Was Maegor Targaryen Really That Cruel? - House Of The Dragon Theory

Maegor Targaryen went down in history as Maegor The Cruel. But the question i want to ask is this. Did he truly deserve this title? Was he really that bad. Or this a case of confirmation bias and history being written by the victors. In this video we devle into this idea, as well as how Maegor might be portrayed in the Game Of Thrones spin off show, House of The Dragon, coming in 2021.
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[vanessaamesty]

Maegon & Visenya had to carry the burden of doing the dirty work to mantain the image of Aegon/Aenys and the rest of the members of the Targaryens.

[ryanelliott]

Maegor I’d argue is what was needed to compensate is weak brother. In ASOS Kevan explains to Tyrion why Tywin did that acts the did, mainly to compensate for his pathetic father who humiliated his family until Tywin took charge. At this time the people of Westeros common folk was controlled by a politically religious group all the sudden rose in rebellion over Aenys. And probably hearing another how his brother died forced him to take harsher actions

[dannymcelroy]

I think Maegor probably was cruel but wasn’t necessarily always as off the deep end as he became. I think there was more to him and Aenys as brothers and friends in the early years, and I do think Maegor was completely necessary to save the Targaryens. Part of Jaehaerys success was being able to look at Aenys and Maegor both and model his Kingship as someone in the middle of them both.

Regardless, absolute tragedy they skipped to The Dance in Fire and Blood. 😢

[alialmuhanna]

I was actually thinking of this just yesterday while reading the World book; I believe Maegor was claiming the throne to ensure absolute & unquestioned authority when he took action against the faith of the seven and all other rebels. If he had secured the realm, would he have abdicated for his brother's son, Aegon the Uncrowned ? Maegor's attempts at obtaining an heir speak against this. All in all, Maegor was securing Targaryen rule.

[Marquis_Ye]

"You're a dragon, be a dragon." - Olenna Tyrell

[davids.]

Chad Maegor did nothing wrong. all he did was to protect his family and the 7 seven kingdoms against the enemies of the realms

[Eddy-b]

Maegor the wise, he saved the dynasty from beings destroyed by the faith under his brother and nephew👏🏽👏🏽

Plus Jaehaerys, whose best friend was a septan, probably had Maegor over exaggerated to make him look better

[danielasante]

Maegor Killed all the people who built the tunnels he needed just because he didn't want them to tell anyone.
He Deserved the name cruel in my opinion

[Orpheus]

*wife has a miscarrage* *Maegor torturing and killing her along with her entire family* "this reaction my Maegor is harsh, and is extreme and arguably cruel"

[comradekenobi]

He was probably ruthless, hotheaded, and mildly sadistic early in his life (more comparable to a a The Rogue Prince than to his depiction in the histories).

I get the impression that he kind of lost it after the Trial of the Seven, especially when you consider the likelihood that he died after the trial, as a sort of foil for Melisandre, reanimated him using magic. As we know, you lose a part of yourself during reanimations, so it's possible that Maegor was turned into a monster by his lover.

I only really think of him as cruel because of his ruthless attitude in his personal life -- having his nephew and ward, Prince Viserys, tortured to death, forcing the wives of men he killed to marry him/basically raping them, including his own niece, Princess Rhaena, having the arms and legs of one of his rivals cut off and forcing said rival to attend his wedding... I could go on and on. And then there's his murder of the builders of the Red Keep.

[yellowisksheppard]

If it had been Maegor who conquered Westeros he would’ve submitted the faith and worked with yronwood to conquer Dorne. Maegor was the Alexander the Great the house of the dragon would never have ruled as long as it did without him and if he had been the one to conquer I honestly believe that he and his family would’ve ruled all seven kingdoms and been the head of the faith.

[jimsty]

In short... *YES* -- he was a very cruel tyrant and kinslayer. He wasn't mad either -- he was just pure evil. I understand the view that "victors write biased history", but I'm not going to play devils advocate on this one.

[Regenmacher]

There are a couple of incidents that make him stand out in terms of sadism. He had his nephew Viserys tortured to death and chopped up the body of one of his wives into 7 pieces that were then put out in public until they rotted merely because he believed Tyanna's lies. While it is true that Alys Harroway did have affairs, Yyanna later also confesses that she made sure to curse her child, as well as the children of all of Maegor's other wives. He was no doubt ready to deal with the threat that the Faith Militant presented but he did murder Aenys' son Aegon (who had an actual claim to the throne) in battle and took the Iron Throne through sheer force initially, as he had no claim to it otherwise, since there were many other people in line ahead of him at that point. It is also suspected that many of the Faith Militant/Poor Fellows he claims to have killed were actually just poor people who happened to be devout believers in the Faith of the Seven and who were not actively rebelling against him. By the time he died, he was rather pathetic tbh, as he lost not only the support of the Velaryon navy but 2 of his own kingsguard joined Jahaerys who by all accounts turned out to be a much better king than either Aenys or Maegor.

[erikringutangochtala]

Cruel? Yes quite. Unjustified or irrational? No i dont think so.

[brianhowe]

Maegor's mistake was to ever trust the maesters and septons. Should have purged them when he had the chance.

[HowToPnP]

"My liege, the people are calling you 'cruel'."
Maegor, who upholds Valyrian tradition and is demonized for it; who desperately tried to preserve Targaryen rule; who is the son of the guy who burned thousands of people alive: "You what mate?"

I think it's the same problem Nero has: he was roughly as fucked up as other emperors, but people writing the histories hated him. The regime following Maegor had an obvious interest in smearing him, and is is obviously that "the good king" dispised his uncle.

Tywin is just as cruel (arguably more so) than Maegor, but Tywin is not remembered as "The crues".

[Baelor-Breakspear]

History isn’t always written by the victors. You only need look at American history and how the confederacy was portrayed after the civil war to know that isn’t always accurate

[veritasinvicta]

Only from the Andal pov is Meagor "Cruel". The Kingdom would have descended into anarchy had he not flown back with his mother to take control.

[Heeem]

Maegor & Aeyns were the reason why the seven kingdoms wanted to go back to being independent. Maegor is strong & a proven warrior but Aeyns was weak and didn’t have the will for the throne.

[bensonfang]

Maegor would have been one of the best targaryens if his nephews Aegon and Viserys were killed by faith militant instead and he was hand to Jaehaerys, helping him fight back.