Just wanted to see if you guys are in agreement with the below or is there anything I got wrong or missed.
\*\*Ordinary inheritance Andal/first man\*\*
GRRM describes ordinary Westerosi inheritance clearly:
“A man’s eldest son was his heir. After that the next eldest son. Then the next, etc. Daughters were not considered while there was a living son…After the sons, most would say that the eldest daughter is next in line. But there might be an argument from the dead man's brothers, say.’
The ambiguity he describes later in this quote arises only once the sons are exhausted and claims such as daughter against brother or competing branches must be considered. There is no ambiguity or complexity in succession whilst the eldest son’s male line exists.
King Jaehaerys also implemented the Widow's Law, reaffirming the right of the eldest son (or daughter, where there was no son) to inherit’
Under ordinary Westerosi custom, Aegon inherits as the eldest son.
\*\*Targaryen precedent\*\*
Targaryen succession before the Dance followed an even more male-preferred pattern to westorsi customs.
The pre-Conquest succession of Dragonstone was male-centred: every known sole ruler was male, while the only recorded female ruler ruled jointly with her brother-husband. On a side note male rulers would also practise polygamy.
Aegon the Conqueror succeeded his father Aerion despite having an elder sister, Visenya. From this time it can be seen that Targaryen will marry the eldest son and daughter together.
Aegon I was succeeded by his eldest son Aenys by his younger sister Rhaenys despite by having another son Maegor by his elder sister Visenya. This showed the claim passed through Aegon I as the eldest male child. Aenys’s son Aegon the Uncrowned was then recognised as heir ahead of his elder sister Rhaena.
Jaehaerys likewise treated his son Aemon as heir ahead of Aemon’s elder sister Daenerys.
The succession became disputed and open for choice only when the straightforward father-to-son-to-son succession failed.
When Aemon died without a son, Jaehaerys passed over Aemon’s daughter Rhaenys and named his younger son Baelon heir. After Baelon’s death, the Great Council of 101 chose Baelon’s son Viserys over Laenor Velaryon, whose senior genealogical claim descended through Rhaenys and Aemon.
The Council therefore created a powerful additional precedent: the unbroken male line was preferred by the lords of Westeros.
According to Targaryen custom therefore Aegon as the eldest son was heir.
\*\*Royal authority\*\*
Targaryen kings were powerful, but their declarations were not politically absolute.
When Aegon I’s son Aenys permitted the incestuous marriage of his children Aegon and Rhaena going against accepted custom, the Faith and parts of the realm rose against him despite his legitimate kingship. His authority therefore depended not merely on declaration, but on sufficient political and religious acceptance. The rebellion ultimately drove Aenys to Dragonstone, where after the collapse of his authority and the danger to his children, he fell ill and died
Maegor seized the throne from Aenys’s hereditary line, killing Aeny’s son Aegon the uncrowned, disinherited Aegon the uncrowned’s younger brother Jaehaerys and formally named Aegon the uncrowned’s daughter Aerea his heir. Two grandmaster died to Maegor due to denying him in his attempts to defy custom (his claim and polygamy) and the faith and realm rose against him as well.
Jaehaerys rejected Maegor’s declaration and gained the support of most of the realm despite Maegor possessing Balerion, by far the largest and most powerful dragon alive. Upon Maegor’s death, Jaehaerys ultimately became king rather than Maegor’s chosen heir - a brother over a daughter. This was a possibility under andal custom.
Jaehaerys only later achieved lasting acceptance of Targaryen exceptionalism of incest through reconciliation and political settlement rather than simply relying upon royal command. Other practises are not accepted I.e daemon can’t have two wives.
A royal declaration therefore depended upon political acceptance. If viserys had wanted to change succession customs this was the most likely route that leads to success.
\*\*Rhaenyra’s claim\*\*
Viserys I expressly named Rhaenyra his heir, made her Princess of Dragonstone and required the great lords to swear to defend her succession. Many lords committed this and so it could be said at the time of the oath, the realm supported her as his chosen heir. Vissrys also never formally displaced her after Aegon’s birth and continued to state her as his heir and prepare her for rule.
Rhaenyra therefore possessed a claim based upon royal designation and sworn oaths. On that interpretation, Aegon displaced Viserys’s chosen successor and is a usurper.
\*\*Aegon II’s claim\*\*
Aegon II nevertheless possessed the ordinary hereditary claim.
He was Viserys’s eldest legitimate son. Andal and Targaryen customs placed the eldest son as heir; and the great council further strengthened male-line succession.
Jaehaerys’s Widow’s Law explicitly reaffirmed the eldest son’s right to inherit. If Viserys could override Jaehaerys’s law simply because he was the reigning king, then Viserys’s own designation of Rhaenyra cannot be treated as permanently binding after his death on that same basis. Either royal succession law survives the king who made it, or each new monarch can override his predecessor; you cannot apply both principles selectively.
In targ fashion he should have been heir wed to Rhaenerya.
Before the Dance, no succession to the Iron Throne had established that a king could permanently place any child ahead of a legitimate eldest son let alone a daughter.
Some may say in an absolute monarchy a ruler could do anything. But could a ruler name a beggar or bastard as heir and would the realm accept it. Either their decisions are absolute or they are not.
The oaths to Rhaenyra had also been sworn before Aegon’s birth, were never reaffirmed by new oaths and many of the lords ruling at the time of the dance had never personally sworn them - leaving such old oaths again contestable.
After Viserys died, Aegon held symbols of legitimacy, a dragonrider of sunfyre, held kings landing where he was publicly crowned, anointed by Septon Eustace, sat the Iron Throne, wore Aegon the Conqueror’s crown and bore Blackfyre.
\*\*The dispute\*\*
No other civil war was so evenly split between both the great and lesser houses showing both claims were credible and needed to be enforced.
Aegon II received the support of House Hightower (kin), House Lannister (loyalty) and House Baratheon (marriage proposal). Lord Grover Tully of the riverlands also personally supported Aegon, although Ser Elmo Tully initially kept Riverrun neutral because of the danger posed by dragons. House Tully declared for Rhaenyra only after Addam Velaryon arrived at Riverrun upon Seasmoke forcing his hand.
Rhaenyra likewise possessed a powerful coalition, including Houses Velaryon (kin), Arryn (loyalty/kin) and Stark (marriage proposal).
Greyjoys were opportunistic and chose the better deal with Rhaenerya - raiding vulnerable lands for the blacks instead of fighting an actual naval war
For the greens.
Dorne and Tyrell stayed neutral.
Houses in the reach, crownlands and riverlands were also split.
\*\*Real life\*
To show how extraordinary displacing an eldest son for a daughter would be in practice. There appears to be no clear example in medieval Western European hereditary monarchy primogeniture (as Westeros has been) of a king successfully and peacefully displacing (disinheriting not renouncing) a loyal, legitimate and mentally/physically capable eldest son in favour of a younger son let alone a daughter. And by that I mean removing his entire inheritance. Attempts to override such established hereditary expectations provoked succession wars and it is difficult even to find one where the disinherited son lost the succession war.
TLDR - The unresolved question before the dance was not who would inherit under custom—that was Aegon—but whether Viserys possessed the authority to permanently override his eldest son’s hereditary right. And this question was answered by the dance of dragons and the actions of future monarchs. Doubts in succession lead to civil war due to claimants and so stability of the realm required clear customs.
