How many tens of thousands had to die because Rhaegar chose your aunt
Rhaegar targaryen is one of the most important characters on Game of Thrones
with the least amount of screen time.
His actions catalyzed most of the events we witness.
Rhaegar lies beneath the ground.
So how does a dead man still have so much influence?
Rhaegar Targaryen was the son and heir of the Mad King Aerys the second
and Queen Rhaella
and the older brother of Viserys and Danerys.
King Aerys had a strained relationship with his son.
Due to his growing paranoia that Rhaegar was trying to overthrow him and take the Iron Throne,
which was entirely possible given the mad Kings questionable mental state.
While Danny was too young to remember what her oldest brother was like,
Viserys remembers him as a good killer and lover of violence,
qualities the younger looks up to.
"Viserys never told you?"
"He told me Rhaegar was good at killing people."
Throughout Game of Thrones history, Targaryens have been marrying their siblings
to keep their Valyrian bloodline pure.
But, finding no eligible relatives,
Rhaegar ended up marrying the Dornish Elia Martell.
Better known in the show as Oberyn Martell's sister,
"The last time we was in the capital was many years ago. Another winning.
My sister Elia and Rhaegar Targaryen the last dragon."
Tywin Lannister wanted him to marry Cersei,
but the Mad King felt this match was beneath Rhaegar.
Rhaegar and Elia had two children, who didn't live long after
the War of the Usurper, or Robert's Rebellion began.
Most importantly Rhaegar had a third son,
with Ned Stark's sister Lyanna, who did survive,
growing up to become one of the show's most beloved characters, Jon Snow.
Lyanna was betrothed to Robert Baratheon
when she was allegedly abducted by Rhaegar.
"What Rhaegar Targaryen did to your sister, the woman I loved.
I'll kill every Targaryen I get my hands on."
We'll get into the question of what exactly
Rhaegar's and Lyanna's relationship was in a bit.
Lyanna gave birth to John secretly.
Were Robert to find out about this illegitimate competition to the throne,
it was thought he would kill the baby.
"You know it. You have to protect him."
So Lyanna's brother, Ned, took him in as his own bastard son.
"Lord Eddark Stark is my father."
"And Lady Stark is not your mother,
making you the bastard."
Not even telling his wife, Catilyn, the truth.
Thus Rhaegar's blood and legacy live on most tangibly in John Snow.
Because Rhaegar is dead at the start of the story,
we never get the opportunity to truly make a judgment on his character.
We only see the judgments of others.
"In my dreams I kill him every night."
"Rhaegar would pick a spot on the hook
or the street of seeds. Then he'd sing."
"He was good?"
"He was very good.
Rhaegar never liked killing. He loved singing."
"And what did you do with the money?"
"Well one time he gave it to the next minstrel down the street.
One time he gave it to an orphanage in flea bottom.
One time we got horribly drunk."
So, what was the man really like?
The books depict a shift in his personality
from bookworm
to fighting night.
Though he grew up intellectual and peaceful,
he switched his focus to combat training
after reading a prophecy in a scroll about the second coming of Azor Ahai,
a legendary hero who fought off the darkness with
a sword called Lightbringer.
With the prophesied coming of the White Walkers,
Rhaegar first believed that he was the prince that was promised.
Then later believed the prince would be all three of his future children working together,
because the Targaryen sigil is a three-headed dragon.
So more than his intelligence or his strength,
Rhaegar believed in the power of destiny
and his duty towards that destiny.
When Danny sees her older brother in her vision in the house of the undying
he reveals this prophecy,
which could foreshadow that three Dragon Riders
potentially John, Danny, and, some fans have speculated maybe Tyrion,
are needed to reclaim the Iron Throne.
The now-proven fact that Jon Snow is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark
has been one of the show's most popular
long-running and now proven fan theories.
But the reveal of the parentage begs the question
of how Jon's parents met and fell in love in the first place,
given that they were from opposing houses,
Rhaegar was already married,
and they've never been seen together in public.
Were they truly in love,
or was Rhaegar the kidnapping raping monster the Targaryen enemies say he was?
"And then he kidnapped her and raped her."
To get any solid facts, we have to go back to the books.
They tell us Rhaegar won a jousting tournament at Harrenhal,
one of the greatest of the time,
and instead of choosing his wife as the queen of love and beauty,
he rode past her and placed the crown of blue winter roses
in Lyanna Stark's lap, shocking the entire audience.
According to the books, earlier in the tournament
there came a masked jouster to defend the honour of a
man who'd been bullied by a few Squires.
The mystery man was smaller than the other knights and carried a shield with a laughing tree on it.
He later disappeared and the king in his mad state thought the night must be his enemy,
so the king sent Rhaegar to go find the knight of the Laughing tree,
but Rhaegar returned and claimed he could only find the knight's shield.
Fans have theorized that Rhaegar discovered
the knight of the Laughing tree was Lyanna,
that the pair fell in love and that he actually lied to the King to save her.
Think this is too much of a stretch?
Well it seems to check out.
Rhaegar wouldn't have told his father that he found the knight
because of his shaky relationship with the King.
Lyanna was a skilled swordsman, but smaller in stature,
and it would explain why Rhaegar chose her over his wife
to be the queen of love and beauty,
a seemingly random and definitely dangerous choice.
Rather than merely celebrating her physical beauty,
he was honoring the strength and kindness she had shown by defending the bullied man.
Some fans have also theorized, however, that this was less a love affair
and more a strategic move for Rhaegar.
If he truly believed he needed
three children to fulfill the prince that was promised prophecy,
he would have had to have an affair,
because his wife was deemed unfit to have a third child.
After the knight of the Laughing tree episode,
Lyanna was taken to the Tower of Joy
to give birth to Jon Snow,
and died shortly after childbirth.
Rhaegar, his wife, and his first two children were all killed in Robert's Rebellion.
So, who was Rhaegar, really?
Was he a hopeless romantic, swept away
by his love for Lyanna Stark?
Another Targaryen obsessed with prophecy?
Or was he just another adept player in the game of Thrones?
Or a little bit of all of those?
Like many characters,
Rhaegar may have roots and historical figures.
Henry Stuart Prince of Wales,
with his reputation of intelligence, and musical talent
may have inspired Rhaegar's early years.
Meanwhile, the English Prince Edward, known as
the Black Prince son of Edward the third,
could be a model for Rhaegar's skill as a jouster
and military commander.
Much like Rhaegar, both real-life princes were beloved in their time
and died before they had a chance to become King,
causing their countries to mourn.
As a character Rhaegar is one of the most complex and
deeply layered examples of George RR Martin's ability as a writer.
Without ever physically appearing in the present story,
Rhaegar Targaryen manages to not only impact the lives of an entire kingdom,
but also to come across as one of the most three-dimensional characters.
In a way, he can be compared to real-life celebrities or politicians.
We'll never truly know their intentions or inner life,
yet the results of their actions can be immensely influential and polarizing.
While audiences can form strong opinions about each of the core Game of Thrones cast,
we have to imagine Rhaegar for ourselves because we only see the impact he leaves behind.
"Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly,
and Rhaegar died."