The Mystery of the Dornish Letter (Fire & Blood VRR)

[@lili46038]

Your spontaneous exchanges about rule of thumb and dragons leg is the kind of thing that gets me through stressful days. You three are fantastic ❤

[@kimsdharma]

Aziz your Rains of Castamere is a banger! So glad Ashaya mentioned it. ETA I just realized banger is a weird description for a ballad describing the destruction of a family but I stand by it. It's that good.

[@lhemm4542]

Loved this one, nice job on another great episode

[@thisguy8106]

I got to see The Sword in 2008 when they were opening for Metallica, and although they played a show where Down and Metallica also played, I left that show in awe of them. They were amazing. Man.. To be young again 😭 😅😅

[@michaelpriestley1304]

The Mongolian empire was notorious for using treatment of envoys as cassus belli. Awesome work guys love what y'all do

[@keittykit]

My theory is they sent a dying Rhaenys to Dragonstone or her body, so she could be burned, Targaryen style. Maybe the letter included her last words, or it was HER letter, asking for the war to stop for Aenys' sake (or maybe Visenya's and Aegon's too. I mean, she did love them both)

[@WillTBsVlogs]

I saw Aquaman in a 4dx theater and it wasn't something I'll do again. Was like a bad Universal Studios ride. My theater had water splashing us periodically, scents you can smell, and seats massaging your butt while thrashing around lol.

[@trenfrojr]

Someone asked me what the format was these days and I told them it’s a dude who’s a walking encyclopedia educating this other dude who doesn’t know much about ASoIaF. The other veers off course through extraneous, erroneous dead-end tangents. It works well as our host course corrects, drops loads of knowledge, and elucidates with the finest level of detail. It’s a lawyer and a layman discussing the law. Shoutout to Steve the friggin Italian. Been listening since the Beginning.

[@notyourwesterosi3565]

Your discussion prompted me to come up with my own tinfoil theory about all this: Rhaenys was a Dreamer. “Aegon’s Dream” was, in fact, Rhaenys’ Dream. She shared it with him after having it, which then prompted the whole conquering of the Seven Kingdoms into one. (Also, I love the theory that Aenys and Maegor aren’t Aegon’s either. That way, there’s a beautiful, tragic irony in that neither of Aegon’s legacies were truly his.) Rhaenys didn’t die right away after being shot down with her dragon in Dorne. But she’s definitely not alive by the time Aegon receives the mysterious letter from Dorne. In fact, after her dragon was shut down, Rhaenys lived just long enough to have another Dream which she perhaps shared with Nymor. Perhaps even his mother, Princess Meria, didn’t know about this Dream nor the prophecy, hence why this approach of sending a letter to Aegon was only used when Nymor came to power. Anyway, the contents of Nymor’s mystery letter to Aegon included what Rhaenys had revealed to him about the original prophecy and whatever new stuff she got from her Dream. That way, the letter didn’t have to have been written by Rhaenys herself in order to convince Aegon in the authenticity of its message. All the Prince had to do was to say that “Rhaenys lived long enough to have another Dream,” and he would immediately have Aegon’s full attention. And then it was by way of this - the contents of the rest of the letter - that convinced Aegon to stop fighting with Dorne. (One thing that I’m still trying to figure out, though, is the reason for Aegon flying off to Dragonstone. Nothing specific comes to mind that would be in line with my theory so far.) Moving on. Another thing you guys touched on was how no other king after Aegon tried to invade Dorne following Aegon’s treaty with Nymor thus seemingly respecting Aegon’s declaration of eternal peace - that is, until Daeron’s and then Aegon IV’s attempted invasions. Something from Rhaenys’ Dream - as passed on to Aegon and his descendants - was probably what convinced Aegon and co that perhaps Dorne will never be part of the Seven Kingdoms by force and/or that continuing on this path of aggression with Dorne will have even worse consequences for the initial Dream/prophecy about the threat from the North. All of Aegon’s descendants understood this and this message/Dorne’s conditions were likely passed on from king to king along with the original prophecy. That is until Daeron’s reign, whereby both the prophecy and the attached conditions by Dorne somehow got lost. So, Daeron I and Aegon IV, having no clue about the prophecy and these conditions, resumed trying to invade Dorne. Not until Daeron II was that finally stopped and Dorne brought into the realm peacefully. And not until Jaeherys I was the prophecy most likely recovered. I know this is a lot, and a lot of it is probably BS. But I couldn't stop thinking about this for days after listening to your discussion, and felt like I just needed to share my ideas and thoughts with someone. Thanks for reading!

[@ApplesandDragons]

King Aegon Targaryen, When Balerion burned the Hellholt he fused the surrounding sands into glass in places. Sharper than steel, my maester calls this stone obsidian. The smallfolk, however, have always known it by another name . . . dragonglass. My captain fashioned some into spearheads and fired it from a scorpion at Meraxes' corpse. And now I know why they call it dragonglass. Thank you for our new weapons. We will be sure to put them to good use should dragons pester Dorne or her people again. It will be much easier than shooting a dragon through the eye a second time. Surely the former kings of Westeros would be interested to know the result of our experiment too, don't you think? My mother was determined to await your return and slay your Vhagar and Balerion to complete the collection. But I am not so bloodthirsty. I propose a fair bargain: Eternal silence for eternal peace. Prince Nymor Nymeros Martell of Dorne

[@Koudey]

"The iron phone"

[@nurlord]

I don't think Queen Rhaenys could have been alive at the time Aegon received the Dornish letter. I can't think of any scenario where that would have lead to peace. I do think she was alive after the fall and that she lived long enough to give birth to a baby maybe a Dornish baby(a dark path that) or maybe Aegon's baby. Ageon flew to Dragonstone to ask the maester if there was any chance Rhaenys was pregnant before going to Dorne to fight. The maester told Aegon "yes" she was pregnant and that she was going to announce it when she got back from Dorne, but she never made it back so he didn't see the point in mentioning it himself. The Dornish letter would promise to keep Aegon's child safe. He wouldn't necessarily go to war to get this kid back because he already had more than one heir in the succession. Also he'd have no way of knowing where the kid was or what it looked like even if he could somehow come up with a plan to get it back. Without knowing where the kids was any attack on Dorne might make him a kinslayer. He however would accept peace knowing it would keep his child safe. Royal children especially those unlikely to succeed where often sent to ward with great lords so it wouldn't be a totally foreign concept for this child to stay with the Martell's after a fashion. Clearly they couldn't have the kid at court with them but it would still be under their stewardship. It would also be interesting(thou far fetched) if Dany was actually the descendent of this child as her parentage seems to be pretty murky in the eyes of the fandom. The Martell's would have been cultivating their own Targaryen blood line for over 200 years as a sort of protection from the Targaryen's in King's Landing.

[@lancehenry1936]

This is awesome. You need to do a fanfic on this concept. Very interesting. 😊

[@AllTheArtsy]

oh my god please give up this theory on Dany not being who she thinks and says and believes she is. it makes no damn sense and adds nothing to the story

[@BearusAurelius]

I think several people have suggested that Aegon flew to Dragonstone to use a glass candle in the attempt to verify information that was given to him in the letter. My thought is the letter stated that Rhaenys was buried in a spot of honor (perhaps near Nymeria?) with the bones of her dragon. Aegon could then consult with a glass candle to verify. The really odd bit is the reaction Aegon has that causes him to bleed. I can't imagine that the Dornish King would want to inflame Aegon in any way if Dorne was truly seeking peace. So the information must have come with some ultimatum, like perhaps Aegon would be permitted to see his wife's grave but her bones must stay in Dorne or something to that effect. Edit: Perhaps the letter said that Rhaenys was tortured and killed but the people responsible in Dorne were dealt with and her remains were given a proper burial. This is the olive branch they could be extending.

[@ApplesandDragons]

Great episode so far. Some small corrections: Deria did not give Aegon the option to read the letter out loud. Aegon could have read it out loud anyway, but Deria said "For your eyes only, Your Grace." Fire and Blood doesn't say that Aegon's bleeding hand was caused by him gripping the Iron Throne, but The World of Ice and Fire does.

[@trieze90]

The Temeraire by Naomi Novik. Depending on the nation dragons are treated differently and some even have jobs etc.

[@memyself-rs3tv]

😊bm 1:11:48

[@Birbeer]

Follow the thread "Nymor letter theories" in a forum of ice and fire

[@jonessmith-cf1ci]

what about the theory they just returned her bones to Dragonstone ?

[@andymcintosh3963]

I’ve heard alcohol referred to as Dutch courage. No offence meant to the Dutch.

[@evanleonard798]

I saw Scream 6 in those seats and the opening kill i was drinking from my soda and the seat jerked so violently I almost put the straw through the back of my throat 😅

[@jonessmith-cf1ci]

I know how your mother died,she was tortured for 3 years by the drugdealers before being put out of her misery after your father paid the money

[@kirkcavanaugh1493]

He is typically not that kind of guy, but he has never been in a situation like that before.