Film Theory: Who REALLY Belongs on the Iron Throne? (House of the Dragon)

Thanks to ‪Game of Thrones Legends‬ for sponsoring this video.

Hey Theorists, what a WILD season it's been on House of the Dragon! The faceoff between Rhaenyra Targaryen vs Alicent, Aemon, and Aegon has been one for the Game of Thrones record books. Then throw in Daemon and his crazy antics and you have yourself a real BATTLE for the Iron Throne. Of course we already _know_ what's going to happen and who will end up on the Iron Throne because of George R.R. Martin's extended readings, but today we're asking who truly BELONGS on the throne...
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#HouseoftheDragon #HotD #GameofThrones #HouseoftheDragonSeason2 #GoT #Theory #FilmTheory

[hades]

"Bread, we want bread" in a heartbeat a thousand voices took up the chant. King Robb, King Joffrey and King Stannis were forgotten and King Bread ruled alone. "BREAD!"
- A Clash of Kings - Chapter 41 - Tyrion IX

[rey-]

My favorite running gag is definitely how the other theorist channels are so territorial on their subjects

[Sayne]

8:58 Sooo what you're saying is.. There is no rule that says a dog can't be King?
Someone send a raven for AerBud Dogaryen

[cdcdrr]

One thing about English law that was missed here: Kings could choose their heirs, and override the assumption of traditional primogeniture. When Richard the Lionheart died, he'd already named John his presumptive heir despite having been usurped by him. Because Richard understood he might not have any sons by the time he died, and the other nearest claimant was too young to be king, he chose his younger brother who was both an adult and had experience with governing. His decision was backed by Eleanor of Acquitaine, the real Angevin royal we should be glorifying. Even though primogeniture law was somewhat murky on who has priority: a younger brother, or the son of an elder brother, English law trumped that and John became King of England. Of course that didn't stop his nephew Arthur from leading a failed rebellion and ending up at the bottom of the Seine, but such is monarchy.

Viserys naming his sucessor should likewise be taken into consideration, on top of the oaths he made his vassals swear. These men can deny that they're beholden to their fathers' words all they want, but they know perfectly well who it was Viserys appointed as heir. Especially since he, at no point, took the effort to change this just because he had sons.

Of course, because all these Westerosi nobles are a bunch of scheming ingrates, what the law says ultimately doesn't matter. You can have every law of the land in your favour and never become king if you can't back up your claim by force. That's how reality works out most of the time, and you don't even need to be a monarchy for that to apply. And it wouldn't be George R.R. Martin if his work wasn't a deeply cynical application of reality onto wide-eyed fantasy.

[martonbenkovics]

As a hungarian my mind went to Maria Theresia, who was kind of in a similar position
Her father made all other ruler to take an oath that she will be the heir, but after his death, a lot of them didn't honor it
She eventually convinced the hungarian nobles to help and (kind of) secured the throne to herself

[Byenie]

Rhaenyra's biggest mistake is her failure to secure her position within King's Landing. Viserys was wise in letting her join the Small Council. Daemon has his Gold Cloaks. They were in a position of power to send off Aegon Aemond and Daeron to be warded off away from King's Landing while she controls the King's Landing.

Then it's very easy to summon each new lord to the capital to again swear fealty to Rhaenyra.

[Littletimmy]

Even without matpat film theory is still cooking

[abdelrahman]

0:25 Robert said that this thing called a chair is not comfortable at all, and simply it's designed to look scary and cool, but you really don't want to sit on it for too long😂.

[skylernightwolf]

I really like this sibling like behavior/rivalry that they have going on between them. It makes the channels seem more connected

[ОззиВеликий]

The thing with the books was that both Aegon and Rhaenyra were actually bad and unfit to rule. So it was a choice between two evils. Yet in the show Rhaenyra seems much better, which kinda kills one of the main points in this conflict, in my opinion.

[MozartTheGOAT]

I know who should sit on the throne... MATPAT!

[erickmunoz]

I understand people missing MatPat, I miss him too, but like... If you liked MatPat... LET HIM RETIRE. HE HAS A KID AND A WIFE AND WANTS TO BE WITH THEM. He worked so very, very hard to make this transition, and y'all shitting on his choice won't make him come back. Let alone happily come back. He loves these new hosts, you shitting on them to praise him IS NOT A COMPLIMENT TO HIM.

[iamFSRL]

Let’s fill in the gaps.

Rhaenyra is ‘heir presumptive’. Even without Viserys naming her so, she was, and even when he names her, he did nothing for her but publicise it. Heir presumptive means her being heir is subject to no other heir having a right to the throne. Aegon is ‘heir apparent’. His right to be heir is written in law. While we actually don’t learn much about what legal precedent is, we do know that GoT follows English law, so we must assume that to keep it consistent, this isn’t going to change on the flip of a coin.

Had Viserys died with no other children, Rhaenyra would be queen, but when Aegon was born, Rhaenyra was automatically bumped to second place, and with Aemond, she was bumped to third (not going to go into her children or newphews/nieces to keep it simple). But since Viserys had a son that lived, Aegon is rightfully the king.

However, Jaehaerys did name Viserys as his heir, setting precedent that the king can in fact choose an heir regardless. Sure, even when Viserys was selected, one could ultimate figure out who had the right to rule, but people accepted the ruling. Therefore Rhaenyra does have a right to be queen.

Ultimately though, it doesn’t matter. Even though Aegon is king, his right to rule can be challenged, and even though Rhaenyra was named heir, her right to rule can be challenged. Therefore it’s not about who has the right to rule, but who can impose that right without being challenged, which is why the conflict exists and also why other powers, such as the impact of other houses and small folk, are important to consider.

[anhurtorrez]

I never really got into those shows, but it is interesting how he took inspiration from real life events. Also love how Tom just popped in.

[jayjaytaylor]

I'm actually really enjoying all the little feature inserts of the other hosts😊

[whitehawkomega]

The repeating names makes a lot of sense as Martin drew a lot of inspiration from history. How many Henry’s and George’s and Edwards were there in English History? Louises in French History? It just comes off awkward in a fantasy novel because it’s a general guideline to not repeat names in fiction.

[paisan]

Ireland’s counterpart in Westeros is actually the Vale in the east. Dorne glued to the bottom is the counterpart of the Iberian peninsula

[galitesella]

TOM : comlains about lee stealing england
LEE: “counter argument: swords “

[ClassyPotato.]

No idea how I found this video as fast as I did, because goodness knows that YouTube recommendations only sends you a notification after a video's been out for a few hours.

[ellasarintamara]

Rhaenyra also has 2 Targaryan parents while Aegon is only half Targaryan