A great read, thanks for sharing. But I think him killing Aegon on purpose was done right. We see Alicent strike Aegon after the pig incident, telling him he is free to torment his brother when they are alone but they have to keep a united stance against Rhaenyra's sons. (I don't remember the exact wording.) From that point on, I believe that every supportive scene we see from them happens when the Strong boys are present. We don't really get an idea of the relationship between them but only that they support each other against Rhaenyra's sons. We also know that they don't visit the town together or tell each other about their adventures as Aemond knows nothing about Aegon’s frequent visiting spots while looking for him with Cole. He can only take Cole to a brothel Aegon hasn't visited in years. When Aemond sees Luke in Storm's End it is pretty clear that Aemond is using Aegon's claim as an excuse to torment Luke for his own vengeance. So the impression I personally get is that they don't really have a relationship except for an act that they put on when the blacks are present. so when I watched the brothel scene, I did not think that was an isolated incident. I got the impression that Aegon teased and embarassed Aemond in front of others often.
I agree that the brothel scene alone or any teasing would not cause Aemond to kill Aegon. Aemond is presented as a somewhat impulsive but mostly goal driven and calculated individual. The thing he cares about most in my opinion is that his family survives this war. Later in the season we see Aemond tell Alicent “it is not only our rule that is threatened but our very lives” (or something like that). Also, Rook’s Rest happens soon after Jahaerys’ death, when Aemond has realized that the blacks tried to murder him and they are likely to try again. On the other hand we see Aegon who is very impulsive, reckless and making mistakes that might actually cost the greens the war. The first things Aemond does as Prince Regent is undoing some of those mistakes such as cutting down the rat catchers and naming his grandfather hand again. Considering all this, I believe Aemond thought they would stand a better chance as a family if Aegon was out of the picture. He didn’t see him as someone fit to rule and certainly not someone he would want to make the calls during dangerous times. When he saw Aegon coming at Rook’s Rest, he was not happy but angry at first. His reaction was almost like disbelief of how much of an idiot Aegon can be. (And how even when they tried to manipulate him to make the right decisions, he cannot be trusted to cooperate.)
We also have to take into account that Rook’s Rest was a very rare opportunity for Aemond to kill Aegon and make it look like an accident. It was his only shot and he had to make a quick decision. Considering that he probably didn’t like Aegon very much and thought him likely to get the entire family killed by the blacks, I think it was understandable that he decided to just do it.
On everything else you mentioned, I almost completely agree. The Alicent lookalike thing is really weird. Excuse me for the long comment, I was really excited to see a post analyzing Aemond in depth. I will be eagerly waiting for part two.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response (and please don't apologise for length, I love a lengthy comment)!
You raise a lot of good points, including some I had clean forgotten by the time I was editing this one - e.g. I forgot that Aemond brought back Otto, which was a good call. The man may be a bit evil but he's great at what he does. Also, I think I got confused about the details of the brothel - I kind of had the impression Aegon and Aemond both frequented the place regularly, but apparently Aegon hadn't been there for years, yet for some reason he returned at the most fateful moment. It's a strangely constructed show in many regards, and not helped by the fact that there's such a long gap between seasons (and so much time wasted on tertiary characters with nothing to do).
But yes, I like your interpretation of Aemond having made a snap judgement out of his wish to protect his family, and I think it's well-supported, although there's a whole question as to whether the family argument is how he really feels or a cover for his selfish desires, which could potentially be built on in the future. Although I do think that even for an on-the-spot judgement it was a catastrophically bad decision, for reasons I'll go into in Part 2 (which will be out tomorrow).
You're also quite right that the brothers don't seem to have much of a relationship, I think this is actually a problem with the show's depiction of the Greens, none of them seem to have any degree of closeness with each other. Even Otto, who 100% should have been massively invested in Aegon's upbringing and education, and had unlimited access to him for years while planning a coup, apparently just let him go feral. Yet Aegon's entire issue is that he feels unloved and craves a father figure! Otto could have had Aegon's devotion so easily, and he fumbled so badly, as the Greens seem to fumble everything.
Great post, cant wait for part 2! The part about how the show is far more gratuitous with "deviant" sexual behavior than even the boys made me chuckle, it really is, and it's weird how the disabled characters in the series are given this treatment more overtly than the others. Larys' foot fetish, Aemond's mommy issues, and Aegon's sexual abuse, which the narrative subtly implies he's being punished for by losing his penis/becoming disabled
Thank you! I do kind of wonder about this show's depiction of disability (something GRRM was historically good at), obviously the Larys stuff in S1 set a pretty horrific tone, he has much more sympathetic dialogue in S2 yet his description of his 'unnatural' screams as a baby feel very Richard III, it's almost like they're making a Gothic monster of him.
I kind of have mixed feelings about the Aegon stuff, as you say it's 100% presented as karmic, and there's a danger of him being depicted as a monster in the next season (more than he has been already). On the other hand, Larys' dialogue with him (and his S2 depiction generally) has set a more sympathetic tone, so we will have to wait and see. (Aegon is about 80% of the reason I'm going to watch Season 3).
A great read, thanks for sharing. But I think him killing Aegon on purpose was done right. We see Alicent strike Aegon after the pig incident, telling him he is free to torment his brother when they are alone but they have to keep a united stance against Rhaenyra's sons. (I don't remember the exact wording.) From that point on, I believe that every supportive scene we see from them happens when the Strong boys are present. We don't really get an idea of the relationship between them but only that they support each other against Rhaenyra's sons. We also know that they don't visit the town together or tell each other about their adventures as Aemond knows nothing about Aegon’s frequent visiting spots while looking for him with Cole. He can only take Cole to a brothel Aegon hasn't visited in years. When Aemond sees Luke in Storm's End it is pretty clear that Aemond is using Aegon's claim as an excuse to torment Luke for his own vengeance. So the impression I personally get is that they don't really have a relationship except for an act that they put on when the blacks are present. so when I watched the brothel scene, I did not think that was an isolated incident. I got the impression that Aegon teased and embarassed Aemond in front of others often.
I agree that the brothel scene alone or any teasing would not cause Aemond to kill Aegon. Aemond is presented as a somewhat impulsive but mostly goal driven and calculated individual. The thing he cares about most in my opinion is that his family survives this war. Later in the season we see Aemond tell Alicent “it is not only our rule that is threatened but our very lives” (or something like that). Also, Rook’s Rest happens soon after Jahaerys’ death, when Aemond has realized that the blacks tried to murder him and they are likely to try again. On the other hand we see Aegon who is very impulsive, reckless and making mistakes that might actually cost the greens the war. The first things Aemond does as Prince Regent is undoing some of those mistakes such as cutting down the rat catchers and naming his grandfather hand again. Considering all this, I believe Aemond thought they would stand a better chance as a family if Aegon was out of the picture. He didn’t see him as someone fit to rule and certainly not someone he would want to make the calls during dangerous times. When he saw Aegon coming at Rook’s Rest, he was not happy but angry at first. His reaction was almost like disbelief of how much of an idiot Aegon can be. (And how even when they tried to manipulate him to make the right decisions, he cannot be trusted to cooperate.)
We also have to take into account that Rook’s Rest was a very rare opportunity for Aemond to kill Aegon and make it look like an accident. It was his only shot and he had to make a quick decision. Considering that he probably didn’t like Aegon very much and thought him likely to get the entire family killed by the blacks, I think it was understandable that he decided to just do it.
On everything else you mentioned, I almost completely agree. The Alicent lookalike thing is really weird. Excuse me for the long comment, I was really excited to see a post analyzing Aemond in depth. I will be eagerly waiting for part two.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response (and please don't apologise for length, I love a lengthy comment)!
You raise a lot of good points, including some I had clean forgotten by the time I was editing this one - e.g. I forgot that Aemond brought back Otto, which was a good call. The man may be a bit evil but he's great at what he does. Also, I think I got confused about the details of the brothel - I kind of had the impression Aegon and Aemond both frequented the place regularly, but apparently Aegon hadn't been there for years, yet for some reason he returned at the most fateful moment. It's a strangely constructed show in many regards, and not helped by the fact that there's such a long gap between seasons (and so much time wasted on tertiary characters with nothing to do).
But yes, I like your interpretation of Aemond having made a snap judgement out of his wish to protect his family, and I think it's well-supported, although there's a whole question as to whether the family argument is how he really feels or a cover for his selfish desires, which could potentially be built on in the future. Although I do think that even for an on-the-spot judgement it was a catastrophically bad decision, for reasons I'll go into in Part 2 (which will be out tomorrow).
You're also quite right that the brothers don't seem to have much of a relationship, I think this is actually a problem with the show's depiction of the Greens, none of them seem to have any degree of closeness with each other. Even Otto, who 100% should have been massively invested in Aegon's upbringing and education, and had unlimited access to him for years while planning a coup, apparently just let him go feral. Yet Aegon's entire issue is that he feels unloved and craves a father figure! Otto could have had Aegon's devotion so easily, and he fumbled so badly, as the Greens seem to fumble everything.
Great post, cant wait for part 2! The part about how the show is far more gratuitous with "deviant" sexual behavior than even the boys made me chuckle, it really is, and it's weird how the disabled characters in the series are given this treatment more overtly than the others. Larys' foot fetish, Aemond's mommy issues, and Aegon's sexual abuse, which the narrative subtly implies he's being punished for by losing his penis/becoming disabled
Thank you! I do kind of wonder about this show's depiction of disability (something GRRM was historically good at), obviously the Larys stuff in S1 set a pretty horrific tone, he has much more sympathetic dialogue in S2 yet his description of his 'unnatural' screams as a baby feel very Richard III, it's almost like they're making a Gothic monster of him.
I kind of have mixed feelings about the Aegon stuff, as you say it's 100% presented as karmic, and there's a danger of him being depicted as a monster in the next season (more than he has been already). On the other hand, Larys' dialogue with him (and his S2 depiction generally) has set a more sympathetic tone, so we will have to wait and see. (Aegon is about 80% of the reason I'm going to watch Season 3).