The Wedding that would have SAVED the Targaryens? 🐉💍

What if Viserys had said “YES” in that throne room? Imagine a world where the Dance of the Dragons never happened because the Rogue Prince and the Realm’s Delight were officially united from the start. No Otto Hightower pulling the strings, no Aegon II on the throne, and definitely no Blood & Cheese.

But would this “Power Couple” have been a dream or a total Valyrian nightmare? With Daemon’s chaos combined with Rhaenyra’s claim, would the Seven Kingdoms have thrived under a new Era of Fire, or would Daemon’s ambition have burned King’s Landing to the ground before the first heir was even born? 🏰🔥

The “What If” scenario that changes EVERYTHING in Westeros. Is this the happy ending we deserved, or just a different path to the same tragedy? 👇

In the halls of the Red Keep, few “what if” scenarios carry as much weight as the union of Daemon and Rhaenyra Targaryen. In the actual timeline of House of the Dragon, King Viserys I spent years forbidding this marriage, fearing his brother’s volatility and the optics of incestuous ambition. But what if Viserys had prioritized Targaryen exceptionalism over political caution?

By examining the shifting tides of the Stepstones and the power dynamics of the Small Council, we can reconstruct a version of history where the “Dance of the Dragons” is extinguished before the first flame is lit.

The Immediate Collapse of Otto Hightower’s Influence

The primary architect of the Targaryen civil war was Hand of the King, Otto Hightower. His strategy relied entirely on the isolation of Rhaenyra and the exile of Daemon. Had Viserys sanctioned their marriage early—perhaps shortly after the death of Queen Aemma—Otto’s master plan to place Alicent’s blood on the throne would have hit a brick wall.

With Daemon as a King Consort, the “Green” faction would have lacked the political oxygen to grow. Daemon, ever the purist of Valyrian blood, would likely have cleaned the Small Council of “Hightower leeches” within a fortnight. As noted in many fan analyses on Reddit, a united Front of Caraxes and Syrax would have made any dissent in King’s Landing a death sentence.

The End of the Velaryon Rift

One of the major stressors of Viserys’s reign was the tension with Lord Corlys Velaryon. In the original timeline, Rhaenyra was forced into a political marriage with Laenor Velaryon to mend this rift.

In this alternate scenario, the Velaryons might initially feel slighted, but Daemon—having fought alongside the Sea Snake in the Stepstones—could have negotiated a different alliance. Perhaps a betrothal between the firstborn of Daemon/Rhaenyra and a Velaryon heir. This would have kept the “Black” faction’s naval and dragon power consolidated without the tragedy and “Strong” rumors that plagued Rhaenyra’s later years.

A Different Kind of King: The Rogue Consort

The most dangerous variable in this “What If” is Daemon Targaryen himself. While he claimed to want to “restore the House of the Dragon to its proper glory,” his track record suggests a distaste for the mundanity of ruling.

Critics of this theory argue that Daemon’s presence on the throne would have led to a “Maegor the Cruel 2.0” situation. Without the stabilizing (if weak) hand of Viserys, Daemon might have pushed Westeros into unnecessary wars with the Free Cities or implemented a reign of terror against any House that questioned the Targaryen divinity. However, many fans point to his genuine (albeit twisted) devotion to Rhaenyra as a stabilizing factor—he might have been the “Sword” that defended her “Shield.”

Would the Dance Still Happen?

If Rhaenyra and Daemon had produced heirs early, the question of Aegon II’s legitimacy might never have arisen. In fact, Alicent Hightower might never have married Viserys at all, as the King would have been less pressured to “produce more heirs” with the succession so firmly secured by his brother and daughter.

Without the “Greens” vs. “Blacks” divide, the dragons would not have been turned against each other. Westeros would have entered the 2nd century of the Targaryen dynasty with its greatest weapons intact. The tragedy, however, is that the Targaryen downfall was often fueled by their own internal “madness.” A world ruled by Daemon and Rhaenyra might have been more stable in terms of succession, but potentially more tyrannical in its execution.

Conclusion: A Golden Age or a Bronze Disaster?

Ultimately, Viserys’s refusal to allow the marriage was an attempt to keep the peace through traditional Andal customs. By ignoring Valyrian traditions, he inadvertently sowed the seeds of his family’s destruction.

A union of the Rogue Prince and the Realm’s Delight would have undoubtedly saved the dragons, but it might have cost the Targaryens the love of the smallfolk and the lords of the Seven Kingdoms. It is a choice between a war that kills the dragons or a peace that fears them.