WiC Reads: Fire & Blood

6) The Year of the Three Brides – 49AC

This is a strange chapter title. The three brides at issue are Rhaena, Alyssa, and Alysanne Targaryen. But when I hear the title, what comes to mind are Maegor’s Black Brides.

Of the three marriages in this chapter, Rhaena’s and Alyssa’s are the more interesting, although the wedding between Jaehaerys and Alysanne is unique. They decide (on Alysanne’s initiative, which could very well become a theme from here on out) to sneak away and marry on Dragonstone. This foils the plans of our second couple: Dowager Queen Alyssa — Jaehaerys’ mother — and Rogar Baratheon, the Hand of the King. The both of them had been planning to marry Jaehaerys and Alysanne into other Houses for political gain.

Rogar comes off as a precursor to King Robert here, spending money like it’s going out of fashion and deflowering a bunch of Lyseni maidens turned prostitutes. He also looks like the big loser of the chapter. He already had to swallow a bitter pill before when Rhaena Targaryen decided to marry Androw Farman in relative secrecy, determined to never again be a pawn in the game of thrones. In the end, when Rogar’s men face Jaehaerys’s Kingsguard in a standoff, the Lord of Storm’s End looks weaker than he ever has. While Jaehaerys is not yet a grown man in the eyes of the realm, his marriage being unconsummated and unknown to the public, it seems like Rogar Baratheon’s influence is past its prime.

A sidenote: Septon Barth is mentioned several times in this chapter and it seems like we will hear more of him pretty soon.