also happen with the other video, but the Wednesday and Friday videos tend to be a lot more narrative focused rather than analysis so i'm toying with the idea seeing if it would ruin the flow of the videos. Anyway they are here to stay on the Sunday ones as long as i can find relevant quotes

[illyria]

Seeing Rhaenys with dark hair always sends me, cause it highlights just how less obvious/more gossip-y the bastard accusations against Rhaenyra kids were (plausible, but by no means ironclad)

Adds to how hollow and immature the Dance was... so much death for flimsy rumours and childish grudges.

[jeffcordova]

I really like these new intros to your videos ..
Makes the feel even more real!
For the watch & the lord commander !!

Here here for Bittersteel!
The actor who played Laenor was good i wish we got to see more of him in season 1

[Nemenon]

I think it's also important to consider how differently Laenors upbringing would have been if he had been heir apparent to the Iron Throne from birth. He didn't realize he was becoming king (consort) until his early 20's, so he lived his life in the shadows of High Tide doing whatever he wanted. If he were the Prince everything would have been different, and he would have grown up more than likely in the Red Keep. However at this point we would be getting into the discussion of Nature vs Nurture.

[Orphoid]

* almost named heir *
*isn’t*
* married to the heir *
*dies*

He was never king twice over

[ticwugl]

Medieval times hated child monarchs so that was certainly a big factor in Laenor's defeat (which was still inevitable).

Since Westeros is adjacent to the real medieval world, another factor in both is that the male line is preferred where the continuation of dynasty is concerned. You could certainly read it as Velaryon vs Targaryen even though the Velaryon branch of House Targaryen is technically the senior. As for names, recreating every non male line heir as "Targaryen" when there are actual names Targaryens running around is also a huge conflict. If the the monarch who might be of another house just uses the name Targaryen then it's reduced to a title for the King, which again is awkward with actual Targaryens running around. This is why I liked the book version where the Velaryons were strong claimants to the throne albiet still being Velaryons. Most royals and nobles didn't like changing their house name on a whim so it was a rare thing and only if the other name is that important and going extinct. This is why the Lannister name for example was only created again once when Gerod III only had a female to succeed him and that the original male line was extinct.

There is another instance of succession issue in the second great council. Maegor Brightflame in any meaningful sense had a better claim to the throne than Aegon V but he was a baby at the time and since Aegon V was already established the throne would have to pass through his descendants. So because of his age Maegor Brightflame was snubbed entirely.

[JoseGonzalez-pnzl]

Interesting take on Laenor. I do think he would be on a king who love adventure and battle and always be force not to go off in battle by the small council. I don’t think he would have father any heirs.Also after his reign we would be basically back at the beginning or in the middle of another succession crisis yet again.

[dustincastillo]

Dude if they don't bring him back for the war they are fucking up....

[MiaDeCristofaro]

I wonder if Viserys would have ever married Alicent because Otto likely wouldn't have been Hand for Laenor, Alicent may have still been at court but wouldn't have been pushed on Viserys...and maybe Aemma wouldn't have died because they wouldn't have been as pressured for a son, since Viserys wouldn't have been king and didn't need an heir.

[PoweredByEnvy]

I believe that Corlys would have lobbied for Laenor keeping the Valyrian name if he was selected for the Iron Throne over Rhanys and Vicerys.

[EverGarcia]

Ah another World of Westeros video. Finally I can sample more of my fine wines with something of class and substance.

[DahomeyBkzoe]

He wouldn’t have been king because if the mother was made queen his sister would be next in line

[buffalosoldier]

Boys were never safe around the King that never was 😂😂.

[giorgilomidze]

Can you make video what if viserys married laena instead of alicent

[josiahdavistv]

Leanor was low key the most powerful character his father has the strongest navy and richest man in westeros he had his sister and vhgar and his mom with meylese he could have took over esso and make is own kingdom if he was more aggressive he could have been the best player in the game

[The_Savvy_Satyr]

Could another reason that both Rhaenys and Laenor were overlooked and passed over be Corlys and his ambitions? The Lords could have seen that he would try to rule through his wife or his son.

[ayiza]

But would he? If Rheanys is Queen would Leana her oldest child not follow her? And not the younger child Leanor

[JoshuaKevinPerry]

Would he have been the 1st gay king of Westeros?

[stephenlynch]

Such a good character, since the books are obsolete and/or ignored, we could get him back

I would have preferred the story in the books portrayed 1to1 but too much changed already

If they mess up bitterbridge or tumbleton i will never watch a hbo song of ice a fire show again

[josiahdavistv]

If i was corlys having 2 dragon riders in the blood line i would have made laena and leanor to have at least 1 child together so they can have a pure blood verlaryon dragonrider and for good measure make him impregnate sime of his female cusins so their children could potentially have the dragon rideing ability corlys had the chance to truly power up their blood line with dragon rider and they could take over esso making their own kingdom with a verlaryon dragon lords 🐉 but that just the super fan in me