What If Rhaenys Was The Queen Of Westeros? (House Of The Dragon)

The Great Council of 101 had to be one of the most defining moments in the history of Westeros. It was here that the precedent of male inheritance was truly set by the lords of the realm, and as a result the princess Rhaenys was robbed of what some believe was her birth right. The Queen Who Never Was. But what if things were different?

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[didacfg]

Jahaerys made the mistake of letting the lords think that they could decide who inherits the throne

[joaoferreira]

Actually, the lords choosing Rhaenys isn't the lords choosing absolute primogeniture, its the lords choosing Andal tradition, daughters over uncles, so rhaenys heir shall probably be Laenor, and i dont think oldtown or otto would have thar much problem with that(especially if they get to marry alicent and laenor...), unless rhaenys herself change the laws, that i can see oldtown and other noble houses creating problems.

[sharp]

If this happened perhaps Westeros could have done something like the United Kingdom previously practiced. They could have practiced male primogeniture, where sons were preferred, but daughters could still inherit if there were no sons. I don't see Westeros going full primogeniture, where the gender of the eldest child and heir doesn't matter.

[elinakangas]

In this scenario...
I assume Leonor Velaryon would not have any children. I assume Lena Velaryon would still marry Prince Daemon and have 2 daughters.
This would be 3 generations of ruling queens. This would be quite a lot for Westeros.

[dyscalculic]

I'd like to see the timeline where if some King of Westeros just had a royal decree of, "A Lord/Lady may choose a natural born heir if they wish" otherwise the old rule applies.

[carastone]

According to Fire & Blood, Laena is one year older than Laenor; they’re not twins.

[Jackson_Fitz]

I find it very curious and intriguing that all of Westeros, except Dorne.

They prefer agnatic and male primogeniture but in Dorne, they have absolute primogeniture, so that has always been the conflict throughout Westeros. Males are always preferred, but when the Dance of the Dragons was concluded, there were more women in power than men because the war took away all male claimants. Women held the power temporarily until their sons were born.

[Laramaria]

Rhaenys would have been a great Queen!

[timoteimiclaus]

Exactly.Such older sister couldn't complain about Rhaenys being Queen while their younger brothers were lords and not them.The Tradition in Westeros was that, in case of the lack of sons, a lord or king's daughter comes before his brother.Rhaenys was the only child of King Jaehaerys's eldest son, Prince Aemon so the argument was the she had a better claim than her uncle, Prince Baelon or his son Viserys.If Prince Aemon had a son, Rhaenys would never be considered for the Iron Throne.There would have been no Great Council of Harrenhall, as a son of Prince Aemon, would be the most senior male-line grandson of the King would seemlessly succeed his grandsire upon the Iron Throne.Also, in the books, it wasn't even Rhaenys who competed against Viserys, but her son, Laenor.

[mandoslore]

What-if Rhaenys and Viserys were wed? Aemon (Rhaenys's dad) didn't like Corlys a lot in fire & blood, so I could see him choosing someone else for his daughter to marry. You would have Aemon and Baelon's lines united which could make up for the great council of 92 AC (I am aware that it most likely didn't happen in the show). Rhaenys doesn't become Queen but she becomes Queen Consort. How much would things change? If Rhaenyra is still born, would Rhaenys advocate for her claim to the IT?

[cloverazar]

11:04 Rhaenys has a dragon and Dragonstone is literally a rock-skip across the Blackwater Bay. Girl could commute and get to King’s Landing before her coffee got cold 😂

[tanoshiofm]

There is one thing. Gender does matter. In this scenario, Rhaenys becomes Queen due to Andal Law. The effect would be that the Andal law is more respected. The line of succession would be sons, then daughters, then brothers, then sisters. I don't think it would have a lot of difference.

[SCordova]

I wonder what would have happened if Visarys and Rhaynes had gotten married rather then who they each actually ended up with (Aemma and Corlys)

[diegonatan]

7:40 WTF, what jump is that? Rhaenys was descendant of the older line, that doesn't make it the succession egalitarian it makes women elligible and put the child of an older brother ahead of a younger brother and his children, but doesn't put men and women on equal footing, brothers would still be ahead of sisters, just like in the books Sansa is behind Rickon.

[finikama]

The happiest person in this scenario is Corlys. Dude will kill himself with joy 😂. People tend to forget that Corlys was far more ambitious than Otto Hightower, he just wasn't lucky like Otto.

[EmmaOfTheArbor]

I think rhaenys could implement the doctrine of targ exceptionalism to say that just her family could play by these rules of total primogeniture

[bizarreconvos]

What if Viserys and Aemma's Children never died in their birth? Would the Children cause so much ruckus in the seven Kingdoms!? Like Jaehaerys own children?

[mdguy]

Great video. I’m happy with the outcome, especially since Viserys finally gets to play with his Legos.

[hilaryhongkong]

The universe is heavily inspired by English history (Rharnys failing to ascend to the throne is said to echo Empress Matilda's path), so with that in mind, there are some issues with this video:
1. She's likely actually be the *Prince* of Dragonstone still. Much like how Queen Elizbath was the *Duke* of Lancaster, the *Duke* of Normandy, and the *Lord* of Mann.
2. Just because she's made queen, doesn't mean gender no longer matters. Until Queen Elizabeth's reign, males were still inheriting the throne in favour of an older sister.
3. There's no issue with Driftmark and the Iron throne being held by the same person. Titles get merged with the crown all the time. That's exactly just like how King Charles is also the Duke of Lancaster. And the monarch could reassign the title as well, just like how the Duke of York was merged with the crown with King George ascending to the throne after Edward VIII's abdication, and subsequent given to Prince Andrew, as well as the Duke of Edinburgh merged with the crown when King Charles became king (he was the Duke of Edinburgh also when Prince Philip died), and the title has now been granted to Prince Edward. Since Driftmark was a part of Westoros anyway, there's 0 issue with this. In the case of different countries, it still had happened, such as how Spain got united, how the UK became the UK after a long time, how Spain and Portugal were together at one point, and so on. This was extremely common as royals intermarried a lot within Europe.
4. There being a queen never meant the whole legal system had to change. There was no issue arising from Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth being queens. The legal system did change little by little afterwards, but it passed through Queen Mary I, Queen Ann, Queen Victoria, and Queen Elizabeth II for the whole society to really change. Even so, in the UK today, not all lordships could be inherited by a woman when a male heir, no matter how remote, could be found. So arguably 500 years later having a female monarch still didn't bring the drastic change you mentioned in the video.

[JMTgpro]

Rhaenys' true result as queen is a Baratheon-Targaryen-Velaryons hegemony for generations. If Rhaenys is as open as Viserys in letting everyone who can have dragons (Jaehaerys, for example, didn't let all of his children have them), I see a timeline where after three generations, there would be Three Dragon Houses:
Targaryen: Continuing through Laenor...
Velaryon: Continued by whoever inherits Driftmark (probably Laena or any other child).
Baratheon: With Rhaenys having such a strong connection to the House, and the history of the House, I don't doubt, not for a second, that it's possible that Rhaenys' next heir or daughter will be betrothed to a Baratheon heir.
I would see that triad of Houses as the main ones and after Rhaenys, by marriage and alliances, I would see them dancing with the Iron Throne.
The main problem with Rhaenys' reign is Laenor. In the original line he was unable to have heirs of his own for the Iron Throne, in this one, I doubt that will change. So, in the same way, even if he is an heir, there is no one to inherit him, apart from his sister. So, either Rhaenys has more children or the only heir will ultimately be Laena.
But, in this line I see Rhaenys capable of marrying Laena to Borros Baratheon. By history and tradition (the Baratheons were his main allies in the vote). Laenor, to be honest, the union with Rhaenyra is such an obvious and good decision with Rhaenys as Queen that, I say it will happen as well, which tells me, that the lack of 'passion'... We may have bastards again.
But I doubt Rhaenyra will have such indulgence with it this time. Unless Laenor lives longer and intercedes strongly, saying that they are his sons and heirs.
Anyway, Rhaenys may be a strong Queen, but if her children aren't careful, there may be an inheritance war behind her between Laenor's bastard sons and his daughter's sons, with access to the Velaryon fleet, Dragoons, and the Baratheons.