Rhaegar Targaryen: A Man Of Prophecies Or Senses?

In the last discussion I tried to explain political influence of Rhaegar on Westros. Today we are going to discuss how prophecies affected Rhaegar into doing what he did. Rhaegar, in books as well as in series is depicted as a capable warrior, smart, and a great musician ( playing his silver-Stringed Harp). Jorah Mormont also mentions Rhaegar as "the last dragon prince" to Daenerys. Even Cersei as a child has a huge crush on Rhaegar and wished to marry him until those plans were destroyed by Aerys who instead married Rhaegar to Elia Martell (Mad King knew the Lannisters were not to be trusted).

On the surface, Rhaegar was a perfect prince and would have become a capable ruler. But Barrister Selmy in ‘A Song of Swords' also claims to Daenerys that " It is said that no man ever knew Rhaegar Targaryen". He had his secrets in Red Keep and he has a melancholic behavior making it appear prince had a sense of doom. This doom is somewhat related to Rhaegar's birth in Summerhall. Rhaegar's great- grandfather King Aegon V brought his whole family to his southern palace of Summerhall to celebrate the birth of Rhaegar.

Aegon V also is known as Aegon the Unlikely tried to perform a fire ritual in Summerhall to hatch the surviving Dragon Eggs. But, unfortunately, the fire got out of control and resultantly killed all those present in the ritual. Amongst the flames, Rhaella Targaryen gave birth to Rhaegar making the grief during his birth a reason for the shadow which hung over him for the rest of his life.

But it was not just the grief, which was haunting Rhaegar, it was also his destiny. Books confirm that Targaryen were blessed with visions as the last surviving Targaryen in Valyria had visions of Valyria being destroyed by fire (which turned to be true and the only reason why Targaryen came to Westeros). The birth of Rhaegar was also based on a prophecy where a witch told Aerys that upon his marriage with Rhaella "a prince who was promised" would be born.Prince who was promised is ‘Azor Ahai' a hero prophesized to be reborn and save the world from Darkness (which is a direct connection to Night King).

Rhaegar was quite interested in this prophecy and it guided him. Rhaegar as a boy never played with toys, rather he loved reading. Barrister Selmy describes his passion for reading quoting " He was reading so early that men said Queen Rhaella must have swallowed some books and a candle whilst he was in womb" ( Quite a Nerd!!!). and one day while going through the scrolls he found something about Azor Ahai which made him realize he needs to become a warrior as it is his destiny. Rhaegar also shared this information with great- granduncle Maester Aemon who also believed that Rhaegar was Azor Ahai as the prophecy said: " Azor Ahai shall be reborn amidst smoke and salt".

Aemon believed the smoke was from the fire at the Summerhall and the salt was the tears of grief for the deceased family members. But later Rhaegar changed his belief and became convinced that his own son Aegon ( Elia Martell's son) was the one to fulfil prophecy as the night Aegon was conceived as comet was seen above King's Landing and another part of the prophecy makes it clear that "When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again" ( Melisandre in A Storm of Swords) . Whereas in ‘A Clash of Kings' Daenerys had a vision where she witnesses Rhaegar and Elia during the birth of Aegon and he mentions Aegon as the prince who was promised. But interestingly Rhaegar also said " There must be one more….The Dragon has three heads" ( three-headed dragon on Targaryen Sigil) which draws connections to the three conqueror siblings Aegon I, Rhaenys and Visenya. Rhaegar already had two children named, Rhaenys, a girl and Aegon, a boy and he wanted a third child to complete the set.

But Elia Martell was always frail in health and after Aegon's birth, there was no chance she could bear another child. In order to produce his third child, he needed another woman and Lyanna Stark became that another woman. It seems Jon snow was born to fit into the set of three head dragon as Rhaegar had dreamt. Rhaegar later decided to rename his son with Lyanna " Aegon " as Azor Ahai was also supposed to be a song of ice and fire. Lyanna being the snow representation and Rhaegar being the fire representation created union and their son or song of ice and fire was supposed to be Azor Ahai.

It is possible that Jon may be the prince who was promised as Melisandre quotes in ‘A Dance with Dragons'—"I pray for a glimpse of Azor Ahai and R'hllor shows me only Snow". But Rhaegar's actions based on prophecies seem vague and providing justification based on his actions seems bleak. Then why despite being a sensible warrior wanting to save Westeros abandoned it to burn under Robert's Rebellion and eloped with Lyanna? How was he trying to save the world by bringing war and death?

Find out the justification towards Rhaegar's actions in the last part of this series.
To know about the political influence of Rhaegar's actions visit part 1 of this series:
https://wrytin.com/kanaksingh/rhaegar-targaryen-mysterious-but-pioneer-in-the-fate-of-westros-juo0rzra